Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 11: The Exchange Begins

After having Charmander accomplish its goal of defeating Munchlax and finishing breakfast, Rio and Mr. Fuji talked outside the Pokémon House.

"That’s right. They said we’d know when we got there, and we need to be there by three in the afternoon."

Mr. Fuji’s expression was worried. Although Charmander had easily defeated Munchlax just now, he still had doubts about facing Team Rocket.

"Rio, are you sure you can do this?"

"Don’t worry, Grandpa Fuji. With Charmander and me on the case, nothing will go wrong," Rio said confidently, patting his chest.

"Rua~" Charmander mimicked him, stretching out its little arms to pat its own chest as well.

Seeing the confidence of this one-person-one-Pokémon duo, Mr. Fuji’s concern eased a little.

What he didn’t know, however, was that Rio was actually quite nervous inside. He had no idea how many Team Rocket members had kidnapped Rina or how strong they were. The only reason he was going was because Charmander’s Poké Ball was with Rina—if he didn’t get it back, all his hard work over the past days would be for nothing. No matter how well he trained Charmander, the system would never recognize it as his Pokémon.

"I wonder if there’s a device that can reset a registered Pokémon’s ownership," Rio muttered to himself. Then he recalled that Team Rocket had a business of stealing other people’s Pokémon and selling them on the black market, so they must have some kind of shady technology for that.

"If this doesn’t work out, should I join Team Rocket?" The sudden wild thought crossed his mind, but he quickly shook his head and dismissed it. He hadn’t even started the fight, and already he was thinking about a fallback plan?

"No—to be safe, I should gather some people to hide nearby. If things really go south, they can back me up." Rio pulled out his phone and sent a help request to all the trainers he’d added in Lavender Town. He told them to head to Route 8, either hide or pretend to be trainers catching wild Pokémon. If he ran into an unsolvable crisis, he’d find a way to have Charmander fire a Dragon Breath into the sky as a signal.

...

An hour and a half later, Rio and Mr. Fuji, accompanied by Charmander, arrived at Route 8, west of Lavender Town.

Rio looked around. Route 8 stretched out before him, completely empty as far as he could see. He frowned.

"Didn’t they say we’d know when we got here? How am I supposed to know?"

But just as he finished speaking, two figures emerged from the woods to the east—a crew-cut man in a black uniform with a red "R" emblem on his chest, and a short-haired woman in the same uniform. A Houndour followed at the man’s feet, and an Ekans trailed beside the woman.

"Dr. Fuji, hello. We’re here to escort you. My name is Kishi," the crew-cut man said first.

"My name is Kurohana," the short-haired woman added.

"Where’s Rina? Is she all right? You haven’t hurt her, have you?" Mr. Fuji asked urgently.

"Don’t worry, Dr. Fuji. Miss Rina is perfectly safe. As long as you hand over what we want, we’ll make sure your granddaughter returns home safely," said Kurohana, the short-haired woman, smiling as she extended her left hand in a gesture inviting Mr. Fuji into the woods.

With a frown, Mr. Fuji followed.

Rio followed closely behind with Charmander, casting his gaze over the Houndour and Ekans.

The next moment, detailed information about the two Pokémon appeared before his eyes:

[Pokémon: Houndour]

[Level: 24]

[Talent: Ordinary]

[Ability: Flash Fire]

[Gender: Male]

[Moves: Leer (24%), Ember (26%), Bite (18%), Incinerate (15%)]

[Pokémon: Arbok]

[Level: 22]

[Talent: Ordinary]

[Ability: Shed Skin]

[Gender: Female]

[Moves: Wrap (23%), Poison Sting (18%), Glare (17%), Acid (15%)]

Looking at the information on these two Pokémon, Rio breathed a small sigh of relief. Apart from being higher leveled than Charmander, their talents and move proficiencies were inferior. If a fight broke out, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

"A shiny Charmander! That’s worth a pretty penny," came the crew-cut man’s surprised voice near Rio’s ear.

Rio glanced over and saw the man’s undisguised greed. When their eyes met, the man’s expression shifted from greed to provocation.

Rio ignored him and continued following Mr. Fuji with Charmander.

About fifteen minutes later, led by the two Team Rocket members, Rio and Mr. Fuji arrived at a small hill.

There, Rio spotted Rina—and behind her, a bald, burly man, plus a Pokémon that made Rio’s heart sink.

[Pokémon: Golbat]

[Level: 30]

[Talent: Elite]

[Ability: Inner Focus]

[Gender: Male]

[Moves: Screech (34%), Astonish (25%), Bite (28%), Wing Attack (25%), Confuse Ray (25%), Air Cutter (22%)]

"This is a bit of a problem. I’ll have to outsmart them first and get Charmander’s Poké Ball back. Then I’ll see if the first-tier reward unlock can give Charmander the ability to beat this thing," Rio thought to himself, biting his lip lightly.

Level 30 with Elite talent and decent move proficiency—on paper, Charmander would have a hard time winning against it. After all, Charmander was only Level 15, a full fifteen levels behind.

"Dr. Fuji, it’s been a long time. I wonder if you still remember me?" The bald man standing beside Rina greeted Mr. Fuji warmly.

Mr. Fuji looked at him for a moment, then shook his head: "I’m old. I’ve forgotten many people and things."

"No worries, no worries. Back then, during that experiment, I was still a nobody. It’s understandable that you don’t remember me. You will from now on, though." The bald man rubbed his own shiny head proudly. "My name is Temu. I’m now a mid-level Officer in Team Rocket. I’m honored to have received a personal assignment from Boss Giovanni to retrieve that item from you."

At this, Mr. Fuji looked toward Rio—because Rio had said earlier that he would handle the entire exchange.

Just then, Mr. Fuji’s eyelid twitched. Rio, standing beside him, seemed to have slipped something into his hand.

He glanced down slightly and saw a small purple box. Just as he was about to ask what it was, Rio lifted his hand up.

Rio spoke loudly: "Brother Temu, the item is right here with us. If you want it, I suggest we do a person-for-item exchange."

Temu’s eyes lit up as he stared excitedly at the small box in Mr. Fuji’s hand. Though he didn’t know what was inside, successfully completing Boss Giovanni’s mission would be a great triumph. Maybe if Giovanni was pleased, he’d get promoted from mid-level to high-level Officer.

"Deal. Person for item." Temu laughed heartily, helped Rina up from where she was sitting at his feet, and walked toward Rio.

Rio took the small box from Mr. Fuji and walked toward the other side.

The exchange went smoothly—Rio took Rina, and Temu took the small box from Rio.

"Good lad. I like people who get straight to the point," Temu said, giving Rio a thumbs-up after receiving the box.

Rio smiled but didn’t reply. He quickly led Rina back toward Mr. Fuji, urging her in a low voice: "Is Charmander’s Poké Ball on you? Give it to me now."

"No—it’s not on me. That bastard threw it away."

"What? Threw it away?"

"That jerk saw a Poké Ball on my waist and thought there was a Pokémon inside, so he tried to steal it. When he found out it was empty, he just tossed it on the ground."

Rina’s words made Rio’s expression freeze. He turned to look at the spot where Rina had been sitting—and there, lying on the ground, was a shiny Poké Ball.

At the same time, Temu’s furious voice rang out beside him:

"Kid, you bastard! You actually dared to trick me with a fucking Oran Berry!"