Wartortle, huh…
Looking at the sturdy Wartortle before him, Silas felt his anger subside a little, a flicker of approval crossing his eyes.
Sure, the Kanto starters don't have particularly slow evolution cycles, but for a Wartortle to emerge on its own in just half a month was almost unheard of. Not only that, Gary's Wartortle was well-built—taller and bulkier than the average. Clearly, Gary hadn't just been cruising around with girls in his sports car like he did in the original story—he'd actually put in serious training with his Pokémon!
Recognition aside, Silas still intended to teach Gary a lesson.
"Charizard!" Silas didn't bother with the tradition of letting the challenger go first. His voice was grave: "Flamethrower!"
"Charizard!!"
A jet of black flames erupted from Charizard's jaws, sweeping straight toward Wartortle.
Seeing the oncoming fire, Gary responded without missing a beat: "Dive to the bottom!"
"Wartortle~"
Wartortle tucked all four limbs into its shell and quickly sank to the bottom of the pool!
Ssssss—
The attack missed, but as the black flames hit the water, a sharp sizzling sound filled the gym. Clouds of steam drifted up from the pool, raising the temperature inside Cerulean Gym by several degrees.
"Heh." Watching his Wartortle dodge Charizard's attack, Gary was visibly smug. Silas, who usually kept up a relentless barrage of commands, unexpectedly fell silent. Gary, thinking Silas was out of moves, couldn't help but flash a satisfied grin and ordered, "Wartortle, stay on the bottom and hit Charizard with Water Gun and Water Bubble!"
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Dozens of jets of water erupted from the pool, like sharp spears stabbing up at Charizard one after another!
"Burning Bulwark!"
Silas watched the relentless Water Gun assault and gave a calm command.
As soon as Silas spoke, Charizard whipped his tail, the flames at its tip flaring into pitch-black fire that spread rapidly, encasing Charizard in a ring of flames. The temperature around him skyrocketed. Every time a Water Gun made contact with the barrier, it evaporated instantly into thin, wispy steam.
Damn it!
Gary watched as every attack was effortlessly blocked by Charizard, silently cursing and falling into deep thought.
His only hope of victory was to leverage the battlefield's advantages and gradually wear Charizard down. But Charizard negated Wartortle's attacks so easily that dragging things out would probably backfire—Charizard would outlast Wartortle for sure.
With Gary mulling over his options, Silas wasn't in any hurry; he simply waited quietly.
If Silas really wanted, he could have Charizard finish the battle in a flash. But he wanted to see whether his little brother, Gary, could come up with some kind of strategy to turn the tide.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Twenty minutes.
Screw it!
After twenty minutes of struggle, Gary still couldn't think of a way out. Charizard was simply too powerful—every idea seemed hopeless. Left with no other choice, he decided to go all in.
"Wartortle!"
Gary shouted across the pool, "Give it everything you've got—use Water Spout!"
"Wartortle~!"
From the bottom of the pool, Wartortle shrank back into its shell, which began to spin furiously.
As the spinning sped up, the water in the pool started to churn, growing restless, surging in anticipation.
Water Spout—?!
Seeing the change, a look of surprise flashed in Silas's eyes.
He knew Water Spout was an ace Water-type move—something regular Wartortle should never be able to learn. For Gary's to pull it off, there were only two possibilities.
Either this Wartortle was exceptionally gifted, or its parents were incredibly strong and passed the move down. Without both, no way could a Wartortle pull off a move like that!
While Silas was deep in thought, the water in the pool underwent another transformation.
A massive column of water—three meters in diameter—shot skyward, gathering momentum, then crashed down toward Charizard!
"Fire Pledge!"
Lost in thought or not, Silas wasted no time countering.
A roaring pillar of flame surged from Charizard's mouth, barreling straight toward the oncoming deluge.
Sizzle—
Column of fire versus column of water!
Fire Pledge versus Water Spout!
The dramatic, back-and-forth clash he imagined never happened. Instead, there was a brutal, one-sided contest. The instant fire and water collided, a hissing storm of steam filled the air, the mighty water column shrinking rapidly as it got boiled away, turning to vapor with every passing second!
"I give up!"
Seeing nothing else was working, Gary raised his voice in surrender.
He had no choice—if Fire Pledge kept going, Wartortle would get hurt. Wartortle was already drained from unleashing Water Spout, and if it took the full force of Fire Pledge, serious injury—or worse—was all but guaranteed.
Ding! Congratulations, Host, for defeating the challenger. Acquired 200 Fire Crystals (Low-grade)!
Hearing the system notification, Silas calmly spoke: "Charizard."
At his call, Charizard instantly snapped his mouth shut, forcefully swallowing the still-raging Fire Pledge.
After recalling his exhausted Wartortle, Gary walked up to Silas, nervously muttering, "Bro…"
"Not gonna keep fighting?" Silas arched an eyebrow.
"I can't!" Gary gave a helpless chuckle, his tone resigned. "The only other thing I've got is a Nidoran. There's no way it stands a chance against your Charizard."
"No surprise there," Silas quipped coldly. "Spend more time in your fancy sports car with your fan club and it's no wonder you can't beat me."
"My bad." Hearing Silas's sarcasm, Gary immediately admitted defeat. His face was the picture of surrender. "You can punish me or lecture me all you want, just please don't stay mad."
"Hmph." Silas huffed, returning Charizard to the Master Ball before heading off. As he left, he tossed a Cascade Badge back over his shoulder to Gary. "Ditch the car and lose the girls, or you won't even be able to keep pace with Ash—and you'll drag our whole family's name through the mud!"