Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

Day 12 back in the Orange Archipelago. Clear.

The sun was good today. Reiji got up early, ate breakfast with his Pokémon, and prepared to return to Mandarin Island North.

He had been away for two days. He didn’t know whether Sou’s family had caught anything yet, though it was probably too soon unless the old fishermen already knew where to find a school of Carvanha.

Pokémon that hadn’t evolved simply didn’t sell well. Even the black market had little interest in them. If they did, he wouldn’t have released so many unevolved Pokémon before.

Even when the black market bought Pokémon as food ingredients, it usually wanted evolved forms, not unevolved ones. That probably had something to do with level. Most evolved Pokémon were at least Elite tier, except for early-evolving species like Caterpie.

Reiji hadn’t dealt with that side of things in a while, so he didn’t know every detail, but that was what he had heard in the black market.

If Sou didn’t know about Reiji’s special ability, he would definitely wonder why Reiji wanted so many low-level Pokémon. As for Sou’s family, Sou would probably find some excuse for them. That was the best case.

After packing up, Reiji recalled all his Pokémon. Dratini had shed again during the night, but nothing else had happened, so it was time to leave.

He rode Pelipper north toward Mandarin Island North. After a full morning of flying, they landed in Naoki’s villa courtyard, where several people were training their Pokémon.

”Boss, you’re back?” Keith and the others stopped their training and came over.

”Yeah, I’m back.” Reiji nodded, looking over the four of them: Keith, Gulzar, A.J., and Gai. His eyes stopped on Gai. ”Do any of you have a way into the power plant? I need a Magnemite.”

”Boss, I can take you,” Gai said when the other three shook their heads.

He often took jobs from the Pokémon Center, so he had some connection to the power plant. A few of those jobs had involved the plant directly.

The others couldn’t help much. A.J. and Gulzar had only arrived recently and weren’t familiar with the city. Keith had never taken power plant jobs either; he mostly handled simple requests like finding lost items or sparring with Trainers.

”Then let’s go. We’ll be quick.”

Reiji recalled Pelipper, sent out Ditto to change his face, then released Toxicroak.

”Boss, are we using disguises?” Gai asked, following him. When he saw Reiji changing his appearance, he quickly released his own Ditto too.

”Yeah.”

Reiji left the villa and looked toward the surrounding neighborhood. He still needed Gai to lead the way.

”This way, Boss.”

Once Gai finished his own disguise, he hurried ahead. The power plant wasn’t far.

Power plants were usually built on the outskirts, and Mandarin Island North was a coastal city, so this one sat by the sea. The villa district happened to be nearby, which made the trip short.

Before long, the two reached the plant. Reiji didn’t know what Gai said to the worker there, but the two of them smoked, chatted, laughed, and somehow settled the deal.

”Boss, he wants five hundred thousand for one. He told us to go change clothes,” Gai reported after coming back.

”That’s fine. You know a lot of people.”

Reiji nodded. He wasn’t going to haggle over the price. Five hundred thousand wasn’t expensive to him, especially when it saved this much trouble.

”Just people I met doing jobs,” Gai said with an awkward laugh. He wasn’t stupid enough to show off in front of Reiji.

”Good work.”

Reiji patted his shoulder and let him lead the way. They entered the changing room, put on power plant jackets, and walked openly into the storage warehouse.

The Magnemite stored here were basically batteries for the plant, ready to be used whenever needed.

Before they went deeper, Reiji leaned close and lowered his voice.

”Keep him busy for me.”

”Got it, Boss.”

Gai answered at once. This boss had given gifts as soon as he arrived and had already led them through one big job. Gai wasn’t about to mess up something this small.

He pulled out a few bills and invited the worker to the cafeteria. A meal was fine. A little wine was fine too.

Once the two walked away, Reiji slipped into the warehouse.

Poké Balls were stacked on carts throughout the room. He began touching them one by one.

There weren’t only Magnemite here. There were Magneton, Voltorb, and other Pokémon as well, but his target was still Magnemite.

He moved down the rows, checking hundreds of Poké Balls before finally finding a Magnemite with exactly 50 potential.

Barely enough.

The potential wasn’t the only reason he chose it. This Magnemite knew Gravity, a move neither of the first two had.

If the three Magnemite were going to fuse, then this one’s potential might be the lowest, but Gravity was too valuable to ignore. It suggested some Psychic-type talent, which made it a good choice to serve as the core of the trio.

This one would do. He could make up for the potential gap with money, and the final evolution still had a high-grade Thunder Stone waiting for it.

Magnemite’s final form, Magnezone, was a true fusion. Once they reached that stage, they wouldn’t be able to split apart again, so all three Magnemite had to be pushed above 90 potential first.

Diglett were different. Dugtrio’s three heads could separate whenever needed. If their potential fell short later, he could split them up, raise them individually, and combine them again. It was similar to Weezing’s situation.

With the Magnemite chosen, Reiji left the warehouse and found the worker drinking with Gai. He tossed over the Poké Ball for inspection.

The worker pulled a tablet from his bag and checked the warehouse display. Only one red light had appeared, confirming that Reiji had taken only one ball. After checking the ball itself, he threw it back.

”Locker seven,” Reiji said, giving him only that number before leaving with Gai.

The worker understood at once. He rushed to the changing room, opened locker seven, and found a black plastic bag inside. He opened it and saw five hundred thousand in cash.

He didn’t dare count it there. He stuffed the bag into his backpack, recorded that a Magnemite had been removed from storage, then asked for leave and went home to count the money slowly.

Reiji and Gai knew nothing about what happened after that. By then, they had already returned to the villa. Naoki and the others were still at work, and if customers asked for them, they had to stay.

Back at the villa, Reiji told Gai to handle his own business, then returned to his bedroom. He released his Pokémon for lunch, let them eat, and recalled them afterward.

Only then did he take out three Poké Balls.

Three Magnemite.

The first had been caught in Gringey City, with 55 potential.

The second had been bought on Sunburst Island, with 51 potential.

The third had been taken from Mandarin Island North’s power plant, with 50 potential and Gravity.

That completed the Magnemite set. Now he could start testing combination evolution.

Then there were the three Diglett.

The first had been caught near the valley dam. It had 53 potential and the Psychic-type move Agility.

The second had been caught at Mt. Moon. It had 51 potential and the Poison-type move Sludge Bomb.

The third had been caught on Sunburst Island. It had 54 potential and the Dark-type move Sucker Punch.

Each one had its own strange little specialty. That was interesting.

The Diglett from the valley dam had probably learned Agility because it was always being chased.

The Mt. Moon Diglett had lived around the Nido family, so learning a Poison-type move wasn’t that surprising.

As for the Sunburst Island Diglett, he had no idea why it knew Sucker Punch. It had been knocked out by a sneak attack, which made the move feel almost fitting.

With these six Pokémon gathered, Reiji could finally try the idea he had been planning.

The resources he needed were Electric, Steel, and Ground. He could start by using the low-grade materials first. If those weren’t enough, he could sell resources of other types to fill the gap.

Slowpoke would need Water-type resources, but those were gone now. He only had some Ice-type resources left.

That meant more selling.

[End of chapter]

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