So This Is the Duck God

Gary had reached the final round of his match at the Vermilion Gym.

Seeing the murderous look in Lt. Surge's eyes, Gary admitted he was a little nervous. "Uh, Psyduck, you'd better be able to handle your opponent. Otherwise, if you get turned into electrically roasted duck, I promise I'll give you a grand funeral..."

Psyduck rolled his eyes at Gary and spread his hands. "Relax, Mr. Trainer. I may be a Water-type, but I have other ways to fight. Just watch."

Lt. Surge was already out of patience. Pix swept a right hand downward, and the match began.

"Voltorb, turn him into roast duck with Thunderbolt!" Lt. Surge had completely lost it.

"G-lililili!" Voltorb bared its big front teeth, electricity crackling all over its body.

Boom! A thick bolt of lightning shot straight toward Psyduck's head.

Gary's mouth twitched with worry. He quietly rested his hand on Rhydon's Poké Ball, ready to rescue this outrageously boastful duck if necessary.

After all, talking big was fun, but roast duck needed scallions, pancakes, and sweet bean sauce... and Gary hadn't brought any of those!

"Small stuff. Don't worry." Psyduck casually waved a hand. A blue energy barrier enclosed him like an eggshell, instantly dispersing the current from Thunderbolt while he remained utterly unmoved.

"Impossible!" Lt. Surge's jaw dropped in shock. His Voltorb had only just charged up yesterday. That Thunderbolt would have made even the Nidoking from the first round howl in pain.

Gary was just as surprised. Unless he was mistaken, wasn't that a psychic force field?

Strictly speaking, this wasn't even a move. It was simply an advanced technique for manipulating psychic power.

The thing was, even an Alakazam might not be able to learn this technique. How was a goofy little duck pulling it off?

For some reason, Gary recalled Psyduck's earlier explanation.

Psyduck were born with immense psychic power. Because that powerful energy ran wild inside their heads, they frequently suffered from headaches.

Likewise, they needed enormous amounts of processing power to sort out the psychic energy in their minds, which was why they always looked so vacant...

Most Psyduck eventually gave up a portion of their psychic power before evolving, allowing themselves to regain clarity and evolve successfully.

The price was that their originally outrageous psychic power dropped back to a relatively normal level.

Unlike other Psyduck, Gary's Psyduck had been born with intelligence on par with a Slowking's, so he could fully organize all the psychic energy in his mind while still a Psyduck.

"Let me show you just how much potential lies hidden within the Psyduck species." Psyduck folded his arms across his chest, the blue light in his eyes growing brighter.

"I refuse to believe this! Voltorb, disrupt him with Screech!" Lt. Surge finally remembered that he had wanted to trade tactical pointers with Gary today.

However, things were already beyond Gary's control. Psyduck was running the show now!

"Gi-gi-gi-gi-gilililili~" Voltorb opened its mouth, sending a wave of piercing sound sweeping toward Gary's side.

Psyduck impatiently pointed one hand at it. "Shut up. That sounds awful~"

With a hum, blue psychic energy lit up around Voltorb, immediately forcing it to shut its mouth in frustration.

"What are you doing, Voltorb? Keep going!" Lt. Surge urged anxiously.

"I think that was probably Disable," Gary explained, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

"Huh? Damn it! In that case, Voltorb, use Rollout!" Lt. Surge was grasping at straws now.

Voltorb faithfully obeyed, immediately becoming a rapidly rolling red-and-white ball as it charged at Psyduck.

Psyduck stayed exactly where he was. The blue light in his eyes flared, and even more psychic power surged outward.

With a hum, Voltorb was halted in front of Psyduck by invisible Confusion before it could even get close.

Psyduck even had time to wave at Gary and show off.

A huge vein bulged on Lt. Surge's forehead, his face reddening with rage. "Damn duck, you've gone too far! Voltorb, use Explosion!"

Gary jolted in alarm. Lt. Surge was going all out...

"Lililili!" Voltorb immediately began gathering power, its whole body flashing with white light-the prelude to an explosion.

Psyduck shook his head. Why bother~

Then Gary saw Psyduck clap his hands. Voltorb immediately stopped its Explosion and passed out on the spot.

Pix walked over to check, then shook their head. "It's asleep~"

"Hypnosis? You can use it like that?" Gary asked curiously.

Psyduck waddled back to Gary's side, looking utterly unruffled. "Clap your hands, get whatever you want. Is Hypnosis supposed to be hard?"

Gary: (￢_￢) You're sure you won't develop some weird Grass-type move one of these days, right~?

"Of course. I'm not particularly fond of Grass-type moves." Psyduck curled his lip.

Pix returned to the referee's position and extended a right hand to announce, "Since Voltorb has lost the will to battle, the winner of this match is Gary from Pallet Town!"

Gary recalled Psyduck, who still wanted to show off, and gave Lt. Surge an apologetic nod.

Lt. Surge sighed, then took the orange Badge from Pix and walked toward Gary.

"Uh~ Things got a little chaotic, but I think I passed the Gym challenge, right?" Gary asked tentatively.

Lt. Surge said nothing. He simply stared at Gary.

Just as Gary was preparing to make a quick getaway and come back for his Badge later, Lt. Surge finally broke into booming laughter.

"Hahahaha~ Heroes really do come young! It's been ages since anyone beat me this badly, Gary! You're a real man. Battling you was an absolute blast!" Thoroughly satisfied, Lt. Surge clapped Gary on the shoulder.

Gary asked curiously, "I thought... you'd be disappointed that I hadn't prepared any special tactics."

Lt. Surge waved a hand. "Save those tactics of yours for someone else to enjoy. I prefer a head-on clash! But next time we battle, I won't be bringing a team at this level!"

Gary smiled. "Of course. I'll bring an even stronger lineup too!"

"Here, this is the orange Badge. It's yours. Hurry up and win the Indigo League, then go torment Bruno and the others. I've got faith in you." Lt. Surge cheerfully handed the orange Badge to Gary.

"I definitely will." Gary accepted the orange Badge and nodded solemnly.

Standing nearby, Pix said admiringly, "I've never seen such a formidable challenger before. I think I'll keep training my Pikachu with the goal of battling you."

Thinking of what would happen in the future, Gary nodded earnestly. "Pix, right? I hope we can have a proper match at the Vermilion Gym someday. But before that, train as hard as you can!"

Pix nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! Until I defeat you and avenge my master, I'll tear every other opponent apart!"

Lt. Surge shook his head, unsure whether to laugh or cry. "Hey! Private Pix, I'm not old yet. I don't need you avenging me!"

And so, having earned Lt. Surge's respect, Gary happily left the Vermilion Gym.

It was already late. Gary decided to spend another night at the Pokémon Center and leave Vermilion City tomorrow.