Pokémon: I’m Really Not a Team Rocket Spy

The leader of the group was named Ridley Watton. Under Gregor's command, he was considered a mid-level figure. As soon as he released his Pokémon, the others in the room followed suit, sending out their own Pokémon.

However, true to Lance's earlier remark about them being mere "grunts," aside from Ridley himself, the rest of his subordinates only released common Pokémon like Zubat and Raticate.

"This shouldn't be a problem."

Maki nodded. If he had to face so many Pokémon alone, even though his Charmander was stronger than these opponents, the sheer numbers could be troublesome.

But since Lance's Dratini was also here to share the burden, the situation became much more manageable.

Judging from the fact that Lance had only sent out Charizard and Dratini, it seemed that, at present, he only had these two Pokémon.

Although Luxray had a type advantage against Charizard, Maki didn't believe Lance would lose. This Luxray appeared to be at an average Great Ball level, while Charizard was clearly superior. A simple type advantage alone wouldn't be enough to close the gap.

"Dratini!"

The moment Lance released his Dratini, Ridley Watton's pupils shrank sharply, and he let out an astonished gasp. Greed flickered in his eyes.

If he could capture this Dratini and sell it on the black market, he'd make a fortune beyond his wildest dreams.

Raising it himself? That thought never even crossed his mind. A pseudo-legendary like Dratini required an immense amount of resources to reach its full potential, and someone of his caliber had no way of holding onto such a rare Pokémon.

I have to get my hands on that Dratini!

A crazed determination filled Ridley's mind. Originally, upon seeing Lance's Charizard, his first instinct had been to escape. But now, after seeing Dratini, he changed his mind—he was going to take the risk!

His Luxray had a type advantage against Charizard, so he still had a chance to win!

He kept repeating that thought in his head, trying to convince himself.

Meanwhile, Maki's Charmander found itself facing off against a Zubat and a Koffing.

These were two Pokémon Maki was very familiar with—after all, whenever Team Rocket was mentioned, the first Pokémon that came to mind were these, along with Ekans and others of their kind.

In reality, Team Rocket often assigned these Pokémon to new recruits as their first partners, making them feel like Team Rocket's own version of "starter Pokémon."

Of course, there was a reason for this. These Pokémon were easy to find in the wild—any cave would be filled with them. Additionally, their fully evolved forms had decent potential.

Koffing, in particular, had a unique ability called Neutralizing Gas.

A Weezing with this ability could release a special gas that nullified the abilities of all Pokémon in its vicinity. The only downside was that the gas was uncontrollable—even Weezing itself was affected, as were its allies.

However, this trait wasn't without its advantages. In fact, Maki knew that it could work perfectly in combination with Pokémon like Slaking and Archeops.

Moreover, Pokémon given to Team Rocket recruits tended to have aggressive temperaments. Unlike the Pokémon League, which handed out starter Pokémon to trainers with the goal of fostering strong bonds, Team Rocket's philosophy was simple—if you couldn't tame even these Pokémon, you didn't deserve to stay in the organization.

These Pokémon weren't particularly valuable, and their potential varied, but Team Rocket recruited a huge number of new members every year. Even they couldn't afford to hand out rare Pokémon to every grunt.

They had to weed out the weakest recruits as early as possible.

"Flame Burst!"

Maki wasted no time, ordering his Charmander to use the strongest move it had mastered so far.

After several days of training, Charmander's Flame Burst had finally reached a level where Maki no longer hesitated to use it.

Of course, for Charmander to improve even further, its next goal would be mastering Flamethrower. But Maki knew that his Charmander was still a bit away from reaching that milestone.

A massive fireball shot from Charmander's mouth, catching even Lance's attention.

It wasn't that the move itself was particularly impressive—Lance was simply surprised by how quickly Charmander had improved.

When it had first battled his Dratini, it was far from proficient in using this move. Yet in just a few days, its progress had been astonishing.

And now, from what Lance could see, it had already completely mastered Flame Burst!

Maki's Charmander's rapid growth was both surprising and inspiring for Lance.

"Charizard, show Charmander how a real veteran fights—use Flamethrower!"

Lance's words made Maki tilt his head and smile slightly.

"Thunderbolt!"

Ridley Watton reacted immediately, commanding his Luxray to counter. But it was clear that Luxray was outmatched by Charizard—it was quickly overwhelmed.

Even though Charizard was weak to Electric-type moves, type advantage didn't matter when the opponent's attack power wasn't strong enough to break through.

Meanwhile, Maki's Charmander had successfully landed Flame Burst on Zubat. The flames splashed outward, also hitting Koffing below—a perfect example of the benefits of using an area-of-effect move.

It was just like in double battles—Charizard almost always opted for Heat Wave instead of Flamethrower for the same reason.

Of course, the most ridiculous part was that Charizard somehow couldn't even learn Flamethrower in some games!

After taking the direct hit from Flame Burst, Zubat let out a pained screech and plummeted from the air. Charmander immediately rushed forward, refusing to let this opportunity slip away.

Though Koffing had also been caught in the blast, the spread damage was weaker. It retaliated by launching a Sludge attack at Charmander.

But before the sludge could reach its target, Charmander intercepted it mid-air with Ember.

The reason for using Ember instead of Flame Burst? Simply put, Charmander was more familiar with Ember, and in this case, it just needed a quick defensive move.

Hearing Charmander closing in rapidly, Zubat panicked and attempted a counterattack.

Why "hearing" and not "seeing"? Well, because Zubat doesn't have eyes!

Zubat has no eyes, Duskull has only one eye, Magnezone has three eyes, Combee has six eyes, and Unown… Unown has an eye but doesn't even count as a proper Pokémon!

Zubat opened its mouth and unleashed its signature Supersonic attack.

"Maki, let's roar right back at it—Charmander, use Growl!"

Maki's strategy for dealing with this move was simple—drown out the opponent's sound with their own!

-----------------------

Want to read ahead of schedule?

Join here for advance chapters: PATREON.COM / PRIMALDEMON