"End the battle with Shadow Punch," Gary ordered calmly.
"Anni!"
Annihilape threw another punch without hesitation.
Bang!
There were no surprises this time. Kofu didn't even have a chance to give a command before Wugtrio was sent flying into the wall, losing consciousness on impact.
"Wugtrio is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "All of Gym Leader Kofu's Pokémon have been defeated. The winner of this Gym Battle is the challenger, Gary!"
The Gym Battle had ended in less than ten minutes.
The onlookers were somewhat surprised. They hadn't expected such a strong Trainer to show up and challenge the Gym.
After all, Gyms mainly existed to train rookie Trainers, so there was usually no need for Gym Leaders to bring out their full strength against every challenger.
If Gary hadn't looked so young, people would surely have started whispering after witnessing such a one-sided match.
"Gary, you're very strong. I admit defeat wholeheartedly. This is the Cascarrafa Gym Badge—please take it."
After the match, Kofu handed the Gym Badge over to Gary.
The Badge shared the same overall design as the other Gym Badges in the Paldea region. The only difference was the emblem at its center. Since Cascarrafa was a Water-type Gym, the symbol engraved on it was a water droplet.
"Thank you."
Gary accepted the Badge.
[Ding! Task completed. The reward has been distributed to System Storage.]
With the battle over, Gary also made a dinner reservation at the front counter. Kofu was a famous chef, and since Gary was already here, he had to try the man's cooking for himself.
After booking his table, Gary released Cyclizar and let it roam around freely while he opened his System Storage to check what item he'd been rewarded this time.
[Charizardite Y (Allows Charizard to Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard Y.)]
"I'll go... Why is it Y?"
Gary was puzzled.
Not that Mega Charizard Y was bad. If anything, comparing the two forms objectively, Mega Charizard Y actually had a far more sensible Base Stat distribution than Mega Charizard X.
Mega Charizard X had both Attack and Special Attack sitting at 130, yet because its Ability was Tough Claws, it was practically forced to rely on physical attacks.
The trouble was that among Charizard's Fire-type and Dragon-type moves, its strongest options were almost all special attacks.
The best Dragon-type move Charizard could naturally learn was Dragon Pulse. And the strongest Fire-type moves—Fire Blast, Overheat, and Blast Burn—were all special attacks as well.
The only genuinely powerful physical Fire-type move it had access to was Flare Blitz, with a base power of 120.
Mega Charizard Y, by contrast, leaned entirely into Special Attack. Paired with its Drought Ability, which boosted Fire-type moves by 50%, its offensive power was undeniably greater.
Of course, in a head-to-head between Mega Charizard X and Mega Charizard Y, it was actually Mega Charizard Y that came out at a disadvantage.
Mega Charizard X's Dragon and Fire typing gave it strong resistance to Fire-type moves, and to make matters worse, Mega Charizard Y's own Drought would only further strengthen Mega Charizard X's Fire attacks.
So in a mirror match, Mega Charizard Y couldn't compare to Mega Charizard X. But against any other opponent, Mega Charizard Y generally had the edge.
In truth, though, the gap between the two wasn't all that significant.
Gary personally leaned toward Mega Charizard X simply because it looked cooler. But if raw combat power was the only thing that mattered, Mega Charizard Y was without question the stronger choice.
The deciding factor was that the Charizard Gary was raising wouldn't be learning Dragon Rush anyway. Seen from that angle, evolving it into Mega Charizard Y would offer an even bigger improvement.
"Next up is the move. What should I pick?"
Since nearly every region had a Water-type Gym, Gary had ended up accumulating a whole stack of Water-type Move Tutors. He already had both physical and special Water-type moves, and he'd even redeemed Rain Dance a while back. There wasn't much left among the Water-type moves worth taking.
After thinking it over for a while, Gary finally landed on a move worth exchanging for.
"System, redeem the Water-type Self-Select Permanent Move Tutor for Flip Turn."
[Ding! Move redemption successful.]
By the time Gary finished redeeming the move, Cyclizar had already circled back to the entrance of the Pokémon Center.
Gary checked in and handed Cetitan over to Nurse Joy for treatment.
That evening, Gary headed to Kofu Lounge for dinner.
After ordering every signature dish on the menu, Gary reached a single conclusion: every last one of them deserved to be called delicious. Some were so good he simply couldn't put his utensils down.
After a thoroughly satisfying meal, Gary spent the night resting in Cascarrafa.
The next morning...
Gary rode Togekiss toward Medali, a small town in West Province Area Three.
Although Medali was just a small town, it was quite famous throughout the Paldea region. Its Treasure Eatery was especially well known, celebrated for serving dishes that could change a Pokémon's Tera Type.
People could eat those dishes too, and it was said that every Tera Type meal carried its own unique flavor.
By the time Gary arrived in Medali, it was already nine o'clock in the morning—still more than two hours before lunch. Since there was plenty of time to spare, Gary decided to challenge the Medali Gym first.
The Medali Gym was officially a Normal-type Gym, but its Gym Leader was anything but ordinary.
His name was Larry, and he looked exactly like an average office worker. Yet on top of being a Gym Leader, he also held a seat among the Paldea Elite Four.
That's right—Larry wasn't just a Gym Leader. He was also a member of the Elite Four.
During Gym challenges, Larry fielded a Normal-type team at relatively modest levels. As an Elite Four member, however, his true specialty was Flying types.
Gary landed at the entrance of the Medali Gym on Togekiss.
Like several other Gyms in Paldea, the Medali Gym doubled as an office building, mainly handling business affairs for the nearby shops. It stood beside a major intersection, with the battlefield built close by.
The battlefield itself was very plain, resembling an ordinary public plaza. The only obvious difference was the set of energy generators installed at all four corners, used to project the protective barrier during battles.
After recalling Togekiss, Gary walked up to the Gym. The automatic glass doors sensed his approach and slid open to either side.
Stepping inside, Gary saw a room full of people dressed like office workers—men in suits and ties, women in business attire.
"Young man," the receptionist said, stepping forward to greet him. "Are you here to challenge the Gym?"
"Yes. Is the Gym Leader here?" Gary asked.
"Section Chief! There's a Trainer here to challenge the Gym!"
Realizing Gary had come for a Gym challenge, the receptionist turned and called out toward the office area.
"A Trainer's here?"
At that, a middle-aged man rose wearily from his desk.
He looked exhausted, wearing the unmistakable expression of a salaryman worn down by endless overtime. It was hard to believe that a man with such a perpetually tired face was actually a member of the Elite Four.