Chapter 16: Pay Out & Vermillion City

[General POV]

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Eli woke up to see Kirlia having a confrontation with a Gothitelle, who was looking at the opposing psychic indifferently before directing her gaze to Eli, who quietly scanned her.

Pokémon: Gothitelle Lvl: 62

Type: Psychic

Ability: Shadow Tag

Gender: Female

Potential: Diamond

Moves: Pound, Confusion, Psychic [M] , Psyshock [E] , Taunt [M], Hypnosis [M], Future Sight [E]

(Perfect Talent) Expanding Force [M] (Perfect Talent) Psychic Terrain [M]

(TM) Protect [M], (TM) Thunderbolt [E] , (TM) Shadow Ball [M], (TM) Nasty Plot [E], (TM) Focus Blast [E], (TM) Energy Ball, (TM) Dark Pulse, (TM) Stored Power

Not only was the Gothitelle at Champion rank, but it had so many moves on expert and master rank that it made Eli's head spin. Without a word, the Gothitelle distorted space around her as she left 5 Poké Balls and a bag of items in front of Eli before distorting space around her, vanishing. 'I have a feeling that is not even her strongest Pokémon.' Eli was sweating, seeing how strong the Gothitelle was before he opened the bag, finding a note.

'We wish for a smooth co-operation, Mr. Bon Vide. These are the Pokémon which we tested repeatedly to see if they had this 'high' A-rank Potential or not. Train them and evolve them; we wish you the best of luck. -Mr and Mrs Gödelstride.'

'Alright, let's check these Pokémon.' Eli thought as he scanned all 5 of them, 2 Mankey at level 25, 1 Zubat at level 19, and surprisingly, 2 Abra at level 10 with their corresponding items. The Gödelstrides, with the limited info he had given them, had actually managed to find out 5 deep silver Pokémon. That begged the question: why was he still needed then? Eli chalked it down to that the tests were not as accurate, so they needed him.

'Alright, I can probably get all these Pokémon to Gold as they all are near evolution, excluding the Abra. But they are lower levels, so getting them to 16 shouldn't be a problem.' Eli planned out his day as he headed out of Saffron to Route 6 to level the 5 Pokémon until they evolve. While his Pokémon trained their moves, Eli wanted Kubfu to train Substitute, Ice Punch, and U-Turn to expert rank. It was a tall order, but his starter could do it. He wanted Corvisquire to get Protect and Fly to expert rank, as Protect at expert rank would be stronger while Fly would make Corvisquire better at Flying overall, and maybe even pair it with Drill Peck and Tailwind. He wanted Kirlia to get all his TMs to expert rank. With his higher potential, Eli believed he could do it in a month. Finally, for his Crocalor, he had no specific idea as he had yet to buy him any TMs except Protect, so he decided to let him train just that. As his Pokémon got busy, Eli leveled the 5 Pokémon near their training area as he saw them slowly grow in levels. The first to evolve were the Abra duo, surprisingly just showing how easy it is to level up in the lower ranks. With everything going to plan, the two Kadabras were at Gold potential. The next to evolve was the Zubat, now a Shallow Gold Golbat. Finally, the 2 Mankey evolved into Gold Primeapes. Overall, the time it took to raise them was not at all long; in a few hours, all of them had leveled up and evolved, and the best part was that all of them had one evolution left. Yes, even Primeape, as he remembered Primeape could now evolve into Annihilape. 'Damn it, I could have haggled more with Magnus if I just remembered. Whatever.' Eli sighed as he had Kirlia teleport them to the Gödelstride manor.

The Gödelstrides were a bit surprised to see Wilbur bon Vide return so soon. He gave them the Pokémon back after checking them. They were even more surprised to see all of them at S-Rank potential. "Astonishingly efficient, here's your payout for the week. Even for us, selling multiple S-Rank Pokémon can be tough, so we will call for your services once every two weeks or so, Mr. Bon Vide. You have proved yourself to be quite a boon; stay that way." Jaern praised Wilbur bon Vide's work before giving him a card. "450 million P is stored on the card, deducting the cost of the Pokémon and the cost of their items. Next week, we will call you to pick the 5 A-Rank Pokémon, as the ones we picked were gotten through much trial and error." Eli nodded, taking the card as he made his way out of the manor before teleporting back to Route 6. Eli avoided any and all trainers now as they wouldn't even pose a challenge to Crocalor at this point.

As he entered the southern city bathed in orange by the setting sun, he headed straight to the gym. He would probably be their last challenger as it was getting pretty late. "Punk, you the final challenger for today, ready to get your ass beaten?" The gym trainer laughed as he registered Eli, who in turn looked at the gym trainer as if he were an idiot. After getting signed up, Eli went inside the arena where he met the Lieutenant, not the first time, however, as he did see him at the auction. He was a large and tall man, who had yellow short spiked hair. Unlike in the anime, he had white skin and that arrogant smirk. He was the Lieutenant, alright. 'Reminds me of Andre.' Eli thought back to his friend who was probably still in Paldea, training.

"Alright brat, I don't have a lot of time. I'd usually do 3 Vs 3s, but since it's getting late, we're gonna do 2 Vs 2s. If you have a problem with it, I don't care." Surge boomed as the referee signaled for the trainers to let out their Pokémon.

Eli was thankful it was a 2 vs 2 since he only had three battle-ready Pokémon. However, one of them was a Flying type, so, in actuality, he would be fighting a 3v2. Eli decided to lead with Kirlia first, confident he could take one Pokémon down and damage the second one a bit, letting Kubfu clean up later. As Eli sent out Kirlia, Surge sent out Electivire, who was at level 34, one less than Kirlia.

As the referee began the battle, Kirlia started off with Reflect and Light Screen one after another to undermine any and all damage from Electivire. While it did have Brick Break, what use was it if Kirlia didn't plan on getting hit? As Kirlia teleported around Surge, picking up on the tactic, Surge ordered Electivire to use Discharge, which would hit Kirlia no matter what. 'Shadow Ball, create uneven terrain around it, then use Psychic to smash the rubble into it, when it stands up again, Flashbang.' Eli commanded his Psychic, who nodded as he prepared Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball, completely wrecking the terrain before every bit of rubble glowed an eerie blue. Unsettling Electivire, all the rubble launched at him, sticking to him like a magnet. Trapped underneath the rubble and struggling to get out, Electivire, heeding his Trainer's commands, used a supercharged Thunderbolt. Succeeding in escaping, his energy reserves ran extremely low. As Kirlia teleported in front of it while using Dazzling Gleam, 'Flashbang,' as he had dubbed it, started to become Eli's favorite combo move for Kirlia as it allowed for a lot of tactics.

The Electivire, already weakened, passed out as Kirlia won the battle, but it wasn't without sacrifice. Even Kirlia's massive reserves were getting dangerously low, and he could no longer use Teleport without risking exhaustion. Lifting that much rubble and firing that many Shadow Balls took a toll. As Surge returned Electivire, he gave out a booming laugh, congratulating Eli, "Not bad, Kiddo, you got some spunk. I like that. Alright, no playing games now," giving his trademark smirk. Surge sent out a Pikachu, who looked just as arrogant as his trainer. "He's my Raichu's offspring, been training him to give to one of my loyal gym trainers. Don't underestimate him, though. This little one's a tough nut." Surge warned as the referee resumed the battle.

'He's too fast for anything else but Magical Leaf. At least that can't miss. I don't expect you to beat him, but do the most damage you can, alright, Kirlia?' Eli asked his Psychic who replied back, 'Your will is my will, Friend Trainer,' as he shot Magical Leaf after Magical Leaf at the rodent who had been approaching at a fast pace. "Volt Tackle, take that pesky bug out of here." Surge commanded as Pikachu started running even faster, coating itself in yellow electricity before slamming into Kirlia, knocking him out. 'Good job, Kirlia. I couldn't ask for more,' Eli commended his Kirlia as he returned him.

"Kubfu, finish this," Eli called out his final Pokémon, who looked battle-ready as he came out. The little fighter, without needing any orders, immediately set up a Substitute before using Bulk Up multiple times as Pikachu fired off 2 Thunderbolts before finally destroying the Substitute. Kubfu, still protected by Reflect and Light Screen, would take minimal damage, especially from its Volt Tackles due to the Bulk Ups he had set up. "Alright, start off with Mega Kick," he commanded his little bear whose leg glowed with a white light as he rushed the rodent, slamming a kick into its stomach. The rodent in question was sent flying as he slammed into the psychic barriers before being rebounded. Pikachu had been able to stabilize itself, but Kubfu caught him on the rebound, slamming him down to the ground with a nasty Brick Break before he was finished off with an axe kick-powered Mega Kick.

"Damn, you are some hot stuff, kid. Congrats. Nobody's been able to win as much since the league asked me to go tough on these brats. Since I have to hand out these tickets," Surge congratulated him before leaving to heal his Pokémon. After healing his Kirlia and Kubfu, he decided to call it a night. As he fell asleep, he realized he had four days left until he had to go aboard the SS Anne, so more time to train for him.