Bang! Bang! Bang...!
Machoke used its own strength to smash apart the incoming rock blades, but its power wasn't enough. After crushing several rock blades, the remaining ones struck through and knocked Machoke out cold.
Bang!!
"Awesome..."
Machoke fell to the ground and couldn't get back up.
"Machoke has lost the ability to battle! Garchomp wins!"
Just like Meditite before it, Machoke wasn't even close to being a match for Garchomp. The gap in strength between the two sides was simply too vast.
Maylene stood there completely stunned. Although she had lost more Gym battles than she'd won, she had never been so utterly overwhelmed—she hadn't even gotten a chance to fight back properly.
Gym battles were supposed to test a challenger's strength, but a match like this couldn't even be called a real Gym battle anymore.
"Lucario, I'm counting on you for everything now," Maylene said, sending out her last Poké Ball.
Flash!
[Lv.34 Lucario / Elite-tier]
Maylene's Lucario had relatively low overall stats, its only real drawback being its low level. If given a year or two, and carefully raised, both her Lucario and Machoke could definitely grow into proper Gym-caliber partners.
"Luk!"
Lucario looked at Garchomp with a serious expression. Through Aura sensing, it already knew that its two teammates had lost, and it could tell just how powerful Garchomp truly was—a formidable opponent.
"Lucario, Bone Rush!" Maylene ordered.
Whoosh!!
Lucario dashed forward in an instant, closing the distance to Garchomp in the blink of an eye. Bone Rush condensed in its hands as it swung toward Garchomp.
"Chomp!"
Garchomp didn't use a move at all—it simply blocked with the white claws on its arm. The moment the two made contact, the energy-formed Bone Rush shattered instantly against Garchomp's sharp claws.
"Iron Tail!" Gary commanded.
Garchomp's long tail became coated in steel energy as it twisted its body and swung toward Lucario. But Lucario seemed to have already predicted the movement and immediately leaped backward, narrowly avoiding the sweep of Iron Tail.
"Aura sensing?"
Gary realized that Lucario had used its Aura-sensing ability to detect Garchomp's movements in advance and dodge accordingly.
"Use Aura Sphere!" Maylene ordered.
"Luk!"
Lucario condensed an Aura Sphere and launched it quickly.
"Shred it with Shadow Claw!"
Garchomp slid to the side, a dark slash cutting through the air. The Aura Sphere was split cleanly in two, its internal energy destroyed by the shadow-infused claw.
Gary then ordered, "Earthquake!"
"Clack!"
Garchomp swung its arms, its sickle-shaped fins slamming into the ground and triggering a violent Earthquake.
"Quick, jump!" Maylene shouted.
Lucario immediately leaped into the air.
Gary had been waiting for exactly this moment. Seeing Lucario airborne, he immediately gave the order: "Fire Blast, end this."
Garchomp raised its head, flames surging from its throat, and spat out a massive fireball straight toward the airborne Lucario.
Unable to move while suspended in midair, Lucario watched helplessly as the flames drew closer and closer, with nothing it could do to escape.
Boom!!
The explosion sent Lucario flying backward, slamming into the Gym wall before crashing to the ground, its eyes rolling into its head.
"Lucario has lost the ability to battle," Kuroda announced helplessly. "All three of Gym Leader Maylene's Pokémon have lost the ability to battle. The winner of this Gym battle is Gary."
With that, the Gym battle came to a decisive end—Gary had won overwhelmingly by score.
"Thank you for the battle. This opponent was simply too strong. It's not your fault," Maylene said. Although she had taken quite a hit, she could clearly see that Gary's strength was far beyond that of a normal challenger. Losing so completely to him was understandable.
After handing her defeated Pokémon to an assistant to be taken for treatment, Maylene walked up to Gary, took out her Gym Badge, and handed it to him.
"This is proof of your victory—the Cobble Badge, awarded for defeating Veilstone Gym."
"Thanks."
Gary accepted the Badge.
[Ding! Mission completed. Reward has been distributed to the space backpack.]
Gary placed the Badge into his case, then asked, "Maylene, did you raise your Lucario from a Riolu?"
Maylene was caught off guard for a moment—she hadn't expected Gary to ask about Lucario specifically. She quickly answered, "No, Lucario was given to me by my father."
"Do you know if there are any wild Riolu or Lucario nearby?" Gary asked.
"There probably aren't any nearby. Wild Lucario are extremely rare to encounter, and wild Riolu don't appear very often either," Maylene said.
For a Riolu to evolve into Lucario, it required a form of spiritual power to trigger the evolution—essentially, a very high level of intimacy. Since wild Pokémon are mostly competing with each other for survival, forming that kind of close bond is difficult in the wild.
Riolu themselves are solitary creatures, not the type to live in groups. Unless a Riolu happens to be raised closely by a Lucario and their intimacy reaches a high enough level, it's very difficult for a wild Riolu to evolve—especially since an adult Lucario would typically just drive a wild Riolu away rather than nurture it.
In the wild, you might occasionally come across a wild Riolu, but encountering a wild Lucario is nearly impossible.
"I see. Then, goodbye," Gary said.
Since he couldn't get any useful information about Lucario, Gary didn't linger any longer.
After leaving Veilstone Gym, Gary checked the reward item given by the system this time.
[Well Mask: When held by an Ogerpon, its type changes to Grass/Fire, and the power of matching moves increases by 50%. When held by any other Pokémon, the power of Water-type moves increases by 50%.]
"What? A Well Mask...?"
Gary was a bit confused. He realized that the items the system had been rewarding him lately were all Generation 9 items. Previously, he'd received Gimmighoul's Coin Purse, and now he'd randomly received a Well Mask.
The Well Mask was normally an exclusive item for Ogerpon, but the version rewarded by the system could apparently be held by any ordinary Pokémon, still boosting the power of Water-type moves.
"That's actually quite useful."
The effect of this Well Mask was essentially the same as a top-tier Mystic Water, and any Water-type Pokémon could benefit from it.
"Come on out, Cyclizar."
Gary released Cyclizar and rode it, planning to leave Veilstone City and head east toward Pastoria City.
Gary traveled east and, after more than twenty minutes, arrived at a scenic area to the east of Veilstone City.
Gary stopped nearby—not at the scenic spot itself, but near the Meteor Crater located there.
Veilstone City had a famous landmark: the Meteor Crater. There were numerous impact craters here, each containing meteorites roughly the size of trucks. According to legend, all these meteorites had fallen at the exact same time—a naturally occurring event of meteorites landing together in one location is extremely rare.
"Could there be a Deoxys hidden among these meteorites?" Gary wondered as he studied the massive rocks.