After leaving the Driftveil Gym, Gary hurried over to the Pokémon Center and contacted Professor Oak's Laboratory.
"Gary, why are you calling again? You've been calling nonstop lately."
Because Gary had been transferring Pokémon back and forth so frequently, Tracey had to deal with him almost every day. The last time they'd spoken, Gary had sent Gengar back, and now here he was calling again — barely a day later.
"Yeah, it's been pretty often. By the way, is my grandpa back yet?" Gary asked.
"No, Professor Oak is still attending the seminar in the Johto Region. It'll be a few more days before he's back. So, what do you need this time?"
"Please transfer Charizard over to me, Tracey," Gary said.
"No problem... but you already have six Pokémon on you. The Unova Region hasn't lifted the six-Pokémon carry limit," Tracey reminded him.
Gary could carry more than six Pokémon at once, but doing so required special permission from the local League. Otherwise, if the number of Pokémon a Trainer carried exceeded six, they had to transfer one away or face a fine.
Gary hesitated for a moment before finally looking at Eevee.
"VEE! (I won't agree!)"
Eevee immediately shook its head.
You clearly agreed to bring me along for the trip, and now after just a few days you're sending me back?
"Don't worry."
Gary had no intention of sending Eevee back. His recently captured Pokémon still needed Eevee's help with training.
Eevee couldn't be sent away, and neither could the three Pokémon he'd caught in the Unova Region. That left only Latios and Togekiss.
But Gary had already promised to bring Latios along for the trip through the Unova Region. It felt wrong to just send Latios back so soon.
Besides, Gary hadn't yet experienced the sensation of breaking the sound barrier. At Latios's current speed, it could fly at Mach 8, reaching over 2,700 meters per second at full burst — fast enough to circle the earth in about two hours.
Unfortunately, Gary's body couldn't handle that kind of speed. Otherwise, he really would have loved to try it.
That left only Togekiss.
But Togekiss's personality was hard to keep in check, and Gary was genuinely worried it would cause trouble if left alone.
"Just transfer Charizard over for now," Gary said.
Since the whole point was just to have Charizard learn an exclusive move, once it was done, he could simply transfer Charizard right back.
"Alright, I'll go find Charizard."
Once they'd confirmed which Pokémon to swap, Tracey went off to find Charizard in the backyard.
After they completed the transfer, Gary reminded him, "Tracey, don't release Excadrill just yet. I'll be sending it back soon."
"Uh... okay."
Tracey didn't quite understand why Gary would transfer a Pokémon over just to send it back moments later, but he didn't dwell on it.
Gary went outside and rented an enclosed training facility for an hour.
Since he was going to have Charizard learn an exclusive move, he naturally needed to test it. And since it was an exclusive move, it wouldn't be appropriate to let random passersby watch.
"Charizard, come out." Gary released Charizard.
"GRAAAH!"
Charizard scanned its surroundings — no enemies, no other Pokémon around. Then it looked at Gary and grinned knowingly, as though realizing what was about to happen.
"That's right. I want to strengthen you again, but this time is different. This one is going to help you learn an exclusive move," Gary said.
"GRAAAH?"
Charizard looked puzzled. This was the first time it had heard the term "exclusive move," and it didn't quite understand what it meant.
"An exclusive move is a move that only you can use. No other Pokémon can learn it — not even members of your own species," Gary explained.
"GRAAAH!!"
Charizard was too dumb to fully grasp the implications, but regardless of what its exclusive move ended up being, it would become stronger. That was all it needed to know.
"Vee!"
Eevee looked on with a hint of envy. As the team's veteran Technician, it had always hoped its own moves might one day become its own exclusive move.
"Then let's get started."
Seeing that Charizard was ready, Gary reached out and placed his hand on it, silently saying in his mind, Use Move Enlightenment Tome on Charizard.
[Ding! Charizard has comprehended an exclusive move: Fire Storm(Custom Move).]
[Fire Storm: A Fire-type special attack move with 140 power. Has a 30% chance of inflicting the Burn status on the target.]
"GRAAAH!"
Charizard froze for a moment. A new way of using its Fire energy had just appeared in its mind. Although it had never used it before, it could instinctively sense that this move was extremely powerful.
"Solid, but nothing crazy."
Gary read over the description of Fire Storm and felt it wasn't especially overwhelming. 140 power was good, but the 30% burn chance was fairly average.
However, after Charizard Mega Evolved into its Y form, Fire Storm would produce 280 effective power. Although that was still lower than Blast Burn, Fire Storm had no negative recoil or drawback.
"Charizard, try out Fire Storm. Aim at those targets over there," Gary said.
Charizard nodded and took off, coming to a stop about ten meters away from the row of ring targets.
"GRAAAH!"
The flames on Charizard's tail suddenly surged, and a faint red glow flickered across its body. It flapped its wings vigorously, and in an instant, a series of flame pillars — each about a meter tall — burst into existence around the targets. Six fire twisters surrounded the target zone, then began closing in toward the center. As they converged, the twisters grew taller and taller, generating a powerful suction that made escape impossible.
Finally, the flame twisters merged into one massive vortex over ten meters high. Only moments after forming, the giant twister exploded like a firework.
Bang!!
The targets hit by the attack were completely blown apart, broken into several pieces and reduced to scrap.
"Whoa. That's incredibly strong. With suction that intense, whether a Pokémon's on the ground or in the sky, once it's surrounded, escape is basically impossible," Gary commented.
Gary had been worried that Fire Storm wouldn't reliably hit its target, but now he realized his concern had been completely unnecessary.
However, Fire Storm couldn't attack underground opponents. If a rival could use Dig, they could completely avoid it. There were also some power-based Pokémon that might be able to force their way out before the Fire Storm fully formed — if they charged in one direction with everything they had, they'd have a chance to escape.
"How was it? Did it drain a lot of energy?" Gary asked.
"GRAAAH!"
Charizard nodded. Fire Storm didn't just consume Fire energy — it also drew on wind energy, making the total drain enormous.
Even a Champion-level Pokémon couldn't use it without limit.
For comparison, if Charizard used Blast Burn at full power without considering environmental factors, it could manage about seven consecutive uses before running dry, since that move consumed only Fire energy. If it activated Blaze, it could squeeze out two more uses, bringing the total to nine.