Ice Field, match eight of the group stage was about to begin.
Reiji called Mikan Gym from the Pokémon Center. He needed to transfer one of the little ones over for today's match.
He had already decided who to use, based on the information A.J. had gathered.
Gulzar was a Trainer from Kumquat Gym and one of Travis's traveling companions. Most of his Pokémon were Grass types: Gloom, Exeggcute, Weepinbell, Lombre, and Grovyle. Since he lacked the right Evolution Stones, most of them were still unevolved and had yet to reach their final forms.
Besides those five Grass types, he also had a Pidgeotto and a Gyarados. Gyarados was his real ace. It was strong—stronger than Travis's Gyarados, at least Advanced tier.
After learning the basics of Gulzar's team, Reiji transferred Butterfree over. Against someone who relied mostly on Grass types, a Bug- and Flying-type like Butterfree was a perfect choice. For the first round of this group-stage match, he would use Butterfree.
He had one of the maids send Butterfree over, and while he was there, he asked about Senta too. Only then did he learn that Senta had gone off to train. The kid was working pretty hard. Reiji wondered how much stronger he would be by the time Reiji returned.
He had no idea Senta's parents were back, and since he didn't ask, the maid had no reason to mention it. Just like that, he missed the chance to find out.
The match mattered more right now. Once he received Butterfree, he ended the call, pressed the Poké Ball's button, and released it.
"Free? Free!" Butterfree was a little frightened after suddenly appearing in an unfamiliar place, but the moment it saw Reiji, it flew straight into his arms and cried happily.
Reiji couldn't understand everything Butterfree was saying, but he could guess the meaning well enough. It was probably saying it had missed him again.
"All right, all right. I missed you too, Butterfree. We'll work hard together from here." Reiji smiled and rubbed Butterfree's head. Its red compound eyes were already close to tears.
"Free..." Butterfree kept clinging to him, clearly not planning to let go.
Then Poliwhirl spoke up. "Poli, poli. You're overdoing it, Little Green..."
"Free?" Butterfree buried its head against Reiji and secretly made a face at Poliwhirl. Poliwhirl had some nerve calling it too much. The others got to travel with Reiji while it stayed behind at the Gym to look after the younger ones. It was bored out of its mind.
"Poli, poli." Poliwhirl wanted Reiji to pet it too. Sadly, it was grown now, and it had its dignity as a frog. There was no way it was going to act spoiled in public.
"Haha, don't fight. You're both doing great. Butterfree worked hard looking after the little ones back home too." Reiji laughed and left the Pokémon Center without recalling Butterfree.
They hadn't seen each other for two months. Letting Butterfree out to relax a bit was fine. It could also make up for the time they had spent apart.
Butterfree was now level 42, which made it a solid Advanced-tier Pokémon. Reiji had underestimated it. He hadn't expected it to grow this much even while being left mostly on its own.
[Butterfree]
[Type: Bug + Flying]
[Gender: Female]
[Potential: 69.97%]
[Level: 42.56%]
[Ability: Compound Eyes/36.21%][Hidden Ability: Tinted Lens/23.21%]
[Moves]
Bug-type: [(String Shot/33.15%) (Bug Bite/23.29%) (Bug Buzz/23.55%) (Quiver Dance/22.26%)]
Flying-type: [(Gust/28.13%) (Air Cutter/18.34%) (Tailwind/22.15%) (Hurricane/22.36%) (Roost/26.23%)]
Grass-type: [(Stun Spore/35.52%) (Sleep Powder/34.35%) (Giga Drain/14.72%)]
Psychic-type: [(Confusion/38.14%) (Psybeam/37.11%) (Psychic/17.91%)]
Normal-type: [(Harden/1.23%) (Tackle/11.21%) (Supersonic/22.11%) (Whirlwind/31.34%) (Protect/31.14%) (Attract/21.66%) (Double Team/23.38%)]
Other: [(Electroweb/32.34%) (Poison Powder/36.13%)]
Ever since Butterfree had moved to the second string, Reiji hadn't checked its panel for more than four months.
Its potential was still the same, but its level had changed a lot. Somehow, without him even noticing, it had reached Advanced tier.
Using an Advanced-tier Butterfree in the group stage was basically bullying the weaker competitors. He really had underestimated the Pokémon he had caught early on. None of their potential was bad, and once they grew up, they were not to be taken lightly.
With an Advanced-tier Butterfree, plus Compound Eyes to boost accuracy and Tinted Lens to increase the damage of "not very effective" moves, Reiji felt even more confident about this match.
Butterfree hadn't only raised its level. Its Compound Eyes proficiency was high too, probably because it used the ability often. That meant its accuracy should be excellent.
It also had quite a few new moves. He hadn't checked its panel in so long that he didn't even know where it had learned them.
What Reiji didn't know was that while Butterfree had been staying at Mikan Gym, it had clashed with the Gym's Pokémon more than once. Whenever it had to protect the younger ones, it was usually the first to step forward.
That was why Butterfree's new move list had filled out so nicely.
For Bug-type moves, it had Bug Buzz and Quiver Dance.
For Flying-type moves, it had Tailwind, Air Cutter, Hurricane, and Roost.
For Grass-type moves, it had Giga Drain.
For Normal-type moves, it had Whirlwind, Protect, Attract, and Double Team.
It had also learned the Psychic-type move Psychic.
Having Butterfree train Confusion had definitely been the right call. If Confusion was only the entry point, then Psychic proved Butterfree's psychic powers had become genuinely strong.
Psychic could be considered a major Psychic-type attack, and Butterfree now had that on top of Hurricane for Flying and Bug Buzz for Bug.
Not bad at all. With this Butterfree, Reiji felt like it could sweep the group stage on its own.
He closed Butterfree's panel and quietly listened as it chattered away about life at the Gym. He didn't understand everything, but he listened seriously anyway.
"Free, free!" Butterfree pointed at some cotton candy with its little claws. It had already smelled the sweetness and clearly wanted some badly.
"All right, all right. I'll buy it." Reiji couldn't say no to Butterfree. If he refused, it would definitely start acting spoiled again, so he bought three sticks of cotton candy.
Everyone who saw it had to get one. If Butterfree got cotton candy, then Poliwhirl and Eevee needed one too. He couldn't play favorites. The others hadn't seen it, so that was different. But if they were right there, they all got a share.
After that, he took Butterfree around to buy a lot of things and walked it, Poliwhirl, and Eevee through the lively shopping street. By the time they finished, the match was almost ready to start.
Butterfree still had plenty to say, but the rest would have to wait until after the battle. Reiji fed it a Pokéblock too. Since it had been transferred over suddenly, it hadn't even eaten lunch.
When he arrived at the Ice Field, the broadcast was already calling him to enter. He recalled Poliwhirl and Butterfree into their Poké Balls at once, then walked through the competitor tunnel with Eevee.
The moment Reiji stepped onto the platform with Eevee, a scattered cheer rose from the audience. Some of them had watched his match yesterday. His battles were fun to watch, and he actually used tactics.
Other competitors either crushed weaker opponents without pressure or got stuck in dull matches where both sides looked equally mediocre. The audience was already getting tired of that.
This match felt different. It might actually be good, and some of them were starting to look forward to it.
Rai-nii. We meet again.
Gulzar only said it silently in his heart. He couldn't speak openly about his connection with Reiji.
Even Travis's bodyguards didn't know about them, so there was no way Gulzar would bring it up himself. He simply stood there and listened to the announcer.
"Our competitor on the green side is Reiji from the Orange Archipelago. Facing him on the red side is Gulzar from Kumquat Gym in the Orange Archipelago."
"Both competitors today come from the Orange Archipelago, so let's see what kind of battle they give us."
"Each side may use three Pokémon. Ice Field, match eight of the group stage, officially begins! Competitors, please send out your first Pokémon!"
"Go, Lombre!"
"Go, Butterfree!"
"Both competitors have sent out their first Pokémon. Gulzar starts with Lombre, while Reiji sends out Butterfree. From a type matchup perspective, this opening is very unfavorable for Gulzar!"
Yeah... Trying to predict Rai-nii was still too much for me.
Gulzar smiled bitterly. He had five Grass types, and Reiji had plenty of Water types that Grass could pressure. Gulzar had planned to send out a Grass type at random for the first round.
Since Reiji also had Rhydon, he chose Lombre to test him. He hadn't expected Reiji to send out Butterfree. He had misread it completely.
"Butterfree, use Sleep Powder."
The referee's flag dropped, and the match began.
"Free!" Butterfree heard the command and immediately beat its wings, sending a light breeze mixed with Sleep Powder toward Lombre on the other side of the field.
"Lombre, use Rain Dance!"
The cloud of Sleep Powder rushed in, wide enough to cover nearly the whole battlefield. Lombre had nowhere to dodge, so Gulzar chose to use rain to wash the powder away. Even if Lombre fell asleep, that was still fine.
Drop. Drop.
Lombre danced and clapped, calling dark clouds overhead. Rain began to fall, and each drop struck the drifting powder, dragging it down to the ground.
But the powder had already put Lombre to sleep. Even if the rain cleared it afterward, it didn't matter.
"Lombre, use Sleep Talk!"
Sleep Talk allowed a sleeping Pokémon to use one of the moves it already knew at random.
So that was Gulzar's plan. Even if Lombre was put to sleep, it could rely on Sleep Talk to last a few turns until it woke up.
But he had made one mistake.
It was raining now.
Reiji almost laughed. He raised his hand and called out, "Hurricane."
"Free!" Before Lombre could pull a random move with Sleep Talk, Butterfree faced it and beat its wings hard, whipping up a violent storm that blew Lombre away.
Bang!
Lombre's Sleep Talk was interrupted before it could use anything. Hurricane slammed it straight into the wall and pinned it there, wind blades cutting marks across its body.
Only when the storm ended did Lombre slide down from the wall. It was covered in injuries, its eyes had turned into swirls, and it had fainted.
"Lombre is unable to battle. Gulzar, please recall your Pokémon."
"One Hurricane took it out. Rai-nii's Butterfree is strong." Gulzar was shaken as he recalled Lombre.
His Lombre was only Elite tier. There was no way it could take a major Flying-type attack from an Advanced-tier Butterfree, especially with a x2 weakness.
"Go, Pidgeotto!" Gulzar had learned his lesson. This time, he planned to use his Flying-type Pidgeotto against Butterfree. At least Flying could pressure Butterfree back. It wouldn't be as helpless as Lombre.
As for why he hadn't switched before, switching against Reiji wouldn't have changed much. Reiji could switch too. Whoever switched first would fall behind, just like Gulzar had now.
"Gulzar has the first move," the referee announced, raising the red flag. Since Reiji had won the previous round, the losing side got to move first. It balanced the disadvantage a little.
Only a little.
With the first move in hand, Gulzar immediately shouted, "Pidgeotto, Agility, then Aerial Ace!"
"Pi! Pidgeoo!" Pidgeotto sped up and rushed toward Butterfree.
But what waited for it was—
Whoosh!
Butterfree used Hurricane again. It was still raining, though the light rain was close to stopping, and Reiji took advantage of the weather to have Butterfree fire off another Hurricane.
The powerful storm swept toward Pidgeotto. Before it could even reach Butterfree, it was blown backward and pressed hard against the wall. Its wings looked glued in place, unable to lift at all.
When Hurricane finally stopped, a thick cloud of powder appeared around Pidgeotto. It was still lying on the ground and gasping for breath. By the time it noticed the powder, cold sweat had already broken out.
Too late.
Pidgeotto was hit and fell into a deep sleep.
"Electroweb."
"Free!" Butterfree opened its mouth, spun silk into a net, charged it with electricity, and flung it out. The electrified web spread wide over Pidgeotto, pinning it to the ground while crackling shocks jolted it awake.
Then the second Electroweb came down.
And the third.
Pidgeotto was shocked unconscious on the spot.
Just like Lombre, it had been suppressed by Hurricane the whole time and never found a chance to fight back.
"Pidgeotto..." Gulzar saw Pidgeotto lose consciousness and could only recall it.
Now he finally understood how wide the gap between him and Rai-nii really was. This Butterfree wasn't even one of Rai-nii's main Pokémon, yet it had already taken out two of his. It was at least Advanced tier.
His current strength was still nowhere near enough. His Pokémon had to evolve. Only evolution would let them grow stronger. But with so many Pokémon needing Evolution Stones, he would have to return to the Orange Archipelago and ask Naoki for a way to get high-grade stones.
Four of his Grass types needed Evolution Stones. Three needed Leaf Stones, and Lombre needed a Water Stone. He had to find a way to earn money. He knew the price of high-grade Evolution Stones. Even when someone had the money, they were hard to buy.
That left asking Naoki for help. He didn't plan to ask Rai-nii. Rai-nii had already helped him far too much.
Even his strongest Pokémon had been given to him by Rai-nii. And most precious of all was that Elite Four-tier Dragon Scale. Gulzar had never forgotten that, or the fact that Rai-nii had saved his life.
Now he had only one Pokémon left.
He took out the Poké Ball for his ace, threw it, and shouted, "I choose you, Gyarados!"
"Unbelievable! Gulzar's third Pokémon is Gyarados! Facing Reiji, who has once again defeated two Pokémon with only one of his own, can Gulzar's Gyarados turn this match around? Let's find out!"
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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