Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

Day 60 of the trip to Kanto. Clear.

Starting today, people began leaving the Indigo Plateau one after another. Some had already left last night.

Reiji woke up in his single room at the Pokémon Center and decided to rest at the Indigo Plateau for one more night. He would leave for the Orange Archipelago tomorrow.

After breakfast, his Pokémon went back into their Poké Balls to rest. Poliwhirl and the others were still injured. Even the lightest injuries would take a week to recover, and the serious ones would need at least half a month.

Once they finished eating, Reiji took Eevee to the Pokémon Center cafeteria for the free breakfast. While getting his food, he ran into Nurse Joy.

”Contestant Reiji?” Nurse Joy called softly, as if worried she had mistaken him for someone else.

”Nurse Joy? Is something wrong?” Reiji touched his face, confused. He did not have any Pokémon in treatment right now.

”You still haven’t picked up your seven-day global travel tickets, have you? There are also coupons for hotels and shops.”

”Tickets? Coupons?” Reiji’s confusion was written all over his face, and Nurse Joy laughed.

They sat across from each other at one of the cafeteria tables, and Nurse Joy explained, ”They’re from the sponsors of the Indigo Plateau Conference. The top three all receive two round-trip tickets for a seven-day trip to another region, along with several hotel and shop coupons.”

So that was it.

The sponsors had provided the tickets. The other contestants probably had coupons too, with the amount depending on their ranking. They could claim them at the Pokémon Center, and the top three also got travel tickets.

If he asked for two tickets to the Orange Archipelago, could he fly straight back?

That sounded tempting.

Getting from the Indigo Plateau to Mikan Island by ship would take at least a week. If he had to transfer ships or got delayed on the way, it could easily stretch to half a month. And he had not forgotten about Team Rocket either.

A plane would be much faster. The Indigo Plateau had an airport, and he could reach the Orange Archipelago in a day. Then he would only need a ship back to Mikan Island. The only question was which island the flight could reach.

Any island with a major city usually had an airport: Mandarin Island North, the League headquarters on Pummelo Island, Kumquat Island, Mandarin Island South…

Unfortunately, Mikan Island did not have one. It only had a Gym, a small town, a few fishing villages, and some seaside villas. An island like that was not getting an airport.

After chatting with Nurse Joy for a while longer, Reiji followed her to the counter and picked up his tickets to the Orange Archipelago. He also received a round-trip ticket to Kanto. He had no use for that one, but he took it anyway.

The tickets had to be used with his Pokédex. Only the owner of the Pokédex could board with them, which stopped people from stealing or reselling the tickets. Each person could only use the benefit once too. Even if someone tried to bring the same ticket again, it would not work.

After putting the tickets away, he took a stack of food coupons as well. They were for the roadside shops nearby, and each coupon could be exchanged for one serving of food. He only learned about them now because he had been too busy with the tournament these past few days.

The coupons also required his Pokédex and tournament ranking to use.

He put the tickets away. The food coupons would expire in a few days, so he might as well use them now. Just as he was about to leave, Nurse Joy placed a Poké Ball on the counter.

”There’s also a Pokémon for you.”

”A Pokémon?” Reiji had no Pokémon being treated here. Why would there be one for him?

”You don’t remember?” Nurse Joy seemed to realize something. ”Sorry, I forgot to tell you. A strange old man left this for you last night. He said to give it to this year’s Indigo Plateau Conference champion, Reiji.”

”A strange old man. Don’t tell me it was Blaine.” Reiji’s mouth twitched. He did not even need to think hard to guess. ”Did he say anything else?”

”No. He only asked me to give you the Poké Ball, then left in a hurry.”

”Give it here.” Reiji took the Poké Ball and checked the panel. It was Magby, not Squirtle, and he let out a quiet breath of relief.

He went to the public video phone and tried calling Blaine to ask what was going on.

But after dialing Blaine’s number, all he heard was:

”The number you have dialed is outside the service area…”

He tried several times. The same message played again and again before the call cut off.

Click.

”What do you mean, outside the service area? That old man is messing with me.” Reiji hung up with a sigh and left the Pokémon Center.

He found a bench in the park and sat down, looking over Magby’s panel. Its potential was pretty good. Blaine was clearly investing in him. Otherwise, he would not have sent a Magby.

Blaine’s armor technique built around Heat Crash could probably be used by many of his Fire-type Pokémon: Rhydon, Magmar, Charizard, Arcanine, Magcargo…

But Magmar was the one that suited it best.

It came down to skin and fur. Magmar’s body surface was already around 1,200 degrees even without Heat Crash, about the temperature of magma. Magmortar could reach 2,000 degrees.

Now look at Arcanine. Majestic, powerful, covered head to tail in thick tan fur.

If a Pokémon like that raised its body surface to 2,000 degrees, what would happen to the fur? It would turn into a bald dog.

Magcargo, or even Rhydon with its tough hide, would handle Heat Crash much better than Arcanine.

And Blaine had sent him a Magby. One with quasi–Elite Four tier potential, no less. It had been raised well and was close to evolving, with a level similar to Dratini’s.

[Magby]

[Type: Fire]

[Gender: Male]

[Potential: 56%]

[Level: 26.21%]

[Ability: Flame Body / 22.23%]

[Moves]

Fire-type: [(Fire Punch / 23.27%) (Lava Plume / 21.21%) (Flamethrower / 23.88%) (Sunny Day / 20.31%) (Fire Blast / 19.14%) (Fire Spin / 18.53%) (Flame Wheel / 21.14%) (Ember / 25.37%) (Flame Charge / 18.17%) (Will-O-Wisp / 14.22%)]

Normal-type: [(Belly Drum / 12.14%) (Focus Energy / 13.23%) (Scary Face / 8.82%) (Smokescreen / 11.62%) (Leer / 15.22%) (Protect / 14.72%) (Mega Punch / 16.44%) (Mega Kick / 13.34%)]

Fighting-type: [(Dynamic Punch / 16.11%) (Mach Punch / 13.42%) (Low Kick / 11.14%)]

Poison-type: [(Clear Smog / 13.27%) (Smog / 9.21%)]

Other: [(Feint Attack / 8.23%) (Thunder Punch / 17.22%) (Rest / 24.91%) (Iron Tail / 15.42%)]

Magby’s potential was solid, and it was not far from evolution. The only downside was that it had only one Ability.

Flame Body gave any Pokémon that hit it with a contact move a 30% chance of being burned.

Magby’s Hidden Ability was Vital Spirit, which made sleep fail entirely, including moves like Hypnosis.

That was annoying in its own way. It blocked Rest as well, and Rest was one of the best recovery moves a Pokémon could have. Not being able to use it would be a real loss. Luckily, this Magby did not have the Hidden Ability.

Of course, Vital Spirit would be useful against Darkrai’s Dark Void. A few Fighting-type Pokémon with Vital Spirit would make decent Darkrai counters.

But Reiji did not need that. Poliwhirl and Accelgor were fast enough to dodge Dark Void. If the move never landed, it did not matter whether the target could be put to sleep or not.

Magby’s moves were also good, especially its Fire-type moves. Their proficiency was high, and Blaine had clearly trained it well. Reiji was satisfied with it. At the very least, it was much more sincere than the tournament’s official prizes.

He closed Magby’s panel. This was not the time to focus on it. He could check it properly later. For now, he was taking Eevee shopping.

He still had a pile of food coupons, and his Pokémon had worked hard this whole tournament. When he saw a cotton candy stand on the street, he brought Butterfree out.

”Free?” Butterfree looked around the busy shopping street with curiosity, then immediately locked onto the smell of cotton candy. It raised a hand and pointed at it, clearly wanting one.

”What color do you want?” Reiji asked, letting Butterfree pick for itself.

Butterfree stared at the options for a long time before choosing pink. Reiji handed the vendor a food coupon and his Pokédex, then took the cotton candy.

”Free!” Butterfree hugged it happily, stuck out its tongue, and licked it. Its red compound eyes narrowed at the sweetness.

”Come back and eat it slowly.” Reiji did not let Butterfree fly around outside for too long. The shopping street was still crowded, and releasing all his Pokémon here was not realistic.

Still, this lively atmosphere would only last a few more days. Once the crowds left, the Indigo Plateau would quiet down again. He might as well enjoy it while he could.

”Vee.” Eevee rubbed its cheek against Reiji’s from his shoulder and pointed at the cotton candy with one paw. It wanted one too.

”All right, all right. I’ll get you one.” Reiji bought another cotton candy and held it while Eevee licked it.

After that, he found all kinds of snacks and brought his Pokémon out one by one to let them choose.

Kingler wanted a few large coconuts, then went back into its Poké Ball to crack them open.

Accelgor picked out some very sweet berry drinks. Bug-type Pokémon seemed to like sweet things.

Slowpoke wanted an iced drink and held it against its belly, sipping slowly after Reiji recalled it.

Pelipper wanted a drink too. Reiji had no idea when it had developed a taste for soda.

Poliwhirl chose a huge bucket of popcorn. Forretress also picked out sweet berries.

Rhydon and Gyarados were different.

Hanhan liked minerals, but it still had that Elite Four tier Hard Stone in its mouth and had not digested it yet. There was no need to give it more ore.

Gyarados got Pokéblocks instead and ate until it was stuffed. That counted as a reward. Reiji was very satisfied with its performance during the tournament.

Farfetch’d liked plant stems and roots, so he bought a large batch, enough for Farfetch’d to build its own nest.

As for Staryu, he had no idea what it wanted. Darkrai was not here either, so he could not understand it at all. Still, he planned to evolve Staryu with the high-grade Water Stone he had won from the tournament. That would have to wait until they got back.

Scyther was easy to please. Reiji bought it a big jar of Honey made by Combee, not Beedrill Honey.

Tauros was even simpler. The old bull only wanted fresh grass, so Reiji bought a large bundle of tender grass for it.

Zapdos was still asleep. Reiji picked out a comfortable nest for it.

Dratini got a gift too: a Dragon Fang. It had shed its skin over the past few days, and its body had grown a little. Its potential had improved as well, though it was still shorter than average. For now, the priority was to build its health back up.

Dragonair could shed too after evolution, so Reiji wanted Dratini well-fed and healthy before that happened. At the very least, he had to fix its malnutrition first.

Magby got a gift as well. After the shopping trip, Reiji gave it an Advanced-tier Heat Rock. Magby liked hot environments, so keeping a Heat Rock nearby was perfect.

He did not forget Riolu either. At an item shop, he bought a blue bell called a Tidal Bell. It produced a calm, soothing sound, and he hoped it would help settle Riolu’s restless heart.

”Riolu, this bell should help calm you down. I hope it makes things a little easier. I’m sending you all back to the Gym later, so don’t cause trouble there.”

He spoke gently as he tied the bell around Riolu’s neck and rubbed its head. Riolu did not resist. It stayed silent, but the bell’s blue color matched its fur nicely.

After recalling Riolu, Reiji took Eevee to a photo studio. He wanted a photo to remember this Indigo Plateau trip. This championship belonged to all of them.

Unfortunately, the real trophy was not with him, but the studio had a replica that looked exactly the same. It was good enough for a photo. As long as it looked real, that was fine.

Holding the fake trophy, he released the Pokémon that had traveled and fought with him.

First came the main team: Pelipper, Poliwhirl, Kingler, Rhydon, Scyther, Gyarados, Forretress, and Accelgor.

Then the support Pokémon: Butterfree, Farfetch’d, Staryu, Slowpoke, Tauros, and Eevee.

Last came the ones that had mostly been along for the ride: Zapdos, Riolu, Dratini, and Magby.

Eighteen Pokémon in total.

Toxicroak and the others were not here. From the moment he placed them under his alternate identity, they were no longer easy to show in public. Unless he reached a point where he no longer feared anyone, they would not appear openly.

”Everyone, get in place. Tall ones in the back, smaller ones sit in front. We’re taking the photo.” Reiji clapped his hands to quiet them down.

Rhydon and Gyarados stood in the back. Tauros ended up squeezed between the two huge beasts, trembling just from the way they breathed beside it.

Poliwhirl stood right in front of Reiji. No one fought it for that spot. Kingler and Scyther stood on either side, with Pelipper beside Kingler.

Forretress lay on the floor, and Accelgor stood on top of it. Butterfree hovered beside Reiji until he raised a hand and let it land. Eevee stayed on his shoulder.

Farfetch’d pulled Riolu down to sit in front of Poliwhirl. Staryu, Slowpoke, and Magby sat in the front too, with Slowpoke lying flat on the floor.

Zapdos perched in Reiji’s hair.

Dratini was still timid. It only dared to hide behind Rhydon and peek out with its little head.

Once everyone was ready, the photographer began the countdown.

”I’ll count to three. Everyone smile. One, two, three…”

[End of chapter]

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