Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 301: Not in Sinnoh (Two-in-One)

"Mr. Rio, the Sinnoh League has learned of your presence in Sinnoh. They’re questioning why a Kanto League Champion is in their region. Now our own Kanto League officials have come to me, asking why you’re doing this."

Secretary Serīna’s tone was urgent—clearly under a lot of pressure.

Rio had expected this. He raised an eyebrow.

"Who says I’m in Sinnoh? Where did the Sinnoh League get that information? Do they have witnesses or evidence? They need to back up their claims. I’m the one who values inter-regional friendship the most, you know."

"Besides, I’m sick right now—very sick. Terminally ill. If our League officials keep pestering you, just tell them I’m bedridden, coughing up blood, and barely hanging on. How could I possibly have the energy to go to some Sinnoh League?"

After he finished speaking, there was silence on the other end of the line. It seemed his nonsense had left Serīna speechless.

After a long pause, she finally spoke: "You really want me to say that?"

"What I’m saying is the truth." Rio said firmly.

"Aren’t you afraid that after I say that, the officials will barge into your residence? What if they see you’re not there? How will you explain that?" Serīna asked.

"I said I’m there, so I’m there." Rio said confidently.

Serīna was silent for another long moment, then replied: "Alright, I understand."

She hung up. Rio then dialed another number from his contacts.

Dozens of miles away, inside the aircraft.

Gengar, who had been hiding in Hunter J’s shadow, suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable. It glanced at Hunter J, who was resting with her eyes closed on her seat, then sank into the shadows and disappeared. When it reappeared, it was in some obscure corner of the ship, opening its wide mouth to pull out a phone.

Gengar extended its little chubby hand and pressed the answer button.

"Gengar~"

On the other end, Rio’s phone rang with Gengar’s cry.

"Old Ghost wants to know what you need." Since they were separated by dozens of miles and couldn’t use telepathy, Mewtwo served as the translator.

"Old Ghost, do me a favor. If I’m guessing right, Hunter J will soon receive orders to find photos of me. If her ship’s cameras captured anything, find a way to delete them." Rio said.

"Gengar~"

"Old Ghost says no problem—leave it to him."

"Good. I’m counting on you, Old Ghost." Rio nodded in satisfaction.

The call ended. Gengar looked at the phone that had gone silent, muttered to itself: "Gengar~" — A hundred-year-old ghost gets no love—all the dirty work falls on me, and not even a ’good job’ in return.

After grumbling, Gengar tucked the phone back into its mouth and returned to Hunter J’s shadow.

About ten minutes later, Hunter J connected with Hunter K again.

"Boss K, you’re telling me the Sinnoh League says Rio won’t admit to being in Sinnoh? That he’s saying he’s still in Kanto and that the Sinnoh League is slandering him?" Hunter J was shocked at the news.

"How can this Kanto League Champion be so shameless? He’s clearly lying through his teeth!"

"He was right there at the transaction site with that Sinnoh official! He told me to my face he was going to wipe out our organization—and now he’s denying it?"

"Does he think I’m an idiot, or does he think everyone in the world is an idiot?"

"J, do you have photos? If you have any, send them to me. I’ll forward them to the Sinnoh officials and see how the Champion explains himself." Hunter K said.

Hunter J looked at the subordinate controlling the ship.

"Yes, J-sama. The ship has an external recording mode—we have video footage. I’ll pull it up and send it to you right away." The subordinate quickly began operating the ship’s systems.

Gengar, hiding in the shadows, saw this and furrowed its big head. It quickly slipped deeper into the shadows.

Two seconds later, the ship shook violently. Then alarms blared throughout the vessel.

"What’s going on?" Hunter J turned around in surprise, having been waiting for the video to be pulled up.

"J-sama! Two of the ship’s propulsion chambers just malfunctioned out of nowhere!" The subordinate who had been about to retrieve the footage looked at the warning on the screen and turned back to report.

"Then get down there and investigate the cause and make repairs!" Hunter J ordered coldly.

After she spoke, most of the crew in the cockpit filed out toward the exterior of the ship.

"Boss K, I’ve got some issues over here. I’ll send you the video once they’re resolved."

After saying that to Hunter K, Hunter J walked off as well.

After she left, only two crew members remained in the cockpit.

Gengar’s mischievous fat face emerged from the shadows, surrounded by a cloud of black mist, and approached the two men. Moments later, they fell into a hypnotic state and, following Gengar’s instructions, deleted all the recorded video footage from the ship’s systems.

When Hunter J returned, she found the two slumped over their seats, with the screen displaying "Video Successfully Deleted."

Her eyes widened. She smacked the back of both their heads hard. When they came to and saw Hunter J, the first words out of their mouths were:

"Ghost!!!"

Hunter J flew into a rage and slapped both of them across the face.

"J-sama, we weren’t talking about you!" The one on the left quickly covered his face and tried to explain.

"We saw a female ghost! It scared us to death!" The one on the right nodded frantically, also covering his face.

Hunter J narrowed her eyes at them. Even though they said they weren’t talking about her, it felt like they were.

"What happened to the video? Who told you to delete it?" Hunter J suppressed her anger and demanded.

The two exchanged bewildered glances, then looked at the "Successfully Deleted" message on the screen and frantically shook their heads.

"It wasn’t us, J-sama!"

"If it wasn’t you, then did a ghost do it?" Hunter J gritted her teeth, her voice icy cold. "You’ve got some nerve. I seriously suspect you two are Kanto League spies. The only reason Rio showed up at the transaction site was because you tipped them off!"

"No, we’re not!"

"J-sama, that Kanto Champion’s appearance had nothing to do with us!"

The two hunters desperately tried to defend themselves, but no matter what they said, Hunter J wouldn’t listen.

"Biu-biu—"

She raised her Petrification Gun and petrified both of them on the spot, then ordered her subordinates to drop the petrified pair from the sky.

"Damn that Kanto League! They must have been plotting to wipe us out for a long time."

Hunter J reconnected the video call with Hunter K and recounted what had just happened.

Meanwhile, back at the Kanto League.

A group of Kanto League officials arrived at Rio’s Champion estate, demanding to see the severely ill Rio. Despite being stopped by the estate’s attendants, they forced their way in.

But just as they stepped inside, an unexpected figure emerged from within.

"Do any of you not understand what ’too ill to receive visitors’ means?"

Dragon-type Elite Four Lance appeared before the officials with his Dragonite.

"Lance, what are you doing here?" The lead official was surprised.

"Why can’t I be here? Mr. Rio told me that he’s feeling unwell and needs to be alone—to prevent anyone from using his illness to stir up trouble within the League. He asked me to come from Dragon Valley to keep watch over the League in the meantime."

Lance flicked his cape with a flourish. "Isn’t that right, Dragonite?"

"ROAR!!!" Dragonite let out a thunderous roar in agreement.

"Lance, don’t be difficult here. The Sinnoh League says they spotted Mr. Rio in Sinnoh and want an explanation. We don’t want to misunderstand Mr. Rio either—just let us see him and we’ll leave immediately." The official said coldly.

"That’s right—let us see Mr. Rio and we’ll leave right away."

"Get out of the way. This is an emergency. If it causes a rift between two regions, it’ll be a huge problem."

The other officials chimed in, and after speaking, they tried to force their way through. But they stopped in their tracks when Lance spoke and clapped his hands.

"Take another step if you want to die." Lance said coldly, then clapped his hands.

Immediately, several deafening roars echoed from above.

"ROAR!!!"

"KYAH!!!"

"ROAR!!!"

"KAH~"

"PHEW~"

Annihilape, the little chubby Snorlax, and Eevee descended from the sky on Aerodactyl and Red Gyarados, landing behind Lance. They roared at the officials—Annihilape in particular looked ready to tear them apart with its bare hands.

The officials, who had been about to barge in, were frozen in fear and dared not take another step.

"Go on—keep charging." Lance said coldly. "After seeing Mr. Rio’s Pokémon, do you still not believe he’s at the estate?"

The officials were sweating profusely and didn’t dare speak. One of them mustered the courage to say something, but when Annihilape inexplicably punched the ground and left a massive crater, he swallowed his words immediately.

The scene fell silent for a minute or two.

Finally, Lance spoke again.

"Since no one’s saying anything, I’ll take that to mean you believe me. If you believe me, then why aren’t you leaving? Do you insist on disturbing Mr. Rio’s rest?"

The Kanto League officials exchanged uneasy glances, then finally turned and left in defeat.

Lance watched their retreating figures, a look of contempt spreading across his face.

"Pathetic. A bunch of pampered parasites with no battling ability whatsoever."

Yes, Rio had asked him to come. So he knew Rio wasn’t at the League—he was in Sinnoh.

Why had he agreed? Simple—he couldn’t stand the Pokémon Hunter Organization either. In his view, if you wanted a Pokémon, you should have the strength to catch it yourself; if you weren’t strong enough, you should train harder, not pay hunters to do it for you. And he knew that many League officials had no real battling skills—most had gotten their positions through family connections, then used those connections to bring in their own children.

It was a vicious cycle. Lance, who had fought his way up from the younger generation of the Dragon Clan, had nothing but contempt for them. If he had the power, he would’ve thrown them all in prison.

Now, Rio’s actions had his full admiration. Destroying the Pokémon Hunter Organization meant making enemies of the world’s elites. And that kind of courage and power—Lance admitted he still lacked the resolve and ability to do the same.

That was why he would stand firmly behind Rio and keep any Kanto League officials from interfering.

But there was also another reason. Lance turned to look at Annihilape, the little chubby Snorlax, Eevee, Aerodactyl, and Red Gyarados. Rio had left command of these powerful Pokémon to him before leaving. Just having them—even for a few days—was a joy.

"Alright, little chubby—later I’ll take you out for a feast. You’ve got to show me your Metronome!" Lance said cheerfully to the little chubby Snorlax.

What he remembered most vividly was that little chubby’s Metronome—the two moves that had scared him half to death back then. He would remember that for the rest of his life. He really wanted to figure out why Rio’s Snorlax’s Metronome always pulled off divine skills, and not just any skills—breathtaking, god-like moves.

Of course, Annihilape and Red Gyarados were also memorable—the pair where one loved to hit and the other loved to be hit. He’d witnessed their dynamic over the past two days and was thoroughly impressed. He’d never seen a Pokémon that so desperately wanted to get beaten up. It made him afraid to even get close.

But before he could study little chubby’s Metronome, he still had to finish the task Rio had given him. Lance pulled out his communicator and sent a message through the chat app, detailing how he had just stopped the Kanto League officials from storming Rio’s Champion estate.

High above Sinnoh’s skies.

Rio sat on Charizard’s back, reading the text message from Lance. A smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"What a bunch of clowns."

"Buzz~"

Just as he muttered that, his phone vibrated again—it was Cynthia calling. She told him that the Sinnoh League knew he was in Sinnoh and had been trying to get her to confirm it, but she had denied it. Now they were frantically trying to confirm his presence through the captured Sinnoh official—but thankfully, Mewtwo had already modified his memories. With Sinnoh’s Psychic-type Pokémon, there was no way to undo it.

So for now, he didn’t have to worry about the Sinnoh League using legal pressure against him. They just wanted to confirm that Rio had taken care of things on the Kanto side.

"Don’t worry—I already thought of that." Rio said to Cynthia on the phone.

"That’s good. But I might not be able to help you anymore—the Sinnoh high-ups are keeping an eye on me." Cynthia said regretfully.

"That’s really too bad. But I’ll carry your conviction with me and wipe them out." Rio wasn’t foolish enough to say "it doesn’t matter if you come or not"—instead, he said "what a shame."

Hearing that, Cynthia was quite satisfied. She told him that if he truly needed help, he should let her know, and she would find a way to come to him no matter what.