Chapter 58: Changes in the League

Chapter 58: Changes in the League

Ron shook his head and rejected Ilima's suggestion. He knew Ilima had participated in the Kalos League, though he didn't know his exact placement. Still, for someone using a Normal-type team to make it into the Top 16, it was clear Ilima was strong.

Ilima specialized in technique-based battles, the opposite of Ron's brute-force style. He was very skilled at using the weak to defeat the strong—something Ron seriously lacked. So, Ron decided to learn from Ilima; after all, there's no shame in learning from others.

Ilima was generous, sharing his insights completely, while also curious about the secret to Ron's powerful Pokémon. Of course, Ron couldn't just say he was cheating, so he reluctantly spent some popularity points to buy a training technique for Eevee and passed it on to Ilima.

Ilima treated it like a treasure, and the two of them chatted passionately, completely ignoring everyone else nearby.

Through these discussions, Ron decided to postpone his Z-Crystal challenges and instead focused on practicing technical skills. Honestly, even with the cheats of the Bond Power and Expanded Vision, they didn't help much during battles. Most of the time, his Pokémon's overwhelming strength meant he didn't even need to offer support.

That led to a bottleneck: he could crush pseudo-Elite Four trainers but stood no chance against real Elite Four members, let alone Champions.

He had to make changes, or else he'd hit a wall just like Shōta.

So, Ron settled down at the Pokémon School, discussing theory with Ilima each day, applying it in practice, training his Pokémon, and improving his own physical fitness too.

A few days later, Ilima left. Ron then received a call from the League.

"Ron, we sincerely hope you'll accept the position of Elite Four," Lorelei said on the other end of the line.

"Sis Lorelei, don't flatter me. I know where I stand—I'm still a ways off from reaching Elite Four-level strength. Giving me that title now is just setting me up to fail," Ron replied with a bitter smile.

"Ron, I'll be honest with you. Team Rocket has left Kanto and is now fully stationed in Johto," Lorelei said. "Lance is also heading to Johto to take over as Champion, and he's bringing Bruno with him. Agatha has retired and is temporarily serving as the Viridian Gym Leader. We're seriously short-staffed, I'm begging you here!"

"Aren't Koga and Shōta still around? And there's always Siebold," Ron said.

"You think we haven't tried? Koga got transferred to Johto too. Along with two people rescued from a dark organization, Johto's Elite Four and Champion roster is now full. In Kanto, Siebold agreed to join as Elite Four, and Shōta didn't make Champion, so he couldn't replace Lance. That leaves two vacant spots. For now, Steven from Hoenn has temporarily taken over the Champion role. Apparently, there was a huge argument over that in Hoenn," Lorelei said with exasperation.

"Why is this my problem?" Ron said helplessly. "If Steven's the temporary Champion, then I assume Wallace is Hoenn's current Champion?"

"That's right," Lorelei confirmed.

"Hm... Sis Lorelei, you might want to consider Saffron Gym Leader Sabrina. Her psychic abilities are terrifying—she'd be a solid choice. Also, there's Lt. Surge in Vermilion. He's pretty strong too," Ron suggested.

In the anime, Sabrina and Lt. Surge weren't all that impressive, but in the manga, they were total powerhouses. Lt. Surge was even recognized by Raikou, and Sabrina had incredible intellect. With some training, they could absolutely be top-tier Elite Four members.

"Sabrina and Lt. Surge, huh?" Lorelei hesitated. "I'll contact them first. But if it doesn't work out, don't you dare run away from this!"

"Oh yeah, Sis Lorelei—who are the two new Johto Elite Four members?" Ron asked.

"Apparently, they were originally part of a dark organization that tried to take down Team Rocket but got crushed by both the League and Rocket combined. After being arrested, we discovered two of their officers were actually pretty decent—in strength and in character—so the League recruited them. One's a man named Toku, a Psychic-type specialist. The other's a woman named Rika, who specializes in Dark-types," Lorelei explained. "Alright, that's enough chit-chat. I need to reply to some messages—handling all this alone is killing me!"

The call ended with a busy signal. Ron rubbed his chin. "Toku and Rika… those names sound familiar."

After thinking for a while, he finally remembered—they were from the manga, the ones who succeeded Giovanni as the new Team Rocket leaders, training many children to be loyal subordinates. But in the manga, they willingly followed that new boss… so why did they defect now?

The manga's final boss was Pryce from Johto, but when Ron called to inquire, he confirmed it really was Pryce. The reason was simple—Ron just asked if Pryce had lost two Lapras in his youth. When the answer was yes, Ron knew this was the same character.

But now Ron had a headache. Pryce was truly Elite Four level and had turned dark only to save those two Lapras—a villain you couldn't even hate.

If Pryce existed here, did that mean Blue and Silver did too? Or not? Ron felt a massive headache coming on and decided not to think about it anymore—it didn't concern him directly anyway.

After hanging up, Ron looked toward the distant beach. Dragonite, Gyarados, and Tyranitar were all releasing moves nonstop, training to increase their power. Pheromosa weaved effortlessly between their attacks, its incredible speed allowing it to move through their overlapping barrages without being touched. As for Cosmog, it watched intently from the side, cheering them on.

Ron had already learned the hard way—burning through one Ultra Ball—that you couldn't catch a Legendary Pokémon without its permission. Without consent, it was nearly impossible.

Now he was a little worried. Cosmog currently only weighed 0.1 kg, which was fine, but once it evolved into Cosmoem—999.9 kg—it would teach you the meaning of gravity. Ron wasn't like Ash or Pikachu with built-in cheats, casually tossing Cosmoem around like a plushie.

At that point, he'd probably need to use the system-issued Master Ball. But those weren't sold in the shop—they were only given through main quests. Using one on Cosmog felt like a waste.

For now, he could only build trust and hope Cosmog would enter a Poké Ball willingly. As Ron thought about this while doing push-ups, he reminded himself—even that 999.9 kg was just a number. But it still worried him.

Cosmog floated over and circled around Ron. Helpless, Ron took out some Konpeitō to feed it. If it started crying, he'd never hear the end of it.

In the distance, Gladion watched Ron on the beach. He patted the Pokémon beside him and said, "Let's go, Silvally. We'll wait for them in Hoenn."

With that, he jumped onto the Attribute: Null, which leapt forward and carried him away—leaving Ron and his Pokémon to continue training on the shore.