67 Calling Ryoichi

Porta Vista Pokemon Center,

"Hello, this is Ryoichi speaking. Who is this?" A lazy voice came from the phone. A familiar-looking man wearing a safety helmet appeared on the computer screen.

"Long time no see, Mr. Ryoichi," Hisoka said with a smile.

On the screen was the undercover League Officer, who Hisoka had met at the S.S. Anne a week ago.

Ryoichi stretched his body lightly and yawned softly. Then, he slowly said, "What a familiar voice, wait!"

Ryoichi exclaimed as he stood up from the chair abruptly. He stared at the screen with wide eyes, seeing Hisoka, who he thought was already dead.

"You're alive, kid! How did you survive?" he shouted.

"Let's not talk about this matter for now. What I want to know now is whether the three conditions you promised a week ago are still valid?" replied Hisoka.

"Hold on a second."

Ryoichi waved his hand and said, "Why the rush, kid? It's been a week since I last saw you during the S.S. Anne attack? Where did you go after that? I searched the whole area for three days after the ship sank. I thought you were already drowned at the bottom of the ocean. Thank god you're fine."

"About the three conditions," Ryoichi paused for a moment.

Then, he plopped himself on the couch and let out a deep sigh. He knocked the hard hat on his head and said, "Did you see this? I have been dismissed from the League officer position. Right now, I was put in charge of the sewers at Celadon City."

"..."

"It suits you," Hisoka held back his laughter, seeing the forlorn look on the man's face.

"Wow, thanks!"

Ryoichi rolled his eyes.

Hisoka then said, "Well, since you have been dismissed, I won't bother you anymore. I still have a lot of things-"

"Wait! Don't hang up!"

Ryoichi screamed, covering the entire screen with his face.

"I need help from you!"

"What about those three conditions?" Hisoka countered.

"Please! Hisoka," Ryoichi cried, snot coming out from his nose.

"I really can't do anything about them. The S.S. Anne accident had too much impact on me. Even my chief, Matthias, was also suspended from work. And I don't have much cash on me right now. My bank account was frozen by the League until they had finished their investigation."

Then, probably because he was afraid that Hisoka might hang up the phone, Ryoichi quickly cleared his eyes and said, "But I can try to get you a Chansey."

"Oh? Go on. I'm listening," Hisoka's interest was piqued.

Ryoichi smiled, seeing that Hisoka was finally interested in his offer.

"Miss Joy from Celadon City and I are childhood friends. There should be no problem for me to ask for a Chansey from her. You only need to promise that you will take care of it."

Hisoka fell into deep thought when he heard what Ryoichi had said just now. Meanwhile, Ryoichi was fidgeting, waiting for Hisoka's reply. He was in deep trouble right now. He really hoped that Hisoka would agree to his request.

After a few minutes, Hisoka folded his arms and said, "Alright. I'll trust you for now. Now, tell me. What do you need help with?"

"Phew!"

Ryoichi breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Hisoka's agreement. Then, he took a moment to calm down and said, "After being transferred to Celadon City, I was put in charge of building a new reservoir here. But because of this damn Diglett infestation, the machinery and equipment can't be transported at all. The dam is already halfway built, and we lose thousands of dollars each day when we can't start our work. The higher-ups have already issued an order that if the construction work was still delayed, I can pack up my bags and leave this post."

Ryoichi took a deep breath and continued, "I have released this task on the Hunter website and in many Pokemon Centers, hoping that someone would deal with these Digletts soon, but there was no reply yet."

"What's the pay?" Hisoka asked curiously.

Ryoichi picked up a few vouchers from the table and said, "It's two days and one night of free vacation at Lavaridge Town.

"Are you for real? Who do you think will help you with these Digletts just for a few travel vouchers?"

"Uh, I guess it's you?" Ryoichi said hesitantly.

"Besides that, you also got the right to train Chansey," he added hastily.

"Fine! But I want to see the Chansey first. Otherwise, you can forget about it," Hisoka said sternly.

Ryoichi patted his chest resolutely and loudly said, "No problem! I will get the Chansey as soon as I can."

Beep!

...

"Excuse me? Are you Hisoka?"

Just as Hisoka was standing in front of the bulletin board to check the recently available tasks, Miss Joy's sweet voice came from behind.

"Yes, I am Hisoka."

Hisoka turned around and said, "What's the matter, Miss Joy?"

Miss Joy smiled, revealing two dimples on her cheeks, and said, "A trainer named Ash posted a message at the Pokemon Center's forum searching for a missing person named Hisoka."

"Fortunately, he added a few sketches of your face along with the post. It was hard for us to look for you with just a few descriptions," Miss Joy gave a small chuckle.

Hisoka followed Miss Joy to the front desk. Then, she typed on the keyboard a few times before a video was played on the screen.

A moment later, Ash, Misty, Brock, and Maggie appeared in the video. Everyone was staring at the camera with tears in their eyes.

Ash took the lead and said, "Hisoka, if you are still alive, please contact us as soon as possible. We are all fine after being attacked by the Gyarados a few days ago. I am now heading to Saffron City to continue the Gym Challenge. Please send us a message if you see this video."

Tut!

Video ended.

Miss Joy said emotionally, "Your friends really care about you. They always post a message or a video every time they arrive in the next city. This is the latest one."

"Do you want to reply to let them know you're fine?" Miss Joy asked softly.

Hisoka smiled and said, "Thank you for letting me know about this, Miss Joy. I think I should give them a surprise later."

Hisoka was just about to set off for Celadon City. Not only to help deal with the Diglett infestation but, more importantly, to get his Chansey from Ryoichi.

Saffron City and Celadon City were only a short distance away. He could drop by to see Ash and the others.

Since they regarded Hisoka as a friend, he naturally had to let them know about his well-being. So, they can finally stop worrying about him all the time.

...

Hisoka was resting on the beach in the shade.

Kirlia was sitting on a chair behind him, massaging his head slowly as they enjoyed the gentle ocean breeze.

"Phew!"

Hisoka sighed in relief. Kirlia's massage skills were getting better day by day.

"Thanks, Kirlia. Do you want a glass of juice?" Hisoka sat from the chair and walked to the bar next to them.

"Yes!" Kirlia replied.

"Here you go," Hisoka handed a glass of Oran berry juice to her while sipping a cold can of Coke.

Beep!

Beep!

The laptop on the table suddenly beeped twice. An incoming video call appeared on the laptop screen.

Hisoka clicked the accept button. Then, Ryoichi's irritating voice came from the laptop.

"Hisoka, my friend!"

Ryoichi's face popped up on the screen. He looked haggard as if he hadn't slept since yesterday.

"When are you going to leave, Hisoka? If you don't arrive soon, I'll be fired from the League," Ryoichi said bitterly.

Five days had passed since their last call. Ryoichi had been calling Hisoka every day, urging him to get to Celadon City as soon as possible. Actually, Hisoka was getting tired of hearing the same thing again and again.

Hisoka took off the sunglasses from his face and lazily said, "I booked this hotel for about ten days. I only stayed for seven days. There are still three days left. If I leave now, wouldn't my money be wasted?"

"How much is that hotel per night? I'll compensate you," Ryoichi asked loudly.

"6,000 dollars per night. Just pay me 10,000 dollars, and I'll leave now," Hisoka replied.

Ryoichi's smile instantly went stiff. Then, he looked at Hisoka with pitiful eyes and said, "Hisoka, there's no way I'll be able to pay that much. My salary right now is only enough to feed my Pokemon and me for a month. I even have to sleep at the office during this month."

He took a short pause and continued, "I already contacted Miss Joy a few days ago. She said there was no problem for you to get the Chansey's training certificate. If you aren't coming anytime soon, I'll have to give this certificate to someone else."

Hisoka raised his brow slightly and said with a thin smile, "Is that a threat I hear?"

"Oops! It was a slip of the tongue. You're the only person I can turn to now," Ryoichi apologized profusely.

"Please, Hisoka. I'm really not joking. I can't find anyone else but you. If the damn can't be completed in time, my career is over," Ryoichi begged desperately.

"Alright, give me a day!" Hisoka got up from the beach chair and stretched his body lightly.

"I should arrive at Celadon City at ten tomorrow morning."

"Okay!"

Ryoichi nodded and said, "Give me a call when you arrive tomorrow. I'll send someone to pick you up."

...

On the beach, Rhydon was slowly lifting a dumbbell. It was thrice as large as Hisoka's hand.

Rhydon was sitting on a large rock, steadily lifting the weight in his hand. It had done this for a few days. So he was quite experienced in this strength training.

Then, after doing a set of weight lifting, he resumed his weight training. But this time, with his weaker left arm.

However, he was much slower when doing the same exercise this time. Like a human, Pokemon also prefer to use their right hand rather than their left hand. Well, that is if they have hands.

When doing this kind of training, Hisoka already told Rhydon to increase the count on his weaker arm, letting him get used to both hands. So, Rhydon would be able to attack at the maximum strength with both hands rather than only a single right hand.

Then, Rhydon put the dumbbell on the ground and started to do a few sets of push-ups. Although it was hard for Rhydon to do this part of the training at first, considering his weight, he was able to complete his training only after a few hours, thanks to his powerful muscle strength.

After completing his daily strength training, Rhydon immediately walked in front of the sandbag and began to punch it continuously.

Boom!

Rhydon landed a powerful hook punch on the sandbag, knocking it into the air. Then, he relaxed his tensed body and leaned his body slightly to the left, narrowly dodging the sandbag after it fell from the air.

At the same time, his giant tile slammed on the sandbag, hitting the sandbag again. It repeated its previous dodging action, leaning his body to avoid the sandbag.

Rhydon seemed to like hitting the sandbag as it was already worn out slightly due to his repeated beating. Although he still made a few mistakes here and there, he had improved massively compared to five days ago.

Rhydon was not stupid. It was his previous experiences that stunted his mental growth. It might be uncomfortable at first, but under Hisoka's patient teaching, he quickly mastered the general essentials of boxing. Hisoka believed it won't be long for Rhydon to master the art of boxing like Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson.

"Great job, Rhydon!" Hisoka gave a thumbs up to the somewhat tired Rhydon.

"Roar!"

Rhydon uttered a happy cry after hearing Hisoka's praise. Then, he jumped happily like a child while Hisoka, Kirlia, and Weavile just shook their heads at the overgrown Rhydon's antics.

...

Since Porta Vista was an island city, Hisoka had to take a passenger ship to leave this city.

Hisoka's motorbike sank along with the S.S. Anne at the bottom of the ocean. He had forgotten about it during the Team Rocket attack.

Anne Motorbike Series was a famous brand of the Anne Transportation Company. It was also the most popular brand sold in Kanto and Johto.

In the past seven days, Hisoka had spent about 150,000 dollars buying various berries, medicinal ingredients, restocking his supplies, and some training equipment. He had also replaced a lot of his broken stuff when he was cast away.

When Hisoka walked out of the hotel, a brand new, black motorbike was parked at the front of the hotel. Its perfectly streamlined body attracted the gaze of many passing tourists. Some of them even recognized the unique brand of this motorbike.

The eagle spread out his wings.

Anne V Series was just launched this year. The market price was around 40,000 dollars. Hisoka bought this new bike using the reimbursement he received from the insurance company.

Then, Hisoka slowly walked to the motorbike. Under everyone's surprised looks, he put the helmet on his head and started the motorbike.

Vroom!

Hisoka twisted the throttle a few times, releasing the roaring sounds of the motorbike.

A few moments later, the Anne motorbike quickly left the hotel, heading toward the pier at high speed.

...