AN: Chapter 164 is in the next chapter. I set up the time wrong.
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Dark City.
Hisoka woke up early the next day and made some simple breakfast. After that, he called Gardevoir, and together, they went to Saffron City on a bike.
Once they reached Saffron City, they went to check out the black market. It was the largest one in Kanto, and they surely would have what he wanted.
Sure enough, after going through a couple of stores, he finally found what he was looking for. He bargained with the shopkeeper until he was satisfied with the price. He paid for the goods and left the black market with Gardevoir. Then, he went to the Department Store in Celadon City to buy new training equipment and left for home.
After they arrived home, he told Gardevoir to place all the training equipment in the training ground and went to the basement to see how much progress they had made on the information he had stolen from Lawrence.
As soon as he sat down on the chair in front of the computer, he asked Friday about the progress. Friday told him that the information had been sorted out and asked if he wanted to see it, to which he nodded. Then, a large virtual screen appeared in front of him with a few folders.
He found that Lawrence was really rich. Unfortunately, there was nothing much left aside from a few bank accounts under fake names, along with some information on Legendary Pokemon. Most of his wealth had been seized by the League.
After telling Friday to transfer the money in the bank accounts to him, he took Porygon2 with him out of the basement and went to the training ground.
Seeing the new training equipment that Gardevoir had set up in the training ground made him nod in satisfaction. He then threw out the Pokeball that he was holding in his hand.
With a flash of light, Porygon2 appeared in front of him.
"Porygon, I'm going to test your power now. Let's start with something simple first."
He pointed to the target ahead of them.
At first, he told Porygon2 to start with Thundershock first and later changed to stronger attacks like Psybeam, Tri Attack, and Shadow Ball until finally, a Hyper Beam, which he had to test outside the gym so as not to destroy the training ground.
Although Porygon2's power was a bit weaker than Gardevoir's long-range bombardment, hers wasn't as accurate as Porygon2's. Its accuracy was all thanks to its handy skill, Lock-On, which allowed its attack to hit the target precisely. It might not be as versatile as Gardevoir, but it would make a great longe-range attacker, he concluded.
"Hisoka!"
While he was training with Porygon2, Ran came up to him with a Mightyena that he recalled was the leader of the Poochyena's pack. It seemed they got along well together.
"Good job, Porygon! You can rest now."
He said, taking out a Pokeball. After he put Porygon2 away, he turned to Ran.
"Good, you're here now. I'm going to tell you something important today. I'm going to leave this gym in a few months, and I'm going to train you to become the new gym leader. You have to train hard. Are you up to it?"
She was obviously not expecting that as she looked at him in shock.
"Think about it first."
He said.
While she was digesting the information, he told Gardevoir to bring back the things they bought earlier in the black market.
Gardevoir nodded and teleported away. She then returned with a box filled with a dozen Pokeball and put it on the ground.
A few minutes later, Ran raised her head and looked at him, her eyes full of confidence.
"I want to become the gym leader."
Said Ran determinedly.
"It's good to see that you finally made up your mind. Well, do you know the specialty of Dark Gym?"
He asked her.
She nodded, "Yeah. It's Dark-type Pokemon."
"Yes, it's Dark-type Pokemon. With your current strength, you won't be able to pass the gym leader's test with just a Mightyena. So I bought you a few."
As he said that, he picked up all the Pokeball and threw them one by one. Shortly afterward, a dozen Pokemon appeared in front of them. All of them appeared to be scared as they looked at Hisoka and Ran warily.
"These are Murkrow and Purrloin. They should be able to improve your strength if you are able to tame them. Murkrow is a bit easier to train. Just keep them away from anything shiny, and you should be fine."
He pointed at the black-colored bird Pokemon with a hat.
"But beware of Purrloin. Although it may look cute, it is just a ruse. It likes to see people frustrated."
He warned Ran while giving a glare to the Purrloin, who shrank back in fear.
"You can choose two of them if there are any that you like. I'll put the rest inside the gym."
He motioned her to take a closer look at them.
A short time later, she returned to him with a Purrloin and a Murkrow in tow. He nodded at her choice. These two were one of the few with good potential among them.
"Register those two first in your Pokeball. We'll be training your other Pokemon first. Although you will be specializing in Dark-type Pokemon soon, don't forget to train your old Pokemon. They have a much higher potential than the ones I gave you."
He reminded her. What he said just now was true. The Mightyena, Purrloin, and Murkrow he gave her were just passable. Aside from her Beedrill, her Ursaring and Ponyta had a much higher chance to surpass them.
"Yes, I will train them too."
Ran nodded in understanding.
"Oh, and before I forget, take this first."
He handed her a disc case.
"What is this?"
She asked in a curious tone. She had no idea what it was used for.
"It is Technical Machine for Taunt, to be exact. You can learn a skill easily with this thing. You just needed to upload it to a Pokeball using the computer inside the house. I made a deal with the Department Store in Celadon City to make this TM for free. You just need to advertise a few of their products."
He explained patiently.
"But why should I need many of them? I don't think all of my Pokemon can learn this skill."
She looked confused at that. She knew that not all Pokemon could master a skill.
"So you can give it to the trainer that managed to defeat you. Not many gym leaders do this. Only a few do, and most of them are very popular in Kanto. For example, Blaine gives out the TM Flamethrower for defeating him."
"Really? Blaine is so rich!"
She exclaimed.
"Blain is a Pokemon researcher as well. Of course, he's rich. Now, although Taunt is not a very valuable skill, it is still very effective in a battle. You can also try to make Taunt a feature of your gym."
He said, trying to encourage her.
"I will do my best!"
She said confidently.
"Let's start."