Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

[Bonus Chapter]

If Rhydon really went over there, who knew what might happen.

Rhyhorn hurriedly stopped Rhydon, insisting it would handle the negotiation itself.

If Rhydon crushed that human, there'd be no one left to mooch food from.

Keep the human alive, and they could always come back and raid his supplies.

Rhydon, who'd been about to charge, was surprisingly persuaded. It stopped scraping the ground and gave Rhyhorn a kick in the rear, motioning for it to hurry up and go.

Getting kicked actually made Rhyhorn happy—it let out a long sigh of relief. So long as Rhydon calmed down, all was well. It quickly trotted over to Poliwhirl and called out, "Snort—I'll take that, and that, and then we'll go home…"

"Yopo?" Poliwhirl was unsure and looked back at Reiji, pointing toward two large bags of Pokémon food in plastic wrap, along with a jar of honey.

Reiji's face immediately darkened. His fist clenched. This glutton—still thinking about takeout even while going home? Talk about looting while the house is on fire.

"Just give it to him," Reiji sighed helplessly and nodded. If a problem could be solved with food, there was no need to fight. Getting this walking time bomb to leave was the priority.

Ahem—mainly because he couldn't win. If they had Elite Four-level strength, they'd put this Rhydon in its place.

Unfortunately, they didn't. That was the hard truth. No way around it.

After Reiji gave the nod, Poliwhirl picked up the honey jar and placed it in a bucket. Then it grabbed the bucket and quickly ran toward the forest's edge, set it down, and rushed back, afraid of getting squashed.

Rhyhorn dragged one of the food bags back to Rhydon.

Rhydon lifted its thick arms and easily picked up the bucket and the bag with its sharp claws. It let out a couple of deep calls to Rhyhorn and turned to leave.

Rhyhorn followed behind. Though it felt reluctant to part with Reiji and the others, it kept glancing back until they disappeared deep into the forest.

Now that the dinosaur was finally gone, Reiji's nerves relaxed again. He collapsed to the ground, drained.

The pressure Rhydon had exerted wasn't any less than the Totem Pidgeot. Both were Pokémon at the Elite Four level.

Thankfully, they'd only come to retrieve their young. As for the Totem's child, Reiji hadn't mistreated it—he'd even earned some goodwill. Otherwise, he really might've been flattened.

What a shame, though, for those two high-potential juveniles. One could've evolved into a majestic Elite Four-level Pidgeot, the other into a water resistant Rhydon of the same caliber. But alas, they weren't meant to be his.

With the heavy thuds of Rhydon's footsteps growing distant, the rest of the Pokémon began to ease up too. They'd experienced two near-death encounters back-to-back—hardly a fun time.

Still, it had all been a false alarm in the end. Now they understood why Reiji had fed honey to those two hatchlings.

It was all to prevent the parents from going berserk. The goodwill earned? Just a side effect to help the kids put in a good word.

He really was a good guy. Please, dino-dad, forgive and forget. Let bygones be bygones.

With the danger passed, the Pokémon returned to their morning training, while Reiji went back to sorting through the poacher's belongings.

He reached into the backpack and pulled out some bills and coins. The coins were about the same size and color as those from his previous life—silver, standard, except the pattern was different.

One side had a Poké Ball, the other the denomination. The bills looked similar too.

There wasn't much money—just over 5,000 Pokédollars.

Figures. The guy really was dirt poor. No wonder he was trying to steal Pidgey—wanted to hit it big in one go, but ended up screwing himself.

Reiji set the money aside and reached back into the pack. This time, he pulled out two books.

How to Enhance Electric-type Moves

From Magikarp to Gyarados

He skimmed the first one. The core concept boiled down to just two words: charge up.

Let your Electric-types absorb electricity constantly. The more they could store, the more powerful their attacks. Increasing their max energy capacity would naturally amplify their Electric moves.

By following this logic, Electabuzz could evolve into Electivire. But the person who came up with this probably didn't realize Electabuzz could even evolve.

Then again, if someone kept powering one up using this method, they'd figure it out eventually.

To evolve Electabuzz into Electivire, all you needed was an Electirizer and a steady source of high-voltage current.

And that Electirizer? It could be reverse-engineered from Magnet-based item enhancements. The tech wasn't unknown—just undiscovered.

The second book? Basically a guide on how to increase Magikarp's chances of evolving into Gyarados.

It only offered one method: rage. Enrage the Magikarp, trigger evolution, then beat the newly evolved Gyarados into submission to capture it.

This would let a trainer reliably screen through many Magikarp and find one that could actually evolve.

But it came with major flaws—

First: You had to beat an enraged Gyarados. If you couldn't win, you'd get obliterated by its Hyper Beam.

Second: Even if you subdued it, such a Gyarados would have serious anger issues. Emotionally unstable.

After all, it had been forced to evolve by someone who pissed it off. Why wouldn't it hold a grudge? Probably wanted to devour its trainer whole.

Third: Disobedience. Even if cowed for now, it might just be biding its time. The moment the trainer faltered, it could turn on them or flee.

Yeah… Reiji wouldn't dare use such a Gyarados. Still, some people would always try their luck—just like that poacher who stole the Totem Pidgeot's chick.

The book also had supplementary training tips: how to use rage to boost a Gyarados's battle power.

It said that to maximize rage potential, the Gyarados should know its most rage-fueled move: Outrage.

But that was a Dragon-type move. Unless the Gyarados had Dragon blood or inherited Outrage genetically—or somehow awakened that bloodline during evolution—it was a pipe dream.

After reading both books, Reiji came to one conclusion: completely useless to him.

That first book? Common sense for a transmigrator. Otherwise, how could he call himself one? Dimensional downgrade, my ass.

And the second? Everyone who watched the anime already knew that trick. James's "useless kick" from Team Rocket fame.

Just one kick and a line—"You useless thing…"—and boom, evolution.

Rage boosting combat power? Not even limited to Gyarados. Humans got stronger when angry too—more strength, more guts, more fight.

And they wrote a book about this?

Do people in the Pokémon world even have basic education…?

Well, they did leave home at ten. Most parents probably didn't even teach their kids that water conducts electricity.

Setting the books aside, Reiji dug back into the backpack and pulled out a blue water-drop-shaped pendant and a magnet similar to the ones on Magnemite's body.

"No way—is this Mystic Water? And the other's the Magnet item?" Still dusty. He wiped them off with a rag and examined them closely.

The Mystic Water looked exactly like a water droplet—smooth, clear, and a bit like glass, with vivid blue liquid inside.

[Mystic Water]

Increases the power of Water-type moves for the Pokémon holding it (Boost: 19%, Level Cap: 36)

Note: Effective up to level 36. Each level beyond reduces the boost by 1%, until the effect disappears.

After reading the item description, Reiji called out, "Poliwhirl, come here."

"Yopo!" Poliwhirl was jogging laps around the treehouse. At Reiji's call, it ran over and stood at attention.

"Put this on and try Water Gun. See if the power goes up."

He hung the Mystic Water on Poliwhirl's head. At first, Poliwhirl didn't feel anything, but once it fired a Water Gun at a tree, it immediately sensed the water energy strengthening the move.

"Yopo! Yopo!" Poliwhirl was amazed. It stopped to inspect the little trinket—this tiny thing could really boost Water Gun? It was the first time it had seen something this cool.

"Poliwhirl, does it feel stronger?" Reiji asked curiously.

Poliwhirl nodded. The Water Gun was definitely more powerful—and easier to use too. It now took less effort to achieve the same effect.

"Alright, back to your run." Reiji took off the Mystic Water after confirming the test.

The item probably belonged to that Gyarados. The poacher likely removed it to avoid losing it during the chase.

Still, Reiji wasn't about to let Poliwhirl wear it now. One, it had no neck. Two, it'd fall off too easily.

Once they got back to human society, he planned to forge it into a wristband for Poliwhirl to wear on its arm—so the Water move boost would stick.

Since there was only one Mystic Water, of course Poliwhirl got first dibs. As for Krabby… maybe later.

After wrapping the Mystic Water in a cloth and storing it away, Reiji picked up the Magnet.

It was pretty hefty.

Shaped like a classic horseshoe magnet. Its poles even matched the colors seen on Magnemite—just darker.

It wasn't hard to imagine this Magnet item originally came from the Magnemite family.

[Magnet]

Increases the power of Electric-type moves for the Pokémon holding it (Boost: 20%, Level Cap: 37)

Pretty similar stats to the Mystic Water, just for Electric-types.

But he didn't have any Electric Pokémon. Useless for now. Probably belonged to that Electabuzz.

Once he reached human society, he'd find a way to sell it—better to exchange it for something useful.

He set both items aside and reached into the bag again.

But this time, after rummaging for a while, he couldn't find anything else.

Just some coins, and what looked like a debit card.

Everything now scattered on the grass—that was the poacher's entire inventory.

Poké Balls, clothes, food, camping gear, medicine, maps, money, Pokémon care guides, and…

"Wait, there's something else." Reiji scanned the grass, still blindly reaching into the bag when he felt something round.

Too big to pull out with one hand. He shoved his other hand in and pulled out—

A spherical object, roughly the size of his own head.

He froze.

"…An egg? A Pokémon egg?"

He'd thought the bag was empty. Then out came this.

It totally caught him off guard. The poacher had a Pokémon egg?

No idea what species it was.

Mostly white, with brown spots on the shell.

He recalled that in the anime, people said a Pokémon's egg often had patterns matching the species.

So based on the color and markings, you could usually guess what was inside.

"Brown spots… hmm… which Pokémon are brown?"

He lowered his head, deep in thought. Then came a mental list:

Weedle, Pidgey, Raticate, Spearow, Sandshrew, Diglett, Mankey, Doduo, Cubone, Kangaskhan, Staryu, Eevee, Sentret, Hoothoot, Sudowoodo, Teddiursa, Swinub, Stantler…

(End of Chapter)

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