"Onix, Stone Edge!"
Just as Gyarados finished charging and prepared to fire Ice Beam, Flint made his move too. Onix swept its tail across the rocky field, sending chunks of stone flying like cannonballs straight into the beam.
Boom, boom, boom!
The rocks froze the instant they struck Ice Beam, dropping one after another as heavy lumps of ice. As long as Ice Beam kept firing, the stone projectiles kept coming, until both attacks finally ran out.
In the end, Stone Edge cancelled out Ice Beam. Reiji immediately called out again, "Gyarados, Dragon Dance!"
"Hm? It knows Dragon Dance?" Surprise flickered across Flint's face. This Trainer was not simple. Dragon Dance was a Dragon-type status move, after all.
Then Flint called to Onix as well. "Dragon Dance!"
"What?"
This time, Reiji was the one caught off guard. Onix knew Dragon Dance too? Was this thing cheating?
"Gyarados, Dragon Pulse!"
"Onix, Dragon Pulse as well!"
"Gyaaa!"
The two Pokémon twisted their bodies through Dragon Dance, then opened their mouths at the same time. Terrifying beams of multicolored energy blasted out, each carrying the faint shape of a dragon's head. The two dragon shadows clashed in midair, jaws tearing at each other, neither side able to break through.
Only when Gyarados's dragon shadow began to fade did Reiji quietly admit it was still a little short. He immediately ordered, "Ice Beam!"
"Gya!"
Gyarados fired another Ice Beam. This time, Onix burrowed underground instead of using Stone Edge again. The surface rocks had already been smashed apart, leaving it with no usable ammunition.
"Gyarados, Earth—no, use Iron Tail! Underground!"
The moment Reiji felt the ground tremble beneath his feet, he changed tactics.
After seeing the first round, Flint clearly was not going to give Gyarados the chance to land Earthquake. Onix burst out from directly beneath Gyarados almost instantly.
The moment Onix broke through the ground, its entire stone head shone with a metallic gleam. It had used Iron Head, and it crashed straight into Gyarados's Iron Tail.
Boom!
Onix's Iron Head won the clash and knocked Gyarados's tail aside.
"Gyarados, Bind! Ice Fang!"
"Gyara!" Gyarados was thrown back, but it rose again with full aggression and surged forward. Its blue, scaled body coiled rapidly around Onix, while its icy fangs bit toward Onix's neck.
"Onix!" Onix refused to give in. Its head and neck hardened like steel to defend against Ice Fang, and at the same time, it opened its mouth and bit back at Gyarados.
"Gyarados, use Flamethrower from there!"
"Gyara!" Gyarados clamped down on Onix's mouth. The cold around its fangs vanished in an instant, replaced by a burst of flame that slammed into Onix's steel-hardened body.
"Onix!" Unable to endure the burning heat, Onix released its grip with a pained cry. It drove its head into the ground and quickly burrowed underground, escaping Gyarados's coils.
"Gyarados, Hydro Pump into the hole!"
"Gyara!" Gyarados fired a thick blast of water into the opening, and the battlefield instantly turned into a fountain, water surging out with a loud rush.
Onix was forced back out by Hydro Pump. Cracks had appeared along the section of its neck where Gyarados had bitten it, with several clear fang marks left behind.
"How is that possible?"
Even Flint, who had absolute confidence in Onix's defenses, could not hide his shock. He had not expected Gyarados to break through the armor that hard.
The reason was simple. Onix was already beginning to harden into steel. In other words, it was close to evolving into Steelix. That steel-hardening strengthened its defense, but it also gave Onix a new weakness.
Its hardened body had been hit by the extreme cold of Ice Fang, then immediately blasted by the intense heat of Flamethrower.
The sudden temperature shift made the steel-hardened surface brittle and easier to deform. That was how Gyarados managed to bite cracks into it.
Even a fully evolved Steelix would still be affected by that kind of attack. Steel was x2 weak to Fire, and that weakness came from the nature of the material itself. It could not be avoided.
The only solution was to make the body even harder and raise Steelix's melting point, training it to withstand both high heat and extreme cold. It was similar to the way Forretress was raised: make it tough enough that fire could not damage it, and prevent rapid temperature shifts from tearing through the body. Otherwise, no steel could handle that kind of stress.
"Young man, you win." Flint recalled Onix into its Poké Ball. Onix could not continue fighting in that condition. It needed ore as soon as possible to repair its body before the cracks worsened.
Onix was on the verge of evolution. Flint had not wanted it to battle in the first place, and now that its body had been damaged, he had even less reason to continue.
Before evolution, Onix could not afford to drain or damage its body too much. Only after its entire body finished hardening into steel would it evolve into Steelix.
"That's it? I won?" Reiji held the Boulder Badge Flint had tossed over. He had expected a long, brutal fight against Pewter Gym's previous Gym Leader. Instead, Flint had simply handed him the badge.
"You're quite good, young man. My son Brock is about your age. If he were at the Gym, I think the two of you would have plenty to talk about."
"Ahem." Reiji suddenly remembered that night drinking at the reservoir and could not bring himself to meet Flint's eyes. His conscience was acting up.
There was no way he could mention that night in front of Brock's father. He had dragged Flint's son into drinking with him until the middle of the night, and Brock had not even been able to hold his liquor. Who knew whether Flint would chase him down for corrupting his son?
"Anyway, I should get going." Reiji did not dare stay any longer. The more he said, the easier it would be to slip up. There was no way he could tell Flint that he knew Brock, so he hurried out of the Gym.
"Strange." Flint watched Reiji flee and found it odd. The boy had been so confident a moment ago, but the instant Brock came up, he acted like a different person and did not want to talk at all.
But Reiji was already gone, so Flint could not get an answer. He could only leave the Gym battles to Forrest again and head back to the kitchen.
If Brock knew that young man, he could ask him once Brock came home.
Right. What was that young man's name again?
He had forgotten to ask. After he finished cooking, he could check the challenger registration and find out.
After leaving Pewter Gym, Reiji glanced back at the entrance and quietly let out a breath. His fingers brushed over the cool surface of the Boulder Badge before he set it into his badge case.
The case had ten slots, each shaped for a different badge. Two slots were still empty, but he did not plan to challenge any more Gyms.
The minimum requirement for the Indigo League was eight badges, and he had them now. All he needed to do next was head to Indigo Plateau and attend the opening ceremony.
The ceremony was still ten days away, though, so he was not in a hurry. Instead, he planned to visit the lighthouse and look for traces of the giant Dragonite.
He had already missed the time when the giant Dragonite appeared, but it should have left behind some traces of its enormous size.
As a transmigrator, he suspected that Dragonite might be a Gigantamax Dragonite, like that Snorlax from the anime that turned into Gigantamax Snorlax after eating a certain Berry.
Eternatus's energy could also trigger Dynamax, so the phenomenon itself was not that strange.
Aside from those two types of Dynamaxing, Arceus's Plates could also make Pokémon grow to giant size.
And one could not forget the ruins near Pallet Town from the first generation. Three giant Pokémon had appeared there, and their size was not inferior to Dynamax Pokémon at all.
The question was whether they had any energy limit. Judging from the legend that the giant Gengar and giant Alakazam could destroy an entire nation, they could probably fight for days and nights without stopping.
The black crystal stone that sealed the giant Gengar, the golden eye and spoon-shaped crystal that sealed the giant Alakazam, and the bronze bell and paintbrush that sealed the giant Jigglypuff were definitely not ordinary items. Those ruins had to be hiding plenty of good things.
But he did not dare enter ruins of that level. They contained the legacy of an ancient civilization, so the League would definitely get involved.
At most, he could have Darkrai slip inside later, grab a few good things, and leave. Those ruins were too dangerous. There were treasures inside, sure, but the risk was too high. No need to gamble with his life.
Back to the giant Dragonite. Dragonite came to the lighthouse once every year and cried out, probably mourning someone. Maybe that someone was an ancient human. Dragon-type Pokémon had very long lifespans, but the only way to know the truth would be to ask Dragonite itself—and that was assuming Dragonite was willing to talk.
The lighthouse was at White Cape*, a decent vacation spot between Cerulean City and Vermilion City, on the strait near the northeast corner of the inland sea.
In other words, he would need to take a boat from the west side of the inland sea to the east side.
The closest he had ever been to the lighthouse was when he and Keith had come ashore by boat.
Back then, he had gone straight to Celadon City and had not visited White Cape.
Now that he had enough badges, he could go relax there for a while. As for preparing for the League, there was no need. Whether he won the championship or not would not affect his plan to live off the system, so why work that hard?.
After leaving Pewter Gym, Reiji ate lunch at the Pokémon Center and had his Pokémon checked over. None of them had hidden injuries or any problems. Once they finished lunch too, he prepared to set off for the lighthouse.
But to get from Pewter City to the coast, he would have to cross Viridian Forest and take a boat from Port 17.
Either that, or he could travel by land to Viridian City first, then go from Viridian City to Port 17 and take a boat to White Cape.
The first route, straight through the dense old-growth forest of Viridian, would naturally be faster. But that was primal woodland, full of countless powerful Pokémon. If he accidentally entered the territory of a "Boss" Pokémon, he would definitely be chased.
The second route through Viridian City was longer, but Team Rocket was active in that area. They even had sites inside Viridian Forest, so there was a chance he would run into them poaching wild Pokémon.
Even so, that was still much safer than cutting directly through the old forest. And even if he chose the forest route, he might still run into Team Rocket anyway. Their poaching grounds were in Viridian Forest.
Since both routes could involve Team Rocket, he might as well take the main road. With more people around, traveling after dark would not be as worrying either.
After choosing his route, Reiji went to the outskirts of Pewter City and climbed onto Tauros to continue the journey. This stretch would be hard on Tauros.
There was no need to keep flying. In an area where Team Rocket often appeared, flying through the sky was too obvious. It would be easy for someone to spot him and shoot him down. He could not get careless.
The distance from Pewter City to Viridian City was not that far. If he kept moving, he could arrive tomorrow. Tonight, he would camp beside a river.
If he had left in the morning, he could have reached Viridian City by nightfall, but the Gym challenge had delayed him. Now he would need two days.
At first, he was still worried Team Rocket might interfere. But after several hours on the road, all he saw were villages, towns, and farmland. The old-growth part of Viridian Forest was at least several hundred meters away from the main road.
It seemed humans had forced a road through Viridian Forest, splitting it into west and east sections, with villages and towns built along the middle.
If that was the case, there was not much to fear. People were everywhere. If he ran into Team Rocket and could not win, couldn't he just run? Couldn't he shout for help?
Once he relaxed, Reiji held Eevee in his arms and rode Tauros at an easy pace. When Bug Catchers blocked the road, he sent out Pokémon and battled them.
There were a lot of rural kids along this road. Aside from battling them, Reiji also taught them how to raise Bug-type Pokémon.
When the kids lost, he would sometimes give them one or two boxes of Pokéblocks and tell them to keep working hard.
That was all he could do. Just like in his previous life, the Pokémon world had gaps in educational resources too. Rural areas could not compare with towns and cities.
Sometimes, money itself was an educational resource. Wealthy families could let their children study ahead, and that was a dimensional advantage over children who had no access to extra tutoring.
Those children who studied early could not really be called geniuses. They were only walking the same road everyone else had to walk—just earlier.
Reiji pushed the things he could not change out of his mind. After riding Tauros for the whole afternoon, he had covered about half the distance. Night was not suitable for travel, so he planned to find a small river and camp there.
"Peli! Peli!" Pelipper flew overhead and soon located a small river. It landed on Tauros's head and pointed the way, leading them to the water.
They reached the riverside, set up the tent, brought out the cookware, and started a fire. The Pokémon went nearby to pick Berries, and by the time they returned, dinner was ready.
Everyone sat around the campfire and ate together under the sunset.
After dinner, they went into the river to bathe, splash water at each other, and play for a while.
A happy sunset was always short. It slipped away quietly, and as night fell, it was time for them to rest.
Spinarak would handle the night watch. Reiji recalled the Pokémon that were not convenient to leave out overnight into their Poké Balls. The rest could sleep wherever they liked—in the trees, on the grass, or inside the tent.
He still reminded the little ones not to wander off. If one of them was missing tomorrow morning, just finding it would waste hours.
After telling them to rest properly, Reiji carried Eevee into the tent and lay down to sleep. If the fire was about to go out, Spinarak could add some dry wood and spit a little thread to help it burn. That would also keep many wild Pokémon away.
Smart wild Pokémon would see the firelight and know humans were camping there. They would not go out of their way to bother the terrifying two-legged beasts.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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