Gary decided to head back to the village and obtain Gracidea the same way he had before, then have all of his main Pokémon transferred over. Next time, if he ran into a Shaymin that tried to cheat him, he'd act immediately and wouldn't hold back.
"Arcanine, you can stop now."
After running for a while, Gary had Arcanine halt, recalled it, and then released Articuno before flying north.
By the time Gary returned to Floaroma Village, it was already past one in the morning. Professor Oak would be asleep by now, so the Pokémon transfer would have to wait until the next day—and he'd need to go to the flower shop for the flowers anyway.
This time, Gary had simply misjudged.
Because the Shaymin in the movies always looked so frail, Gary had assumed the strongest Pokémon among the Shaymin group would only be Elite level. He hadn't expected two of them to be Champion level. That had thrown his plans off completely.
It wouldn't happen again. Gary decided to have all his main combat Pokémon transferred over. If Shaymin tried to go back on their word this time, he'd handle it directly.
Gary had never imagined he'd be tricked by a Pokémon one day. Sure enough, not all Pokémon lived up to the legends—there were bad apples among them too.
The Sinnoh Region, after all, had a Togepi that was born malicious.
After a quick wash, Gary went to bed. He'd be looking for Shaymin at night anyway, so there was no need to rush during the day.
Worn out from a long day, he fell asleep quickly.
The next morning.
Gary caught the scent of fresh flowers and slowly woke up.
"Hm? Why does it smell so nice?"
He opened his eyes groggily, the ceiling light coming into focus. Sitting up, he felt a chill—and when he turned, he found the window open.
"Why is the window open?"
Gary distinctly remembered closing it the night before.
He was about to climb out of bed when his hand pressed down on the edge of the mattress and met something soft and furry, and a small cry rang out.
"Mi!"
Startled, Gary jerked his hand back and saw a small green ball sitting right where he'd just put his weight.
[LV75 Shaymin / Legendary]
"Shaymin!"
Gary was stunned. He hadn't expected Shaymin to show up here.
That level… this was the leader of the group.
Shaymin woke up and looked up at him.
"Why are you here?" Gary asked in surprise.
Shaymin yawned. "To honor our agreement, obviously. Hurry up and use a Poké Ball on me."
"When did you get here?" Gary asked, curious.
"I followed you all the way back yesterday after settling my tribe. When I got here you were already asleep, so I didn't bother you," Shaymin said.
Gary was at a loss for words.
He hadn't expected Shaymin to actually keep its word. It seemed he'd misjudged them after all.
"Hurry it up, I need to get back," Shaymin urged.
"All right, hold on."
Gary got up quickly, dug an Ultra Ball out of his bag, and tossed it toward Shaymin.
Shaymin didn't resist and was drawn inside.
The Poké Ball rocked three times on the mattress and then went still.
[Ding! Mission triggered: Capture the Gratitude Pokémon Shaymin. Rewards: Master Rare Candy x3, Gold Crown x1, Ability Enhancing Stone x1, Ability Expansion Stone x1.]
[Ding! Mission complete. Rewards have been sent to your System Storage.]
Gary immediately brightened. He hadn't expected such generous rewards just for capturing a single Shaymin.
Without even bothering to check Shaymin's data, he opened the Poké Ball again.
"Huh?" Shaymin looked puzzled. "That's it?"
"Yeah, that's it," Gary said.
"Didn't you say you wanted to take a picture?" Shaymin said.
Gary took out his camera, held it up, and pressed the shutter.
"There. All done," he said.
Shaymin: →_→
Shaymin had expected Gary to make a much bigger production out of it. It hadn't imagined the whole thing would be over so fast. This human was really no fun at all.
"Don't bother me with this kind of thing again. I'm going!" Shaymin grumbled, shifting into its Sky Forme and slipping out through the window.
"Looks like Shaymin really is a Pokémon that understands gratitude. Not bad at all." Cheerfully, Gary got dressed and headed downstairs.
He'd assumed he'd have to go looking for another Shaymin all over again, only for one to come to him and honor the agreement. Quite the surprise.
He made his way to the Pokémon Center lobby.
Gary walked over to the transfer machine and dialed Professor Oak's Laboratory.
"Gary? Is something wrong, calling this early?"
It was Tracey who picked up, and he looked thoroughly confused to see Gary on the line.
Since going to the Sinnoh Region, Gary had rarely called back—especially after the restriction on how many Pokémon he could carry was lifted. He hadn't sent a single one back since.
"Tracey, transfer Charizard, Machamp, Moltres, Zapdos, and Tyranitar over for me," Gary said.
"Huh?! Gary, what are you planning to do?" Tracey said, shocked.
Aside from Machamp and Moltres, the rest were Gary's strongest Pokémon. Together, that lineup could already challenge the Elite Four.
"I'm not doing anything. I just want to try capturing something, and I'm worried my current Pokémon aren't strong enough," Gary said.
"What exactly are you trying to capture?" Tracey asked in surprise.
Tracey knew which Pokémon Gary had with him. For none of them to be enough, the target could only be a Legendary Pokémon.
"You'll find out once I've caught it. Just hurry and send them over," Gary said.
"Fine, hang on."
After more than ten minutes, Tracey came hurrying back and sent over all the Pokémon Gary had asked for.
Gary also transferred back some of the Pokémon he'd been carrying, like his Ice-types.
Since he'd be heading to Stark Mountain next, Ice-types wouldn't be much use, and carrying too many Pokémon meant preparing a lot of food every day, which was a hassle.
With his Pokémon sorted out, Gary didn't rush off. He released Arcanine first and rode out of Floaroma Village.
Sitting astride Arcanine, he reached down to stroke its thick fur and thought, System, use the Ability Expansion Stone on Arcanine.
Gary had no intention of letting the reward he'd just received sit idle, so he decided to strengthen Arcanine with it.
They'd be heading to Stark Mountain next, where Arcanine would be a huge help. Gary was very curious what would happen once its Flash Fire Ability was enhanced.
[Ding! Ability Expansion Stone successfully used.]
"Woof?!"
Arcanine suddenly stopped and looked back at Gary, its eyes full of surprise. It knew the change in its body had to be Gary's doing.