Gary looked at Pinsir. Originally, he had planned to use his Ice-type Pokémon and Electivire to take down Noland's three Pokémon.
Unfortunately, due to a command error on Gary's part, Electivire had been defeated by Venusaur.
Now that his Ice-type Pokémon couldn't do anything against Pinsir, Gary had no choice but to use the third Pokémon he had prepared. This one had been held in reserve, and it needed to win the match the moment it appeared.
Noland had managed to force Gary this far. He was worthy of his reputation.
"Mr. Noland, I'm going to win this match," Gary said.
"That remains to be seen," Noland countered. He didn't believe Gary's victory was guaranteed.
Among those present, only Scott truly understood Gary's strength. He had witnessed the power of Gary's Blastoise, which had been capable of defeating Elite Four Agatha's Gengar.
Scott thought that if Gary had sent out Blastoise from the very beginning, he could have swept all three matches with a single Pokémon.
"Charizard, I'm counting on you." Gary threw the Poké Ball in his hand.
A flash of light appeared.
[LV70 Charizard – Champion]
"Roar!"
Charizard roared at Pinsir.
Pinsir immediately looked nervous. It was already level 64, so it understood that Charizard held the type advantage—especially since Charizard could fly, which was a hard counter to Pinsir.
"Even with a type disadvantage, that doesn't mean I'll lose. Pinsir, use Dig," Noland ordered.
Pinsir also knew it wouldn't get close to Charizard with a head-on attack, so it immediately burrowed underground.
Gary simply watched in silence, giving no instructions.
Noland was puzzled and thought to himself, "He's not commanding? Taking a Dig like this would be extremely effective."
Although Charizard could fly, Dig could still hit it when it stood on the ground.
Gary dared to do this because he trusted that Charizard could handle Pinsir's Dig.
Likewise, Noland trusted Pinsir's strength and believed its Dig would seriously injure Charizard.
"Pinsir, attack!" Noland shouted.
Crash!
The ground in front of Charizard shattered as Pinsir burst out, its body wrapped in earth energy, slamming straight into Charizard.
"Catch Pinsir," Gary ordered.
Hearing the command, Charizard spread its arms to meet Pinsir's charge. Pinsir slammed into Charizard with its whole body, but Charizard held its ground and locked Pinsir in its grip.
"What!" Noland was shocked. He hadn't expected Charizard to be bold enough to take the Dig head-on.
"Take off! Carry Pinsir into the sky," Gary ordered.
Charizard spread its wings and flew high.
"Pin…!"
Pinsir was stunned. It wanted to struggle, but there was nowhere on its body to gain leverage. Its horns couldn't reach Charizard, and its arms were still pinned tight.
"Pinsir, use Hyper Beam!" Noland shouted urgently.
Gary immediately ordered, "Use Flare Blitz!"
"Roar!"
Charizard's entire body ignited, and Pinsir was engulfed in the flames.
"Pin!"
The burning flames made it impossible for Pinsir to gather energy, and the Hyper Beam failed.
A ball of fire shot up past the chimney and rose high above it.
Gary and Noland looked up at the sky. The flames covering Charizard turned into blue fire, and the searing heat became unbearable for Pinsir.
"Roar!"
The dragon's roar echoed.
Gathering its strength, Charizard tilted forward and plunged downward at high speed, like a meteor striking the earth.
Boom!
Boom!
The ground shook, a mushroom cloud rose, and smoke surged toward the top of the chimney.
When everything settled, everyone looked toward the center of the field.
"What!"
Noland was stunned. The ground at the center of the field had been shattered, leaving a deep crater surrounded by cracks that spread out like a spider web.
Charizard stood on the ground with a cold, detached expression, not sparing Pinsir a glance.
Pinsir lay in the crater, covered in burns, unable to continue fighting.
"Pinsir is unable to battle. Charizard wins," the referee announced. "All three of Noland's Pokémon have been defeated. The winner of this match is Gary."
The first Battle Frontier match had finally been decided.
The battle was over.
"I really did lose to you. Your Charizard is incredibly strong. As expected of a Trainer who defeated Elite Four Agatha," Noland praised.
Even in defeat, Noland was amazed by Gary's strength.
Gary couldn't help but laugh inwardly. He had only beaten Agatha's Gengar, and Agatha had likely let him win.
Gengar's signature moves included Destiny Bond. Gary didn't believe that a level 70 Gengar hadn't awakened Destiny Bond. Agatha was a member of the Elite Four, so she had the grace not to trade Destiny Bond for a win just because she was about to lose.
"You're too kind, Mr. Noland. You're very strong yourself," Gary said.
Noland had always thought of himself as strong—not on the level of the Elite Four, but strong. After seeing Gary's Charizard, though, he felt like an old wave being washed onto the shore by the one behind it.
"Enough about that. This is the Knowledge Symbol, proof that you've successfully challenged the Battle Factory." Noland took out a golden badge marked with a "K."
Gary accepted the badge.
[Ding! Mission completed. Rewards have been delivered to your Space Backpack.]
"Is this real gold?"
Gary looked at Scott in surprise. The badge was heavy—far heavier than an ordinary badge—and the material looked very much like gold.
"That's right. These Symbols are made of gold," Scott said.
Gary was taken aback. The gold weighed at least a dozen grams, which was worth about a month's salary for an ordinary person.
"Besides the gold Symbols, there are silver ones as well. The silver Symbols are made of silver and are given to Trainers who don't win but still perform exceptionally well," Scott explained.
"Mr. Scott, you really are wealthy."
Gary couldn't tell whether Scott simply had too much money and nowhere to spend it. Aside from training Trainers, this Battle Frontier didn't seem to serve much purpose.
"It's fine. It doesn't cost that much," Scott said casually.
In truth, the Battle Frontier didn't cost much to run. The battle facilities were already the property of the Frontier Brains themselves. Scott only invited them to serve as Frontier Brains, provided the Symbols, and gave them an annual financial subsidy.
On top of that, given Scott's standing within the League, it was no trouble at all for these Trainers to serve as Frontier Brains—especially since not just anyone could challenge the battle facilities. Only Trainers recognized by Scott were qualified to challenge the Battle Frontier.