Chapter Sixty-Four: The Battle Against Gary

On May 3rd, Amu and Xiaoxia arrived early at the Battle Club—in fact, they had been coming for special training every day for the past two days, but today was the day they had officially arranged to battle with Gary.

Xiaoxia glanced around and saw a taxi pulling up. When she spotted the person getting out, she waved excitedly. Only then did Amu realize that Sonoko had also come.

"You invited Sonoko too?" Amu grew nervous, looking around anxiously. Could it be... Even a place as safe as the Battle Club couldn't escape the touch of the "God of Death"? Fortunately, Amu saw no sign of Ran or Conan.

"Yes! When we talked last night, Sonoko said Ran's father was also in Pewter City, and Ran wanted to go find him. Sonoko herself had nothing to do, and knowing you were going to battle Gary today, she decided to come... I forgot to mention it, since you were up late preparing tactics," Xiaoxia said, a bit embarrassed.

Amu sighed in relief at her words.

"I was wondering why you hadn't come looking for me yet—turns out you’re dueling someone right after arriving in Pewter City," Sonoko teased as she walked over. Amu and Xiaoxia hadn't reached out to her lately, as they’d been busy preparing for Gary. Last night, it was Sonoko who reached out to Xiaoxia, curious.

"I didn't really want to," Amu shrugged.

Just then, Gary strode over with a cold, arrogant expression. "Glad you showed up—looks like you’re not dodging this time!"

"Hey, long time no see," Sonoko frowned deeply in greeting. She already knew Gary—after all, he was Oak's grandson.

Gary paused, then nodded civilly. "So Miss Sonoko is here as well."

Sonoko pursed her lips even more. Gary was actually quite handsome, but she had no interest in people who pretended to be aloof.

"Did you book the battle arena?" Amu asked directly. Since Gary was the challenger, it was only right he handled the arrangements.

"It's ready. Do you want George East to referee?" Gary asked with a hint of provocation, as if to say, "Don’t complain if you lose."

"No, I’ll referee myself!" Xiaoxia immediately interjected.

"Hmph, fine," Gary replied, full of swagger.

Xiaoxia instantly regretted it, wondering if it made her look timid—she was indeed worried Amu might not be a match for Gary, which was why she was so eager to referee.

"Then I'll be a spectator," Sonoko chimed in. She had nothing else planned for the day and intended to take Xiaoxia and Amu to the museum later, which would serve as the exhibition hall the day after tomorrow.

Gary didn’t object, and soon the four arrived at the arena he’d booked. There was no audience seating, but the space was standard, located at the top floor, with the roof open to the sky. The floor was filled with enough soil—unless someone intentionally tried to dig through, or Groudon used Dig here, there was no worry about falling through to the lower floors.

It was a standard arena, offering no particular advantage or disadvantage to any type.

"Four-on-four, standard doubles rules. Both sides, load your battle balls!" Xiaoxia announced in a formal manner.

Amu and Gary took their positions on either side, each producing their battle balls. For Amu, there weren’t many choices left...

Boom and Coffin could now train, but since they hadn’t grown under Amu’s guidance, putting them into battle might actually trigger rejection. In this situation, Amu’s options were Exeggutor, Ivysaur, Nidorino, and Rhydon.

"Let the battle begin!"

At Xiaoxia’s cue, Amu and Gary raised their battle balls, each releasing two beams of light onto the field—four Pokémon appeared, two on each side.

"Bulba!"
"Eggs eggs eggs..."
"Arcanine!"
"Wartortle!"

Gary sent out Arcanine and Wartortle, while Amu chose Exeggutor and Ivysaur for his opening lineup.

"Arcanine, take out that Ivysaur first. Wartortle, support from the flank!" Gary sneered, setting his overall strategy.

Sonoko counted on her fingers, muttering, "Amu’s side has two grass types, Gary’s has one fire and one water... Looks pretty balanced?"

For beginners, the interplay of water, fire, and grass is the easiest to grasp. Indeed, from a pure type perspective, fire beats grass, grass beats water—a mutual restraint.

But Gary felt that Amu sending out two grass types was a poor choice, whereas his own fire and water types were solid in any situation.

Of course, this was Gary's wishful thinking. Amu had his own reasons—factors more important than coverage.

"Play it safe," Amu instructed simply.

Seeing Gary send out Wartortle, Amu relaxed—his starter hadn’t reached level 36 yet.

Exeggutor and Ivysaur played cautiously: Exeggutor used psychic power to block Arcanine’s charges, while Ivysaur extended six vines, primarily to harass...

After evolving into Ivysaur, it could control more vines. Typically, a newly evolved Ivysaur could control four; once it became a Venusaur, at least eight, though only two were truly nimble.

Ivysaur focused on supporting Exeggutor’s barrier, not attacking.

Wartortle, too, was spraying water from the side—not as a move, just normal water spraying, less aggressive than charging.

Gary soon realized Amu’s strategy: his Ivysaur was likely a special attacker, waiting for a skill to use. He just sneered—could Amu possibly outspeed Arcanine?

After several feints, Arcanine’s charges were repeatedly blocked by psychic power and vines—it only managed to bite through two vines, but was the first to finish preparing its move.

"Arcanine, use Flame Charge!"

Arcanine suddenly became enveloped in blazing fire-type energy, transforming into a ball of flame. Its charge speed increased, and the fiery aura scorched the vines reaching for it.

Ivysaur recoiled in pain, quickly withdrawing its vines.

Flame Charge—a fire-type physical attack with 120 power. Its only drawback is that the user suffers some recoil damage.

If it landed directly, Ivysaur could easily be knocked out. Exeggutor and Ivysaur hadn’t finished preparing their moves, so there was no way to counter with their own.

Arcanine’s target was clearly Ivysaur.

In this real Pokémon world, endurance was better than in the games; Exeggutor certainly wouldn’t be knocked out instantly... Gary aimed to eliminate one first.

But Amu and Exeggutor’s positioning was deliberate: with Exeggutor’s psychic interference on one side and both adjusting their positions, Exeggutor always blocked Arcanine’s attack angle.

Despite the boost from its move, Arcanine couldn’t get around this game of "eagle and chicks," and was constantly being grilled itself...

To avoid wasting all its fire-type energy on this maneuver, Arcanine settled for ramming Exeggutor!

Despite attempts to disrupt, dodging such a move was nearly impossible—Exeggutor was bowled over, its body struck by the fiery Arcanine.

But just as Gary was savoring his advantage, Exeggutor suddenly radiated a strange energy. As Arcanine moved in to pursue, Exeggutor bowed its head—and from its lush foliage, a cloud of Sleep Powder scattered...

Caught off guard, Gary didn’t even have time to shout, "Dodge!"