"Lads, let me fight this one," Joe said as he stepped onto the battleground where Charizard was set to have her match.
He released his prized Machamp, eager for a challenge. This Charizard was quite powerful, after all.
They squared up in the center of the battleground before Machamp suddenly charged in without a command, causing Clarissa to fluster out an order.
"Flamethrower!" she hastily called out, and Charizard obliged with a torrent of flames from her mouth.
Machamp ignored the blazing flames and delivered a simple uppercut under Charizard's chin, sending the second bout of fire up and away from him. He grabbed Charizard's lower jaw with one upper arm, while both lower arms secured her claws. With his remaining fist, he began building up Fighting-type energy, pulling it back and coiling his muscles. It was a Focus Punch while Charizard was restrained.
Panicked, Clarissa quickly ordered, "Fly! Get away, quick!"
Charizard flapped her wings and took to the skies, but Machamp maintained a firm grip, soaring along for the ride. At the zenith of their climb, Machamp snapped his arms tight, pulling Charizard close while unleashing the built-up power of Focus Punch straight into her gut.
The attack was devastating, but it wasn't enough to knock Charizard out in one hit. Machamp wasn't done, though.
He got in close, wrapping the arm that had delivered Focus Punch around Charizard, grabbing one of her wings and pulling, while his other hands kept a firm grip on her jaw and claws. With a twist of his feet and a sudden jerk back, Machamp forced Charizard into a head-first descent while spinning. He held her down, preventing recovery.
At the last moment, Machamp executed Vital Throw, slamming Charizard into the ground rather than taking damage from the crash himself. The attack did far more damage than expected, but she was still in fighting form.
Rage bubbled up as Charizard lost herself in the fight, launching Outrage without command. Machamp, on the other hand, built up energy for Counter.
Charizard charged in, bull-rushing Machamp, who caught the attack with his lower arms. His upper arms glowed with Fighting-type energy as he unleashed a devastating double hammer fist to the top of Charizard's head, finally knocking her out and ending the fight.
Based on remaining health, the fight seemed close—Machamp had about 15% HP left—but everyone who witnessed it understood it was far from even.
Machamp had never used Rock Slide, Protect, or Thunder Punch. He had only used Fighting-type attacks, which Charizard normally resisted.
He had been playing with her. Even Clarissa understood that much.
It was a complete loss.
"Not bad. A bit too wild and needs work, but it would do some of the lads here some good to fight her. If nothing else, her ferocity is intimidating. Anyone who can't stand up to her shouldn't even be a trainer," Joe commented, which essentially meant she had his recommendation.
"Got any more like her?" Joe asked, glancing at Clarissa.
"A Cetitan that just made it to Expert rank," she replied
"Not enough of a challenge."
"She has Slush Rush."
"Now that's much more challenging. Have her set up before the fight, and you can let them both take a slot."
"Thank you."
"They deserve it," Joe said as he recalled Machamp for healing and walked away.
"Congratulations. You've got a gig here now. What are you going to do about Vulpix and Dratini, though? They probably need the experience more than Charizard and Cetitan," Alex commented on the side.
"I can train them at night and on weekends. I only plan on coming here for a few hours in the afternoon," Clarissa replied
"Are you staying for the slots now?"
"Yeah, I want to see what challenges we'll be facing here."
"Who are you going to command?"
"Charizard can already fight on her own, so I'll command Cetitan."
And so, Clarissa joined the Fighting Dojo as both a student and a regular competitor. She finished up a four hour set before deciding to head home to train Vulpix and Dratini.
Alex escorted her out, as he was on his way to his regular sparring match anyway.
Seeing Alex spar again reminded Clarissa of something she had been meaning to ask.
"Why do you fight to the point of getting so injured for an entire hour? That Machamp is going too hard on you. Maybe that lone Hitmonchan would be a better sparring partner? At least it only has two arms," Clarissa said.
Alex laughed long and hard before responding.
"You need to get used to injuries and facing impossible opponents. Otherwise, you'll freeze in battle, and both you and your Pokémon will suffer. Also, this Machamp is actually going easier on me compared to that Hitmonchan.
That thing usually knocks me out with a blind uppercut every ten minutes or sends me flying out of the arena. The chance of internal injuries is too high. This Machamp, though—ferocious as he is—is a kitten in comparison. His hits are softer, and he's taller, which makes him easier to fight overall."
Clarissa stared at the Hitmonchan in question, shocked.
To prove his point, Alex willingly took another round against Hitmonchan before returning to Machamp.
"Here, let me show you."
Stepping into the arena, Alex was immediately rushed by Hitmonchan. He took a standard boxing stance and met the charge with a left haymaker, but Hitmonchan ducked under the blow and landed two quick punches to Alex's ribs, making him wince.
He had forgotten just how brutal Hitmonchan's targeting was.
Quickly shuffling around, he raised his guard, only to block a flurry of blows before taking another shot to the core.
Alex tried to create space, throwing out jabs to keep Hitmonchan at bay, but it was no use. The Pokémon's smaller frame allowed it to slip past his jabs, relentlessly pummeling his ribs. Forced to lower his guard to protect his midsection, Alex left an opening, and Hitmonchan capitalized with a solid right hook to the face.
He was completely on the defensive, taking a beating while landing none of his own. The fight was utterly one-sided until Alex performed a simple sweep, knocking Hitmonchan to the ground.
Alex knew that trying to pin Hitmonchan down would be pointless—the Pokémon could endure the beating while still landing body shots—so he took the chance to retreat instead.
As soon as the Pokémon got back up, it returned to shadowboxing, already returning to its routine.
"See what I mean?" Alex panted, trying to catch his breath.
He had almost forgotten how focused he had to be just to land a few hits before Hitmonchan inevitably overpowered him.
He had been getting stronger, which allowed Hitmonchan to ease up on its restrictions. Now, its blows could seriously knock the wind out of Alex if he wasn't focused enough.
Ironically, the stronger he became, the more ferocious Hitmonchan was allowed to be. He might never get another chance to fight it at this level again.
Clarissa was now convinced of Alex's statements. He would visibly wince when hit, while more blows landed on him in less time compared to Machamp, who gave Alex time and space to breathe.
Deciding not to comment further, she bid him farewell before leaving Alex to start another sparring match against Machamp.
She thought about his words and agreed with him about freezing in fear when facing an insurmountable opponent.
She recalled peeing herself when she first saw her father's adorable Dragonite emit bloodlust against an intruder when she was young.
She never saw Dragonite the same way again, and it apparently depressed him, as he loved her like his own child.
'I should go visit and apologize. He was just trying to protect me,' Clarissa thought with determination on the bus ride home.
Today had been an enlightening day. She now better understood what it meant to fight other people. They were not as helpless as she originally thought. If Alex can be so brutal to himself, what would stop people from being as brutal to others?
Alex understood this better than she did, and if she wanted to protect herself, she would need to latch onto Alex and do everything he did. Since he knew better, she might as well follow him and learn from him, right?
She decided to follow his advice and use the two-month gap between graduation and the start of the police academy to take on criminal-hunting missions. She had to plan carefully, though, since such missions were usually only offered to trainers with at least three badges. Luckily, there were three gyms in Saffron City.
The most popular was the Psychic Gym, led by Sabrina; the oldest was the Fighting Gym, led by Koichi; and the newest and least popular was the Poison Gym, led by Janine, who had built the gym in her father's footsteps.
Koga was still a middle-aged man with a long way to go before retirement, so Janine had decided to establish her own gym while waiting for her old man to step down. From the League's perspective, the gym was quite successful, but from the perspective of trainers, it was disgusting.
"Toxic stall for days, they said," Clarissa thought with a shudder.
Despite her reluctance, she will prepare for it anyway. It was her best chance to gain experience while still making it in time to enroll in the police academy.
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