Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 25: Rio’s Ecstasy

An Onix appeared on the battlefield.

[Pokémon: Onix]

[Level: 20]

[Talent: Quasi-Elite Four]

[Ability: Sturdy]

[Gender: Male]

[Moves: Bind (35%), Harden (35%), Rock Throw (33%), Iron Tail (33%), Rock Tomb (33%)]

Rio raised an eyebrow. Brock had switched from an Elite-talent Geodude to a Quasi-Elite Four-talent Onix?

Just then, Brock spoke with confidence from across the field:

"Let my carefully trained Onix be your opponent—that will make this a true test of skill. Don’t worry—even if you lose this match, I’ll still give you the Gym badge."

He tossed a bottle of HP-restoring medicine in front of Charmeleon.

"Charmeleon, drink that to recover from the earlier battle."

Then he called out to his younger brother in the audience: "Jiro, record this next battle and put it on the big screen afterward to promote it. This is going to be a high-quality, evenly matched fight!"

"Got it, big brother!" Jiro immediately pulled out a camera and started recording.

On the other side, Rio’s lips curled upward.

Evenly matched?

Not necessarily.

Moments later, the second battle began.

"Charmeleon, Sunny Day!" Rio issued the first command this time.

"Rua~" Charmeleon immediately cried out to the sky.

"Sunny Day? Did that kid mess up his command?" Brock was first taken aback, but quickly recovered and ordered: "Onix, Rock Tomb!"

"Roar~" Onix roared, swung its tail, and sent a barrage of scattered rocks from the rocky battlefield hurtling toward Charmeleon.

"Charmeleon, dodge them! Block the ones you can’t with your claws!" Rio didn’t order a counterattack.

Charmeleon followed the order, doing its best to evade the incoming rocks. However, due to the sheer number, three consecutive rocks struck it, pushing it back four or five meters.

Brock smiled slightly. Now this is the effect a Rock-type should have against a Fire-type.

But the next second, his expression stiffened.

Because the temperature on the rocky battlefield began to rise. Scorching sunlight suddenly blazed down from the sky. Charmeleon, which had just been pushed back, began to glow with a golden sheen. Solar Power grew increasingly prominent under the brilliant, intense sunlight, and the flame on its tail shifted to a bluish-white hue.

"Th-this... it really is Sunny Day!" Brock looked up at the sky, his face full of shock.

The rising heat quickly made him break out in sweat.

A bad feeling surged within him. He quickly gave a new command: "Onix, use Harden!"

Onix stopped attacking, and a silver light shimmered across its body as its Defense rose sharply.

Meanwhile, Rio gave his attack command: "Charmeleon, Ember!"

Charmeleon swung its tail. The next moment, an even larger bluish-white fireball than before slammed into Onix’s massive body. Onix let out a pained roar.

The damage was so severe that, had it not been for the Sturdy ability, it might have been a one-hit knockout.

Brock was drenched in sweat.

"Onix! Hold on—charge in and use Bind! Don’t give it another chance to use a Fire-type move!"

"Roar~" Onix, now barely hanging on, charged at Charmeleon.

"Charmeleon, Ember," Rio commanded calmly, ordering another blast.

Trying to stop Charmeleon from using a Fire-type move when it was already on the verge of collapsing? Not unless it was a Psychic-type.

Charmeleon received the command. Facing the charging Onix, it casually swung its tail—just like Rio had done. Another bluish-white fireball shot out and collided head-on with Onix.

This hit sent Onix crashing down three seconds later. The victor was clear.

Silence.

Dead silence.

For a moment, the entire Rock-type Gym was stunned. Even the referee was dumbfounded. Was the Gym challenge already over?

It was only the second time the referee had seen the Gym Leader switch to a Quasi-Elite Four Onix as his second Pokémon. The last time, the challenger’s Pokémon had been defeated by Onix. This time, however, Onix had been defeated.

"Referee, you can announce the result," Rio reminded the dazed official.

"Th-this battle is over... challenger Rio wins!" the referee stammered.

The victorious Charmeleon roared to the sky, dispelled Sunny Day, and ran excitedly toward Rio.

"As expected of my super genius—you’ve once again shown everyone your unparalleled strength!" Rio praised with equal excitement.

"Rua~" Charmeleon nuzzled against Rio like a child.

Rio affectionately patted it while checking its post-battle stats. After defeating Onix, Charmeleon had risen from Level 23 to Level 24. Its friendship had also increased, reaching 60 points. Additionally, it could now learn Fire Fang and Slash.

A few minutes later, Rio received the Pewter City Gym Badge from Brock, along with over twenty thousand League coins as a challenge reward.

"You’ve trained that Charmeleon exceptionally well. I hope to see you two shine in the League someday," Brock said, patting Rio on the shoulder before they parted.

"We will," Rio smiled and nodded, then left with Charmeleon and Munchlax.

After Rio left, Jiro walked up to Brock with the camera.

"Big brother, what should we do with this footage? Should we put it on the Gym’s big screen for promotion?" Jiro asked cautiously.

They’d said they were going to record an evenly matched battle, but that fight had been a complete stomp—and an inverse-type stomp at that. If not for Onix’s Sturdy ability preventing a one-hit knockout, it would have gone down with the first Ember. Promoting this would be like slapping themselves in the face.

"What do you think we should do?" Brock snapped, taking the camera and quickly deleting the footage.

Then he took the Gym challenge record book that needed to be submitted to the League and wrote the battle report as follows:

[In this battle, after losing with his first Geodude, Gym Leader Brock sent out his Quasi-Elite Four-talent Onix. After a thrilling back-and-forth battle, he narrowly lost to challenger Rio’s Charmeleon. Gym Leader Brock believes this young trainer has great potential and hopes the Gym will continue to hone its skills in the future, contributing a key figure to the development of the Kanto League.]

After finishing, Brock gave Rio the highest possible score in the evaluation column: S-rank.

On the other side—

Leaving the Gym, Rio headed back to the Pokémon Center with Charmeleon and Munchlax. Karen was still waiting there for them. After meeting up, they could take the three abandoned Pokémon back to the Pokémon House.

"Ka~" But no sooner had they left the Pewter City Gym than Munchlax was distracted by an ice cream cart. It immediately signaled Rio that it wanted ice cream, reaching into its fur to retrieve a trade item.

"Go ahead, go ahead, you little glutton," Rio said with a helpless smile.

He was thinking about taking less busy streets with fewer shops to avoid Munchlax eating its way down every block.

Just then, he felt something tossed into his hand—a piece of cloth from Munchlax.

"Cloth? Did Munchlax pick up a random rag and think it’s a trade item?" Rio looked at the muddy, crumpled cloth with slight disdain and unfolded it.

Two or three seconds later, his pupils contracted, and he quickly folded the cloth back up.

Because on the cloth was drawn a map.

Above the map was a drawing of a massive, bird-like Pokémon. He recognized it—

The legendary guardian of the sea, Lugia!

One of the regional guardians of Kanto and Johto.

"Could this be... the treasure map that Team Rocket lost?"

Rio’s heart pounded wildly. He never imagined that the very thing the Kanto League and Team Rocket were frantically searching for would be casually handed to him by Munchlax.

"But... how on earth did Munchlax get this?!"

Rio stared in disbelief at Munchlax, who was already standing in front of the ice cream cart. The sheer absurdity of this incredible windfall made him want to slap himself just to confirm he wasn’t dreaming.