"Gym Leader Grey, this is my last Pokémon. Please show me what you can do!"
Erika's tone was grave.
Vileplume was her starter Pokémon, and also the strongest member of her current team.
And among the moves Vileplume could learn,
there were several Fairy-type attacks.
Fairy-type moves were effective against Heracross because of its Fighting typing.
Erika refused to believe she was really about to let Grey sweep her three straight.
"Heracross, you did great. Come back and rest for a bit."
Grey took out a Poké Ball and recalled Heracross.
"Hm?"
Seeing Grey withdraw Heracross, Erika's beautiful eyes blinked slightly, and she instinctively raised a hand to cover her mouth, hiding her surprise.
Grey had really recalled Heracross just like that?
What was he going to use next?
Machamp?
Or was he going to take advantage of the fact that the sunlight hadn't faded yet and let Blaziken benefit from the sun?
Grey had already openly stated which Pokémon he brought.
Erika still remembered the other two.
But...
no matter which one it was, neither really looked like something she could handle.
At the very least, Machamp had joined his team earlier than Heracross.
Going by the overall strength of Grey's roster, it was probably his number one Pokémon below Zapdos.
On the same level as the dojo's three top aces.
"You're up, Machamp."
Sure enough, the second Pokémon Grey sent out was Machamp!
[Pokémon: Machamp]
[Type: Fighting]
[Level: 57]
[Ability: Guts]
[Moves: Omitted.]
As the oldest brother of the Guts Trio, Machamp was one level stronger than Heracross.
Even though Heracross had joined later, its starting level when it joined had been roughly the same as Machamp's back when Machamp was still a Machoke.
Looking at it that way, Machamp really had been working hard.
"Mach!"
Machamp slammed its four fists together. With its four arms, it could do many things other Pokémon simply couldn't.
And it could even use four completely different punching styles at the same time!
"What an incredible Machamp..."
Erika could feel the aura Machamp was giving off.
It was no weaker than her Vileplume's.
Clearly,
this Machamp was one of the dojo's true main battlers.
Still...
using Machamp against challengers?
Grey, you really are something else.
Erika rarely brought out her main team in normal battles.
But Grey often ended up using his dojo's real powerhouses.
When you were famous, trouble came easily. People were always showing up to challenge the Gym.
If he didn't show enough strength, trouble would find him sooner or later.
[No wonder Gym Leader Grey didn't want my shiny Machamp. So he already had a Machamp this strong.]
Bruno's comment slowly appeared in the chat.
[? What the hell? Bruno of the Elite Four was going to give Grey a shiny Machamp, and he turned it down?]
[Just how much does Kanto spoil this Gym Leader? He's just a Gym Leader, isn't he? Do you really have to pamper him this much...?]
[I'm so jealous I can't even say anything anymore. I'm gonna get stronger too, then give Gym Leader Grey some Fighting-type Pokémon to train!]
[Good, good, good. So you've also been converted into one of Grey's people, huh?]
The barrage of comments turned chaotic.
But there was a pattern to it.
It looked noisy, but every single topic still revolved around Grey.
The League higher-ups watching the stream couldn't help clicking their tongues in amazement.
There were many streams covering the tournament this time.
But Grey's stream was the most popular of them all.
Giovanni's was second.
Seeing how high Grey's popularity had risen, the League executives all smiled.
"Lance, I really think you should spend more time talking with the Gym Leaders under you. Especially a rising star like Gym Leader Grey. You need to keep in close contact with talent like that."
At Indigo Plateau, inside the Pokémon League headquarters,
the white-haired Damalanchi stood on a chair and patted Lance on the shoulder, making no effort to hide what he meant.
He wanted Lance to get closer to Grey.
Grey's influence was steadily expanding.
And once he headed to Unova next, the major organizations over there would definitely start making moves.
The Unova Pokémon League, Team Plasma...
Tch.
They absolutely couldn't let Grey get "stolen away."
"A friend of mine recently gave me two identical Mega Stones. I don't know which Pokémon they belong to, but I think this is a good chance to give one to Grey as a gift to celebrate him becoming one of the Eight Gyms."
Lance thought for a moment.
He had already decided what congratulatory gift to give.
This actually went back to eight o'clock last night.
A friend he hadn't seen in a long time had suddenly come to visit him, saying he wanted to give him a small token of goodwill that might be useful in the future.
And just like that, he had handed over two Mega Stones.
The colors were slightly different from the Mega Stones commonly seen on the market.
They weren't any of the known ones.
And there just happened to be two.
One for himself, one for Grey.
Perfect.
"Excellent, Lance. That's very thoughtful of you."
Damalanchi was very pleased with this.
The kind of League he most wanted to see was exactly one like this: harmonious and friendly.
No scheming, no mutual backstabbing, just a flourishing atmosphere all around.
"It's nothing. Gym Leader Grey and I are both part of Kanto. It's only a small gift, hardly worth mentioning."
Lance didn't think much of it.
He was quite satisfied with Grey.
He only hoped that Mega Stone would become useful to Grey in the future when he fought against Team Rocket.
"Hahaha, exactly. We're all part of Kanto. This is how united we should be, instead of fighting each other to the death every day."
Damalanchi nodded cheerfully.
The others below the stage remained silent.
They all kept watching the stream, deep in thought.
Maybe...
this was a good opportunity to give Grey something too?
They were all from Kanto, after all. Giving him a gift wouldn't be too much, right?
It wasn't bribery. They just sincerely wanted to congratulate him.
Yes.
That was definitely it!
That was what they all told themselves, each harboring their own ulterior motives.
...
...
Kanto Region, Saffron City.
The battle had reached a white-hot stage.
Compared to the warm-up at the start, Machamp had now entered a burned state and successfully triggered Guts.
In order to stop Machamp from getting into close combat, Erika pulled out all the stops.
"Vile!"
Vileplume crossed its arms in front of its chest, gathering pink Fairy-type energy in its palms. A dazzling curtain of light burst outward from its body in all directions!
Grey didn't try to avoid the attack. Instead, he chose to face it head-on.
"Bullet Punch."
"Mach!"
Machamp not only refused to retreat, it charged forward instead. All four of its heavily muscled arms took on a metallic sheen at the same time.
Then it slammed headfirst into the wall of light, the silver flashes of Bullet Punch violently colliding with the pink brilliance of Dazzling Gleam!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dazzling Gleam crashed directly into Machamp's fists.
The exploding ripples of energy made the battlefield flicker between light and darkness.
And Machamp kept pressing forward against the Dazzling Gleam, step by step.
Its metallic punches and the energy shockwaves left scorch marks across its skin, but nothing could stop its advance!
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