Double Battle?
Xia Yan knew full well that Gardenia and Volkner would head back to the Battle Frontier in the Sinnoh Region whenever they had the chance to find people to battle.
Their main focus was Double Battles.
Double Battles and Single Battles emphasized entirely different things and required entirely different coordination.
Not only did they require coordination between Pokémon and Trainer, but even more importantly, coordination between the two Trainers, as well as between their Pokémon.
Familiarity and tacit understanding were extremely important.
Even if a Pokémon was weaker than its opponent, seamless coordination and special move combinations could still turn the tables to a certain extent.
On this point,
Gardenia and Volkner both had tremendous confidence in themselves and each other.
They
had forged their understanding of one another through countless clashes and battles since childhood.
Gardenia's abilities were beyond question. At such a young age, he had already become one of the Elite Four in the talent-rich Sinnoh Region, and he had never given up competing for Sinnoh Champion.
Even though
Sinnoh had two towering mountains in Xia Yan and Cynthia, he had never abandoned his pursuit of the Champion's seat.
In the original story, Gardenia challenged Cynthia in the Champion Tournament almost every year. He even had the impressive record of having Infernape take down three opponents before finally losing to Garchomp.
In this world, Xia Yan's presence as an outside factor had spurred them on. While Cynthia had grown faster and stronger, Gardenia had not fallen behind either.
And what about Volkner?
Like Raihan, he held the title of "Strongest Gym Trainer in the Region."
In his youth, he and Gardenia were known as the "Twin Stars of Sunyshore City."
Gardenia had ultimately chosen to challenge the Elite Four, while Volkner had chosen to remain