Chapitre 58: Pokemon: I Transmigrated Twice [58]
"Onix is unable to battle! Manectric is the winner! Therefore, the victor is Gym Leader Altair!"
In less than five minutes, the middle-aged referee, wearing glasses and sporting a protruding belly, raised his flag to announce the battle's result.
To be honest, the fact that Jasmine, who had just received her starter Pokémon, could last nearly five minutes was already a miracle.
This was mainly because Altair had been holding back and using the battle to teach her.
It was evident enough when he sent out a pure Electric-type Manectric to face a Rock/Ground-type Onix.
"Your biggest problem right now is your lack of confidence when giving commands. You need to understand that any nervousness a trainer shows will inevitably be transmitted to their Pokémon."
Altair walked up to Jasmine and offered his advice earnestly.
Jasmine retrieved her Onix, bowed her head slightly to express her gratitude, and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Altair."
Applause erupted like waves at the scene.
Though the match itself was far from spectacular, Altair's patient and meticulous teaching left an impression on everyone.
"Mr. Altair is so thoughtful, constantly pointing out the girl's mistakes."
"Not only is he strong, but he's also so gentle!"
"I heard Mr. Altair is still single. His father is the richest man in Johto, and he's powerful in his own right. Sure, he's not the best-looking, but who cares… Ahhh~ He's amazing. I wonder if I stand a chance?"
"Ma'am, does your husband know you're saying these things?"
Hearing the audience's endless praise for Altair, Rihua's expression turned even more disdainful.
"Such a show-off."
She still didn't think Altair, the younger brother of Aldus, was anything special.
"Everyone has two sides to them, Rihua," Stephen reminded her.
Take, for example, the most straightforward case—Giovanni.
Is Giovanni evil?
Yes, incredibly evil!
The things he did in secret could be described as too numerous to record.
But on the other hand, Giovanni also had a knack for nurturing talent. His book, Mysteries of the Earth, inspired countless trainers to fall in love with Ground-type Pokémon.
And as a boss? Giovanni was impeccable.
Imagine this: if a transmigrator ended up in the Hidden Leaf Village, their first instinct would probably be to figure out how to overthrow Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura.
But if the same transmigrator landed in Team Rocket, they wouldn't think about overthrowing Giovanni.
Why?
Because Giovanni's charisma as a leader was unmatched.
Even if someone wanted to rebel, they wouldn't find a good reason anytime soon.
Well, except for that future shorty who wanted to take over the organization. When he found out Giovanni had a son, he snapped and staged a mutiny.
But Stephen figured that shorty overlooked one crucial point:
Even if Team Rocket had to choose a successor, it still wouldn't be him.
...
Nightfall.
After ensuring there were no safety hazards, the staff of the Olivine Gym locked the gym doors from the inside.
The battle arena's lights went out, and the entire gym fell into a profound silence.
Yet at that moment, three figures suddenly materialized in the audience seating area.
They were none other than Stephen, Rihua, and Will!
"Whoa! This thing is amazing! As expected of Stephen, always coming up with new gadgets."
Will, in his phantom thief persona, excitedly fiddled with the wristband marked with the number "3."
In truth, after Jasmine's battle with Altair had ended earlier that day, the three of them had never left.
Instead, they used the invisibility function of their phantom thief uniforms to hide in the audience stands.
"It's nothing more than a little gadget cobbled together using Kecleon's genetic factors and some tech developed by a certain evil royal family," Stephen said, putting away his wristband marked with the number "1."
Rihua's wristband bore the number "2."
Will grinned uncontrollably and half-jokingly exclaimed, "With this, sneaking into the women's bathhou—"
Whack!
Before he could finish, Rihua smacked the back of his head.
"Hand it over!"
"Rihua, no! Please, Rihua, don't—!"
Rihua grabbed Will by the collar with her left hand and forcibly snatched the wristband from him with her right, ignoring his protests.
"Keep it down," Stephen reminded them.
In the end, Will's transformation wristband was confiscated by Rihua.
Faced with Will's pitiful and resentful gaze, Rihua remained unmoved. "I'll keep this until we're off-duty. I don't want a pervert as a teammate."
Meanwhile, Stephen had already donned a pair of thermal goggles and was scanning the surroundings.
"Anything unusual, Stephen?" Rihua asked impatiently.
Without answering, Stephen gestured for them to follow him.
After a short walk, the trio spotted two gym staff members patrolling the lodging area's entrance, each accompanied by a Mightyena.
"Patrolling this late at night? Their guard is pretty high," Will whispered. "And they even brought out Pokémon. They're wary of your poke ball disruptor invention, Stephen."
"I told you these people were suspicious," Rihua grumbled before turning to Stephen. "Should we use the invisibility function again?"
"Invisibility alone won't fool a canine Pokémon's nose. Maintain your distance and follow my lead…"
Stephen tapped his nose and outlined the next steps of their plan.
"Will, you take the left. Rihua, you take the right."
Rihua tossed the confiscated wristband back to Will, and the two activated their stealth modes again. They crept along the walls of the audience seating area, gradually closing in on the two staff members.
The moment the Mightyenas grew alert, Stephen, observing from a distance, swiftly signaled by lowering his raised hand.
Will and Rihua immediately threw their Poké Balls.
"Natu, use Thunder Wave!"
"Murkrow, use Wing Attack!"
It was clear that while Will used Thunder Wave to paralyze his target, Rihua, driven by her desire to help her Houndoom avenge its past grievances, went straight for a more aggressive approach.
She ordered Murkrow to attack the necks of both the staff member and their Mightyena.
Stephen approached the unconscious staff member and Mightyena to check on them.
Fortunately, they were still alive.
"I don't object to revenge, but no unnecessary killing," Stephen said.
He didn't want Rihua to turn into a female version of Obito.
If someone killed Rin, sure, go get revenge on the Mist Village or Madara Uchiha.
But don't spout nonsense like, 'This world is flawed, so I'll destroy it.'
What did the world ever do wrong? Why do these lunatics always want to destroy it?
Rihua remained silent and nodded under Stephen's gaze, signaling her understanding.
Meanwhile, Will released a Jynx to finish the job, using Lick repeatedly until both the staff member and the Mightyena were completely incapacitated.
It seemed they wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.
"Investigating slowly is too much of a hassle. Let's just capture Altair, have my Exeggutor hypnotize him, and extract the information directly," Will suddenly suggested as they reached the door to the gym leader's bedroom.
His Exeggutor had been trained to specialize in Hypnosis, capable of controlling targets without causing brain damage.
"I'll do it," Rihua said, reaching for the door handle.
But just as her fingertip was about to touch it—
Beep! Beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep!
A piercing alarm blared throughout the entire gym.
In that instant, every light in the gym turned on, illuminating the trio's masked faces for all to see.
"What?! We didn't even touch the alarm system!" Will shouted in disbelief.
Bang!
Before anyone could react, the door was shattered by a heavy blow.
Stephen reacted quickly, pulling Rihua back from the doorway.
Within a split second, a bone club smashed through the door and spun in the air like a boomerang, shattering the opening further before returning to the room.
A Pokémon leaped out—it was a Marowak!
And following right behind it, who else but Altair himself appeared?
"Well, this is unexpected. I wasn't looking for you, but here you are, coming straight to me," Altair said, a hint of surprise flashing behind his sunglasses.
"I'm certain we didn't trigger any alarms along the way. Care to explain how we got caught?"
Stephen, ever the curious student, couldn't help but ask.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone