"I did all that so I could unlock two new Abilities for you," Gary said.
"Woof!"
Arcanine nodded and ran on happily.
Gary had also used an Ability-strengthening fossil on Arcanine.
"System, strengthen Arcanine's Flash Fire Ability."
[Ding! Ability strengthened successfully.]
Gary immediately checked Arcanine's data.
[Pokémon: Arcanine]
[Type: Fire]
[Level: 56]
[Potential: Champion]
[Ability 1: Intimidate (lowers the opponent's physical Attack by one stage upon entering battle)]
[Ability 2: EX Flash Fire (draws Fire-type moves toward itself and takes no damage from them; when activated, both Attack and Special Attack are raised by one stage; Fire-type moves used gain 1.5× power)]
[Ability 3: Justified (when hit by a Dark-type move, its own Attack is raised by one stage)]
[Moves: Leer, Ember, Howl, Odor Sleuth, Helping Hand, Agility, Fire Fang, Retaliate, Crunch, Take Down, Extreme Speed, Flamethrower, Roar, Flare Blitz, Play Rough]
[Tutor Moves: Fire Blast, Sunny Day, Body Slam, Dig, Rest, Hyper Beam, Iron Tail, Snarl, Protect]
[Friendship: 255 (Max: 255)]
"Not bad. Flash Fire isn't passive anymore. Like Storm Drain, it can actively pull moves toward itself, and it boosts both attacking stats when it triggers. On top of that, Fire-type moves get a 1.5× power increase. It's practically the nemesis of every Fire-type Pokémon out there."
Gary then looked at the Justified Ability. This one was still fairly useless—the key problem was that it was too hard to trigger.
Any Trainer with even a little knowledge of battling Arcanine wouldn't willingly order their Pokémon to use Dark-type moves against it unless they were certain about which Ability it had.
Gary figured that even if a strengthened Justified triggered a much bigger boost, it would still require being hit by a Dark-type move in the first place. In the end, he decided not to strengthen it.
Not every Ability turned out strong after being enhanced. Take Slaking's Truant Ability, for example—even strengthened, it only really mattered to Slaking itself, and overall it remained a negative Ability.
Of course, Slaking's own Species Strength was so high that even without an Ability, its raw power was formidable, and its move pool was extremely wide. The key was that if it could Terastallize, Slaking would become even stronger. By simply changing its Tera Type, it could become a completely different kind of physical attacker at any time.
After all, plenty of Abilities on Pokémon were junk Abilities, and some couldn't be salvaged even after strengthening.
"System, strengthen Arcanine's Intimidate."
Intimidate had already been tested on Salamence. It was an extremely powerful Ability and absolutely worth strengthening.
[Ding! Ability strengthened successfully.]
"Woof!"
Arcanine immediately felt that it could now release a far more oppressive pressure.
Gary and Arcanine themselves might not sense much, but wherever Arcanine passed, the Pokémon within a hundred-meter radius felt an inexplicable threat and fled in a panic.
With the strengthening finished and Floaroma Village now far behind them, Gary recalled Arcanine and sent out Moltres for transport. They flew all the way north, arriving at an island off the northern coast.
Stark Mountain sat on this island, which was also inhabited by people.
Flint of the Sinnoh Elite Four had his hometown on this island, though he had moved to Sunyshore City with his parents when he was a child.
Stark Mountain was the tallest mountain on the island. Volcanic ash fell there all year round, landslides were frequent, and it was a genuinely dangerous place. With the mountain roads blocked by rockslides, it was still difficult to get inside.
"Kraaa!"
Moltres carried Gary up to the summit of Stark Mountain, where he could see hot, bubbling magma at the crater.
"Let's search around the mountainside."
Gary knew that Heatran lived inside Stark Mountain.
Since Heatran was part Steel-type, it wouldn't stay submerged in the magma itself. Instead, it simply absorbed the Fire-type energy from the nearby volcano to build up its strength.
Heatran could grip surfaces tightly with its cross-shaped claws and walk along cliff faces. To avoid being disturbed, it would usually dig its burrow near a steep mountain wall.
So finding the entrance to Heatran's nest wasn't difficult. On a rock wall along the mountainside, Gary quickly spotted an opening, and Moltres flew straight into the cave before folding its wings.
"Let's see if we can find it in one go."
Gary recalled Moltres, released Arcanine, and climbed onto its back, switching on a powerful flashlight to check the situation inside the cave.
The interior of Stark Mountain was riddled with tunnels—a natural labyrinth. It would be brutally hard for a person to walk through on foot, since magma flowed inside and many of the rock walls radiated extreme heat. A human staying in there, even if not killed by the heat, would eventually suffocate.
Gary wasn't worried at all. With Arcanine's strengthened Flash Fire, it could absorb the surrounding heat into its body. Thanks to that, Gary didn't feel the temperature was unbearable—though it was still hot.
The inside of Stark Mountain was simply too complex, however. Gary ran into dead end after dead end, but the trips weren't wasted—every time he covered a stretch of ground, he left a marker and sketched out a simple map.
Because of Arcanine's intimidating presence, none of the Pokémon in the cave dared to provoke it, and they moved through unimpeded the whole way.
Even so, Gary couldn't find Heatran. What he did manage was to get a general grasp of Stark Mountain's interior layout.
It was already dusk by the time Gary came out of Stark Mountain.
"Looks like I'll just have to search slowly."
Gary had assumed he'd find Heatran quickly.
But only after actually coming to Stark Mountain did he realize just how much ground it covered. In the games, Stark Mountain had been drastically scaled down; in reality, it was vast, and the terrain was harsh and sprawling.
Without an exact location, finding Heatran was going to be very difficult.
Still, Gary wasn't in a hurry. If there was one thing he had, it was time, and he refused to believe he couldn't find Heatran within a month.
"You've been running around all afternoon. Thanks for the hard work."
"Woof."
Arcanine indicated that it wasn't tired at all—especially with the Fire-type energy saturating Stark Mountain, the day's work had barely cost it anything.
"Come back in."
Gary recalled Arcanine, swapped in Moltres, and headed for the Survival Area at the foot of the mountain.
The Survival Area was a settlement established on the island by the Sinnoh League. It had originally been just a temporary camp, set up specifically for Trainers to stay in. But as time went on, the camp grew and was renamed the Survival Area. Some residents lived there permanently now, but for the most part, it still served as a place for Trainers to rest.