Chapter 217: The Regis Crisis
Lance’s first reaction was to look at Rio in alarm, recalling the crisis Rio had spoken of. The legendary Regis—Regirock, Regice, and Registeel—were attacking the Kanto League headquarters.
"It’s true—everything he said was true. He wasn’t lying," Lance thought, staring at Rio. He hadn’t fully believed that anyone would dare attack the League headquarters, but the appearance of the three Regis forced him to accept it.
Just then, Registeel fired a Flash Cannon at one of the League buildings. With a deafening crash, the structure collapsed.
"Quick—stop them!" a League executive shouted, releasing his Pokémon. The Dragon Tamer Clan members who had been lying in wait joined the executives in sending out their Pokémon.
"I’ll take Regirock!"
"I’ll take Regice!"
"I’ll take Registeel!"
They moved with coordinated precision, splitting up to engage the three Regis.
"Who on earth—or what organization—sent the Regis to attack the League today, of all days, right after we’ve just been challenged?" Lorelei gritted her teeth, wanting to join the fight, but her Pokémon were still incapacitated and hadn’t been healed.
"There must be a mole inside the League—this timing is too perfect," someone speculated. "Where’s Bruno? He’s still missing. Could he be the mole?"
Rio’s mouth twitched at the suggestion. Bruno hadn’t done anything and was already being blamed. Still, Rio was curious—where had Bruno gone? He couldn’t still be in the challenge room, could he?
Another explosion rocked the area—Regirock had used Charge Beam to take out a group of opposing Pokémon. Regice followed with Ice Beam, freezing several others, while Registeel’s Hyper Beam felled a whole row. The situation was one-sided.
"We can’t hold them off—the Regis are too strong!" someone complained.
Everyone still in the assembly hall turned to look at Rio, their new leader. They remembered that Rio had swept the Elite Four without losing a single Pokémon—his Pokémon must still be able to fight.
"I’ll take Regirock!" Before Rio could respond, Lance released his own Pokémon—Dragonite and Aerodactyl.
"How do you still have Pokémon that can fight?" Lorelei asked in surprise. Agatha also looked at him with confusion. Both of them had come out earlier than Lance and hadn’t yet restored their Pokémon, yet Lance—who had come out last—still had combat-ready Pokémon?
"I fed Dragonite and Aerodactyl Revival Herbs before I came out," Lance explained calmly, commanding them to attack Regirock.
"Dragonite—Dragon Rush!"
"Aerodactyl—Hyper Beam!"
"Drra~"
"Wraaah~"
But Lance didn’t notice that his words had already raised suspicions. Did Lance know something in advance? Why would he feed them Revival Herbs instead of healing them at the Pokémon Center? Is he the mole? Lorelei and Agatha exchanged wary glances.
Rio, meanwhile, responded to everyone’s expectations by releasing Charizard and the Red Gyarados.
"Charizard, Red Gyarados—the League needs your protection now!"
"Roaar~"
"ROAR!!!"
With flashes of light, Charizard and the Red Gyarados appeared.
"Charizard—Sacred Fire!"
"Red Gyarados—Hyper Beam!"
Under Rio’s command, the two Pokémon charged at Regice in the center.
But if one looked closely, they would notice that Charizard’s Sacred Fire was mixed with fake flames—mostly ordinary yellow fire with only a hint of purple, and its width was noticeably thinner than normal. The Red Gyarados’s Hyper Beam was also weaker, and it no longer fired continuously—it now had a brief pause between shots.
Agatha noticed something was off but didn’t think much of it. She assumed Charizard was exhausted from fighting four Elite Four members in a row and unable to Mega Evolve, so its power was naturally diminished. The other League executives who noticed simply didn’t know enough about Charizard’s normal strength to realize anything was wrong.
"What about Registeel? Who’s going to handle that?" an executive asked, his gaze shifting to Lorelei and Agatha. When trouble strikes, the tallest take the hit—and here, the tallest were the two remaining Elite Four members.
"You two hold the line for now," Lorelei and Agatha said to each other, recalling their incapacitated Pokémon and feeding them recovery items.
At the same time, news of the events at the Indigo Plateau reached Giovanni at the Viridian Gym. He had been obsessing over how Bruno had managed to beat one of Rio’s Pokémon—but upon hearing that the legendary Regis had appeared at the League headquarters and were attacking, his jaw nearly dropped.
He had his subordinates double-check the report. After confirming it was true and seeing photos of Regice, Regirock, and Registeel, he finally calmed down.
"What is going on today? One unbelievable thing after another. Why are the legendary Regis attacking the League? And who is behind it—who could possibly command them?"
Giovanni began analyzing the situation. Eventually, he arrived at the most likely conclusion: Another underground organization has infiltrated Kanto. If I remember correctly, the Regis’ habitats aren’t in Kanto or Johto. Damn it—Kanto and Johto are Team Rocket’s territory. Someone is trying to muscle in on our turf.
His eyes grew cold and sharp. He couldn’t accept another organization causing trouble on his turf without even informing him—it was a clear challenge. Everyone knew Kanto and Johto belonged to Team Rocket. Yet some other villain group had arrived and attacked the highest authority in the region without saying a word. That was a slap in the face—a blatant insult.
Only Team Rocket is supposed to cause trouble for the League! Who the hell are these bastards, stealing our job? And we didn’t even know about it!
"Investigate—deploy our people to find any suspicious individuals who’ve infiltrated Johto or Kanto," Giovanni ordered coldly. "And I want to know every detail of what happens at the Indigo Plateau today. I need to understand everything."