"Name: Reiji. Champion of the Indigo Plateau Conference. Temporarily staying at Mikan Gym. Suspected quasi–Elite Four Trainer. Previously survived pursuit by 2 quasi–Elite Four Trainers and 2 Advanced Trainers. Number of Pokémon unknown. Suspected to possess a Legendary dark Pokémon. Mission restricted to Elite Four tier and above. Handle with caution…"
"A dark Pokémon? Darkrai?" Reiji muttered. He had no idea when Team Rocket had noticed Darkrai. He turned back to the middle-aged man and asked, "Does the mission say what that dark Pokémon is?"
"Species unknown. Suspected to be the Dark-type Pokémon Darkrai, the Ghost-type Pokémon Marshadow, or Gengar…"
"So Team Rocket still doesn't know." Reiji rubbed his chin, then asked, "The last time Team Rocket came after me, was it because of this dark Pokémon?"
"Yes." The middle-aged man was still in a daze, drool running down the corner of his mouth as he answered every question Reiji asked.
Only now did Reiji understand why Team Rocket had targeted him. It all went back to the last time he rescued Nurse Joy. That was when Team Rocket noticed him.
At some point, they had discovered Darkrai too, so they sent people after him, hoping to steal Latias, Darkrai, or any other Legendary Pokémon he might have.
As for this middle-aged man, he had come after Reiji because of a family mission: investigate why his older cousin had disappeared. The Legendary Pokémon were just extra temptation. Human greed made the rest simple. Find the missing nephew, steal a Legendary Pokémon along the way, and get 2 prizes at once.
So that was how he ended up on Team Rocket's radar. The whole thing was messier than he had expected.
He had already gotten the important answers. There was no reason to keep the man alive. He had Spinarak bind him up, inject him with lethal poison, and left him to die.
He had asked about bank cards and passwords too, but the man did not use bank cards for withdrawals. Inside Team Rocket, he spent points. Outside, someone delivered money to him directly. He barely had any cash on him.
Aside from his 6 Pokémon, the man had nothing worth taking. Reiji's eyes shifted to Arbok, Steelix, and Feraligatr. Those 3 Elite Four-tier Pokémon each carried an Elite Four-tier item: Black Sludge, Metal Coat, and Mystic Water.
Rich-family Trainers really were loaded. Too bad for him, he had run into someone broke.
Reiji snapped off Arbok's poisonous fangs. Those were raw material for Elite Four-tier Poison Barbs. The Arbok had 2 large fangs, and the rest of its teeth could be used as Advanced-tier Poison Barb material. Not the best, but still better than nothing.
Unfortunately, Gengar had already eaten both Elite Four-tier poison sacs. Otherwise, those could have been used as materials for other Poison-type items.
There was also Arbok's skin, meat, and other parts. Some could be used in medicine, some could be eaten, and some had other uses…
Reiji thought it over and decided to forget it. Elite Four-tier Pokémon were valuable from head to tail, but he had already taken the most valuable part. The rest could burn.
Next was Feraligatr. Its huge jaws were lined with sharp teeth, at least a dozen of them, including Dragon Fangs. The claws on its hands and feet were all item material too, and some of them were Elite Four-tier quality.
Then there was the hide, red back fin, scales, meat, bones…
Reiji pulled out Feraligatr's reverse scale. This Feraligatr had Dragon-type blood in it, so that scale was naturally a Dragon Scale.
An Elite Four-tier pseudo–Dragon Scale. Another surprise gain. Who would have guessed a Feraligatr would carry Dragon blood?
There was plenty he did not take. Elite Four-tier Pokémon were basically treasure piles with legs. Looking at all that crocodile meat made his mouth water. He almost wanted to cut off a piece, grill it, and have it with a drink. It would probably taste amazing.
And that blue crocodile hide would sell like crazy as leather bags. A real Elite Four-tier leather bag would easily go for millions.
In the end, he still let it go. It was not like he had no food. There was no need to eat Pokémon, especially one raised by Team Rocket. Who knew whether it had eaten human flesh before?
Then he turned toward Steelix, whose huge metal body was already breaking apart. A pile of hard stones and metal chunks had scattered across the ground.
Reiji gathered up every stone, piece of metal, and grain of sand. There were Elite Four-tier Hard Stones and Soft Sand. There were even Rock Gems and Ground Gems. So this was where Gems came from. He also found a Float Stone and a layer of Smooth Rock powder.
So that was how Smooth Rock mines formed. When too many Rock-type Pokémon died in one place, their burial ground slowly turned into minerals and returned to nature.
There were also metal chunks, black metal pieces, a thick layer of metal powder, and even Steel Gems.
Seeing all that metal finally answered another question for him. Steel-type items came from materials like these. The metal could be made into held items, fed to Pokémon, or processed into evolution items.
Scyther's evolution item was right here in front of him. All this metal powder, and Elite Four-tier metal powder at that. It only needed to be refined into the proper evolution item.
He collected all the metal powder on the ground. There was enough to fill an entire barrel, not a water bucket but a large oil drum. After sealing it, he had Gengar swallow it and store it in its pocket.
Once the 3 Pokémon were dealt with, Reiji looked at Pidgeot, Medicham, and Ditto.
Those 3 did not have much worth harvesting. Their held items were the only real valuables.
He glanced at Pidgeot's beak and talons, then decided against it. Doing that in front of his own Pidgeot would be a bad idea. It would scare the kid.
Medicham was a Fighting- and Psychic-type Pokémon. Now that it was dead, its psychic power had already faded.
When Reiji looked at Ditto, the Ditto on his face quickly peeled itself off and moved toward the dead Ditto.
"Ditto, Ditto…"
It reached the dead Ditto, stretched out a pseudopod, and touched the body. The corpse reacted the moment it sensed Ditto's active cells. Its mass surged toward Ditto, spread over its body, and fused into it.
Everyone watched the strange scene in silence. No one interrupted. Reiji saw that Ditto was not asking for help, which meant it probably was not dangerous, so he waited quietly too.
By the time the dead Ditto finished merging with his Ditto, Ditto's body looked exactly the same. It had only shed a thin outer layer, and even its color had not changed. Reiji could not help wondering how it had eaten the other Ditto in the first place.
Was it using its conscious cells to control the unconscious cells of the dead Ditto?
"Ditto, how do you feel?"
"Ditto… hic… Ditto… hic…"
Ditto had eaten too much. It could barely talk without hiccupping.
"Tch. I get it. Come back."
Reiji recalled Ditto into its Poké Ball and checked its panel to see what had changed.
[Ditto]
[Type: Normal]
[Gender: None]
[Potential: 56.23%]
[Level: 51.13%]
[Ability: Limber/22.38%]
[MovesTransform/44.17%]
Ditto's potential had risen by 3 whole points. Reiji immediately understood what merging with another Ditto's cells had done.
If Mew's genetic code contained information from every Pokémon, then Ditto contained the genetic information of ordinary Pokémon.
If potential represented how much genetic information a Ditto had, then the more complete that information became, the better it would be at transforming and using other Pokémon's moves. For the Ditto in front of him, that comparison fit surprisingly well.
It was like filling in missing pieces of its genome. The more genes Ditto absorbed, the higher its potential would climb. There had to be a limit, though.
Reiji guessed Ditto could reach Elite Four tier at most. Dittos were still Dittos, and their genes would largely overlap. After fusing with enough of them, most of the new cells would probably just repeat information it already had.
Completing every missing gene would be far easier said than done, especially when it came to Mythical or Legendary Pokémon. Those genes were completely out of Ditto's reach.
Still, this discovery was better than nothing. If Ditto could keep improving, that was a good thing. At the very least, it might be able to withstand Elite Four-tier attacks someday.
Then there was Ditto's level. Reiji had not paid much attention before, but Ditto had quietly climbed past level 50. That made it a strong pick. Not bad at all.
After that little Ditto episode, Reiji looked around. His mobile Pokémon had already carved out a huge firebreak around the area. He was ready to burn the whole place down, destroy the battlefield, and erase the bodies. More importantly, he needed to keep anyone from reading the battle traces left by his cover Pokémon.
He had already had Diglett plow through the areas where Gengar, Toxicroak, and Swampert had fought. The central battlefield had been turned over too. He searched everything within a 2-kilometer radius and found nothing left behind.
Only then did he have Magmar use Flamethrower on the pit Diglett had dug. More than a dozen large trees were piled inside, and they caught fire the moment Magmar's flames touched them.
After that, he had Spinarak wrap the Pokémon and the middle-aged man's corpse in silk to help them burn. Then the Pokémon threw the bodies into the flames. By the time that fire finished burning, nothing would be left here but ash and bone fragments.
There was one unexpected issue. Lucario asked him not to burn Medicham's body. It wanted to bury Medicham instead.
Reiji did not know why Lucario wanted that, but he agreed. While the fire roared behind him, he prepared to leave. He climbed onto Pelipper again and took off, planning to bury Medicham somewhere else. He could not leave it in the ground here.
When he recalled Lucario and Medicham into Poké Balls, he finally understood why Lucario refused to let Medicham burn. Lucario owed Medicham a debt.
There was nothing special about Medicham's panel. It also clearly showed that Medicham was dead. But its move list included Aura Sphere.
So this Medicham had possessed aura.
Everyone knew aura could be transferred. The price was the transferor's life.
Reiji did not know what had happened on Lucario's side of the battle, but Medicham had actually transferred its aura to Lucario. That caused Lucario's mental power to surge and even let it learn Psychic.
[Lucario]
[Type: Fighting + Steel]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 59.99%]
[Level: 44.42%]
[Ability: Inner Focus/58.18%]
And that was not the only benefit. Lucario's potential had reached 59.99%, rising by a full point and stopping just short of the Elite Four threshold.
Lucario's level had also reached 44. Its Inner Focus had improved, and its aura had grown too.
That Medicham had passed its mental power, psychic power, and aura to Lucario. How Lucario convinced an enemy Medicham to do that willingly was still a mystery.
Unless…
Heh. That Trainer really had no loyalty from his Pokémon. Then again, Medicham had both psychic power and aura. It must have understood more than most.
Looking at everything now, this haul was huge. He had taken 10 enemy Pokémon, 3 Elite Four-tier held items, several quasi–Elite Four-tier items, 7 or 8 Elite Four-tier item materials, several quasi–Elite Four-tier item materials, and a mountain of Advanced-tier materials.
Ditto could merge with dead Dittos. Lucario had inherited aura and psychic power from a quasi–Elite Four Medicham. Scyther's evolution item was secured too.
He was stuffed full.
Murder and robbery. Robbing thieves. It really was the fastest way to make money.
A single Elite Four Trainer's inheritance had filled his bag.
The price was heavy too. More than half of his Pokémon were badly injured, and they would need at least a month to recover. Still, it had been worth it, especially since he knew a place that could speed up healing.
Sitting on Pelipper's back, Reiji prepared to leave. He was skipping the lake with the crystal for now and heading to Lake of Life first.
His Pokémon were too badly hurt this time, so he had no choice but to change course. Lake of Life could also heal Zapdos. It just did not offer the electric therapy effect. Once Poliwrath and the others recovered, he could still take them to the lake with the crystal for that.
As for a Pokémon Center?
Team Rocket was hunting him, and now an Elite Four Trainer was dead. What would Team Rocket do next? What would that cousin's family do? He did not need to think hard to guess.
They would do whatever it took to find him. He absolutely could not go to a Pokémon Center, especially not one in Johto. That would expose his location immediately.
On top of that, a Pokémon Center could not treat his cover Pokémon like Toxicroak, Swampert, and Magneton. Lake of Life was his only real option.
By the time the group arrived at dawn, Reiji was long gone from the battlefield at Mt. Silver.
Every tree within 2 kilometers had been cut down and used to fuel the fire pit. When they reached the center, all they found were charred wood, ash, and the remains of burned Pokémon.
"The battlefield is wide. The damage spreads across 3 kilometers. The scene has been completely destroyed. There's nothing left to read. Just ash."
The newcomers searched the area from above. Even at the edges of the battlefield, trees had been swept down by Gyarados's Hyper Beam. A battle with this much spread could only have been an Elite Four-tier fight.
"Damn it. When did he break into Elite Four tier? Damn it, damn it, damn it… Why didn't he call for reinforcements? Why did he chase the target alone?"
"Fourth was always too proud to call for backup. That part sounds like him. And the target probably only just broke into Elite Four tier—otherwise he wouldn't have run. If he managed to turn the fight around against Fourth and 3 Elite Four-tier Pokémon, it was most likely because of that hidden dark Pokémon."
"He's dead. Burned to ash. None of this brings him back."
"It still tells us something. The target is Elite Four tier now. The target definitely has some kind of Legendary dark Pokémon. And he's scared of us, or he wouldn't have wiped the battlefield this clean."
"Then find him. Alive or dead, I want him brought back. If one Elite Four Trainer wasn't enough, send three. I refuse to believe he can slip away from all of them."
"No need. We just pass the information along. The Boss already knows, and he's going himself."
"Giovanni? This is a family matter. He killed one of ours. That brat belongs to us. I want him dragged back and forced to kneel in front of Fourth's memorial tablet."
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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