Day 17 back in the Orange Archipelago. Cloudy.
Reiji turned on the morning news while eating breakfast and immediately saw a report outside the Pokémon Center. A Trainer was yelling that he had caught Smiling Spider and wanted his reward.
"I caught Smiling Spider! Why won't you pay me? The Pokémon Center is going back on its word!"
The funniest part was that he was not alone.
More than 100 Trainers were making the same claim. Every single one of them said they had caught Smiling Spider.
At first, the Pokémon Center had gotten excited too. But after using Hypnosis to question the so-called Smiling Spiders, they learned the truth. These people had all used Smiling Spider's name to rob others last night because it worked far too well. Then they got greedy, kept going, and eventually got caught.
After questioning more than 100 of them, the Pokémon Center confirmed they were all fakes. Naturally, the bounty was not paid. Even the rewards that had already gone out were recovered by Officer Jenny.
Reiji changed the channel to check the news from other islands. It was the same everywhere. The morning programs were all covering fake Smiling Spiders robbing people.
Tangelo Island, Mandarin Island South, Kinnow Island, Kumquat Island, Pummelo Island—any island with a major city and its own local station had Smiling Spider on the news.
Reiji could not hold back and burst out laughing.
Once he laughed, everyone else started laughing too.
Smiling Spider had pulled off 2 major jobs in a row, and the name was already everywhere in the Orange Archipelago. Now even ordinary people knew about it.
At this point, Smiling Spider had become famous across the whole archipelago.
"Boss, Daishi sent an update," Naoki said after hanging up the phone. "The Pokémon Center has canceled the reward, but the wanted notice is still up."
Daishi had gone out to ask around. According to him, too many bounty hunters had shown up to claim rewards, so the League had closed the payout channel. They were saying Smiling Spider was too dangerous, and anyone with information could still receive a reward, but civilian Trainers were strongly discouraged from chasing them on their own.
"Good. Everyone can relax for a while. If you need money, take private jobs. Just don't use the Spider name."
Reiji did not say the rest.
Even if they did use the Smiling Spider name, who would believe them now?
With the reward gone, fewer people would chase Spider. After enough fakes showed up, no one would know which ones to take seriously.
And when the real Spider appeared again, people would finally remember what it was supposed to be.
After breakfast, everyone relaxed.
The raid had felt great, but the risk and the attention were both massive. They had almost been crushed under that pressure. Reiji's plan had taken the heat off them, and now they could laugh about it over breakfast instead of worrying about the whole world hunting them.
After that, everyone went back to their usual routines. The ones with jobs went to work. The ones staying at the villa trained their Pokémon.
Before leaving, Sou found Reiji and told him his family had sent word last night. They had caught the Carvanha and Shellder Reiji wanted.
"They caught them? Let me see how many." Reiji took the backpack, opened it, and poured the Poké Balls into the pool. Red-and-white Poké Balls spread across the water almost instantly.
"There are 2,000 of them, Rai-nii." Sou scratched his head awkwardly. His family had caught a lot more than expected. They had even told him to ask whether Reiji wanted more, since they happened to be free right now.
"Two thousand at two thousand each. That's four million."
Reiji handed Sou four million in cash. It was the gambling money they had taken last night. Might as well put it to use.
"Rai-nii, my family also asked if you want them to keep catching more." Sou looked down at the four million in his hands. It felt hot. They had already sent 2,000 Poké Balls. Surely that was enough, right?
"I'm not sure yet. I'll decide tonight." Reiji waved him off. He almost said something about bad luck, then stopped himself. No need to set up a flag and get slapped by it later.
After Sou left, Reiji sat by the pool and started checking the Poké Balls one by one.
The others looked at him strangely, but no one asked what he was doing. They kept handling their own training while Reiji went through the entire batch.
He skipped his morning run and spent the whole morning sorting them.
There were more than 1,000 Carvanha and a little over 600 Shellder.
After checking all of them, he found 3 decent Carvanha, with potential values of 56, 52, and 50.
There were also 2 decent Shellder, with potential values of 52 and 49.
Five good Pokémon for four million. That was a good deal. If he sold them properly, he could probably turn them into forty million. Too bad no one could vouch for their potential. Without that, no buyer would believe they were that good.
Reiji kept the 52-potential Shellder and the 56-potential Carvanha. The other 3 were set aside to give away.
He asked around among the people staying at the villa. Gulzar took 1 Carvanha, and Keith took another. No one wanted the Shellder, so Reiji left it for when Sou and the others got back from work.
A.J. did not want either species. He was more interested in Gengar, but Ghost-type Pokémon were hard to find. Reiji had already sent Gengar to check old houses in the city. If it found anything, great. If not, there was nothing to do.
That had been Naoki's idea last night. He had asked Reiji to help him catch a Gastly. A.J. wanted one too, and so did Sou.
Gulzar would be going back to the Mikan Gym, so he did not plan to catch a Gastly. Gai did not want one either. He already had Sharpedo.
Keith passed on Gengar too, which was honestly funny. He was afraid of ghosts and the dark, probably because of something that happened when he was younger. Maybe a Ghost-type had messed with him before.
That left 1 Shellder.
Reiji put its Poké Ball on the table. Whoever wanted it tonight could take it.
After lunch, he carried the remaining Poké Balls to the beach and released the Shellder and Carvanha back into the sea.
Some of the more aggressive Carvanha attacked him the moment they were released. Poliwrath slapped them straight back into the water.
A few Carvanha even evolved into Sharpedo and turned around to attack him too.
Poliwrath slapped them back in as well.
Reiji spent the whole afternoon releasing Carvanha. He only stopped when Naoki and the others came back from work and called him in for dinner.
When he sat at the table, the Shellder's Poké Ball was still sitting there.
He picked it up and looked around.
"Anyone want this Shellder?"
"I do, Rai-nii." Sou was the first to raise his hand. He knew Reiji had picked it out himself.
When Reiji asked, Naoki had glanced at Daishi, hoping Daishi would take it. But Sou was faster.
It was not a big problem. Daishi could always buy one from a Day Care for ten million. A reputable Day Care would show the parents of the young Pokémon anyway. No one would ruin their own reputation over ten million, not when their customers were Trainers who might smash the place if they got cheated.
It was only a small moment.
Reiji tossed the Poké Ball to Sou and smiled.
"Sou, your family doesn't need to catch any more. The empty Poké Balls are in the backpack on the sofa. Remember to take them."
"Got it, Rai-nii." Sou caught the Poké Ball and looked at the Shellder inside with a huge grin.
His family had earned four million, and he had gotten a Shellder for free. He was thrilled.
He was not short on money anymore, but illegal cash all went into raising Pokémon. He had too many Pokémon to feed now. In the future, he would need at least 2 full teams, 12 Pokémon total, and that meant a lot of expenses.
"Gar, gar."
Gengar returned at some point, rising out of Reiji's shadow with 3 Poké Balls.
Reiji looked down when he heard it. Gengar had left last night to catch Gastly and had now brought back 3 Poké Balls.
After setting them down, Gengar disappeared again. Reiji could still feel it nearby. The chill it brought with it actually made the room more comfortable.
Reiji picked up the 3 Poké Balls.
One held Haunter. The other 2 held Gastly.
He had no idea where Gengar had found them, but their potential was not good. All 3 were only in the twenties or thirties. None reached 40.
He tossed the Poké Balls to Naoki, A.J., and Sou. Naoki got Haunter.
"Gastly is easy to raise," Reiji said. "Feed it poison. The stronger the poison, the better. Poison crystals made by Muk are cheap, and the poison is strong enough to work well for Gastly."
Then he lowered his voice and spoke beside Naoki's ear.
"There's a drawback to that method. We talked about it that night. When you have time, go ask him for the full training method. He'll give it to you."
Naoki knew who Reiji meant. He nodded silently.
Once things calmed down, he would show himself near Tai. Tai's Gengar would find him, and he could ask for the Gastly training method then.
With that settled, Reiji could finally leave again.
The fusion Pokémon were all prepared now. The only pity was that Slowpoke was not with him. Tomorrow, he would send Shellder back and let the Gym figure it out.
Most of the Pokémon that needed evolving had already evolved too.
Next, he had to go to Shamouti Island and deal with Zapdos. After that, he could settle down and train properly, pushing Poliwrath and the others toward Elite Four tier.
Half a year should be enough. Two months to reach quasi–Elite Four tier, then another four months to build up and push for Elite Four tier. If he ran into something useful along the way, that timeline might speed up.
If.
Staryu's evolution was also ready. Its injury had mostly healed after half a month of recovery, and it could evolve tomorrow. The high-grade Evolution Stone was already prepared.
For now, all he needed was a good night's sleep.
After that, he would head for Shamouti Island. Taking a tour group there would work. Reiji had heard it was a famous tourist spot, and that would make a good cover for his real purpose.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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