"Well if it isn't Gary!"
Ash was naturally very happy to see Gary here. They both stepped forward and gave the other a handshake and a hug.
Gary was not only his childhood best friend, but he was also one of Ash's rivals. Ever since last year's Johto Region Silver Conference, Gary had finally made up his mind to become a Pokémon Researcher like his grandfather, Professor Oak.
Therefore, he decided to take a small step first to see a new place so he came to the Hoenn Region with his original partner, his Blastoise.
Until now, his journey and field research in the Hoenn Region has not yet concluded, but he chose to come here to Ever Grande City to cheer for his best friend after he heard the conference will soon begin.
Ash and Gary had not met each other since they last met in Rustboro City during that small academy incident. After all, unlike in Johto Region, Gary here was mainly doing some research about locations, so he spends most of his time interning in various laboratories that already have the necessary information that he needs to check up on.
"Pikachu, Brock, May, and Max, long time no see!" Gary happily greeted the squad, especially the two that he knew very well from always being with Ash, then looked at Ralts and Togetic beside Ash and gave them some chocolate, "Is that the same Togepi that Misty held in her arms before? Looks like it evolved since the last time and joined your team."
Togetic and Ralts were both very happy to feel Gary's sincere words toward them.
Ash and his group did meet Gary before, so there was no need for a full introduction to happen.
In the large conference venue, in addition to all the necessary facilities, there were also many shopping stalls, restaurants, cinemas and other entertainment facilities.
May was very pleased and immediately went to some of the restaurants to check their special food.
Since Ash and Gary reunited after such a long time, of course there was only one thing to do to get to know how the other party has been doing.
"Gary, let me see if your strength as a Pokémon Trainer has deteriorated since you became a Pokémon Researcher!" Ash held a Poké Ball in his palm and faced toward him, he then watched as Gary's spirit began burning with glee.
"Humph, don't worry, I won't go all out. I don't want you to let me down when one of your Pokémon's seriously injured and be unable to participate in the competition!" Gary and Ash had always bickered, but never gave in to the other and always had a very short line. "Come on out, Electabuzz!"
Gary had changed his goal and no longer intends to become a Pokémon Master, just wanted to follow his true callings as a Pokémon Researcher. Traveling in the Hoenn Region was no longer like when he was traveling in the Kanto and Johto Regions, where he caught a lot of Pokémon at once and had only trained the ones with the most potential in his eyes.
Over this period of time, except for his Blastoise from when he got it as his Royal Starter Pokémon when his journey just began from his grandfather, he had only caught three new Pokémon's in the Hoenn Region, and Electabuzz just happened to be the one that was the most compatible with him out of the three.
Not only did it have a mostly calm personality, but its fighting style also matched well with Gary's own style. Although Gary was no longer a full-time Pokémon Trainer, Gary still trained his past Pokémon's to be in tip top shape. As he no longer catches as many Pokémon as he did before while traveling to become a Pokémon Master, he focuses on those few ones he had before. After training only them instead of so many other weaker ones, their strength increases very quickly.
This Electabuzz was one of them, it had an amazing momentum, which was very different from many of the older Pokémon's Gary previously owned.
Ash grinned and said, "It's your time to shine, Snorunt!"
"Hmph, Ash, looks like you're underestimating me!" Standing on one side of the battlefield, Gary's pride revived itself.
Hearing Brock announce the start of the battle, Gary took the lead in launching the first attack, "Electabuzz, use Thunderbolt!"
The surging electric current was gaining momentum towards Ash's side, but Ash was far too familiar with such skills to not have any ways to deal with them.
He did not issue any order, and so his Snorunt remained motionless, forcibly withstanding the power of Thunderbolt.
"Ash, just what are you planning to do?" Gary would never believe in a million years that Ash of all people would not be able to deal with a move like this.
However, Ash's next order made him be more serious than before, as he saw Ash raising his hand in the air, clasping it in the air, with an astonishing momentum, "Avalanche!"
This was a skill that Ash had recently taught to his Snorunt.
This was an attacking move that inflicts double the damage if the user had already been damaged by its opponent just moments before. All they could see was how a large snowball suddenly appeared out of nowhere above Electabuzz's head, and hit it hard without it being able to fully react.
With a bang, the damage was already done. The speed of the move was so fast that Gary and his Electabuzz couldn't react at all and put up something to defend them, so Electabuzz was very quickly swallowed whole by the Avalanche, causing serious damage to its head and small frostbites across its body.
"Electabuzz!"
Gary exclaimed and looked at Ash in a daze.
They hadn't seen each other for only like a half a year, and his battle had already become so scary.
Although his Snorunt definitely suffered some damage from the Thunderbolt, it didn't look like he really cared about it at all. The little guy was now jumping up and down as if he didn't even feel it, looking very excited about the damage he caused to his opponent.
"Gary, get ready, I'm about to launch another attack! Ice Beam!"
This was an attack that Snorunt had already learned before he was caught by Ash. It just didn't work that well at the beginning. However, when the move came to Ash's mind in training, all he did was to give it some demonstration of how to use it and how the move works, the rest was simple for Snorunt to do on its own. After training it with the help of some random Pokémon Trainers that challenged Ash in the wild, he had successfully mastered the move.
Additionally since Snorunt can learn a lot of ice skills, and with Ash's talent being quite high in terms of move teaching, the power and speed of the Ice Beam was also strengthened.
In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Electabuzz. Gary gritted his teeth and ordered a defensive move, "Electabuzz, use Light Screen!"
Electabuzz set up a Light Screen at the critical moment to block most of the power from Snorunt's Ice Beam, additionally, Gary launched a counterattack from behind the barrier, "Now use Brick Break!"
This was a Fighting-type skill that Gary's Electabuzz naturally learned after seeing his Trainer's older Pokémon. Not only did it pair well with its quite strong arms, but it was also super effective against the frail, Ice-type Snorunt.
Electabuzz held up the Light Screen and rushed towards Snorunt with a fierce momentum of its own.
The light on his strong arm shone and made a chopped motion towards Snorunt's head.
In this regard, Ash did not give in at all to being hit at, "Headbutt!"
Snorunt, instead of dodging, jumped at the last second and put out his head to bump into Electabuzz's open palm.
Gary and Electabuzz both backed away in surprise, though one of them was in much more pain than the other. Gary was both surprised and happy for Ash's new momentum, murmuring, "Ash, he is getting stronger and stronger…"
Ignoring Gary's inner turmoil, Ash grinned,
"Avalanche, again!"
In the collision just now, Snorunt once again withstood the damage from Brick Break, and so the attack with twice the power turned up again, swallowing Electabuzz again.
This was just one of the best ways to use Avalanche, well at least in Ash's opinion. The current Snorunt fights too hard now, and without any real reason sometimes. It will fight its opponent without any fear, that was its core belief for gaining all this power. So he always goes all out, any damage it takes will be counterattacked to the opponent with twice the power of its usual attack.
Gary's whole body was shaking in excitement. The childhood friend he had thought was behind him as a kid had not suppressed anything he had ever seen, and had now climbed to an unreachable height.
This was what Gary wanted for Ash, to see his dream coming true by Ash's hands.
And Ash, who was looking at Gary, already guessed what Gary was thinking.
"Gary, don't worry, I will definitely become the Pokémon Master!"
As soon as Ash finished speaking to Gary, his Snorunt responded to him by suddenly glowing up with a dazzling white light.
This was the light of evolution!
Snorunt listened to Ash's words and thought of his own determination, and finally broke the last gate before his evolution.
Its figure gradually floated up, forming into a black core sphere. The two cone-shaped corners were as sharp as ice edges. The white ice crystals condensed and covered its main black sphere body, turning into what looked to be a terrifying skull.
This is Glalie, the evolved form of Snorunt!
Snorunts have two evolutionary types. The female Snorunt can evolve into Froslass through the usage of Dawn Stone, but Ash knows that he is a boy, so there was no need to think about it.
Although he hadn't caught it at the beginning, its level was surprisingly not low at all compared to the rest of the battle team. Coupled with Ash's special training, his Glalie looked very scary, maybe a good thing for fighting Pokemon's with weaker mental strength.
Including the pair of sharp corners, the spherical shape was a full 1.7 meters, and it looked even more amazing when it landed on the ground and did something. Although its teeth were not that sharp, their bite force more than made up for it.
And with the evolution, this giant ice skeleton also learned a new powerful move.
"Freeze dry!"
At his Trainers command, Glalie spun wildly, and a terrible freezing air was released from its body. In just a breath, the entire battlefield turned frozen, and even Brock's body in his referee place was covered with a layer of frost, trembling all over.
Electabuzz had completely lost his ability to fight and was taken back by Gary to rest, "Ash, you must win the championship!"
He then added, "After all, you did beat the Great Gary!"
Glalie floated up next to Ash with a smile on his face. Seeing this, Ash smiled, took off his hat and put it on its head. This was something he had promised before.
"My mother will be arriving soon, so do me a favor in making sure that she doesn't get lost on her own, and say I to Daisy for me if I don't see her soon!" Ash felt relieved after entrusting his mother to someone he knows well. His mother was somewhat of a clumsy person.
"Yeah yeah, don't worry, I'll make sure Aunt Delia doesn't get lost and will say hi to sis!" He said in his now laid back voice.