That afternoon, Stone Town, Knight Gym.
After taking a short nap at the Pokémon Center, Reiji headed to the Gym. When he arrived, battles were already underway.
He registered for a challenge and found himself in a queue. Three Trainers were ahead of him.
A Gym apprentice told him to wait in the spectator stands. They would call him when it was his turn.
So he sat down and watched the Eevee Brothers face challengers. The format was three-on-three. The three brothers rotated in; the fourth wasn't present.
After watching several matches, Reiji noticed a clear theme. Every Pokémon the Gym used had evolved with Evolution Stones.
And each brother's lineup was stranger than the last.
The eldest, Sparky, had bright yellow hair matching Jolteon. His team was Jolteon, Raichu, Magnezone, and Probopass—all framed as Thunder Stone evolutions.
The second brother, Rainer, had blue hair like Vaporeon. His team included Vaporeon, Poliwrath, Cloyster, Starmie, and Ludicolo—Water Stone evolutions across the board.
The third, Pyro, had red hair like Flareon. His team was Flareon, Ninetales, and Arcanine—Fire Stone evolutions.
Reiji didn't even bother commenting anymore. Three brothers, three completely different hair colors—no way that came from the same parents.
Anyone could see what was going on.
The fourth brother was probably the same story. Who knew what "stone" he used.
Once Reiji had a clear read on their teams, it was his turn. As before, the three brothers would rotate in, each fighting one round.
The eldest stepped up first, specializing in Electric-types. When he sent out Magnezone, Reiji immediately went for a Ground-type counter.
"Rhydon."
He threw Rhydon's Poké Ball, skipping Gyarados as his lead.
This was basically an open-book test. No point ignoring the obvious answer just to play fancy.
"Nice. Rhydon hard-counters me," Sparky admitted. He wasn't about to waste time on Electric moves that wouldn't work.
"Magnezone, Iron Defense, then Gyro Ball!"
"Rhydon, Fire Punch!"
The commands rang out together. Magnezone boosted its Defense with Iron Defense, then spun forward at high speed.
If Electric moves were useless, its Steel typing still hit Rhydon for x2 damage.
"Raaah!"
Rhydon didn't charge. It lowered its center of gravity, its claws glowing white as it dug into the ground, locking itself in place and waiting.
Boom—
Magnezone slammed into it, but instead of knocking Rhydon over, it only forced it back a few steps, carving deep grooves into the floor.
"He… caught it?" Sparky's eyes widened.
Rhydon's glowing claws had locked onto Magnezone, stopping the spinning impact cold.
"Rock Climb… looks like that training paid off," Reiji muttered. Hanhan had always fought like this—taking hits head-on instead of dodging. Maybe after getting beaten up enough times, he'd learn.
"Raaah!"
Rhydon hoisted Magnezone and smashed it into the ground, then raised a fist wreathed in flames and brought it down.
"Magnezone, Protect!"
A green barrier flared up. Even so, Rhydon's heavy Fire Punch drove it straight into the dirt, the impact shaking the field.
Boom—boom—
Rhydon kept pounding the ground. Magnezone could only endure, sinking deeper with each hit.
Crack—crack—
By the time Reiji called Rhydon to stop, Magnezone was already unconscious at the bottom of a crater.
"So strong…" Rainer muttered as he stepped forward. Everyone watching had gone quiet, stunned by Rhydon's raw force.
"Be careful," Sparky said, patting his brother's shoulder as he recalled Magnezone. "That Trainer's no joke."
"Second brother, Water specialist," Reiji said as he recalled Rhydon and waited.
"Go, Cloyster."
After seeing the first match, Rainer chose a high-defense Pokémon.
Reiji considered it briefly, then threw another Poké Ball.
"Kingler."
"Kingler, go in—Hammer Arm!"
"Cloyster, Withdraw, then Iron Defense!"
"Crab!"
Kingler rushed in and brought its massive claw down hard.
Hammer Arm hit Cloyster for x2 damage. Pure defense wouldn't save it—no matter how much it boosted, it would go down eventually.
As expected, after more than ten heavy blows, Cloyster's shell slackened. Its tongue lolled out as it collapsed.
Second round, clean win.
The third brother stepped up, specializing in Fire-types.
"Go, Arcanine."
The first brother's offense had failed. The second's defense had failed. So Pyro chose to kite and wear Reiji down.
Technically, Reiji had already secured the badge with two wins. But if he wanted the third battle, they'd finish it.
"Gyarados."
"ROOOAR—!"
The moment Gyarados appeared, its roar shook the entire arena. The shockwave forced everyone to cover their ears, and Arcanine dropped low under the pressure.
"Intimidate…" Pyro swallowed. None of this guy's Pokémon were ordinary.
Three battles. Three monsters.
This one wouldn't be any different.
"Gyarados, Hydro Pump!"
"Arcanine, Agility—dodge!"
"Oh? Trying to run?" Reiji grinned. "Stone Edge."
Gyarados slammed its tail into the ground. Rock energy surged beneath Arcanine's feet, erupting into jagged stone pillars.
Arcanine darted around, but the spikes kept rising, boxing it in.
Stone Edge wasn't as precise as Rock Tomb, but it still limited movement well enough.
Gyarados followed up with Hydro Pump blasts, firing into the narrowing space.
With nowhere left to run, Arcanine took the hits head-on.
A few more blasts—
Arcanine let out a low whine and collapsed among the shattered stone.
Three battles. Three wins.
Reiji earned the Knight Badge.
"You're strong," Pyro said, stepping forward with the badge and offering a handshake. "It's an honor to award this to a Trainer like you."
He performed a knight's salute, right fist pressed lightly to his chest.
"You guys were impressive too. That was a great match," Reiji replied, taking the badge.
Then he left. They still had challengers waiting—no point holding them up.
By the time he stepped outside, it was already evening. He returned to the Pokémon Center, planning to rest for the night and head to Evolution Mountain tomorrow to dig for stones.
He ordered a free meal and sat down in the lounge, taking his time. Every Pokémon Center had its own local dishes—he still hadn't gotten tired of them.
While eating, he took out Gyarados's Poké Ball. After that battle, Gyarados had finally reached Advanced tier.
Breaking into Advanced tier was easy.
Elite Four tier? That would be much harder.
[Gyarados]
[Type: Water/Flying][Gender: Male][Potential: 79.99%][Level: 40.04%][Ability: Intimidate/33.13%][Hidden Ability: Moxie/31.23%]
Water-type [Moves: (Waterfall/23.24%) (Rain Dance/19.39%) (Aqua Tail/17.28%) (Hydro Pump/21.53%) (Surf/18.71%) (Dive/17.93%) (Whirlpool/15.61%)]
Flying-type [(Hurricane/15.33%) (Bounce/19.79%)]
Normal-type [(Hyper Beam/17.55%) (Take Down/25.69%) (Body Slam/22.24%) (Roar/31.37%) (Double-Edge/13.25%) (Bind/19.33%) (Splash/33.21%) (Tackle/32.31%) (Scary Face/26.72%) (Leer/27.61%) (Protect/13.42%) (Giga Impact/12.38%)]
Dragon-type [(Outrage/17.11%) (Twister/21.01%) (Dragon Dance/26.41%) (Dragon Tail/27.22%) (Dragon Pulse/21.34%) (Dragon Rage/25.37%)]
Ground-type [(Bulldoze/15.73%) (Earthquake/17.63%)]
Ice-type [(Ice Fang/14.51%) (Ice Beam/26.64%)]
Electric-type [(Thunderbolt/17.58%) (Thunder/26.87%)]
Fire-type [(Flamethrower/25.37%) (Fire Blast/14.56%)]
Steel-type [(Iron Head/18.95%) (Iron Tail/25.61%)]
Dark-type [(Crunch/26.77%) (Payback/17.71%) (Dark Pulse/13.65%) (Taunt/10.15%)]
Other [(Stone Edge/16.25%) (Rest/27.66%)]
He hadn't checked Gyarados's panel in a month. Its potential hadn't changed—even after using a Water Gem.
It was already sitting at the Champion threshold. Raising it further would take years.
That's why Pokémon like Gengar and Weezing were considered shortcuts—but only for species that could devolve.
After a month of training and battles, Gyarados had finally reached Advanced tier. Just the beginning.
Its Intimidate had improved a lot from frequent use.
Moxie too—it triggered every time Gyarados defeated an opponent. And Gyarados had spent plenty of time bullying weaker fish in the river.
Its moves had all improved to different degrees. It had also learned new ones from training with the others—Protect, Giga Impact, Taunt…
Reiji scanned the list while eating. The coverage was wide.
The most striking part was the six Dragon-type moves.
He was confident even Lance's shiny Gyarados didn't have that many.
Unless Lance had fed it a large amount of Dragon-type resources to boost its dragon traits.
Lance's Gyarados wasn't a natural shiny anyway—it was the result of lab interference. A Magikarp that kept its red scales after evolving.
An artificial shiny—just like his Gengar, Weezing, and Pineco.
Without Lance, that Gyarados might have suffered genetic collapse.
With his family's Dragon-type resources, raising a Gyarados's potential was easy.
Being born into the right family—that's how it worked.
Dragon dens, pseudo-legendaries… everywhere.
Reiji didn't have that kind of backing.
But it didn't matter. Gyarados was enough.
Now that it had reached Advanced tier, it would be more than capable at the Indigo Conference.
He closed Gyarados's panel and opened Pelipper's.
Pelipper barely fought—mostly served as a mount. Honestly, a waste of its potential.
[Pelipper]
[Type: Water/Flying][Gender: Female][Potential: 69.52%][Level: 47.22%][Ability: Drizzle/41.33%]
Flying-type [Moves: (Gust/36.59%) (Roost/41.01%) (Wing Attack/42.58%) (Tailwind/41.11%) (Air Cutter/36.11%) (Air Slash/32.74%) (Hurricane/23.14%)]
Water-type [(Aqua Ring/38.23%) (Water Gun/44.49%) (Water Pulse/32.87%) (Rain Dance/43.17%) (Soak/14.14%) (Bubble/24.44%)]
Normal-type [(Quick Attack/40.29%) (Protect/43.74%) (Growl/39.23%) (Supersonic/33.54%) (Stockpile/22.34%) (Spit Up/21.53%) (Swallow/14.64%)]
Other: [(Agility/41.37%) (U-turn/21.77%)]
Pelipper's potential had risen slightly, but the growth was slow.
Without evolution tricks, this was the only way—slow accumulation over time.
Water Stones could help too, but he wasn't rich enough to use them like that.
Level 47—not bad. It should reach 50 by the Indigo Conference.
Drizzle's growth had also slowed. The higher the proficiency, the slower the gains.
He had originally planned to build a rain team, but reality showed the flaws.
Rain made Thunder perfectly accurate.
That alone made him cautious.
If he set rain, his own Water-types would become easy targets.
Rain helped both sides.
Too risky.
If the opponent had Electric-types, rain became a disadvantage.
One Thunder—and his whole team, aside from Rhydon, would go down.
That was the limitation.
No strategy worked in every situation.
Now he understood why Lorelei said rain teams had a ceiling.
In group battles, if the opponent lacked Electric-types, rain would dominate.
If they had Electric-types?
One Thunder—and it was over.
He couldn't rely on luck like that.
Still, rain had clear advantages in controlled battles.
He would keep using it—but only when appropriate.
No Electric-types? Rain.
Otherwise, skip it.
After reviewing Pelipper's panel, he closed it.
Overall, it was fine. Pelipper worked well as support.
His main attackers were Poliwhirl and the others.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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