Pokemon: Reborn as a Pokemon 15. Deathmatch

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In a sleek, dimly lit office, a refined man with gold-rimd glasses lounged lazily in a high-back chair.

Knock knock knock.

"Co in."

A sharply dressed woman in a black-and-white uniform stepped through the door.

"Director, the haul from Louis's mission has been logged. Here's the report."

She gave a respectful bow and placed the file neatly on the desk.

The man lifted an elegant porcelain teacup with his right hand, sipped slowly, and picked up the docunt with his left. He casually skimd the pages, the faint scent of jasmine tea wafting through the quiet room.

After flipping a few pages, he set them aside and looked up.

"These few here... Send them to Logistics."

"As for the rest dump them into the Shadow Pit."

"Yes, sir."

The woman swiftly gathered the papers and exited. Newest update provided by novel·fıre·net

The room fell silent, save for the gentle swirl of steam rising from the tea.

—

Kael awoke with a jolt.

Where... am I?

Through the semi-transparent walls of his Poké Ball, he could barely make out the pitch-black surroundings. No lights. No windows. Just endless darkness.

Before he could gather his thoughts, a beam of bright white light burst from above like a sunrise. Kael flinched at the sudden glare.

A hand reached down, grabbed the Poké Ball, and pulled it out.

As Kael adjusted to the light, he finally got a look around.

He was inside a vast, sterile room lit by overhead floodlights. The black flooring was scuffed and stained faintly red. Caras in the corners tracked every movent like cold, watching eyes.

Kael's Poké Ball was clutched in the gloved hand of a man in black.

Across from him stood another man, also holding a Poké Ball.

Sothing's wrong.

Then ca the unmistakable toss.

Swish!

Crack!

Red light bead down, and Kael was ejected into the room.

Opposite him, the second man released his Pokémon a snarling [Arbok] with gleaming fangs and coiled muscles.

Without a word, both n exited the room.

BANG!

The heavy door slamd shut.

Kael stared at the Arbok, which began slithering toward him slowly, hungrily.

Cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

'This isn't the League. This is... sothing else entirely.'

Who pits a Mareep against an Arbok?!

Even a rookie could tell sothing was very wrong.

He had no idea how he ended up here. But he knew one thing: if he didn't stay sharp, he was going to die.

—

Elsewhere, in the underground base...

Minwen slumped over her desk, exhausted.

As an off-the-books employee for the criminal organization known as Dark Star, her job was to manage segnts of their Pokémon database.

The combat division had hit the jackpot today. The database had flooded with new entries, and Minwen barely processed them all before the end of her shift.

Now she just wanted to relax for a few minutes.

She glanced around. No one was watching.

Smirking, she unlocked a hidden app on her phone.

A private network program developed by Dark Star's tech division top-tier encryption, used for communication and... "entertainnt."

She opened a live feed: The Shadow Pit.

It was Dark Star's internal blood sport used to cull Pokémon with poor genetics or low potential. Occasionally, a hidden gem would erge from the fights, and the Syndicate would retrieve and repurpose it.

Upper managent considered it a "productive use of waste."

The stream loaded. On-screen was a Mareep facing down an Arbok.

Minwen groaned. "Seriously? That's it?"

Other users flooded the chat.

"Wow, this is boring."

"That Mareep looks like it's already dead, lol."

"You think Arbok can swallow it whole?"

"Easily. Saw that sa one eat a Nidorino last week."

Then soone shouted:

"It's moving!"

The Arbok had begun to slither closer.

Minwen raised an eyebrow.

Well, maybe this'll at least be entertaining.

—

Inside the Shadow Pit...

Kael had no idea that he was being watched by dozens of Dark Star staff.

But even if he had he wouldn't care.

He might've been more excited.

Because if he gave them a good show... maybe, just maybe, they'd let him live.

The Arbok circled him like a predator playing with its food. It wasn't rushing in. Not yet. It wanted to enjoy the fear.

Kael, however, wasn't afraid.

His eyes locked onto the serpent, calculating.

Length: roughly 5 feet. The tail segnt is short, probably a low level. Overconfident.

That overconfidence is my only chance.

He acted.

Suddenly, the Mareep let out a terrified bleat and bolted toward the far side of the arena.

Minwen blinked at the screen and laughed.

"Hah! It finally figured out it's in danger!"

"Look at it run!"

"La. Just eat it already."

"Snore. Start the next round."

The Arbok grinned as it chased its prey.

Its body glowed faintly [Wrap].

It was ready to crush the Mareep to death.

But Kael had other plans.

He skidded to a stop mid-run, spun around, and raised his tail.

The orange gem at the tip crackled with energy.

"[Thunder Wave]!"

A burst of paralyzing electricity surged from his tail, catching the Arbok off guard.

Zzzap!

The pulse wrapped around its body, lighting up its scales in a flash of yellow. The shock jolted it to a stop, muscles locking up.

For a mont, Arbok could only twitch, frozen in place.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

That worked... now it's ti to fight back.

And from just behind the stunned Arbok—

A bright, cold blue glow began to shine.

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