"Here's some good news. I became Champion. Orange League Champion. After Giovanni caught me, he didn't interfere with my plans. He let me keep hiding inside the League. Being forced into Team Rocket wasn't all bad. I became Champion later, and I even married Matori…"
"Stop."
Reiji finally spoke. He could not hold it in anymore.
Matori was Giovanni's secretary. Marrying her meant he was probably being watched even in bed. So Reiji asked the one question that mattered.
"Did you actually sleep with her? Did she make any noise?"
"Slow?" Slowking froze for a second.
It did know about that. And since the person on the other end was past Rai, and this was only a small detail about something that had already happened, it answered honestly.
"Yes. And yes."
"Good. Continue."
If future him had at least slept with Giovanni's secretary, then even the surveillance did not feel like a total loss.
On the other end of the call, Slowking almost sighed in relief before continuing to repeat the message.
"Another piece of good news: Slowking can use telepathy now. It can talk too. It learned from the Slowking on Shamouti Island. I sent Gengar to find it, so Slowking could call you directly. That should keep this call safe."
"Also, after I became Champion, my Elite Four were Koga, Sabrina, Tai, and Itsuki. So, yeah, the whole lineup turned into Team Rocket. Luckily, Tai and Itsuki were never exposed. They're still on our side."
"Tai's little sister is way too sharp for her own good. The siblings are hilarious. She realized her brother might be a Team Rocket spy, so now she's running her own little spy game against him. I nearly died laughing watching it. If Team Rocket hadn't gotten involved, Tai would have cleaned himself up ages ago."
"That's 2 pieces of good news. Now for the bad one. After I was forced into Team Rocket, I had to leave Pokémon behind as hostages, and I had to prove my loyalty. You don't need to know the details. It'll only make you miserable. If you change the future, then none of it has to happen anyway."
"After I was caught, Spider fell apart. Well, not completely. Some people left. Some betrayed us. Some stayed undercover. I never gave Giovanni the Spider list. He didn't seem to care much either. Maybe because he already controlled me."
"You know what the funniest part was? Gai, that idiot, went to Team Rocket and outed himself as a Spider member. And the person he confessed to was Tai, our undercover guy. When I heard about it, I laughed from how stupid it was."
"Later, I found out why. Everyone else was breaking into Elite Four tier one after another, while Gai was stuck in place. Then he learned that I had personally chosen everyone's Pokémon, and blamed me for not choosing his."
"Hahaha. I knew that guy had betrayal written all over him. I gave him so much money, and it still wasn't enough to change his life. What an idiot. Naoki handled him in the end, and Spider broke apart after that."
"After Spider dissolved, A.J., Sou, and Gulzar joined the League. I told them to. The career plan collapsed halfway through, but I still wanted to salvage what I could."
"Keith ended up the happiest out of everyone. After I joined Team Rocket, I kept traveling through Johto, fixed Zapdos's problem, and brought back a girl from there. She was a revenge seeker too. Her family specialized in bird training — Flying-type Pokémon."
"You can probably guess how Keith and that girl ended up together. After leaving Spider, that hopeless simp followed her back to Johto for revenge. They succeeded, but half her face was burned. The 2 of them still got married later."
"You're probably wondering why Spider didn't help. Even if Spider had disbanded, they could've called a couple of us, right? They didn't tell anyone. They just went on their own. None of us found out until later, when we went to their house for dinner. Guess that was fate."
"Naoki had it the worst. I promised to help him get revenge, but I never did. I was Team Rocket's Champion, and with the League cracking down on Team Rocket, Team Rocket slowly pulled back and retreated to the Orange Archipelago. They wanted to use the Orange League as a shell and come back through it. They almost succeeded. I'm still making the last push against them."
"Without Spider backing him, Naoki went to crash the wedding on the day the girl he loved got married. Daishi was the only one with him. The groom was Riku's older brother, from the Black Ship group. A lot of Black Ship people had already sided with Team Rocket. Black Ship was Team Rocket too."
"Team Rocket had Elite Four-tier Trainers at the wedding that day. The bride's family had also gone over to Team Rocket. Naoki and Daishi were surrounded by more than 10 Elite Four-tier Trainers. You can guess how that ended. I heard the bride humiliated Naoki first, and then they killed him."
"I still can't face Naoki. I can't even bring myself to leave a flower at his grave. For a while, I dreamed about him all the time. Every time, he asked me the same thing: Why didn't you come? Why didn't you come? Do you understand what that feels like?"
Reiji let out a long breath.
"Naoki, man… simping never ends well."
He understood exactly how future him felt. Future him was still him, just a few years farther down the road.
"Let's talk about something else. This part is important, so remember it. Senta gets assassinated during the Orange League tournament. I didn't change that future. His father completely lost it afterward. And I mean completely. All I can tell you is that he was terrifying."
"He wiped out that cousin's family by himself. That family never recovered, stopped causing trouble for me afterward, and was eventually swallowed by Team Rocket. I was the one behind it."
"Also, you don't end up with Cissy. You get beaten up. Badly. It hurts like hell. Hahaha."
Asshole.
That happened to you, not me. It hasn't happened on my side yet.
Reiji cursed future him in his head. This spoiler bastard had slept with Giovanni's secretary, then left all this garbage for him to clean up.
And he sounded so smug about it too. Reiji wanted to punch him.
"There's also Shingo in Johto. His father is a hidden Elite Four-tier Trainer. He has Scyther's Float Stone evolution method, along with a training method for breaking into Elite Four tier. You can go find him. Shingo is trustworthy too. He wants to help take down Team Rocket. How you get the information is up to you."
"And Tommy. One day, that kid suddenly came over and said he wanted to follow me. Just use him as free muscle. He's a Pokémon Ranger. In 4 words: loaded and willing to spend. He mainly protects the Kangaskhan in the wildlife reserve, so he doesn't come to this side often."
"Keep an eye on Travis too. I didn't notice before, but that guy is another simp. His target is Sabrina, and his family actually supports it. What a headache. The Orange Archipelago is practically turning into Team Rocket territory."
"Amber and Mewtwo had a falling-out. I don't know why. Mewtwo won't say, and Amber won't say either. I think it's a good chance. Mewtwo could become another ally against Team Rocket later."
"And Steven. You remember him, right? After I became Champion, Devon Corporation invested in the Orange Archipelago because of the connection we built back then. In 2 words: filthy rich. Ask for however much you need."
"Then there are the 3 rich brothers from Kinnow Island. You should remember them. For some reason, the eldest brother becomes disabled, and the second brother is very ambitious. Once you become famous, he'll come looking for you."
"Speaking of Kinnow Island, I know you want to ask about Shun. I know myself too well. Fine, I'll tell you."
"Shun… died."
"What?"
Reiji's chest tightened hard.
Shun was dead? How was that possible? He was Bruno's disciple. He was supposed to become an Elite Four-tier Trainer someday. Even if things went badly in the Orange Archipelago, he could have gone to Kanto.
The line stayed silent for a long time after that. When Slowking spoke again, its voice was still only repeating the message, but the words felt much heavier.
"Hard to accept, right? I couldn't accept it either. Because Shun… died by my hand. I killed him myself. I killed Shun. Heh. I did it with my own hands."
"I'll never forget that day. My hands were covered in blood. Shun was lying in my arms, and there was blood everywhere. No matter how much I washed, it wouldn't come off. I scrubbed until my skin broke, and it still wouldn't come off."
"After that, I kept dreaming of Shun. The dreams were always red. Blood everywhere. Red blood. I woke up every night, and every time, my hands were covered in it."
"Do you know what he said when he died in my arms?"
"He said… he didn't regret it."
"Hahaha. He didn't regret it. Hahaha…"
Reiji gripped the phone, his eyes going cold.
So he had killed Shun.
Was that the proof of loyalty Team Rocket demanded?
Team Rocket.
Heh.
Team Rocket.
Fine. They could wait for him.
He was not afraid of going back anymore. Team Rocket had officially made the transmigrator's kill list. If Reiji said Team Rocket had to die, then Team Rocket was not surviving.
"One last thing. I still haven't found Darkrai. After becoming Champion, I went back to the ruins, but the place was empty."
"I think Darkrai is trapped somewhere. I'm not sure where. Right now, I have 2 guesses: the League, or Giratina's Reverse World. I'm preparing to go after the League. You're not strong enough for that yet, so trying the League now is probably risky."
"Oh, and one little secret. You probably won't get to enjoy this one anymore. Heh."
"Matori? Totally worth it. Really, really worth it. Hahaha. Surprised? Bet you didn't see that coming. Hahaha…"
"Are you kidding me? Worth it? Really worth it?" Reiji nearly lost it on the spot. "Do you know Pokémon is supposed to air in the kids' slot? If this gets censored, that's on you!"
Shun's death had not broken him.
This did.
And then future him had the nerve to say he would not get to enjoy it.
That absolute dumbass.
Once Reiji went back, he was going to beat Team Rocket until they coughed blood, then steal Matori over as his own secretary and show that spoiler bastard what real winning looked like.
"Why is this dirty garbage in my head? Get out. Get out. Get out!"
The laughter ended, and the call cut off.
Reiji threw the phone onto the grass and stomped on it, swearing the entire time.
"Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass spoiler bastard. Riddle-talking asshole. Couldn't you think about my feelings for 1 second?"
He wanted to cry.
"That was Matori. Giovanni's secretary."
He had never even experienced it, but that bastard had already rolled around in bed with her.
"How dare you? How the hell dare you? Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass. I'm the dumbass!"
If Reiji ever met his future self, he would beat the shit out of him. Doing it was one thing. Why did he have to say it out loud?
Was he trying to make Reiji jealous?
Trying to rub it in?
Trying to say the grapes were sweet when Reiji could not even eat them?
Future him was a complete dumbass.
Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass.
Reiji had always hated simps. Now he had 2 more things to hate: spoiler bastards and riddle bastards.
Simps could die.
Riddle bastards were dumbasses.
Spoiler bastards could die too.
"I didn't want to hear that. I really didn't want to hear that. I didn't even want to time-travel. Why did I have to hear that? Why did I time-travel? I'm the idiot. I'm the cheap one. My ears feel dirty…"
"God, if this ever happens again, just strike me dead. Seriously. I'm done."
Gengar rose out of Reiji's shadow and looked at Poliwrath and Pelipper.
"Gar? Are all Trainers like this?"
"Poli…" Poliwrath turned its face away. "Maybe just ours."
"Peli." Pelipper immediately took a side. "I don't know him."
"Scy." Scyther leaned against a tree and shut its eyes the moment Gengar looked over. It was injured. It had already suffered enough pain for its current level.
The 4 Pokémon sighed together.
Being a Pokémon was hard enough.
This Trainer was impossible.
Once Reiji finished raging, he still had to pick up the phone from the grass. He also took out the two recording pens he had used earlier. He gave one to Gengar to swallow and kept the other as a backup, just in case he forgot anything Slowking had repeated.
He wanted to cry.
Why torture him like this?
He had already hated hearing it once. Knowing he would have to replay the recording several more times after going back made it even worse. At that point, they might as well just stab him and get it over with.
Ring, ring—
Just as he was spiraling, the phone rang again.
The same familiar number lit up the screen.
Reiji answered, but he did not say anything.
This call probably wasn't meant for him. It was meant for future him. But future him had smashed his phone, so the call had somehow come through on this one instead.
As for why his phone still worked after he had stomped on it?
Old phones were basically bricks. A few kicks on soft grass weren't enough to kill one. Pick it up, dust it off, and it still made calls.
The other side stayed quiet for a long time.
Then a voice finally came through.
"Did you know all along?"
Reiji knew that voice.
Cissy.
He stayed silent.
Why was she calling future him this late? And what did she mean, did he know?
Know what?
Could people please stop talking in riddles?
He hated riddle talkers. And now another one had shown up.
The silence dragged on for several minutes before Cissy spoke again.
"I hate you."
Then she hung up.
Reiji snapped.
He threw the phone back onto the grass and stomped on it again.
"What the hell was that supposed to mean? I hate you too! What are you even mad about? Everyone's insane!"
He was done.
He did not want to talk anymore.
Going back could wait until tomorrow.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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