Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

When the blast wave swept across the deck, Naoki and the others were caught in it too. Reiji had warned them in advance, so they quickly had their Pokémon use Protect. The first mate and the sailors weren’t so lucky.

Glass shattered across the bridge tower near the boiler room. Anything not nailed down was blown across the deck.

A harsh groan ran through the ship. One light after another went out, and the whole cargo ship sank into darkness. Emergency lights flickered on, but several were already failing.

The explosion hit the first mate’s side hard. Caught off guard, they lost the advantage, and Naoki pressed harder. Flygon fought two Pokémon at once and forced the first mate’s team back.

The first mate had not seen real combat in a long time. His four Pokémon were rusty, and two of them had been injured by the explosion. Against Naoki, he didn’t last long.

The second mate still had some skill. He pushed A.J. into a hard fight, and A.J. finally had Graveler use Explosion to break the stalemate. The blast crippled the second mate, ending the battle.

The boatswain had gathered a large group of sailors and was fighting Gai’s team. Gai and the other four were losing ground, surrounded and slowly pushed into a smaller space.

Golbat pulled Reiji out of the sea. Standing on top of the bridge tower, Reiji saw Gai’s group in trouble and sent Golbat and Toxicroak down at once. They went after the Trainers directly, taking pressure off the others.

After taking the first mate’s and second mate’s Pokémon, Naoki and A.J. pushed into the ship. Any sailor who attacked them died. They headed straight for the first mate’s and second mate’s rooms and began clearing them out.

Seeing how fast they were moving, Gai stopped holding back. With Toxicroak helping him break through, he forced his way past the sailors and into the ship. After making the crew tell him where the boatswain’s room was, he joined the search.

With Toxicroak’s help, Sou and the others finished off the sailors still standing and started collecting what was left on the deck.

Naoki, A.J., and Gai were already inside. Sou and Gulzar looked at each other, unwilling to fall behind, and headed into the ship as well. They went straight for the sailors’ quarters.

That left only Daishi and Keith on the deck. They picked up the Poké Balls scattered across the ground and recalled the defeated Pokémon. If Sou and Gulzar had left them behind, then they had given them up. That made them fair game.

Some sailors had bags on them too, which made things even easier for the two.

The engineers and kitchen staff who had escaped upstairs saw all of this. Black clothes, black hoods, and pale masks staring out of the dark. None of them dared look too long. They crouched on the ground and stayed still.

Daishi and Keith had no time for them either. They warned the crew to stay down, saying they were pirates here for money, not lives. The crew quickly pulled out their cash.

That was a nice surprise. The two collected what they could from the deck and kept patrolling. They didn’t go below. They knew the good stuff inside wasn’t theirs to take.

Naoki was the first to come out of the ship. A.J., Gulzar, Gai, and Sou followed soon after. Reiji stood above the bridge and told everyone over the radio to withdraw.

The raid had achieved its goals. Cissy was safe. Senta’s cousin was dead. Everyone had made money. It was time to leave.

There was no need to bother with the remaining crew. They could leave the smoking cargo ship drifting at sea. Someone had probably already sent a distress signal to the League. It was also possible they had contacted Team Rocket. Either way, staying here was a bad idea.

Reiji whistled for Pelipper, recalled Golbat and Toxicroak, and left the ship. The seven on the deck flew off on their own Flying-type Pokémon, heading toward Kumquat Island.

Once they were far from the cargo ship, they changed direction and went to an unnamed island near Rind Island instead. Rind Island sat on the ship’s route. Going there now would be walking straight into trouble.

They needed a place to sort through what they had taken, especially the electronics. Since Team Rocket was involved, they couldn’t afford to be careless.

Reiji led the seven of them down into the forest on the unnamed island. Once everyone landed, he spoke before they could relax.

”That ship belonged to Team Rocket. The captain was a Team Rocket mole. The first mate, second mate, and most of the sailors were probably Team Rocket too.”

”What? What do we do now?”

”Team Rocket? How was that a Team Rocket ship?”

”Wasn’t it a private cargo ship? Boss, are you sure?”

Some of them started to panic. They had thought the League would be the worst problem. Then they learned it was only a private ship, and they had prepared themselves for that. Now Reiji was telling them it was a Team Rocket ship, and it took them a moment to process it.

”Idiots. You weren’t scared of the League, but now you’re scared of Team Rocket?” Reiji snapped them out of it. ”Team Rocket members like carrying trackers. Take out every electronic device you grabbed and burn it. Poké Balls are electronic too. Replace every one.”

The group quieted down and started sorting through the stolen goods.

Reiji had Kingler dig a pit and start a fire. He dumped out everything he had taken from the young man, threw all the electronics into the flames, and set the Poké Balls aside for replacement.

Then he had Kingler dig out an underground space and had Butterfree fill it with Sleep Powder. The Pokémon were released one by one into the space. The moment they came out, they fell asleep. After Reiji transferred them into new Poké Balls, the Team Rocket Poké Balls went into the fire.

Next came the personal items with no real value. Those burned too. Reiji warned the others not to take chances.

Team Rocket’s name was enough to make everyone careful. No one dared hold anything back. Anything suspicious went into the fire, including bank cards.

Bank cards from the League or Team Rocket were useless. The moment anyone tried to withdraw money, they could be tracked. Even the cash pulled from those accounts could be traced through serial numbers. It could not be spent safely.

Reiji had experience with this. Once he finished his own pile, he went over to the others and helped them decide what had to go.

When he reached Gulzar, he saw a cold green box holding a high-grade Leaf Stone. Before Gulzar could get excited, Reiji said, ”Keep the Leaf Stone. Throw away the box.”

”That goes for all of you. I know the boxes for high-grade Evolution Stones look nice, but they’re the easiest things to tamper with. Get rid of them.”

”After this, we’re heading back to Mandarin Island North tonight to move the goods. If anything has been tampered with and we miss it, we’ll be in trouble. Clear?”

”Clear.”

They were exhausted after everything that had happened, but everyone was smiling. Tonight had paid off.

At minimum, each person had made more than twenty million. Gulzar had even found the Leaf Stone he had been thinking about for so long.

Once everyone finished sorting their loot, Reiji paid extra attention to Gai and Keith. Gai because Reiji still didn’t fully trust him. Keith because he was too poor, and Reiji was afraid he might try to sell even the boxes. He had to teach him by hand which things were worth keeping and which were dangerous.

When everything was sorted, they added fuel to the fire and left it burning.

Naoki led the way back. Everyone dragged their tired bodies through the trip and reached Mandarin Island North before dawn.

They still couldn’t rest. Naoki took them to the black market in separate groups and quietly sold off the stolen goods. Anything useful was kept after they checked it for signals. Everything else became cash.

Reiji sold off his own goods too. The quasi–Elite Four-tier Charizard was the most valuable, bringing in eighteen million. It sold for much more than the last Charizard, since this one came from a quasi–Elite Four-tier Trainer.

Counting the other Pokémon, held items, and loose goods, he sold about eighty million in total.

That might not sound like much, but he had kept a lot.

First, there were three quasi–Elite Four-tier items: Charcoal, Mystic Water, and Magnet. Those could be saved for Magby and the future Magnezone.

He also kept a high-grade Water Stone and nine million in cash. Altogether, his take came to over one hundred million. Not bad.

Saving Cissy had been the goal. Making money was secondary, so he hadn’t searched that carefully. Even so, Senta’s cousin alone had carried a ridiculous amount.

Naoki earned even more than Reiji this time: one hundred and ten million, plus a pile of held items and Evolution Stones. He had also found tens of millions in cash inside a safe. Conservatively, his haul was around one hundred and forty million.

When Reiji heard that number, he couldn’t help thinking that the first mate had been richer than the captain. The young man’s money was probably all in bank cards. Reiji guessed there had to be one or two hundred million in there.

But he had no way to tell whether the cards belonged to the League or Team Rocket. If he used them, his position could be exposed. He wasn’t going to gamble on that.

A.J. also did well. He had pushed into the ship with Naoki, and he had the second mate’s Pokémon and private savings. In the second mate’s room, he found a safe, cracked it open on the spot, and found a bag with twenty million in cash.

A.J. made more than sixty million this time. It was probably the second mate’s life savings, and now it all belonged to him.

Gai arrived a little later, after Naoki and A.J. had already cleaned out many of the good places. Even so, he made around forty million.

Gulzar’s luck was excellent. The high-grade Leaf Stone pushed his haul to around forty million too, and he also managed to grab some of the spoils after entering the ship with Gai.

Sou earned a little over thirty million. Most of it came from taking the boatswain’s Pokémon. He had also gone to the cargo hold to grab oranges, run into the captain’s drunk younger cousin, and cleaned out him and the people with him. That was how he reached that number.

Daishi and Keith each made around twenty million, with Keith getting a little more. Most of it came from the Pokémon and held items they picked up, plus the crew’s cash.

The Pokémon they collected weren’t rare, but there were enough of them. The two also went through the kitchen and found good ingredients, spices, and a wine cabinet full of expensive bottles. The food and alcohol were probably for the young captain’s enjoyment, and they still sold for several million.

When the others heard about the kitchen, they all stared at the two. None of them had thought there would be anything valuable there. Everyone else had gone for the crew rooms, cargo hold, and storage rooms. Only Daishi and Keith had checked the kitchen.

Then Sou pulled out the oranges, and the group nearly lost it. This idiot had actually gone to the cargo hold to load up on oranges. The things weren’t worth much unless sold in bulk, and they couldn’t take that many with them. Still, he had gotten lucky and made a decent amount in the process.

”You should all understand this now,” Reiji said. ”On paper, the ship we hit was private. In secret, it belonged to a Team Rocket mole. That means the Trainers and sailors on board were probably Team Rocket moles too.”

”From now on, the League, Team Rocket, and the captain’s family will all be looking for us. You know what to do.”

”Understood,” everyone answered.

They had offended the League and Team Rocket, and they had destroyed a private merchant ship tied to a family in Kanto. In other words, both sides of the world would kill them if they were exposed.

Reiji had not expected a rescue mission to turn into this, but it worked out. Everyone here had crossed the line together now. They were tied to the same crime.

He didn’t mind. He would explain the accident to Cissy’s grandfather. Of course, he wouldn’t mention the group he had built. He would say he hired pirates to help.

If Cissy’s grandfather heard the story and still wanted him gone, then Reiji would leave. That was fine. He was strong enough now to go wherever he wanted.

After that, he told everyone to eat breakfast and rest. They had all made a fortune last night, and one by one, they went upstairs to sleep.

Reiji and Naoki stayed under the eaves. Reiji took the Team Rocket badge from his shirt pocket.

”I checked this badge. No signal.” Reiji had been sweating when he first found it. Now he joked with Naoki, ”Who would’ve thought that guy was a Team Rocket mole? Good thing we used the pirate cover tonight. Still, our outfits stand out way too much.”

”What are you thinking, Boss?” Naoki wasn’t shaken by the fact that they had hit Team Rocket. If anything, he was pleased. Anything that hurt Team Rocket was good enough for him.

”I don’t know yet. I want to throw Team Rocket off, but it needs a proper setup. Something with enough weight behind it. I’ll think about it.” Reiji wrapped the badge back in the silk cloth and put it into his shirt pocket.

The idea had come to him suddenly. But he couldn’t pull it off himself yet. If he wanted a setup with real weight, nothing carried more weight than an Elite Four-tier Trainer. A Champion would be even better, but that was out of reach. He wasn’t Elite Four tier yet, so the idea would have to wait.

He set that aside and asked Naoki, ”Is there anything that can detect tracking signals? Destroying everything every time is too much trouble.”

”No need for that. Just have an Electric-type Pokémon shock the items. The tracking devices will overload from the voltage,” Naoki said. He had clearly dealt with this before and had assumed Reiji already knew.

”Haha. Right.” Reiji yawned.

They had been going since last night and were dead tired. How had he not thought of something that simple?

”Things won’t be quiet after this. The League and Team Rocket will both be looking for us. Aside from work, keep everyone’s activity low and wait for my message.”

After leaving those words with Naoki, Reiji rode Pelipper toward the city.

Naoki dropped his burned-out cigarette and watched until Reiji was only a black dot in the sky. Then he turned back into the villa and went to bed.

Last night’s fight had taken everything he had. Several of his Pokémon were injured and were being treated at a private Pokémon clinic in the city. He didn’t dare take them to a Pokémon Center.

Still, it had all been worth it. They had hurt Team Rocket, ruined its plan for Mikan Gym, and made a huge profit on top of that. Over a hundred million was enough to last him a long time. He was one step closer to revenge.

A.J.’s Graveler had been badly injured from using Explosion and had also been sent to a private Pokémon clinic. A.J. had ordered the best medicine without feeling the least bit pained, even if it cost a million.

After what he had earned last night, that money was nothing. Coming here with Reiji had been the right choice. He could already see Elite Four tier waving at him, and even in his sleep, he couldn’t stop smiling.

[End of chapter]

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