"Gym Leader Grey, would you be up for a battle? A legendary battle!"
Unlike his usual steady composure, Brandon sounded genuinely excited right now.
Which made sense—most of the time, even seeing a legendary Pokémon was incredibly difficult.
And meeting a trainer who had actually caught one was even rarer.
Now that he'd run into someone like Grey, Brandon felt like he absolutely had to have a proper match with him.
"I'm not against it… but Brandon, about how strong is your Regirock?" Grey asked.
He was measuring the combat power of his own two legendaries.
Zapdos had successfully stepped into Elite Four level, while Articuno was close to that upper Elite Four tier.
But those two birds had one really annoying problem.
They were weak to Rock.
Especially Articuno—four times weak to Rock.
Even as a legendary with stamina far beyond normal Pokémon, trying to fight a Rock-type Regirock at equal level was basically impossible.
Regirock was a legendary too. If it landed a solid hit on Articuno, there was a very real chance Articuno would get taken straight out of the sky.
Of course, if Articuno knew Sheer Cold, there'd be a chance.
Sadly, it still hadn't learned that move.
It was only just starting to take shape—getting clean one-shot wins was still a long way off.
"If I'm going by what Mr. Reggie told me the other day," Brandon said, "it should be a little stronger than your Zapdos, but it's still some distance away from the very top Elite Four tier."
Brandon felt like words weren't enough to explain, so he glanced around, confirmed the space was suitable, and took out an Ultra Ball.
Staring at it, he couldn't help feeling a wave of emotion.
This was the existence he'd only managed to catch after spending hundreds of Ultra Balls.
At 1200 per ball, all told he'd burned close to five hundred thousand.
That was pocket change for him, sure—but his arm nearly fell off.
Repeating that motion over and over was so mind-numbing that Brandon had almost snapped back then.
That was exactly why, when he heard the Silph chairman had a Poké Ball this good, he was willing to accept the deal—as long as it didn't trample his bottom line.
Fortunately, the Silph chairman knew where the line was. Having Brandon use a Master Ball was mainly for publicity.
Brandon agreed immediately.
Once he found a new Regi titan later, he'd weaken it first and then test the Master Ball's effect—because he still wasn't sure the Master Ball was really as absurd as advertised.
If it failed, and he angered the titan in the process, catching it afterward would become extremely difficult.
"Alright—come out! Regirock!"
Brandon threw the Ultra Ball forward. A Pokémon formed entirely of rock emerged, and the moment it landed outside the office, the floor trembled.
Most Rock-types embodied weight.
Especially in terms of mass—they were heavy, one after another.
And Regirock, known as the "Rock Titan," was naturally no exception.
[Pokémon: Regirock (Legendary Pokémon)]
[Type: Rock]
[Level: 61]
[Ability: Clear Body]
[Moves: Omitted…]
For some reason, the Rock-, Ice-, and Steel-type titans didn't even have their own signature moves. It was kind of sad—like they were just hastily molded out of nowhere.
Even their basic abilities were all Clear Body.
By comparison, the Electric- and Dragon-type titans got much better treatment—able to float, and with abilities that permanently boosted their own-type moves by 50%.
Absurdly strong.
"So, Grey—what do you think?" Brandon asked.
Without realizing it, he'd shifted from "Gym Leader Grey" to something far more familiar.
"Then I'll use Zapdos," Grey said with a nod. "It's around the same level as Regirock, and the type disadvantage won't be quite as brutal."
Since Brandon had asked for the battle, Grey was obviously going to take it!
It wasn't a full 6-on-6 match anyway—just a one-on-one clash between legendaries.
Both were Elite Four level. Was his Zapdos really guaranteed to lose to Regirock?
Sure, in terms of typing, Zapdos was checked by Regirock.
But—
Zapdos could fly, and it knew Roost.
Even if it got grazed, it could use Roost to temporarily drop its Flying typing and barely endure a hit.
All in all, using Zapdos would feel a lot better than sending out Articuno.
"Then it's settled. Let's go to my Battle Pyramid," Brandon said. "After the match, you can rest at my place. We can have tea and chat a bit too."
After inviting Grey, Brandon turned to Steven and Giovanni.
"Mr. Steven, Gym Leader Giovanni—what do you think?"
"Sure," Giovanni said.
"Works for me. I've been meaning to talk to Brandon about minerals and stones," Steven replied.
Both nodded.
Giovanni wanted more time to keep an eye on Silver.
Steven genuinely wanted to talk.
He'd long heard Brandon was a mining fanatic.
The man had even caught a legendary like Regirock.
Which meant when he went digging, he definitely came across plenty of unusual stones.
That thought alone had Steven looking forward to it.
Grey could feel it directly.
When Regirock appeared earlier, Steven's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
If it weren't for Steven's composure as Devon's golden heir and Hoenn's former Champion, Grey was pretty sure Steven would've plastered himself onto Regirock and started feeling it up on the spot.
Grey honestly felt Steven was exactly the type who might do that…
"Gym Leader Grey, what's wrong?" Steven asked, catching Grey's expression out of the corner of his eye. He was worried Grey felt unwell and wouldn't be able to battle.
"Nothing," Grey said with a grin, waving it off. "Just remembered something that made me happy."
…
…
On the outskirts of Saffron City, a pyramid-shaped airship rested silently on the ground.
Staring at it, Grey clicked his tongue.
How much money did it take to build something like this?
And the maintenance alone had to be a fortune…
Only someone like Brandon—a true mining expert—could afford a thing like this.
If it were Grey, he probably wouldn't be able to pay for it.
Brrrr—
A distant roar of an engine rolled in.
Grey turned his head and saw a red supercar racing toward them.
Behind the wheel was a chubby man wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, and a head of curly hair.
He looked like pure money.
"Whoa~ Looks like I picked the perfect time today~"
The supercar stopped. The man stepped out and pulled out three postcards.
"Hello, everyone~ I'm the founder of the Battle Frontier. Just call me Scott~ I didn't expect to meet Champion Steven, Gym Leader Giovanni, and Gym Leader Grey here—what an honor~"
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