Day 21 since setting out for Kanto. Overcast.
After only two days here, Reiji had already figured something out—Gringey City seemed to have only two kinds of weather. It was either cloudy or raining. Sunshine apparently didn't exist.
Even so, he got up early, fed his Pokémon breakfast, and went to the Pokémon Center to check on Riolu.
Riolu was recovering well enough to get out of bed now, but only barely. He could hop around a little, though anything too strenuous was still off-limits, and Nurse Joy soon pressed him right back onto the bed.
Reiji sent out Poliwhirl and left him there for the day. With Poliwhirl watching him, Riolu wouldn't be able to go running around before he was fully healed. After leaving enough food for both of them, Reiji headed out of the Pokémon Center.
The main reason he left Poliwhirl behind was simple: those two could at least talk to each other. The others would have a much harder time with that.
Now that the rest of his team was catching up in strength, even Poliwhirl was starting to struggle to hold onto the top spot. Darkrai had already surpassed him in level, and from here on out, that gap would only keep growing.
And if even Darkrai couldn't handle something, taking Poliwhirl along wouldn't help much either. No matter how strong Poliwhirl was, he still wasn't at Elite Four tier. If enough Pokémon swarmed him at once, he would still lose.
Reiji also had Scyther and the others with him. If trouble broke out in the black market and Toxicroak's group couldn't handle it, he could always send in Scyther's group next.
If even Scyther and the others couldn't manage it, then he'd have to rely on Gengar and Darkrai. And if even his final trump cards weren't enough, bringing Poliwhirl along would make no difference. He couldn't keep relying on Poliwhirl for everything.
Once outside the Pokémon Center, Reiji waved up at Poliwhirl and Riolu on the second floor, then headed for the power plant he had spotted yesterday.
The black market was under that power plant. He had seen Tai come out of it yesterday, so he knew which one it was. This morning, he planned to scout it out properly.
After all, who said a black market only opened at night? If Team Rocket had set one up, it was there to make money. That meant it had to be open twenty-four hours a day.
When he reached the power plant from yesterday, he first circled around the outside and took a careful look. Sure enough, near a concealed back entrance, he spotted a steady stream of suspicious people coming and going. That had to be the entrance to the black market.
He let Spinarak climb onto his shoulder, put on his Ditto mask, pulled up a black face mask as well, and entered through the back with Toxicroak at his side, blending in with the crowd.
Inside, he discovered that the rear entrance led straight into the kitchen and cafeteria. But most of the people there weren't eating. Everyone had a mask on, and they were all lining up outside a small room next door, waiting to go in.
Reiji joined the line and waited. When the door finally opened, he caught a glimpse of a Psychic-type Pokémon inside. A masked man went in, and when the door opened again not long after, the man was gone.
That was when it clicked. The underground area was completely cut off from the surface—at least for outsiders like them. The only way down was via a Psychic-type's Teleport.
For the staff, there was probably an internal elevator somewhere inside the power plant. But for visitors like them, Teleport was the only option.
Since Tai worked here, Reiji had no idea whether he was stationed underground or up in the power plant itself. There was no point guessing. He would go down first and see what was there.
One by one, the people ahead of him vanished. Dressed the way he was, he didn't stand out at all. Nearly everyone here was masked, and most of them had Pokémon beside them. He had two at his side as well.
When it was finally his turn, the Alakazam inside looked him over—then visibly froze. Its psychic senses had clearly picked up just how many Pokémon he had on him.
Then it raised its spoon and pointed at a price sheet stuck to the wall.
"Ten thousand per person? And ten thousand per Pokémon?" Reiji muttered. The moment he saw the rates, he understood. He immediately recalled Toxicroak and Spinarak into their Poké Balls.
"Ka-dii." Alakazam lifted its spoon again and pointed at his face, making it clear there was still one more on him.
Reiji coughed awkwardly. There was no hiding it. All he could do was pull out 20,000 Pokédollars and hand them over.
Only after seeing the money did Alakazam nod in satisfaction. It took the cash, used Teleport, and brought Reiji underground.
The basement of the power plant was another small room. Someone was already waiting outside to come in and hurried him along, so Reiji had no choice but to leave right away.
As soon as he stepped out and the next person entered, the room shut behind them and Teleported back up. Only then did he finally have time to look around at the underground market.
The battle arena was exactly what you'd expect—pretty much standard equipment for any underground black market. Beyond that, shops lined both sides of the street, each one dealing in some form of illegal business.
The whole place was brightly lit and packed with every kind of shady figure imaginable. Everywhere he looked, people were trading things the League would never permit. The ones maintaining order here were Team Rocket.
They weren't openly announcing who they were, though. Everyone wore the same black uniform, and every patrol team of two had Poison-type Pokémon with them as they moved through the streets.
And it wasn't just Team Rocket. What Reiji saw here was even more extreme than what he had seen at the Pokémon Center. Most of the Trainers in this place had Poison-types at their side. Other types were a distant minority.
Seeing that, he released Toxicroak and Spinarak again, let Spinarak climb back onto his shoulder, and kept Toxicroak walking beside him. Only then did he fully blend into the place.
Good thing Alakazam hadn't noticed Darkrai. Otherwise it probably would have charged him another 10,000 for the entrance fee. Greedy thing. Reiji had no doubt it was helping Team Rocket squeeze every last coin out of the place.
He put Alakazam out of his mind and started wandering through the market.
Poison-type Pokémon deals. Venom deals. Poison-type tools. Poison materials...
This underground black market was poison from top to bottom. At least ninety percent of what he saw involved poison in one form or another.
As he walked, he kept running into incidents where Poison-type Pokémon lashed out and hurt people. The Poison-types here were badly unstable. Many of the ones following Trainers around had bloodshot eyes, as if they hadn't slept in ages.
He also saw Trainers erupt into fights over almost nothing. Everyone else simply backed away and watched. Nobody shouted. Nobody tried to stop them. No one even looked surprised.
Once a rampaging Poison-type was killed, its Trainer's bag went to the winner. The dead Pokémon would be cut open on the spot, its useful toxin materials removed, and a few moments later the street would be calm again.
Team Rocket didn't interfere. Nobody did. Everyone watched in cold silence. The only rule seemed to be that if you broke something, you paid for it.
That was enough to send a chill up Reiji's spine. Something was wrong with this place. The Trainers were wrong. The Pokémon were wrong. Everywhere he looked, something was off.
They were all too irritable. Too close to snapping. Like people who hadn't slept for days and were on the verge of losing their minds.
The humans were like that. The Pokémon were like that too. Why?
Given how many Poison-types were here, most of them had probably been raised on poison-feeding methods. If the toxins had built up deeply enough, then they were likely being tormented around the clock, unable to sleep. That alone would be enough to make them vicious.
And if the Pokémon couldn't sleep, maybe that had started affecting their Trainers too, wearing down their mental state the same way...
"I've been waiting for you."
Reiji had just been about to keep exploring when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around and jumped back on instinct, every muscle tightening as he stared at the person behind him.
"Relax." Tai had noticed the Spinarak on Reiji's shoulder right away. It was exactly the same look Reiji had used back in the underground market in Trovitopolis. Tai had seen that version of him plenty of times before.
"Tai?" Reiji asked cautiously. The masked man didn't look surprised in the slightest.
"It's me." Tai had a mask on and was dressed in black from head to toe, the exact opposite of the white uniform worn in the power plant above. Beside him stood a Houndoom—the same big black dog Reiji had seen yesterday.
"Croak." The moment Reiji stepped back, Toxicroak did the same, staring at Tai with open hostility. One word from Reiji and it could smash this man's skull in an instant.
That lapse had been its fault. Tai hadn't shown any hostility or killing intent, so Toxicroak had let its guard down. There were too many people moving through the streets, and it had missed his approach.
"Ruff. Rrruff ruff." Houndoom caught Toxicroak's hostility immediately. With its sharp sense of smell, it answered at once with a low warning growl.
"So that's the Houndour from back then. Grown up already, huh?" Once Reiji confirmed it really was Tai, he relaxed and stepped closer, looking at the Houndoom that kept growling at him to stay back.
"Yeah. And I still owe you for the Pokémon you gave me back then. They've all evolved now. They're my biggest support." Tai smiled and rubbed Houndoom's head, telling it to settle down.
"Not bad for two months," Reiji said with a smile of his own. That Houndoom had already memorized his scent. It could track him whenever it wanted.
"I'm doing all right. This isn't a good place to talk. Let's go somewhere else." Tai took the lead, bringing Reiji into an elevator and back up to the power plant above.
The moment he realized he was upstairs again, Reiji's mouth twitched. He let out a helpless sigh. That 20,000 Pokédollars had gone to waste.
"Put this on." Tai brought him into a locker room and tossed him a white power-plant jacket. He pulled one on himself too, then added, "You can put Spinarak away."
"Fine." At this point, there wasn't much left not to trust. Reiji pulled back his hood and recalled Spinarak into its Poké Ball. He kept the Ditto mask on, though, and left Toxicroak out at his side.
After throwing the white coat over his stab-resistant vest, Reiji followed Tai out of the power plant and into a café on the street.
They both still had their masks on, so between that and Tai—the local turncoat—leading the way, no one questioned for a second that Reiji didn't belong there.
"Aren't you supposed to be working?" Reiji asked as soon as they sat down, curious whether Tai was slacking off on the job.
"My shift starts at two in the afternoon. Still early." Tai glanced at his watch and waved a server over for two coffees.
"I thought you were skipping work," Reiji said with a laugh. After all this time, they were finally meeting face-to-face for real.
"Here's the two million. Take it first." Tai pulled out 2,000,000 in cash, set it on the table, and pushed it over. "I tried your method last night. Muk responded really well, but Gengar fell asleep. Can you check and see what's going on?"
"Gengar?" Reiji echoed, puzzled. Yesterday it had still been Haunter. How had it become Gengar overnight?
"It evolved last night." Tai took out Muk's and Gengar's Poké Balls and handed them over. He knew Reiji had a sharp eye, so he wanted him to examine their condition.
"Let me see." Reiji took the two Poké Balls. Through the transparent shell, he glanced at the Pokémon inside, then opened Muk's panel first.
[Muk]
[Type: Poison]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 57.34%]
[Level: 42.11%]
[Ability: Sticky Hold/40.12%][Hidden Ability: Poison Touch/53.12%]
[Moves...]
He checked Muk first. The panel still wasn't showing it as shiny, which meant the transformation wasn't complete yet. But it was close.
Muk's potential had already reached quasi–Elite Four tier, and it was still growing. If Tai kept raising it along the path he had in mind, then Elite Four tier wasn't impossible.
Its level was solid too. It had already reached Advanced tier. Overall, it was a very respectable Pokémon.
And Poison Touch was downright ridiculous. Its proficiency was far ahead of Muk's current level. Muk really was poison incarnate. Nothing else compared.
"That's strange..." Reiji looked up at Tai. "Why doesn't it smell? Aren't Grimer and Muk supposed to stink?"
"Only when it's out of the ball. I use custom Poké Balls." Tai couldn't stand Grimer's smell either. Back in Trovitopolis, he had already switched it over to a specially made ball.
He had picked Grimer as his starter in the first place because it was easy to keep alive and could even eat the household trash. Otherwise, he never would have chosen it.
"I see. Got any more? Give me a few." Reiji didn't bother being polite. They had already done a two-million deal. A handful of Poké Balls wasn't something Tai couldn't spare.
"I've got five custom Poké Balls that block odors." Tai pulled five out of his bag. Since he dealt with Grimer all the time, these were essential gear for him.
Reiji set Muk's Poké Ball down and took the five empty custom Poké Balls, planning to use them for the shiny Koffing. Then he smiled and said, "Your Muk is healthy. Nothing wrong with it. Good talent too. It's got a future..."
"Good." Tai took Muk's Poké Ball back. He knew exactly what Reiji meant by that. His Weepinbell, Houndoom, and Gyarados had all received the same verdict.
After arriving at Team Rocket HQ two months earlier for training, he had learned from Instructor Viper about the secret behind Weepinbell's unusually potent toxins.
Anything related to Weepinbell research was classified within Team Rocket. A rookie like him had no access to it, so in the end he had no choice but to let it go.
[Gengar (shiny)]
[Type: Ghost + Poison]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 58.12%]
[Level: 41.33%]
[Ability: Cursed Body/15.53%]
[Moves...]
"So it really did turn shiny." Reiji pocketed the five Poké Balls, then turned to Gengar's panel.
Gengar also had quasi–Elite Four tier potential. From here on out, all it needed was time and steady training.
Its level wasn't bad either. It had just stepped into Advanced tier, and before long it would reach quasi–Elite Four tier. With these two Pokémon alone, Tai had enough strength to protect himself.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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