"Bellossom, thank you for your hard work."
Gardenia calmly recalled Bellossom, but she was not calm inside. She had just returned from Eterna Forest and immediately suffered such a heavy defeat. Naturally, it didn't feel good.
"Go, Roserade."
Gardenia sent out her third Pokémon.
Flash!
A Roserade wearing a mask and a cape appeared on the battlefield.
[Lv.43 Roserade / Quasi-Elite]
Roserade's level was far higher than the two Pokémon Gardenia had sent out before. This was definitely a Gym Leader's true ace.
Gary even suspected that if not for this Roserade, the Rare Candy reward might not have reached the intermediate level.
Although Gardenia's Roserade was decent, it still wasn't enough in front of Glaceon—especially now that Glaceon had the weather advantage.
"Blizzard!" Gary ordered.
"Glace!"
Glaceon released a roaring Blizzard.
Facing a full-field attack like Blizzard, Roserade had no way to dodge.
"Roserade, use Petal Dance!" Gardenia shouted.
Petal Dance was a Grass-type special attack with 120 power, only 10 points weaker than Blizzard.
"Rose!"
Roserade quickly spun its body. Large pink petals sprayed from the red and blue flowers in its hands. As Roserade continued spinning, the petals formed a Sakura-like tornado that successfully blocked Blizzard and pushed toward Glaceon.
This was the Counter Shield.
This move wasn't Ash's patent. Many Gym Trainers knew how to use it. Ash had originally learned the idea from Bugsy.
However, Petal Dance had a fatal flaw.
Once used, it would continue automatically. At most, it could last three rounds, and afterward the user would fall into confusion. In normal circumstances, it wouldn't stop after only one or two turns.
"Dig!" Gary ordered.
Glaceon crashed into the ground, mobilizing Earth Power and burrowing underground in an instant.
"What? Dig?!"
Gardenia's eyebrows twitched. She couldn't believe an Ice-type Pokémon had actually mastered Dig.
Knowing Gary was going to attack from underground, Gardenia had no choice. Petal Dance was not so easy to stop, especially with Roserade in a spinning state. Forcing it to stop would take several seconds.
Bang!
A muffled sound came from below. Roserade was suddenly knocked upward, and the Sakura tornado scattered apart.
"Blizzard!" Gary pursued the advantage.
"Glace!!"
Glaceon released another Blizzard. The freezing wind swept over Roserade before it could react, slammed it into the wall at the edge of the field, and dropped it to the ground. A thin layer of frost covered Roserade's body as it fainted.
"Roserade has lost the ability to battle," Rina announced. "All three of Gym Leader Gardenia's Pokémon have lost the ability to battle. The winner is the challenger, Gary."
"Come back."
After the battle, Gary recalled Glaceon.
This Gym battle had been completely meaningless. At most, it could only be considered a warm-up for Glaceon.
It wasn't that Gardenia was too weak or unqualified, but the Pokémon Gary sent out were simply too strong.
There was no way around it. The Pokémon Gary had brought with him this time were far too powerful.
And Gary even felt he had been quite polite. After all, there was a Legendary-user at the Lily of the Valley Conference this time. That guy had also collected eight Badges to participate. If he had challenged the Gyms, he would definitely have crushed his way through them as well.
"Congratulations. This is proof of your successful challenge of the Eterna Gym—the Forest Badge. Please take it."
Gardenia calmly took out the Badge from her Gym.
Although Gardenia looked calm, Gary knew she must be very unhappy inside.
"Thank you... goodbye."
Gary accepted the Badge and quickly left.
After leaving the Eterna Gym, Gary immediately checked his space backpack to see what the reward item was.
[Lunar Wing: Carrying it can prevent nightmares.]
"What? Lunar Wing?!"
Gary was stunned. He hadn't expected the system to reward him with such an item.
The Lunar Wing was essentially a feather from Cresselia, infused with Cresselia's power to dispel nightmares. It was especially targeted toward Darkrai.
"Can this thing summon Cresselia?" Gary wondered curiously.
In the Unova games, the Lunar Wing could summon Cresselia on Marvelous Bridge.
Gary didn't currently have many Pokémon he wanted to raise, but he was still interested in capturing Legendary Pokémon. He just didn't know how strong the summoned Legendary Pokémon would be.
From what Gary knew, not every Legendary Pokémon was overwhelmingly strong. There were quite a few Pokémon like Cresselia whose strength wasn't especially terrifying.
There were also quite a few Darkrai corresponding to Cresselia. In the anime and movies, four or five Darkrai had appeared.
"Should I go to Newmoon Island to capture Darkrai?" Gary thought.
In Ash's journey, Darkrai appeared in Canalave City. Its existence affected the sleep of Canalave City's residents. In the end, Ash and his friends summoned Cresselia to drive Darkrai away.
"That Darkrai doesn't seem very strong, but it can be captured."
Gary decided that he would go to Canalave City later to capture Darkrai. However, he wasn't in a hurry right now. He still had to defeat Oreburgh Gym first, and after that he needed to head to the Gracidea fields to capture Shaymin.
"What Grass-type move should I exchange for?"
Gary planned to use the rewarded Grass-type skill exchange.
However, most of the powerful Grass-type moves with strong side effects were exclusive moves and couldn't be exchanged. As for high-power moves, the main options were Leaf Storm and Solar Blade, but both had drawbacks.
Leaf Storm had a negative effect. After use, it reduced Special Attack by two stages. Unless it could guarantee an instant knockout, it had to be used carefully.
Solar Blade had no negative effect, but like Solar Beam, its activation speed depended on whether the weather was sunny.
"Forget it. I'll exchange for Grassy Terrain."
After thinking it over, Gary decided Grassy Terrain was the most worthwhile option. Field moves were important, so it was a good choice.
[Ding! Skill exchange successful.]
Unfortunately, Grassy Terrain was a move only Grass-type Pokémon could learn. Gary didn't currently have any Grass-type Pokémon with him, so he couldn't teach it for now.
After exchanging the move, Gary went to the Pokémon Center.
Once Glaceon had recovered, he took his Pokémon to lunch. In the afternoon, he trained his Pokémon.
It was called training his Pokémon, but in reality, the focus was mostly on Gabite.
At the moment, Gabite was the weakest member of the entire team, so naturally Gary had to hurry and raise its level.