On the other side of the stadium, Reiji's opponent was still cursing under his breath during the intermission.
Aya had kept her distance while he was furious, but eventually she stepped closer and whispered something in his ear.
The camera tried to zoom in.
Aya immediately kissed him.
When the two started embracing, the family-friendly broadcast decided it had seen enough and cut back to Reiji's side of the stadium, where the commentators began reviewing the first half and discussing how the rest of the match might unfold.
That also meant nobody was watching Aya anymore.
She slipped a Poké Ball into her fiancé's hand.
Inside was an Elite Four-tier Pokémon her family had given her for protection.
There was nothing illegal about it.
The Orange League did not require Trainers to lock in a six-Pokémon roster before the tournament. Competitors submitted a basic list, but they were free to use Pokémon outside it once the match began.
The League had good reason for keeping the rules loose. If every Trainer had to register their exact team in advance, the League would also have to guarantee that information remained secret until elimination. One leaked roster would be enough to damage the tournament's credibility.
It was much easier to let Trainers choose their own teams.
Once a Pokémon appeared, the opponent learned about it anyway.
So even if Aya had handed over the Poké Ball in full view of the cameras, it would not count as cheating.
In theory, that meant someone could simply borrow six Elite Four-tier Pokémon and bulldoze their way to the championship.
In practice, things were nowhere near that simple.
First, borrowed Pokémon still had to listen to you. Owning six monsters meant nothing if you could not command them in battle.
The second problem was much worse.
If Reiji's opponent suddenly produced six Elite Four-tier Pokémon, Reiji would probably be delighted.
A relatively unknown Trainer pulling out an entire Elite Four-tier roster would attract attention anywhere. Doing it while the League was actively pressuring the Orange Archipelago's independent powers would practically guarantee an investigation.
People could complain that the League was corrupt, political, or full of favoritism, and plenty of those complaints might even be justified.
What nobody should underestimate was its ability to protect its own interests.
Threaten someone's position, salary, retirement, or path to promotion, and suddenly an enormous bureaucracy could become remarkably efficient.
The League might not even need to act first.
The Orange Archipelago's local power brokers would start digging immediately. Those fence-sitters were perfectly happy to stay neutral while nothing threatened them, but the moment somebody looked ready to take a larger share of the pie, they became far less patient.
Three Elite Four-tier Pokémon could still be explained away. Maybe the Trainer had exceptional talent. Maybe some powerful family had been quietly supporting him.
Six was different.
Six meant a complete Elite Four-tier roster.
That raised much more uncomfortable questions.
...
Ash and Gary were still in the stands, talking excitedly about the first half.
"Electivire was incredible!" Ash said. "It took out Gyarados and nearly beat Swampert too!"
Nobody was particularly impressed by Ludicolo's part at the end. Swampert had been barely standing by then; almost any fresh Pokémon could have finished the job.
Gary was focused on Electivire.
"I've got an Electabuzz. I wonder if mine could ever become that strong after evolving."
Tracey had noticed something else.
"Doesn't Reiji's Electivire look different to you?"
Brock pulled out his Pokédex and compared the image on-screen with the standard entry. "The tails are different. So are parts of the fur and the black markings."
Professor Oak nodded.
"It may have changed because of something it experienced in the past."
Misty immediately thought of another Pokémon on Reiji's team.
"Like Lucario?"
"Lucario!" Ash perked up. "That thing is so cool. I want one someday."
He had no idea how accurate that wish would eventually prove to be.
Tracey kept thinking about Oak's comment. "Lucario are pretty sensitive Pokémon, right? Then why did Reiji's have so many scars?"
"That's exactly why those scars are interesting," Oak said. "If Lucario trusts him despite everything it went through, then the most likely explanation is that Reiji wasn't responsible for the injuries. He may have been the one who saved it."
"Pokémon Hunters again?" Gary muttered with obvious disgust.
Growing up as Professor Oak's grandson had insulated him from the kind of desperation that drove some people into that world, but it had also given him very little patience for anyone who abused Pokémon for profit.
Ash immediately looked around the stands.
"Pokémon Hunters... like Team Rocket?"
Several rows away, Jessie, James, and Meowth abandoned their eavesdropping at once.
They stood up, started whistling, and suddenly became extremely dedicated cold-drink vendors.
Gary barely noticed.
"Sort of. Except real Pokémon Hunters are usually a lot more serious than those three idiots."
Team Rocket silently decided not to object.
...
Gulzar and Travis had watched the entire first half from another section of the stadium.
"Rai-nii is amazing!" Travis grabbed Gulzar by the shoulders in excitement. "That's two Elite Four-tier Pokémon already. Do you think he could actually win the whole tournament?"
Gulzar was far less optimistic.
"Winning the tournament is a different story."
He had spent time gathering information on the strongest competitors, and he knew how much harder every round would become from here. Even if Reiji survived today, he still had the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final ahead of him.
Three more full six-on-six battles.
Poliwrath and Electivire were already badly hurt.
This might simply be as far as Reiji's current team could go.
"Gulzar's right," Luana said, resting a hand on her son's head. "This tournament is unusual. Two Elite Four-tier Pokémon are impressive, but winning the entire thing with only those two would be extremely difficult."
Reiji had surprised her so many times that she had almost grown used to it.
At this point, his future looked secure. With Poliwrath and Electivire protecting him, all he really needed was time to keep growing, and Mikan Gym would eventually gain an extremely powerful ally.
Luana had also noticed the young woman constantly around him.
Cissy.
If Luana was reading the situation correctly, Mikan Gym was not relying on friendship alone to keep Reiji close. They were trying to bind him to the Gym permanently.
Luana could hardly criticize them.
She would have considered the exact same thing.
Her own mistake had been failing to recognize Reiji's potential early enough. If she had, pairing him with someone from her own family would have been an obvious option.
Fortunately, Gulzar had turned out to be a worthwhile investment too.
He did not have Reiji's extraordinary growth, but he worked hard, had respectable talent, and would become a strong Trainer with enough support. That made him useful beside Travis in the future.
The important part was making sure Travis remained ahead of him.
If Gulzar ever became significantly stronger than the family he served, the relationship could become difficult to control. Families like Luana's had learned that lesson generations ago, which was why access to money, Pokémon, and training resources was rarely distributed without conditions.
There were too many old stories about powerful retainers eventually marrying into the main family and taking control from within.
Reiji was different.
He had no family behind him, which made bringing him into an established household much simpler. Even his future children could become part of that family without another clan appearing behind them.
Gulzar still had relatives back on Butwal Island, along with an entire village of connections. If he ever rose high enough, he could pull all of them upward with him.
That was something a major family would naturally keep in mind.
Murdering people and manufacturing convenient orphans belonged to another age. Apart from being monstrous, it was stupid. Raise a child that way and one day the truth might surface, turning your carefully cultivated heir into a bomb sitting inside your own house.
Restricting resources was quieter, safer, and perfectly ordinary.
A League-recognized Gym had no reason to go further than that.
...
Rudy had reached a very different conclusion after watching Poliwrath and Electivire.
He was relieved.
Assuming Mikan Gym had not lent Reiji anything stronger, both of his best Pokémon were now injured. Reiji had probably reached his limit.
The other Orange Crew Gyms had extensive information on one another, including the teams used by former Gym Leaders. If Mikan Gym had secretly supplied Reiji with something powerful enough to change the tournament, Rudy expected his own Gym would have heard about it.
Danny seemed almost disappointed.
He had hoped Reiji would reach the top eight so they might get the chance to battle properly. After seeing the condition of Poliwrath and Electivire, that possibility suddenly looked much less certain.
...
The Elite Four lounge had its own conversation going.
"Drake, your brother picked up one hell of a kid," Lance remarked.
Drake looked toward the newly crowned Kanto Champion and laughed. "They're just kids."
"A Trainer that strong stopped being 'just a kid' a while ago," Lance replied. "Besides, we're not exactly ancient ourselves."
He looked down toward Reiji's side of the stadium.
Lance still remembered the first time they had met. Back then, Reiji had only been an Advanced-tier Trainer.
Now he already had Elite Four-tier Pokémon.
Poliwrath in particular interested him. Its Aura had grown remarkably strong, which explained how comfortably it had tracked Tyranitar inside Sandstorm. The ice techniques were just as telling.
Pryce had clearly taught the boy something.
Mahogany Town was not far from Blackthorn City, so Lance knew exactly how dangerous the old man was.
Dragon specialists had always hated Ice types.
Before Fairy-types entered the picture, Ice was the matchup every Dragon Trainer learned to respect very quickly. Lance had learned that lesson personally when he was young, thanks to Pryce.
Then Lance reached the Elite Four and got Lorelei instead.
Her command of Ice types was every bit as vicious, which made sense considering she had learned from Pryce too.
Some childhood trauma apparently followed you into adulthood.
Lorelei was watching Reiji as well.
"He's come a long way." She turned toward Bruno. "He's Shun's older brother, right?"
Bruno nodded. "Yes."
He had known since the Indigo Plateau Conference that Shun's brother was unusual. The boy spoke about Reiji constantly, and with enough admiration that Bruno had once wondered how much of it was exaggeration.
Apparently, not much.
At this rate, Reiji would eventually be sitting among Trainers like them rather than looking up at them.
Not everyone in the room found that prospect reassuring.
Koga stood among the Elite Four in his usual ninja attire, silently considering how many connections Reiji had accumulated.
Drake's younger brother in all but name.
The older brother of Bruno's student.
An Elite Four candidate nominated by both Bruno and Lorelei.
A few ugly rumors were not going to destroy someone with that kind of support unless Reiji made a serious mistake himself.
Koga wondered whether Sabrina had underestimated the situation.
Will had a different opinion.
As a Psychic-type Elite Four member with powers of his own, he had remained in contact with Sabrina, and he considered her plan worthwhile. Reiji was becoming an obstacle to Team Rocket's expansion through the Orange Archipelago.
Even if the rumors only caused him minor trouble, that was still useful.
If they somehow destroyed one of the Archipelago's brightest new Trainers before he matured, even better.
It cost Team Rocket almost nothing either way.
...
Sabrina herself was somewhere inside Pummelo Stadium, watching the match in person.
Team Rocket already had people gathering battle data, but she preferred seeing important targets herself.
Everything Reiji had shown so far had been sent back to the organization, and his threat rating had risen again. Team Rocket was now treating him with the same caution it would use for an operation targeting an Elite Four-tier Trainer.
The smear campaign was almost an afterthought.
Sabrina had not started it.
The local factions had.
She had merely given the rumors a push when they began losing momentum. If those people lacked the nerve to follow through on their own scheme, Team Rocket was perfectly happy to help.
Reiji was not her real objective anyway.
Once Sabrina sent her latest report, Giovanni gave her a much more important assignment.
She was currently Team Rocket's best chance of reaching the top eight, and Giovanni wanted her to go further than that. He wanted an Elite Four seat.
With one of their own inside the Orange Archipelago's highest ranks, Team Rocket could begin placing people throughout the region's businesses, institutions, and local organizations under legitimate cover.
Using an Elite Four member merely to arrange infiltrators almost seemed wasteful.
But the Orange Archipelago was only one part of the plan.
Similar operations were already underway across Kanto and Johto.
If enough pieces fell into place, Team Rocket would have influence spread through all three regions before the League understood how deep the roots had grown. Then, once the timing was right, Giovanni could encourage underground organizations elsewhere to rise at the same time.
The League would no longer be dealing with one criminal organization.
It would be dealing with a war.
And if Team Rocket won that war, three regions would only be the beginning.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]