Between Lilycove City and Mossdeep City, the only route connecting them is Route 124.
It's not a particularly long stretch of water, but it still took John two hours to cross. He spent the time scouring for items, occasionally using Sweet Scent to lure out any potential Pokemon in the area. Since this was a water route, he also had to try his luck with a fishing rod.
Pokemon encountered while surfing were different from those caught through fishing. Surfing usually led to encounters with Pelipper and Tentacruel, while fishing yielded Magikarp, Tentacool, Wailmer, and the occasional Sharpedo. Additionally, the deeper, darker parts of the route hid other Pokemon, accessible only through diving. Since John's Pokemon hadn't learned Dive yet, he had to pass on exploring those depths for now.
None of the Pokemon he found particularly interested him, so he decided to move on.
Along the way, he came across a small, isolated island. A lone house stood there, home to an old man who loved sharing stories with travelers. More importantly, he traded evolution stones for colored shards. Red shards could be exchanged for a Fire Stone, green for a Leaf Stone, and yellow for a Thunder Stone. The more shards he collected, the better the stones he could trade for—ranging from one, ten, a hundred, to even a thousand shards for the rarest stones. Most of these shards were buried deep underwater, so until John had a Pokemon capable of diving, he had to put this side quest on hold.
Ignoring the house for now, he pushed forward.
After battling his way through the trainers blocking his path, John finally set foot in Mossdeep City. His first stop was the Pokemon Center, where he healed his team. With that done, he headed straight for the Mossdeep City Gym. Before venturing into other regions, he needed to secure his next Gym Badge.
Mossdeep Gym specialized in Psychic-type Pokemon, and most of its trainers were psychics themselves, utilizing telekinesis, hypnosis, and telepathy in battle. Some even manipulated their Pokeballs with Confusion, which made John wonder if they ever secretly used their abilities to interfere with their opponents. That wouldn't surprise him.
They also had the unsettling habit of attempting to hypnotize their challengers mid-battle, while others issued commands through telepathy, never speaking aloud.
Not that any of it mattered. Against overwhelming strength, tricks and gimmicks were useless.
John bulldozed through the gym in record time. None of the battles lasted more than three minutes. A complete sweep.
Eventually, he reached the Gym Leaders—twin siblings no older than ten, floating in the air with psychic energy.
"Welcome!" the older sister, Tate, greeted.
"Challenger!" her younger brother, Liza, chimed in.
"We are the Gym Leaders of Mossdeep City," Tate continued.
"Bet you didn't expect there to be two of us!" Liza added.
"Since we're twins, we've been connected since birth," Tate explained.
"So this battle will be a little different from what you've faced before!" Liza declared.
"Yes!" they announced in unison. "This will be a Double Battle!"
John watched as the two spoke in perfect synchronization. Was this telepathic communication at work? If so, they were wasting their talent. They should be hosting comedy skits instead.
Not that it mattered—he already knew the rules of a Double Battle before stepping foot in the gym.
He turned to the referee. "Can we start now?"
Seeing John ignore them, Liza pouted. "Tate! This trainer is being rude!"
"It's fine," Tate said, placing her hands on her hips. "Let's just show him what we can do!"
The referee raised his hand, signaling the start of the match. "The official Mossdeep Gym Challenge is about to begin! Challenger John will face Gym Leaders Tate and Liza. The battle will be a Double Battle. Both sides will use two Pokemon. The match ends when one side is unable to battle!"
"The Gym Leaders will send out their Pokemon first!"
Tate and Liza tossed their Pokeballs into the air, and as the silver light flashed, two Pokemon emerged onto the battlefield—Solrock and Lunatone.
John nearly groaned. These two again. He had encountered them in Meteor Falls while searching for a Bagon, and they had been nothing but a nuisance. Both were Psychic/Rock-types with Levitate, making them immune to Ground-type moves.
"So, a straightforward two-on-two fight?" John murmured. He already knew which Pokemon he would use.
"Go!" He tossed two Pokeballs into the air.
A rush of water splashed onto the field as his Greninja landed, while the ground shook as Tyranitar hit the battlefield with a powerful thud.
The moment Tyranitar appeared, Sand Stream activated, causing a fierce sandstorm to whip through the arena. But just as quickly as it formed, Tyranitar stopped it from fully developing.
If he could summon a sandstorm, then naturally, he could prevent one from forming too. Otherwise, his own home would be buried in sand every day.
The reason was simple—Solrock and Lunatone were both Rock-types, meaning they wouldn't take damage from a sandstorm. Worse, the storm would boost their Special Defense, weakening Greninja's special attacks. Meanwhile, Greninja would take constant chip damage from the storm, and Tyranitar's only real benefit was a slight Special Defense boost.
In Double Battles, every move had to account for both teammates.
The moment the twins saw John's Pokemon, their expressions shifted. They instantly realized he had come prepared.
Greninja and Tyranitar both had Dark typing. And in a Psychic-type gym, that was a nightmare.
Psychic-type moves had no effect on Dark-types, meaning Tate and Liza had already lost a huge chunk of their offense before the battle even began.
The referee ensured both sides were ready, then raised his hand and brought it down.
"Let the battle begin!"