"Yaa. Let's begin."
Slowpoke looked at Shellder. Shellder nodded back, and the two started eating the Gems and triggering evolution again.
White light flashed through the storage room again and again. After an hour of repeated combined evolution, the floor was covered in drained Gems, and Slowking had finished its transformation. Its potential had reached Champion tier.
[Slowking]
[Type: Water + Psychic]
[Gender: Female]
[Potential: 84%]
[Level: 59.99%]
[Ability: Oblivious/41.45%][Hidden Ability: Regenerator/22.36%]
Reiji had checked Slowking's panel not long ago. Its potential had risen from sixty-one to eighty-four. Not bad, considering he had only poured in a little over 200 million. If he had thrown in more than 300 million, the number might have gone higher.
Still, eighty-four was enough for now. He could worry about pushing it further once Slowking actually hit its wall. Elite Four tier was still a long way off, never mind Champion tier.
A Pokémon could get stuck at Elite Four tier for two or three years. Champion tier might take five or six years, maybe even ten. Even then, Reiji would only be twenty-five.
That wasn't old at all. In the anime, Cynthia was twenty-eight, Diantha was twenty, Steven was twenty-five, Wallace was thirty-four, Flint was around twenty-five or twenty-six, Volkner was twenty-four, and Alder was fifty-seven.
Most well-known Trainers were already famous by the time the story introduced them. Champions, Elite Four members, Gym Leaders—many of them were in their twenties. And this was still the first generation, so a lot of them probably hadn't reached their official ages yet. Around twenty, give or take.
Reiji was only five or six years younger than Cynthia and three or four years younger than Lance. By the time he turned twenty-five, Cynthia would probably be around thirty.
He had simply arrived too late. Those people had already made their names.
To be honest, he liked Cynthia. Strong, sharp, beautiful. Exactly his type. Too bad she was in Sinnoh, and chasing after her now was completely unrealistic. Same with Diantha over in Kalos.
He couldn't exactly go looking for Cynthia while he was still struggling to survive. He also couldn't show up weak as hell and expect anything. She was already at least an Elite Four-tier Trainer. The age gap, the strength gap, the reputation gap—if he went now, he'd just look like another little fanboy.
She wouldn't take it as a serious confession. Even if he said it outright, so what? She would smile, forget it, and move on. He wouldn't be the first fanboy to say something stupid. After Cynthia became famous, she probably had more admirers than she knew what to do with.
And who was he supposed to be in that crowd? Some nobody who had drunk too much and started dreaming?
Even if he wanted to play hero, he needed a chance. Cynthia was an Elite Four-tier Trainer. How was a weakling supposed to rescue her? Ridiculous.
Better to stay realistic.
Slowking's level had also climbed until it was practically touching Elite Four tier. Reiji had no idea how long it would need to build up from here. There were still a dozen or so Psychic Gems left, so Slowking could absorb them slowly while meditating. Once those ran out, he would buy more.
It also needed a Psychic-type item. He didn't have a quasi–Elite Four-tier Twisted Spoon. The only spoon he'd had had gone into activating Golurk, so he would need to prepare another one for Slowking.
He had asked Slowking why it didn't keep the Slowbro form, and why it chose to end the last evolution as Slowking.
Slowking told him through telepathy that this form was better for using psychic power. Slowbro's psychic strength wasn't as refined.
Once Reiji knew the reason, he stopped asking. Slowking could choose for itself. Everyone in Cissy's family used Slowking instead of Slowbro, so clearly her family had their reasons. No need for him to meddle.
If he ever wanted Mega Evolution, he could have Slowking switch forms then. After battle, Shellder could bite its head again and turn it back.
The abilities had not changed much. What had shot up were the Psychic-, Water-, and Ice-type move proficiencies. That was the side effect of forcing up its potential. Still, none of the moves had crossed into Elite Four tier, which was annoying. That would probably have to wait until its level broke through too.
Reiji gathered the drained Gems from the floor and packed them up as snacks for Rhydon. Then he left the storage room with Slowking and told it to continue training as usual. Aside from the tasks he assigned, meditation was still the most important thing for it.
It could meditate while fishing by the lake, but serious meditation could wait. The League was close, and the training he had arranged mattered more right now.
He also needed to go into town and finish paying off the land. Once he had the deed in hand, the lakeside cabin property would officially be his.
He called Pelipper, took Gengar in his shadow, and made a quick trip into town. After paying the money, he planned to head back to the cabin and continue preparing for the tournament.
But while he was walking through the streets, heading toward the outskirts where he could ride Pelipper back, he noticed a young man with green hair.
That one glance made Reiji look twice.
Green hair. Green, of all colors. Anyone who understood, understood.
That wasn't even the important part. The important part was that his hair had a color.
In the anime, named side characters almost always had colorful hair. Background characters were usually stuck with black or gray. Reiji didn't recognize this guy, but green hair put him in the same category as A.J.
A side character. No doubt about it.
Reiji didn't plan to dig too much, but even after they passed each other, he kept trying to place the face. Who was that green-haired guy?
Even after returning to the lakeside cabin, he still couldn't remember. Fortunately, Gengar had already gone after him. It wouldn't take long for Gengar to bring back what he needed.
Reiji spent the whole afternoon training with the Pokémon. By the time night fell, Cissy still hadn't come by. Looked like she wouldn't be visiting today.
He set up outside the cabin and cooked dinner.
Everyone gathered around the fire to eat. There was no training at night. Whoever wanted to rest could rest. Whoever wanted to play could play. If anyone still wanted to train, Reiji wouldn't stop them either.
He slept until two or three in the morning before Gengar finally returned with news.
Now Reiji knew who that green-haired man was.
"Kekeke." Gengar spoke from inside his shadow while Lokoko translated beside him. Slowking was asleep.
"It says the man went into the forest at night, caught a lot of wild Pokémon, and sold them on a large ship. After that, he went back to the city where he had been during the day and slept there."
"Which direction was the ship? Show me."
Reiji took out a map of the Orange Archipelago. That ship was probably a black ship, and that man was almost certainly a Pokémon hunter.
"Keke." Gengar pointed at the waters west of Mikan Island.
A black ship was anchored out there.
"The west-side black ship, huh? He crossed the whole island just to sell Pokémon. Careful bastard."
Reiji knew there were black ships near Mikan Island. Naoki had told him before.
There was one to the north, one to the west, and one to the east. That was also why Mikan Island didn't have a black market of its own. The island was already surrounded by black ships.
"What Pokémon does he use? And what do people call him?"
"It says he uses Fearow, Larvitar, Houndoom, Sneasel, Victreebel, and Tentacruel."
"Wait. Larvitar?"
Reiji froze for a second.
Larvitar?
Once the name sank in, he realized what that meant.
That was a pseudo-legendary. Where the hell had this guy stolen a pseudo-legendary egg from?
"Right. What's his name?"
"It says people call him Rico."
"Rico. Larvitar. Rico. Larvi—oh."
Reiji repeated the name a few times and finally remembered.
So it was him.
This guy should have been in Hoenn. Why was he in the Orange Archipelago?
In the anime, Rico had used Pupitar, not Larvitar. Maybe the Larvitar had only hatched recently.
Then again, maybe that explained everything. He might have stolen a Tyranitar egg in Johto and fled all the way to the Orange Archipelago to avoid being hunted down. These southern islands were far enough away that Larvitar's mother wouldn't hear its cries.
Later, for whatever reason, he must have drifted to Hoenn and continued working as a Pokémon hunter there.
As for why he was hiding on Mikan Island, that was easy.
First, there was no black market here, which meant less chaos.
Second, Mikan Island had a Gym, but not an especially powerful one. Rico had probably been hiding here for a while. Cissy's father hadn't even known.
Third, he needed a stable place to raise Larvitar. At minimum, he would want to get it to evolve into Pupitar before moving to another region.
Fourth, Mikan Island gave him everything he needed. It was safe, stable, full of resources, and had almost no competition.
Pokémon hunters and bounty hunters were not the same thing. One was committing crimes. The other worked in the gray. And Mikan Island didn't have many rare Pokémon anyway. At most, there were Bug-types like Pinsir and Scyther, so naturally, hunters had little reason to come here.
The risk and reward didn't line up. What was the point of poaching Pokémon on Mikan Island when it came with the risk of getting caught by the Gym or Officer Jenny?
No wonder it had become Rico's hiding place.
But now that Reiji knew, there was room to work.
If he hadn't gone into town, he wouldn't even have known the guy existed. But after running back and forth these past two days, he had happened to cross paths with him.
Since Reiji had found him, there was no way Rico was staying hidden.
That was a Larvitar. A pseudo-legendary. Even if Tyranitar could eat an entire mountain, it was still a pseudo-legendary, a symbol of raw power.
Other than legendary Pokémon, pseudo-legendaries were about as high as ordinary Trainers could aim.
Reiji already had one pseudo-legendary. And Tyranitar couldn't fly, so his interest in it had dropped a lot.
But he could give it to someone else.
"Naoki. A.J. Sou. Gai. Gulzar. Daishi. Keith. Tai."
Those were the people Reiji could call right now.
A.J. was out. Reiji had no reason to make him stronger.
Sou was out too. That guy couldn't afford to raise Tyranitar.
Gai was impossible. Daishi didn't work either.
Gulzar was also out. His identity made it inconvenient.
Keith liked Flying-types, so he probably wouldn't take Larvitar.
Tai already had Metang, another massive eater. He couldn't afford a second one.
That left only one person.
Naoki.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Once Reiji decided, he called Naoki.
Even though it was past three in the morning, Naoki picked up. His voice sounded alert. Even if he was forcing it, he forced it well. If the boss was calling at this hour, it had to be urgent.
"Boss, what happened?"
"Do you want a pseudo-legendary?"
"What?" Naoki's voice cracked. "Boss, are you serious? You're not joking?"
"Who the hell jokes about this at three in the morning?" Reiji almost laughed from irritation. Gengar had woken him up too, and the first person he thought of was Naoki. This was for planning around that Larvitar.
"Which one?" Naoki heard the seriousness in his voice and stopped doubting him.
"The one you want. Larvitar."
Reiji knew Naoki was building a sandstorm team. Tyranitar was the core of that kind of team. It brought sandstorm just by showing up. No need to make him guess.
"Boss, should I come over now, or—" Naoki's breathing had already changed.
Sparring jobs and rich clients could wait. None of that mattered in front of a Larvitar.
"Come now or come in the morning. Your call," Reiji said. "But Larvitar's already bonded with him. If you want it to accept you, we need to handle this carefully."
"You already have a plan?"
"Mostly. Come over and we'll talk."
Reiji hung up.
Now they just had to figure out how to take the Larvitar from Rico.
Rico was a Pokémon hunter. He had stolen it first. If Reiji found a way to take it from him, then that was fair game. None of them were clean, and in that world, ownership came down to who had the strength and brains to keep what they had.
If someone pulled the same thing on Reiji, he would accept it too.
Lose because you were weaker, and there was no one else to blame.
…
Naoki was even more impatient than Reiji expected. He flew over that same night, pushing Flygon with speed-boosting moves, and reached the cabin in just over an hour.
"Kekeke."
Gengar rose from Reiji's shadow and told him Naoki was outside.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm getting up."
Reiji yawned, dragged himself out of bed, and went to open the door. He poured Naoki a glass of warm water before sitting down across from him.
"Boss, I couldn't sleep." Naoki took the glass and emptied it in one go.
He had only left at noon, and now he was back before dawn. Reiji wasn't even surprised.
"Figured you wouldn't." Reiji yawned again and gave him a moment to breathe. "I didn't expect to run into him either. I only saw him this afternoon when I went to pay off the land."
"I'm fine, Boss. Tell me the plan." Naoki set the glass down, still visibly tense. One cup of water wasn't enough to settle him. Not with a pseudo-legendary on the table.
"Larvitar has already hatched, so it probably sees Rico as family. And Rico's a Pokémon hunter. He won't trust people easily." Reiji looked at him. "So you need to make him think you're a friend."
"That won't be easy." Naoki knew what Pokémon hunters were like. People like that didn't lower their guard for nothing.
"It's easier than it sounds," Reiji said. "He catches Pokémon and sells them to the black ship. So you join the black ship first. Then you get someone to pick a fight with him. When things start going badly, you step in as one of the ship's sailors and help him out."
Naoki listened without interrupting.
"That only gets your foot in the door," Reiji continued. "He'll think you're useful, maybe even decent, but he still won't trust you. After that, you arrange a few run-ins in town. Buy him a meal. Talk to him. Invite him to join the black ship."
"If he drinks with you, that means he's starting to let his guard down. If he refuses, don't push it. Drink by yourself and keep the act going."
Reiji paused. "This won't be quick. Give it at least a week. Think carefully before you commit."
"I already have." Naoki didn't hesitate. "How much can I make doing sparring work for a few days? That's nothing compared to a pseudo-legendary."
His eyes were steady.
He wanted that Larvitar.
As for why Reiji wasn't taking it for himself, Naoki didn't ask.
There was no need.
If Reiji wanted the Larvitar, he never would have called him. Since he had called, it meant he was giving Naoki the chance.
Another favor.
One Naoki might never be able to pay back.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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