Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 21: The Treasure Map

Upon hearing Brock’s younger brother’s words, a single thought instantly popped into Rio’s mind:

If you want to challenge the Gym, you have to help the Gym Leader resolve this incident first.

"Can you tell me where Gym Leader Brock is? I’d like to do my small part for social stability," Rio said immediately.

However, he was flatly refused.

Brock’s younger brother gave Rio a once-over and shook his head: "I’d advise you not to get involved. Team Rocket is a very dangerous organization. Leave this kind of thing to my brother and the League."

With that, he turned and walked away.

Rio watched him leave and rubbed his nose. "Charmeleon, it seems we’ve been looked down upon."

"Rua~" — When we have our Gym battle, I’ll make sure he sees just how powerful this genius really is.

Charmeleon let out an unhappy cry.

"Never mind. Since they don’t need our help, let’s head to the Pokémon Center first and take care of Grandpa Fuji’s task," Rio shrugged, leading Charmeleon and Munchlax away.

He pulled out his phone to call Karen and found out the other was already exploring the Pewter City Museum of Science. So Rio headed to the Pokémon Center on his own.

...

At the Pokémon Center.

"You’re the volunteer sent from the Pokémon House, right? Follow me—the three Pokémon are staying in the back courtyard," Nurse Joy said warmly after seeing Rio’s volunteer ID, and led him to the rear.

Soon, Rio saw the three abandoned Pokémon: an Oddish, a Sandshrew, and a Mankey.

He checked their info panels. Their friendship values were -6, -5, and -18 respectively.

Oddish and Sandshrew had been abandoned because they were too weak—they kept losing battles and learned moves slowly.

As for Mankey, it had Quasi-Elite Four talent, but its temper was explosive. One night, it suddenly remembered something that made it angry, broke out of its Poké Ball while its trainer was sleeping, and beat them up.

Currently, Oddish and Sandshrew were huddled together in a corner like two children seeking warmth. Mankey, on the other hand, was locked in a cage, screeching.

"That one gets angry far too easily. It’s beaten up every Pokémon in the back courtyard over the past few days. We had no choice but to lock it up," Nurse Joy explained, noticing Rio’s gaze.

"No need to explain—I understand," Rio said with a smile.

After all, this was a Pokémon that could evolve into its final form simply by getting so angry it died of rage. And with Quasi-Elite Four talent, its tendency to go berserk was hardly surprising.

Nurse Joy nodded, relieved that he understood. Even she had nearly fallen victim to Mankey’s rampage on the first night it arrived—thankfully, Chansey had saved her.

Then Rio’s voice came again: "But keeping it locked up like this forever won’t work."

Nurse Joy looked at him quizzically.

"Do you have any clothes here that are really resistant to beatings?" Rio asked.

"Resistant to beatings?" Nurse Joy couldn’t follow his train of thought. Was he planning to go in and get beaten up?

She shook her head: "We don’t have anything like that here."

Rio then asked: "How about plush toys or pillows?"

"We do have a Chansey plush," Nurse Joy said. "A trainer once gave it to Chansey as a thank-you gift."

Rio said decisively: "Throw it in."

As soon as he said that, he felt Chansey’s angry little glare on him.

Rio smiled awkwardly: "Uh... the healer comes first, the patient comes second. Chansey, just think of it as using yourself for treatment. If we had any padded armor, I’d go in myself."

A minute later, Chansey reluctantly handed its plush toy to Rio.

Rio opened the cage, tossed the plush in, and closed it again.

What followed was a truly brutal scene. Under Mankey’s vicious assault, the Chansey plush was torn to shreds in less than ten seconds—cotton flying everywhere across the courtyard.

Witnessing this, Chansey stared daggers at Rio. He strongly suspected that if Nurse Joy weren’t there, Chansey would have shoved him right into that cage.

Five minutes later, Mankey gradually calmed down.

Rio walked over and opened the cage.

Mankey looked at him but couldn’t be bothered to come out and attack him. In fact, its friendship even went up by one point, rising from -18 to -17.

"Impressive, Mr. Rio! Doing that actually calmed it down," Nurse Joy said, her eyes lighting up.

Rio smiled and explained: "Anger is an emotion—you have to let it out. Mankey is naturally prone to rage. If you don’t let it vent, it just accumulates. Once it’s free again, it’ll either attack other Pokémon or its trainer."

"Chansey, do you understand my actions now?"

"Lucky~" Chansey huffed and turned its head away with a proud pout.

After calming Mankey down, Rio walked over to Oddish and Sandshrew. He didn’t do anything elaborate—just gave them some food.

These two, in essence, had simply lost their confidence. They needed to be showered with praise until they believed they were worthy of love. But that would take time—just like it had with Charmander.

"Hm? You said Gym Leader Brock is here?" Rio heard Nurse Joy’s voice behind him after a moment.

He gave Oddish and Sandshrew a few more pats on the head, then stood up and walked over.

As he reached the entrance, he saw a tan-skinned young man on one knee in front of Nurse Joy, wearing a deeply affectionate expression.

"Ah~ beautiful Nurse Joy, they say a day apart feels like three years—just one morning without you, and longing nearly killed me."

Rio’s mouth twitched slightly at the sight. This lovestruck maniac—truly the Brock he knew.

"Officer Jenny, is there something we can help with?" Nurse Joy, clearly used to this, completely ignored Brock and addressed Officer Jenny from Pewter City standing behind him.

"We just engaged Team Rocket at the foot of Mt. Moon. Many officers’ Pokémon are injured and need treatment," Officer Jenny said, pulling out a bag full of Poké Balls from behind her.

"Have you figured out why they came to Pewter City?" Nurse Joy asked as she took the bag.

"A treasure map—a map to a legendary Pokémon," Officer Jenny replied.

Rio’s pupils contracted. He sidled closer, trying to hear more clearly.

But what he didn’t notice was that Munchlax, following behind him, had suddenly been distracted by a truck loaded with Berries.

"Ka~"

Munchlax glanced at Rio, wanting to drag him over to pay—but then realized that by the time it got Rio’s attention, the truck would be long gone.

Panicked, it made a decision.

It bolted.