On the other side of the call, staring at him with eyes that seemed to be spitting fire, was Roxie.
Standing beside her was a recently evolved and clearly wronged looking Amoonguss.
Silas immediately spread his hands innocently and asked in return, "What's wrong, Miss Roxie?"
"Stop pretending." Roxie was clearly furious. "It's all because you taught Amoonguss those ridiculous tricks. Now the reputation of my Virbank Gym among beginner trainers is absolutely terrible. We receive complaints every single day."
After finishing her sentence, Roxie rubbed her temples in frustration.
If she had known things would turn out like this, she never would have left Amoonguss in the gym.
She had only gone out for one week, and when she came back the world had practically collapsed.
On average the gym now received fifty complaints every day, and even the Pokémon League kept contacting her about it.
At first Roxie had been completely confused. But after watching the battle recordings, she understood everything.
The root of the problem was Amoonguss's battle style.
Roxie was absolutely certain that she herself had never taught Amoonguss any tactics like that.
Which meant there was only one possible culprit.
Silas.
That was why she had made this call today. As she spoke, Roxie also shot Amoonguss a sharp glare.
Faced with Roxie's questioning, Silas chose to play dumb.
There was no way he could admit it. He did not want to be hated by the trainers who had suffered through those battles.
"Ah? Roxie, what did you say… the signal here is terrible."
Beep beep… crackle crackle…
"Let's talk later. I'll call you back later."
Before Roxie could say anything else, Silas quickly hung up the call with a snap, leaving Roxie staring at the dark screen while grinding her teeth in anger.
"Moonguss moonguss~"
Amoonguss poked its trainer gently with the mushroom cap on its head, indicating that it really liked this kind of battle style because it brought smiles to everyone.
"Well… fine." Roxie placed a hand on Amoonguss's head. "As long as you like it. But we definitely cannot keep the creator of this tactic a secret all to ourselves."
Soon afterward, in front of the Virbank Gym, a large notice board appeared.
On it was a detailed explanation of the origin of Amoonguss's tactics.
The trainers who read it were immediately filled with anger.
"So it came from him…"
"What an awful guy. If I ever see him in the Unova region, then…"
"..."
These were all trainers who had previously been "blessed by sunshine" from Amoonguss's tactics, and now every single one of them was indignant.
Later that evening when Silas called Diantha and heard about the situation, he became even more determined not to visit the Unova region.
Even if someone beat him to death he would not go there.
Of course, that was something for later.
After quickly ending the call, Silas turned to the several little troublemakers running around the house.
"Give me all the flyers. And Rowlet, go help me call Tropius over. Tell it I need it for something."
He sent the mischievous little Pokémon away and let Korrina play with them so they could burn off some of their excessive energy.
"Dragonite, Tropius, I'll need you two to hand out these flyers to other Pokémon."
Silas briefly explained the content written on the flyers and divided them into two stacks before handing them over.
"Draa~!"
Dragonite gave a low cry as it accepted the flyers. After glancing through them, it nodded at Silas.
This actually seemed like a very interesting task.
Its small wings began flapping as Dragonite flew toward the nearby Pokémon settlement.
Along the way, whenever it encountered wild Pokémon it tossed a flyer to them or stuck one onto a tree trunk.
With Dragonite's speed, it quickly arrived at the Pokémon Town.
Everyone there was already familiar with this Dragonite, and many Pokémon even greeted it warmly.
Dragonite responded to them one by one.
It posted several flyers on the central bulletin board in the town square. When curious Pokémon like Litleo and Gengar gathered around to watch, Dragonite patiently explained the purpose of the flyers.
After that it left the Pokémon Town and continued flying farther away to distribute more flyers.
Compared to Dragonite flying far into the distance, Tropius stayed near Route 12 to distribute its share.
Besides handing them out across the mainland, Tropius also flew to several nearby small islands along the way.
Some of the Pokémon who saw the flyers did not understand them at all and casually tossed them away.
Some crowded together with other Pokémon to read them.
Others showed curious expressions.
It probably would not take long before suitable new band members could be recruited.
"Jigglypuff, don't worry too much. Just wait patiently for a few days."
Silas gently pinched the nervous looking Jigglypuff in his arms before encouraging it to go play with Cinccino and the others.
He checked the time and waited a little longer.
Soon Dragonite and Tropius returned, having completed the task he assigned them.
Tropius immediately flew back to the berry orchard to continue watching over the young Chikorita.
Dragonite, on the other hand, asked if there was anything else it could help with.
"No more tasks. Dragonite, you should go have fun too."
Silas patted its soft and bouncy belly before handing it a piece of Poké Puff.
He watched Dragonite leave happily to find Cinccino and the others to play with. On the way, Dragonite even picked up Jigglypuff so the two could search for their friends together.
Silas then returned to the house.
He sat down on the sofa and turned on the television, switching to channel one.
Today's broadcast was special.
Siebold was about to challenge the Kalos Elite Four position, and Silas absolutely could not miss it.
Soon after the television was turned on, three Meowth gathered around Silas's feet.
The Alolan Meowth glanced at the screen briefly, found it boring, then covered itself with a small blanket and rested its head on Silas while continuing its nap.
The regular Meowth was completely focused on playing with a ball of yarn, purring contentedly as it entertained itself.
Meanwhile the Galarian Meowth stared at the television together with Silas, eagerly waiting for the upcoming battle.
They did not have to wait long.
The live broadcast soon began.
Siebold and an elderly trainer stood on the battlefield.
This elderly trainer was the Elite Four member Siebold was challenging, the Flying type Elite Four.
After a brief introduction from the host, the full six versus six battle officially began.
In the first round, Barbaracle faced Talonflame.
Barbaracle won.
Immediately afterward, the Flying type Elite Four sent out Gyarados, which defeated Barbaracle.
Siebold responded by sending out his own Gyarados.
The two Gyarados clashed fiercely in the air and water.
In the end, Siebold's Gyarados narrowly won the struggle, activating its Moxie ability and gaining a boost to its attack power.
Unfortunately, it could not continue building momentum.
In the next round it faced Skarmory and the two Pokémon ended up knocking each other out.
The battle between the two trainers was incredibly intense.
When the Flying type Elite Four finally sent out his ace Pokémon, the Dragon and Flying type Salamence, the battle reached its peak.
Siebold also sent out his ace Pokémon, Blastoise.
The ultimate showdown began.
Mega Blastoise versus Mega Salamence.
The battle was dazzling and almost impossible to follow with the naked eye.
The two Pokémon clashed relentlessly, unleashing powerful moves one after another in their desperate attempt to defeat each other.
In the end, Mega Blastoise barely managed to defeat Mega Salamence with a final Ice Beam, winning the intense Mega Evolution duel.
Once Mega Salamence fell, the Flying type Elite Four's remaining three Pokémon were no longer able to stop Siebold.
After several more fierce exchanges, Siebold commanded Mega Blastoise to defeat Gliscor.
Out of the six main Pokémon on the field, only Mega Blastoise remained standing.
Siebold ultimately won the Elite Four challenge.
He would replace the former Flying type Elite Four and become the new Water type Elite Four of the Kalos Pokémon League.
"He won!"
Just as Silas expected, Siebold had not disappointed him.
On the television screen, Siebold embraced his exhausted but still proud Mega Blastoise and revealed a relieved smile.
The cheers of the audience echoed through the broadcast, making even the air inside the house feel lively.
However, Siebold becoming an Elite Four member also brought Silas a great deal of pressure.
After returning from the trip to the Sinnoh with Diantha in a few days, he planned to challenge the final remaining gym.
While Silas was still thinking about this, angry dragon roars suddenly erupted from outside the house.
The furious cries of the three Noivern rang out, as if someone had attacked them.
(End of Chapter)