I, Gary, Want to Become a Pokemon Master

Chapter 702 - 702: Chatting With Iono

Pokémon Center."Gary, the Pokémon you asked for has been sent over," Tracey said over the phone.

"Great, I've got it here. Thanks, bye."

Gary took the Poké Ball, hung up, and went outside. He found an open public space and released both Annihilape and Great Tusk.

"Come on out."

[Lv. 63 Annihilape ♂ / Champion Tier]

[Lv. 55 Great Tusk / Champion Tier]

"Raaa!"

Great Tusk emerged and looked at Gary, its eyes full of anticipation.

It had already heard from Tracey that Gary intended to bring it along, and it was overjoyed. Ever since Gary caught it, he had never used it in a single official match, only sparring against random Trainers along the road.

After the Hoenn trip, Gary had left Great Tusk at Professor Oak's laboratory. Although Gary trained with it every time he returned, Great Tusk still wanted its chance to shine in a real competition.

"I'll need you for this Gym battle," Gary said. "But you'd better perform well."

"Raaa!"

Great Tusk nodded firmly, its huge horns practically itching for action.

Gary smiled, reached out, and placed a hand on Great Tusk, feeding it five Advanced Rare Candies.

Lv. 55 Great Tusk → Lv. 60 Great Tusk!

Great Tusk: (QAQ)!!

Great Tusk stared at Annihilape in shock. Up until now, Gary had only ever taught it new moves. This was the first time it had experienced the sensation of being leveled up directly.

Annihilape gave it a look that said, You'll get used to it.

Gary then raised Annihilape's level as well.

Lv. 63 Annihilape → Lv. 70 Annihilape!

"Anni!"

Annihilape felt the energy surging through its body grow even stronger, and the suppressed rage inside it swelled along with it.

"That should be about enough."

Gary figured Iono's Pokémon were Elite-level at most. With Great Tusk at level 60 and Annihilape at level 70, that should be plenty to win.

Great Tusk was especially useful here. As a Ground type, it was immune to Electric-type moves, which made it a hard counter against Iono's team.

After strengthening the two of them, Gary headed out to look for Togekiss.

He wasn't worried about Togekiss's safety. What worried him was the trouble it might cause other people. Togekiss had promised not to hurt anyone or take things too far, but Gary still didn't fully trust it.

He searched for a while but couldn't find any trace of it, so eventually he gave up. Levincia was a huge city, and Togekiss could fly, which made it even harder to track down. He decided to just wait until nightfall to check on it.

Since the battle with Iono was set for six that evening, Gary had to feed his Pokémon an hour in advance. He started at four and didn't finish until half past five. Only then did he head over to Levincia Gym.

When he arrived, a Gym assistant led him to a beach not far away.

The Levincia Gym had built its battlefield right by the sea. No wonder Gary hadn't been able to find it earlier.

The venue was elaborate. A circular arena had been constructed out over the water, shaped like a giant Poké Ball, with billboards ringing the whole area. A large crowd had already gathered to watch the match.

Iono stood in the center of the field, streaming into the camera. She seemed to be in the middle of warming up the audience. Many of the spectators around her were die-hard fans, all of them here to cheer her on.

"Everyone, welcome to Iono's Gym Battle stream! Today's challenger is a very strong Trainer!"

"Because of that, I've decided to use my main team. Though of course, I'll hand over the Badge regardless of how this match turns out."

Iono playfully explained the rules of the upcoming Gym battle to her viewers.

"Ooh! What kind of Trainer is he, making our Iono go all out?"

"Iono, don't worry, you've got this!"

"Go, Iono!"

The stream's comment section was already flooding with messages cheering her on.

Fortunately, Gary didn't usually watch livestreams. Otherwise, he'd probably be at a loss for words seeing all those comments.

It's just a stream. Is it really that big a deal?

"Oh! Here he is! Today's challenger has arrived!" Iono suddenly called out.

She had spotted Gary, and the cameraman beside her immediately swung the lens toward him.

Now Gary appeared on the stream too.

"Whoa, this guy's really handsome."

"Wait—that's World Champion Gary!"

"It really is him, God Gary!"

"Huh? Is this guy actually a big deal?"

"God Gary's in the Paldea region? Is he here to enter the Paldea League Conference?"

The stream reached viewers all over the world, and Iono's fans were spread across every region. Since Iono herself was a Gym Leader, her audience naturally loved Pokémon battles, and quite a few of them recognized Gary right away.

"Oh, he's popular."

Even though mobile phones couldn't handle broadcasting yet, watching a stream on one was fine. Iono had been keeping an eye on the comments, and she was surprised to see that Gary was so well known. A lot of her own fans recognized him.

"Gary, since everyone's here now, come on down." Iono waved toward the stands.

Gary looked over the arena and saw a bridge connecting the command areas on either side of the field. He took the bridge on the left and stepped onto the battlefield.

"Miss Iono, there are still fifteen minutes until our agreed time. Are we just going to wait?" Gary asked.

"No need to wait. Since you're here early, we'll start early," Iono said.

"This is a live broadcast, though. Is that alright?" Gary asked.

He had agreed with Iono to battle at six, and she had announced that time to her viewers. Starting early might upset some of her fans.

"It's fine, it's fine. Early or late, it doesn't matter," Iono said breezily.

"Alright, then let's begin."

Since Iono had no objections, Gary was more than happy to wrap up the Gym battle early. That would give him more time to look for Togekiss afterward.

He still had no idea where that bird had run off to. It hadn't even come back by dinnertime. If it weren't for his appointment with Iono, Gary would already be out searching for it.

"Then, let's get started."

Iono nodded, signaled the referee, and stepped back into her command area.

"Everyone! The match is about to begin! Welcome to Iono's stream time!" she announced with cheerful, lively energy.

Hearing that, the referee stepped forward and declared, "The following is a Gym battle between Levincia Gym Leader Iono and the challenger, Gary. Each side may use three Pokémon, and the match will continue until all Pokémon on one side are unable to battle. Only the challenger has the right to switch Pokémon."