Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 115: Catching Raikou

It felt a trace of its power being stirred. Confused, it looked toward the direction of the Pokémon planet. An image appeared before it—a shattered valley, and a Munchlax using Metronome.

"Lucky little one."

Seeing the Metronome, the Pokémon murmured softly, then sank back into slumber.

At the foot of Raikou Mountain.

The golden sphere above Munchlax’s head rose into the sky under the watchful eyes of everyone and every Pokémon.

BOOM—

It exploded in the sky like a brilliant firework, scattering into countless golden meteors that rained down upon the valley.

"Not good!" Saurion’s danger instincts flared as he watched the falling meteors—especially one that was clearly heading straight for them.

"Tyranitar—use Hyper Beam to stop it!" Saurion shouted.

Tyranitar obeyed, unleashing the Hyper Beam it had been holding back. The beam struck the incoming meteor and shattered it midair.

Saurion sighed in relief. Then he sneered: "Tch—that wasn’t even impressive. A Hyper Beam swept it away just like that. All that tension for nothing."

He was about to turn and taunt Rio when he noticed Tyranitar’s expression turn even more fearful. He looked up again—four meteors that had been falling randomly suddenly changed course and were now hurtling straight toward them.

"Tyranitar—Hyper Beam! Now!" Saurion screamed.

But Tyranitar was immobilized from the Hyper Beam recoil. It couldn’t move, let alone fire again. Saurion could only watch helplessly as the four golden meteors slammed into Tyranitar one after another.

When the dust settled, Tyranitar lay on the ground, thoroughly defeated. Saurion stared at his fallen ace, unable to accept reality. His main Pokémon had just stepped onto the battlefield—and before it could even land a hit, it was already down.

He looked around—his four companions’ Pokémon were also down, each having taken at least one golden meteor.

Saurion was in shock. They’d charged down with high spirits, ready to help—and before they could do anything, before they could take any pressure off Raikou, their strongest Pokémon were all out of commission. The rest of their teams couldn’t compare.

Hunter J was equally stunned. Her trump card for backstabbing H was gone. Was she really going to have to go through with her plan—and actually find a buyer for Raikou?

The most excited person, however, was Hunter A. He’d thought H was out of his mind, sending out a Munchlax to use Metronome. Had he lost his mind? Now he realized—he was the one who’d lost his mind. It was perfect. Raikou was now nothing more than a piece of meat on the hunters’ chopping block—it couldn’t win, and it couldn’t escape.

As for Rio, he was smirking at the five fallen Pokémon. That was definitely Arceus’s Judgment, wasn’t it? Saurion’s ancestors must have accumulated some serious karma—this is a move that even most legendaries don’t get to experience. They can brag about this for years... if anyone believes them.

"Ka~" Munchlax, having completed its task, dropped from midair and waddled over to Rio, rubbing its rear and asking for food.

"Good work, Munchlax. Once this trip is over, I’ll take you out for a real feast." Rio tossed it a couple of Snorlax Energy Cubes.

"Ka~" Hearing about a feast, Munchlax’s eyes curved into happy slits. Rio keeps his word. Much better than its old trainer—said he’d take it for good food and actually did.

[Munchlax’s friendship increased.]

[Friendship: 95 (from -21 to 95)]

Rio smiled and patted Munchlax’s head. It was now only 4 points away from unlocking its second-tier reward. He’d have to take it out for more good meals soon.

After feeding Munchlax, Rio turned back to Raikou’s battlefield. During Judgment’s display, Charizard and the others had continued their assault on Raikou—still dominating it. Raikou wanted to flee, but Mean Look kept it trapped. It could only fight back.

One of Judgment’s meteors had also struck Raikou—not enough to knock it out, but it was close. After another half-minute of sustained assault, Rio seized the moment and threw another Poké Ball.

With a flash of light, Raikou was drawn inside once more.

Everyone held their breath. Saurion and his group prayed for another failure. The hunters prayed for success. The ball wobbled once. Twice. Then a third time—ping!—it clicked shut. The capture was successful.

Behind his mask, Rio’s face lit up like a blooming flower. Finally—finally—he’d caught his first legendary Pokémon. And without even using the Master Ball. He could already imagine it: once you catch one, you can catch two, and once you catch two, there’ll be five, six, seven, eight, nine...

He was ecstatic. If he weren’t in front of so many people, he’d have burst into song.

"Hahaha—well done, H! We couldn’t have caught Raikou without you!"

Hunter A approached with the other hunters, already envisioning his post-mission world travels. He reached out to take the Poké Ball containing Raikou.

But just as his fingers were about to touch it, Rio pulled it back.

Hunter A looked at him in confusion.

"Who said I was going to hand over the Poké Ball?" Rio sneered.

Hunter A’s face froze.