Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 32: Monkey Bro Breaks Out

"Grandpa Fuji, I want to join too!"

After the battle between Rio and Cynthia ended, the Gym trainees were also fired up. They flocked to Mr. Fuji, frantically applying to join the Pokémon House.

Upon reflection, both of their Gym Leader’s Pokémon had been adopted from there. First, there was Charmeleon, which could use Sunny Day; then came Munchlax, which could roll legendary Pokémon moves with Metronome. Under those circumstances, not adopting a Pokémon from the Pokémon House felt like a missed opportunity.

Rio didn’t stop them. As long as they didn’t adopt and then abandon the Pokémon later, it was fine. Of course, if anyone did and the Pokémon House found out, Mr. Fuji had the right to have the Pokémon Police arrest them. That was part of the agreement every volunteer had to sign when joining—Rio had signed it too.

"Buzz~"

Just then, Rio’s phone vibrated.

He picked it up and his face lit up. He’d gotten his first order. Someone had booked his online Pokémon guidance service—a video call scheduled for 3:00 PM.

At 3:00 PM.

Rio sat under a tree, waiting for the video call. Munchlax was sleeping soundly beside him. About four or five meters to his right, Charmeleon was doing its move training.

While waiting, Cynthia walked over with Gabite. She initially tried to sit on Rio’s left, but upon seeing Munchlax snoring there, she twitched and quickly moved to Rio’s right side instead.

"Rio, Grandpa Fuji tells me you’re really good at Pokémon guidance—that you can tell at a glance how many practice attempts a Pokémon needs for a move. Is that true?" Cynthia’s face showed no sign of her earlier frustration from losing.

"Believe what you want," Rio said with a smile.

"No, I think it’s definitely fake. How could anyone tell at a glance the exact number of practice attempts a Pokémon needs?" Cynthia shook her head. "But everyone around here says you can actually do it, which really puzzles me."

"Then how about a bet?" Rio raised an eyebrow.

"Bet what?" Cynthia frowned.

"I’m about to have a video call to guide someone in training their Pokémon. If I can tell at a glance how many practices their Pokémon needs for its next move, you owe me three thousand League coins. If I can’t, I’ll owe you three thousand. Do you dare take that bet?"

"Deal." Without any hesitation, Cynthia accepted.

In her view, even face-to-face it was nearly impossible to tell, let alone through a video call—that was absurd. So three thousand League coins were as good as in her pocket.

"You said it yourself—if you can’t do it, you’ll pay me three thousand. I’ll use that to buy Gabite some good food and get over the frustration of losing earlier today," Cynthia said with a fierce grin.

"Fine," Rio said with a shrug.

But half an hour later, the client still hadn’t called.

"Rio, are you sure you arranged it for three o’clock? I’ve been waiting here for half an hour," Cynthia said with some annoyance.

"Hold on, let me ask."

Rio sent the client a message. The reply came quickly—but it made him want to punch something.

The client apologized, saying her father didn’t think it was worth the money and had already booked a different guide with two Gym badges instead.

"Hey, so the client canceled—does that mean the bet counts as your loss?" Cynthia leaned in, excited. "Easy three thousand League coins!"

Though three thousand was pocket change to her, making Rio lose money gave her great satisfaction.

"Don’t get ahead of yourself." Suppressing his irritation, Rio sent another message: he’d offer a free trial first. If they found it valuable afterward, they could pay; if not, no charge.

The client didn’t reply immediately. A minute later, however, a video call came through.

On the screen was a pretty girl with short hair. Behind her stood a burly man. From the background, they appeared to be in a park.

"Sir, you told my daughter you’d provide a free trial first—is that true?" the man asked from behind.

"Yes. If after the guidance you still don’t think it’s worth it, there’s no charge," Rio nodded.

The man told his daughter to bring their Pokémon. Soon, the girl held an Eevee up to the camera.

"You’re currently training it in Swift, right?" Rio said before they could speak.

"Huh?" Cynthia’s eyes widened. How could he tell that from one glance?

Then she heard the surprised voice of the man on the video: "That’s right—we’re training Eevee in Swift. But we’ve practiced it many times and Eevee still hasn’t mastered it. We’re not sure if we’re using the wrong method."

Rio said: "Your method isn’t wrong. Have Eevee practice Swift another 34 times, and it will master it."

"Sir, I haven’t even told you our training method yet," the man said, his expression turning sour—he seemed to think Rio was bluffing.

Rio remained calm: "Please don’t doubt me. Just have Eevee practice 34 more times and you’ll see."

Seeing Rio’s too-calm demeanor, the man hesitantly told his daughter to continue training. At the same time, he said to the camera: "If it doesn’t work, I’m not paying."

Rio shrugged, indicating he didn’t mind.

As the man and his daughter directed Eevee in training, Cynthia frowned: "Rio, you’re not in cahoots with them to cheat me, are you? You said what move it was training before the guy even mentioned it?"

"If you don’t believe me, forget it," Rio said nonchalantly. "You can back out of the bet now."

Seeing Rio’s calm, composed expression, Cynthia felt a surge of annoyance. "Back out? No way! I’m not going to believe this nonsense today. You said Eevee would master Swift in 34 practices—I’m going to count every single one."

"Give me your phone—I’ll count right now," she demanded.

Rio handed it over, then leaned back against the tree, leisurely petting the sleeping Munchlax while watching Charmeleon practice Fire Fang.

About twenty minutes later, a commotion suddenly broke out from the Pokémon House.

"Watch out! The Mankey has broken out of its cage!"