Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Each time Metagross woke up, it hit Rio with another Explosion. This continued until the eighth Explosion, when a turning point finally arrived.

Metagross had run out of PP for Explosion. Its supercomputer brain offered a new set of options:

[Warning! Warning!]

[Detected: Optimal solution (Explosion) is no longer available. Two choices remain:]

[1: Continue resisting. Engage the powerful unknown Pokémon with Flash Cannon. Get beaten down and then captured.]

[2: Surrender. Allow the human to capture you and avoid further punishment.]

[Current optimal choice: Surrender and allow capture.]

Faced with this proposal, Metagross turned toward Rio and lowered itself into a submissive posture.

"Bii~"

The sudden shift caught Rio off guard—he had been ready to have Mewtwo Teleport them away again. What does this mean? No more Explosion? Or is this a trick—waiting for me to get close before attacking?

"It says it gives up. It’s tired. Go ahead and catch it," Mewtwo said, taking over translator duties from Gengar via telepathy.

"Huh?" Rio’s face lit up. So you finally know what tired feels like? Realized that going head-to-head with me is just a waste of time?

He’d dealt with all kinds of stubborn Pokémon, and in the end, they all learned to submit.

With a flash of light, Rio caught Metagross in a Poké Ball. It wobbled three times on the ground—ding—capture successful.

Rio picked up the ball with a smile and tucked it into his bag. He’d always liked Metagross as a pseudo-legendary, and now he’d finally made that dream come true.

"Alright, Mewtwo—take us down the mountain," Rio said.

Mewtwo obeyed, and in the next instant, Rio, Cynthia, and Garchomp Teleported down the mountain, appearing right in front of Ace and the others—giving them quite a start.

"It’s done—I’ve caught the shiny Metagross. We can continue on our way," Rio explained.

Ace and the others exchanged glances, then looked helplessly at the mountain, which had been nearly reduced to rubble by the repeated Explosions.

"If we take the long way around now, we might miss the welcome banquet the Sinnoh League has prepared for you," Ace said cautiously.

"That’s easy." Rio glanced at Mewtwo, who understood immediately. With a single Psychic, it lifted the car and everyone inside, carrying them swiftly over the mountain. In moments, they were on the other side.

By sunset, Rio had arrived at Lily of the Valley Island, the venue for the Sinnoh Conference. Some Sinnoh League executives were already waiting for him—along with a familiar face: Chairman Damaranche, the head of the Pokémon League Executive Committee. He appeared at every regional conference to give the opening speech and present the trophy to the winner. He had been the one to present Rio with his championship trophy at the Indigo Conference.

Seeing Rio now, the chairman was visibly impressed. "Young man, you’ve come a long way. A few months ago, I was handing you a trophy at the Indigo Conference—and now you’re the League Champion of both Kanto and Johto, outranking even me!"

"Not at all—I may hold a higher title, but when it comes to contributions to the League, I still have much to learn from you. Your work spans the entire world." Rio replied humbly, as he always did with the elderly.

His words charmed the chairman completely, who took Rio’s hand and led him into the welcome banquet hosted by the Sinnoh League. That night, Rio was the star of the event—many Sinnoh executives toasted him, showered him with compliments, and made sure his four attendants were well taken care of.

By the next morning, as Rio and his attendants ate breakfast, they discussed the exhibition match against one of Sinnoh’s Elite Four that day. The attendants unanimously suggested he go easy on the opponent.

The Sinnoh League had arranged the battle to hype up the crowd for the Lily of the Valley Conference, but the Elite Four member hadn’t arrived yet—they were still on their way.

"Mr. Rio, you should avoid sending out your main Pokémon today," Ace, who was from the Kanto League and well aware of Rio’s overwhelming strength, advised. "If you win too easily, it might hurt relations between the regions. But if you don’t win easily, trainers from our own region will be upset—they know how powerful your Charizard is."

"If you use a non-main Pokémon, everyone will understand you’re holding back, and there won’t be any hard feelings," Ace continued. He knew that Rio had cleared Champion’s Road in a single day and defeated all four Kanto Elite Four without losing a single Pokémon—with several one-hit knockouts. He honestly didn’t think any Sinnoh Elite Four member could last more than ten seconds against one of Rio’s main Pokémon in a fair fight.

"I know—I’ll use Aerodactyl or Eevee today. I won’t send out Charizard or the others. If I need to lose one, I’ll send out that shiny Metagross I caught yesterday," Rio said, agreeing with Ace.

The Sinnoh League had been incredibly warm and welcoming the night before—almost too much so. If it hadn’t been for Cynthia standing by his side the whole time, Rio might have suspected they were trying to send someone to his bed. Under those circumstances, going all out would be a slap in the face. It would damage inter-regional relations. Sometimes, you have to give the other side some face.

It’s a tough burden—being too strong.