Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

Water burst under Poliwhirl’s feet.

It shot forward and drove a Mega Punch straight into Golduck’s face. Golduck went flying, skipped across the lake several times, then slowly sank once the force finally ran out.

”Blast?” Blastoise caught the punch and reacted at once.

Fast.

It realized Poliwhirl was serious and tried to brace itself, but Poliwhirl was already in front of it.

Blastoise didn’t even have time to pull into its shell before the punch landed. It was sent flying too, its shell skipping across the lake before it sank beneath the surface.

Gyarados reacted last.

By the time it saw both of its partners get launched, Poliwhirl was already on it. Gyarados barely had time to roar in frustration.

Boom.

”Poli!” Poliwhirl burst forward with Waterfall again and smashed Gyarados in the face.

Gyarados flew backward, crashed into the trees by the lake, and finally stopped.

Three punches. Three bursts of speed. The match was over.

”Poliwhirl, I said friendly match. Who told you to hit them that hard?”

Reiji walked over and scolded it, while quietly giving it a thumbs-up where the others couldn’t see.

”Poli...”

The moment Poliwhirl saw the thumbs-up, it put on a perfect wounded act, crying out like it had been wronged and promising it wouldn’t do it again.

”Fine, fine.”

Reiji sighed.

Behind him, his Pokémon all rolled their eyes. Anyone who knew Reiji could tell this was another one of his little games.

Mewtwo noticed the gesture too. It didn’t say anything, but the corner of its mouth twitched slightly.

If it hadn’t already trusted Reiji, seeing him send Poliwhirl to beat down the cloned Pokémon might have made it step in. Luckily, he had warned it first.

”Butterfree, Pelipper, bring them back.”

Reiji had his Pokémon drag Golduck and Blastoise out of the lake. Kingler went over and hauled back the unconscious Gyarados as well.

He treated the injuries on their faces. All three woke up while he was working, and the moment they saw Poliwhirl standing nearby, fear flashed in their eyes. Reiji had to soothe them for a while before they calmed down.

Gyarados had taken it the worst. A few of its teeth had been knocked out.

It probably wouldn’t be so quick to lose its temper after this.

”Sorry, sorry. Poliwhirl went a little too hard. I’ve treated the injuries, so just rest here for now. You can play in the lake, sleep inside, whatever you like. These Pokéblocks are for you.”

Reiji spoke gently as he settled the three Pokémon down.

He had already contacted a construction crew and asked them to bring wood for Pokémon huts. With ready-made materials, doghouse-sized shelters could be assembled quickly. Building a few dozen in one day wouldn’t be hard.

He wanted them beside his own cabin. At least fifty small Pokémon huts, arranged by size. After that, he would add one large roof over the whole area to block the rain, and the Pokémon housing would be done.

He also planned to place a few larger huts in the middle. Pokémon that didn’t like sleeping alone could share the bigger spaces, or they could sleep in his cabin if there was room. The cabin couldn’t hold that many Pokémon, so they would have to choose whatever suited them.

”Blast...”

Blastoise chewed a Pokéblock and rubbed its jaw.

It still hadn’t expected that little tadpole to hit so hard. It had thought this was a joke at first.

Clearly, it had been wrong.

”All right, everyone come get your Pokéblocks.”

Reiji waved the other Water types over and handed out food one by one.

When Squirtle came up, he smiled and rubbed its smooth head. This was the clone of Ash’s Squirtle. He had wanted a Squirtle for ages, and somehow, after all those twists and turns, one had finally landed in front of him.

”Squir, squir.”

Squirtle thanked him and ran toward the lake, where many of the others had already jumped in to play.

”Go on. From now on, the lake is your playground.”

Reiji waved his own Water-type Pokémon over as well, letting them join the others by the water.

Blastoise, Gyarados, and Golduck went too. After what had just happened, the three of them should understand who ruled this lake and who the real boss was.

With the Water types settled, Reiji moved on to the Fire types.

Their leader was Charizard, Ash’s cloned Charizard. A very good Charizard.

Too bad it wasn’t his.

”Charizard, I only have one Fire-type Pokémon, Magby. Don’t bully it. Get along, all right?”

Reiji smiled and introduced Charizard to Magby.

”Char.”

Charizard came over with its tail swaying. After the show Poliwhirl had put on earlier, it no longer dared to act superior. Even if Magby looked weak, it had plenty of scary older teammates behind it.

”Mag, mag!”

Magby was friendly right away. It held out its little hand and shook Charizard’s large claw.

Charizard even let Magby climb onto its palm, then set it on its shoulder. The two took their Pokéblocks and went off to play on the grass.

When Reiji handed food to Ninetales, his eyes lit up.

He was genuinely curious about Ninetales, especially those nine long, soft tails.

”Ninetales, can I touch your tails?”

He asked on impulse, not sure whether it would agree.

”Tee.”

Ninetales understood. It nodded lightly and stretched its cream-colored tails toward him.

”Heh, then don’t mind if I do.”

Reiji reached out at once.

The tails were soft and warm. As expected of a Fire-type Pokémon, it would probably be perfect to hug during winter.

He stopped after one touch. Any more would be rude. Then he quickly fed Ninetales its Pokéblocks, which was enjoyable in its own way.

After the Fire types came the Grass types.

His long-awaited little bulb turtle was here too: the clone of Ash’s Bulbasaur.

”Saur, saur.”

Venusaur shook hands with Poliwhirl and the others. Since Reiji didn’t have a Grass-type Pokémon of his own, Poliwhirl had to represent his side.

The introductions went smoothly. No conflict broke out. Reiji also took the chance to pet Bulbasaur before letting the Grass types go sun themselves on the lawn.

The only surprise was Vileplume coming over to nuzzle him.

Reiji resisted it in his heart, but he didn’t smell anything. Vileplume had not released its usual stench. Pokémon could control those effects and hold them back, so he hugged it once.

Next came the Ground types, led by Nidoqueen. Rhydon handled the introductions on Reiji’s side.

During the handshake, Reiji noticed Nidoqueen looking at Rhydon in a strange way.

Wait. Could these two lay eggs together?

Then came the Flying types, led by Pidgeot and Scyther.

They met Reiji’s Scyther, Pidgeotto, Pelipper, Golbat, Butterfree, and Farfetch’d.

They were all Flying-type Pokémon, so they should have plenty in common. The two Scyther hit it off quickly and went to find an open space to battle.

For the Normal types, Meowth and Wigglytuff were handed over to Ditto.

Ditto was the most sociable one around, so it took Meowth to get familiar with the area.

This Meowth was cloned from Team Rocket’s Meowth, but it couldn’t speak. Talking was something Team Rocket’s Meowth had learned later in life. It wasn’t inherited through cloning.

If only it were.

Still, this Meowth had a calm personality. Even on New Island, it had not fought Team Rocket’s Meowth over which one was real.

That left a deep impression on Reiji. When he fed Meowth, he took the chance to rub its head.

”Meowth, your head is really soft.”

”Meow.”

Meowth enjoyed it so much that it refused to leave. It rubbed against Reiji’s leg and stayed there.

Then a blank-eyed yellow duck wandered into view, clutching its head and staring at Reiji and Meowth in confusion.

”Psy?”

”Psyduck.”

If Reiji remembered right, this was cloned from Misty’s Psyduck. This really was a huge haul. Even Misty’s Psyduck had been cloned.

”Psy... Psy...”

Psyduck held its head, looking troubled. Whatever it had been thinking about a moment ago, it seemed to have forgotten.

”Psyduck, can you swim?”

Reiji spotted Farfetch’d nearby and waved it over.

”Farfetch’d, Psyduck can’t swim. Help it out.”

”Far?”

Farfetch’d stared at the yellow duck, completely speechless.

How could there be a duck that couldn’t swim?

As Reiji handed Psyduck over to Farfetch’d, he also took the chance to pat Psyduck’s head.

Hopefully the duck wouldn’t get mad. Its psychic power was no joke, and Reiji did not want to be on the receiving end of it.

The texture was pretty nice, though.

The last two were Pikachu, the Electric type cloned from Ash’s Pikachu, and Hitmonlee, the lone Fighting type.

Pikachu could go with Magnemite. Zapdos was asleep, so Magnemite was his only Electric type right now. The two Electric-type Pokémon should get along well enough.

As for Hitmonlee, Reiji had thought about introducing it to Toxicroak, but then remembered the poison on Toxicroak’s skin and gave up.

Other Pokémon could hold back their negative effects. Toxicroak’s Poison Touch was different. The toxins on its skin could not be controlled that easily. Touch it, and you could end up poisoned.

That would be a real headache during sparring.

In the end, Reiji introduced Hitmonlee to Poliwhirl and Accelgor, then let Accelgor show it around.

With that, every Pokémon had been handled.

Reiji was about to sit on the swing and rest when a rumble came from the forest. The construction crew he had called must have arrived.

”Mewtwo, have them hide in the forest. The workers are here. We can’t let humans see these Pokémon.”

Reiji still didn’t want to expose the clones, especially the three starters.

”All right.”

Mewtwo agreed. It had no complaints about how Reiji had handled things. It sent the Water types to stay hidden in the lake and had the others move into the forest.

At the same time, Reiji had Gengar take Toxicroak and the others into the trees as well. They couldn’t be seen either.

As for whether Mewtwo’s loss of control yesterday had drawn Mikan Gym’s attention, Reiji wasn’t too worried. It had only lasted an instant. Butterfree and the others knew psychic moves too, and if they released their full strength, the feeling shouldn’t be too different. Even if Slowking noticed, it probably wouldn’t jump straight to Mewtwo.

Once the Pokémon were hidden, the construction crew arrived with the rough plans they had rushed overnight. They came to Reiji for final changes on-site.

Reiji and the foreman confirmed the general layout of the Pokémon shelter, and the workers got started. They already had finished small Pokémon huts, so all they needed to do was bring them in and set them up.

Since Reiji needed so many huts, the foreman had also seen how many Pokémon he had. He didn’t ask too many questions. Anyone raising that many Pokémon had to be rich.

They adjusted a few details on the plan. The three large huts would go in the middle, with fifty smaller huts surrounding them. The workers would reinforce everything, add waterproofing, and handle drainage. After that, the job was mostly assembly.

Reiji watched the workers set up one small hut after another around the three larger ones. It was actually pretty interesting.

The smaller huts formed three rectangular rings. Once they were in place, the crew added moisture protection, waterproofing, and a large roof. The roof covered three sides of the shelter, leaving only the side facing the lake open.

That completed the Pokémon shelter.

The foreman said the structure would last thirty years as long as it was maintained properly. Then came the final payment.

Labor, materials, design, transport, reinforcement, drainage, and everything else came to twelve million Pokédollars.

Divided by the number of huts, that came to about six hundred thousand each.

Reiji thought that was acceptable. Water, electricity, bathrooms, and interior finishing had not been included. If he had asked for those too, it would have cost even more.

Pokémon huts didn’t really need interior finishing anyway. Plain wood was enough, with maybe a few decorations. The crew had even included plenty of blankets, one for each small hut, which saved him a lot of trouble.

The service was pretty good.

The shelter was finished that afternoon. After Reiji inspected it, the crew drove off. They told him to contact them anytime if there were problems. Repairs were free for the first five years. After that, he would need to provide materials himself. After ten years, repairs would cost money.

Spending twelve million in one day made Reiji wonder how much it would cost to buy this entire plot, including the cabin and lake.

At least fifty million, probably.

Damn. It almost made him want to get into real estate.

Unfortunately, this world had Pokémon. Disasters happened all the time, and one Legendary Pokémon turning over in its sleep could wipe out a house. He would probably lose everything.

Forget it.

While the workers were still building the shelter, more unexpected visitors arrived at the lakeside cabin.

Reiji heard a car horn and turned to see Senta and Cissy getting out of the same Gym car from yesterday.

”What are you two doing here?”

Reiji looked them over, then checked the time. It was a little past ten in the morning.

Why were they here now?

”Rai-nii, we came to see you!”

Senta charged over excitedly and immediately noticed all the Pokémon by the lake.

Poliwhirl and the others were there, playing near the water.

Even without the eight Pokémon tied to his alternate identity, Reiji still had more than thirty Pokémon he could show openly. All of them crowded around the lakeside, and the sight really did look impressive.

[End of chapter]

[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]

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