"Hrr-duo!!"
Hearing the command, Heatran spat downward, and the flames gathered into a ball of fire that engulfed Togepi.
Boom!!
A mushroom cloud of smoke rose into the air.
Freed from Confusion's hold, Heatran also dropped out of the sky and slammed heavily into the ground, which dealt it a fair amount of damage as well.
On the other side, Togepi had already fallen.
Although this naturally wicked Togepi had a high level, its own base stats were simply too low. It had also used Substitute twice earlier.
Substitute required sacrificing physical strength, and using it twice consumed a great deal of stamina. With Heatran's Flash Fire Ability already active, that last attack was more than enough to take Togepi down.
"Go, Poké Ball."
Gary didn't waste words. This Togepi was an excellent Pokémon, and since he had run into it, he had to capture it.
The Poké Ball arced through the air, landed on Togepi, and drew it inside.
The ball rocked gently on the ground three times before going still.
Seeing that it had stopped moving, Gary walked over, picked up the Poké Ball, and checked Togepi's data.
[Pokémon: Togepi]
[Type: Fairy]
[Level: 60]
[Potential: Quasi-Legend]
[Ability: EX Serene Grace (When using moves with additional effects, the chance of the additional effect occurring is multiplied by 4. If it exceeds 100%, the effect is guaranteed.)]
[Moves: Growl, Pound, Sweet Kiss, Life Dew, Metronome, After You, Double-Edge, Safeguard, Baton Pass, Wish]
[Teachable Moves: Attract, Psychic, Flamethrower]
[Friendship: 55 (max 255)]
"Whoa! EX Serene Grace!"
Gary was stunned. He couldn't tell whether this Togepi's Ability had been strengthened or if it was naturally EX Serene Grace to begin with.
Most moves with additional effects had a 30% trigger chance. Multiply that by four and you got 120%, which meant the effect was guaranteed.
Togekiss could learn Air Slash, which had a 30% chance to make the opponent flinch. Paired with EX Serene Grace, that became a 100% flinch rate. It was terrifying.
"What a shame. If it weren't for Hustle, I'd have given you an Ability Expansion Stone," Gary said with regret.
Togekiss was an outstanding Pokémon with high base stats, a wide move pool, and excellent Abilities—including its first, second, and hidden Abilities. The problem was that its first Ability was actively harmful.
Togekiss's first Ability was Hustle, which raised physical attack by 50% but reduced accuracy by 20%.
Togekiss was a special attacker with a physical attack base stat of only 50. Boosting its physical attack was useless, and losing accuracy on top of that made it worse.
Its hidden Ability, Super Luck, was decent, but the accuracy problem remained the key issue. It was like handing someone a deadly weapon—useless if they couldn't hit anything with it.
If Gary used an Ability Expansion Stone on Togepi, it wouldn't improve anything. It would only reduce its lethality.
"The friendship is too low. What a headache."
Gary's head throbbed just looking at that value of 55.
Togepi evolved through friendship. Its friendship had to reach at least 220 before it could evolve into Togetic, and from there a Shiny Stone would evolve it into Togekiss.
Right now, Togepi's friendship with Gary was only 55—far too low for it to listen to him.
Togekiss had a wide move pool, but Togepi's was narrow, especially since this little troublemaker had already learned three teachable moves from who-knows-where. There weren't many left.
Teaching a move only raised friendship by 10 points. Gary estimated Togepi could learn five or six more at most, which would bring friendship to around 100—still a long way from 220.
The bigger problem was that Togepi's level was already high. Raising friendship through leveling would require Advanced Rare Candy, and each level only added 5 points of friendship. Without a Soothe Bell, it would take a ridiculous amount of candy.
And with friendship this low, Togepi probably wouldn't be willing to hold a Soothe Bell in the first place. He would have to teach it moves first, push friendship to around 100, and then get Togepi to accept the item.
Gary still had a few self-selected permanent move learners left over from last time, but they were useless here. He swapped them for two moves Togepi could actually learn, planning to force its friendship up to 220 with Advanced Rare Candy afterward.
With the plan settled, Gary immediately released Togepi. It was still unconscious. Gary reached out, placed a hand on it, and began teaching it moves.
[Pokémon: Togepi]
[Type: Fairy]
[Level: 60]
[Potential: Quasi-Legend]
[Ability: EX Serene Grace (When using moves with additional effects, the chance of the additional effect occurring is multiplied by 4. If it exceeds 100%, the effect is guaranteed.)]
[Moves: Growl, Pound, Sweet Kiss, Life Dew, Metronome, After You, Double-Edge, Safeguard, Baton Pass, Wish]
[Teachable Moves: Attract, Psychic, Flamethrower, Mega Kick, Reflect, Signal Beam, Rest, Rain Dance, Fire Blast, Protect, Body Slam]
[Friendship: 135 (max 255)]
"Not bad. Eight moves learned."
Gary nodded with satisfaction, then recalled Togepi, Heatran, and Cyclizar before sending out Garchomp to fly to Eterna City.
As for riding Cyclizar, Gary didn't dare. Who knew how many holes Togepi had dug along the road?
...
Garchomp was fast, and they reached Eterna City in a little over ten minutes.
At the Pokémon Center, Gary went to retrieve Togepi after its treatment.
"Gary, your Togepi refuses to stay in its Poké Ball. I couldn't get it to go back inside," Nurse Joy said, pushing a cart forward. Togepi sat on the padded mat with its Poké Ball resting beside it.
"Bo-ke."
The moment Togepi saw Gary, it bristled with anger and looked ready to attack. But when it got a good look at Gary's handsome face, it hesitated. For some reason, it found him rather pleasant to look at.
"That's just how my Togepi is. It's fine." Gary waved it off, walked over, and picked Togepi up.
Togepi struggled hard, but its strength wasn't much. Even at level 60, it was physically weaker than Ash, so it could only be carried off against its will.
Once they were outside, Gary set it down.
"Stop struggling. I'm your Trainer now, so you'd better behave," Gary said.
"Bo-ke!"
Togepi was furious. It was the dignified Queen Togepi—how could it possibly obey a human? Humans were nothing more than its toys.