Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

The cargo hold was packed with goods, most of them neatly sorted into separate storage areas. Spider’s members spread out to inspect the shipments, starting with the refrigerated section. There were plenty of Pokémon food ingredients inside, but nobody showed much interest in hauling away crates of perishable goods when there were better things to take.

The bags of Pokémon remains were another matter. Bones, claws, scales, and other materials used to craft held items could be worth a fortune, particularly when they came from powerful Pokémon. Some hadn’t even been cleaned properly, with bits of flesh still clinging to them.

They agreed to choose in order of strength, giving the strongest members first pick. Reiji selected a bag of mixed Elite Four-tier materials, and the others followed, each taking one or two bags. The best supplies disappeared quickly, leaving mostly lower-tier materials for those farther down the ranking.

A collection of ore bags caught Reiji’s attention next. Minerals were useful for raising Rock, Ground, and Steel type Pokémon, and he had several partners that could benefit from them.

He hefted a couple of bags before handing them to Gengar to store away. Hanhan and the others could have them as snacks later.

The rest of Spider followed his example, taking minerals according to their teams’ needs. Members with several Rock, Ground, or Steel type Pokémon collected more, while those with fewer Pokémon that could use the ores settled for a bag or two.

They left the antiques and artwork alone. Some pieces were probably valuable, but stolen artifacts were difficult to sell without attracting attention, and nobody wanted to deal with that kind of trouble.

The same went for the adult Pokémon locked in cages nearby. Most wore control collars and appeared to have been stolen from other Trainers, probably to be sold for breeding. Pokémon that already belonged to someone were difficult to capture again, so the group agreed to leave them for the League.

Farther inside, Spider found unfamiliar machinery and several shipments of banned drugs. Some were designed to push Pokémon beyond their physical limits by burning through their vitality, while others induced uncontrollable aggression.

None of the members touched them.

Spider wasn’t exactly a respectable organization, but Reiji had forbidden drugs that harmed Pokémon. He tolerated things like Naoki and the others using carefully measured doses of venom from similar Pokémon to raise their Poison-types, provided they didn’t overdo it. A Pokémon’s body had limits, and forcing it past those limits for temporary strength was another matter entirely.

Gengar was a different case. If it could withstand a particular toxin, Reiji saw little reason to stop using it. What mattered was whether the Pokémon could actually handle the training method.

Besides, anything that dangerous was bound to be difficult to sell. There was no point risking unwanted attention when the ship carried plenty of ordinary goods worth stealing.

The next section contained cages holding women and children, all unconscious from Sleep Powder. Several Trainer-owned Pokémon and wild Pokémon had also been drugged, leaving the area eerily quiet despite the number of captives.

Spider’s members passed the human prisoners without disturbing them. The League was already investigating the ship, and rescuing the captives wasn’t the reason they had come aboard. That responsibility could be left to the authorities once the ship was secured.

The wild Pokémon, however, were another story.

Unlike the stolen Trainer-owned Pokémon, these were potential new partners. Spider prohibited selling captured wild Pokémon, but there was nothing stopping members from choosing suitable Pokémon for their own teams.

That was especially useful for newer recruits such as Shingo, who still needed Pokémon they could safely use while operating under their Spider identities.

Reiji examined the cages of young Pokémon wearing control collars and called the others over.

”Pick out anything you’re interested in. I’ll check their potential before you decide what to keep.”

The shipment included starter Pokémon from several regions. There were Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur from Kanto, Totodile and Cyndaquil from Johto, Marshtomp from Hoenn, and even starters from Sinnoh.

These weren’t the sort of Pokémon usually found in an ordinary shipment of wild captures. Even the least valuable species here was relatively rare. Something as common as Magikarp wouldn’t be worth transporting through the black market unless it came from an exceptional bloodline, such as an Elite Four-tier Gyarados.

Reiji turned toward the members carrying the equipment they used to check Pokémon for hidden markings.

”One, Two, scan the starters first. I want to know if any of them belong to the League.”

”On it, Boss.”

Naoki pulled a special flashlight from his bag and swept its beam over the cages. Under the light, identification numbers appeared on the bodies of several starter Pokémon, although most showed no markings at all.

The unmarked Pokémon were likely from private breeders. The numbered ones were another matter, and Reiji couldn’t help wondering how bold someone had to be to steal League starters and then try selling them in another region.

”Leave the marked ones. Let’s see what we’ve got in the others.”

There were only a few dozen starters altogether, so checking them didn’t take long. Reiji started with the Kanto Pokémon and soon found three Charmander with potential ratings around 51% to 52%.

”Three decent Charmander. Anyone want one?”

”Me, Boss,” Tai answered immediately.

He had been relying on other people’s Flying-type Pokémon whenever the group needed to travel. A Charmander would eventually become Charizard, giving him a flying partner of his own.

Miki looked interested too, but hesitated to speak up. Keith gave her a little nudge, and she finally raised her hand.

”Leader, could I have one too?”

”Sure. Here.”

Reiji tossed a Poké Ball to Tai and another to Miki, then handed the third to Kazuma.

Kazuma needed to rebuild his team more urgently than anyone else. Reiji expected him to be useful in future operations, and a man with only one injured Elite Four-tier Pokémon wasn’t going to keep up for long.

Kazuma accepted the Charmander without complaint. He knew how far behind the others he was, and now that he finally had a chance to build a stronger team, he wasn’t going to waste it.

The remaining Kanto starters mostly had potential ratings in the forties. That wasn’t terrible, but nobody seemed interested enough to take them.

”Leave the rest where they are,” Reiji told Naoki, moving on to the starters from other regions.

A few of those also had promising potential, though the members were more cautious about claiming them. Even without visible League markings, these Pokémon had come from an illegal shipment, and raising one openly could invite questions about where it had been obtained.

For members whose public identities were particularly sensitive, the risk wasn’t worth it. They would have to keep the Pokémon out of sight while training it, which made choosing a starter considerably less convenient than it first appeared.

After a little discussion, A.J. was the only one to make a request.

”Boss, can I have that Marshtomp?”

”Sure. It’s yours.”

Reiji handed it over and turned his attention elsewhere. Starters weren’t nearly as exciting to him as they once had been. Between the fully evolved starters he already owned and the options available through legitimate channels, he no longer needed to take risks to get one.

With the starter Pokémon sorted, the group moved on to the more unusual youngsters, particularly those that could eventually become powerful Dragon-types.

There were no pseudo-Legendary hatchlings among the Dragon-type prospects, nor any Horsea, whose evolution into Kingdra was notoriously difficult. Most of the available Pokémon belonged to the Flygon line, though one young Altaria also caught the group’s attention.

Miki brightened when she spotted the Altaria. She had always liked Flying-type Pokémon, and Altaria appealed to her even more because of its Dragon typing.

The others noticed her interest and quickly agreed to let her have it. There was no point fighting over a Pokémon that wasn’t particularly rare, especially when Miki was the only girl in the group.

Nearby, another section contained well over a hundred Trapinch and Vibrava, all sleeping soundly from the drugs used to keep them subdued during transport.

Reiji had everyone temporarily capture the Pokémon they wanted checked, then examined their potential one by one. Most weren’t especially impressive, but he eventually found two Trapinch with potential ratings around 50%. Both had also inherited useful Dragon-type moves.

Miki and Keith each claimed one, leaving Reiji to continue sorting through the remaining Pokémon. After another round of checks, he found a promising Vibrava, but nobody else wanted it.

He tossed the Poké Ball to Kazuma.

”Here. You can take this one too.”

Kazuma accepted it, adding another potential teammate to the small collection he had begun rebuilding since joining Spider.

With the Flygon line sorted, everyone moved on to the other Pokémon they had been eyeing. Soon Reiji had a crowd gathered around him, each member holding several Poké Balls and waiting for him to check their choices.

Scyther was particularly popular. Ever since the group had learned how to train Pokémon using the methods behind the Crimson Streak, several members had become interested in raising exceptionally fast Scizor of their own.

Others had picked out Elekid, Munchlax, Slakoth, Aron, Pinsir, Slowpoke, and Sneasel. There was plenty of variety, though Reiji could tell that most members already had some idea of what they wanted their future teams to look like.

The Slakoth caught his attention.

He hadn’t expected to find one here, and the possibility of eventually raising a Slaking was certainly tempting. Slaking’s base stats were even higher than those of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, making it an absolute monster on paper.

Its Ability was the problem.

Without the special training methods developed by Norman’s family, Slaking’s Truant Ability could become such a serious limitation that raising one might be more trouble than it was worth.

Reiji wasn’t interested in taking on that headache, but he could understand why Shun had chosen one. Shun specialized in Fighting-type Pokémon, and despite its laziness, Slaking had the physical strength and range of Fighting-type moves to make it useful in close combat.

Sou also picked out a Slakoth, while Shun went a step further and claimed a Munchlax as well.

Reiji couldn’t help smiling at that last choice. Munchlax was going to eat an absurd amount as it grew, but Shun had someone who could afford the expense.

The old drunk backing him had spent years making money through his bar and various questionable schemes. Whatever else anyone thought of the man, he’d accumulated enough money to support a Pokémon with that kind of appetite.

Once everyone had finished choosing, Reiji looked over the remaining cages and found nothing else worth recommending. The group had already claimed the strongest prospects, and spending another hour checking mediocre Pokémon wouldn’t accomplish much.

Only Reiji and Naoki had yet to take a new partner.

Reiji approached Naoki and lowered his voice.

”You’re really not taking anything?”

Naoki gave a helpless laugh.

”Boss, I’m barely keeping up with the pseudo-Legendary you gave me. I can’t afford another mouth to feed right now.”

Reiji didn’t push him. Raising a pseudo-Legendary properly demanded a ridiculous amount of resources, and adding another Pokémon before Naoki could support it would only slow his progress.

As for Reiji himself, none of the youngsters had managed to catch his interest.

There had been a time when getting his hands on a single starter Pokémon would have felt like winning the lottery. Now he already owned a couple of fully evolved starters, and obtaining another through official League channels wouldn’t be particularly difficult.

His standards had changed along with his strength. Unless he came across a Shiny Pokémon, a pseudo-Legendary hatchling, or something similarly exceptional, he wasn’t eager to add more members to his team.

Besides, he had his proficiency panel. With a tool like that available, developing high-potential Pokémon was hardly an impossible task. Using such a valuable advantage merely to grind proficiency on an isolated island would have been a waste.

The others finished packing their chosen Poké Balls, and the group made its way out of the hold. They left the remaining Pokémon and prisoners for the League, which would have plenty to investigate when its officers finally boarded.

Up on deck, Spider’s members spread out again, this time examining the legitimate merchandise the cargo ship had been carrying to conceal its illegal business.

There was considerably more worth taking here.

Crates of Pokémon training equipment stood beside cases of healing sprays and high-grade Poké Balls. Other containers held Berries, packaged Pokémon food, fresh meat, and vegetables, while several expensive bicycles had been secured near a shipment of high-quality fishing equipment.

There were also boxes of Pokéblocks, Pokémon sweets, and other carefully packaged treats. Unlike the stolen artifacts and banned drugs below deck, these were ordinary commercial goods that could be used without raising questions about their origins.

Reiji looked over the merchandise with growing satisfaction.

”Gengar, grab a bicycle for me. Some training equipment too, and whatever healing sprays and good Poké Balls you can fit.”

He pointed toward the food shipments.

”Take the Pokéblocks as well. And the honey treats, crystal snacks, all that stuff. Grab as much as you can carry.”

Gengar’s eyes lit up. It had been watching everyone else choose their share of the loot, and now that Reiji had finally given it permission, it slipped into the shadows and began filling its seemingly bottomless storage space.

The Pokémon was becoming something of an expert at this sort of work.

Every major operation seemed to end with Gengar hauling away enough premium Pokéblocks to feed the team for ages. Reiji rarely needed to buy them anymore, and judging by the number of crates here, that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.

He wasn’t expecting to find any finished held items or truly exceptional treasures among the shipments. Something that valuable would never be left in an ordinary cargo hold when the captain could simply carry it himself.

The same probably applied to the rarest Pokémon. If the Black Ship had been transporting pseudo-Legendary hatchlings, Riku’s brother would likely have kept them close rather than trusting them to the sailors.

That explained why the cages had contained plenty of desirable Pokémon but nothing truly extraordinary.

Leaving Gengar and the others to collect their supplies, Reiji walked toward the railing and looked out over the storm.

The fighting near Lugia’s last known position was still going on, although Team Aqua’s submarine had disappeared beneath the surface. From what Reiji could see, they had probably dragged the captured Lugia down into deeper water.

He had no intention of getting involved.

Team Aqua had crossed a line by targeting a Legendary Pokémon, especially one as significant as Lugia. Once the League learned what had happened, it would almost certainly coordinate with other regions to track the submarine.

And that was assuming Team Aqua could actually keep Lugia under control.

Legendary Pokémon weren’t ordinary creatures that could be subdued indefinitely with a clever machine. One mistake could be enough for Lugia to break free, and if it turned its anger toward a human settlement afterward, the consequences could be catastrophic.

People had tried controlling powers beyond their understanding before. Reiji doubted this would be the last time.

Still, the entire affair was the League’s problem. Spider had already accomplished enough for one night, and Reiji was content to watch the distant flashes of battle while his people finished loading their spoils.

What he failed to notice was the faint silver light beginning to shine from inside his backpack.

The Silver Wing was glowing.

Strangely, it hadn’t reacted at all when Lugia first appeared above the ocean. Only now, after Team Aqua had dragged the Legendary Pokémon beneath the waves, had the mysterious feather begun to shine again.

[End of chapter]

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