Working for nothing for two whole months—that was six hundred thousand Pokédollars—was enough to "free-pull" an ordinary Nidoran. That wasn't a bad deal at all.
After evolving, Nidoran became Nidoking, a Ground-type. On the Orange Archipelago that wasn't exactly in demand, but inside caves like this it was very popular.
A normal, unidentified Pokémon Egg was only worth a few hundred thousand at most. Going up to a million was pretty much impossible. Ordinary eggs with unknown talent were hard to hype beyond that. For a few hundred thousand he could just buy an egg himself, though the potential would be a total gamble.
That Golbat he'd just sold went for a full million. If this place had high-potential Zubat hatchlings, there was no way they'd only deduct three hundred thousand Pokédollars in wages. They'd cost more.
That was why he was convinced there were no high-potential Pokémon here. There wasn't a single Croagunk on the list. Even a random one of those would go for two or three million, instantly blowing these issued Pokémon out of the water.
As for Nidoking and Nidoqueen, they needed a Moon Stone to evolve, and the stone was more expensive than the Pokémon. A good evolution stone was even pricier.
Without a good evolution stone, those two were basically trash. Even if you barely got your hands on a low-purity Moon Stone that could force an evolution, they'd still be trash. The result didn't change.
When their turn finally came and they stepped into the tent, there were only three people inside—one Poison Gang member in charge of the Pokémon, and the two of them who'd come to choose.
On the rack inside the tent, rows of Poké Balls sat neatly in place. Each red-and-white ball had a number underneath it, from one to a hundred, bottom to top.
When they walked in, the guy guarding the balls was off to the side smoking, not paying them any attention.
Seeing that, Taihei started chatting with Reiji. "Rai, there are more than ten kinds of Pokémon here. The top row—Nidoran♀, Nidoran♂, Zubat—already got picked quite a few times. No one's touching the rest."
"Let's just have a look first." Reiji hadn't decided what he wanted yet. He raised his hand and brushed his fingers over ball after ball. As soon as he touched one, he popped open his panel, glanced over the potential, then immediately opened another panel to overwrite the display.
Row after row, he went down the line. The more he looked, the worse it got. Their potentials were awful, mostly hovering in the teens and twenties. Even the occasional one that hit the mid-thirties felt like garbage to him.
There were eleven species in total, ten balls per shelf, ten shelves in all. Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ together took up ten spots. The remaining species each had ten balls.
After scanning five or six rows in a row, he still hadn't seen a single Pokémon with forty-plus potential, let alone fifty.
His earlier judgment was dead on. These were all the sort of Pokémon you could buy for a few hundred thousand. He could hatch the same thing from eggs himself for even cheaper. There was no way high-potential Pokémon would end up in this pile.
Then his fingers brushed against ball number sixty-six. Through the ball he saw a Bellsprout inside. Its potential was fifty-one, it had two abilities, and its Poison-type moves were marked as abnormal.
This Bellsprout reminded him of his Croagunk. It was probably the offspring of a Weepinbell or Victreebel raised on toxic sludge. With how strict experiments like that should be, there was no way something like this should have leaked out here.
Keeping his expression flat, he moved on, pretending to keep browsing. He went through every single Poké Ball and found one more that was decent—a Zubat with potential fifty-four, also with two abilities and abnormal Poison-type moves.
Aside from those two, everything else was completely average, including the Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂. Most of them sat in the twenties and thirties at best. With careful training they might barely hit quasi–Elite Four tier; Elite Four-level was basically impossible without stumbling onto something miraculous.
The real problem was that Bellsprout was number sixty-six and Zubat was number seventy-seven. Just from those two serial numbers alone, it screamed "deliberately planted." If he picked one, would that get him marked?
But a Bellsprout with fifty-one potential and a Zubat with fifty-four… he didn't want to pass on either of them. To be honest, he was tempted.
Even if he didn't raise them himself, they'd make great gifts. Abnormal Poison-type talent was something you could fix later.
Thinking that, he couldn't help reaching for the Zubat instead of the Bellsprout.
He chose Zubat over Bellsprout mainly because Zubat was rarer and harder to catch than Bellsprout.
That was the first reason. The second was that his "Spider Mask Bandit" persona didn't have a Flying-type yet. He needed one as a transport option.
In an underground black market like this, Zubat was a perfect fit. Pelipper was made for the wide-open sea; it felt totally out of place in the sewers. And it didn't suit that masked identity at all.
So he picked Zubat, neatly patching his alter ego's weakness of not having a Flying-type.
"What did you pick?" Taihei saw Reiji take ball number seventy-seven and glanced over at the "70" row. It turned out to be a Flying-type—Zubat.
"Zubat." Reiji noticed him looking at the rack and just said the name out loud.
"Zubat, huh? That doesn't sound bad." Taihei had been watching Reiji's selection process the entire time. He couldn't see what Reiji was actually doing, but the way he moved looked impressive. It made him want a Zubat too.
He was just about to reach out toward the Zubat balls when Reiji spoke.
"Consecutive numbers are lucky numbers. You could pick a consecutive one too."
Taihei frowned, confused, and then caught Reiji tapping his palm with a single finger out of the corner of his eye. He instantly got it—Reiji was giving him a sign.
"Then I'll take this one. It's my lucky number." The sign he'd seen was six, so the consecutive number was sixty-six—a Bellsprout.
After they settled on their choices, they carried the Poké Balls over to the lone guard and registered their picks.
"Bellsprout, half a month's wages. Zubat, one month's wages." The guard checked the balls, then looked up at them. "Take off your masks and report your names and ages."
"Rai, sixteen." Reiji gave the alias and a fake age.
"Tai, sixteen." Taihei did the same. The name he gave was fake, the age too.
They were both using fake names, but the guard wrote them down anyway. He couldn't care less whether they were real. He finished the entry, then reminded them, "Until your deductions are cleared, you can't leave camp. Unless you pay it all off up front."
Reiji silently clicked his tongue. Considering he still had to go back to the villa, that meant he'd rather just treat this as directly buying the Zubat. He took out three hundred and twenty thousand Pokédollars and dropped them on the table to buy this fifty-four-potential Zubat outright.
"Three hundred and twenty thousand?" The guard blinked, wondering if Reiji was trying to bribe him.
"Uniform money." Reiji explained casually.
"You?" The guard took the money and turned to Taihei, who also pulled out one hundred and seventy thousand, which the man accepted as well.
Finally, the guard waved them off and kicked his feet back up on the table. "You can go. Your wages will be paid as normal from now on."
After Reiji and Taihei left, the guard glanced at the rack and wrote down the serial numbers of the balls they'd taken. Those numbers would be sent up to the Boss later.
Once the note was done, he dropped the notebook and muttered to himself, "Just live through the first month before you worry about wages…"
As soon as the two of them stepped out of the tent, they got hit by glares from the people waiting outside.
Reiji and Taihei ignored the angry looks and leaned against the rock wall, lighting up two more cigarettes to smoke at an easy pace.
While they were smoking in silence, Reiji spoke first, before Taihei could ask anything. He kept his voice low. "If anyone asks, you say it was your idea about the lucky numbers. Say it was all you. Otherwise, people will die."
"Is it really that serious?" Taihei frowned. They were just two Pokémon. Would creatures worth a few hundred thousand really get people killed?
"Try not showing up tomorrow and see." Reiji was here as an undercover. Not coming back simply wasn't an option. If he disappeared, they'd definitely hunt him down. You never questioned a gang's bottom line—especially not one that was probably tied to Team Rocket.
Just now, he'd asked Darkrai and learned that this Poké Ball had been tampered with. Not just the ball— even their uniforms were bugged. If the signal disappeared, someone would come looking.
For now that wasn't worth worrying about. By the time he decided to leave, it would be a trivial problem to solve. It just wasn't the moment yet.
"I get it." Taihei was sharp. Seeing how serious Reiji looked, he realized how bad this could get. He rewound everything they'd just done in his head—the way he'd picked the Pokémon, the lines they'd said—and locked down Reiji's warning in his memory. He had a general plan now.
Just then, Reiji noticed that the rookies who'd already picked their Pokémon were releasing them on the spot to "capture" them again. They followed suit, releasing their own—his Zubat and Taihei's Bellsprout.
[Zubat]
[Type: Poison + Flying]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 54.12%]
[Level: 6.27%]
[Ability: Inner Focus / 1.53%] [Hidden Ability: Infiltrator / 1.13%]
[Known moves: (Wing Attack / 3.31%) (Quick Attack / 4.11%) (Hypnosis / 3.14%) (Absorb / 5.21%) (Supersonic / 7.22%) (Poison Fang / 13.45%) (Venoshock / 14.74%) (Toxic / 16.82%)]
That was Zubat's panel. Aside from the Poison-type moves being wildly out of line in proficiency, it was actually a very solid Pokémon.
Potential over fifty-four, dual abilities, and an excellent move pool. The only annoyance was its Poison talent being too strong, which was going to be a pain.
Seemed like he'd be using detox therapy again. The toxins he flushed out would go straight to Gastly as a free meal. He wondered if Gastly would lose its Shiny-like coloration if it ever stopped drinking poison.
He didn't have time to worry about that now. First he had to make this Zubat his for real. Which was simple enough. "Spinarak, I'm going to release Zubat. Web it and pin it down. Don't let it fly."
"Yito yito." Spinarak bobbed in agreement. It had recovered enough.
As long as Spinarak did its part, the rest would be easy. Reiji glanced around. Even Taihei was at least ten meters away working on his capture, so Reiji dropped his voice and asked, "Darkrai, scare it a little for me in a bit. I want this Zubat under my thumb."
"No problem. Leave it to me." Darkrai's voice echoed from within the shadows.
Reiji turned his back to the lamp light, facing the rock wall, and released Zubat. The moment it came out, it tried to take off, but the Spinarak on his shoulder instantly spat silk and glued it to the wall.
"Zubat, I'm your Trainer from now on. Stick with me and you'll have free food and a roof over your head." Reiji tried to talk it into it. If that didn't work, he'd beat it into line.
"Zzi, zzi!" Zubat protested, insisting that this didn't count. Reiji had ambushed it.
Darkrai slid out of his shadow at that moment and translated, "It's not convinced. Says you jumped it."
"Hah. Not convinced, huh? How about now?" Reiji smiled at Zubat, and Darkrai raised one pitch-black claw and made a throat-slitting gesture right at it.
"Zzi! Zzi!" Zubat bobbed its head frantically. It was convinced. It was willing to be his Pokémon. It would listen.
It couldn't help it. Darkrai's aura was crushing. It could hardly breathe. This was the pressure of a Mythical Pokémon. And it was just a level six Zubat. Did this human really need to go this far? Did he have to use a Mythical to intimidate it?
It was terrified. It was just a baby…
Once Zubat yielded, Reiji had Spinarak dissolve the webbing and brought Zubat over to the square where the others were gathering. Every rookie who'd finished their capture brought their new partner there.
By the time he arrived, Zubat was standing obediently on his shoulder, one Pokémon per shoulder, no noise, no rebellion.
Seeing that, the tall, thin squad leader on the platform gave a small nod. Only then did Reiji recall Zubat and leave Spinarak on his shoulder. Spinarak was his combat Pokémon. He had no intention of putting it away.
He clipped Zubat's ball back to his belt and turned just as Taihei walked over, Bellsprout trotting along at his side. Clearly, he'd finished his capture as well.
Once all thirteen rookies had captured their Pokémon, they waited together on the square for the examiner to hand out assignments.
Group after group got their orders and were sent off, until only three people were left: Reiji and Taihei, and one poor bastard no one had partnered with.
That unlucky guy was posted to the black market. Once they recruited more tomorrow, he'd be grouped up later.
Reiji and Taihei, however, were told to follow the tall, skinny squad leader into the largest tent in the center.
Reiji had known it wouldn't be that simple. Out of those hundred Pokémon, these two had by far the highest potential. There was no way the boss wouldn't have marked them.
They had two options now. Either bluff their way through on pure acting, or fight their way out.
In the end, they chose acting.
They had no choice. With this many people around them and a gang boss at quasi–Elite Four tier sitting at the top, how exactly were they supposed to fight their way out?
Darkrai alone wasn't enough. It couldn't carry them through a head-on clash with a quasi–Elite Four Trainer.
Plus, Darkrai was his trump card. No one flipped their trump card on the very first turn.
When they stepped into the boss's tent, the examiner didn't follow them in. There was only one man inside—a burly guy in a black combat suit, sporting a purple mohawk.
The instant he saw the man, Reiji sucked in a breath and thought, half-cursing to himself, "Team Rocket officer… Viper the Instructor…"
He'd seen this guy in the anime in his previous life—the instructor who'd trained James and the others. To run into him here of all places… this had to be a Team Rocket outpost. No doubt about it.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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