Finally, Not So Stingy

Cynthia, however, did not think that much about it. She naturally knew of Pokémon like Eelektross; it seemed to be native to the Unova region, though she was not very familiar with it, since such Pokémon were not common.

But judging by its typing, it was indeed an Electric-type Pokémon. She decisively selected Magnitude.

As Dugtrio violently shook its body, a number suddenly appeared at the top of the screen.

[Magnitude 10!]

A maximum-power Magnitude with 100 base power!

The ground shook violently with a deafening roar, and an unprecedentedly powerful shockwave surged toward Eelektross.

Cynthia's gaze immediately sharpened at the sight.

With that much power and type advantage, it would definitely one-shot the opponent.

Yet just as the shockwave was about to swallow Eelektross, its body strangely floated up, completely avoiding the tremors on the ground.

A prompt appeared.

[Eelektross's Levitate Ability made it immune to this attack!]

Cynthia: ?

No, not again?!

Why was it immune again?!

But that was not the end of it. The next moment, green light shone from Eelektross as it hovered in midair. It extended from its body, pierced straight into Dugtrio, then returned to it!

[Eelektross used Giga Drain!]

[It's super effective!]

Dugtrio's HP bar instantly emptied.

[Dugtrio fainted.]

Cynthia: ?

Forget that Levitate just now—what was Giga Drain supposed to mean?

Water-type moves were one thing, but why could this thing even use Grass-type moves...

Iono was already completely dumbfounded.

Her mouth hung open as she stared blankly at the screen, her worldview crumbling apart.

Electric-type Pokémon... could be played like this?

Giving Bellibolt an Air Balloon and teaching it Soak, then pairing Eelektross's Levitate Ability with Giga Drain... Why did his mono-Electric team feel completely different from hers??

No, she had to find a way to get herself an Eelektross when she went back.

Iono had already begun plotting in her heart.

If she also had an Eelektross, then gave the Pokémon on her team some of these absurd items and moves, the expressions on the faces of those Gym challengers would definitely be spectacular!

And if she livestreamed those reactions... perfect!

But there was still a new problem.

Then... how was she supposed to fight this Wattson when she faced him in the game?

This old man... was kind of terrifying.

Over the next half hour, this Mauville Gym battle became a long and agonizing ordeal for Cynthia.

After countless reloads and attempts, she finally worked out a relatively stable strategy for clearing it.

First, she had to bait out Bellibolt's Air Balloon and status move.

The earlier steps remained unchanged. She first relied on Dottler's bulk to withstand Bellibolt's Thunderbolt and set up Reflect.

Then she switched in Mightyena.

Under the dual damage reduction of Mightyena's Intimidate and Reflect, she fought Bellibolt in a desperate exchange, used Crunch to pop its Air Balloon, then switched in Breloom to finish the weakened Bellibolt with Mach Punch.

After dealing with the biggest problem, all that remained was having Breloom and Eelektross directly trade blows.

She had thought Grass resistance to Electric would make things easier, but Eelektross actually used Flamethrower. Thankfully, Reflect was up, or Breloom would have been one-shot.

With Reflect's protection, Cynthia finally managed to take down Eelektross after a difficult battle.

Lastly, she sent Dugtrio out again and exploited the lack of both Air Balloon and Levitate to steamroll Wattson's remaining two Electric-type Pokémon—Manectric and Raichu.

The whole process looked simple, but it had taken Cynthia a full half hour.

Because every single Pokémon on Wattson's team could use Thunderbolt.

Not only was that move's power a little too high for this early in the game, it also kept inflicting paralysis, halving Speed and occasionally preventing them from moving.

If Dugtrio had not cheesed the last two pure Electric-type Pokémon, she had no idea how long she would have been fighting...

But thankfully, she had won in the end.

As Wattson's final Manectric fell to Magnitude, stirring victory music finally rang throughout the entire Gym!

[You won the battle!]

Wattson stroked his white beard and burst into laughter.

[Gym Leader Wattson: Oh? You actually defeated me! Ah! Not bad, not bad. You have potential as dazzling as this lightning!

[Take this. It is proof of your victory in a Gym battle!]

A game prompt appeared.

[Obtained the Dynamo Badge!]

[You can now use Rock Smash!]

"And this too—this is a special reward that only I will give you!"

[Obtained TM024: Thunderbolt!]

Wattson's dialogue box continued flashing as it explained the move's effect.

"Thunderbolt releases a powerful electric current at the opponent and may sometimes leave them paralyzed. It is a very useful Electric-type move, so make sure to put it to good use."

Cynthia's lips could not help twitching as she looked at the prompt before her.

That explanation was completely unnecessary. After all, she had been struck by lightning for half an hour, and her team was practically numb from electricity. She knew better than anyone what the move did...

Still, when she saw the golden disc appear before her, Cynthia let out a long breath.

The good news was that this Gym Leader was finally not so stingy. He had given her such a powerful move.

It was who knew how much more useful than that previous Bulk Up.

But the next moment, Cynthia's gaze swept over her team list, and she suddenly realized that her six Pokémon—Dugtrio, Mightyena, Dottler, Feebas, Breloom, and Combusken—

did not have a single one related to the Electric type.

In other words, she had finally gotten a powerful TM, but had nowhere to use it?

No...

She needed to find a way to catch another Electric-type Pokémon to train.

Just as Cynthia silently made that decision, Iono's gaze was fixed on the Thunderbolt TM icon, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Seriously?

Thunderbolt was an advanced move for Electric-type Pokémon. It was powerful, but also quite difficult to learn. A Pokémon needed extraordinary electric talent and long-term training to master it.

Even for an Electric-type specialist like her, not every Pokémon on her current team had mastered that move proficiently... and it had taken quite a bit of effort.

But that old man had just said that this machine could directly teach a Pokémon Thunderbolt?

If she could really get a disc like that...

Iono felt a little tempted, but after thinking it over, she shook her head again.

"Yeah... as if that were possible."

No matter how she looked at it, this was a fictional item from a game.

If learning machines like that really existed in the real world, she would eat her keyboard.

But then again, since clearing this Gym gave such a reward—

could players build a team of six Electric-type Pokémon?

Then, once they passed Wattson's challenge, could they immediately teach all six Thunderbolt?

That image... just thinking about it felt unbelievably satisfying.