Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

Day 57 in Kanto. Cloudy.

Ring, ring.

A large hand slapped the alarm clock and shut it off.

Reiji got up and washed his face. Last night, he had drunk by the river with Brock for a long time. Brock had definitely gotten drunk. He ended up passing out beside the fire and sleeping near Ash and Charizard.

After Charizard recovered, Team Rocket happened to try stealing Pikachu. Moved by Ash’s care, Charizard finally listened to his commands and sent the trio flying, leaving only their usual cry behind. Just like that, Ash gained a Charizard that actually listened to him.

Reiji had been fine. He had not drunk enough to pass out. After arranging Scyther’s plan for the next match, he went back to his room and slept.

Today was the second knockout round. He splashed cold water on his face, trying to wake himself up. His opponent was Tania, and compared with Shun, she left far less room for mistakes.

He could afford to get distracted against Shun. Against a girl who loved dirty tactics, he had to stay sharp. If needed, he could fight dirty too.

Then there was the Dratini from last night.

Reiji lifted his head and looked at himself in the mirror as water ran down his face. So he really had not been drunk. Blaine had meant it. The Dratini was real. The only question was whether he would actually get it.

He chose to trust Blaine. If Blaine said he would try, then that was enough. Even if the Dratini did not come through, Reiji would not blame him.

If Reiji had tried to use that favor himself, he might not have been able to get a Dratini at all. He did not have Blaine’s status, and he definitely did not have the right to sit at the same table as those people.

When did adults ever care what a kid had to say? Most of the time, they ignored children completely. If someone couldn’t even understand that much, how had they grown up?

As for saving someone’s life?

That Dratini was the payment. He had nearly died for it, and now the debt was being settled.

After washing up, Reiji fed Toxicroak and the others breakfast, then went to the main cafeteria. Since he was in Group B, his match would almost certainly be near the end again.

There were still two Group A matches before his. The first one had already started, and it was Reggie’s match. After that came Ritchie’s match, then Group B.

While eating breakfast, Reiji watched Reggie on the big screen. The guy was as strong as ever. Most of his Pokémon were above level 50.

Against these promising but still-growing Trainers, he was basically bullying children. His opponent this time was Corey, another veteran from the previous tournament.

Corey’s ace was Venusaur. His Pidgeot was strong too, and he also had Scyther, Sandslash, Hitmonlee, and Rhyhorn.

They were all solid, common Pokémon, but they still could not hold up under Reggie’s pressure. Corey fell behind quickly.

Garchomp, in particular, showed the brutal presence of a pseudo-legendary. It kept Corey’s Pokémon pinned down so hard they could barely breathe. It really was impressive.

Too bad Reiji’s Dratini had come so late. If he had gotten it back on the deserted island, it might have been a Dragonite by now. Then he could have had Dragonite clash with Reggie’s Garchomp and see which pseudo-legendary came out on top.

After watching for a while and finishing breakfast, Reiji headed to the main stadium. He did not go to Ash’s section in the stands. Instead, he waited for the match in the competitors’ lounge.

Today there were only four matches: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. His match was in the afternoon, which left him plenty of time. He sat in the lounge eating fruit and watching the battles.

That morning, though, an unexpected familiar face came to see him.

”Blaine?” Reiji looked up and saw Blaine walk into the lounge and toss him a Poké Ball.

”Brat, I came to bring you something.” Blaine saw Reiji still looking confused and smiled helplessly. ”What? Still thinking about that beautiful girl?”

”I’m not. I wasn’t. Don’t make things up.” Reiji denied it three times in a row. He had been watching the match the whole time. Why did these old guys love joking about this kind of thing?

”You did that on purpose last night, didn’t you?” Blaine was testing him. He was curious why Reiji had acted that way. Was he trying to cut things off cleanly and never see Joy again?

”Uh… you noticed that too?” Reiji gave an awkward smile. He did not say yes or no. Blaine could guess whatever he wanted.

”Heh. Brat… you did well. I’ve disliked that old woman for years.” Blaine slapped him on the shoulder. He did not sound like he was joking. Helping Reiji get compensation last night had offended her anyway.

”Old woman?” Reiji was even more confused. Who was this old woman, and what did she have to do with Dratini? Had Blaine gotten the Dratini from her?

”Don’t worry about it. That matter is over now.” Blaine gave him a meaningful smile, hoping Reiji would understand. The kid had always been sharp. He would not have dared break into Team Rocket’s territory otherwise.

”Over?” Reiji knew what Blaine meant. Who else could it be besides Inspector Joy? Who else would be worth a pseudo-legendary?

”Yes. It’s over.” Blaine sighed softly, then turned to leave. ”Take good care of Dratini. Once your match is over, let’s have dinner together.”

”Sure.”

Reiji watched Blaine leave. If it was over, then fine. At least he had not gone through all that for nothing. Getting a Dratini out of it was more than good enough.

As for going to find Joy again, he had no interest in embarrassing himself. The deal was done.

The adult world was simple. Business was business. Feelings were feelings. Treat business like feelings, or feelings like business, and you lose.

[Dratini]

[Type: Dragon]

[Gender: Male]

[Potential: 48%]

[Level: 28.12%]

[Ability: Shed Skin/4.23%][Hidden Ability: Marvel Scale/4.33%]

[Moves]

Dragon-type: [(Twister/5.82%) (Dragon Tail/8.45%) (Dragon Rage/6.35%)]

Normal-type: [(Extreme Speed/22.88%) (Wrap/13.95%) (Leer/4.24%) (Protect/14.83%)]

Psychic-type: [(Rest/23.68%) (Agility/24.24%)]

Other: [(Thunder Wave/7.73%) (Rain Dance/6.64%)]

This Dratini’s potential was decent. Forty-eight was just barely acceptable. For a pseudo-legendary, Reiji could lower his standards a little.

The deal was already done. He had not expected them to hand over some Elite Four-tier Dragon’s perfect baby. As long as it was a Dratini, that was enough.

At least it had both abilities, and its level was already fairly high. Dratini evolved at level 30, so it only needed two more levels to become Dragonair. With proper care, that would take about a week. Add some time to settle into a new environment, and it should evolve around the time he returned to the Orange Archipelago.

Its moves were not impressive, though. Extreme Speed was the only one that stood out. The rest were nothing special.

The three Dragon-type moves were basic. The other Normal-type moves were basic too. Then there were Rest, Agility, Thunder Wave, and Rain Dance.

Among all of them, Extreme Speed and Agility had the highest mastery. Apparently, this Dratini’s potential had gone mostly into speed.

Honestly, it felt suspicious. The Joy family might not have been dumping trash on him, but they were definitely handing over one of the weaker pseudo-legendaries.

That gave Reiji a bad feeling. He hoped there would not be any serious problems. Pokémon that got pushed out as ”defective” usually had issues.

He opened the Poké Ball.

The Dratini appeared, took one look at him, and immediately slipped under the table to hide.

”Yeah, there it is.” Reiji sighed. The potential was lower than he had hoped, and now the Dratini was hiding the moment it came out. It was clearly scared of strangers. This did not look like a Pokémon that had been carefully raised.

The starter Pokémon given out by the League were all properly raised young Pokémon. They would never be afraid of strangers like this.

Only Pokémon with withdrawn personalities, trauma, or fear of humans reacted this way. They were also the hardest kind to win over. No one would ever hand one out as a beginner’s starter.

”Vee?” Eevee saw the little blue snake acting so scared and hopped under the table, curious. It sniffed at Dratini.

”Dra…” Dratini gave a timid cry. When Eevee’s nose got closer and closer, it ran from under the table to under a chair and curled up there, trembling.

”Very timid.” Reiji took out a clear Dragon-type Pokéblock. It was loot from one of his black-eats-black jobs before, but he did not have many Dragon-type Pokéblocks. The people he had robbed were poor, and they had not owned many real Dragon-type Pokémon. Most of theirs had only been pseudo-dragons.

”Dra… Dra…” Dratini sniffed the scent in the air, but it still did not dare take food from a stranger. Its stomach was already growling, yet it stayed under the chair.

”Vee.” Eevee found this fun. Since Dratini refused to come out, it hopped over and started playing hide-and-seek with it.

The two Pokémon chased each other around the lounge. Luckily, no one else was there that morning, so they could run around as much as they wanted.

Only after Dratini finally tired itself out did Reiji step forward and pick it up.

Its small blue body felt cool in his hands. Its scales were smooth, and its watery eyes were so cute it almost hurt.

He set Dratini on his lap, held a Pokéblock to its mouth, and softened his voice. ”Don’t be scared, Dratini. Here, something tasty.”

”Dra…” Dratini froze after being caught by a human. It was terrified. Big tears rolled down one after another, and it did not dare eat anything from him.

”Huh? What is going on with this Dratini? It won’t eat, but somehow it hasn’t starved to death. It’s a miracle it grew this big.”

Reiji was worried it would go hungry, so he had already brought the Pokéblock right to its mouth. Then Dratini’s eyes rolled back, and it went limp.

”Did it faint from fear?” Reiji scratched his head awkwardly, put the Pokéblock away, and took out a measuring tape. Dratini was only one and a half meters long.

”What the hell?” Reiji stared at the number. No wonder it looked so small. It was malnourished.

The average Dratini was about 1.8 meters long, long enough to wear like a scarf. This one was only 1.5 meters. It had lost a full thirty centimeters.

So it really was a problem Dratini. It was afraid of humans, fainted from fear, and was badly malnourished. Compared with a healthy Dratini, it was far behind.

Reiji sighed. It felt less like he had received a pseudo-legendary and more like he had received a fragile little patient. Why did troublesome Pokémon keep ending up with him?

He gently opened Dratini’s mouth and fed it Moomoo Milk little by little. Then he broke the Pokéblock into small pieces and fed those to it too.

Dratini woke up while being fed, but it did not dare open its eyes. Its mouth kept chewing, though, which was how Reiji knew it was awake.

It was acting like an ostrich. Did it really think that if it buried its head in the sand, predators would stop seeing it?

This Dratini was the same. Did it really think that if it kept its eyes shut, the human would not know it was awake? It was chewing very happily too. Was this thing secretly a little actor?

”Oh no. I scared Dratini to death. Eevee, should we stew it?” Reiji decided to test it. If Dratini was only timid, malnourished, and a little dramatic, that was fine. He could handle that.

Timidity could be trained out. Malnutrition could be fixed. As for being dramatic, that might actually be fun.

”Vee, vee.” Eevee covered its mouth, clearly holding back laughter. Then it pretended to lick its lips and played along. ”Vee, vee. Little snake should taste good…”

”Dra!” Dratini heard it was going to be stewed and eaten by Eevee. Its body started trembling again. It was too scared to realize they were teasing it. It sprang off Reiji’s lap and shot back under the table.

”Vee!” Eevee turned back into parkour Eevee and chased after it. The two Pokémon started running around the lounge again.

Reiji smiled helplessly and let them be. Getting Dratini moving was good. To make up for the nutrition it lacked, he would also need to rotate in other Pokémon to chase it and help it exercise.

The whole morning passed with Eevee chasing Dratini around. By the end, Dratini had collapsed on the floor, too tired to move. It looked completely broken. Even when Eevee picked it up by the tail, it did not react. It just lay there with foam at its mouth and its eyes rolled back.

When Eevee got bored because Dratini would not move anymore, Reiji recalled it into a Heal Ball and let it rest. This was not the time to properly deal with its problems.

He ate lunch in the lounge, and his Pokémon ate there too. With more than ten Pokémon gathered together, it really felt like a big family.

After lunch, he watched the water ballet performance for a while. Then it was time for his match.

He recalled his Pokémon, kept only Eevee with him, and left the lounge for the competitors’ tunnel. By the time he reached the lower level, the announcer was about to call him onto the field.

He wondered how many Pokémon he would lose in this match. This battle would not be like the one against Shun. His opponent was an experienced Gym Leader, and he had nearly slipped up against her last time. He could not be careless.

As he reached the tunnel, the announcer’s voice came through the speakers.

”Next, please welcome Contestant Tania from Lavender Town and Lavender Gym, and Contestant Reiji from the Orange Archipelago, the biggest dark horse of this year’s tournament!”

The crowd erupted the moment the two names were announced.

Tania had advanced through the tournament using only Gengar. Her cold, serious battle style had gained her a huge following, especially among shut-in fans. Her popularity was even higher than Reiji’s.

”Tania! Tania! Tania!”

”Reiji! Reiji!”

The difference in volume was obvious. The crowd was louder for Tania.

That was just how those thirsty keyboard warriors were. Everyone understood. It was the same reason a pretty girl could gain fans so fast with a livestream.

[End of chapter]

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