[LV45 Infernape — Elite]
Infernape materialized in a burst of white light—lean, fierce, and blazing with energy. The Flame Pokémon's crown of fire roared to life the instant it touched the sunlit arena floor, its orange-and-white body coiled with muscular tension. Unlike Blaziken's disciplined composure, Infernape radiated raw, barely contained aggression—a fighter born and bred for close-quarters combat.
Not bad at all, Gary thought, appraising the Fire/Fighting-type with genuine respect. Level 45. Solid potential. This Ignis might talk big, but he actually knows how to raise Pokémon. Both Blaziken and Infernape are well-bred, well-trained Fire-types—strong choices for any specialist.
Gary had considered raising an Infernape himself at one point. The Chimchar evolutionary line was one of the most versatile Fire-type families in existence—excellent speed, powerful physical attacks, and a deep movepool that included both Fighting and Fire-type coverage. But he'd never encountered a Chimchar with high enough base potential during his time in Sinnoh, and Gary wasn't the type to settle for anything less than exceptional.
Still, he thought, watching Infernape settle into its battle stance, Level 45 against a Level 63 Electivire. The result isn't going to change.
"Thunderbolt," Gary ordered.
"ELEC—TIVIRE!"
Electivire's body crackled, electricity arcing between the tips of its cable-tails. A searing bolt of golden lightning erupted from its body and screamed across the arena.
"Dig! Get underground, now!" Ignis barked.
Infernape reacted with impressive speed. Its claws tore into the arena floor, and in one fluid motion, it plunged beneath the surface—disappearing underground a split second before the Thunderbolt scorched the air where it had been standing. The bolt struck empty ground, leaving a blackened scorch mark but nothing else.
Ignis allowed himself a tight grin. Underground, Thunderbolt can't reach it. Now we counterattack from below—
"No need to even say it," Gary murmured, the faintest smirk crossing his face.
"Vire."
Electivire shared the sentiment. It lifted one massive foot—and stomped.
BOOOOM!!
The arena floor cracked and buckled as the shockwave of Earthquake radiated outward from Electivire's planted foot. The seismic energy tore through the ground in every direction—and for a Pokémon currently underground, the damage was doubled. Dig made Infernape vulnerable to Earthquake at twice the normal power, and Electivire's Earthquake was devastating under normal circumstances.
"INFER—!!"
The ground erupted. Infernape was blasted upward through the shattered floor, its body convulsing as the seismic force hammered through every bone and muscle. The Fire/Fighting-type flew several meters into the air, limbs flailing, its crown of flame guttering wildly—and then crashed back down onto the ruined arena floor with a sickening thud.
Infernape lay face-down in the debris. Its fingers twitched once. Its flame flickered low. Then it went still.
"Infernape is unable to battle! Electivire wins!" the referee announced, though his voice carried a note of stunned disbelief. Two Pokémon down—both in a single hit.
Ignis stood frozen on his platform, his massive arms hanging limp at his sides. His jaw worked silently. Two of his prized Pokémon—his vanguard and his elite fighter—defeated in consecutive one-hit knockouts without Electivire taking so much as a scratch.
An Electivire that knows Earthquake, he thought numbly. That's… that's not standard. That's not a move Electivire normally learns. This kid specifically taught it coverage moves to handle its weaknesses. The preparation, the level gap, the battle IQ…
"Gym Leader Ignis," Gary called from across the arena, his tone conversational but carrying an unmistakable undercurrent of challenge. "Are you alright? Is this really what you'd call the strongest Gym in Sinnoh?"
The words landed like a slap.
Ignis's tanned face flushed deep red. His hands clenched into fists at his sides—fists large enough to crush watermelons—and for a fleeting moment, his expression suggested he was seriously considering walking across the arena and settling this the old-fashioned way, Gym rules be damned.
He took a breath. Then another.
"Don't get cocky, boy," he growled, his voice dropping to a dangerous rumble. He reached into his pocket—not his belt, but a separate pocket, one reserved for something special. His fingers closed around a Poké Ball, and when he drew it out, he held it with a reverence that hadn't been present for the first two. "You haven't seen my strongest yet. This… this is my trump card."
He hurled the ball with enough force to crack a wall.
"Go—Magmortar!"
The Poké Ball burst open, and a massive, rotund figure materialized on the arena floor. Magmortar—the Blast Pokémon—stood nearly five feet tall, its thick red-and-yellow body radiating waves of intense heat. Its arms terminated in cannon-like tubes rather than hands, each one capable of launching fireballs at temperatures exceeding 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit. The Pokémon's eyes blazed with fierce determination, and the air around it shimmered and distorted from the sheer thermal output.
[LV52 Magmortar — Elite-tier]
Gary's eyebrow rose fractionally. Level 52?
That was higher than expected. Based on the system's mission rewards—six Intermediate Rare Candies, indicating the Gym's standard challenge range was Level 40 to 49—Ignis's third Pokémon should have been within that bracket. A Level 52 Magmortar was above the Gym's official difficulty tier.
He's angry, Gary realized. He sent out a Pokémon above the standard Gym level to try and salvage his pride. Understandable, but it won't matter. Level 52 is still eleven levels below Electivire—and Magmortar's a pure Fire-type with no secondary typing to complicate things.
"Magmortar—Flamethrower!" Ignis roared, attacking immediately.
"MOOOR!"
Magmortar raised both cannon-arms and unleashed twin streams of searing flame. The dual Flamethrowers spiraled around each other as they tore across the arena, merging into a single devastating torrent of white-hot fire that lit up the entire glass-ceilinged battlefield.
"Thunderbolt," Gary said calmly.
"VIRE!"
Electivire's body erupted with electrical energy. A concentrated bolt of lightning lanced forward, punching clean through the center of the combined Flamethrower. The flames parted like curtains—torn apart by the sheer voltage—and the Thunderbolt continued unchecked, slamming into Magmortar dead center.
"MOOOR—!!" Magmortar staggered backward, its thick body absorbing the electrical assault. Sparks danced across its hide, and it grunted in pain—but it didn't fall. At Level 52 with Elite-tier durability, it could tank a single Thunderbolt from a higher-leveled opponent without going down.
"What—!" Ignis's eyes bulged. "That Thunderbolt cut straight through Magmortar's Flamethrower?!" His mind raced to the obvious conclusion. "That's… that's Elite-level power. At minimum. That Electivire is at least Elite-tier!"
The realization hit him like a physical blow. A trainer who looked barely old enough for high school was commanding an Elite-tier Pokémon—a Pokémon that would be the ace of most professional trainers' teams. And he was using it to steamroll a Gym challenge like it was morning exercise.
"Thunder Punch—close the distance!" Gary ordered.
"ELEC—TIVIRE!"
Electivire charged forward, its heavy footsteps cracking the already-damaged arena floor. Lightning wreathed its right fist in a blinding golden corona.
"Don't let it get close! Fire Blast—full power!" Ignis screamed.
Magmortar planted its feet and raised both cannon-arms. Heat concentrated at the mouths of the barrels—intensifying, compressing, building to critical mass. Then, with a thunderous boom, Magmortar unleashed Fire Blast. The kanji-shaped inferno—a massive, five-pointed star of roaring flame—erupted outward, filling the arena with searing light and blistering heat.
"VIRE."
Electivire didn't slow down. A shimmering translucent barrier materialized in front of it—Light Screen, reducing the damage of special attacks by half. The Fire Blast struck the barrier and detonated in a colossal explosion of flame and force. Smoke and fire billowed outward, engulfing the center of the arena.
Ignis stared into the inferno, daring to hope—
Electivire burst through the smoke.
Light Screen still shimmering around its body, soot blackening its fur but its stride unbroken, the Thunderbolt Pokémon emerged from the explosion like a freight train punching through a paper wall. Its lightning-wreathed fist was already cocked back.
Magmortar had no time to react. No time to dodge. No time to fire another shot.
CRACK!!
Thunder Punch connected with the side of Magmortar's head. The impact was catastrophic—a detonation of electrical energy and raw physical force that sent a shockwave rippling across the arena. Magmortar's massive body was lifted clean off the ground, rotated a quarter-turn in midair, and slammed into the floor with enough force to crack the reinforced tiles beneath it.
Magmortar's cannon-arms dropped to its sides. Its blazing eyes dimmed. It didn't rise.
Silence.
"Magmortar is unable to battle," the referee announced, his voice slightly hoarse. "Electivire wins. All three of Gym Leader Ignis's Pokémon have been defeated. The winner of this Gym Challenge is the challenger, Gary!"
The words echoed through the sunlit arena—a battlefield that now looked like a warzone. Cracked floors, scorch marks, shattered tiles, and lingering wisps of smoke drifting through the brilliant shafts of sunlight streaming down from the glass ceiling.
Ignis recalled Magmortar in silence. His broad shoulders sagged—not from exhaustion, but from the weight of a pride that had been comprehensively dismantled. Three Pokémon. Three one-sided losses. The self-proclaimed strongest Gym in Sinnoh had been swept without his opponent breaking a sweat.
Gary crossed the arena and stopped in front of Ignis. Despite the Gym Leader towering over him by nearly a foot, there was no question about who held the authority in this room.
"Good match," Gary said. "I'll take the Badge now."
Ignis looked down at him—really looked at him, for the first time seeing past the youth and recognizing the caliber of trainer standing before him. "That Electivire… you raised it yourself?"
"Of course," Gary said. "I caught it as an Elekid in my first year as a trainer."
"VIRE." Electivire thumped its chest once in confirmation, its cable-tails swishing with casual pride.
Ignis exhaled heavily through his nose. Then, with a grudging but genuine nod of respect, he reached into his vest pocket and produced a small, gleaming badge—shaped like a stylized sun with radiating flame motifs, cast in burnished gold and crimson enamel.
"The Solar Flare Badge," Ignis said, placing it in Gary's palm. "You've earned it. More than earned it."
"Thanks."
Gary placed the Badge in his case with the others and turned to leave.
[Ding! Mission complete. Both objectives fulfilled. Rewards have been deposited into system storage.]
Gary gave a small nod of acknowledgment as the system notification registered, then glanced down at Eevee on his shoulder.
"Let's go, Eevee."
"Vui!"
They walked out of the Sunshine Gym together—Gary with his hands in his pockets, Eevee perched contentedly on his shoulder—leaving behind a humbled Gym Leader standing in the ruins of his own arena, seriously reconsidering his claim to being Sinnoh's strongest.
Once outside, Gary ducked into a quiet alley between two buildings and opened his system storage to examine the rewards.
The Intermediate Rare Candies were useful but expected. The Fire Punch TM was decent coverage. The top-quality Charcoal would boost Fire-type move power—good for Arcanine or Heatran. The Fire-type TM of his choice from the bonus objective was the real prize.
But it was the random Pokémon item that stopped him in his tracks.
[Premium Smooth Rock: Extends the duration of Sandstorm weather. Additionally, when a Pokémon holding this item uses Rock-type or Ground-type moves during Sandstorm conditions, those moves receive a 30% power increase.]
Gary stared at the description.
That's… significantly better than a standard Smooth Rock. A normal Smooth Rock simply extended Sandstorm's duration from five turns to eight. This premium version did that and provided a substantial damage boost to Rock and Ground moves while the sandstorm raged—a combination that turned an already powerful weather condition into a devastating force multiplier.
This is perfect for Tyranitar, he thought immediately. Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability automatically summoned a Sandstorm upon entering battle, and the majority of its offensive movepool consisted of Rock and Ground-type attacks—Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Earthquake, Crunch notwithstanding. With this Premium Smooth Rock, Tyranitar's already monstrous damage output would jump by nearly a third in sandstorm conditions, on top of the Special Defense boost that Sandstorm already provided to Rock-types.
Ideally, once I find Tyranitarite—Tyranitar's Mega Stone—I'd have it hold that instead. But until then, this Smooth Rock is the best possible held item for it. An incredible placeholder—arguably better than Mega Evolution in sustained sandstorm battles where the 30% damage boost over multiple turns outweighs a single Mega transformation.
Gary tucked the item away with a satisfied nod.
Next: the Fire-type TM selection from the bonus objective.
"System—redeem Flare Blitz."
There was no hesitation. Flare Blitz was the most powerful physical Fire-type move available through TMs—120 base power, with the trade-off of recoil damage to the user. It was a move that only Fire-type Pokémon and a select few others could learn, making it both exclusive and devastatingly effective.
[Ding! TM redemption successful. Flare Blitz TM has been added to inventory.]
Gary pulled the TM disc from his storage, then looked down at Eevee.
"Come here."
"Vui?"
Eevee hopped off his shoulder and landed on the ground, looking up at him with curious eyes. Gary knelt down and placed his hand gently on Eevee's head, activating the TM's teaching function. A faint glow passed through Eevee's body as the move data integrated into its cellular memory.
"Vui~!" Eevee chirped happily, its tail wagging. It had grown thoroughly accustomed to Gary periodically expanding its move library. Each new technique meant more options in battle—and for a Pokémon whose entire combat identity revolved around multi-form versatility through the Multi-Attribute System, every additional move was like adding another weapon to an already impressive arsenal.
Flare Blitz was a particularly valuable addition. Very few non-Fire-type Pokémon could learn it, but Eevee's unique system allowed it to access the move in its Flareon form—where the combination of Flareon's physical Attack stat and Flare Blitz's raw power would be devastating.
That addresses one of the biggest weaknesses I identified during the evolution testing, Gary thought with satisfaction. Flareon is a physical attacker, but Eevee's Fire-type moves were mostly special attacks. Flare Blitz gives Flareon a STAB physical Fire move with real power. The movepool mismatch is fixed.
After teaching Eevee the new move, Gary found a small restaurant on Sunshine Town's main street and had a quick lunch. The food was simple but good—the kind of honest, unpretentious cooking that small towns excelled at. Eevee sat on the table beside his plate, happily munching on a bowl of specially prepared Pokémon food.
By early afternoon, they were on the move again.
Gary's original plan to capture the Lake Trio while they were unconscious had failed—the Red Chain fragments embedded in their foreheads had prevented any Poké Ball from registering a capture. With that option gone, he'd have to fall back on his secondary approach: find the Lake Guardians in their natural habitats and negotiate directly.
Of Sinnoh's three great lakes, only Lake Verity remained in its natural, undeveloped state. Lake Valor had been commercially developed into a tourist attraction, complete with a lakeside Grand Hotel and guided boat tours. Lake Acuity in the north had undergone similar renovation. Both were poor environments for quietly approaching a Legendary Pokémon.
Lake Verity, however, was still protected wilderness—untouched by development, surrounded by dense forest, and accessible only by a single trail marked with weathered wooden signs. It was the lake associated with Mesprit, the Being of Emotion, and it remained as close to pristine as any location in modern Sinnoh could be.
Gary followed the trail signs westward, Eevee trotting at his side, and set his course for the lake.