Lance's test was simple: battle a bunch of kids.
"The test is to fight a few rounds with these children." Lance raised his hand and pointed at the group of kids beside him. Their teams weren't bad—most of their Pokémon were elite level. More than enough to test Reiji.
"You're serious?" Reiji couldn't believe it. Was becoming a licensed trainer really that easy? He still hadn't wrapped his head around the fact that, with Lance pulling strings, getting League certification was basically one sentence away.
"I'm one of the Elite Four, you know," Lance said, already sounding a little impatient. "If my name as the Dragon Master isn't enough to vouch for a rookie license, I'd be a joke."
"In that case…" Only now did Reiji finally react. For these two, signing off on a rookie trainer was trivial.
But something felt wrong. His original goal was to join a Gym as an apprentice. If he became a certified trainer here and now, what would he even need a Gym apprenticeship for?
And more than that, he really didn't want to be personally escorted into the League by Lance.
It wasn't that he doubted Lance's integrity, or whether Lance could actually pull it off—he had no doubts there. He just didn't think his small life could handle that kind of attention.
If Lance personally took him to apply for rookie certification and the news got out, what would he do when people inevitably targeted him?
Even if Lance just casually told a Pokémon Center to "take care" of Reiji, he'd be tagged as Lance's guy and instantly draw the eyes of anyone looking for leverage.
People like Lance were under constant scrutiny. Anyone brought in by him would be even more exposed.
But Reiji didn't want that at all. He just wanted to quietly grind, not get dragged into the spotlight as some League-certified newcomer that everyone stared at. Once word spread inside the League that Lance had personally given him his start, he'd be treated like a special case.
And that was exactly the problem: someone would eventually dig up his origins. Right now, he couldn't afford the price of being exposed.
Once he became an Elite-level trainer himself, then it wouldn't matter. At that point, even if someone dug into his past and found a few blemishes, it would be shrugged off. That's the weight carried by an Elite.
But right now, he was still too weak. He couldn't even accept a casual favor from Lance without being crushed by the consequences. He could only give up on becoming a certified trainer here.
The problem was, he'd already agreed to the battles. He couldn't back out now—that would be a slap in the face to the Elite Four's Lance, and he couldn't afford that either.
So he'd have to fight, but not take the reward. And he couldn't put on too pathetic a performance. Maybe he'd just use "too much trouble" as an excuse and slip away afterward.
Ugh. Headache. This was such a pain.
He'd thought about just phoning it in, but we were talking about two members of the Elite Four here. This was not the sort of situation you half-assed your way through.
And it wasn't like he was Team Rocket; he had no reason to deliberately sandbag. Even if he couldn't accept Lance's offer, there was no harm in letting them remember his face.
If he ever wanted to be a League "office worker" down the line, having these two as acquaintances would only help. Plenty of people never even got a chance to stand in front of them—he should probably feel grateful.
While Reiji was busy overthinking everything, Lance and Lorelei were having a quiet conversation off to the side.
"Lorelei, why'd you insist on keeping him?" Lance lowered his voice.
"His reaction was off." Lorelei frowned slightly. "We're two members of the Elite Four. Any normal trainer would be excited seeing us. He was scared. That's not normal…"
"So that's it. I knew something felt off." Lance rubbed his chin, replaying their encounter in his head. Aside from getting startled by Dragonite at the start, Reiji really hadn't shown any excitement at all.
He was the Dragon Master Lance of the Elite Four. Wherever he went, he was mobbed. Maybe not literally worshipped, but fans would practically trample each other just to get closer.
He'd never met someone like Reiji. Even if the kid didn't react to him, he should've at least been shaken by Lorelei being there. She was a top-tier beauty on top of being Elite Four.
"What are you staring at?" Lorelei shot him a glare. Like she didn't know exactly what was going through his head. Her charm was not the issue here; it just didn't work on Reiji, and there wasn't much she could do about that.
She'd suspected something earlier, but seeing where Lance's eyes drifted, she knew her suspicions were pointless. The kid genuinely wasn't interested in either of them. Even with two Elite Four members standing right in front of him, he only wanted to get away as fast as possible.
"Forget it. Let's see what this kid can do first." Lance relaxed his brow and turned back toward the villa's backyard. There was a battle field back there. He planned to watch Reiji fight from there.
Seeing Lance head in, Lorelei followed, and the kids herded Reiji into the villa like they were afraid he'd bolt.
Standing on the battlefield, with two top-ranking trainers watching and a ring of rich kids staring at him, Reiji couldn't help feeling the pressure.
Was he supposed to go easy? Or really go easy?
If he made one of them cry, who'd he even complain to? He couldn't afford to cross those bodyguards.
"I'll use Wartortle. Hurry up and send your Pokémon out!" one of the boys shouted, already throwing his Poké Ball.
"Go, Kingler." Reiji sighed. He didn't send out Poliwhirl or Scyther, and instead chose his most stable option.
Using Poliwhirl here would feel like bullying. If the kid burst into tears, that'd be awkward. Scyther still needed more time to sync up with him; he wanted to run a couple of practice matches before using it seriously. So that left Kingler.
"I'll be the referee! Both sides, get ready! I'll count down from three… Three, two, one—battle start!"
A kid ran out to serve as ref, and the match began.
"Wartortle, use Water Gun!"
"Kingler, bring your claw up to block, then use Amnesia," Reiji ordered at almost the same time.
"Ku-kak!" Before the stream of water hit, Kingler raised its massive claw to shield itself. Its huge pincer was big enough to cover most of its body.
Using Water Gun into a Water-type. What was this kid thinking? Ever heard of changing tactics?
As Kingler used Amnesia, its claw slowly lowered again. Amnesia wiped out its memory of the last moment, so Reiji had to keep reminding it.
"Kingler, claw up. Keep using Amnesia."
His game plan didn't change: stack defenses first. If the kid insisted on spamming Water Gun, Reiji would gladly let him.
By the time the boy finally realized what was going on, Kingler had already stacked Amnesia to the limit, maxed out Iron Defense, and even squeezed in a Swords Dance.
Seeing all this, the kid was so frustrated he almost burst into tears. "Why do you just keep boosting your defense? Why won't you attack?"
"After all that Water Gun, you still haven't realized it's doing nothing?" Reiji spread his hands helplessly. "If you're given free turns to boost, why wouldn't you use them?"
"…That kind of makes sense." The boy immediately changed directions. "Wartortle, use Shell Smash!"
He wanted to power up too, boosting Wartortle's offense and speed. Unfortunately for him, it was too late.
"Kingler, Mud Shot."
While Wartortle was trying to set up, Kingler ended things with a single Mud Shot.
Mud Shot triggered its Sheer Force ability. The speed-drop effect disappeared, but the power went up by thirty percent.
When Wartortle went down, Lance actually laughed. "Lorelei, this one doesn't seem cut out for battling…"
"He's not my student." Lorelei crossed her legs, rejecting the blame instantly. "Those kids are basically free-range. If they come ask, I teach them. If they don't want to learn, there's not much I can do."
The second boy came up looking a lot more prepared. This time he sent out a Grass-type—Grovyle, which had a good matchup into Kingler.
"Come on, you attack first." Reiji waved him forward. Kingler's boosts were still active. It didn't matter who came up.
"Don't get cocky! Grovyle, use Bullet Seed!"
"Kingler, shoot it down with Mud Shot."
The two ranged moves collided mid-air, and the two Pokémon started trading volleys.
The moment the projectiles met, the attacks exploded, smoke clouding the field. The boy instantly changed tactics. "Grovyle, Quick Attack in! Then Leaf Blade!"
"Cha!" Grovyle responded immediately, sprinting through the smoke toward Kingler.
"Kingler, swat it away."
As soon as Reiji saw Grovyle charge in, he shouted his order.
"Ku-kak!" Kingler stared straight ahead, and the instant Grovyle burst out of the smoke, it brought its giant claw down in a brutal sideways swing.
Boom—
Leaf Blade never landed. Kingler's pincer caught Grovyle mid-rush and sent it flying. If you insist on charging directly in front of a Kingler with maxed-out defenses, maybe at least think about circling around.
"Cha…" Grovyle slammed into the barrier net, fell, and cried out in pain. It struggled back to its feet, clearly about to collapse, but under its trainer's encouragement it stood again, like someone had slapped a buff on it.
And then—thup, thup, thup—three Mud Shots landed in a row, putting Grovyle down for good.
Another kid ran off in tears, clutching his Grovyle, over to a waiting bodyguard for treatment.
After Reiji took two wins in a row, Lance and Lorelei both sat up straighter. From start to finish, Kingler hadn't taken a single step.
Its defenses were fully stacked, its attack maxed, and only its speed left untouched.
A Kingler like that was incredibly hard to take down, especially once it actually started moving. They really wanted to see just how far Reiji could push its win streak.
He showed them.
The third kid sent out yet another starter—this time, Venusaur.
The moment he saw it, Reiji understood. They were all second-generation rich kids. Each one had a starter.
He let out a quiet sigh and had Kingler meet Venusaur head-on. The result was no surprise—Kingler won again.
After that, the kids came at him one after another. Reiji stood there and directed Kingler through more than ten matches in a row, until he'd made every last one of them cry.
To keep the win streak going, he'd had Kingler move as little as possible, hardly ever letting it run. It was the only way to conserve enough stamina to fight eleven matches back-to-back and beat them all.
Kingler's tactics were simple. At range, it used Mud Shot to wear opponents down. Up close, it just smacked them out of the air. With both defenses and attack maxed, plus its natural accuracy, Kingler almost never lost when playing target practice—aside from Poliwhirl, it hadn't lost a shooting match yet.
And these kids loved to rush straight in. Everyone wanted to brawl. That slotted perfectly into Reiji's strategy.
With double defenses stacked to the cap, Kingler tanked hit after hit without flinching, while everything that came into melee range ended up pinned to the barrier, unconscious.
Clap, clap, clap—
"Impressive. Very impressive. I didn't expect you to rack up eleven straight wins." Lance applauded from the balcony, having watched every match.
The kids' command skills weren't exactly great, but eleven wins was eleven wins. Quantity becomes quality sooner or later, and surviving that many battles in a row was enough to earn some real respect.
"You itching to go down there?" Lorelei noticed how fired up he looked and knew his hands were itching.
With a trainer who commanded like this, anyone would want a match. Ever since they became Elite Four, they rarely had truly fun battles—aside from challengers or fellow Elites.
Now that they'd finally found such a promising newcomer, of course they wanted to give him a proper match—senior guidance for a junior.
"Obviously. I'm already dying to jump in." Lance bent his knees, ready to vault off the balcony—only for Lorelei to stop him.
"Lance, don't you think that's a bit much?" Lorelei nodded toward the field. "That Kingler just hit advanced level. If you send out Dragonite, isn't that…bullying?"
"What are you thinking?" Lance shook the Poké Ball in his hand. "I'll use the little dragon I picked up in Kinnow City."
Inside was the Dratini he'd recovered at Kinnow Harbor. It was still on him, not yet transferred away.
"Lance?" Reiji had just been about to recall Kingler and explain that he needed to leave when Lance dropped down from the balcony and nearly scared him to death.
"I want a battle with you," Lance said bluntly. "You've got other Pokémon, right? Hurry up and send one out."
He didn't hesitate—he threw his Poké Ball and released the Dratini.
"Dratini?" The moment Reiji saw it, his mind jumped straight back to the black market at Kinnow Harbor. That Dratini had to be this one. He hadn't expected to see it again here.
But before agreeing, he needed to think this through. He looked at Lance and asked, "Lance… if I beat you, could you grant me one request?"
"What kind of request?" Lance looked down at Dratini, then back at Reiji, and thought to himself: he wants the Dratini, doesn't he? Bold kid…
"It's about the trainer certification," Reiji said, scratching his head awkwardly. "Could you take that back? I don't want it."
He really didn't want to die young. Being targeted was not his idea of a good time. All he wanted was to quietly raise his team. His ambitions weren't that lofty, and he definitely didn't want to get dragged into the whirlpool around the Elite Four.
"…That's it?" Lance stared at him, completely thrown. He'd been sure the kid would ask for Dratini, but once again he'd guessed wrong. He'd already been wrong several times today. Reiji was full of surprises.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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