"Come on. I'll take you to bring your men back," the second mate said, giving Riku a pat on the shoulder as he turned toward the sewer caverns.
"Bro—there's a rat eavesdropping," Riku started to follow, then suddenly stopped and looked toward the back alley. Someone had been listening just now.
"It's just a rat," the second mate said, completely unconcerned. "Probably some small-time punk who crawled up from below. Don't waste your attention."
Their strength was right there in the open. Even if the rat heard everything, he wouldn't dare spread it around—and even if he did, it wouldn't change anything for them. There was no need to deal with an eavesdropper. That would only waste time.
Besides, they had nothing to do with Team Rocket. If anything, they were enemies. That underground turf wasn't easy to take, and the captain would be more than happy to let the League and Team Rocket clash.
"Bro… I'm still not satisfied," Riku muttered after being brushed off, his focus drifting right back to Team Rocket instead of the rat in the alley.
The second mate chuckled. "Doesn't matter if you're not satisfied. Even our captain has to give Team Rocket some space. Otherwise, why do you think he didn't keep that guy just now?"
"Why?" Riku genuinely didn't get it. In his eyes, the captain was the strongest Trainer in the Orange Archipelago. The Orange League's top Trainer, Drake, was nothing—how could he compare to their captain?
"You've never seen Giovanni move," the second mate said flatly. "You don't understand what Team Rocket really is. Our captain is Elite Four tier. Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni, can stand shoulder to shoulder with a Champion. And we're not even Elite Four tier ourselves. That's the difference."
Riku let out a heavy sigh. If he were Elite Four tier too, he wouldn't be this miserable.
Only after the two of them disappeared into the distance did Reiji dare to stick his head out from the alley. He sucked in a sharp breath, chest finally unclenching. He'd come within a hair of dying.
If those two had felt even slightly bothered—if they'd decided he was worth swatting—he would've been finished right there. His whole "other world" life would've ended in a back alley. That was the most dangerous moment he'd faced since arriving here. Turns out the whispers of big shots really weren't meant to be stolen.
But along with the fear came a key piece of information. This sewer black market chaos… Naoki had been used like a knife by the Black Ship, and he'd also become the biggest loser behind the whole game. The only real loser.
Behind Riku stood the Black Ship. Behind Viper stood Team Rocket. Only Naoki had no backing. He'd been chased into a corner by Team Rocket, taking brutal losses—territory gone, men gone. And if he fell into Team Rocket's hands, there wouldn't be a good ending waiting for him.
Reiji leaned against the wall and lit a cigarette, realizing he was nothing more than a spectator—a small-time scavenger picking scraps on the edge of a battlefield.
The games of the powerful weren't a table he could sit at. Overthinking it wouldn't help. It had almost gotten him killed.
He stayed there in silence, smoking as he waited. When Darkrai and Gengar returned, he immediately recalled both into their Poké Balls.
Then, under cover of night, he had Pelipper carry him out of Trovitopolis and away from the mess, heading for the far side of Mandarin Island to Lorelei's villa city.
Once there, he found a shady hotel and rented a room without showing an ID. It cost him 20,000 Pokédollars.
After checking in, he stripped off every piece of clothing he'd been wearing, dumped it into a basin, and soaked it in alcohol. Then he went into the bathroom and took a long, comfortable hot shower.
When he came out, it was a little past eleven at night. So much had happened—ups and downs, life and death—and only four hours had passed.
He still couldn't sleep. He wasn't going to sleep. The last two hours had been way too intense; he needed time to settle. Might as well finish cleaning up, dry his clothes, and pack everything away.
He changed into a different stab-proof set—one that didn't carry any outside smell. Just him. No easy trail to track.
Then he had Gengar spit out all the Poké Balls it had stolen. Those Pokémon taken off the battlefield were useful to him. He sifted through several hundred Poké Balls and picked out the ones with the better potential.
Every unfamiliar Poké Ball held a Pokémon inside. He released them all, knocked them out, swapped them into different Poké Balls, and stuffed them into a throwaway backpack.
Next, he searched through all the bags for electronics and any Poké Balls that might cause trouble, tossing everything into another throwaway backpack. When he left the hotel, he'd dump it all in the desert.
On the way here from Trovitopolis, he had to cross a vast desert anyway. Let the wind and sand bury it. Even if someone picked it up later, it wouldn't matter—by then, he'd be long gone.
Once the "problem items" were sorted, he even had Ditto and Spinarak erase their scent traces as well. Then he shouldered his pack and, with Ditto and Spinarak in tow, headed back to Trovitopolis.
He wasn't going back because he missed the place. He was going back because he still didn't fully trust Tai as a witness. He needed one more layer of insurance.
When Reiji reached the Trovitopolis port, the sewer black market riot had already settled down. He didn't go anywhere near the sewers. Instead, he went straight to the port bar and found Tai hiding there.
Tai had clearly been afraid of getting caught up in the chaos. After leaving the sewers, he'd stayed where the crowds were. He even rented a place nearby—close to the bar, close to his old job.
Reiji walked right up, called Tai out, and brought him to the back alley.
"Rai?" Tai stared, confused. "Weren't you not coming back? Why are you looking for me again?"
"Catch," Reiji said, tossing him a Poké Ball.
Inside was a Mareep. Potential: 45. A pretty decent Electric-type.
"Mareep?" Tai looked down at the Poké Ball and then back up at Reiji.
"Give it to your sister. It's a good one," Reiji said, lighting a cigarette at an unhurried pace. His tone was calm—too calm for the threat wrapped inside it.
"I don't need it," Tai snapped, anger flaring. This bastard came back just to threaten him again? Tai had already agreed to keep quiet. Reiji had saved his life—fine. But this was going too far.
"Relax." Reiji flicked ash and tossed two more Poké Balls over. "These two have decent talent as well."
"Magikarp… and Houndour?" Tai's rage turned into pure bafflement. He couldn't understand this man at all. Who threatens someone and then gifts them Pokémon?
"They're all offspring from Riku's Pokémon," Reiji said, exhaling a thin stream of smoke and glancing at Tai's throat bobbing as he swallowed. "You get what that means."
The Magikarp had potential 56. It wasn't necessarily the Gyarados's offspring—Storm Gang had plenty of Magikarp, probably handed out to new recruits as starter Pokémon.
Still, even this one was only two points higher than the one Reiji had fished up on that deserted island. He didn't care. If he was going to bother raising a Magikarp, he wanted at least a 59.
As for the Houndour—its potential was 51, and it was almost certainly the offspring of Riku's Houndoom. Raised properly, breaking into Elite Four tier would be effortless.
But Reiji already had Darkrai. One Dark-type powerhouse was enough. He didn't need a second. Giving Houndour away cost him nothing.
"I still don't get it," Tai said. "Why give me these?"
He could guess what this meant—Reiji had gone and robbed a gang base. And the haul had been huge. These weren't random scraps. One of them was even the offspring of a boss Pokémon. That kind of Pokémon was worth millions.
They'd only known each other for two days. Strangers. Why hand over something like this?
"Call it payment for your silence," Reiji said, grinding out his cigarette under his heel as he turned to leave the alley. He still had to catch a ship. By tomorrow, he'd be out of Trovitopolis, out of Mandarin Island, and away from this whole mess.
"Rai…" Tai felt dizzy. All he had to do was lie to the Poison Gang—say Reiji died as an "accident" in the underground chaos—and he'd received three Pokémon with decent potential. Two of them were even offspring of a boss Pokémon. It was way too much.
"Tai," Reiji added without looking back, "the Poison Gang is Team Rocket."
Tai's eyes tightened. He understood instantly—Reiji was warning him to be careful. After accepting something this valuable, Tai really did owe him a massive debt.
"Oh, and your sister's really cute," Reiji tossed over his shoulder, right before vanishing around the corner, laughing to himself. So the guy really was a total sis-con.
Tai let out a short, humorless chuckle. "Even when he's leaving, he still uses my sister to remind me to keep my mouth shut… What a weird guy."
He set the three Poké Balls down, pulled out his cigarette case, and lit one.
Tomorrow, he'd give the Mareep to his sister. A fluffy Electric-type like that—she would definitely love it. She'd finally have a Pokémon of her own. She'd be thrilled.
After finishing the cigarette, Tai watched the ember fade. Maybe cigarettes weren't that bad. When you felt trapped, two of them could settle you down.
When it burned out, he left the alley and returned to his rented room.
Now he had to face Team Rocket alone. Running wasn't an option. He had a little sister. Team Rocket would absolutely use her as leverage. The only way to keep her safe… was to join Team Rocket.
To make sure she had a happy, safe childhood—so Team Rocket wouldn't touch her—he had to go in. And he couldn't betray them either, not unless he could guarantee her safety.
What a pit. No wonder Rai tried to pull out cleanly. He'd probably seen this coming long ago… while Tai was still stumbling around like an idiot.
…
After leaving Tai behind, Reiji headed straight to the ticket booth at the port. He planned to use his ID and buy a ship ticket to Sunburst Island.
A ship from Trovitopolis to Sunburst Island took three days. He wanted a first-class cabin—with a balcony, too—so he could watch the sea along the way.
And once he reached Sunburst Island, he wanted to see if there was a Crystal Onix there. Perfect timing. He could rest properly on the ship for a couple of days and finally get away from this mess.
But he didn't get a ticket. Tomorrow's tickets to Sunburst Island were already sold out. The next ship was the day after tomorrow.
So he found a scalper nearby and bought a first-class ticket at a premium—50,000 Pokédollars. With that, he boarded without trouble.
Sometimes Reiji honestly suspected "sold out" was just an excuse—tickets got funneled to scalpers, and someone in the middle took their cut. No matter where you went, there were always scalpers.
That was the unspoken rule. Reiji had no interest in challenging it. He wasn't trying to ruin someone's income stream—and he definitely wasn't important enough to muscle into that game anyway. So he swallowed it.
Once aboard, he entered his cabin and collapsed onto the bed, relief washing through him. Finally. A real rest. No one could find him here, and no one could bother him.
He'd boarded under his real identity. If Team Rocket could somehow dig through his fake identity… so what? How would they trace his real one? His real identity was clean.
He hadn't forged anything. He even had Tai as a witness. Reiji was genuinely curious how Team Rocket would "hunt him down" now.
That was the advantage of having a real identity—you could walk in the sunlight. If Team Rocket dared come for him, he could shout it right back at them: Come on. Who's afraid of who?
He sank into the soft white bed, released Spinarak and Darkrai to keep watch, and drifted into a deep sleep.
He'd count up the haul tomorrow. Tonight, he was done. He'd been running nonstop, and the moment his head hit the pillow, he couldn't stay awake.
He slept hard—until the middle of the night, when Spinarak woke him.
"Spina… spina…" Spinarak crawled onto his face and gently tapped his forehead with its front legs.
"Hm? What is it, Spinarak…?" Reiji fumbled for the bedside lamp and clicked it on, still confused why it was waking him.
Then Darkrai delivered a "gift" that snapped him wide awake.
"We caught a thief," Darkrai told him. "He climbed in from outside tonight and tried to come through the window. I put him to sleep."
Reiji just stared for a second, speechless. Seriously? He'd just finished robbing three major gangs… and someone came to rob him?
Fine. Then he'd see which idiot had the guts to try stealing from him.
"Spinarak—String Shot. Tie him up. Darkrai, bring him inside. I want to see who it is that thinks they can steal on my ship."
Once Spinarak had the man bound, Reiji searched him and found Poké Balls. Reiji locked them all immediately.
Two Pokémon. That was it.
One was a Swampert. The other was a Flygon.
A Trainer with a starter Pokémon and a Dragon-type didn't look like a petty thief at all. The man was drenched, stubble covering his face, and he looked older—worn down.
When Darkrai dragged him in, Reiji saw he had nothing but a backpack and those two Pokémon. The backpack probably held plenty of valuables, but Reiji cared more about who this man was.
He looked… familiar. Like Reiji had seen him somewhere recently. Reiji thought it through, and it clicked—he looked a lot like Naoki, the guy Reiji had spotted earlier at the Rock Gang black market. Reiji had only seen him briefly from outside, but the clothes and the build matched.
Either way, Naoki was supposed to be one of the three gang bosses. How could someone like that end up this pathetic? Even if he'd been buried by an Earthquake, he still had two Pokémon. That alone should've kept him from falling to this kind of state.
A quasi–Elite Four tier Trainer… crawling onto a passenger ship, climbing up to a first-class cabin, skipping countless rooms just to pick Reiji's sea-view room?
It was strange. Way too strange.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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