Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

In the bedroom, Reiji had Gengar spit out every backpack it had been carrying.

He had picked up plenty of good stuff during the trip through Kanto. Some had already gone into his Pokémon’s evolutions, but a lot of it was still sitting around untouched. Now was a good time to sort through it.

The last major haul was: 89 million in cash, several quasi–Elite Four-tier items, Charcoal, Mystic Water, a Magnet, and a high-grade Water Stone. That was what remained after he dealt with everything else that day.

Out of that pile, he had only used the quasi–Elite Four-tier Charcoal for Magby’s evolution. The rest was still intact.

…

Then there was the haul from the four Team Rocket members who had chased him to Fairchild Island.

They had left him two quasi–Elite Four-tier items, twelve Advanced-tier items, and six Elite-tier items.

Most of those had covered Water, Flying, Ground, Poison, Dark, and Bug. The quasi–Elite Four-tier items were a Hard Stone and Black Sludge.

The six Elite-tier items were already gone. Of the Advanced-tier items, once Water, Fire, and Flying materials were removed, there wasn’t much left. Rhydon had taken the quasi–Elite Four-tier Hard Stone right away.

That left five Advanced-tier items and one quasi–Elite Four-tier Poison item: Black Sludge.

…

Then there were the three high-grade Evolution Stones he had won from the Indigo Plateau Conference, plus the top-grade Water Stone he had received from Cissy’s grandfather.

The three prize stones had not been used. Only the top-grade Water Stone was gone.

Magby had evolved with the Sun Stone, which meant the high-grade Fire Stone was still untouched. Back then, the three Evolution Stones had been kept together, and the Fire Stone’s energy was hidden beneath the others. That was why Poliwhirl hadn’t picked up on it.

The high-grade Sun Stone could evolve Bellossom or Whimsicott. Of the Pokémon that could use it, those were the only two Reiji was interested in.

The high-grade Fire Stone could evolve Ninetales, Arcanine, Flareon, and a few others. Those three were all Pokémon he liked.

If he had to choose, he would rather keep the Fire Stone. Unfortunately, Fire Stones didn’t sell for much in the Orange Archipelago, so for now, it could stay in storage.

…

The ruins had given him another pile.

There were plenty of Ghost Gems, one top-grade Dusk Stone, one high-grade Dusk Stone, three mid-grade Dusk Stones, an Elite Four-tier Reaper Cloth, an Elite Four-tier Spell Tag, a Ghost Plate fragment about the size of his thumbnail, and one source stone for Golett.

He hadn’t touched any of those, and he didn’t plan to sell them unless he was truly desperate for money. Gengar was a Ghost-type, and he still needed to activate Golett later. These items could become Golett’s nourishment too, so keeping them made more sense.

…

From Mt. Moon, he had found Moon Stones: one top-grade, one high-grade, and two mid-grade. None of them had been used.

The lower-grade Evolution Stones from Mt. Moon had mostly disappeared. He only had one low-grade Thunder Stone, one low-grade Leaf Stone, and two low-grade Moon Stones left.

The Fire Stones and Water Stones had all gone into evolutions. There was no way any of those would still be left.

There was also the loot he had split with A.J.: one Advanced-tier Pokémon hunter’s backpack, six common Advanced-tier forest Pokémon, one Advanced-tier item, and several Elite-tier items.

That guy had been poor. The items had already been consumed during evolutions, and the backpack barely had anything good in it. Even counting everything together, it was only worth two or three million, less than the six Advanced-tier Pokémon themselves.

Those six common Advanced-tier Pokémon should sell for around two million each. With the backpack included, the whole lot was worth about fourteen to fifteen million. He could hand it to Naoki later and have him move it.

Compared with the real Pokémon hunter from before, these people were a step down. That hunter had given him thirty million in Pokémon alone.

…

Grampa Canyon had been another major haul.

There had been plenty of Water Stones: one high-grade, one mid-grade, and more than twenty low-grade ones. There had also been a large pile of Water Gems and more than ten Damp Rocks.

After Poliwhirl and Marshtomp’s evolutions, almost all of that was gone. Only one high-grade Water Stone remained. The rest of the Water Stones and Water-type items had been completely consumed.

He still had a Shell Bell, plus one Advanced-tier Hard Stone. There were also several Razor Claws and Razor Fangs, including quasi–Elite Four-tier ones.

The remaining Dragon items were for Dratini: two Elite Four-tier Dragon Fangs, several quasi–Elite Four-tier Dragon Fangs, and a large number of Advanced-tier Dragon Fangs.

The Elite Four-tier Hard Stone and Sharp Beak had already been given to the boss Pokémon. Even the Advanced-tier Sharp Beaks were gone, taken by the Pidgeot flock. After everything, not much from Grampa Canyon remained.

Pidgeotto was about to evolve too. He needed to prepare Flying-type items and find a suitable evolution site. One problem after another.

…

There was also the loot from Evolution Mountain.

Those idiots had been weak, but they had still tried to rob people. In the end, they left him with two Pinsir, one Machoke, two million in cash, and two Elite-tier Bug items.

The two Elite-tier Pinsir could be sold as a bundle for one million. The Advanced-tier Machoke would have been worth at least 2.5 million on Kinnow Island, which was a shame, because they weren’t on Kinnow Island.

Here, all three Pokémon together would only sell for around three million. Add the two Bug items, and that made six million. Add the two million in cash, and the total came to eight million. He would move that lot later too.

Since those people had spent years hanging around Evolution Mountain, they did have a lot of Evolution Stones: nine mid-grade stones and twenty-seven low-grade stones. No high-grade ones.

There was also a messy pile of fossils, plus several Heat Rocks and Smooth Rocks. The rock items had been used during Magby and Marshtomp’s evolutions.

Not many of those Evolution Stones were left now. The Water Stones and Fire Stones were gone, and even the Sun Stones had been used.

All that remained were two mid-grade Thunder Stones, five low-grade Thunder Stones, two mid-grade Leaf Stones, and two low-grade Leaf Stones.

…

Then there were the Evolution Stones Reiji had found himself on Evolution Mountain.

Same story: the Sun Stones, Water Stones, and Fire Stones were gone. The one that hurt most was the high-grade Sun Stone.

From that batch, he only had five low-grade Leaf Stones, one mid-grade Leaf Stone, and six low-grade Thunder Stones left. There had been a mid-grade Thunder Stone too, but after Shelmet’s evolution, its purity had fallen and it had become low-grade.

Aside from the stones, he still had many Pokémon fossils and one Sharpedonite. That was about all that remained.

…

The ambush outside Gringey City had left him three quasi–Elite Four-tier items: Poison-type Black Sludge, Poison Barb, and the Twisted Spoon that had belonged to Alakazam.

Gengar had also stolen two items from the black market shop: one mid-grade Dusk Stone and one Advanced-tier Reaper Cloth. Both were evolution items for Ghost-types.

They had been stored together, giving off enough Ghost-type energy for Gengar to notice them. It had reached in and grabbed exactly those two. It had almost been forced out by Alakazam for it.

Those items were untouched too, and Reiji didn’t plan to use or sell them yet. Like the earlier Dusk Stones, they were future resources for his Poison- and Ghost-types. Better to keep them and decide later.

…

The ship had brought another haul, mostly from the spoiled rich kid and his sailors.

The Pokémon had already been dealt with. Only the items remained.

The quasi–Elite Four-tier Black Belt Poliwhirl had used had come from that rich kid’s backpack. It had probably been prepared for Riolu, but Poliwhirl ended up benefiting from it first. Reiji would make that up to Lucario later.

The rich kid had also carried nine Advanced-tier items. Four remained now.

Most of his Pokémon had been Dragon-types, so he had three Advanced-tier Dragon Fangs and one Advanced-tier Magnet left from that batch.

The Mystic Water, Soft Sand, Hard Stone, Charcoal, and other items had all gone into evolutions. The Hard Stone had been eaten by Hanhan too.

There were still many Elite-tier items, probably meant as rewards for the sailors under him. Twenty-three remained. Even if Reiji sold them at an average of 2.2 million each, with the cheapest around 1.5 million and the most expensive around 3 million, that would still bring in about fifty million.

The backpack also had plenty of Evolution Stones: Thunder Stones, Leaf Stones, Dusk Stones, and Moon Stones. There were seven or eight mid-grade stones and more than thirty low-grade ones.

There had been Fire Stones and Water Stones too, but those had all gone into evolutions.

The Thunder Stones needed to be kept. If he needed money, he could sell the other stones first.

Between the valuable odds and ends from the rich kid and the sailors’ miscellaneous goods, the remaining items added up to around sixty million.

Not bad.

…

The poacher group he wiped out while rescuing Gulzar had mostly been processed already. The remaining items had also been consumed during evolutions. What was left were the things he could still use.

The biggest one was high-quality Pokéblocks. They were all stored in one food backpack, with different flavors for different types. Reiji had lost count of how many there were. Ever since leaving Kinnow Island, he hadn’t needed to buy Pokéblocks at all.

He also kept all kinds of typed Gems for his Pokémon. Advanced-tier items were kept too. Anything below Elite tier was usually sold.

Training notes, breeding books, good wine, and similar things were stored in a miscellaneous backpack. There were too many items to sort in detail.

The things he sold were mostly decent or low-quality Pokéblocks, medicines, wilderness gear, and other supplies he already had. There was no need to rely on other people’s used equipment.

By the time he left the Trovitopolis black market, not much from that haul remained: more than a thousand boxes of high-quality Pokéblocks, the Gems that hadn’t been used in recent evolutions, and a lot of ore Hanhan still hadn’t finished eating.

There were also several pieces of Advanced-tier Black Sludge and two Advanced-tier Poison Barb items.

That was what remained of the poacher haul. Most of it had already been digested into his team, and it had helped him reach Elite Four tier.

Riku really had been generous. The quasi–Elite Four-tier Mystic Water and Soft Sand used for Poliwhirl and Marshtomp had both come from him.

Once everything was counted, the pattern was clear.

For Water and Fire, almost everything below high-grade was gone. Mid-grade and lower stones, and most items below Advanced tier, had been burned through.

Fighting-type items had been scarce from the start, and Poliwhirl’s evolution had wiped them out. Otherwise, Lucario could have used some.

He still had some Ground-type items, since Marshtomp hadn’t absorbed everything during evolution and Reiji hadn’t laid out the entire stock.

The next projects needed Electric and Steel for Magnemite, mostly Ground for Diglett with a little Rock support, and Water and Psychic for Slowpoke, with Ice as a supplement.

Ice was Cloyster’s second type. Even if the final Slowpoke-Shellder combination didn’t keep the Ice type, both Slowpoke and Shellder had strong Ice potential, especially Shellder. Reiji had no intention of wasting that. Strengthening their combined Ice talent was worth doing.

So the key types were Electric, Steel, Ground, Water, and Psychic, with Rock and Ice as secondary support.

Seven types in total.

Of those, the first five mattered most. Right now, he had the most Electric and Ground items. He had some Steel and Psychic resources too. Water was the problem. Only a few high-grade Water Stones remained, and using those just to raise potential would be wasteful. High-grade items had value beyond raw energy.

With the resources sorted, Reiji released the three Magnemite.

He would start with them.

First, he would try Electric Gems. Magnets could help Magnemite absorb electricity, so those could be used as support. Thunder Stones would come later. The high-grade Thunder Stone would be saved for the final evolution.

Magnemite fed on electricity, so the biggest resource cost should be power itself. If he could use electricity to help them digest and absorb the items, that might become the real key.

Thinking of that, Reiji plugged in a power strip, switched it on, and set it in front of the three Magnemite. Then he gave each of them two Electric Gems.

”Magnemite, I’m doing some research, and I need your cooperation. Work with me, and you can eat this whenever you want.”

He took out Electric-type Pokéblocks to see if he could buy them over with food.

If that didn’t work, a little pressure would.

”Gengar.”

”Gengar…”

Darkness leaked from under Reiji’s feet and crept toward the three Magnemite.

The moment they felt that ominous aura, the Magnemite huddled together. They didn’t dare look at Reiji or Gengar, trembling in fear.

”So? Follow me, and you eat well. Refuse, and…”

”Mite!”

The three Magnemite nodded at once. On one side was food and shelter. On the other was endless darkness. They knew which one to choose.

”Good. From now on, you’re the leader.”

Reiji pointed to the Magnemite that knew Gravity, then smiled and pointed to the other two.

”And you two are both number two. Listen to the leader, understood?”

”mite, mite, mite.”

The three looked at each other and accepted it without protest. Reiji was the boss now. Whatever he said went.

”Good.”

Reiji snapped his fingers. The capture had gone smoothly, so it was time for the next step.

He had assigned them a leader because he didn’t want the three Magnemite to end up like Dodrio’s heads, fighting among themselves after they merged.

When Magnemite finally evolved into Magnezone, their bodies and minds would both change under the special magnetic field. Their molecular structure would be reorganized, creating the final fused form.

But his Magnemite didn’t necessarily need to find a special magnetic field. He had a high-grade Thunder Stone. As long as he found a thunderstorm, Magneton should be able to evolve.

Their potential would already be raised by then anyway.

That said, there were suitable magnetic places nearby.

Magmar had lava. Magnemite needed a special magnetic field. And in the Orange Archipelago, there happened to be one place that fit.

Zapdos’s territory: Lightning Island, one of the islands near Shamouti.

Zapdos had lived there for years. Even if the island hadn’t started as a special magnetic field, it should have become one by now.

Besides Lightning Island, there were places like the inside of Mt. Coronet in Sinnoh and Chargestone Cave in Unova.

Unfortunately, those were too far away. Reiji didn’t want to wait that long.

Since he already had to visit Shamouti Island to deal with Zapdos, he could evolve Magneton there along the way.

Hopefully it wouldn’t anger Zapdos.

For now, though, he returned to combination evolution.

After bringing the three Magnemite under control, he tried feeding them Pokéblocks. The problem was that Magnemite had no mouths. They could only draw the electricity out of the Pokéblocks, which made the food less appealing than simply sitting on the power strip and charging.

Reiji had nothing to say to that. He gave up on feeding them and moved straight to the evolution attempt.

He had the three Magnemite hold six Electric Gems between them, link together, and attach themselves to the exposed wires of the power strip.

The moment they touched the wires, sparks snapped and cracked.

A burnt smell reached Reiji’s nose.

Then the light of evolution appeared.

[End of chapter]

[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]

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