That's right—the ones trying to poach him were the Unova League!
Lance never would've guessed that the very Unova League that had invited Grey over… would turn around and try to snatch him away.
It had him so anxious lately he was practically on fire, racking his brain for a way to keep Grey in Kanto.
He knew Grey was the kind of Trainer who wouldn't be swayed by money.
But what if they promised Grey a huge tract of land to build a Gym?
Unova has plenty of strong Gyms, and plenty of land.
As far as Lance knew, there was even a coastal area that didn't have a Gym at all.
If the Unova League played that card—and it actually tempted Grey—then the Kanto League would be losing a future pillar.
This was a Trainer who was guaranteed to reach Champion level at minimum!
Even in the worst case, he'd still be an Elite Four–caliber Trainer!
And most importantly… Grey was exactly Lance's kind of person.
With things like that, there was no way Lance wanted to let go.
"The Unova League is coming to poach people? That might actually be pretty easy… heh heh heh."
Agatha's voice made Lance's whole body jolt.
Yeah. Unova does have a lot of Fighting-type Pokémon.
And plenty of them are powerful, too.
Like Conkeldurr, which has the same Ability as Machamp—Guts.
And then there's Mienshao, Scrafty…
Most of all, that region's Legendary Pokémon include four that have the Fighting type!
Compared to that, Kanto's three birds just feel a little… off.
A Fighting specialist going around catching three birds?
Say that out loud and people would laugh you out of the room.
"Based on what I know about Grey, he probably isn't the type to get lured away by Pokémon. If anything, he might lure Unova's Pokémon over here."
Blue spoke up at that moment.
He actually got along with Grey pretty well, and sometimes they'd discuss training methods for Fighting-type Pokémon together.
The reason Grey's Pokémon improved so quickly wasn't just luck—Blue had offered some help, too.
So Blue didn't think Grey would leave just for a few Legendary Pokémon.
If Grey really wanted to go, he would've gone a long time ago.
That alone showed Grey had some attachment to Saffron City.
He wasn't the kind of guy who would just pack up and leave.
Grey couldn't do something like that.
"But just in case, I still think we should give Grey the title of Honorary Elite Four. He can keep serving as a Gym Leader day to day, and later, if he's got the strength and wants to become Champion, he can enter the Elite Four Challenge directly."
As he said it, Lance practically saw the future—Grey challenging him.
That was the whole point.
No need for Grey to take up an official Elite Four seat. When his strength reached Champion level, he could just start the Elite Four Challenge immediately!
If he succeeded, he'd become Champion. If he failed, no big deal.
That would actually remove the pressure. Worst case, he'd keep being a Gym Leader—free as a bird, the sky wide open.
Thinking that, Lance applauded his own brilliance.
"We'll settle Grey's situation like that for now. There's one more thing."
As he spoke, Lance's tone grew heavy. "Red, Blue—how did the previous matter go? Did you find anything?"
"Yes."
Red nodded and pulled out the photos they'd taken back then at Mt. Silver.
"These."
His words were short; everything he wanted to say was in his phone's photo album.
Lance took the phone from Red and projected the photos onto the big screen.
In the image was a deep azure passage, shaped like a crack.
A vicious-looking Pokémon was trying to squeeze its way out.
And then Red and Blue, working together, beat it back inside.
"That Pokémon was really strong. I only barely managed to drive it back with Red's help. And ordinary Poké Balls can't capture it easily."
Blue rubbed his brow.
He hated admitting it, but even someone as strong as him and Red… had almost gotten tripped up by that Pokémon.
Of course, that was also because they didn't know anything about it.
Without even knowing its typing or Ability, they still forced it back through sheer strength.
"Go on. Everyone here is family."
Lance tapped the tabletop. If he hadn't been in Johto arresting Team Rocket at the time, he would've gone to Mt. Silver to deal with that Pokémon too.
One Champion plus two battle legends—he refused to believe they couldn't take it down.
"That Pokémon's strength is roughly at 'strong Champion' level. And that's just its power in a normal state."
Blue closed his eyes, recalling the fight.
"At the start, me and Red were suppressing it. But as the fight dragged on, that thing suddenly surged. It was only for an instant, but it definitely burst out power that wasn't inferior to ours… it even slightly overwhelmed us."
"Blue's right. At first, the advantage was on our side. But then it suddenly erupted with an especially terrifying force. After shoving us back, it slipped into the crack."
Red followed up.
Back then they'd wanted to capture it and take a closer look, but they'd burned through dozens of Ultra Balls.
They couldn't capture it at all. It was absurdly difficult.
"It's probably a Legendary-tier Pokémon on par with the ones across the regions… and I don't mean the Legendary Birds."
Blue laid out his thoughts. "I mean ones like Johto's Ho-Oh and Lugia, or Hoenn's Groudon and Kyogre."
A bit disrespectful to birds, sure—but it wasn't wrong.
And Blue was stating the facts.
The Legendary Birds, honestly, can be captured if you're strong enough.
If you got lucky and ran into one that was newly born not long ago, someone with a strong Gym Leader level—like Erika—would be about enough.
But Ho-Oh and Lugia are different.
They wield power far beyond ordinary Legendaries.
"Hiss…"
Lorelei sucked in a cold breath.
If someone else said it, she might not believe it.
But this was Red and Blue talking.
The number one and number two in the Trainer world.
The very top.
And in that situation, for them to say that Pokémon was extremely strong…
It looked like, for the short term, the best they could do was drive it back.
"If cracks like that show up inside cities later, we should have Officer Jenny evacuate residents as quickly as possible and send people to support."
Thinking about having to run all over the place, Lance's brows knitted together.
A strong Champion—that was basically his level.
And it could suddenly surge, too. He'd have to watch out and not get blindsided.
"It won't come back in the short term. Sending a few Elite Four–level people should be enough. Inside that crack, I sensed presences that were a bit weaker."
After Red said that, he fell silent again.
He'd said what needed to be said. As for what to do next, Lance could decide for himself.
"Alright. I'll increase manpower watching for these cracks, so we don't end up with unnecessary trouble."
Lance nodded. "That's it for today's meeting. Dismissed!"
The Kanto League meeting ended.
Lance stayed in his seat, picked up his phone, and sent Grey a message.
…
…
Kanto, Saffron City.
Staring at the two messages on his phone, Grey fell into thought.
[Dragon Master Lance: Want to be an Honorary Elite Four?]
[Bestselling light-novel author Shauntal: Interested in coming to Unova as the one and only Champion-in-training?]
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810