Gary stayed in Pallet Town for three days.
He had wanted to wait until Professor Oak returned before leaving for the Unova Region.
But Professor Oak still had to attend academic conferences in other regions and wouldn't be back anytime soon, so Gary had no choice but to head to the Unova Region first.
The distance between the Unova Region and the Kanto Region was considerable. After a full morning on the plane, he finally arrived in Castelia City.
Castelia City was a harbor city located at the southernmost point of the Unova Region, and it was also the most developed city in Unova. It was one of the largest cities in the world — a true melting pot of cultures. Any company on the global top 500 list, so long as it operated internationally, inevitably had a branch office somewhere in Castelia City.
Because Castelia City had the highest concentration of office buildings anywhere, any company involved in foreign trade would open a branch here. It made communication with businesses from other regions far more convenient.
"Eevee, let's go get some ice cream," Gary said.
"VEE!"
Eevee nodded furiously. It loved sweet and tangy snacks more than anything.
The Casteliacone was Castelia City's most famous dessert, and Gary had heard of it long ago. Since he was already here, he intended to try every local specialty the city had to offer.
As for his Pokémon's levels, that was nothing to worry about. Whenever Gary wanted, he could raise any Unova Region Pokémon he caught to Elite-level strength.
Especially since he'd be challenging Unova's Gyms going forward — the Rare Candy rewards from all eight Gyms alone would be more than enough to push his Unova Pokémon up a considerable number of levels.
Castelia City also had a Gym of its own, but it was already three in the afternoon and there wasn't enough time. Gary decided to challenge it tomorrow morning and spend the rest of today eating, drinking, and enjoying the city.
Castelia City really was a fun place. It was so highly developed that nearly every new thing in the world could be found there. Even specialty foods from other regions were available somewhere in the city.
After a pleasant afternoon, Gary spent the night at a five-star hotel. The next morning, after breakfast, he headed to the Castelia Gym.
"Very artistic."
When Gary arrived at the entrance of the Castelia Gym, he took in the magnificent structure before him. The entire Gym had been built in the shape of a honeycomb, filled with hexagonal chambers, and a great many large trees had been planted inside.
The Gym Leader of Castelia Gym was a man named Burgh — a Trainer who specialized in Bug-types, and an artist by trade.
Gary stepped inside. The first thing that caught his eye were the towering trees planted throughout the interior, lending the place a distinctly natural atmosphere.
"Can I help you with something?"
A man in a green shirt was seated behind the counter off to the side. Hearing movement at the entrance, he looked up at Gary.
"Hello. I'm here to challenge the Castelia Gym. My name is Gary." Gary walked over and produced his Pokédex to verify his identity.
"Sorry, but the Gym Leader isn't here at the moment. He's gone out on a sketching trip," the man replied.
A sketching trip...!
Burgh was an artist, so he'd apparently gone off into the wilderness to find beautiful scenery, then would come back and paint it.
But... Gary hadn't expected to run into a situation like this.
"When will he be back?" Gary asked.
"He only left yesterday. It'll be at least a week before he returns," the man said.
"A week? Then I'll be on my way."
If it had been a day or two, Gary could have waited. But a week was far too long.
"See you around!" The receptionist waved goodbye.
Gary turned and left. As he stepped outside the Gym entrance, he spotted a boy with wild, spiky hair standing just outside. The boy looked to be about Gary's age.
"Benga!" Gary was startled.
The boy in front of him wore a white top and black pants, carried a backpack, had a Poké Ball–shaped pendant hanging around his neck, and sported a head of vivid orange-red hair.
Benga came from an impressive background. His grandfather was Alder, the Champion of the Unova League, and Benga himself was a Trainer.
In the games, if you defeated Benga at the top of the Black Tower, he would give the protagonist a shiny Gible or Dratini.
But why was Benga here?
As Gary recalled, in order to keep his grandson out of harm's way, Alder had sent Benga off to attend a Pokémon school.
"Hey, did the Castelia Gym Leader just beat you?"
Benga had already decided, without a shred of doubt, that Gary had lost.
Eevee: "VEE! (?~?)!"
Eevee immediately barked in indignation. How could Gary possibly lose? If the Gym Leader had actually been there, he'd have been swept in minutes.
"Man, you're overconfident. Castelia Gym is a Bug-type Gym. The least you could do is show up prepared with Fire-types and Flying-types. No wonder you lost." Benga shook his head with exaggerated pity.
"VEE!"
Eevee was furious. Not only was this kid mocking Gary, he was mocking Eevee too. This brat clearly needed to be taught a lesson.
"Eevee, calm down." Gary quickly pinned down Eevee, who looked ready to lunge forward and bite someone, then explained, "The Gym Leader went out on a sketching trip. He wasn't there, so I haven't even had my challenge yet."
"What — he went sketching?! Does that Gym Leader know I'm here and he's deliberately hiding from me?!" Benga shouted indignantly.
...
Gary knew Benga was arrogant and full of himself, but he hadn't expected the kid to be this narcissistic — actually convinced that the Gym Leader was afraid of him.
"Excuse me." Gary couldn't be bothered dealing with Benga and started to walk away.
"Hold on, don't leave yet. Since you came all this way for a Gym challenge, I figure you'd be pretty unsatisfied walking off without a single battle," Benga said, taunting him.
"You want to battle me?" Gary asked.
"That's right. I'm a top student at Blueberry Academy. Let's have a match," Benga said.
Gary: ???
Gary racked his brain trying to figure out what kind of prestigious school "Blueberry Academy" was supposed to be. None of the famous academies he knew of went by that name.
"Forgive my ignorance. Is Blueberry Academy a famous school?" Gary asked.
"What?!"
Benga looked genuinely shocked and immediately launched into an explanation. "Blueberry Academy was founded jointly by Naranja Academy and the Unova League! How do you not know that? You're standing right here in Castelia City!"
Gary was momentarily stunned.
He had been to Naranja Academy not long ago, but he'd had no idea it was cooperating with the Unova League — let alone that it had established an entire school in Unova.
This had to be Geeta's doing. She wanted to expand the Paldea League's influence across the world.
"Sorry. I'm from the Kanto Region, so I don't know much about Unova," Gary said.