Harley was very excited. He already imagined the moment his Cacturne would defeat this man!
But at that exact moment, something very surprising happened.
Cacturne had run behind the man. It raised its arm to hit him. But in the next second, a dark shadow came out from under the man's feet. It stood in front of Cacturne like a wall. Then, the shadow raised its hands. A wave of black energy hit Cacturne and sent it flying backward!
Harley's face did not move.
"Huh?"
It took him two seconds to understand what happened.
He wondered what was going on.
He wondered why his Cacturne was flying when the man was fine.
He looked closer. He saw that the thing coming out of the shadow was a Gengar.
He was very surprised. He did not know why a Gengar appeared from nowhere. He did not know why it was hiding in the man's shadow.
"Chuckle..." Gengar lowered its arms and laughed loudly. It looked at Harley with a mean smile. "I saw your sneakiness, but it was not good enough. You should not use a trick like that in front of me. You are not ready!!"
Harley was even more shocked when he heard it speak.
He wondered what he was seeing.
"A talking Gengar!?"
He did not know there was a Pokémon in this world that could speak like a human.
After a long time, he finally moved and ran to check on his Cacturne.
He saw that the black energy had pushed Cacturne very far away. It had hit a wall and broken the stone. Cacturne was lying there and was unconscious.
Harley felt very nervous and scared!
He knew his Pokémon very well.
Cacturne was his strongest partner. It was defeated in one hit during a surprise attack. This made him feel very afraid.
This meant the Gengar was much stronger than his Pokémon.
He wanted to believe it was just luck. He hoped Gengar had hit a weak point. He did not want to believe Gengar was that powerful.
It did not make sense to him!
Ash and the others felt better.
"That gave me a scare..." Ash breathed out. He said, "I totally forgot Gengar was there. With Gengar protecting Natsu, nobody can even touch him!"
Natsu was the target of the attack, but he only stopped for a moment. He looked back to see the bad condition of the Cacturne. Then he looked at Harley, whose face was turning different colors. He shook his head. He did not say anything and walked to the battlefield.
He knew what kind of person Harley was. He was not surprised by the attack.
He knew Harley might do it, but he did not worry about it.
Even if Harley had more Pokémon, they could not hurt him while Gengar was there.
This silent reaction made Harley very angry. But he also started to think more clearly.
He had to be smart. His strongest Pokémon was defeated in one hit. He wondered what else he could use to fight.
Harley watched Natsu walk away. He thought of a plan quickly. The failed attack made him feel embarrassed. Now Ash and May were there, so he could not use more tricks.
He wondered what to do.
Natsu was in front of him, and Ash and May were behind him. Harley could not just leave. He felt nervous as he went to the battlefield.
Natsu did not say anything else to Harley. He walked to the side for the Trainer.
He stood there. He wanted to see if Harley would accept the challenge.
Harley felt many things now.
He wanted to teach the man a lesson. But he was also afraid because of Gengar.
But he could not turn back now. He went to the side opposite Natsu.
Natsu put his hands in his pockets. He looked at Harley and spoke calmly. "Come on. Whether it is a one-on-one or a full battle, show me what you can do."
Harley felt his blood pressure go up.
He felt that the man's words always made him angry.
He hated the man from the first moment he saw him.
Even if he was not sure he could win, Harley had to try.
He would not admit he was worried. He said, "What a big talker. I should be the one saying that! I want to see if your strength is as great as your big mouth!"
He paused and showed five fingers to Natsu.
"If we're going to fight, let's make it a five-on-five battle. But let me be clear: for these five rounds, you must use a different Pokémon for each round, regardless of whether you win or lose. At the end of the matches, the one with the most wins is the victor!"
Harley was a clever Trainer who liked to use tricks.
His mind worked very fast.
He did not know old stories about strategy, but he made a similar plan.
He knew Gengar was very strong.
He thought Gengar was likely the man's strongest Pokémon.
Harley wanted to avoid Gengar's power. He would use his weakest Pokémon to fight it and lose that round on purpose. That way, Gengar could not fight again. Then he would use his other Pokémon to win the other matches.
He thought he would be the winner in the end.
Harley was thinking very hard about his plan.
But for this to work, his other Pokémon had to be stronger than Natsu's.
He knew nothing about Natsu's power. Ash and the others did not warn him.
Harley felt confident and took out his first Poké Ball.
He was being sneaky. There was no rule about who went first, but he just stood there. He waited for Natsu to act first.
Natsu saw the trick immediately.
He shook his head. He did not want to argue. He took a Poké Ball from his belt and released a Pokémon.
He was not afraid of how many rounds there were.
His Pokémon were very strong, and that gave him confidence.
No matter what Harley tried, real power would win.
"Good luck, Natsu!!"
"You can do it, Natsu!"
The cheering made Harley feel worse. But he focused on Natsu. Natsu opened the Poké Ball. An Eevee appeared in a flash of blue light.
Harley smiled when he saw the Eevee.
He thought Eevee was a common Pokémon.
It was in its basic stage and had not evolved.
Harley thought it was weak. He had never seen a strong Eevee before.
This made him sure that Gengar was the man's only strong Pokémon.
He thought this would be easy!
He threw his Poké Ball.
Then, a Wigglytuff appeared.
Wigglytuff is the evolved form of Jigglypuff. It is twice as big as Jigglypuff, and it is much stronger. It is not as round as before, but it is still very cute. It has big eyes that look like they have tears in them. It has pink and white fur, short legs and arms, and long ears. It looks like it would not hurt anyone.
But no one should think it is weak. It is a Normal and Fairy-type Pokémon. It is very strong even though it looks cute.
Natsu knew Wigglytuff very well. He stayed careful.
But Harley's Wigglytuff looked sneaky. Its eyes looked mean.
Pokémon are often like their Trainers.
The two Pokémon walked to the center of the field.
Harley did not use tricks now because people were watching. He thought he would win this match.
He thought an evolved Wigglytuff would easily beat an Eevee.
He thought that if he won the first round, he would have the advantage.
The battle started immediately.
But Harley soon realized something was wrong.
Eevee looked like a normal wild Pokémon, but it was hard to fight.
Wigglytuff tried to use Body Slam and Double Slap, but it could not hit Eevee.
Instead, Eevee hit Wigglytuff with Tackle and Quick Attack. Wigglytuff was getting tired.
Harley was shocked and afraid.
He realized he had underestimated the Eevee. He saw that the battle was not going well. It looked like he might lose.
"Wigglytuff! What are you doing!?" Harley shouted. "Stop playing around! Use Sing!"
Sing is a move that makes the opponent sleep. If it works, the battle can change quickly.
Wigglytuff knew the situation was bad. It pushed Eevee back and jumped away. It opened its mouth to sing.
But sand hit its face. The sand went into its mouth and eyes. It could not start the song.
Harley was too simple to think he could use a sleep move easily against Natsu.
Eevee used Sand Attack to stop the move. Then Natsu gave a command. Eevee used Take Down and knocked Wigglytuff out.
Wigglytuff's eyes rolled back. Its body fell at Harley's feet.
Harley was stunned. He could not believe the result.
"I... I actually lost!?"
He thought he would win easily, but he was losing from the start. The match was very fast. He could not accept it.
Ash and the others looked at each other.
"Um..." Max asked the others, "Does Harley know who he's actually facing?"
"Probably not," Ash said. "I didn't tell him, anyway."
"I didn't say anything either," Brock said.
May also shook her head. "I didn't mention it."
"So..." Max said, "He probably just thinks Natsu is some ordinary Trainer?"
"That seems to be it," Ash said. "What? Should we tell him?"
"Why bother telling him?" Misty said. "Since this Harley guy is so confident in himself, I want to see how he feels after these five matches are over!"
When a Coordinator fights a Pokémon Trainer, they usually lose because they do not focus on fighting. Also, Harley's opponent was a man who made other people want to quit in the Pokémon League!
They were annoyed by what Harley did before.
But now they saw him losing.
He was defeated so badly that he could not fight back. The only word for it was miserable!