Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 69: That’s the Silph Co. President’s Villa

"Kingdra!"

The spectacle wasn’t just shocking to the tattooed man—Daisy, as Rio’s opponent, was even more stunned. She never expected a single Metronome to roll a move she didn’t even recognize—one that was unbelievably powerful and even affected the sky itself. She could only watch helplessly as her Kingdra was one-shot.

"Was that luck or skill? Did I really just lose like that?"

On the other side, looking at the fainted Kingdra, Rio clicked his tongue in admiration. "That was Zekrom’s Bolt Strike, wasn’t it? Heh—probably the strongest Electric-type move out there. Kingdra getting fried like that isn’t even a bad deal."

"Ka~" Munchlax, now out of its divine state, staggered over to Rio and opened its mouth expectantly for food.

"Good work, Munchlax. Rest well in your ball." Rio pulled out a few Snorlax Energy Cubes from his bag, tossed them over, and recalled Munchlax.

Then Rio waited. And waited. The referee still hadn’t announced the result—he was just staring blankly at Kingdra.

"Referee—are you going to call the match or not? I recalled Munchlax ages ago. I know you’re surprised, but you can be surprised later."

Snapping out of it, the referee hastily announced: "Ah—yes! This Gym challenge is over! The winner is Rio from Lavender Town!"

Soon, Rio received the Cerulean Gym Badge from Daisy.

"Your strength really caught me off guard. Can I ask—why did you choose to start the battle with Munchlax using Metronome?" Daisy asked as she handed over the badge.

"Simple—I believe in luck. And I believe my luck is top-tier," Rio said with a smile, turning to leave.

In the spectator stands, the tattooed man watched Rio walk away, too shocked to speak. When Munchlax used Metronome earlier, he’d thought Rio was being short-sighted. Now it seemed... he was the one who was short-sighted.

"I have to get to know someone like that." He hurried after Rio—but by the time he burst out of the Cerulean Gym, Rio was already airborne on Charizard.

"What a shame."

On the other side, a young Misty—still under ten—held the recorded video and cautiously asked her sister: "Big sis, what should we do with this footage? Should we put it on the big screen for Cerulean City’s trainers to study?"

They’d said it was going to be a thrilling battle—but her sister’s Kingdra had been one-shot by a Munchlax’s Metronome. It hardly looked like a hard-fought, exciting match. Both battles had been total domination. Misty found it a little embarrassing. When she became Cerulean Gym Leader one day, she’d never let something like this happen.

"You little idiot—do you think it should go on the big screen?" Daisy tapped her little sister’s head, took the camera, and deleted the footage. Then she took the Gym challenge record book that needed to be submitted to the League and wrote the following:

[In this battle, Gym Leader Daisy sent out two of her ace Pokémon—Starmie and Kingdra—in a thrilling, back-and-forth battle against challenger Rio’s Charizard and Munchlax. She narrowly lost due to an unfortunate stroke of luck. Gym Leader Daisy believes this young trainer has great potential—the makings of a League Champion—and hopes the Gym will continue to hone its skills in the future, contributing a powerful asset to the development of the Kanto League. ]

After writing that, Daisy gave Rio the highest possible score: S-rank.

Then, cheerfully, she called out to the audience: "Everyone, as you just saw, the Cerulean Gym’s battlefield is severely damaged and needs repairs. We’ll be temporarily suspending Gym battles—please come back in a while!"

With that, she quickly left the battlefield. The arena’s wrecked—takes about a month to fix. That means I get a half-month vacation. Perfect.

High above Cerulean City, Rio wasted no time updating his online guide profile after receiving the badge. He raised his price from 10,000 to 15,000 League coins—after all, one badge couldn’t compare to two. A price hike was only natural.

Once that was done, he called James to let him know he was on his way. Fifty thousand League coins were waiting for him.

"Gym Leader Rio, you’re finally coming! If you’d delayed any longer, my parents were about to pick someone from their own shortlist for me," James’s voice came through the phone. "I don’t want any of them—I just want you."

Rio’s mouth twitched. Why does that sound so... gay? If he didn’t know James wasn’t like that, he’d have hung up right then.

"Don’t worry—I’ve got this. I’ll make your parents acknowledge me."

He immediately slapped himself. Damn it—what’s wrong with me? Why am I talking like that now?

After a bit more small talk, Rio hung up and directed Charizard toward Saffron City. James and his parents currently lived in a villa on the outskirts of Saffron.

The next morning at 10 AM, Rio followed the address James had sent and arrived outside the villa with Charizard. He’d actually reached Saffron the night before but had chosen to stay in the city overnight.

James and his butler, Hopkins, were already waiting outside. When they saw the cool, shiny Charizard descend from the sky, both let out gasps of admiration.

James rushed forward excitedly. "You’re finally here! Thank goodness—one of the candidates my parents picked is also arriving today. If you’d been any later, I might already have a guide locked in."

"Don’t worry—calm down." Rio recalled Charizard and patted James on the shoulder with a smile.

Then he glanced toward the northwest. "Whose villa is that over there?"

From Charizard’s back, he’d noticed another estate—one that looked smaller than James’s, but its design resembled a Poké Ball. Specifically, an M-marked Poké Ball—the symbol of the Master Ball.

That had made him very curious.

"Oh, that one? That’s the Silph Co. President’s villa."