Another sunset evening, and once again he couldn't enjoy it. That was the worst part about having a job—no time of his own, and the "extra value" he created didn't even belong to him. He hated working.
Still, he dragged himself off the couch, went to the bathroom to wash up, then headed into the kitchen to put dinner together. He'd eat first, then go to work.
All the Pokémon were training in the yard. Well—only the self-motivated ones. The unmotivated ones were just playing around.
He'd been sleeping during the day and hadn't bothered to manage them. After dinner was ready, he called everyone to stop.
There was a good chance they'd be moving tonight, and burning too much stamina would mess up his plan. He hadn't wanted to train today, but these guys were just too restless.
After everyone finished eating, he put on his full stab-proof suit. The villa was cleaned out—everything packed, even the place scrubbed spotless. If the sewer black market turned into chaos tonight, he wasn't coming back.
Two spatial backpacks. He had Gengar swallow the one filled with ores; he only carried the other on his back, with the incubator inside.
Today marked the fortieth day since the Pokémon Egg started incubating, and there was still no sign of hatching. He'd already given up on it. He just left it in the incubator and couldn't be bothered to look anymore.
After sweeping through the villa one last time to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, he had Spinarak hop onto his shoulder. Wearing a Ditto mask, he climbed onto Pelipper and left the villa behind.
If anything went wrong tonight, he wouldn't just avoid coming back—he'd leave Mandarin Island entirely. He'd disappear far away from this big island, and by the time anyone tried to find him, it would be too late.
As for what came after… he'd deal with that later. Once he became an Elite Four–tier trainer, what would it matter whether anyone could find him?
When he reached the sewer black market again, it was the same check-in process as yesterday. He and Tai returned to their post at the same entrance.
Everything was calm as ever, but there were far fewer masked vendors and shoppers—about two-thirds less traffic than usual.
They stood guard until 7:30 p.m. when a group of people in black filed out from the Poison Gang's base. They were all wearing Poison Gang uniforms. At the front was a brawny man with a rooster crest haircut—someone both of them knew. Poison Gang's boss, Viper.
"Rai, Boss Viper's taking people to the fight," Tai said, watching Viper lead the group out of their base and head toward an exit deeper inside the black market cave. That direction should be the arena.
The three gangs formed a triangle in the underground caverns. The arena should be somewhere near the center.
The moment Reiji saw Viper move out, he immediately had Darkrai follow. If anything unexpected happened, Darkrai was to come back and report at once.
"That's not our business," Reiji said on the surface. "We just hold the sewer entrance."
In reality, he was already prepared.
He was thinking it through. If this "fight" was a trap, when would the Rock Gang launch the ambush?
In a cavern environment like this, if the Rock Gang and Storm Gang wanted a surprise attack—and wanted to wipe out their opponents in one clean stroke—there were only two ways: bury them alive or flood them.
Burying them meant sealing the caverns and triggering cave-ins, crushing everyone under rockfalls. Flooding meant diverting seawater or filthy runoff and drowning the entire mine.
With that in mind, Reiji glanced around at his post—right at the connection between sewer and cavern. Then he stamped the ground twice. Concrete.
If the contractors hadn't cut corners when building the sewers, digging through here wouldn't be easy. It wasn't like cavern soil you could tunnel through quickly.
Which meant he was safe, and he could run at any time. If the enemy sealed the caverns, they wouldn't bother chasing out through the sewer—especially not for two new recruits. It wasn't worth the time.
So Reiji and Tai kept standing guard.
An hour after Viper left with his group, Darkrai returned.
"You were right. They started fighting," Darkrai said as soon as it arrived, quickly reporting what it had seen.
"Who's hitting who?" Reiji asked. He was curious whether the Rock Gang and Storm Gang had teamed up to beat down the Poison Gang.
"People in blue and people in gray attacked the ones in black," Darkrai answered honestly.
"Heh." Reiji let out a low laugh. Rock Gang and Storm Gang really couldn't hold back—they'd joined forces to go after Team Rocket.
Then it would start here soon too. Both sides would move together. The timing wouldn't be far apart.
Rumble… rumble—
The ground shook.
"An earthquake?" Tai muttered, confused. "That can't be right… why didn't any Pokémon warn us?"
"It's not an earthquake," Reiji said. He'd just finished thinking, Darkrai had been back less than half a minute, and now the shaking started. There was no way that was a coincidence.
Those sneaky bastards were raiding the home front.
He shouted at Tai, "Run! Now!"
"What?" Tai was still stunned, standing there like an idiot.
"Move!" Reiji didn't look back. He bolted into the sewer. Compared to the fragile cavern that could collapse at any moment, the reinforced concrete sewer was far sturdier.
By the time they cleared the cavern side, their old post—the sewer entrance connected to the cavern—was already being swallowed by falling rock. Huge chunks slid down and sealed the opening in an instant.
Classic Rock Gang work. All they had to do was dig from above and have Rock-type Pokémon smash the ceiling. Seal every exit, then trap the Poison Gang inside.
"Huff… huff… just now… just now…" Tai panted hard, his flashlight beam shaking as it lit the spot where they'd just escaped. The opening was gone in seconds. If Reiji hadn't warned him, he'd probably have been buried alive.
"The Rock Gang ambush is here," Reiji said, waving away dust. The collapse hadn't just blocked the entrance—it filled the entire sewer with grit and smoke.
"You mean Boss Viper's side got hit too?" Tai stared, unable to believe it. He'd naively thought a "fight" was just a fight.
"What, you already feel loyal after two days?" Reiji pulled out Zubat's Poké Ball. He ended the bond with Zubat, then tossed the ball into the water, letting it drift away with the current.
Then he stripped off the Poison Gang uniform he'd been wearing over his gear and threw that into the sewage as well, letting it wash away.
With only the stab-proof suit left, he sniffed at it. It still had a weird odor.
The "tracked scent" wasn't something you could smell, but covering it was easy—layer a different smell over your own.
No rush. He had strong liquor on him. Later he could soak the suit in alcohol and be done with it.
"What are you doing?" Tai asked. He didn't feel any real loyalty to the gang, but Reiji stripping off his uniform still looked strange.
"What am I doing?" Reiji smiled and didn't answer. He was about to start his own raid.
But before that, he had to deal with one person.
"You've got a little sister, don't you?"
"You… how do you know that?" Tai took two steps back without thinking. Rai suddenly felt terrifying—nothing like the gentle "good guy" from before.
Yeah. A good guy. In a place like the black market, making friends with a good guy wasn't easy.
"Heh." Under Tai's flashlight beam, Reiji turned and waved. "Go up to the surface and lay low for a while. I'm not coming back. You know how to handle questioning."
"Rai, you—" Tai started to press him, but Reiji had already rounded the corner and vanished from view.
Chasing after him?
Tai didn't dare. Rai felt like a stranger now—a familiar stranger. Tai could only turn around, leave the sewer, and come back down after the chaos died out.
Run away?
He couldn't.
Just like Reiji said… he still had a little sister.
In truth, Reiji hadn't gone far. He leaned against the wall around the corner and asked Darkrai, "He left?"
"Yes. He turned around and left," Darkrai nodded.
"Gengar, you and Darkrai go inside and take a look. If you see anything valuable, pack it into the bag. If you have to, stuff it in your mouth," Reiji said, releasing Gengar. Then he warned them both again.
"It's going to be a mess in there. Steal what you can and get out. If you can't take it, forget it. Your safety matters most. And Darkrai—don't expose yourself. If someone has to be seen, let Gengar be the one."
Gengar and Darkrai weren't in the same category. One was rare; the other was a Mythical Pokémon. If Darkrai got exposed, someone would start digging, and sooner or later they'd trace it back to him.
"I understand," Darkrai said, nodding. If it couldn't grab something safely, it would have Gengar do it.
"Keh-heh-heh," Gengar cackled and nodded too. For good food, it would cooperate.
"Go. I'll wait here," Reiji said, sending the two Pokémon to infiltrate the Poison Gang base. He leaned back against the wall, pulled a cigarette from his pack, and lit it calmly.
The center of the underground caverns was the main battlefield—he couldn't go there. The Poison Gang-controlled market and their base would be chaos too—he wouldn't go there either. As long as Darkrai and Gengar could bring things out, that was enough.
That left the Rock Gang and Storm Gang bases. Those two should be less chaotic. If something happened, he could still back Darkrai and Gengar up from outside.
Footsteps—fast, messy. Someone was probably fleeing, trying to get out of the sewer before things got worse.
Reiji released four Pokémon at once: Poliwhirl, Kingler, Scyther, and Croagunk. He had Poliwhirl and Kingler hide in the water, Scyther slip across to the opposite side and conceal itself, and kept only Croagunk beside him—just in case.
The sewer walkway was wide enough for two or three people to pass easily. As long as they didn't start trouble, he wouldn't either.
But these idiots wanted to die.
"Move, move! Don't block the way!"
"I said get out of the way—are you deaf?"
"Do it," Reiji said, not even bothering to look at them. They were cursing before they even reached him, so he wasn't going to be polite.
The moment he gave the order, Poliwhirl and Kingler burst from the water. Kingler struck low, Poliwhirl hit high. Croagunk and Scyther didn't even need to move—those two alone handled it.
"Bastard! Nidoqueen—Double Kick!" one of them shouted, reacting fast as Poliwhirl and Kingler appeared. He released his Nidoqueen to kick them back.
A Nidoqueen that wasn't even Advanced tier had no business challenging Poliwhirl and a Kingler.
In a single exchange, Nidoqueen got smashed into the wall and passed out. At the same time, Scyther's scythes rested against the man's throat.
Reiji had told Scyther to hold back. Otherwise, Scyther would have cut him down already.
The reason he held back was simple: the man had yelled "Nidoqueen," and Reiji knew that voice far too well.
"Captain. The mine got hit too?"
"Who are you? How do you know the mine got attacked too?" The brawny captain in black was the one in charge of the mine—also the examiner who'd tested the recruits and selected who would be sent down there.
If they hadn't been summoned by Viper, they might've ended up assigned to the mine by this guy. And when someone outranks you, they can make your life hell. You might not die, but it wouldn't be pleasant.
"Captain, during the recruit test, you even 'looked after' me. You forget already?" Reiji grinned. The guy really was forgetful. Back then, he'd told Reiji to wait and see, said he'd "teach him a lesson," and now he'd forgotten him this quickly.
Guess Reiji hadn't left a strong enough impression.
Or maybe the captain assumed that once Viper took an interest in a recruit, he couldn't retaliate anymore.
If that was the case… then Reiji really did owe Viper a favor.
"It's you. Weren't you in the black market? Why are you here?" The captain finally clicked. He remembered that voice now—the troublemaker from the test. If not for Boss Viper, he'd already transferred this recruit out.
"What, you remember now?" Reiji pulled out his cigarette pack and lit another. "Want one, Captain?"
The captain had no mood for cigarettes.
"Who the hell are you? How can a 'new recruit' have strength like this?" He knew he was doomed—Reiji wasn't letting him go. But he wanted to die knowing the truth.
"Who I am doesn't matter," Reiji said calmly, exhaling smoke. "Just like how you forgot me."
"Heh… any recruit summoned by Boss Viper gets sent to HQ for training," the captain suddenly said, as if putting the pieces together. He laughed loudly. "No matter who you are, the moment you go to HQ, you'll be exposed. Hahaha… come on, then. Make it quick."
"Fine. As you wish." Reiji breathed out a slow plume of smoke. He had no idea what the man had misunderstood, but he gestured for Scyther to do it.
Scyther swung once—and the captain's head fell.
"Spinarak, loot everything on him," Reiji said, not even sparing the Team Rocket squad captain a second glance. "Kingler, drag the body into the water."
Tonight, the sewer runoff channel wouldn't be carrying just one corpse.
The sharks waiting near the drain outlet were about to get a full meal again.
(End of chapter)
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