Chapter 109

Alex walked out of the Pokemon Center in Viridian City after registering for the Indigo League which would take place in 2 years.

Alakazam teleported him over from Pallet Town, after the Professor fitted him with a hidden body camera that would transmit a live feed to the Oak Corall, and subsequently the higher ups of the Alliance.

During the first Gym battle of a newly registered adventurer, he could decide on the format of the competition, over the regular rules of the Gym. Hence, Alex could challenge the Viridian City Gym for a 3 on 3 battle as this was his first Gym Battle, circumventing the Viridian City's usual 6 on 6 battle format.

Through the live body camera feed, the higher ups of the Alliance would confirm if Giovanni was truly back and get a measure of his strength if he decides to expose it to crush Alex.

As a reward for this task, the Professor said he would expand his carry limit to 8 Pokemon. The carry limit was usually set at 6 because that was the maximum number of Pokemon an average trainer could train, feed, and give attention to at any time. Alex had the feeding and training knowledge as required by a top researcher, and had demonstrated at the lab that he could take care of a large number of Pokemon. Hence, Professor Oak had no problem increasing his carry limit.

Professor Oak had assured him that Giovanni was unlikely to show hostility even if he spotted the body camera, but there would be a contingency to save his life in case things went wrong.

Before teleporting away, Alakazam waved its spoon at Alex, either as a good luck gesture, or an energy deposition to help him in case of a crisis.

Gym battles needed the registration of a slot at least 6 hours in advance, but the Alliance had 'convinced' another trainer to give Alex the slot he had received.

Alex walked up to the huge building in the western part of the Viridian City, thinking of the three Pokemon Giovanni might use, and the possible countermeasures with Lapras, Charizard, and Magneton.

Lapras had a type advantage, but it was not at the Elite stage yet, being only at level 48. His level 54 Elite stage Charizard could fly to avoid ground based attacks, but had a severe weakness towards Rock type attacks, which many Ground type Pokemon usually knew. His level 51 Elite stage Magneton had a disadvantage against Ground types, mostly crippling its largely Electric move pool. It could use electromagnetism to levitate, and thus avoid some ground based attacks. Plus, he had a countermeasure against Ground types planned.

All this would rest, however, on the assumption that Giovanni decided to fight him with equal level Pokemon, and not use the Heavenly stage Pokemon he is sure to have. Gym Leaders were expected to send Pokemon based on the level of the challengers. Giovanni had a reputation for mostly ignoring this rule, however, as he had once kicked out a beginner trainer with barely Veteran stage Pokemon by sending his Nidoking to rough them up.

"I am Alex Burns from Pallet Town and would like to challenge the Viridian City Gym" said Alex as he faced the camera at the entrance of the Gym, while using his Pokedex to confirm with the scanner that he had a slot booked for the challenge.

The door swung open. Alex took a deep breath and walked in.

He walked into a large hall, with an elevated platform in the middle. There were no spectator stands, as Giovanni clearly did not believe in publicly spectated battles with an audience.

One extra source of revenue for Gyms would be to sell spectator tickets, especially to some battles between a prominent challenger that would be advertised heavily in advance. Hence, most Gyms at least had a constructed spectator stand, in case there was a chance to put it to use. But the Viridian City Gym had no such spectator stand constructed.

"It's not like he needs extra money anyway" thought Alex. Gym Leaders had a percentage of the revenue of the city they were in. All members of the Alliance, except for trainers would be taxed by the Alliance. Gym Leaders get a percentage of all the taxes collected in the city. Viridian City was one of the most populous and prosperous cities in the Kanto region, due to its proximity to the Viridian Forest. And, Giovanni was the boss of one of the largest crime syndicates in the world. He really did not have any lack of money.

Alex walked up to the raised platform in the middle of the huge hall, and stood in the small box in front of the battlefield, on the side towards the door. He looked across to see that the opposite part of the battlefield was mostly dark.

"I am Alex Burns from Pallet Town, here for my first Gym badge. I challenge you to a 3 on 3 Pokemon battle" said Alex loudly.

The lights came in in the other half of the arena. In the trainer's box on the other half of the arena, a middle aged man, with short brown hair, and a sinister look. He was dressed in perfect formal clothes, suit, tie, shoes and all, that looked, strangely a natural fit.

"I am Giovanni, leader of the Viridian City Gym. I accept your challenge" he said in a low, cold voice.

Giovanni looked at Alex coldly and said, "There is no referee for this match. I don't believe in them. You and your opponent should decide if your Pokemon are unable to continue to battle, not some random non-trainer. As per the rules, I will not be allowed to substitute Pokemon, while you may. Let us begin" and sent out a Persian.

"Wow. This guy is not kidding around" thought Alex as he saw the mean looking level 54 Persian.