"Yes, boss," Naoki said.
He knew Reiji didn't say things twice. He accepted the 53 million Pokédollars without any more refusals—and instead felt even more moved. Reiji really was helping him with no strings attached, holding nothing back.
If money wasn't what Reiji wanted, then what was Naoki even worth? If it was "future value," that future only existed because Reiji was building it for him. Without Reiji, he didn't have a future at all—he barely even had a present.
Faced with someone this selfless, Naoki didn't know how to repay him. All he had was loyalty—loyalty he was willing to stake his life on—to repay the way Reiji had lifted him up.
"I'm going to be busy for a long time. Don't disturb me while I'm working," Reiji said, heading for the second-floor storeroom to keep boosting Gengar's potential. Halfway through turning away, something else occurred to him. "Oh, right. Did you bring the phone?"
"I did. I also got a new SIM," Naoki said, hurriedly digging through his backpack and pulling out a very old-fashioned phone—something like the old PHS handsets or a Nokia brick.
Reiji took the palm-sized mobile, dialed the landline at the Old Sailor Bar, and didn't bother hiding the call from Naoki. He'd need Naoki to transfer the Poké Balls soon anyway.
When the call connected, a lazy voice came through the earpiece—soft enough that Naoki couldn't make it out.
"Who's this?"
"Old man, it's me," Reiji said.
Just hearing that lazy drawl made the vein in his forehead throb. That old bastard was probably lounging around again, letting some waitress massage his shoulders and feed him grapes. Reiji almost wanted to strangle him.
Reiji was out here grinding like a dog, and that guy did nothing but enjoy himself. It was irritating on sight.
"Oh? It's you. I thought you'd never call the old man again. Miss me that much?"
"Save it. I'm moving a batch—good stuff. You taking it or not?" Reiji went straight to the point.
"Pokémon?"
"Yeah," Reiji said, giving a small nod.
"How good are we talking?"
"One shop treasure Sandshrew, plus eight baby Pokémon with pretty decent potential—slightly below the shop treasure. Over eighty that can do a second-stage evolution, over ten that can do a third-stage evolution, and a spread of types—Electric type, Fighting type, Psychic type, Dragon type, and more…"
"Kid, tell me the truth. Did you rob a breeding house?"
Reiji could hear the shift the moment he gave the numbers. The old man stopped messing around and got a lot more serious.
"I robbed a gang. Don't ask that kind of stupid question again."
"You sure?" the old man didn't believe him.
"Old man, the gang was Team Rocket in disguise. So you know what this batch means."
"Don't joke with me. I'm not looking to pick a fight with Team Rocket."
"What are you afraid of? I cleaned the tail off completely. Otherwise, who do you think is calling you right now?"
"…Fine. I'll trust you one more time. I want five percent as a selling commission."
"Heh. That's your real goal, isn't it?"
"Haha. I'm just earning a little hardship money. Don't be so stingy."
"Two percent."
"At least four—" the old man shot back instantly. If Reiji was getting rich, he wanted a sip too.
"Three percent. If not, I'll kidnap your grandson," Reiji snapped, heat rising. The old bastard actually wanted to eat both sides. Push him again and Reiji would go back and abduct the little brat on the spot.
"Alright, alright—you win. Three percent. Stingy little devil. And you're really going to use Shun to pressure the old man? Don't you know how to respect your elders and care for kids…"
Reiji mentally muted the old man's muttering and kept going as if he couldn't hear a word of it.
"What time do I transfer them? Where are you receiving?"
"Anytime. Half an hour from now, I'll call you with the transfer location. The pickup point is well hidden."
"Someone will coordinate with you then. Don't get any bright ideas."
"Heh. You're sharper than a monkey. You think I can fool you?"
"Talk less. If you get any bright ideas, I'll beat your grandson."
"Fine, fine—you win. Don't you know how to respect old people? And bullying kids, too…"
"Enough. Stop acting, you old con man. 'Old people,' my ass."
"Alright, alright. I can't outtalk you. How do I transfer the money to you?"
"Old man, don't tell me you don't know my anonymous card number."
"Tch. Talking to a little fox like you is no fun. Latest by tomorrow, the money'll be in your account."
"Good. Call if there's a problem."
Reiji traded a few more barbs, then tossed the phone back to Naoki and threw him the backpack as well.
"The Poké Balls are in the bag—119 Pokémon total. When the call comes, you transfer them to him. Don't let anyone spot you, and don't use League facilities to do the transfer."
"Got it, boss. There are plenty of places that can transfer Pokémon—no need to go to a Pokémon Center," Naoki said, slinging the backpack on and preparing to ride Flygon out again.
"Don't rush." Reiji stopped him. He was holding a Poké Ball. "First, let's test this Pokémon's evolution."
He released it: a Magikarp.
"Boss… you're going to try evolving Magikarp?" Naoki stepped closer, staring.
"The 'rage stimulation method' for Magikarp—I've only read about it. This one's talent isn't bad. Let's see if it can evolve."
This Magikarp was one of the eight that ranked just below the shop treasure. It had potential in the forties. Once it became Gyarados, it would top out at Elite-tier strength at best; if it went berserk, it might barely touch Advanced tier.
That was just how shameless Magikarp was. If it evolved, its strength would skyrocket—and in a fury, it could climb even even higher.
With a pop, Reiji released Magikarp beside the pool, then turned his head toward Naoki.
"Have your Flygon ready. If Magikarp evolves, Flygon suppresses the Gyarados immediately."
"Flygon's ready," Naoki said, nodding. He and Flygon stood at the pool's edge, lips pressed tight, waiting for the test.
The test itself was simple. One kick, and one line.
"All you do is eat, eat, eat. No meat on you at all. Useless," Reiji said coldly, then kicked Magikarp and punted it straight into the pool.
Magikarp had barely been released before it got mocked. It burst up from the water in rage, glaring at Reiji—then splashed back down, sending up a heavy spray.
"Trash is trash. That little splash is your limit," Reiji taunted again, pushing harder. He wanted Magikarp furious enough to evolve.
The moment the words left his mouth, a blinding light erupted from the bottom of the pool. The water surface split violently to either side, and a blue Pokémon with a horrifying maw surged up, lifting its jagged mouth toward the poolside and roaring in anger.
"Rooaaar—!"
"Heh. So it works," Reiji said.
Magikarp had evolved into Gyarados. The rage stimulation method was real—it was just a matter of odds.
Even so, Reiji only shook his head lightly. Evolution or not, this Gyarados wasn't going to make waves. He tossed the Poké Ball to Naoki.
"Naoki. This Gyarados is yours."
"Understood, boss," Naoki said, swallowing hard.
If the rage stimulation method really worked, then later—if he caught a shop treasure Magikarp—so long as it evolved, he'd instantly have a powerful partner for revenge.
"Oh, and Naoki," Reiji added before heading upstairs. "After you finish the transfers, keep collecting those two kinds of Gems for me. The more, the better."
Catching Pokémon was Naoki's problem to schedule. Reiji only handled evaluating potential.
"I got it, boss," Naoki said, recalling Gyarados and taking off on Flygon toward the harbor to transfer Reiji's batch.
Even after evolving, the dummy didn't take much effort. Naoki captured Gyarados without much trouble. At only Elite-tier strength, Flygon put it down with two solid punches.
Evolution or not, it could only splash a little bigger than before. With raw strength like that, a level-twenty-something Gyarados wasn't beating a level-fifty-something Flygon—not even with type advantage.
…
After Naoki left, Reiji went to the second-floor storeroom as well. He had Darkrai and Spinarak sweep the room. No monitoring devices.
He posted Spinarak outside to stand guard, shut the wooden door, then had Darkrai keep an eye on the area outside the villa. Only then did he release Gengar.
He had Gengar spit out the backpack, then de-evolve. And de-evolve again.
[Gastly (Shiny)]
[Type: Ghost + Poison]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 80.30%]
[Level: 9.13%]
[Ability: …]
Once Gengar regressed into Gastly, Reiji noticed Gastly's potential had risen a bit.
That meant the Haunter that evolved into Gengar—while absorbing Gem energy—had also been improving its potential. It wasn't all just "evolution requires energy."
Reiji laid out everything he had and let Gastly eat freely.
Life-energy Pokéblocks, Poison-type Pokéblocks, Psychic-type Pokéblocks, 150 Poison Gems, 140 Ghost Gems.
Two hundred and ninety Gems total. He had checked purity one by one—Naoki had done a decent job collecting them. Everything was above fifty percent purity.
"Gastly, eat whatever you want. As much as you want. And evolve while you're at it."
"Gas… gas…!" Gastly stared at the feast and turned into a bottomless glutton, using psychic power to float food straight into its mouth.
Then came the cycle.
Evolve. De-evolve. Evolve. De-evolve.
Gastly did it fifty times. Its whole face looked numb from it by the time Reiji finally told it to stop.
[Gastly (Shiny)]
[Type: Ghost + Poison]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 85.10%]
[Level: 9.13%]
[Ability: …]
Reiji calculated the cost.
Gastly's potential had gone up five points. Counting the earlier eleven Gems, he had spent a total of 161 Gems.
In other words: about three Gems to raise potential by roughly 0.1. He didn't count the Pokéblocks in that math yet—he'd track those later.
He stopped it here because the cost had climbed once Gastly reached this range.
The increase had probably been happening earlier too, just in such tiny steps he hadn't noticed. He only caught it when Gastly raised its potential by 0.1 and spat out four clear Gems instead of the usual amount.
"Gastly. Keep going," Reiji said.
Gastly was down on the floor fiddling with the Gems, looking unmotivated. It was unavoidable—no matter how tasty something was, after chewing it hundreds of times, it all started to taste like wax.
"Gas… gas…" Gastly lowered its head, staring at the pile. The Gems stuck in its teeth, and it was getting sick of them.
"Gastly, you only get a chance like this once. After this, you won't get to eat Gems like this again," Reiji said with a small smile.
He had plenty of ways to get Gastly to cooperate. Pokémon didn't exactly have the heart to play mind games with him.
"Gas… gas…" Gastly heard "no more chances" and started swallowing again, restarting the evolve–de-evolve cycle.
With 140 Gems left, Gastly went through forty-plus more cycles and burned through every last Gem.
Reiji checked the panel again. Gastly's potential was only a little over eighty-eight—still not even eighty-nine.
So even though 160 and 140 weren't that far apart, the latter couldn't push it the same five points past eighty-five. The higher it climbed, the more it would consume.
He needed more Gems.
Right then, Darkrai rose out of the shadows and told him Naoki was back. Reiji left Gastly here, told it to eat whatever Pokéblocks were on the floor, and headed out.
"Gas… gas…" Gastly watched Reiji leave, then waved Darkrai over to eat too. Its mouth was numb from all the chewing.
"Gastly… you must be doing something important," Darkrai said quietly, picking up Psychic-type Pokéblocks and Life-energy Pokéblocks to eat as well. "I can tell. Your aura keeps getting stronger."
"Gas… gas…" Gastly nodded. It could feel it too—getting stronger.
"I don't know if I can do the same," Darkrai admitted. "I want to be strong like you. Maybe then I can control my nightmares…"
"Gas… gas. Eat more," Gastly said, as if it were obvious. That was how it had grown stronger—by eating.
"Take it slow," Darkrai said. "You're all still weak. In the future, you won't be short on food."
Darkrai didn't doubt it at all. Gastly was proof.
It had watched Gastly go from a weak Ghost-type Pokémon to something that even Darkrai could clearly sense as dangerous. The swelling energy inside Gastly was frightening.
Darkrai had been eating too, just not as efficiently. The Dusk Stone was still in its grasp—still not fully absorbed.
Reiji had told it there were plenty of Dark Gems in the bag. Once it finished absorbing the Dusk Stone, it could ask Reiji for the Gems. Those Dark Gems were all for it—Reiji only had one Dark-type Pokémon.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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