"We're strangers, so of course I wouldn't know you."
"Whatever! Let's just battle then."
Seeing that Gary was from another region, Benga stopped worrying about it and simply wanted to have a match with him.
"VEE!"
Eevee stepped forward on its own initiative — it would be the one to teach this arrogant little brat a lesson today.
Gary patted Eevee's head and consoled it. "He's just a kid. If you go up, it'd be overkill. Why not let your apprentices handle it instead?"
Eevee: (O_O)??
Eevee thought about it for a moment and decided Gary had a point. Eevee had been with Gary for several years and had recently taken Pawniard and Excadrill under its wing. It might as well let those two step up.
"Apprentices? Pokémon can take apprentices?" Benga asked, a puzzled look on his face.
"Don't worry about it. I'll battle you," Gary said.
"Fine, let's go. I'll definitely show you just how excellent a top student of Blueberry Academy really is."
Hearing that they could finally battle, Benga forgot all about his earlier concerns regarding Pokémon enrollment.
Every city with a Gym had one thing in common — there were public battlefields located near the Gym.
After all, Pokémon would get injured in battle, so battlefields were normally arranged near a Pokémon Center. The same held true for Gyms.
Of course, there were also some unconventional Gyms — like those in the Kanto Region, which tended to be rather eccentric.
Before long, the two found a nearby public battlefield that no one was using. They took their positions in the command areas at opposite ends of the field.
"By the way, let me introduce myself first, so you'll at least know who defeated you. My name is Benga, and I'm destined to become the Champion of the Unova League one day," Benga declared.
Well, I've no idea whether you actually became a Champion, but the next Unova League Champion definitely isn't you — that spot got snatched away by a little dark-skinned girl named Iris.
"My name is Gary."
Gary simply gave his name.
"Gary...!" Benga thought the name sounded utterly ordinary, but he didn't dwell on it. "Alright, Gary, let's make this a 3v3 battle. You've got three Pokémon, right?"
As it happened, Gary had brought four Pokémon with him on this trip to the Unova Region.
"Don't worry, I've got more than enough. Send out your Pokémon," Gary said.
"Okay, feast your eyes on my precious Pokémon. Mine are extremely rare," Benga said, before taking a Poké Ball from the pendant around his neck and hurling it out.
"Go, Dratini!"
Whoosh!
A Dratini with pale, powdery-colored scales appeared.
[LV24 Dratini / Champion]
That's right!
The Pokémon Benga sent out was a shiny Dratini.
Pseudo-legendary Pokémon were already extremely precious, to say nothing of a shiny Dratini.
I wonder if this guy will have the same Pokémon as in the games, Gary thought.
In the games, Benga was the boss of either the Black Tower or the White Treehollow. In the Black Tower, the three Pokémon he used were Latios, Garchomp, and Volcarona.
In the White Treehollow, his three Pokémon were Latias, Dragonite, and Volcarona.
But in the anime, Gary doubted Benga could ever capture Latias or Latios. Dragonite, Garchomp, and Volcarona, however, were all still quite possible. On top of that, Benga hadn't grown up yet, so those three Pokémon were probably still in their pre-evolved forms and hadn't evolved.
"Excadrill, come out and play."
Gary tossed out a Poké Ball casually.
Go!
[LV31 Excadrill / Legendary]
Excadrill had naturally leveled up and evolved during the three days it spent in Pallet Town, and its potential had been raised to Legendary tier. With its own training, Excadrill could quickly break through to Elite level, and reach Gym Leader level in less than two months. This was the benefit of high-potential Pokémon — their leveling speed was fast. It was only after reaching Quasi-Elite level that their growth momentum would begin to slow.
"Don't think you can scare me just because you've got a Steel-type. Dratini, use Leer to lower Excadrill's defense!" Benga attacked immediately.
Dratini immediately used Leer on Excadrill, glaring fiercely at it and lowering its defense by one stage.
"Set up a Sandstorm, then use Metal Claw," Gary ordered.
"DRILL!"
Excadrill paid no mind to its lowered defense and unleashed a Sandstorm. In an instant, its EX Sand Rush and EX Sand Force activated, and combined with the Premium Smooth Rock it was holding, its combat power surged several times over.
"Dratini, attack with Dragon Tail!" Benga ordered.
Although this Dratini was pink, it was far from small — nearly two meters long. If you ignored its head, you'd easily mistake it for a python.
Bang!
A sound rang out from within the Sandstorm, and then Dratini, which had been about to attack, froze in confusion — it had lost sight of its target. Excadrill had vanished.
Bang!!
The very next second, a sharp steel claw struck Dratini, instantly sending it flying.
Bang!
Dratini crashed to the ground, badly hurt, but it did not go down.
"What?! It actually vanished!" Benga was stunned. He too had been staring right at Excadrill, and it had disappeared before his very eyes.
"It didn't vanish. That's Excadrill's Sand Rush Ability. Neither you nor your Pokémon can keep up with Excadrill's speed," Gary pointed out.
Gary had originally thought Benga might have some genuine skill, but he hadn't expected him to be at the Beginner level. His strength was on par with the Naranja Academy students — perhaps even about the same.
"Finish Dratini off — Rock Slide!" Gary ordered.
"DRILL!"
Excadrill manipulated the energy of the earth, condensing a massive volume of rocks and hurling them toward Dratini.
Benga hurriedly ordered, "Smash the rocks with Dragon Tail!"
Dratini swung its Dragon Tail to fend off the rocks, but Excadrill had launched them far too quickly. Faced with such a dense barrage, Dratini couldn't hold out. After shattering a few rocks, it could take no more and was buried beneath the ones that followed, kicking up a large cloud of dust.
When the dust settled, most of Dratini's body was buried, with only part of its head still exposed and its eyes spiraling.
"Dammit, I actually lost!" Benga recalled Dratini in frustration, then demanded a rematch. "I was just careless that time. I'll get serious now."
"With an attitude like that, you're really a top student at your school?" Gary shot back.
"Gr...!"
Benga was so choked up he couldn't get a word out — because he wasn't actually a top student at Blueberry Academy at all. "Top student" was simply what he claimed in public. Who would have thought the very identity he'd fabricated would come back to trap him and cause him this much trouble?