Pokemon - A real story

Chapter 820 - Moriarty

Back to Axel,

As he was going to the gym battle, he was not thinking about the fight that was going to happen in half an hour. He already knew what Pokemons the gym leader was going to use.

Magcargo, Houndoom and Magmar. There were only one other fire type Pokemon except for those above and that was Typhosion and he was pretty confident that the gym leader was going to use it because it was very rare and even if he was going to use it, that was not a problem for Axel.

Johto region had very few fire-type Pokemons and this made Axel easy to strategize. This might be one of the reasons why the gym was weak before. Actually, there were another 2 fire-type Pokemons but they were legendary and mythical Pokemons. Axel was very sure that he was not going to face those Pokemons in this gym battle.

He was actually not worried about this gym battle but very curious about it. Even with only 3 species of Pokemons, this gym was slowly rising the ranks. So, the gym leader must be very confident about his abilities.

That was all he had to think about the gym battle. His mind was actually somewhere else.

It was about Cynthia. He didn't have time to think about it before but now he was giving it a lot of thought. He had heard a rumor that she already had a pseudo-champion rank Pokemon. This information had come from a very reliable source. The question was, how?

Even with the system, the knowledge about the Pokemon world and a lot of resources, Axel had not been able to rank up one of his Pokemons to pseudo-champion rank.

Of course, they were very close. Charizard, Shedinja, and Slowemperor were the ones on the verge of ranking up. However, the fact remains that they have not reached that stage.

So, how could her Garchomp reach that stage so soon? This was simply impossible.

"So, it means that the system is helping Cynthia in some way. Aren't I right, system?", asked Axel.

Ding!

The host is correct. Cynthia could become so strong cause the host is getting stronger quickly.

"But why? I have not selected normal difficulty, hard difficulty, or nightmare difficulty yet. So, why are you making my life so difficult?"

Ding!

The system is not the one that is making these changes. It is the one who you are going to face in the future.

"You mean Arceus?"

Ding!

Cannot answer it. But since the host has started to grow so strong the world will try to adjust to the changes that the host has brought. It is like a butterfly effect but this is clearly targeting the host.

"System, what are the possible changes that will happen after I increase the difficulty level to normal difficulty and hard difficulty level?"

Ding!

The possible changes would be that the enemies and the rivals of the host would get a power boost. Their growth would increase and might even rival the growth speed of the host. The growth rate of wild Pokemons would also increase a bit and the host might have to face tougher tide battles.

With hard difficulty, the wild Pokemons might a single boost that would make them stronger and their growth speed would also increase. The corruption rate of Arceus would increase and the time that the host has left to save the world would decrease.

These are all the possible changes and something different might also happen.

"I don't want to imagine how hard it will be in nightmare difficulty level. Sigh, let's not think about it.", said Axel.

Axel wanted to try the normal difficulty level but first, he thought to strengthen his mercenary team and also the day care. With this, he would be ready for the tide battles. He was also hoping that one of his Pokemons would reach pseudo-champion rank. Especially, Slowemperor cause its moves were more suited for tide battles.

As Axel was thinking about all of this, the car reached the gym. Axel looked around the gym was didn't look too shabby. But it also didn't look brilliant like other gyms that he had visited. Axel could see that they had started to rebuild the building and make it new again.

"Sir, the gym leader has told me to guide you to the waiting room. The battle would start in half an hour.", said the driver.

"Ok, lead the way.", said Axel with a stoic voice, and then stepped out of the vehicle.

###

Axel could feel that the temperature was a bit hotter in the building. He liked the theme of the gym as most of its building walls were painted in red, orange and blue color.

Unlike the outside, the inside of the gym looked new and vibrant.

The waiting room was spacious with lights all over the place. Axel was served juice and some snacks. Axel could see that the gym was trying a lot harder to welcome the trainers or it might even be that the gym leader was trying to get on his good side.

As he was enjoying the snacks and the TV which was live telecasting the upcoming gym battle, someone knocked the room and entered.

He could see a young man in his late 20s. Long dark and brown hair to his shoulders, a fit build, not too bulky, not too thin and a big smile on his face. The man was wearing a traditional trainers uniform with baggy pants, a tshirt and a cap.

"Hello, Axel. I am Moriarty, the gym leader of Zesa City. I hope you are liking the vibe.", said the man and shook the hand of Axel.

When Axel saw the name of the gym leader on the internet he had a very different vibe from the guy like the guy might be a very big manipulator but after talking a few words with him, Axel felt that the gym leader was very frank and friendly.

He didn't feel the hint of envy and anger that he would feel from a normal gym leader of Johto region.

"You have been to a lot of gym battles and you know how this works. Since the Johto region has so few fire type Pokemons, you might also have a guess on the Pokemons that I might use.

But that doesn't mean that the gym battle is going to be easy. I heard that you don't have good relations with the gym leaders of the Johto region but you don't have to worry about me. I don't think like those guys.

Yet, that doesn't mean that I going to go easy on you. I am going to test you on how good information you have in fire type Pokemons and only when I am satisfied with your progress that I will give you my badge."

"Won't I get the badge if I won the gym battle?", asked Axel.

"Haha, normally you will but my gym has different rules."

"Yes, a gym leader has the right to judge the trainer based on his or her own rules. Of course, the rules must be approved. The rules of my fire type gym are a bit different. Throughout the battle, I will see how must knowledge you have of fire type Pokemons. Their weakness on each of the moves and their stats too.

Your knowledge of how to counter them would also be judged by me. So, even if you win this battle, you might not be able to get the badge. That is why my gym was not so liked when my father ran it. Cause even if they won, they might not get the badge. That is why I changed it.", said Moriarty.

"You changed it?"

"Yes, but not completely. The rules are still the same but one thing is added. If I am not satisfied with your knowledge, then I will give you another test."

"What kind of test?"

"It goes either in 2 ways. Either you will send out your best Pokemon with fire type core and I will match the rank of with your Pokemon and if you win, you will win the battle.

But if you don't have a fire type Pokemon, you will send out your best Pokemon and I will match the rank with your Pokemon but my Pokemon must be older than yours and if such is not the case then I will send out a Pokemon with one sub rank higher.

If you manage to win this then you will get the badge."

"Oh, that is very interesting. Do the trainers agree to it?"

"Surprisingly, they do. Because the main point is to test the knowledge of fire types, bringing your best fire type was a good solution. Also, if they don't have that, they still could bring out their best Pokemon and if their Pokemon is of higher age, most of them feel that even if they could not win against a Pokemon with lower age with slightly better rank, then they don't deserve the badge.

Trainers are inherently very arrogant and filled with ego."

"You seem to be very young. What is the most powerful Pokemon that you have?"

"Oh, I cannot tell that information until the battle is over.", said Moriarty with a smile.

"Haha, you know what, I really like you for some region. You might be the first gym leader for this reason who is not biased.", said Axel with a laugh.

"It looks like I took a lot of your time. Only 15 minutes is left. So, get ready for your entrance. I will leave you to plan for the battle if you have to.", said Moriarty and quickly went out of the room.

Axel had already made the lineup for his Pokemons. Before, he was confident in winning this battle but now, not so much.

Because, first of all, he was going to use the newly ranked up Pokemons for this battle and even if he had enough knowledge about fire types, he would still have to win this battle to get the badge.

He had not thought that the gym leader would be experienced and powerful but after talking to Moriarty for some time, Axel realized that this guy was strong. Very strong.

Since Axel had seen powerful and talented trainers, he could just tell by instinct that Moriarty was a very strong and capable trainer.

"Ohh, this is going to be interesting.", smiled Axel.

###

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Now for the show that you have been waiting for. I present to you, the successor, Axel Blaze!!!", shouted the commentator and the crowd went wild.

There were cheers and boos but Axel didn't care about them. He simply walked waving his hand to the crowd.

"Finally, the gym leader of Zesa City. Your hero, your favorite, Moriarty!!", shouted the commentator.

Axel was surprised to see that the cheers this time were louder than before. It was Moriarty's home ground and this was expected in normal cases but since the gym was not so famous, he didn't think that Moriarty would be loved by the crowd.

Moriarty came with waving his hand with a smile on his face. He looked very confident and this increased the crowd's reaction.

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A/N: Hello, everyone. I have just opened the Discord server with many new cool channels and categories. You can get some juicy updates on the novel and the world of Pokemon. It is also a nice place to just hang out and chat.

So, if you are interested, do click on the link below:

https://discord.gg/4XTAh4Jh