"Follow me properly and you'll gain plenty of benefits. At most, it'll be a few decades before I let you go," Gary said, patting Heatran's back. The surface felt like rough volcanic rock, and the temperature was noticeably high—quite hot.
"Hrr."
Heatran was an honest Pokémon that followed the laws of the wild. If you treated it well, it would listen to you.
This could also be seen in later events. After Heatran was subdued by Charon, it followed Charon's arrangements just the same. Heatran was genuinely honest and kind by nature. It seemed that whoever subdued it, it would obediently follow their instructions—and yet it ended up being abandoned every single time. It really was difficult for it.
"Let me teach you some moves."
Gary wasn't the type to make empty promises. He reached out, placed his hand on Heatran, and taught it all the moves at once.
[Pokémon: Heatran]
[Type: Fire / Steel]
[Level: 65]
[Potential: Quasi-Legendary]
[Ability 1: Flash Fire (When hit by a Fire-type move, absorbs the flames; Fire-type moves used gain x1.5 power to both Attack and Special Attack.)]
[Ability 2: Flame Body (When a Pokémon makes physical contact, there is a 30% chance of inflicting a burn.)]
[Moves: Magma Storm, Metal Claw, Scary Face, Iron Head, Lava Plume, Metal Sound, Heat Wave, Stone Edge]
[TM / Tutor Moves: Flamethrower, Overheat, Fire Blast, Rock Slide, Rest, Hyper Beam, Dig, Earthquake, Dragon Pulse, Sunny Day, Body Slam, Steel Beam, Stealth Rock, Protect]
[Friendship: 235 (Max: 255)]
Heatran's move pool was remarkably wide, and it had now mastered twelve moves.
"Hrr...!!"
Heatran was taken aback. After living for decades, it hadn't even naturally awakened ten racial moves on its own.
Gary had taught it twelve moves in one go, including many powerful techniques that even high-level Pokémon struggled to deal with.
"This is my ability. Follow me well, and I'll help you grow stronger. You might even have a chance to surpass your ancestors someday," Gary said.
"Hrr."
Heatran nodded honestly.
Before, it had obeyed because Gary was strong. But this time, it believed him from the bottom of its heart.
"Then come on in."
After catching Heatran, Gary returned to the Pokémon Center and contacted Professor Oak's Laboratory. He had all of his Sinnoh region Pokémon transferred back, along with the two Pokémon he had recently caught and the Cyclizar he had obtained in the Paldea region.
"Gary, you said you were going to catch a wild Pokémon. Did you manage it?" Tracey asked curiously after the transfer was done.
"Yeah, caught it this afternoon," Gary said.
"What Pokémon is it?" Professor Oak suddenly appeared on the screen. He had already heard from Tracey that Gary had transferred all his main Pokémon over, saying he wanted to catch a wild Pokémon.
Professor Oak understood better than Tracey just how strong Gary's main team was. The fact that Gary had needed to mobilize so many of his main Pokémon made it clear that whatever he was trying to catch was no ordinary Pokémon.
"You'll find out at the Lily of the Valley Conference, Grandpa," Gary said.
"The Lily of the Valley Conference... so it should be a Pokémon native to the Sinnoh region," Professor Oak guessed.
"Haha, take your time guessing, Grandpa. Take care of yourself—I'm hanging up now." Gary ended the call with a smile.
Professor Oak was worthy of being Gary's grandfather. He had already figured out that Gary would be using this region's Pokémon at the Lily of the Valley Conference.
Gary hung up the phone and left the Pokémon Center.
He released Garchomp and headed toward the inland areas of the Sinnoh region.
Gary still had Darkrai to catch, and his destination was Canalave City.
Ash and the others had encountered Darkrai while traveling to Canalave City. In truth, Darkrai had been drawn there by Team Rocket.
Team Rocket's trio had built a device that caused people to have nightmares, and Darkrai fed on nightmares. Since Newmoon Island was relatively close to Canalave City, Darkrai was naturally drawn to the area.
On top of that, this particular Darkrai couldn't control its Ability, which made the nightmares of Canalave City's residents grow worse and worse, leaving them exhausted every day.
From this, it could be reasonably concluded that the Darkrai in Canalave City wasn't especially powerful. After all, a Pokémon that couldn't even control its own Ability was clearly no match for the Darkrai that had appeared in Alamos Town.
The Darkrai in Alamos Town was probably above level 100. It had deliberately activated its Ability after sensing that Dialga and Palkia were coming, trying to drive the townspeople away through nightmares to protect them.
Unfortunately, the people of Alamos Town misunderstood Darkrai's intentions and treated it as an enemy instead.
"Hold on—what if I catch this Darkrai and it really can't control its Ability?" Gary frowned.
If Darkrai couldn't control its Nightmare Ability, sending it to Professor Oak's Laboratory would be a disaster. Every Pokémon in the entire Laboratory would suffer, and it might even affect Darkrai itself.
Darkrai's Nightmare Ability had an extremely wide range and could affect an entire city.
"If I really catch it, I'll just have to keep it with me at all times," Gary said, pulling out the Lunar Wing.
The Lunar Wing could suppress Darkrai's Ability, but it had its limitations. It only took effect within a certain range.
That range was centered on Gary himself, with a diameter of no more than a hundred meters. Beyond a hundred meters, Darkrai's Ability would still spread.
Gary pressed on at full speed. Eventually a cluster of buildings appeared ahead, and Garchomp slowed to a hover in the sky.
Gary looked down and saw a town below. He didn't recognize it right away, but he could tell it was somewhere in the inland part of the Sinnoh region.
"Garchomp, let's head down and take a look," Gary said.
"Chomp."
Garchomp nodded and descended to the ground.
Gary recalled Garchomp, walked out to the nearby street, looked around, and spotted a sign. He read it and confirmed where he was.
"So this is Celestic Town."
Gary was surprised. He had assumed Celestic Town was just a small village. Calling it a city wasn't an exaggeration at all.
Now that he knew where he was, Gary released Cyclizar, mounted it, and took a leisurely ride around Celestic Town. He had plenty of time, and it was good to relax once in a while.
Riding Cyclizar through the streets attracted a lot of attention along the way. As Gary turned a corner, he glanced to his right and spotted five familiar figures on the sidewalk—three tall and two small.
The two smallest ones reacted first. They spun around and cried out in surprise.
Pikachu: "Pikaaaa—!! (╥﹏╥)"
Piplup: "Pip-luuup!! (╥﹏╥)"