"Alright! Fire!"
As the words fell, Roserade's hands, glowing with white light, unleashed a searing beam of incandescent energy.
"We'll fight back. Flash Cannon!" Gary ordered.
"Magnezone!"
Magnezone gathered steel-type energy throughout its body, its entire frame shining silver as it violently released the built-up power. A massive silver beam collided with Solar Beam.
Bang!!
Solar Beam was instantly overpowered by Flash Cannon.
Boom!!
Flash Cannon engulfed Roserade, triggering an explosion.
When the smoke cleared, Roserade could be seen lying in a shallow crater, its eyes spinning in circles, unable to get up again.
"Ah! I lost..."
Barry clutched his head with both hands, his face full of disbelief.
Snarl was a move TM he had finally managed to obtain, and now he had to hand it over.
"Don't be so down. At your age and with this kind of strength, you're already considered outstanding among your peers," Gary said.
"Really? Am I actually that good?" Barry asked, a little uncertainly.
"Of course. With your current strength, you have a real chance of reaching the top 16 at the League Conference," Gary commented.
"What? Only the top 16? At the very least it should be the top 8," Barry said, dissatisfied.
Gary shook his head helplessly.
He was a rookie Trainer. Being able to train Pokémon this well within a single year was already impressive. Yet somehow, he wanted to go straight for the top 8 of the League Conference.
But thinking about it more carefully—
Barry was actually fairly reasonable. At least Ash had aimed straight for the League Conference championship right from the start, and ended up only reaching the top 16.
If it weren't for Gary's presence, Ash would have been eliminated in the top 8 at his first League Conference, let alone actually reaching the quarterfinals himself.
At the Ever Grande Conference, Ash didn't face Gary. Even so, Ash didn't succeed either—he was defeated by Tyson and stopped in the semifinals.
"Enough of that. It's time to fulfill our agreement. You should hand over the TM to me now," Gary said.
Barry immediately made a sour, sulking expression. He walked over reluctantly, took the TM from his bag, and handed it to Gary.
Although he was unwilling to part with it, he wasn't a sore loser.
"Thanks."
Gary smiled as he accepted the TM.
He'd initially wanted to see whether the usage limit had returned to normal. But even though the usage remained the same, picking up a free TM was still a great outcome.
After obtaining the TM, Gary recalled Magnezone, then took out another Poké Ball and opened it, releasing Tyranitar.
"Ah! This is...!"
When Barry saw Tyranitar, he was shocked and immediately pulled out his Pokédex to scan it.
Pokédex: "Tyranitar, the Armor Pokémon. Its armor is so tough that no attack can leave a mark on it. It will constantly seek out and challenge strong opponents."
"Whoa... The pseudo-legendary of the Johto region, Tyranitar!"
"Since you have this Pokémon, why didn't you use it earlier?"
Barry still had a decent grasp of Pokémon knowledge and recognized pseudo-legendary Pokémon from other regions.
"You couldn't even beat my Magnezone. Are you sure you want to fight my Tyranitar?" Gary said.
Tyranitar looked down at Barry with a haughty expression.
If someone couldn't even beat Magnezone and still wanted to challenge him, they were seriously overestimating themselves.
"Tyra?"
Tyranitar looked over at Gary, not quite understanding why he had been sent out. This blond kid couldn't even beat Magnezone—why would he battle him?
The Tyranitar line was inherently proud and never bullied the weak, unless someone was foolish enough to provoke them.
"I just won a TM from him. It's a Dark-type move, and since you're a Dark-type, this move happens to be perfect for you to learn."
"Tyra!"
Tyranitar's expression brightened.
So Gary had called him out to learn a new move. In that case, no problem.
Gary handed the TM to Tyranitar and reminded him, "Just hold the TM and focus on sensing it."
Tyranitar nodded and concentrated. Before long, it felt the way to use Snarl flowing from the TM, the knowledge instantly imprinting itself into its mind.
"Tyra!"
Tyranitar roared, and dark energy laced with sound waves radiated outward.
Tyranitar had successfully learned Snarl.
Barry watched from the side, gritting his teeth in frustration. The TM he had worked so hard to obtain was now gone.
What made it worse was that Gary didn't bother going somewhere else—he had his Pokémon learn it right in front of him. It was like rubbing salt in the wound.
"Let's go. We'll head to the Pokémon Center."
Magnezone had used Flash Cannon, a move that consumed half of the user's energy.
"Sure."
The two of them were about to leave, but as soon as they walked toward the exit, they saw a blond young man standing at the entrance of the venue.
Volkner!
Gary was surprised.
The blond young man was the Gym Leader of Sunyshore Gym.
Gary was puzzled about why Volkner had appeared here. He had left his Gym in the hands of the AI system he'd built, and normally spent his days up at the electric tower. Why had he suddenly come out?
Could it be that he had changed his mind and decided to pull himself together, becoming a proper Gym Leader once again?
"Excuse me, sir, is something wrong?"
Before Gary could ask any questions, Barry took the initiative to speak up.
"No, I was just passing by and stopped to watch your battle," Volkner replied.
Barry suddenly grew even more unhappy. He had thought no one else was nearby, but he hadn't expected someone had been watching. Being seen suffering a crushing defeat made him feel a little embarrassed.
"Then could you let us through? We're heading to the Pokémon Center," Barry said.
Volkner said nothing and simply stepped aside on his own.
Once Volkner moved out of the way, Barry started walking off, but after a few meters he realized Gary hadn't followed. Confused, he asked, "Huh? Aren't you coming?"
"No."
Gary shook his head and said to Volkner, "You're the Gym Leader of Sunyshore Gym."
Volkner was momentarily taken aback. He hadn't expected Gary to recognize his identity.
"You know me?" Volkner asked.
"I asked the people around here, and they said the Gym Leader of Sunyshore Gym was a young man with a head of blond hair," Gary said.
Volkner touched his hair. It was true—his hair color was awfully hard to miss.
"What?! You're Volkner?!" Barry said in surprise.
"I'm just a Gym Leader. There's no need to be so shocked," Volkner replied.
"No! Why did you turn your Gym into that? You can just get the Badge without even having to challenge you? Do you realize you're breaking Gym rules? You could be fined! Fined!" Barry said angrily.
Although Barry had already received the Beacon Badge, that didn't stop him from disapproving of Volkner.
"No matter how you punish me, I've lost all interest in Pokémon battles," Volkner responded coldly.