Day 43 of the journey to Kanto. Sunny.
Reiji woke up in his private room at the Pokémon Center early in the morning. After a quick wash, he let his Pokémon out and fed them breakfast in the room.
Once they were done eating, he headed down to the Pokémon Center lobby for his own breakfast. After that, he still had to challenge Pewter Gym.
The only question was who the Gym Leader would be. Ideally, it would be Brock's little brother. If so, the Boulder Badge should be easy to get.
After breakfast, he called Mikan Gym and transferred Diglett over. A maid received the Poké Ball again and mentioned that Senta had gone on a morning run with Wartortle.
So that kid had finally figured things out. Even that little turtle had evolved.
Reiji ended the call and dialed Cinnabar Gym next. Blaine was the one who answered.
They talked for a while about how things had been going, where Reiji was now, and the Indigo League opening ceremony, which was only about ten days away.
After that, the conversation turned to Amber. Blaine said she was doing well, and that they would all come to watch Reiji's matches. He also told Reiji to work hard and not stuff himself like he had on the cruise ship.
Reiji suspected the old man was taking a quiet jab at him. Couldn't he tell Reiji had done that on purpose?
He had been trying to avoid sudden surprises and keep his enemies from figuring out his real strength and team composition. That way, if something went wrong, he could catch them off guard. It had not ended up mattering in the end, but being prepared never hurt.
Once Amber came up, they naturally talked about her mother too. This time, there was no bad news. The news simply wasn't good or bad yet.
More than ten days had passed since their last call, and Amber's mother had been found, just as expected. According to Blaine, they were still observing her and investigating her network of relationships, so they had not told Amber yet.
They had also found some connections that brushed against Team Rocket, which was why they had not let Amber meet her. Until they understood the situation, doing that would be the same as handing Amber over to the enemy.
Reiji was also worried Amber's mother might not be able to accept that her daughter had come back to life. Once they confirmed she had no ties to Team Rocket, they could set up a meeting that looked accidental. Let her notice Amber from behind first, give her time to recognize that familiar figure on her own, and let her reach the conclusion herself.
People trusted the conclusions they reached on their own. No matter what anyone else said, it would be easier for her to accept if she convinced herself first.
They could explain everything afterward. The only condition was that she had to be able to accept Amber's return. Amber really had come back.
Reiji left the matter to Blaine, but he did remind the old man not to hide the truth from Amber's mother. That included Team Rocket's forbidden research and the cloning project.
The one in charge of the cloning project had been Amber's father, Dr. Fuji. There was no reason to hide that from her. If Amber's mother knew the full cause and effect, she might actually feel more at ease. At its heart, this was a father's obsession with bringing back the daughter he loved.
There was nothing that truly needed to be hidden. Everything could be explained. Amber's revival was bizarre, but it had happened. She remembered them, and she had come back. That was what mattered. The process itself was secondary.
Blaine hesitated. That was normal. He was an old man, and of course he had concerns.
Reiji could only point out that curiosity would make people dig for answers, and Blaine had to make the threat of Team Rocket clear.
If Amber's mother was not afraid of Amber being captured and dissected by Team Rocket, then she could go looking for proof all she wanted. But losing her daughter a second time would destroy her completely.
So, for Amber's safety, once her mother learned the truth, she could not investigate it, spread it, or make noise about it. She would have to protect the second life her daughter had barely managed to gain.
When that moment came, Amber's mother would be stronger than any of them expected. For the sake of Amber's second chance at life, she would have to be strong, and as an adult, she would know what needed to be done.
Blaine was finally convinced. After thinking it over carefully, he agreed that Reiji's suggestion was workable. As one of the people closest to Amber, her mother had the right to know.
Once Amber had grown a little stronger, even Agatha would have the right to know.
The reason they needed to wait was to let the bond between Agatha and Amber as teacher and student deepen first. If they told Agatha then, Reiji believed she would not be cruel enough to cut Amber down. Better yet, they could drag Agatha onto the same boat and make her help protect Amber against Team Rocket.
With two Elite Four-tier Trainers watching over her, Amber's path forward would be much safer. After that, everything could develop naturally.
After ending the call, Reiji put away his phone. They had switched to mobile phones for that conversation because the Pokémon Center was crowded. After the transfer was finished, some things were too inconvenient to say over the center's public line.
Blaine was an old fox, so Reiji trusted him to handle it. He wondered whether he would get to meet Amber's mother at the Indigo League. He hoped so. Amber was still so young. She needed her mother.
As for that mad scientist Dr. Fuji, forget it. Even if he had not died on New Island, Team Rocket would never let him go. He was one of the people who had created Mewtwo. If they had made one Mewtwo, they could make a second.
Knowing Giovanni's ambition, he might even try to build an army of Mewtwo, cloning Mewtwo from Mewtwo. What a bunch of lunatics.
After saying goodbye to Blaine, Reiji left the Pokémon Center with Poliwhirl and Eevee and headed for Pewter Gym.
When he arrived, he found a long line outside. After asking around, he learned that most of the Trainers were there to challenge the Gym.
A few more questions told him why so many kids had shown up. They were hoping for an easy win, because Pewter Gym's current Gym Leader was Brock's little brother, Forrest.
So it had happened after all. Brock's father had still dumped the Gym on his second son after Brock left home.
Once Reiji knew Flint was not the one in charge, he joined the line behind the kids. After the reception staff checked his Pokédex, he was led with the others to the spectator seats. He sat down and watched Forrest's Gym battle against the current challenger.
Pewter Gym used a rocky battlefield. The format was two-on-two. The first side to have both Pokémon unable to battle would lose.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
"Rhydon, go! Ice Punch!"
The Rhydon belonged to Forrest. Reiji had not expected him to have one too. That meant Forrest was not as weak as Reiji had imagined. Rhydon was an Advanced-tier Pokémon, after all.
Then Reiji saw Geodude, Sandshrew, and the other Ground- and Rock-type Pokémon, and realized he had overestimated him.
Forrest's strongest Pokémon was probably that Rhydon. The rest were likely Pokémon raised at the Gym, with some belonging to Flint and some to Brock.
Forrest did not even look ten years old yet. Having an Advanced-tier Rhydon at his age already put him far ahead of the starting line. That Rhydon was probably his starter.
Against the kids from Pewter City, one Advanced-tier Rhydon was enough to handle plenty of challengers. With so many people feeding him battle experience, Forrest would only keep getting stronger. But against Reiji, that still was not enough.
By the time it was Reiji's turn, Forrest looked relaxed from his earlier winning streak. He did not even recall Rhydon, clearly intending to keep battling.
Reiji had nothing to say about that. The referee told him to send out his Pokémon, so he threw out Gyarados.
"Gya!" The moment Gyarados appeared, Intimidate burst out from it, backed by Scary Face and Leer. Its vicious expression crashed down on Rhydon all at once, making Rhydon instinctively take two steps back.
That Rhydon had probably only evolved recently. This was likely its first time facing a Gyarados of such massive size, and it was not used to the pressure at all. Its reaction to Intimidate made that obvious. It had been frightened stiff.
Gulp.
Rhydon was not the only one stunned. Forrest was also frozen by Gyarados's entrance, afraid the thing might lunge over and swallow him.
Even the kids outside the field swallowed nervously, terrified that the giant Gyarados might suddenly go berserk and start attacking everything around it.
"Challenger, I need to confirm that you have full control over this Gyarados. An uncontrollable Pokémon cannot be used in a Gym battle." The referee's hand trembled around his little flag. He was afraid too. If Gyarados went wild and hurt the children nearby, Pewter Gym would bear the main responsibility.
"No problem. Please start as soon as possible. That was only its Intimidate ability." Reiji nodded lightly and had Gyarados rein itself in. It was scaring the kids outside the field.
"Gya." Gyarados nodded to show that it would obey its Trainer. It was also making clear that it would not go wild.
When everyone saw that terrifying head nod toward Reiji, they finally let out a breath. As long as the Trainer could command it, that was enough. What they feared was a Trainer who could not control his own Pokémon.
"Challenger, you move first." The referee lowered the flag on Reiji's side, signaling the start of the match.
"Gyarados, Hydro Pump."
"Gyaaaa!" Gyarados opened its mouth with a heavy attack right away. Blasts of water crashed toward Rhydon like exploding shells, forcing Rhydon to cover its head and dodge.
"Rhy!" Rhydon refused to back down. At Forrest's command, it plunged underground, using Dig to avoid Hydro Pump.
A Pokémon underground with Dig could avoid Hydro Pump, true. But Earthquake dealt double damage to a Pokémon in the middle of Dig.
Ground was already x2 effective against Rhydon. With Dig doubling the damage again, that made it x4 damage.
"Gyarados, Earthquake."
"Gyaaa!" Gyarados lifted its tail. A metallic sheen spread across it as Iron Tail formed, and then it slammed the ground, shaking the entire Gym.
In Gyarados's own words, reinforcing its tail made the impact hurt less. After being beaten by Rhydon last time and escaping with only a minor tail injury, it had learned this trick: use Iron Tail and Earthquake at the same time.
Rumble, rumble!
The Gym shook so hard that everyone started wondering whether the building might collapse. More than a few people looked up at the ceiling in worry.
Of course, it did not collapse. This was a Rock-type Gym, and most of the Pokémon used destructive moves. The building had obviously been reinforced against tremors.
When the Earthquake ended, Rhydon burst out of the ground, fainted before it could even catch its breath, and lost the ability to battle. Reiji took the first round smoothly.
It had looked simple and direct, but that was not because Gyarados was overwhelmingly stronger. The two Pokémon were actually around the same level.
Rhydon had taken x4 damage, and it had already been worn down by several battles before this. That was why the win looked so easy.
"I lost." Forrest recalled Rhydon and stared down at the Poké Ball in his hand. He sighed. "I'm still nowhere near my big brother."
"Forrest, you've already worked very hard."
Forrest was still sighing when a voice came from behind him. He turned and saw a large hand resting on his shoulder, along with his father's weathered face. Flint was wearing a white apron, clearly in the middle of cooking.
"Father? Why are you here?" Forrest hesitated. His father had seen him lose, and he did not know what Flint would think.
"It's all right. Let me handle this." Flint comforted his son. He had felt the violent tremor, which had knocked over his pot, so he had come to see what happened. That was when he caught the end of the battle.
"You're going to battle?" Forrest was surprised. In his mind, his father almost never battled.
"Don't underestimate me. Back in my day, I was the man who won the Indigo League." Flint gave Forrest a thumbs-up and flashed a bright grin. Then he pulled his son behind him and threw out a Poké Ball.
"Onix!" The moment Onix appeared, it let out a roar as loud as Gyarados's.
But that was not the important part. The important part was its height and length. When it raised its head, it was level with Gyarados, and its overall size was not far off at all.
Gyarados was 9.2 meters long. If Onix could match it, then this Onix had to be over nine meters too.
Of course, Onix reached that size more easily than Gyarados. The species' average length was 8.8 meters, just short of nine. Most Onix growing past nine meters was nothing unusual.
"Young man, you're quite strong. I'll fight you for the final round," Flint said after seeing the two Pokémon face each other without either side giving ground. He immediately proposed switching in.
Reiji had no objections. It did not matter much who came in. This would only be a little harder. "That's fine. Please start as soon as possible."
He had finally met that man, and he had finally seen that man's Pokémon. Onix stood its ground against Gyarados without giving an inch. In Darkrai's perception, it was even stronger than Gyarados by a fair margin.
"Gyarados, Hydro Pump." Once Reiji saw Flint nod to the referee, he had Gyarados attack.
"Gyara!" Gyarados fired Hydro Pump again. The water slammed into Onix's massive body, but it looked more like it was washing the dirt off than doing damage.
"Hm? No effect?" Reiji saw that Onix had not dodged at all, yet Hydro Pump barely seemed to bother it. As expected, Flint had some real skill.
Skilled Trainers usually trained their Pokémon to cover their weaknesses, especially a Pokémon like Onix, which had a x4 weakness to Water and Grass.
It was not strange for Flint's Onix to be trained against water. Who knew what kind of methods his family had passed down? Maybe Onix had been trained from a young age to handle Water-type attacks.
If that was the case, Reiji called out again, "Gyarados, Ice Beam."
[End of chapter]
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