Chapter 113: Reality or Ideal?

"Gary, I'm sorry, but you still couldn't beat me."

Dylan first sprayed some Hyper Potion on the awakened Misdreavus, rubbed its head in praise, and then, with Misdreavus cheerfully squinting its eyes into crescent moons, he walked over to Gary.

"..."

Gary didn't look pleased at all. This was really strange!

Why is this Gym so tough? Just a few days ago, he went to challenge the Celadon City Gym and easily defeated Leah to get the Rainbow Badge.

This should mean he's actually improved, so why can't he win here? There must be something he's missing.

Learning Protect was not a mistake, but it's still not enough. As expected, when battling Dylan, you can't let him freely use status moves.

"But I did see your progress. Compared to before, you're not as impulsive."

Dylan smiled and praised him.

"Hmph~ That's only natural. I'm Gary Oak, after all!"

Gary's expression softened quite a bit, though he still boasted arrogantly, unwilling to concede fully.

"However, there were still a lot of points lost in the end. When dealing with Ghost-types, even if your opponent is in poor condition, you can't afford to be careless or reckless."

Dylan pointed out the mistakes Gary made in his challenge this time.

"Of course, I know that! This time, I was just not in the best shape... Maybe I ate something bad this morning that affected my performance! Next time! Next time, I'll definitely win!"

Gary continued to be stubborn, but as he spoke, he suddenly remembered he had already used the excuse of "not being in the best shape" before, so he quickly changed it.

"Mhm, mhm, mhm."

Dylan nodded cooperatively, amused.

"Great spirit. I look forward to your performance next time, Gary."

Dylan admired Gary's determination not to give up. To be honest, Gary was quite good.

If he performs well next time, he could indeed reward him with a badge. Just depends on what type Gary draws next time.

"Dylan, I'll be back!"

Gary flicked his hair and turned away in a cool manner, calling out to his girlfriends as he left.

"Pressure really does create motivation. At this rate of growth, Gary might actually do well in the Indigo League."

Dylan raised an eyebrow. To be fair, if it weren't for those two monsters, Red and Leah...

Dylan felt that if he continued to grow like this, Gary could potentially do great at the Indigo League at the end of the year, especially since this year's Indigo League had a particularly low standard.

Yeah, thanks to himself.

"Are you all going to challenge as well?"

Dylan looked over at the four Karate experts in the audience and asked with a gentle smile.

"Yes, Gym Leader! They are also—"

The Woman quickly responded, but before she could finish, the Psychic cut her off.

"No, Gym Leader Dylan, we're just here to watch and prepare for our challenge next time!"

"My dad, who's halfway to having diabetes, has to go to the hospital for a check-up this afternoon, so I really don't have time for a battle."

"Hehe... I drew Dark-type, so I'll wait for tomorrow."

The older sister quickly declined. The Psychic wasn't afraid of Ghost-types, but he had drawn Dark-type.

According to the rules of Rota Gym, each challenger can only challenge once a day, and since he gave up his chance to challenge Dylan with a Dark-type team, he naturally had to wait until tomorrow.

The Psychic wasn't stubborn. Dylan was very strong, and Dark-types are immune to his best Psychic-type moves. Challenging now would just be asking for trouble. It's only one more day. He didn't believe he'd draw Dark-type again tomorrow!

"I see. Rota Gym is always open for you all."

Dylan smiled politely.

"In that case, we'll take our leave, Gym Leader Dylan."

The older sister and the others left. What used to be a Gym specializing in Poison-types was now a Gym of Dark and Ghost-types...

Yeah, the difficulty had definitely increased.

And from the Gym battle just now, Dylan was really skilled with Ghost-types. That combination of Mean Look + Curse + Pain Split is very hard to deal with without specific counters.

"This Gym is getting more and more ridiculous. It was already unconventional, and now it's even more so! I'm done. You guys can go ahead without me."

The Karate master expert grumbled as he left the Gym first, quitting the group.

"How about we go back and gather some more people from the group to form a team?"

"Actually, I think if we could find a good partner, a double battle might be easier?"

The Psychic contemplated. Double battles were rare in Kanto, but he was originally from Hoenn, where there was a Gym that specialized in double battles, so he wasn't opposed to the idea.

However, double battles require good teamwork and coordination, and the teammate's skills need to be up to par; otherwise, it's just a disadvantage. You're not afraid of a 2v2, but you don't want it to turn into a 1v3!

In reality, if a teammate's Pokémon doesn't execute a move properly, it could end up hitting their own side. That would be a real disaster.

"That's a good idea. Let's go back and discuss it in the group."

The woman agreed. Two against one should be easier than one on one, right?

No problem at all!

Meanwhile, inside Rota Gym.

"Oh wow~ That was a very exciting Gym battle, Dylan! With the way you handle challengers, no one's ever tried to wreck your Gym?"

A lively, spirited girl's voice chimed in.

Dylan looked over and saw a brown-haired unfamiliar girl smiling at him.

Her face was quite unfamiliar, but judging by her figure and height, and most importantly, her tone of voice, Dylan immediately had a guess.

"Leah?"

"Hehe~ Only you could recognize me, Dylan. Even when I stood right in front of Red, he didn't recognize me."

Leah's smile became even brighter, her big eyes curving cutely.

"You didn't even give a heads up that you were coming." Dylan chuckled at Leah.

"Hmm~ I knew your Gym was here, so I just dropped by. But I have to say, Dylan, you sure are living it up here. Hiding away, and with three girls to keep you company."

Leah winked, glancing over at the curious trio of Lillie, teasing all the while.

Yep, Leah's sass was as strong as ever.

"Stop talking nonsense," Dylan rolled his eyes.

In the backyard.

"Wow, wow~ Life must be really nice for the heir of Silph Co.! This big yard~"

Leah sprawled out on a picnic mat on the lawn, carelessly stretching out her limbs in a star shape, a look of utter relaxation on her face.

"At least try to act like a proper young lady?" Dylan sat down and took a sip of water, smiling at Leah.

No denying it, Leah had a great figure—not overly dramatic curves but well-proportioned and shapely.

"There's no one else around anyway."

Leah looked contentedly at the blue sky. The cool breeze brushing over her made her feel completely at ease.

After two experiences working together against Team Rocket, Leah trusted Dylan quite a bit.

"You ran into Red earlier?"

"Yeah, I met him in Lavender Town. We even dealt with Team Rocket together, and we ran into Professor Fuji there, too," Leah replied casually.

"Who would have thought he was hiding out in Lavender Town? It seems like he's there to take care of those poor Pokémon."

"Dr. Fuji is indeed a good person," Dylan nodded.

"So, what brings you to Rota today?"

Dylan glanced at Leah. He didn't believe Leah had come to Rota Street to see him for no reason. Leah wasn't that idle.

And to be honest, Leah was always someone with a strong sense of purpose.

"What a hurtful question! I just thought, as good friends, we should keep in touch, right? Don't you miss adorable me, Leah?"

Leah turned sideways, putting on a pitiful expression, as if about to cry. Honestly, it looked quite fake.

"Talk like a normal person."

"Oh, actually, I've been a bit short on cash lately, so I thought I'd come see if you had any odd jobs for me to make some money." The girl sat upright obediently, in a perfect duck sitting position.

"Please, Master Silph, take in this poor, homeless girl!"

Dylan looked at the girl, lost in thought.

"Alright, alright, I remember. If you're making a sincere request, you should show some cleavage to show you're serious, right?"

"???"

Leah immediately lifted her head, clutching her chest with both hands, indignant.

"Dylan, you pervert! How can you make such a rude, lewd joke with an innocent girl like me?"

"You're the one who started joking around with me. I already told you to speak normally," Dylan replied in annoyance.

"Hehe~ I was just trying to lighten the mood." The mischievous girl changed her expression faster than flipping a page, smiling cheekily.

"Actually, I recently caught a few Rocket Grunts and managed to get some information out of them."

"Oh? Is it important?"

"The Rocket Team is contacting other evil organizations from different regions. Does that count as important?"

"I see."

Hearing this, Dylan raised an eyebrow. Well, it wasn't surprising for the plot to develop this way. In fact, it made things more interesting.

But there probably wouldn't be any big moves for now; nothing to get too excited about.

Seeing Dylan's lack of interest, Leah blinked.

"Aren't you curious about which organization the Rocket Team contacted?"

"It's actually pretty easy to guess."

"Oh? Let's hear it," Leah said, clearly skeptical. The Kanto region isn't close to other regions, let alone their evil organizations.

"The Rocket Team is ambitious; they're not interested in just any small fry," Dylan chuckled.

"First, we can rule out Paldea, Galar, and Alola."

Paldea doesn't even have a villainous team. Team Star is just a group of students fighting against school bullying, and Team Yell in Galar is just Marnie's fan club.

If you have to say there's a villain in Galar, it should be Chairman Rose of the Galar League, but technically, that's not quite right either.

As for Alola's Team Skull, they're just a small-time gang. The real antagonist, Lusamine, eventually redeemed herself.

"Hoenn's Team Magma and Team Aqua are both too weak to be taken seriously. Their goals are laughable, and their strength is average at best. The Rocket Team wouldn't bother with them."

Dylan didn't hide his disdain for Team Magma and Team Aqua. Although they were third-generation antagonists, both Maxie and Archie were incredibly weak.

Their greatest contribution was waking up Kyogre and Groudon, reigniting the battle between land and sea.

"Umm..." Leah actually felt a bit lost. She didn't know much about Team Magma and Team Aqua.

"In Sinnoh, there's Team Galactic. Cyrus has some strength, but he's a bit delusional, living in his own world. He's unlikely to deal with the Rocket Team."

Leah: (—)

"In Unova, there's Team Plasma. On the surface, Team Plasma's king, N, doesn't have much ambition, but Ghetsis is quite ambitious, so there's a good chance."

Leah's expression changed slightly.

"Then there's Team Flare in Kalos. Lysandre has his own plans, so it's unlikely he'd deal with the Rocket Team."

Dylan thought for a moment. So, the most likely organization the Rocket Team would connect with would be Unova's Team Plasma.

"What else? What else?" Leah listened with great interest.

"There's another organization that's a bit unique, but under normal circumstances, it's... actually hard to say," Dylan pondered. He really couldn't be sure.

He was referring to the Rainbow Rocket Team from Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, an evil organization from a parallel world, led by Rainbow Giovanni. The team's members included leaders from various villainous teams across different parallel worlds who had achieved their goals.

And all these alternate-reality bosses had captured legendary Pokémon!

Well, in the game, it was Selene who took them down all at once.

Would this world be invaded by the Rainbow Rocket Team in the future? Dylan wasn't sure, especially since Selene had already appeared. But it wouldn't be much of a problem.

Once he cleared the Alola region in the simulation and got Necrozma, then captured a few more legendary Pokémon...

He could take on the Rainbow Rocket Team, one by one! Bring them all on!

Yes, Dylan chose Alola as his second region.

"How do you know so much about the villainous organizations in other regions?" Leah asked, puzzled, and she actually wanted to ask Dylan about the Johto organization too.

Did Dylan know about them?

"Don't forget who I am," Dylan shrugged.

"Oh..."

Leah paused, realizing there was nothing wrong with that. Silph Co. was a top-tier company worldwide, so it wasn't surprising for Dylan, as the heir, to have information about other regions.

But Leah still felt it was odd. Why would a lifestyle company like Silph Co. know so much about villainous organizations?

"You were right; the Rocket Team has indeed contacted Unova's Team Plasma," Leah finally revealed.

"And according to my information, Team Plasma has sent a big shot to Kanto, possibly to discuss a partnership with the Rocket Team."

"It's that Team Plasma king you mentioned."

Leah shared her intel.

"N is in Kanto?" Dylan raised an eyebrow; now that was unexpected.

N, a naturally unique existence because he is the offspring of a human and a Pokémon.

And he didn't even know if this world's N was the Real one or the Ideal one.

(End of the chapter)