Day 20 since joining the Gym. Clear skies.
Reiji woke up in the tent and blinked at the canvas ceiling. It had been a long time since he'd slept like this.
He made breakfast for Poliwhirl and the others. After they ate, Poliwhirl took Mudkip into the woods—probably to train Waterfall.
Why not train by the lake?
Because Mudkip and Croagunk's group couldn't be seen by Quincy. That meant no lakeside drills. The forest was safer.
Reiji had his own job today: Magikarp's evolution.
Once Magikarp had eaten and rested, Reiji brought it to the lower end of the waterfall and prepared to begin.
He only kept a few Pokémon with him: Pelipper, Ditto, Spinarak, Darkrai, Zapdos, Shelmet, and Hanhan. The rest followed Poliwhirl into the woods.
At the downstream bank, Reiji fed Magikarp one Water-type Pokéblock, hoping it would have enough stamina to make the full climb to the lake above.
"Magikarp," Reiji said, patting its head, "I'll be watching from the bank. Give it everything you've got."
Magikarp's eyes stayed locked on the stepped waterfall upstream. It nodded hard, then dove in with a splash and surged forward.
Reiji hurried along the shore.
Magikarp cleared the first step quickly and started climbing the second.
"Pelipper, take me up," Reiji said.
Pelipper hooked his clothes and carried him to the second tier.
Magikarp noticed him, chirped twice, and kept going without slowing down.
Watching that round body churn through the current, Reiji couldn't help sweating a little.
Maybe he'd made it too fat.
Magikarp didn't pause. It forced its way over the second step and pushed for the third.
They'd prepared for this for weeks. Magikarp had no reason to fail, and Reiji wasn't allowing it to fail.
"Keep going," Reiji called as Pelipper carried him to the third step. "Straight up—don't stop!"
Magikarp heard him. Its eyes held only the waterfall.
Fourth step.
Fifth.
Sixth.
By the time Pelipper brought Reiji to the lake above, Magikarp was nearly spent and struggling against the final tier.
"Magikarp!" Reiji leaned forward. "This is the last one. Don't you dare quit. Get up here and I'll feed you extra!"
Magikarp twitched at the word extra.
"Kar… kar!"
It forced a burst of strength into its tail, launched upward, and broke through the last waterfall in a single leap.
Spray exploded into the air, and for a second the droplets caught the sun like a rainbow.
"Now!" Reiji shouted. "Magikarp—eat these!"
He threw three Water Gems straight into Magikarp's open mouth.
Magikarp swallowed without hesitation.
Then it saw what Reiji pulled out next—a blue scale.
Even before it touched it, Magikarp could sense something in it. A thin, cold pressure that made its skin prickle.
"Roar…" Magikarp trembled.
It was scared.
But it still bit down on the Dragon Scale and plunged into the lake.
Splash.
The moment it hit the water, the lake bottom lit up like day.
Evolution light flooded the depths.
Reiji could only wait.
Magikarp had already been top-tier. Now it had swallowed Water Gems and a Dragon Scale.
Reiji didn't even want to guess what kind of monster would crawl out when this was done.
The white light faded.
A massive shadow rose from the deep, slow and heavy, until a brutal mouth surfaced.
"Roooaaaar!"
Gyarados threw its head back and bellowed, announcing itself to the lake and the forest like a crowned tyrant.
"Intimidate?" Reiji said sharply.
Pelipper, Spinarak, and the others had all stiffened and backed off, shaken by that violent aura. Intimidate had flared the moment it roared.
"Enough," Reiji barked. "Stop."
Gyarados turned, staring down at him like he was an insect.
Humans were this small?
It looked like one tail swing would send him flying.
"Dumb fish," Reiji said, voice flat. "You're getting cocky."
Gyarados roared again, louder, right at him.
Quincy stumbled out of the cabin at the noise and froze when he saw the enormous body at the shore. His legs actually shook.
He'd seen plenty of Gyarados before.
He'd never seen one this huge.
It looked like a deep-sea nightmare dragged onto land.
"Rai… is that your Gyarados?" Quincy asked, barely able to get the words out.
"Don't come closer," Reiji said without looking back.
He could feel it. Gyarados had gained too much power too fast. It was close to losing control, and right now it was dangerous.
This wasn't something you talked down.
You beat it down.
Darkrai's voice sounded from the shadows. "It's looking down on you."
Kingler rushed in front of Reiji at once. Other Pokémon moved with it, forming a wall between Reiji and the roaring monster.
Then Poliwhirl returned from the woods.
It took one look at Gyarados baring its teeth at Reiji, and its fists tightened.
It had been a while since it punched one of its own.
Boom.
Poliwhirl exploded forward with Waterfall, ice crystals flashing over its fist, and drove a heavy punch straight into Gyarados's open mouth.
The impact launched Gyarados backward.
Poliwhirl wasn't here to negotiate.
It was here to remind Gyarados who the real boss was.
Gyarados slammed down, then scrambled up and roared at Poliwhirl, furious.
Yes, it had thoughts.
No, it didn't deserve a punch to the face the moment it evolved.
"Still roaring?" Poliwhirl snapped.
It lifted a hand and fired a white Ice Beam across the lake.
The surface froze instantly, and Gyarados froze with it.
Poliwhirl's feet detonated against the ground.
In a blur, it was already on the ice, moving so fast Reiji only saw crushed dirt and shattered frost in its wake.
One more punch.
Straight into Gyarados's face.
The ice broke, and Gyarados flew free—only to freeze again midair, its body flashing with Ice Punch's chill.
It hit the water like a falling wall, and even the splash froze into a thick sheet.
A huge splash.
Then cracking.
Gyarados twisted and tore itself out of the ice, roaring again in pure rage.
This time it fired back—an orange-yellow bolt of electricity from its mouth.
"That's Thunderbolt!" Reiji shouted. "Poliwhirl, dodge!"
Poliwhirl shot sideways, ice exploding under its feet. It flickered through the gaps with Waterfall bursts, then drove another punch into the vulnerable spot just beneath Gyarados's jaw.
Gyarados flew again.
Poliwhirl wasn't holding back. Every punch landed with full force. After three hits, it finally looked warmed up.
That was all.
Gyarados couldn't keep up. Not in reaction time. Not in speed. Not on an open lake where Poliwhirl could move freely.
Still, it refused to submit.
It raised its head and roared at the sky.
Dark clouds gathered in an instant, thick and heavy, with thick yellow lightning crawling inside them.
Then the thunder fell.
Boom, boom, boom!
Bolts slammed into the frozen lake, blasting ice into the air. Poliwhirl had to keep moving nonstop, using Waterfall bursts to slip away by a hair again and again.
"Thunder," Reiji said, eyes on the clouds. "And Rain Dance."
He couldn't help it—Gyarados's talent was absurd. It had just evolved, barely used new moves, and it could already call down a storm like this.
Thankfully, it hadn't started raining yet. If the rain came, this fight would get ugly.
Reiji pointed upward. "Pelipper—Hurricane. Blow the clouds apart!"
Pelipper shot into the air, wings glowing pale blue. It beat its wings and drove a violent wind straight into the cloud mass.
The storm broke.
Sunlight poured back in.
Even Gyarados's Thunder weakened under the sudden clear sky.
Poliwhirl stood on the ice without a scratch and curled one finger at Gyarados.
Come on.
Gyarados roared again, furious and confused.
Its intimidation had worked on others. Why didn't it work on this little tadpole?
Then it opened its mouth and unleashed a swirling, multicoloured blast. A dragon-shaped shadow rode inside the beam, jaws snapping as it surged toward Poliwhirl.
"Dragon Pulse," Reiji muttered.
Of course.
A Magikarp with this talent, boosted by a Dragon Scale, that also knows Outrage was bound to evolve into something vicious.
Moves like this weren't surprising.
What was surprising was how slow it was.
Gyarados was huge, and it had never trained speed or agility. Its attacks were heavy and obvious. It wasn't hitting Poliwhirl.
At the last moment, Poliwhirl burst away with Waterfall, then snapped back in with Ice Punch and froze Gyarados's face solid.
It didn't stop there.
While Gyarados struggled, Poliwhirl closed the gap and pounded it again and again, each hit draining more strength out of that massive body.
Gyarados never even got the chance to truly rampage.
It collapsed into the broken ice, eyes spinning.
Reiji walked up and recalled it into its Poké Ball.
Then he turned to Poliwhirl and lightly patted its head. It had grown again, and its fist was still clenched tight.
"Good work," Reiji said. "Eat a Pokéblock and recover."
Poliwhirl grinned, wiped sweat from its forehead, and swallowed the Pokéblock anyway.
"Rest," Reiji told it again.
He led Poliwhirl back to shore, where Quincy stood waiting, still shaken.
"Rai… that Gyarados…" Quincy said, staring like he'd seen a legend.
He'd watched the whole fight.
That Poliwhirl was barely over a metre tall, but it hit like a catastrophe. It punched a monster several metres taller and sent it flying. It even pinned Gyarados down through its own violent offense.
Quincy finally understood something he'd heard a thousand times.
There were no useless Pokémon.
Only useless trainers.
Seeing Poliwhirl like this… Quincy had never seen anyone raise an "ordinary" Poliwhirl to this level.
"It's fine," Reiji said, waving it off. "It just got too strong too fast and forgot who it belonged to. One beating fixes that."
Even as he spoke, his chest was still tight.
He'd been genuinely spooked.
Thank goodness he had Poliwhirl.
Darkrai could protect him too, but Darkrai couldn't show itself. The fewer people who knew, the better.
"Then giving you that Magikarp back was the right call," Quincy said, exhaling. "If a Gyarados like this showed up in my family, the kids wouldn't be able to handle it."
Reiji nodded. "That's why I don't recommend Magikarp to new trainers."
Then he frowned slightly. "I wonder how Gulzar is doing."
"No idea," Quincy said. "All I heard was that he joined Kumquat Gym."
Reiji drew a slow breath, said nothing else, and opened Gyarados's panel.
He wanted to see just how dangerous this "big brute" really was.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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