After watching Gary leave, Greta turned to Scott, her usual composure replaced by something quieter.
"Mr. Scott, I apologize for how I acted just now. I wasn't thinking straight."
"It's fine," Scott said, his tone easy. "I know you lost your temper for a moment. Just think things through more carefully before you make decisions in the future."
"I will." Greta nodded.
Gary's blunt words had stung, but they'd also knocked something loose in her. She straightened up, the stubbornness returning to her eyes.
Gary, meanwhile, had already left the Battle Arena behind. He climbed onto Charizard and flew back toward the Pokémon Center they'd stayed at before. The fight hadn't pushed Charizard very hard, so flying was no issue. The distance was short anyway, and Nurse Joy could sort out whatever was needed.
He arrived, handed Charizard's ball to Joy, and stepped back outside. He still had things to do.
Gary released his Glaceon and pressed the Silver Crown to its head, channeling its power into the Ice-type. He'd been planning to push as many of his Pokémon as possible to their limits before the Sinnoh League Conference began. With this, Glaceon's potential had been raised to Champion level.
"Weavile, come on out."
Gary released Weavile next.
"Weavile?" Weavile spotted the Glaceon standing nearby and tilted its head, trying to figure out what Gary was up to by calling both of them out at once.
Then it seemed to piece it together. Its face split into a wide, sharp grin.
"Weavile!!" (^o^)/~
Gary rested a hand on Weavile's cold head. "Since you already figured it out, here you go." He pressed the Ability Enhancement Stone against it.
Gary's Weavile had the Pressure ability, which forced opponents to use more PP when using moves. He was curious to see what it would become once enhanced.
[Ding! The Ability Enhancement Stone was used successfully.]
Gary checked Weavile's data right away.
[Pokémon: Weavile]
[Type: Dark / Ice]
[Level: 56]
[Potential: Champion]
[Ability: EX Pressure — The opponent is oppressed by a crushing aura. Every move they use consumes double the PP, and the power of their moves is reduced by one quarter.]
[Moves: Scratch, Leer, Taunt, Quick Attack, Metal Claw, Icy Wind, Feint Attack, Fury Swipes, Hone Claws, Night Slash, Snatch, Punishment, Dark Pulse]
[Tutor Moves: Mega Kick, Dynamic Punch, Dig, Rest, Hyper Beam, Shadow Claw, Iron Tail, Ice Punch, Power-Up Punch, Scald, Reflect]
[Affection: 255/255]
The PP cost stayed the same as before, and the enhancement had instead added the effect of reducing the opponent's move power by one quarter—a 25% decrease. That was a reasonable improvement.
"So it didn't increase energy consumption further?" Gary said, a little disappointed.
He'd been hoping for the opposite. If the PP cost had been pushed to four times the normal amount, opponents of a similar level would burn through their moves in just a few uses, and even the ones they did manage to land would be weak and small in scale.
"Weavile?" Weavile couldn't feel the change in its ability directly, but it could tell Gary didn't seem satisfied.
"It's alright, don't worry. Your ability got stronger—it just might not be as useful for you personally," Gary said.
"Weavile?" Weavile couldn't understand why an upgrade would be not very useful.
"Your ability now puts opponents under a crushing aura whenever they fight you, cutting the power of their moves," Gary explained.
"Weavile? (O_O)??" It's a power-up—why wasn't he happy about it?
"The problem is, even with moves reduced by a quarter, if they land on you, you're still going to be badly hurt," Gary said.
"Weavile?" Weavile stared blankly. How would it still get seriously hurt if the opponent's moves were weakened?
Looking at Weavile's puzzled expression, Gary had to wonder whether Weavile had ever actually thought about its own stats.
"You have low defenses on both sides, and your HP isn't great either," Gary said plainly.
"Weavile...!"
That point hit close to home. Weavile knew it all too well—especially from sparring at Professor Oak's lab against Gary's other Pokémon. It could only stay in the fight by using its speed and Double Team to confuse opponents, then slipping in a Sucker Punch or Night Slash when the timing was right. The moment it took a direct hit from one of the others, it was in serious trouble.
Even with EX Pressure cutting incoming damage, Weavile's HP and physical defense were just too low. Special attacks were manageable to a degree, but against physical moves, a 25% reduction wasn't nearly enough.
"Don't feel too bad about it. It's still a good upgrade," Gary said. "You'll be very useful in double battles going forward, especially alongside a defensive partner. In that kind of setup, your ability makes a real difference."
"Weavile!" Weavile perked up immediately.
That made sense, now that it thought about it. Back in the wild, Weavile had always relied on working as a group. Single combat was never really their clan's strong suit. From that angle, EX Pressure was actually well suited to how Weavile naturally fought.
"Get ready—I'm planning to use you in the next facility battle in a day or two," Gary said.
"Weavile!" Weavile was thrilled. Since joining Gary, the only official battle it had taken part in was the gym challenge. It hadn't had a single moment to shine during the Silver Conference.
"The next match is a doubles format, which makes it the perfect chance to put your ability to the test," Gary said.
The third Battle Frontier facility he had in mind was the Battle Dome. The Frontier Brain there was a man named Tucker—a self-described Mega Star who specialized in double battles.
Gary felt a dull ache start behind his temples just thinking about him.
Tucker dressed even more extravagantly than Wallace, somehow, and was wildly popular on top of it.
Gary genuinely couldn't understand the logic of this world. The more skin a man showed off, the more fans he seemed to collect. The culture here really was something else.
VROOM!! VROOM VROOM VROOM!!!
An engine roared. A red sports car came tearing down the street, screeched to a stop right in front of Gary, and threw up a large cloud of dust.
"—Cough, cough!"
"Weavile—!!"
"Glaceon—!!"
All three of them were coughing and spluttering.
"Gary, I knew I'd find you here!" The driver was, of course, Scott, who had come straight here after leaving the Battle Arena.
"Mr. Scott, could you maybe drive a little slower next time?" Gary said, wrestling down the urge to say something less polite.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Scott apologized quickly.
"...Fine. Forget it."
Scott grinned and leaned out of the window. "So, Gary—the next one's the Battle Dome. When are you planning to head to Vermilion City?"
The Battle Dome had been built in Vermilion City. Given that Tucker was a Mega Star, it was hardly a surprise that he hadn't set up his facility somewhere out of the way.