"Pidgeotto, come back and absorb the Gems!" Reiji called as soon as he saw it start glowing. If it waited too long, the Gems would go to waste.
Pidgeotto heard him and shot back fast. It landed in the pile of Gems hard enough to kick up a cloud of dust, and Reiji had to raise a hand against the glare.
A few breaths later, the light faded. Standing on the pile of clear, drained Gems was a proud-looking bird, calmly preening its feathers with its beak.
"Congrats on evolving." Reiji smiled and walked over, patting Pidgeot's wing. It was tall, strong, and somehow even better-looking than before. If it ever Mega Evolved, it would probably look even better.
"Pidge, geot!" Pidgeot leaned in as soon as it saw him, rubbing its beak against his cheek.
"Pidgeot." Reiji stroked its neck and checked its height. It had to be around 1.7 meters.
A normal Pidgeot was about 1.5 meters tall, but the Pidgeot on Fairchild Island were different. Even Hanhan was taller than a normal Rhydon, standing over 2 meters now. Pidgeot being a little bigger made sense. Its mother had been huge too.
"Peli, peli! Congrats!" Pelipper was the happiest one there. Now Reiji would not always have to ride on it when he traveled. Pidgeot could finally take some of the flying work.
"Pidgeot, can I ride you?" Reiji saw Pelipper flapping happily and understood exactly what the little schemer was thinking. He did not call it out. He just asked Pidgeot.
Pidgeot nodded. It did not mind carrying him.
"Then let's try it." Reiji patted Pidgeot's back. It was broad, firm, and powerful.
Pidgeot lowered its back so he could climb on.
"Here I go." Reiji first put away the remaining Gems and items. The Flying Gems had not been fully absorbed. About half were still left. The Normal Gems were gone, and so were the Flying-type items. Counting it up, roughly twenty million in Flying Gems remained.
So it really was a matter of buildup. He could not keep holding Pidgeotto back from evolving forever, so there was nothing he could do about it now. He could make up the difference later.
After gathering the drained stones, Reiji recalled Rhydon into its Poké Ball. Those were the only 2 Pokémon he had brought out.
Then he swung a leg over Pidgeot's back. He was used to riding Pelipper, so getting seated was easy. Once he was steady, he patted Pidgeot lightly. "I'm on."
"Pidge, pidge." Pidgeot could feel that Reiji was a little nervous, so it beat its wings gently.
The takeoff was a bit awkward at first. Once the wind caught under its wings, though, flying became much easier.
"Pidgeot..." This was Reiji's first time riding Pidgeot, and it felt nothing like Pelipper. Pelipper's body was round and steady, but Pidgeot made him feel the wind cutting past him.
Sitting on its back, he could feel the air slipping between his fingers. The clouds felt close enough to touch. If Pidgeot really sped up, it could hit Mach 2. Twice the speed of sound. That was insanely fast.
"Pidgeot." This was Pidgeot's first time carrying a person too. It felt strange, almost like the time it had caught a big fish back when it was still a Pidgeotto. Not bad at all. Maybe this was what the others meant when they talked about being close to their Trainer.
"Pelipper, we're heading back!" Reiji had no idea what Pidgeot was thinking. He waved to Pelipper below and decided to ride Pidgeot back. Pelipper could take a break for once.
"Peli, peli." Pelipper was more than happy to slack off. If it were the jealous type, it would probably be thinking it had just been replaced by the new favorite.
When they returned to the villa, Pidgeot's sudden landing put every kid training in the courtyard on guard. None of them had seen a bird that big before.
Pidgeot had only grown about 20 centimeters taller, but weight and wingspan did not scale that simply. The heavier the bird, the wider the wings had to be.
Back in Reiji's old world, a rough way to estimate a bird's wingspan was at least half its body weight in meters. A 2-kilogram bird needed about a 1-meter wingspan to fly.
An average Pidgeot weighed around 40 kilograms, and Reiji's was definitely heavier than that. By that formula, its wingspan would be around 20 meters.
That sounded exaggerated, but this was the Pokémon world. Plenty of things here did not follow normal biology. Pidgeot did not need a wingspan that absurd to fly, but its wings were still clearly broader than an average Pidgeot's.
"Rai-nii? You almost scared us to death." Sou walked over, then shrank back when Pidgeot's sharp eyes turned toward him. That stare was terrifying. It felt like the bird could eat him in the next second.
"Relax. This is my Pidgeot." Reiji smiled and patted Pidgeot, then glanced at Gulzar and Keith. Both of them had this line too.
"Rai-nii, your Pidgeot is huge. It feels way bigger than mine." Gulzar released his own Pidgeot and had it stand beside Reiji's. Sure enough, Reiji's was a full size larger and stood almost a head taller.
"Yeah, it's definitely bigger. Guess I raised it well." Reiji knew the real reason was the bloodline of the giant Pidgeot from Fairchild Island.
"Rai-nii, how do you raise a Pidgeot to get that strong? I want to learn too." Gulzar asked directly. It did not feel awkward to him at all, probably because he trusted Reiji and knew him well. If this were the Mikan Gym, he would never dare ask so casually.
"No problem. I'll let you copy my training notes later. Take your time studying them." Reiji planned to share the environment-based evolution method and item-assisted evolution method with the group.
They were not some deep, secret techniques. Any researcher who knew Pokémon well had a rough idea of what kind of environment suited each species. Most people simply did not connect that to evolution, so they never studied how the right environment could affect the result.
Using items during evolution was even more normal. Plenty of Pokémon evolved with Evolution Stones. The difference was that few people could afford to pile on that many resources and let a Pokémon absorb them. In the end, it all came down to money.
"Nice! Thanks, Rai-nii!" Gulzar jumped in excitement, then looked at Keith beside him. Keith also had a Pidgeotto.
If Gulzar could get Reiji's notes, Keith would definitely get to read them too. Reiji would not have said it in front of everyone otherwise.
"Dinner first." Reiji had fed the Pokémon earlier, but he still had not eaten.
"Boss, dinner's ready," Naoki said, leading him into the villa.
The same long dining table had been set in the living room. Each seat had a number, and the table was covered with food.
"We'll eat and talk." Reiji sat at the head of the table. Naoki was still on his left, but the seat on his right had changed to A.J.
So A.J. had taken Sou's number 2 spot. Naoki must have organized a match.
"Boss, don't look at me like that. I beat Sou fair and square in a 3-on-3." A.J. crossed his arms. He had never lacked the guts to climb higher. What he feared was having nowhere to go.
"Good. The capable move up. A little competition will make everyone stronger." Reiji nodded, then looked at Sou in the next seat. "Sou, don't slack off."
"I'll work hard, Rai-nii." Sou clenched his fists under the table. He was embarrassed. He only had 2 Advanced-tier Pokémon, and once A.J. figured out his style, he could not beat him.
"Don't stress too much," Reiji said. "Just keep up with everyone."
Then he looked at Keith. The kid was the youngest, the quietest, and still the weakest one here. He did not even have an Advanced-tier Pokémon yet.
"Rai-nii, I... I..." Keith lowered his head. He wanted to say something, but there was nothing to say. He had been trying. Everyone else was just too far ahead.
Reiji saw his eyes turning red and quickly laughed it off.
"Relax, I'm only messing with you. You joined last, and you're the youngest. Nobody's expecting you to catch up overnight."
"Yeah," Gulzar said, putting a hand on Keith's shoulder. "Rai-nii's just teasing you."
Gulzar sat beside Keith and trained at the villa often, so the two of them had gotten pretty close.
"Huh? Gulzar got pushed down too?" Reiji noticed Gulzar's seat number. He was sitting at number 5, while Gai was at number 4.
"Boss, that was me." Gai raised his hand. He had taken Gulzar's number and was now aiming for Sou's number 3 spot.
"Rai-nii, I..." Gulzar lowered his head too, too embarrassed to look up. He had just been comforting Keith, and now it was his turn.
"Gulzar, you need to work harder too." Reiji sighed. Gulzar's situation was different from Keith's.
One was a former pickpocket. The other had lost his Pokémon to poachers. If Gulzar did not work hard, he might lose his Pokémon again one day, and the pain would be his to carry. He had already seen the darker side of the world. Of everyone here, he was also one of the easiest to push down the wrong path.
"I will, Rai-nii." Gulzar kept his head down. Then Keith stepped on his foot. Gulzar shot him an annoyed look and saw the kid trying not to laugh. Honestly, it was kind of funny. Misery really did love company.
"Since you're all challenging each other now, we need rules," Reiji said. "One challenge per week. Standard League 3-on-3. Anyone ranked above both fighters can referee. Doesn't matter who."
Naoki waited until Reiji started eating before speaking. "Boss, we checked the old district today. There are 3 main gangs. They're the biggest ones there, and all 3 have connections to the black market and the city."
"Keep going," Reiji said. "We've already killed Team Rocket people. I'm not about to get scared of a few local gangs."
"They're set up a lot like the underground black market in Trovitopolis," Naoki said. "The 3 sides keep each other in check. The 2 weaker gangs look like they're starting to team up. As for the strongest gang, there are rumors that the boss is secretly Elite Four tier. His son has been making a lot of noise lately too."
Naoki continued, "The second-in-command from the other 2 gangs have both lost to that kid, more than once. And both of them are quasi–Elite Four Trainers. They each have at least 2 quasi–Elite Four Pokémon."
"So they're setting him up?" Reiji understood the move. Maybe the other gangs really were feeling pressure. Maybe they were acting weaker than they were. Maybe they wanted an excuse to work together, or maybe they wanted someone else to deal with the kid for them.
Either way, this might be exactly the kind of target Reiji needed.
"Could be all of that," Naoki said. "The kid was battling in the old district today, so I pretended to be a passerby and tested him. My Graveler lost to his Electabuzz even with the type advantage. Cost me a hundred thousand too."
"How strong is your Graveler now?" Reiji asked. Naoki's Geodude was one Reiji had helped pick. It had been about 4 months since then, which was also about how long they had known each other.
Naoki paused for a second. "Advanced tier. It's close to quasi–Elite Four."
"An Electabuzz beating an Advanced-tier Graveler through a bad matchup..." Reiji looked down the table. "If Electabuzz is already quasi–Elite Four, that's fine. If it's still Advanced tier, then the kid is a problem."
The 7 of them went quiet. Nobody wanted to answer. A bad matchup was a bad matchup. None of them could say they would definitely win that kind of fight.
An Advanced-tier Pokémon fighting another Advanced-tier Pokémon with the wrong matchup was already rough. Even a quasi–Elite Four Pokémon would not always get a clean win against an Advanced-tier opponent under those conditions.
"You could do it, Boss," A.J. said from beside him. He had watched Reiji's whole Indigo Plateau Conference run. Bad matchups had not stopped Reiji there, not even in the finals against Reggie.
"If you're going to flatter me, at least keep going." Reiji gave him a look. He knew he could do it, but hearing A.J. say it out loud made it sound like he was showing off.
A.J. laughed awkwardly and lowered his head.
"For now, assume the kid is quasi–Elite Four. Add a boss who might be hiding Elite Four-tier strength, the gang's second-in-command, their third, several Advanced-tier Trainers, and a whole crowd of underlings..." Reiji looked through the photos and went quiet. "This one won't be easy."
No wonder the other 2 gangs wanted to work together. They had probably realized the same thing.
From what they knew, the gang's second-in-command was definitely quasi–Elite Four tier. The boss might be hiding Elite Four-tier strength. The boss's son had probably just reached quasi–Elite Four and could not wait to show off.
That Electabuzz probably would not stay an Electabuzz for long either. Once it evolved into Electivire, it would be even harder to handle.
The other 2 gangs had their own strength too. Their bosses and second-in-command were confirmed quasi–Elite Four Trainers. But they were already being pushed into a corner. If they did not join forces, they would get swallowed sooner or later, and the strongest gang would take the entire old district.
So if Reiji wanted the hardest target, this was it: a boss who might be Elite Four tier, a quasi–Elite Four second-in-command, at least 3 quasi–Elite Four Pokémon, the boss's newly promoted son, several Advanced-tier Trainers, and a lot of underlings.
A real headache.
But picking one of the other 2 gangs would basically be doing the strongest gang a favor. He would clear the road for them, and they could take over the old district without paying a price. Reiji had no interest in making himself useful to someone else like that.
If they were going to make a statement, they might as well hit the strongest one. What was the point of bullying the weakest? That would only make it look like they were scared of the real target.
Although...
Well...
Forget it. That part did not matter.
"Boss, maybe we should..." Naoki saw Reiji hesitate and tried to suggest another target. Even he thought this one looked risky.
"No. We'll go with them." Reiji had already picked his target. "And if we do it, we make sure everyone sees it."
That did not mean they would charge in blind. A target like this needed proper scouting first. Reiji did not fight battles he was not ready for. If they did not have enough information, they would not move.
And if the gang turned out to be too strong, they would drop it. Reiji could back off. This was not the time to act tough. If they were not ready, they were not ready. Pride was useless.
So what if he was the boss? He was also the strongest one here. Everyone else was still too weak, and some of them were already getting ahead of themselves. If he did not keep them grounded, they would get themselves killed sooner or later.
Revenge, dreams, the future—none of it mattered if they were dead.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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