Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 88: Young Man, Join Team Rocket

Upon hearing that, Proton’s smile vanished instantly, replaced by a cold command: "Crobat, Air Cutter!"

"Crobat~" Crobat flapped its wings, sending razor-sharp wind blades toward Charizard and Rio.

"Charizard, Thunder Punch," Rio commanded.

"Roaar~" Charizard responded, crackling electricity surging around its fist. It swung, shattering each incoming wind blade one by one.

"Not bad," Proton acknowledged, though a hint of disdain still lingered in his eyes. "I heard your Charizard can use Sacred Fire—let me see it."

"Crobat, Shadow Ball."

"Crobat~" A pitch-black sphere materialized in an instant.

Facing the request to be shown up, Rio never refused. "Charizard, Sacred Fire."

"Roaar~" Charizard tilted its head back, and—to Giovanni’s astonishment—a stream of purple flames erupted from its mouth.

The Sacred Fire collided with the Shadow Ball midair, triggering an explosive blast. Smoke and shockwave forced everyone in the room to shield their eyes. When the dust settled, they saw Crobat, now afflicted with a burn from Sacred Fire, barely clinging to consciousness—one more hit would surely take it down.

"It really is Sacred Fire!" Proton’s mouth hung open in shock. He’d been flattering Giovanni earlier, pretending to believe. Now reality had forced him to believe.

Even Giovanni, seated in the office chair, was visibly surprised. Though his earlier deduction had made him somewhat receptive to the idea, seeing it with his own eyes was still hard to believe.

But Rio wasn’t going to wait for them to recover from their shock. He gave a new command: "Charizard, Flamethrower!"

"Roaar~" Charizard attacked again.

Proton snapped back to attention: "Crobat, Double Team!"

"Crobat~" Crobat split into eight copies in the blink of an eye, each vanishing as the Flamethrower swept through them.

"Charizard, keep up the Flamethrower—close in and use Thunder Punch!" Rio’s next command came.

Charizard surged forward, fist crackling with electricity, bearing down on Crobat. By then, the Flamethrower had reduced the eight copies to two. Charizard chose to strike the one on the left.

"Сro~" Rio’s luck held—it was the real one. The super-effective Electric-type move made Crobat shriek in pain as it was slammed into the wall, knocked out.

Crobat could have dodged, but the burn from Sacred Fire had slowed its reaction just enough—resulting in a clean hit.

"Crobat!" Proton, now visibly shaken by the Charizard looming before him, quickly recalled Crobat and reached for his next Poké Ball. But before he could release it, Giovanni, who had quietly moved beside him, placed a hand on his arm.

"Clap, clap, clap~"

"Your Charizard is exceptionally well-trained." Giovanni clapped, his eyes full of admiration for Charizard, then turned to Rio, his gaze equally appreciative. "You must have put a lot of effort into it."

"It’s decent—mostly because it’s naturally smart. In my eyes, it’s the finest, most brilliant Charizard in the world," Rio said with a smile.

"Roaar~" Charizard puffed up at the praise, tilting its head proudly. My trainer always says the best things. That’s right—I’m the most amazing Charizard.

"Indeed—a Charizard that can wield Sacred Fire is certainly no ordinary one," Giovanni agreed, not denying Rio’s words at all.

But his next words caught both Rio and Proton off guard.

"With such talent, why not join Team Rocket?"

"Huh?" Rio’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected Giovanni to extend an invitation at their very first meeting. Then he recalled that in the original story, Red had also been recruited by Giovanni—and turned him down.

"Boss—he’s the one who’s thwarted us three times! He’s sent multiple Rocket members to League prisons, and today he got Archer captured too! He’s our sworn enemy!" Proton whispered urgently.

He didn’t want Rio joining. He’d just managed to get Archer out of the way—a chance to become Giovanni’s top subordinate. If Rio joined and was even stronger than Archer, where would that leave him? Back in the same spot? He’d rather have Archer, who wasn’t that much stronger than him, return.

Giovanni shot Proton a cold glance, then spoke: "So what if he’s stopped us three times? On the road to world domination, talent is what matters most. As for Archer—I’ll find a way to get him out."

He turned back to Rio, waiting for an answer—loud enough for Rio to hear.

Rio scratched his head. "Actually... I may have made your missions fail more than just three times."

Giovanni smiled. "So what? Under my leadership, Team Rocket always puts talent first. Join us, and all past grievances are wiped clean."

"Uh... about a month and a half ago, I went to the Johto region and destroyed your research base at the Lake of Rage."

Giovanni’s eyes widened. "You’re the kid who took Sila’s Red Gyarados?!"

Then he quickly regained his composure. "No problem. If you join Team Rocket, you just need to apologize to Dr. Sila, and that’ll be settled."

"Uh... and about half a year ago, I also went to Pewter City..."

Before Rio could finish, Giovanni’s eyes widened again and he cut in: "Did you take the Lugia treasure map?!"

"Not exactly—I just helped with Team Rocket losing it." Rio scratched his head, careful not to reveal that the map was actually in his possession.

Giovanni immediately relaxed again. "That’s also no problem. Even if you did have the Lugia treasure map, it wouldn’t matter—what’s yours is yours. Even if you used it to catch Lugia, that’s fine. As a leader, you need to have broad vision."