"Let me show you my Pokémon. Go, Gyarados!" Crasher Wake took the lead and sent out his Pokémon.
The Poké Ball opened in midair, and a ball of white light dropped into the water. A moment later, a massive head rose from the surface, glaring fiercely at Gary.
[Lv. 41 Gyarados / Gym]
The Pokémon Crasher Wake sent out were all fairly high-leveled, each above level 40. It seemed he owned more than one Gyarados.
"Since this is a Water-type Gym, Electivire, I'll leave it to you." Gary casually threw out a Poké Ball.
[Lv. 63 Electivire / Champion]
Gary didn't have a more suitable Pokémon on hand. He figured he should hurry up and collect all of the Sinnoh region badges. When he had time, he'd go and challenge all the Frontier Brains of the Sinnoh region.
Crasher Wake could tell that Gary was no ordinary challenger, and there was really no point in holding anything back.
"Electivire, huh? Looks like you came prepared. Gyarados, Waterfall!" Crasher Wake ordered.
"Roar!!"
Gyarados wrapped itself in a layer of water and charged across the surface, splitting two streams of water as it rushed rapidly toward Electivire.
"Thunder!" Gary wasn't in the mood to play around and immediately went straight for a finishing move.
"Vire!"
Golden arcs burst from Electivire's tail-like cords, and its whole body was instantly wrapped in lightning. A powerful bolt of thunder crashed down on Gyarados, the violent electricity tearing through the watery curtain around its body before striking it directly.
"Roar!!"
Gyarados stopped in the middle of its charge and wailed in pain. Its entire body convulsed under the raging thunder before it collapsed onto the water, half of it floating on the surface with its eyes spiraling.
"Gyarados is unable to battle. Electivire wins!" the referee announced.
Crasher Wake recalled the defeated Gyarados and said, "Don't think a type advantage means everything. The next Pokémon I'm sending out isn't afraid of Electric moves. Go, Quagsire!"
Crasher Wake threw another Poké Ball.
[Lv. 45 Quagsire / Gym]
Quagsire was part Ground-type, making it immune to Electric-type attacks.
Even though it could be immune to Electric moves, Electivire wasn't limited to using Electric attacks alone.
"Electivire, use Swift!" Gary ordered.
Golden stars emerged from Electivire's thick arms and automatically homed in on Quagsire.
Swift would lock onto its target automatically. Even if Quagsire hid in the water, it still wouldn't be able to avoid the attack.
"Quagsire, use Mud Bomb." Crasher Wake chose to meet the attack head-on.
Quagsire poked its head out of the water, opened its mouth, and spat out Mud Bombs in retaliation. The Swift stars flew like shuriken, breaking apart the Mud Bombs. The remaining stars pierced through the smoke and struck Quagsire, though they didn't knock it out instantly.
Since Quagsire was still a Gym-level Pokémon and not at a type disadvantage, defeating it in one hit wasn't easy. Even so, Swift still dealt considerable damage to it.
"Quagsire, use Ice Beam!" Crasher Wake ordered.
Quagsire launched itself out of the water with Hydro Pump, opened its mouth, and fired an extremely cold beam of ice.
"Hyper Beam," Gary ordered.
Orange energy gathered between Electivire's palms, condensing into an energy sphere before firing out as a beam of light.
Ice Beam collided with Hyper Beam.
Bang!!
Ice Beam was instantly overwhelmed by Hyper Beam.
Boom!!!
A cloud of black smoke rose into the air.
This Gary is way too overpowered. Crasher Wake was already certain Quagsire had lost, and he couldn't help but think Gary's Pokémon was absurdly strong. His own Pokémon were simply no match for that Electivire.
The smoke cleared, revealing Quagsire floating on its back, motionless, its eyes already spiraling.
"Quagsire is unable to battle. Electivire wins."
Crasher Wake recalled Quagsire and sent out his third Pokémon.
"Floatzel, I'm counting on you." Crasher Wake sent out Floatzel.
[Lv. 49 Floatzel / Gym]
Floatzel was Crasher Wake's signature Pokémon. It had reached the peak of the Gym level and had clearly been with him for a long time. It was obvious that these were the Pokémon Crasher Wake used specifically for Gym battles.
"Electivire, end this with Discharge," Gary ordered.
The moment he finished speaking, Crasher Wake suddenly called out, "Floatzel, use Aqua Jet!"
Floatzel wrapped itself in a stream of water, turning into a sharp arrow of water as it shot toward Electivire, interrupting the move before Electivire could use Discharge.
Thump!!
Electivire was knocked into the water. But this didn't stop its counterattack. On the contrary, falling into the water only made it better—the current it released instantly spread outward.
"Zel!!"
Floatzel cried out as the electricity surged through its body, fainting immediately.
"Floatzel is unable to battle. All three of Gym Leader Crasher Wake's Pokémon have been defeated. The winner of this Gym battle is Gary," the referee announced.
After the match, Crasher Wake generously handed over the Gym Badge.
"This is proof of your victory over the Pastoria Gym. The Fen Badge—please accept it," Crasher Wake said.
"Thanks."
Gary accepted the Badge and left the Gym.
"Let me see what the reward item is."
[Zap Gem: When using an Electric-type move, the move's power is increased by 100%. The effect can only be used once.]
"A Zap Gem...!"
Gary was almost speechless. The power boost was significant, but the effect could only be used once.
Still, after thinking it over more carefully, if it were used with a Z-Move, the result would be terrifying. It could also work well with certain powerful attacks. The strongest pure-power Electric-type move was Zap Cannon. An Electric-type Pokémon using it together with a Zap Gem could unleash a Zap Cannon with a power of 300.
Even so, the Zap Gem could only really be considered average. Gary decided not to exchange it and would keep it for the time being.
"System, for the Water-type option, redeem Rain Dance for me."
[Ding! Move redemption successful.]
Since Gary already had two Water-type offensive moves, there was no need to redeem another attacking Water-type move. Weather moves naturally took priority, because field control was still important.
The key point was that many Pokémon could learn Rain Dance. Basically, any Pokémon capable of affecting the climate or altering the weather could potentially master it.
Electric-type Pokémon could generally learn Rain Dance as well. They could summon rainclouds through thunder induction. Even wild Magnemite were known to gather together and release magnetism to summon thunderclouds, using them to absorb lightning.
"The next stop is Canalave City."
Gary looked at his Badge case. He had already collected five Badges, with three remaining.
"Once I've collected all the Badges, it'll be time to level up the rest of my Pokémon."
Gary looked at his 82 Intermediate Rare Candies and decided it was finally time to put them to use. His Sinnoh region Pokémon had each already surpassed level 50, so they could no longer benefit from Intermediate Rare Candies.