After reaching Halfmoon Town, Liuqing had Scyther carry him over the unfinished bridge to Sunshine Town, then passed through Pikachu Forest. Between training his Pokémon and challenging opponents, his days were thoroughly fulfilling. At last, he arrived in Stone Town.
Stone Town was famous for its Evolution Stones, and nearly every kind could be dug up there. Naturally, Liuqing would not pass up this chance to collect some, saving himself the trouble of asking his family to find them when his Pokémon needed to evolve. After resting for a day, he entered Evolution Mountain.
"Hey, are you looking for Evolution Stones?" Three boys appeared before Liuqing while he was struggling to find some.
"Of course." Liu Qing looked at the three boys. They looked very much alike, except one had blond hair, one red, and the last blue. The red-haired boy had asked the question.
"You look like a Pokémon Trainer, too. Want to battle the three of us? If you win, each of us will give you a complete set of Evolution Stones," the blue-haired boy said.
"And if I lose?" Liu Qing asked.
"If you lose, we can still tell you where to find plenty of Evolution Stones, but you'll have to give us a set after you collect them," the Golden Hair boy said.
"Heh, so you're trying to get some free labor out of me." Liuqing chuckled. Too bad. Those Evolution Stones of yours are about to belong to the Bofeng family.
"Well? Do you dare battle us?" the red-haired boy asked with a frown.
"All right, I accept. But before we battle, shouldn't you introduce yourselves and show me you can actually pay up?" Liu Qing agreed readily.
"Hmph! We're Stone Town's three Eevee brothers—Raizo, Archie, and Mizuki!" the Golden Hair, red-haired, and blue-haired boys said in turn. "Our Pokémon are Jolteon, Flareon, and Vaporeon." Each also took nine differently colored Evolution Stones out of his backpack.
"I'm Liuqing from Saffron City. I'll be using Exeggutor. Who's first?" Liuqing released Exeggutor as he spoke, and all three heads immediately made a tremendous racket.
"I'll go! Go, Flareon!" The first to step forward was the red-haired Archie.
"So you want to use fire against grass. Not a bad idea," Liuqing said calmly. "But a type advantage alone won't be enough to beat me."
"Hmph, we'll see about that!" Archie snorted. "Flareon, Flamethrower!"
Upon hearing the command, Flareon immediately shot a stream of fire at Exeggutor, with impressive speed and power.
"Confusion!" Liu Qing's command came just then.
Exeggutor did not dare take the flames lightly. At Liuqing's command, Exeggutor immediately used Confusion to take control of them, while the multicolored psychic energy rapidly spread toward Flareon.
"Flareon, Smokescreen!" Startled by the rapidly approaching Confusion, Archie shouted at once.
Black smoke immediately spread out, completely concealing Flareon. But it failed to stop Exeggutor, whose Confusion ignored the smoke entirely and searched within it.
"Egg?" Before long, Exeggutor let out a puzzled cry.
"Not there?" Liu Qing understood what Exeggutor meant. Seeing the smug trace of a smile on Archie's lips, he immediately realized what had happened. "Exeggutor, Nature Power!"
"Oh no! Flareon, get out of there!" Archie reacted quickly, immediately ordering Flareon out from underground when he sensed trouble. But he was still too late. Green light flashed over Exeggutor, and the entire ground began shaking violently. Cracks spread outward from beneath Exeggutor, and Flareon was hurled out of one with a scream. Flareon landed on the ground, unable to battle.
"You lost. Who's next?" Liu Qing looked at the other two.
"I'll go! Go, Vaporeon!" Flareon's one-hit defeat had made all three brothers realize they might lose this time, but they refused to give up while even a sliver of hope remained. The blue-haired Mizuki immediately stepped forward. Archie recalled Flareon and retreated to the Golden Hair boy's side.
"Exeggutor, Sunny Day!" Liu Qing snapped his fingers.
"Egg!" All three of Exeggutor's heads cried out together, and a ball of light shot into the sky from between the leaves atop Exeggutor's head.
"Now's our chance! Vaporeon, Ice Beam!" With Exeggutor using a support move, Mizuki could not afford to pass up the chance to attack. Otherwise, once its effects took hold next turn, winning would become twice as difficult.
Unfortunately, despite his quick reaction, he had overlooked something. The ball of light rose into the air and suddenly burst, intensifying the sunlight across the sky. As luck would have it, Vaporeon was facing the sun. The sudden glare stung Vaporeon's eyes, delaying Ice Beam slightly. By the time Vaporeon could see again, Exeggutor's speed had doubled, allowing Exeggutor to dodge the beam.
"Damn it! Vaporeon, Water Gun!" Bitterly frustrated at missing such a good opportunity, Mizuki roared the command.
"Exeggutor, Solar Beam!"
It was time to counterattack. Facing the incoming blue jet of water, Exeggutor instantly finished absorbing sunlight and fired a huge, pale-green beam. Sunny Day had halved the power of Water-type moves, so Water Gun fell apart the moment it met Solar Beam, which instantly engulfed Vaporeon...
"Your turn." Having defeated Vaporeon with another single hit, Liuqing turned his gaze to the last boy, the Golden Hair one.
"Sorry, big brother," the blue-haired boy apologized as his Golden Hair brother approached.
"It's all right. We're weaker than he is, so there's nothing to regret about losing. What matters is learning from defeat and growing stronger with every battle." Raizo patted his brother's shoulder, then released Jolteon. "I know I'm probably no match for you either, but I still want to battle you."
"All right. You can attack first." Liu Qing agreed with Raizo's outlook, and his impression of the three brothers improved a little.
"Jolteon, Thunderbolt!" Raizo shouted.
All of Jolteon's steel-needle-like fur stood on end. Jolteon leaped into the air and fired a golden bolt of electricity at Exeggutor.
"Dodge, then Solar Beam!" Under Sunny Day, Exeggutor's speed had doubled, and Solar Beam no longer required a lengthy charge. Exeggutor dodged Thunderbolt and immediately fired a massive Solar Beam.
"Double Team!" Raizo's command finally came at the crucial moment. Jolteon quickly created more than a dozen copies, surrounding Exeggutor. Solar Beam shattered one of the copies and blasted the ground beneath it until it looked like molten lava. The sheer power of the move made Raizo inwardly marvel at how narrowly Jolteon had escaped.
"What a pain. Exeggutor, Nature Power!" Liu Qing commanded as he looked at the surrounding copies.
Rumble! As Exeggutor's Nature Power made the entire ground shake violently, every copy vanished.
"Huh? Where's the real one?" Liu Qing stared at the battlefield, momentarily taken aback.
"Now, Jolteon! Pin Missile!"
At Raizo's shout, Jolteon suddenly leaped out of a crack in the ground, firing countless white needles at Exeggutor.
"Egg!" Caught off guard, Exeggutor could not dodge them all despite having twice the usual speed. At least half struck home, and all three heads screamed in pain. It was super effective.
"I didn't expect you to hide in the cracks left by the Earthquake Exeggutor used against Flareon and turn that into an opportunity to attack. I have to admit, your reaction was quick and your timing was excellent. But even so, Jolteon couldn't escape the heavy damage from Earthquake." Liu Qing looked at Jolteon, panting heavily in front of Raizo.
"You're right. Earthquake did hit Jolteon hard. But if Exeggutor hadn't dodged in time and taken the full Pin Missile, the situation would be reversed now," Raizo said regretfully. "I just didn't expect your Exeggutor to react so quickly."
"It's over. Exeggutor, finish this with Confusion." Liu Qing nodded in full agreement with Raizo's words, then gave his final command.
Exeggutor unleashed Confusion, and Jolteon, unable to dodge in time, was knocked out as well. With three sets of Evolution Stones in hand, a thoroughly satisfied Liuqing set out on his journey again.
After more than ten days of travel, Liuqing finally reached Dark City at noon. He remembered that Dark City had two Gyms, but neither had been recognized by the League when Ash arrived there. He wondered how things stood now.
He went to the Pokémon Center, handed his Pokémon over to Nurse Joy, and asked about the Gyms. It turned out that the two had merged into a single Gym, gained League recognition, and been issued the Black Badge.
After hearing that, Liuqing understood. According to League requirements, a city could have one Gym once its child population reached ten thousand, and two once it reached a hundred thousand or more. These Gyms could not simply be established on a whim, either. Gym Leaders were official League members who received League stipends, and they were required to work with the police to protect their cities and issue League badges.
Since Pokémon Trainers could enter the Pokémon League after collecting eight Badges, the League had another rule to prevent Gyms from accepting bribes and deliberately throwing matches: any Gym that awarded Badges three times in a row would lose its status. Thus, when a Pokémon Trainer lost a Gym challenge on the first visit but won on the second, it might be because two Pokémon Trainers had already earned Badges just before that first challenge.
As Liuqing understood it, Dark City's child population certainly had not exceeded a hundred thousand, and neither Gym Leader seemed particularly strong. That was why they had never received League recognition separately. Now that the two Gyms had merged, receiving recognition was only natural.
After resting for a day, Liuqing arrived at the Dark Gym early the next morning.
"Hello. I'm Liuqing, a challenger from Saffron City." Standing on the Gym's battlefield, Liuqing addressed the two men opposite him.
"I'm Yas," said the somewhat tall, thin man.
"I'm Kaz," said the somewhat short, stocky man.
"We're the Pokémon Trainers of the Dark Gym. Our rules are different from those of other Gyms. We hold Double Battles, and the match ends when both Pokémon on either side are unable to battle. Understood?" Yas asked.
"Understood." Liu Qing nodded.
"Go, Scyther! Electabuzz!" Seeing that Liuqing understood, the two threw their Poké Balls together.
"Shelgon, Arcanine, I choose you." Liu Qing also threw two Poké Balls.
"Electabuzz, Thunderbolt! Scyther, Slash!" The two gave their attack commands together.
At the Gym Trainers' commands, their Pokémon displayed remarkable coordination. Electabuzz fired a golden Thunderbolt at Shelgon and Arcanine, while Scyther flew along its path, using it as cover to close in rapidly.
"Arcanine, Thunder Fang." Liu Qing swiftly countered their attack.
"Why's this kid only giving orders to one Pokémon? Is he not used to Double Battles?" Yas asked Kaz. Just then, their attacks arrived.
"Roar!" Arcanine roared and opened a mouth crackling with golden electricity toward the oncoming Thunderbolt. Thunder Fang absorbed all of its electrical power with a series of sharp crackles.
Beside Arcanine, Shelgon was completely engulfed by Thunderbolt. As the electricity faded, Scyther's attack arrived, both blades slashing fiercely into Shelgon. Yet before the two delighted Gym Leaders' eyes, the strike produced only a few sparks. Both men were instantly stunned.