On the eighteenth day of the journey, the weather was clear.
The weather was pretty nice today, but Reiji couldn't enjoy it. He'd stayed up all night yesterday, and by the time he woke up it was already afternoon.
It was a little past four. He got up, took a shower and washed up, then prepared dinner for his Pokémon. After that, he had to head out to the black market for his night shift.
He hadn't "gone to work" in quite a while, so it felt a bit strange. Fortunately this wasn't a real job, or it would grind him into the ground. He had zero interest in being a wage slave; all he wanted was to be a free fisherman.
Over dinner, he asked Darkrai whether, during last night's surveillance of the Poison Gang's camp, it had heard any news related to him.
The answer was that nothing unusual had come up. Darkrai had spent the whole night in Viper's tent, listening to routine work reports.
It hadn't picked up any really useful intel. The only thing of value was that, after the two of them had left, they'd been tailed.
On Reiji's side, the stalker had only followed as far as the villa. From a distance, the man watched him sleeping on the living-room sofa with no Pokémon or people around him, then quietly left.
On Tai's side, they saw that he didn't rest right away and instead went to the orphanage, where they discovered Tai had a younger sister.
After getting a clear picture of the two, Viper, leader of the Poison Gang, felt he finally had a handle on them. Tai having a little sister was a very convenient weak point to squeeze.
But Rai, that mysterious kid, was different. Viper still couldn't see through him. Ordinary teenagers didn't live in villas. He'd also heard that the night before Rai joined the Poison Gang, he had killed several people, luring them out one by one. That was probably where Rai's money came from.
Cold-blooded and ruthless… exactly the kind of talent Team Rocket wanted. When it came to ambitious young trainers, Team Rocket never turned anyone away. They weren't afraid of kids with ambition; they were only afraid of recruiting dead weight.
Viper didn't believe anyone's ambition could surpass Boss Giovanni's, especially not some kid from a small backwater who'd never seen how wide the world truly was. A brat who spent his days doing petty jobs dared to talk about ambition? Anyone who heard that would probably die laughing.
He wasn't even fit to be compared to the captain of that black ship anchored offshore, never mind to Boss Giovanni. Only Giovanni could lead them into the future. Viper himself had been completely won over by Giovanni's charisma, and he was sure these two boys would be as well.
Scouting talent here was part of Viper's mission to help realize Giovanni's grand vision. Compared to Tai, he actually appreciated Rai more: Rai not only had ambition, he had the guts to fight, the cruelty to follow through, and even a sharp sense for dealing with people.
When the time was right, he planned to send both of them to Kanto, into Team Rocket's rookie training facility. If they performed well, he would personally recommend them to Boss Giovanni—especially that boy called Rai.
The kid's command of Pokémon wasn't bad either. During recruitment he'd used just a Spinarak to defeat a squad leader's Nidoqueen.
The more he looked, the more satisfied he felt. Anyone who could graduate from the rookie base would be at least an Advanced-tier trainer; reaching quasi–Elite Four tier would only be a matter of time.
By then, Team Rocket would have yet another base administrator. A trainer at quasi–Elite Four tier would have more than enough power to run a new black market.
Both boys were natives of the Orange Archipelago, which made them perfect candidates to manage a black market here. Once they graduated, they could take on missions for two years to sharpen themselves, then come back and sit on this newly opened market.
Darkrai hadn't heard any of these plans; they were only swirling in Instructor Viper's mind. After lying low in camp for an entire night, the only concrete information Darkrai brought back was that they had been tailed.
"Not a big deal. Let's eat first. Tonight I'll give them something to keep them busy so they stop hovering around us," Reiji said after listening to Darkrai's report, then had everyone sit down to eat.
But before they could even start dinner, Croagunk suddenly croaked, "Gua-gua, gua-gua…"
"What's wrong, Croagunk?" Reiji turned toward it. Croagunk had been stable lately; as its physique improved, its poisoning symptoms had vanished. He had no idea what was wrong now.
"It says Zubat's been poisoned…" Darkrai quickly translated when he saw Reiji didn't understand.
"Poisoned?" Reiji clearly remembered that Zubat had been fine at breakfast. How had it ended up poisoned all of a sudden?
"Hss… hss…" Zubat lay on the carpet, face twisted in pain, hissing weakly. It had been poisoned constantly since birth; it hadn't expected to be suffering from poison again. It hated it, but the agony was unbearable.
"Zubat, purge the toxin first. I'll give you an antidote after that." Reiji pulled on gloves, left the table, and walked over. He also called out, "Gastly, come help Zubat suck out the poison."
"Ko-ke-ke…" Gastly was already eager. Ever since eating those Poison-type Pokéblocks last time, the low-grade toxins they'd been using felt like chewing wax to it—no taste at all.
Later it had discovered that Croagunk's poison was still the most delicious. It was curious how Zubat's would taste.
Gastly immediately swooped onto the suffering Zubat and began drawing the venom out through its fangs. As Gastly slowly siphoned the toxin away, Zubat's pain eased.
Once it had drained all the poison, Gastly still wasn't satisfied; it stuck out its long tongue to lick the corners of its mouth, savoring the lingering taste.
Only after shooing Gastly away did Reiji take out the antidote—a general-purpose detox medication that could neutralize almost any poison. He wasn't sure how effective it would be on Zubat.
After Zubat swallowed the antidote, it slowly opened its eyes. When it saw Reiji, it let out two soft hisses.
"It says it's feeling much better now, but the poison will flare up again next time," Darkrai translated once more.
Hearing that, Reiji felt just how convenient it was having Darkrai around. Being able to talk to his Pokémon directly and understand their needs precisely felt pretty great.
"Then it's fine for now. Let's eat first, and I'll take you to the clinic later." Reiji filled Zubat's bowl with Moomoo Milk. At this stage it could only drink that.
After calming Zubat down, he went back to the table to eat. He'd realized that Zubat's physical condition was even more severe than Croagunk's.
Croagunk's issues came from a congenital organ mutation; Zubat, on the other hand, was the result of artificial forced maturation. In the worst-case scenario, he was prepared to arrange surgery for Zubat. To preserve its potential, he could even have its poison sacs removed.
If it came to that, this would be the last resort to protect Zubat's life—and its potential.
He didn't want to go that far unless he absolutely had to, but just now Zubat's potential had actually dropped.
[Zubat]
[Type: Poison + Flying]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 54.02%]
[Level: …]
Zubat's potential had dropped by 0.1, which meant the toxin was eating away at its body even more severely than in Croagunk's case.
Ever since he'd captured Croagunk, its training and strengthened physique had never once caused its potential to drop—and now it definitely wouldn't.
But Zubat had lost 0.1 from a single poisoning. If this happened a few more times, would its potential be completely drained—or even its life?
He'd finally met a high-potential Pokémon; he really didn't want to give up on it. Watching that potential trickle away, maybe even seeing it die to its own poison—that would be far too wasteful.
Normally, a Pokémon's poison sacs came in pairs, matching two fangs and two venom ducts.
But he'd just checked Zubat's mouth: it had four poison fangs, which meant four poison sacs—two more than Croagunk.
Even cutting out two would be fine, and would at least reduce how badly the toxin eroded Zubat's body.
With that in mind, once dinner was over Reiji recalled all his Pokémon and put on his full anti-stab outfit, leaving only Ditto on his face.
To avoid exposing his identity, he hadn't taken off the Ditto mask even while sleeping. Only after noon, when Darkrai confirmed things were safe, did he finally let Ditto rest.
Now he put the Ditto mask back on. He needed to find a private clinic—a privately run Pokémon hospital—to treat Zubat's poisoning and, while they were at it, remove its poison sacs.
Even sacrificing some Poison-type firepower didn't matter, as long as he could keep Zubat's high potential—and its life. That was worth any price.
Out on the street, he grabbed someone at random to ask for directions and soon found a decent-looking Pokémon clinic, similar to the pet hospitals from his previous life.
Places like this charged high fees, but they were safe. They wouldn't expose which Pokémon a trainer owned, and they didn't register trainer identities. It was nowhere near as strict as a Pokémon Center.
He went into the private clinic and explained Zubat's condition. The Pokémon doctor told him it was just a minor operation and could be done quickly—but the fee was steep, a hundred thousand Pokédollars.
Reiji couldn't help thinking, good grief, that was about what an appendectomy used to cost in his previous life.
He agreed anyway and let the doctor anesthetize Zubat. Reiji waited outside the operating room, watching as they removed its poison sacs.
The plan was to remove the lower-jaw poison sacs and leave only the two in the upper jaw. Even though Zubat had four sacs, what mattered was their size—and they were definitely smaller than Croagunk's.
The extracted organs were only about the size of his thumb, like two white glass beads with poisonous fluid sealed inside. He even had the doctor pack them up for him and tossed them to Gastly once they left the clinic.
After Zubat's wound was stitched, Reiji returned it to its Poké Ball. The doctor told him Zubat only needed to rest for a week. Pokémon recovered fast, but during that week it shouldn't exercise or fly at all.
Reiji thanked the doctor, paid the hundred-thousand Pokédollar surgery fee, and even got a complimentary poisoning treatment thrown in. Then he left the private clinic with Zubat.
It was now five thirty in the afternoon. He still had to report to the sewers and let Darkrai probe the Poison Gang's foundations again. If even the Poison Gang couldn't notice Darkrai, the other two gangs had no chance of detecting its presence.
All he needed to resolve now was whether Gastly could evolve into Gengar and then revert back to Gastly. Once that was settled, he could start sowing discord between the gangs and fish in troubled waters.
This phase wouldn't last long. To avoid exposure, he had to spark conflict between the gangs as soon as possible. He still needed to visit the black ship tonight to buy some resources for Gastly—if it evolved into Gengar without enough energy prepared and something uncontrollable happened, he'd be in trouble.
When he re-entered the sewers and reached the black market managed by the Poison Gang, the huge boulder blocking the passage to their camp had already been moved aside, and the place was bustling again.
There he spotted Tai. The kid had arrived before him—looked like he'd taken the warnings to heart. They had joined a gang, after all.
But on their very first night back, they ran into a show of force. The squad leader was going to make an example out of someone in front of them.
The black-clad squad leader in charge of the market dragged a captured runaway recruit over and threw him down right in front of them, bellowing at the crowd.
"Everyone watch closely. This is what happens if you run. The Poison Gang isn't some place you stroll into and then walk away from. Once you've joined, leaving won't be so easy—unless you don't mind never working in this line again."
"You take the benefits and then think you can just walk away? There's no such thing as a free lunch. The Poison Gang doesn't feed useless trash. His Pokémon will be confiscated, and he'll be thrown into the mines to dig for the rest of his life, dying of exhaustion underground. He can forget about ever seeing the sun again."
"Captain, mercy! I won't do it again, please forgive me, I swear I won't! From now on I'm your dog. Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do. If you tell me to go east, I won't dare go west…"
"Trash. Coward. I don't keep dogs like you."
The black-clad squad leader spat in disgust as the man crawled over to cling to his leg, snot and tears running down his face. He kicked the runaway hard in the jaw and roared, "Pah! You're an embarrassment, making me lose face, and you still want to be my dog? You? Dream on. Go to hell!"
The kick knocked out two of the man's front teeth and sent blood gushing from his nose.
The scene shocked most of the new recruits, as if a heavy hammer had smashed down on their hearts. Any stray thoughts of running vanished on the spot.
Reiji, of course, wasn't among them. He was born contrary; something this small couldn't scare him. He'd seen far worse. He'd even taken down Advanced-tier Pokémon hunters who were almost at quasi–Elite Four level before—why would he be afraid of an "Elite" squad leader? Not a chance.
The squad leader was only acting on orders from above: a warning to certain people to think carefully before joining the Poison Gang. Betrayal would not be tolerated, and the consequences were severe.
The Poison Gang offered the best benefits, but also the strictest rules. The cost of betrayal was simply too high. Anyone thinking of joining had better think it through—and if they did try to run, they had better hope the Poison Gang never caught them.
"Drag him away. Did he really think he was somebody? Join when you feel like it, leave when you feel like it, and even try to escape by boat? As if there weren't our people on board."
The black-clad squad leader clapped his hands to signal his men to haul the runaway off, then lifted his head and swept his gaze slowly over Reiji and the other recruits.
Every rookie his eyes passed over instinctively dropped their head, not daring to meet his gaze. After one circuit he nodded in satisfaction and clapped his hands.
"Alright, everyone back to your posts. If anyone causes trouble, you don't need to report it—just take them out."
"Yes, Captain…"
[End of Chapter]
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