"Try using Fire Storm at full power a few times," Gary said.
"GRAAAH!"
Charizard began testing how many times it could use Fire Storm.
After a few rounds, Charizard could manage the move five times in a normal battle — fewer than Blast Burn.
That was mainly because Fire Storm demanded a huge amount of fire. It wasn't a low-powered move to begin with, so it consumed a lot of energy.
There were plenty of moves that weren't especially powerful yet still burned through energy. Inferno, for example, only had 100 power, but the energy it consumed was comparable to Blast Burn's 150 power.
By contrast, the 120-power Flare Blitz could be used more than ten times, or even twenty.
One kind of move required condensing a large mass of flame before attacking, while the other compressed flame into the strike. The energy consumption was completely different.
For a Pokémon to use moves without limit, it would need unlimited energy. Even Legendary Pokémon had a finite reserve — their only advantage was that they stored far more of it than ordinary Pokémon.
It'd be great if I had Victini, the Victory Pokémon, Gary thought. Victini had virtually unlimited energy. Eternatus would work too, but catching either of them was far too difficult, so he could only dream about it.
"That's it for today's training. Once you're back, keep working on Fire Storm and try to make the vortex spin faster," Gary said.
"GRAAAH?"
Charizard looked puzzled. Gary had only just transferred it over, and now he was already sending it back?
"My team's already full. Do you still want to take part in Gym battles?" Gary asked.
"GRAAAH!"
Charizard immediately shook its head, making clear it was willing to go back.
Charizard didn't like bullying weaker Pokémon. At its current strength, Gym battles no longer interested it.
Back in the Johto Region, Gary had used Charizard for Gym battles, and afterward Charizard had often given him the silent treatment.
For Charizard, if it couldn't find a proper rival, it was better off returning to Professor Oak's Laboratory. Gary's other Pokémon there could still satisfy its appetite for a fight.
Gary recalled Charizard, brought it to Nurse Joy for recovery, then contacted Tracey again, transferred Charizard back, and had Excadrill sent over.
For the next leg of the journey, Gary was of course continuing with his Gym challenges.
That said, he wasn't in a hurry to head to Mistralton City. He planned to spend some time in Driftveil City training his Unova Region Pokémon before taking on the next Gym. In any case, Gym battles were no real pressure for him.
If it weren't for the mission rewards, Gary really wouldn't have been that interested in challenging Gyms.
The next day.
Gary started training his three Unova Region Pokémon, mainly having Eevee spar with them for actual combat experience.
Mornings were for performance training and move training, and afternoons were for battle training. Even during training, Gary ran into a few Trainers who wanted to challenge him.
Gary didn't turn them down, but he scheduled their matches for the afternoon. Performance and move training couldn't be pushed aside just because someone wanted a battle.
"Damn it — special training!"
Gary was watching his Pokémon train when he suddenly heard a familiar shout from outside the field.
He turned to see Benga and Lacey walking his way. Benga looked as careless as ever, while Lacey trailed behind him quietly.
Benga spotted Gary quickly too — Bisharp's coloring and the shiny Excadrill were far too eye-catching to miss.
"Gary, you're training your Pokémon here?" Benga asked right away.
"Yeah." Gary nodded, then asked, "I heard you shouting about special training just now. What happened? Did you lose your Gym battle?"
The moment the Gym battle came up, Benga's fighting spirit visibly deflated. It was obvious he'd lost the day before.
"Yeah, I lost. But I'll keep challenging. If I don't beat Clay, I'm not leaving," Benga said firmly.
"Then good luck."
Gary knew what level Benga's Pokémon were at. If Clay didn't hold back, Benga wouldn't have any chance of clearing the Gym for at least a year or two.
Clay still played by the rules, though. Given Benga's strength, he clearly wouldn't be using any Pokémon above Level 40. In that case, if Benga trained hard for another half a month, Clay might agree to a rematch.
"Thanks for the encouragement, but rather than just cheer me on, why not train with me?" Benga asked.
Gary looked at him. This guy might have a System Storage of his own, but he didn't seem all that capable — he probably didn't even carry a full set of training gear.
Calling it "training together" was clearly just a pretext. What Benga really wanted was to see how Gary trained his Pokémon.
"No thanks."
Gary refused flatly.
"Then I'll just watch." Since that plan hadn't worked, Benga settled for observing Gary's Pokémon training instead.
"As long as you don't interfere with my Pokémon, watch all you want," Gary said.
"Thanks."
Benga thanked him half-heartedly and started watching.
Both Excadrill and Bisharp wore specially customized Macho Braces, which they put on every time they did performance training.
Because Chandelure's body structure was unusual, no suitable weight-training gear could be fitted to it, so Gary had Eevee jump onto Chandelure to serve as the weight for its training.
Even though Chandelure was a special attacker, physical training was still necessary, and it also wore a Power Lens that added weight while it practiced its moves.
"Aren't you afraid your Pokémon will get hurt training with weights like that? Can they even handle it?" Benga asked.
"That's the only way to fully draw out their potential. Didn't your teachers at Pokémon school tell you about the benefits of weighted training?" Gary said.
Gary hadn't expected Benga to say something like that. His grandfather Alder had been a very strict Trainer in his younger days.
By all logic, Alder's grandson should have been strict about training his own Pokémon — so how had he ended up so soft-hearted?
Alder himself had grown much kinder these days, but back when he trained Pokémon, he'd been anything but lenient. It was really just his age.
The older a person got, the softer their heart tended to become. Everything they were familiar with was slowly slipping away, and they became less willing to see something good suddenly disappear.
"Our teachers did say that, but training's supposed to be gradual. Pokémon can't take weighted training every single day," Lacey cut in.
"Is that really what your teachers taught you?" Gary asked.