Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

By evening, Reiji woke up groggily to find Gengar and the others gathered around him.

”You’re all here.”

He reached out and patted them one by one, then glanced toward the sunset outside the window. The sun was almost down. It was time to get up and make dinner.

After a quick wash, he went downstairs. Mewtwo was not in the living room. Outside, the twenty-five cloned Pokémon were resting on the grass.

Reiji went outside and started preparing dinner.

Counting his own Pokémon and the clones, he now had more than fifty Pokémon to feed.

Luckily, dinner was Pokéblocks. Even so, sorting them by type took him more than an hour. He fed the twenty-five clones first, then moved on to his own Pokémon.

First came his main team: Pelipper, Poliwhirl, Kingler, Rhydon, Scyther, Gyarados, Forretress, and Accelgor. Eight Pokémon in total.

Some were recovering from injuries, and some were simply taking a break. The tournament had just ended, so a few easy days wouldn’t hurt. Nothing urgent was waiting for them right now.

The biggest thing was Poliwhirl’s evolution. Its injuries had not fully healed yet. It had only been a week since the tournament ended, so Reiji planned to wait at least two more days. Once Poliwhirl finished a short recovery routine and reached peak condition again, evolving it would be much safer.

Scyther’s evolution was another issue. He would probably have to go to Kanto. If he couldn’t find a way to incorporate a Float Stone into Scyther’s body there, he could always go to Hoenn and ask Steven.

Scyther’s evolution was different from Forretress’s. It evolved through trading while holding a Metal Coat, but what was he supposed to do before that? Cover its whole body in Float Stone powder? Obviously it couldn’t be that simple. If it were, anyone could have thought of it.

Next were the Pokémon he used under his alternate identity: Toxicroak, Golbat, Marshtomp, Weezing, Gengar, Darkrai, who still had not returned, Ditto, and Spinarak. Another eight.

Marshtomp needed attention first. After the trip out, it was close to evolving. Reiji wrote that down in his notebook. He would prepare carefully for it.

Gengar had woken up and seemed stable. Nothing to worry about there.

Weezing was also absorbing the poison sac steadily. Its potential was still rising little by little. Reiji didn’t need to fuss over it too much. Gengar could watch it.

Golbat needed high friendship to evolve, and Reiji hadn’t even sorted that out with Eevee yet. For now, it would have to wait. Besides, Golbat was too poisonous for him to casually get close to. One careless mistake, and he could end up poisoned.

The only one he was truly worried about was Darkrai, but worrying wouldn’t bring it back. He couldn’t do anything right now, so he could only deal with what was in front of him.

The rest could keep training as usual. Ditto’s job stayed the same: keep practicing transformations.

Spinarak had reached its limit. There wasn’t much to do there unless it evolved.

Toxicroak was already past the danger of poison backlash, so it no longer needed special attention.

Only five Pokémon, but the lineup was ridiculous: a Legendary, a pseudo-Legendary, Slowpoke, Magby, and Pidgeotto all crammed into one team.

Every single one of those five needed attention.

Zapdos had fully fallen asleep after Reiji returned. It had not woken for several days. He didn’t know what had happened, and he didn’t know how to wake it.

He would probably need to visit Shamouti Island. The people there guarded the three Legendary birds, and there was also a talking Slowking. Maybe they could answer his questions.

Slowpoke needed a Shellder. Reiji had to test whether combination evolution could raise its potential. Weezing had proven the idea could work, so Slowpoke needed to be tested as soon as possible too.

Dratini had shed a few more times recently. Its level and potential had both gone up, and it was not far from evolution. Reiji needed to prepare Dragon-type energy in advance. After it evolved, he would have to start proper training and fix the malnutrition it had suffered before.

Magby was also close to evolving. Blaine had raised it well, saving Reiji a lot of time. He only needed to prepare some Fire-type resources for it.

Pidgeotto’s focus was evolution too. It was only three levels away. For now, though, settling in came first. This Pidgeotto was already excellent. Reiji didn’t need to micromanage it. They just needed to get used to each other and fight a few battles together.

Next were the Pokémon that had not been assigned a clear role yet: Butterfree, Staryu, Tauros, Eevee, Wishiwashi, Farfetch’d, Riolu, Tentacool, and Barboach. Nine in total.

Butterfree didn’t need much. As long as the little glutton was happy, Reiji would keep raising it.

Staryu would evolve with a high-grade Water Stone and help Poliwhirl and the others train, but the gem on its chest still hadn’t recovered. That would have to wait.

Tauros could graze freely on the lakeside pasture. Reiji would take it along on the next trip. It was a shame Tauros hadn’t gotten a chance to battle this time.

Eevee would stay by his side until it evolved into Umbreon. After that, it could join the third team.

Wishiwashi could wait until he had time. When he caught more Wishiwashi later, he would release them into the lake and let them form a school.

Farfetch’d and Riolu had new jobs. Reiji didn’t want to interrupt Farfetch’d’s new life. It often went to the orchard now and had practically become its guardian. After being transferred back, it took Riolu with it to watch over the trees. That was a quiet place where no one would bother them.

As for Riolu, Reiji felt better knowing Farfetch’d was watching over it. Letting those two guard the orchard was fine. Hopefully that peaceful environment could help Riolu heal. He had done what he could. At the very least, Riolu would never have to worry about the rest of its life.

Then there were Tentacool and Barboach. He had only caught them because their potential was high, and they had mostly been left to roam the lake. They helped make the lake’s Pokémon population more varied, but he hadn’t paid them much attention. Now that both were close to evolving, it was time to care a little more.

Last came the combination-evolution Pokémon. He had caught one Magnemite in Gringey City, one Diglett at the reservoir, and one Diglett at Mt. Moon. Three Pokémon in total.

He still needed one Shellder, one more Diglett, and two more Magnemite. Four Pokémon. Those were the easiest combination-evolution sets to complete. The others were either too far away or too rare. Once he got the missing Pokémon, he could finally begin the training plan properly.

As for Mantine, he had no plans to catch one. Mantine was Water and Flying type, which overlapped with Gyarados.

Gyarados already had potential close to quasi-Champion tier. Breaking into Champion tier should only be a matter of time. Instead of spending resources raising a Mantine, he might as well pour those resources into Gyarados. So Mantine was out.

There were still three other Pokémon.

The Magikarp he had fished up on the deserted island was still a Magikarp. He would give it to someone suitable one day.

Escavalier was the same. If he found someone suitable, he would give it away. If no one wanted it, he would keep raising it himself. One more Pokémon wouldn’t eat that much.

Then there was the Feebas he had gotten on the Kanto cruise ship. It still needed friendship before evolving into Milotic. If it evolved straight into Milotic with no bond built up first, there would be no way to properly catch and keep it.

That made thirty-six Pokémon.

Add the inactive Golett, the future Sharpedo, and the four missing combination-evolution Pokémon, and the count reached forty-two.

Add the twenty-five cloned Pokémon, and the total jumped to sixty-seven.

Yeah.

Without some kind of business, there was no way he could support that many.

There was a lot to do, and some things could be done at the same time. The combination-evolution Pokémon had to be caught soon.

Shellder and Carvanha could be handled through Sou’s fishing village. Neither species was under a fishing ban, so they could be caught at any time.

The remaining Diglett and Magnemite were up to Reiji. He would need to find out where to catch them.

Fortunately, he knew the usual habitats. Diglett liked mountain gullies. Magnemite had many options. There were always some near power plants, and Magnemite ranches had them too. Both were easy to get.

A Magnemite ranch was exactly what it sounded like: a ranch that raised Magnemite. During thunderstorms, the Magnemite absorbed lightning and stored electricity, which could then power remote towns. That had created a whole group of ranchers who specialized in raising them.

For now, the most urgent task was testing combination evolution. It looked like he could only stay at the cabin for a few days before heading out again to catch Pokémon and settle that plan first.

”There’s really too much to do. I still have to go to Shamouti Island, and then Kanto.”

Reiji looked at the packed schedule in his notebook and felt his head hurt.

He had thought that once he had an Elite Four-tier Pokémon, he could finally relax and fish. Gengar had indeed reached Elite Four tier, but somehow Reiji had only gotten busier.

Once he got through this batch of work, things should finally slow down.

Probably.

Sigh. Some people really were born to work.

[End of chapter]

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