Return to Lavender

There was a spring in my step as I returned to Lavender town in the late afternoon, which was completely understandable considering how I'd spent the second half of my day.

Did I manage to get to Thunder Ridge like I'd planned?

No. I did not.

BUT! I did manage to acquire a source of passive income due to Capsules technically being MY idea.

"..."

In this wold at least...

Sorry Bulma...

ANYWAYS!

After having lunch with President Silph, Janine and I worked together to rid Silph co of every Team Rocket agent that had infiltrated the company. It had been a fairly easy job, considering all I had to do was ride down the President's personal elevator and look out for any of the malicious auras I had noticed earlier. After that I would inform Janine of the target, and she would use her badass ninja skills to move in and apprehend them with no one being the wiser.

Once I reached the bottom floor the president and his grandaughter were both waiting for us, along with a pair of gold plated cards that already had our names inscribed on them. The cards would guarentee us a ten percent discount on any and all purchases of Silph co products in the future, wether in person or online.

And that was all BEFORE I went on a shopping spree with all my newly acquired cash.

So now I have a lucrative passive income, five capsules on the way, the first three of which I'll get in a few days and were free, while the other two would take a while longer, AND a permanent discount on Silph co products.

All in all, I'd had a VERY productive day today.

Janine of course was shadowing me even now as I made my way back to the Pokemon Center, having parted with me as soon as we Teleported back to Lavender. But as she did so I could still feel her aura, which tempted me to look pointedly in her direction and wave occassionally.

I only did it once, but it was still funny to see her aura react as she probably became flustered from being discovered.

In all seriousness, I was looking forward to my future interactions with Janine since she was supposed to be protecting me from the shadows. Of course, I wasnt supposed to know about it, but since I did then we both agreed to make the best of it.

Janine agreed to assist in my training by sparring with me occassionally, while I'll also share some of my training secrets with her. But she also insisted I keep her existance and mission a secret from the girls, since a good ninja wasn't advertised for everyone to know.

Speaking of the girls...

As I rounded the side of the Pokemon Center, I found the girls gathered behind it along with all of my Pokemon, with their Pokemon out, and with Morty and Agatha.

"Combusken!"

"Prinplup!"

The starters of Dawn and May cried out as they clashed, the former's feet cloaked in flames while the latter's shone with a metallic sheen.

But they weren't alone, as several of our Pokemon sparred with one another under their supervision, along with Misty and Lucario. Meanwhile Morty and Agatha were watching on with interest, and Joy was off to the side playing with her Chansey, Ditto, and Mew.

"Mew!"

The Legendary excitedly cried upon seeing me, drawing everyone's attention as it flew towards over and draped itself on my head.

"Nice to see you too." I told it while reaching up to scratch it behind the ears. I had been wondering where Mew went since I hadn't seen it after training last night.

"Ace! How was Saffron?" Joy asked curiously as she and the others approached us.

"It was good. Really productive." As I said that I slung off my backpack and started pulling numerous things out from it.

"Here." I said while passing several things out to the girls.

"""!!!"""

"""ACE!"""

Misty, May and Dawn all exclaimed as I passed all three of them ten of each type of Pokeball that was available for sale.

"Don't worry. I have plenty for myself." I said while pulling out the ones I'd set aside for myself.

"That's not the problem!" Misty declared as she looked at the Pokeballs in awe.

I pretended not to know what she was talking about, but her concern was understandable under normal circumstances.

The vast majority of trainers only used different Pokeballs if it was a type that matched their specialty, like Misty would probably stick to Lure and Net balls since they made it easier to capture water type Pokemon. The reason was because the different variety of Pokeballs were absurdly expensive compaed to normal Pokeballs, so me passing out thirty of each type was more than a little worrying.

But that was only when one didn't just receive a small fortune along with a ten percent discount.

"How'd you pay for all of these Ace?" Dawn asked worriedly.

"I did a favor for President Silph, and got a bit of money along with a discount on future purchases." I said while flashing the gold card.

"No way!" Misty exclaimed as she quickly swiped the card to look at it, while Dawn and May crowded around her to look as well.

"Daisy would kill to get her hands on one of these!" She declared dramatically.

"Well all I had to do was identify some Rocket spies for them, and I got it." I told her, making Misty gape at me in disbelief. But I didn't stop there.

Next I pulled out my TM case, which originally only held Ice, Punch, Thunder Punch, Fire Punch, Zen Headbutt, Shadow Claw, Solar Beam, and False Swipe. But now it also had Eathquake, Hyper Beam, Fire Blast, Fire Fang, Ice Fang, Thunder Fang, Psychic Fangs, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Magical Leaf, Hurricane, Sludge Bomb, Thunder, Dragon Claw and Glittering Gleam.

It was quite the arsenal of moves to teach my Pokemon, and of course they were all the reusable TMs that I can use to teach all of my current Pokemon, and any Pokemon I got in the future as well.

Needless to say that these two major purchases took a massive chunk of the cash that I had gotten from President Silph, at least half of it even with the discount. But I hadn't stopped there either.

Once we leave Lavender we'll be living on the road for a while until we reach Vermillion city, so I had no problem blowing all of the money I had obtained for the moment on supplies and necessary items to make my Pokemon stronger. And by the time we actually reach Vermillion city, I should have quite a bit of money built up once again.

"I can't believe it..." May uttered in awe as she looked over my TM case.

You haven't seen anything yet.

I couldn't but to think that with a slight smirk as I thought of the Capsules coming my way in a few days, but that and the truth behind my cash were going to be a surprise for the girls.

But it wasn't time to use all of my new TMs just yet, since using them didn't automatically mean that the new move was mastered. All the TMs did was teach the move to the Pokemon to avoid all of the headache doing so manually, it would still be up to us to actually learn how to properly use them.

That will be one of our primary goals when we go to Thunder Ridge tomorrow. And to make sure we don't get distracted again, we'll leave first thing in the morning instead of our usual morning training.

"I also got us some dinner." I said while pulling out numerous bowls of piping hot noodles that I got from a pretty famous noodle shop in Saffron.

"Oh! That looks and smells so good!" May excalimed with a completely different tone as I pulled the tops off and the smell wafted to her.

"There's enough for everyone." I said while looking over to Morty and Agatha as well.

"Then don't mind if we do." Morty said as he joined us.

"So did President Silph REALLY give you enough money for all of this?" Misty asked suspiciously.

"Yep~! Especially since we've been having to deal with Team Rocket using Silph co tech." I told them, which was a half truth. After all, where else would Jessie, James and Meowth get the blueprints or just flat out buy the giant mechas they always used? Add in the giant airship Gengar brought down, along with all the cloning tech they used to create Mewtwo, and it was safe to say that they were plundering Silph co tech for years.

It was no small favor that Janine and I did for President Silph and Yumi.

"So maybe we won't have to deal with those big machines anymore!" Dawn stated happily, while Misty also looked pleased after she probably recalled what happened to her family's Gym.

Unfortunately I doubted that since they'd been pillaging plans and tech from Silph for so long. BUT, I had heard from Jessie that their team was told not to directly target me anymore, only to observe and report.

That means we should only worry about confronting Team Rocket when we get to Vermillion city, at least unless we run into a different team. But I doubted that since they were most likely bidding their time and laying low while preparing for the attack on the SS. Anne.

"Sounds like you guys have been through quite a bit." Morty said before slurping up some noodles.

"Indeed. It's no wonder your pokemon are growing so quickly when combined with your training." Agatha said in agrement.

"Yeah, but it's also due to my Pokemon's drive as well." I said while looking out at all of them.

"Together we've faced two Legendaries now, and gotten our asses kicked both times. There's not a single one who'll stand down now. Right guys?"

There was a deafening cheer from all of my Pokemon, even Cubone and Gastly despite them just joining us.

"Speaking of..." I muttered, noticing that the sun was just about set as the last of it's rays began to disappear.

"Sneasel, think fast!" I cried out, throwing something to my little speedster.

"Sneas?" She uttered confusedly, before the last rays of light vanished altogether and she became engulfed in shadows.

"""Oh?!"""

Everyone exclaimed as Sneasel's shadowy figure grew, before the shadows faded to reveal her new form.

"Weavile!" She cried out excitedly, smiling sinisterly and flexing her claws.

"Looking good!" I told my newly evolved Weavile, as one of the things I bought was obviously the Razor Claw that she needed to evolve.

Now all of her physical abilities should have rocketed up from when she was just a Sneasel, and they'll climb even higher now that she had evolved.

"Wea-Weavile!" She declared happily, eager to test her newfound strength.

"You'll get plenty of time to test yourself tomorrow. Cause we'll be leaving bright and early for Thunder Ridge." I told her.

"Weav!"

Despite my words, Weavile began to hurriedly finish her dinner while throwing numerous looks towards Grovyle, who merely smirked at her obvious desire to battle him.

"So what did you guys do while I was in Saffron?" I asked the girls curiously, which in turn resulted in both May and Dawn tossing out a Pokeball.

""GO!!"!

"Shuppet!"

"Litwick!"

Cried out their newly acquired ghost type Pokemon.

"Morty and Agatha gave us a hand befriending some ghost type Pokemon!" Dawn declared as she cuddled with her new Litwick.

"Yeah. It was pretty fun~!" May said as her Shuppet danced around her head.

"If you want, we can help you find a ghost type pokmeon as well." Morty offered helpfully.

"Thanks, but I have that covered." I said gratefully, as Gastly appeared from within my shadow, stunning both Morty and Agatha.

""...""

"Why do we even bother...?" Agatha uttered bitterly.

"Gaaaaastly!" Gastly wailed happily, as if satisfied with the 'prank' we pulled on the two of them.

"How...? When...?" Morty asked in disbelief.

"Yesterday, during the funeral. Quite a few ghost type Pokemon were showing an interest in me, but this one bullied the others out of the way before hiding in my shadow." I explained wryly.

"Hmmm... It looks to have good promise too." Agatha said as she looked it up and down.

"Gaaaastly!" It wailed proudly, puffing itself up as it did so.

"Though I plan to get several of each type of Pokemon, Gastly should do for right now." I said while reaching up to pat the core within the noxious cloud, making Gastly hum contently. Of course, I would readily catch another exceptional ghost type Pokemon if one appeared.

"Mew!"

The Legendary pokmeon cried out suddenly, drawing my attention to it right as it drained yet another bowl of noodles without me realizing it.

"Hey Mew! Those are for everyone!" I stated urgently.

"Mew!" It cried happily, teleporting out of my reach to grab yet another bowl to drain it as well.

"Well at least I know where Mewtwo got HIS appetite..." I uttered in exasperation, recalling his meal with us previously.

Speaking of.... Mewtwo still hadn't appeared as far as I could tell, which was surprising since I figured he'd immediately show up if Mew was around.

Maybe he couldn't detect Mew, which would make sense since Lucario hadn't been able to either. Regardless of the reason, I also made sure to buy as many pudding cups as I could for a proper thank you whenever Mewtwo did reappear.

Mew meanwhile didn't appear to need pudding cups, as it readily downed every unclaimed bowl of noodles.

"Where does it put it all...?" Joy uttered in awe.

"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if it stomach was an endless black hole..." I replied.

"Can you imagine to trying to keep Mew AND a Snorlax properly fed?" May asked, making me shudder at the mere thought. A single Snorlax can easily eat food in the TONS by itself, DAILY!

We all quickly ate what we could of the noodles before Mew finished it all off, leaving us nice and stuffed afterwards with bloated bellies.

"Well that was nice. But I think it's about time to turn in." Agatha said as she turned to head back into the Pokemon Center.

"Ok. Thanks for giving May and Dawn a hand today." I told her gratefully.

"I had nothing better to do anyways." She replied dismissively, waving away my thanks as she walked away.

I then turned towards my Pokemon while saying,

"Alright! You guys ready to learn a new move and work off those bellies?!"

A responding cheer met my declaration, showing how eager they all were to get back to work. And as they did so....

"!!!"

A shrill noise buffeted all of us to make everyone cringe as they clamped their hands over their ears. Of course, the only one unaffected was Mew.

"Screech!?!" I exclaimed in surprise from the sudden 'attack', before I saw something amazing.

The source of the Screech was my Pokemon, or more specifically Cubone, which was extremely confusing. But as I focused my attention on him, something began to rise up from his shadow that made my jaw drop.

It was a living sword that shimmered in the moonlight, and had a blood-red blade that matched the ribbon currently holding it's sheathe.

"!!!"

Without a single word or order for attack, I immediately seized one of the Dusk Balls I had bought just this afternoon, and chucked it at the Pokemon.

"!!!"

The Screech attack stopped the second the Pokeball hit it, and the Pokemon was sucked inside suddenly.

The Dusk Ball gave a quick jerk that was followed by a second, and then a third as I watched it intensely, my fingers itching towards another Pokeball if need be. But it was unnecessary as the Dusk Ball fell still a moment later with a soft 'ding'.

"FUCK YEAH!" I exclaimed at full volume while going to grab the Dusk Ball, holding it up as I declared,

"A SHINY HONEDGE!"

Any thought of what I'd said earlier, about being alright on getting another ghost type Pokemon for a while, went out the window as I celebrated capturing my second official shiny Pokemon, and a Honedge at that.