As the saying went, accepting someone's hospitality made it harder to turn them down. Heath figured asking Norman to have a battle with him afterward should be no trouble, especially since this would not be a Gym battle. He just wanted to let Charizard give it a try and see whether he actually had the ability to defeat Norman's Slaking. Still, Heath could understand how Charizard felt. Norman's battles were artistic spectacles. Watching any powerful Trainer direct a battle was a pleasure in itself, and every Trainer had a different personal style. Cynthia, for example, had an extremely forceful fighting style, bold and sweeping, crushing her opponents head-on with the bearing of a true champion.
Norman's battles, meanwhile, stood out for their changes in tempo. When Slaking got moving, he was as fierce as a raging fire, but when he rested, the pace slowed rapidly. It was hard to look away; the battles were utterly engrossing.
Heath did not particularly mind. Although he now had Champion-level battle experience and skills, he would not have minded even without them, because he had confidence in Charizard's strength. This was Charizard, after all, and he was formidable. Besides, Heath had given Charizard a cheat of his own by feeding him so many candies. Charizard's current strength put him among the strongest of his kind. Norman was certainly strong, but he was neither a Champion nor a member of the Elite Four. Charizard could even exchange a few blows with Cynthia's Garchomp, let alone take on Norman's Slaking.
Slaking was undeniably a powerful Pokémon, but using one flexibly was incredibly difficult-not just ordinarily difficult, either. An average Trainer trying to train a Slaking would experience utter frustration. Pokémon with this sort of Ability were simply too difficult to train, and mastering the rhythm of