Gary looked up and spotted a pink-haired girl jogging down the road alongside a Lucario, the two of them doing some kind of physical training together.
"Maylene! Lucario!"
He was surprised—he hadn't expected to run into the Gym Leader outside her own Gym.
Maylene and Lucario noticed Gary and his Cyclizar standing by the entrance and slowed to a stop. She tilted her head curiously. "May I ask—is there something you need at the Veilstone Gym?"
"I'm a Trainer from the Kanto region," Gary said. "I'm here to challenge the Gym."
"Oh, a Gym challenge! Come on in with me, then." Maylene waved him along without hesitation.
She led Gary through the doors and into the Gym.
Maylene hadn't completely fallen apart yet, but the self-doubt was already eating at her. Paul's words would eventually be the last straw that broke the camel's back, but even without him, she was heading down that path on her own. The longer she kept going like this, the more her confidence would erode.
Maylene brought Gary to the battlefield inside and called over the Gym's referee to officiate.
Once everything was set, Maylene spoke up. "I'll introduce myself. I'm Maylene, the Gym Leader here at the Veilstone Gym."
"Gary, from the Kanto region," Gary replied.
"Gary, are you ready?" Maylene asked.
Gary hesitated. Something felt off. Maylene was being way too eager to jump straight into the battle. She'd obviously been running outside with Lucario just now, which meant they'd both burned through a fair amount of energy. This wasn't a great time to fight.
"Maylene, are you sure you don't want to get Lucario healed up first? You were just doing training outside—it must've used up a lot of stamina."
"Ah! I completely forgot!"
Gary couldn't help but sweatdrop. He wasn't sure if Maylene was just naturally careless or if being a new Gym Leader had her too rattled to think straight.
"Miss Maylene, please go get Lucario treated," Kuroda, the referee, urged her gently.
"R-Right!" Maylene's face flushed with embarrassment. "Gary, sorry about that. The Gym battle will have to wait a few minutes."
"No problem. Take your time."
Gary didn't mind at all. Lucario wasn't injured—it had just used up some energy during training. A quick rest and recovery treatment would be more than enough.
About ten minutes later, Maylene returned to the battlefield.
"Alright, we're good to go. Uncle Kuroda, you can make the announcement."
Kuroda nodded and raised his voice. "The official Gym battle between challenger Gary and Veilstone Gym Leader Maylene will now begin! Each side will use three Pokémon. The match ends when all Pokémon on one side are unable to battle. Only the challenger may substitute Pokémon during the match. Gym Leader Maylene, please send out your Pokémon first."
[Ding! Mission released:
Obtain the Veilstone Gym Badge. Reward: Intermediate Rare Candy ×3, Brick Break permanent move learner, Top-grade item ×1.Use Sinnoh-region Pokémon to obtain the Veilstone Gym Badge. Reward: Intermediate Rare Candy ×3, Fighting-type move learner (self-selected), Random Pokémon item ×1.]
Gary glanced at the reward tier and sighed internally. Judging by the Rare Candy count alone, Maylene really wasn't very strong yet.
"Let's do this! You're up first, Meditite!" Maylene threw her Poké Ball with energy.
[Lv. 30 Meditite ♀ / Gym]
Seeing Meditite's level, Gary understood exactly why Paul had been so harsh. It was technically enough for a Gym battle, but only barely. Paul's newly trained Pokémon at this point in his journey were probably in the low thirties, maybe even pushing forty. Coming here with type advantage against a team this weak really would feel pointless to someone like him.
It was even worse considering Paul was a Veilstone native. He would've known firsthand how strong Maylene's father was as Gym Leader, which made the gap between father and daughter painfully obvious.
"Garchomp, let's go!" Gary considered his options for a moment, then threw out his Poké Ball.
[Lv. 50 Garchomp ♂ / Champion]
"Garchomp!!"
The apprentices training around the edges of the Gym stared in disbelief. None of them had expected someone this young to bring out Sinnoh's pseudo-legendary.
"Looks like today's going to be another tough one…" Maylene murmured, a knot forming in her stomach. As a Veilstone native herself, she knew full well how powerful Garchomp was.
After all, the Sinnoh League Champion's ace was a Garchomp.
Gary hadn't actually wanted to use it, but the rest of his Sinnoh-region Pokémon were not only higher level than Garchomp—their typings also gave them an advantage over Fighting-types. If he sent any of them out and steamrolled Maylene instantly, the damage to her confidence would be even worse. He'd end up crushing her spirit before Paul even got the chance.
"The battle begins!"
Maylene reacted immediately. "Meditite, use Confusion!"
Meditite's eyes glowed blue as waves of psychic energy surged outward, pressing against Garchomp from all sides and trying to lift it off the ground. But Garchomp's body barely trembled. It didn't budge an inch.
"What?!" Maylene's eyes went wide. She could tell Garchomp had simply overpowered the psychic force with raw physical strength alone.
Gary shook his head. He couldn't drag this out. Better to end it fast.
"Fire Blast."
Flames gathered in Garchomp's jaws and erupted outward in a massive blast of fire. The attack swallowed Meditite whole, leaving it absolutely nowhere to hide.
Boom!!
The explosion sent a cloud of black smoke rolling across the field.
When it cleared, Meditite was flat on the ground, skin scorched dark and eyes spiraling.
Kuroda raised his flag. "Meditite is unable to battle. Garchomp wins."
Maylene stood frozen for a second, stunned by how quickly her first Pokémon had gone down. Then she shook it off and recalled Meditite.
"Good work, Meditite. Get some rest."
She wasn't ready to give up yet. Without missing a beat, she grabbed her next Poké Ball.
"Your turn—Machoke!"
[Lv. 32 Machoke ♂ / Elite]
"Machoke!"
The muscular Pokémon appeared with a flex.
Gary raised an eyebrow. He was a little surprised—this Machoke actually had Elite-level potential. Unfortunately, its current level was far too low to make use of it.
Maylene didn't attack right away, clearly wary of Garchomp's power. Gary didn't wait for her.
"Stone Edge."
Garchomp spread its arms wide, and jagged stone blades materialized in the air around it before launching toward Machoke like a volley of spears.
"Machoke, charge through with Brick Break!" Maylene called out.
"Machoke!"
Machoke crossed its arms, both fists glowing white, and barreled straight into the oncoming barrage of stones.