I, Gary, Want to Become a Pokemon Master

Chapter 685 - 685: Tobias, the Trainer Who Started with a Legendary

"You've caught so many Legendary Pokémon. You must have a few strong ordinary Pokémon on your team too, right?" Gary asked.Tobias's expression stayed flat. After a brief pause, he answered, "The Pokémon I used today are my strongest."

Gary almost choked.

That can't be right.

If those were really his strongest Pokémon, then what kind of starter had he begun his journey with?

"So you don't even have an ordinary starter?" Gary asked.

"Suicune is my starter," Tobias said.

Gary stared at him.

Good lord. A Legendary starter.

Gary had heard of trainers like Yuriga starting with rare Pokémon, but he never expected Tobias to be on that level. No wonder Suicune's level was the highest of his six Pokémon. It had been with him the longest.

"What about you?" Tobias asked back. "I watched your earlier matches. The Pokémon you used today probably aren't your strongest either."

"They aren't," Gary admitted. "But they're still part of my main team."

Originally, Gary had considered bringing out his trump card Pokémon for the finals. But once he saw Tobias's Darkrai in action, he decided against it. The system mission required him to use only Pokémon caught from the Sinnoh region in exchange for double the rewards, and he wasn't willing to give that up.

That said, Gary had taken the threat seriously. To make sure he could win cleanly, he had pushed Darkrai and Heatran all the way to level 70, and he had prepared three Champion-tier Pokémon just in case. That alone showed how much of a threat he had considered Tobias to be.

"It seems I underestimated today's trainers," Tobias said. "Next time, I hope you'll use your full strength."

"Sure."

Gary didn't know when their next battle would actually happen. He was going to keep chasing the free rewards from the system, which meant entering the Vertress Conference and the Lumiose Conference in the future as well.

As for the Alola League, Gary wasn't especially interested. Still, he might go there anyway to look for opportunities to catch Ultra Beasts and trigger system missions related to them.

The two didn't talk much beyond that. They exchanged a few more quiet words and waited for their Pokémon to finish being treated.

Once treatment was done, Gary and Tobias returned to the main arena together for the closing ceremony.

On the awards podium, Chairman Goodshow personally handed Gary the championship trophy. He placed a wreath around Gary's neck and smiled.

"Congratulations on another League victory. So… when are you planning to challenge the Kanto Elite Four?"

"Not yet," Gary said. "Maybe in a few more years."

"A pity," Goodshow chuckled. "I'm an old man. I don't have that many years left. I'd really like to see you compete at the World Championships before I'm gone."

"Haha… I'll try my best."

Gary smiled awkwardly. Goodshow was clearly hinting at the World Coronation Series, but Gary had no real plans to enter it. Even if he did, the most he could realistically hope for at this stage was reaching the Master Eight. Maybe not even that.

The Master Eight trainers were no joke. Each of their six Pokémon were generally Champion-tier. Gary had accumulated enough resources to build a full Champion-tier team, but he was only at the level of a regional Champion. Beating someone like Leon at the very top would be far harder.

In the original storyline, Leon's Rillaboom had defeated three of Cynthia's Pokémon by itself. Based on that alone, Gary suspected Leon's Rillaboom might be close to Quasi-Legendary in raw strength.

And Rillaboom wasn't even Leon's only ace. His other Pokémon were also incredibly strong.

As for how Ash supposedly defeated Leon in the original plot — Gary considered it nothing more than Leon going easy on him. Leon had allowed Ash to use three different power-up mechanics in the same battle: Z-Moves, Mega Evolution, and Dynamax, while Leon himself only used Dynamax. No matter how Gary looked at it, that match had been completely unbalanced.

For that reason alone, Gary thought Ash's "world champion" ending in the original was deeply unsatisfying.

[Ding! Mission complete. Rewards have been transferred to your inventory.]

Gary heard the system chime and decided that once he got back to Pallet Town, he would finally start using the resources he had accumulated. His Pokémon could use a potential boost ahead of schedule.

He had already saved up fifteen Gold Bottle Caps. It was time to put them to use.

After the trophy ceremony, the Lily of the Valley Conference moved into its closing ceremony, and all the remaining competitors withdrew.

That evening, dinner was held in the cafeteria of the competitor village.

By now, most trainers had already gone home. The ones still around were mostly those who had advanced to the official rounds.

Gary sat at a table with Ash and the others. Barry was there too. Since this was their last dinner together at the village, everyone ate openly and freely.

"Gary, the Conference is over," Ash said. "When are you heading back?"

"Tomorrow. What about you?"

"We're also planning to leave tomorrow," Ash said. "Want to travel together?"

"No, I'll just ride Latios back."

Going to a new region required a visa. League regulations didn't allow trainers to freely fly across borders using their Pokémon. Only trainers who had obtained the proper visa for a region were permitted to fly there. That was why Gary had taken a boat to Sinnoh in the first place.

But going home was different. Gary had no issue flying back to Kanto on Latios.

"Then I guess we'll part ways tomorrow," Ash said. "I'm planning to take the boat."

Gary already knew Ash wanted to spend more time saying goodbye to Dawn. That was clearly why he wanted to take the slower route back.

"Suit yourself."

In Gary's mind, the best thing for Ash was to follow the original storyline as much as possible. That way, fewer unexpected changes would happen later.

After dinner, Gary headed straight to the Pokémon Center and asked Kojian to teleport Latios over to him. Then he rented an enclosed training field.

"Electivire, come out."

The ball opened with a flash of light.

"Vire."

Electivire looked around the empty field and quickly realized that it was the only Pokémon Gary had brought out. Its face immediately brightened up.

Seeing Electivire's expression, Gary thought the reaction was a bit weird, but he didn't say anything.

"You performed well today," Gary said. "I've decided to strengthen your ability."

"Vire!"

Electivire's eyes lit up. It had been hoping for this for a long time. It had asked Gary to enhance its ability before, but Gary had always brushed it off.

The reason was simple. Electivire's two known abilities weren't especially impressive in combat, and the Ability Enhancement Stones Gary had at the time were too limited to spend on something marginal. So he had kept it on hold.

But this time, winning the Lily of the Valley Conference had rewarded him with six Ability Enhancement Stones. Gary was now willing to use one on Electivire just to see what changes would happen when Motor Drive was upgraded.

Gary placed his hand on Electivire's shoulder and silently activated the system.

Enhance Electivire's Motor Drive ability.

[Ding! Ability enhanced successfully.]