"That's not all. Electivire, big Electroweb!"
"Rrr!"
This time, Electivire took longer to prepare. Its golden tails whipped upward, throwing out a huge web of electricity that spread over the electric cage and began sinking slowly.
"Raaah…?"
Walrein stopped rolling and lifted its head, looking at the Electroweb above it, then at the electric cage behind it.
No matter where it dodged, it would touch one of those electric walls. Getting tangled in the net would be even worse. And Electivire was already walking toward it.
"Don't panic. Blizzard."
"Raaah!"
Cissy's father's voice stayed steady, and Walrein calmed down at once. It lifted its head and roared, calling down another blizzard.
"Not happening. Electivire, pump more power into the cage. Use Thunder!"
"Rrrraah!"
Electivire's antennae fired another thick bolt of lightning into the sky. With Thunder feeding it, the current in both the electric cage and the Electroweb grew violently thicker.
The lightning was not bothered by the blizzard at all. Snow and chunks of ice struck the electric cage, only to melt instantly from the heat. The current was being drained fast, but the cage was shrinking just as quickly.
"Walrein, make an ice shell!"
Cissy's father watched Electivire continue pushing power into the field and clicked his tongue inwardly. This thing had absurd reserves. Even with the blizzard eating away at the electricity, it still had that much left.
Defense it was.
"Electivire, now! Get in there, break the shell and grab it!"
"Rrr!"
Just as the Electroweb was about to drop, Walrein raised its head and spat out a wall of water around itself. The water froze instantly, forming a round shell of ice with Walrein hidden inside.
Electivire cut off the electricity and rushed forward with Quick Attack. The cage had forced Walrein close already. In a blink, Electivire reached the ice shell, its fist blazing with Fire Punch.
"Walrein, Protect!"
"Rrrraah!"
Electivire did not slow down. Fire Punch crashed into the ice and shattered it, revealing Walrein inside with Protect raised.
The punch kept going and slammed into the barrier.
"Tail."
"Damn."
The moment Cissy's father heard that word, he knew what was coming. He tried to warn Walrein, but Electivire's twin golden tails had already slipped around the Protect barrier and coiled around Walrein's neck.
"Rrr!"
Electivire kept Fire Punch pressed against the shield. Its other arm came up wrapped in electricity, and Thunder Punch hammered into Protect again, forcing Walrein to keep all its attention on the front.
Boom!
At the same time, Thunder burst from Electivire's tails and struck Walrein directly.
"Raaaah!"
Walrein took the hit head-on. Its Protect collapsed, the Fire Punch withdrew, and the Thunder Punch followed through without losing momentum.
Electivire slammed its fist into Walrein's face and drove it into the grass. The ground caved beneath it, opening a deep crater.
Cracks spread outward from the impact, splitting the earth in every direction until they reached Cissy's father's feet.
Only then did he snap back to himself.
He had lost.
"Stop!"
Cissy's father saw Electivire lift its fist for another blow and called out at once. He conceded.
Walrein had taken Thunder and Thunder Punch back-to-back, then been pinned in the crater with no room to move. Once it was caught like that, the match was only going one way. On land, it was still nowhere near as agile as it would be in water.
"Electivire, stop!" Reiji shouted the moment he heard the call. "That's enough. Don't attack."
"Rrr."
Electivire slowly opened its raised fist. It rose from the edge of the crater and used its tails to drag Walrein back up, the twin tails still looped around Walrein's neck.
"Raaah… raaah…"
Walrein came out coughing black smoke. It had clearly been shocked badly. Even its cry sounded weak, though it had not fainted.
Clap. Clap.
Cissy's father walked over, applauding as he came. When he saw that Walrein was not seriously hurt, only badly shocked, he recalled it into its Poké Ball.
"Not bad, brat. And you call that a Pokémon you haven't synced with? Looked pretty smooth to me."
"You're giving me too much credit, Gym Leader." Reiji had not expected Electivire to listen this well either. "We really haven't battled together much. Maybe living together helped. We're familiar enough to trust each other, so the rhythm came naturally."
It was a little like Shingo's data battling. If a Pokémon listened closely to orders, it could still produce excellent coordination.
But Reiji was not about to get cocky.
At the start of the match, Cissy's father had given him a lot of room. Only after Reiji and Electivire found their pace did the battle start feeling natural.
"No need to be modest." Cissy's father looked at him with genuine feeling this time. "Maybe that's just talent. Some people are born to be Trainers."
He had watched Reiji go from slightly awkward at the start, to keeping pace, to setting a trap that even caught him.
If Reiji had not shouted "tail," he might not have realized what was about to happen. And Electivire had understood the same thing. Even if Reiji had not said it, Electivire would probably have used its tails to bind Walrein anyway.
"I still don't think it's enough." Reiji smiled and patted Electivire's arm, then held out his fist. "If we want clean teamwork in the tournament, we need more battles."
"Rrr."
Electivire understood at once and bumped its fist against his.
They had practiced that gesture often. It was part of building rhythm. Fist to fist, feeling each other's presence.
"Eat some Pokéblocks first, then come back and rest."
Reiji took out a box of Electric-type Pokéblocks and let Electivire pour the whole thing into its mouth. One box was nowhere near enough, but he recalled it anyway. It could eat more later. Dinner was still a while away, and if needed, it could recharge indoors. Charging would restore it faster.
"Dad… that battle just now…"
Senta and Cissy walked over, both still stunned.
The battle had shaken the ground. It had been far beyond anything they had expected. Plenty of people inside the Gym had come out to watch from a distance. If their grandfather had not stopped them, they would have come closer.
Elite Four-tier battles were no joke. Reiji and Cissy's father both had Pokémon protecting them, so they were fine. But an ordinary person without protection could have their organs ruptured just from getting too close to the shockwaves.
"That Electivire is yours?" Cissy looked at Reiji with complicated eyes.
She had not expected him to step into Elite Four tier without saying a word. That had clearly been an Elite Four-tier battle.
How much else was this jerk hiding from her?
"Yeah. I caught it in Johto." Reiji did not bother hiding it.
A shiny Electivire was too eye-catching. He could not use it under the Spider identity, so it had to stay with his public team.
Team Rocket had lost an Electivire, and Krystal knew he had been around the lake with the crystal during that period. If anyone seriously investigated, they would eventually find out it was with him.
If Spider used Electivire, he might as well announce the connection himself. Team Rocket was already hard enough to shake off; he had no reason to hand them an obvious clue.
"You brat, that luck of yours…" Cissy's grandfather had come over too. He glanced at the Poké Ball Reiji had used for Electivire, shook his head with a bitter smile, and walked away.
He did not know whether to call it good or ridiculous.
This kid's luck was absurd. He had actually run into an Elite Four-tier Electivire, and then somehow caught it. The dark Pokémon in his shadow must have helped.
Then again, being able to win over that dark Pokémon was also luck. Anyone else might have found Electivire and still failed to catch it.
"Come on. I'll have people clean up the field. The crater will be filled, and we'll seed the grass again." Cissy's father led everyone back toward the Gym.
The battle was over, and he was very satisfied with Reiji's performance.
The more he looked, the more he liked this kid.
Only someone strong could stand beside his wild daughter. Before, he had thought Reiji still needed another couple of years before making a push for the Elite Four. Now that was unnecessary.
With Electivire and the dark Pokémon in his shadow, the boy already had momentum. Cissy's father could entrust both his daughter and the Gym to him without worrying too much.
"Whoa, Rai-nii, when did you get that strong?" Senta had none of Cissy's sense of being kept in the dark. He crowded around Reiji, firing questions nonstop. "You actually beat Dad!"
"All right, all right," Reiji said, steering Senta toward the treatment room. "Take me to get everyone checked first. I'll tell you what I can on the way."
"Sure, sure! I'll take you there now. Rai-nii, you're eating dinner at my house tonight, and sleeping here too. I've got so much to ask you."
Cissy's father stopped in the corridor and spoke without turning around. "Cissy, strong Trainers never lack people who want to stand beside them. Unless they're the ones pushing everyone away."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "That boy is an orphan. His character is good, his temperament is steady, and his strength speaks for itself. Your grandfather, your mother, and I can't find much to complain about. His background is a weakness, but it's also an advantage."
"If he came from a powerful family, you might be the one getting tied down by a marriage arrangement. But because he has no family, he can become part of ours. We can treat him like our own son." He sighed. "Think it over."
He left her there and went to find his wife.
Tonight, he and his wife had to talk this through properly. They needed to settle it before this son-in-law slipped away.
His daughter probably was not the problem.
The problem was Reiji. With that boy, waiting around might not work. They might have to be the ones to push things forward.
Cissy stood in the corridor, listening to her father's footsteps fade. She bit her lip.
Of course she wanted that.
It was not like she had never shown him how she felt. She had, more than once. The problem was that Reiji never seemed to look at her that way.
And then there was what her mother had said about letting him stay the night and creating an opportunity.
She was only fifteen. How had her mother said that with a straight face?
Her mother had said she and Cissy's father had not been much older when they met, only fifteen or sixteen, about the same age as Cissy and Reiji now. Back then, they had already decided the other person was the one they wanted for life.
Her mother had also said Cissy's father used to be strong, wild, and fearless. He acted fast, hit hard, chased extremes, and caused plenty of trouble because he never bothered hiding who he was. Her family had hated that about him.
After they got together, he had settled down a lot. He stopped dragging trouble home so often, and her mother had lost contact with her own family for a long time because she insisted on leaving with him.
Reiji was the complete opposite of her father.
Polite. Careful. So cautious it was almost frustrating. Sometimes he fought like he had nothing left to lose, but most of the time he kept everything locked down.
Aside from the fact that he acted completely blind whenever she tried to get close, he was good in every way.
No. Stop.
If she kept thinking like this, she would start naming their children.
Cissy realized where her thoughts were going, and heat rushed straight to her face. She glanced up and down the corridor. Once she was sure no one had seen her, she slipped back into her room, threw herself onto the bed, hugged her pillow, and rolled around in silence.
At the same time, Reiji arrived at the Gym's treatment room.
Mikan Gym had its own private Pokémon doctor, hired specifically to examine and treat the Gym's Pokémon. If challengers were injured during a Gym battle, they could also receive emergency treatment here.
Reiji handed over more than ten Pokémon at once. The doctor froze for half a second at the number, then quickly got to work with the medical equipment.
Reiji and Senta waited outside.
While they waited, Reiji opened Slowking's panel. He had not had time to check it properly before. Now he could finally take a look.
[Slowking]
[Type: Water + Psychic]
[Gender: Female]
[Potential: 61%]
[Level: 58.91%]
[Ability: Oblivious/41.15%][Hidden Ability: Regenerator/22.16%]
[Moves]
Water-type: [(Water Gun/49.11%) (Muddy Water/25.88%) (Whirlpool/29.95%) (Scald/24.24%) (Rain Dance/42.83%) (Water Pulse/36.11%) (Hydro Pump/34.65%) (Surf/23.25%) (Brine/25.55%) (Razor Shell/24.15%) (Dive/24.34%)]
Psychic-type: [(Confusion/55.14%) (Rest/41.28%) (Calm Mind/47.73%) (Psychic Terrain/36.82%) (Skill Swap/25.45%) (Imprison/23.35%) (Light Screen/39.33%) (Reflect/35.16%) (Psyshock/45.26%) (Future Sight/35.32%) (Heal Pulse/34.33%) (Amnesia/36.65%) (Zen Headbutt/34.64%) (Teleport/53.66%) (Trick Room/46.81%) (Psybeam/46.22%) (Psychic/54.35%)]
Normal-type: [(Tackle/11.21%) (Growl/14.31%) (Yawn/26.23%) (Sleep Talk/27.22%) (Body Slam/21.84%) (Psych Up/24.91%) (Slack Off/27.24%) (Disable/23.58%) (Hyper Beam/33.54%) (Protect/43.64%)]
Ice-type: [(Ice Beam/42.61%) (Icy Wind/32.61%) (Ice Punch/32.11%) (Blizzard/28.68%)]
Ground-type: [(Bulldoze/38.34%) (Mud Shot/44.53%) (Earthquake/22.23%)]
Fighting-type: [(Brick Break/24.67%) (Drain Punch/21.33%)]
Electric-type: [(Thunder Wave/26.62%) (Thunder Punch/21.71%)]
Fire-type: [(Fire Punch/23.73%) (Flamethrower/28.74%) (Fire Blast/18.44%)]
Other: [(Iron Defense/24.82%) (Shadow Ball/25.11%) (Nasty Plot/26.92%) (Rock Tomb/21.57%)]
"Sixty-one?"
Reiji remembered Slowpoke's potential being around 41 or 42 before. Now it was 61. That was a jump of nearly 20 points, just enough to cross the Elite Four threshold.
Could a combined evolution with another Pokémon really do that much by itself? Reiji doubted it. Cissy's grandfather must have fed Slowking something valuable to push its potential that high.
Not that it mattered now.
From here, he could keep using combined evolution until Slowking's potential broke into Champion tier.
Getting from 61 to above 80 would probably cost more than 200 million. Just crossing the Elite Four threshold usually took 50 or 60 million. Since that hurdle was already gone, Cissy's grandfather had saved him a fortune.
Then there was Slowking's level. After evolving, it had jumped straight to level 58, placing it firmly in quasi–Elite Four tier. That meant he had to start thinking about its Elite Four breakthrough too.
Unfortunately, he had no idea where to start. For that, he would probably have to rely on Cissy's family inheritance.
Whether they would actually give it to him was another question.
As for its abilities, Oblivious had improved a lot. Regenerator lagged behind, probably because raising that proficiency required frequent switching in and out of its Poké Ball. Slowpoke had mostly been left outside before, so its hidden ability had not grown much.
Its moves were even better.
Slowking's Psychic-type move pool was especially rich, almost on Ludicolo's level. Staying at Mikan Gym had clearly paid off.
Reiji closed the panel.
Senta was still beside him, practically bursting with questions, so Reiji picked a few things he could talk about and told him some harmless stories from Johto.
After a while, the examinations were finished. None of the Pokémon had any serious issues. Magmar and Rhydon's hand injuries had healed too.
Reiji collected his Pokémon, said goodbye to the endlessly curious Senta, then went to the back garden to pick up the rest. After that, he mounted Pelipper and returned to the lakeside cabins.
"Raaah! Raaah!"
The moment he landed, the clone Pokémon stirred up and rushed over to greet him.
"Everyone behaving? No fighting while I was gone?" Reiji looked from his own Pokémon to the clone Pokémon.
The excitement vanished.
Every Pokémon suddenly found something else to look at. A few even started whistling innocently.
Right.
So it definitely had not been peaceful.
Reiji went inside first. The house was still intact, and nothing looked like it had been turned over. Only then did he relax.
He did not make a big deal out of it. He simply warned everyone to get along, then went back outside to start dinner.
The sky was nearly dark when Farfetch'd returned from the horizon. Reiji was already cooking.
"Farfetch'd, you've had it rough while I was gone. I'll be staying here for a while." Reiji smiled and patted its head.
This duck really had a sense of responsibility. Outside the main team, it had probably worked the hardest.
The main team followed him into battle. Butterfree helped look after the Pokémon staying at the Gym. Farfetch'd handled the orchard and the clone Pokémon at the lakeside cabins. Everyone had been working hard.
Which made Reiji, the actual Trainer, look like the laziest one here.
"Far! Far!"
Farfetch'd flapped its wings, insisting it was not tired. Then it spotted Lucario and flew over, clearly wanting to know how Lucario had changed after traveling with Reiji.
Reiji let the Pokémon catch up among themselves. While he cooked, he looked across the fire at Lokoko.
"Lokoko, the Orange League tournament is almost here. Brock will definitely be at the tournament site. You don't mind waiting a few more days, right?"
"I've waited hundreds of years," Lokoko said, watching the sunset fade. The moon had already fallen into the lake. "A few more days won't make a difference."
"When the time comes, we may need to stage something. You'll be chased by bad guys, Brock will find you injured, and then he'll catch you. Don't show him your human illusion right away either. Give him time to get used to you first."
"Do whatever you think is best."
Lokoko sounded calm, but Reiji could tell it was looking forward to it.
Brock resembled its old master, and he was also that master's descendant. Of course Lokoko wanted to know what kind of person he was.
"Can you tell me about him? About Brock?"
"Brock?" Reiji paused, then smiled faintly as he stirred the mushroom soup. "He loves Pokémon. Really loves them. He's the kind of Trainer who takes care of others before himself. Gentle, patient…"
And while the soup simmered over the fire, Reiji began telling Lokoko about the Brock he knew.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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