Pokémon: My Titles Know No Limits! [521]

[GardevoirSupremacy]: So, you're saying you're that good? How about another battle sometime if you're free?

Standing on the first floor of the Relic Castle, Gary Oak’s expression stiffened upon seeing August's message.

He hurriedly began typing to deny it.

But halfway through his typing, he heard Black’s sudden shout: “Gary-senpai, watch out!”

“What?” Gary turned his head in confusion.

At that very moment, his footing disappeared beneath him.

Taking a step forward felt as if he'd plunged into cotton—he immediately sank into quicksand.

“Hel—”

Before he could finish, Gary vanished from sight.

Black, Nate, and Looker stood by helplessly, watching Gary disappear into the sand.

Meanwhile, amidst his panic, Gary's incomplete message appeared in the group chat:

[Just_Call_Me_Young_Master_Gary]: Obviously I’m not as awesome as Aug￥@！＃￥...

August stared blankly at the gibberish-filled message from Gary.

Did he trip into a ditch while walking?

A moment later, Black sent a message.

[Munna’s_Jinchūriki]: This is bad, Boss! Gary-senpai fell into quicksand!

August: "..."

He had only said it jokingly; who knew Gary could genuinely be this clumsy?

However, if it was the Relic Castle...

If August remembered correctly, the quicksand here worked similarly to the broken floors of the Sky Pillar, simply sending you quickly to the next level down.

Besides, in the worst-case scenario, Gary still had Landorus with him.

[GardevoirSupremacy]: He'll be fine, leave him be.

After a brief tumble through the quicksand tunnel, Gary landed unceremoniously on the ground. Just as he was about to take out his phone to inform everyone he was safe, he saw August's message.

Gary instantly turned red-faced with indignation.

[Just_Call_Me_Young_Master_Gary]: August, you heartless bastard!

[GardevoirSupremacy]: You fell in yourself, why blame me?

[Gold]: Boss' showing faith in you! See, you're fine, aren't you?

[Psychic_Pretty_Girl]: +1. Since you're already down there, snap a pic of the Relic Castle interior. I've never seen it before!

Seeing the unsympathetic reactions from the Kanto branch members, Gary stood fuming at the bottom of the castle. The scorching temperature did nothing to warm his icy, wounded heart.

Can Kanto be saved at this point?!

Wait... scorching heat?

How could the underground Relic Castle be hotter than the desert above?

Suddenly sensing something amiss, Gary raised his head. On a platform ahead, an oddly familiar Pokémon was resting.

"Trapinch!?" Gary blurted out instinctively.

His voice instantly startled the sleeping Pokémon awake.

As it slowly opened its eyes and fluttered its wings into the air, the already blazing temperature surged even higher.

Only then did Gary realize his mistake.

This wasn't a Trapinch—it was a Volcarona!

He wasn't sure if it was angry because he'd gotten its name wrong or disturbed its sleep, but one thing was certain: it was mad!

Watching the Volcarona glare fiercely at him, Gary felt his whole body go numb.

---

Meanwhile, in Opelucid City, August waited for a while but didn't receive a reply from Gary.

“Has he finally changed his personality? Nah, that can’t be right…”

As August puzzled over it, the door suddenly burst open. Officer Jenny and several police officers stood respectfully at the entrance.

“Mr. August, thank you for your hard work!”

Officer Jenny and her team saluted, expressing deep respect toward August.

Their reverent attitude wasn't exaggerated—August’s efficiency was truly astonishing.

From the time August set out to the capture of Team Plasma's members, he'd moved even faster than their police squad could travel from the Battle Subway.

Such efficiency was something they could never hope to match.

“I’ll leave these Team Plasma guys to you,” August said, standing up.

“You aren’t coming back to the station with us, Mr. August? Everyone at the precinct admires you greatly…” Officer Jenny asked cautiously.

All these accomplishments, yet August seemed willing to hand over these criminals and walk away without taking any credit.

“It’s all yours,” August waved dismissively.

He turned to Giovanni, who was busy studying a Snag Ball nearby. “Quit staring. Doesn't Team Rocket already have something better?”

Indeed, the special Poké Balls used in Mewtwo Strikes Back—the ones capable of capturing both Pokémon and their Poké Balls—were far superior to these crude Snag Balls.

Giovanni didn't respond, seemingly indifferent to August’s mockery.

True, Team Rocket had far better options.

Still, the concept behind these rough Snag Balls intrigued Giovanni. If it had been in the past, he would’ve made sure to bring the inventor in personally for questioning.

Unfortunately, circumstances no longer permitted that.

It’s all this damn August’s fault!

Giovanni’s mood darkened further.

August, however, paid no attention as he had received a message from Drayden.

“Would you like to visit my Gym?” Drayden asked.

“The Opelucid Gym?” August glanced at Iris, who was affectionately cuddling her Dragonite. “Perfect timing—I’d love to see Unova's strongest Gym for myself…”

---

“Landorus, use [Earth Power]!”

Stone pillars burst violently from the ground. Volcarona, already covered in wounds, dodged the first few but soon ran out of strength, taking a direct hit and tumbling awkwardly onto the floor.

Gary panted heavily. “Finally...finally got it!”

Seeing Volcarona lying unconscious after Landorus’s attack, Gary breathed a sigh of relief.

Who knew how many years this Pokémon had lived underground—it was unbelievably strong.

He tossed a Poké Ball at Volcarona.

The Poké Ball shook a few times.

Gary successfully caught Volcarona.

He planned to bring it back and have his grandfather examine what was special about this particular Volcarona.

But speaking of which...

The Landorus August lent him was ridiculously powerful.

Gary gazed up at Landorus, floating midair with crossed arms.

Whether fighting Team Plasma earlier or battling Volcarona just now, his own expertise in Ground-type Pokémon combined with Landorus’s strength resulted in an outcome definitely greater than the sum of its parts!

[Just_Call_Me_Young_Master_Gary]: How can a Pokémon as awesome as Landorus even exist?!

[GardevoirSupremacy]: ?

[GardevoirSupremacy]: You must be really starving.

Gary’s expression darkened.

He didn't fully understand what August meant, but instinctively felt it wasn't anything good.

Meanwhile, elsewhere…

[Lord_Rayquaza_#1]: Starving? Who’s starving? Got anything tasty?

[GardevoirSupremacy]: Are you done dealing with Team Plasma on your side yet?

[Lord_Rayquaza_#1]: Obviously. With Lord Rayquaza here, do you think there’d be any enemy I can’t handle?

Even through plain text, August could clearly envision Zinnia’s smug expression.

Indeed, back in Icirrus City, Zinnia was exactly as August imagined, enthusiastically preaching the greatness of Lord Rayquaza to a group of captured Team Plasma members.

These grunts, who’d immediately dropped to their knees upon seeing Rayquaza, kept nodding fervently, silently begging Zinnia to recall Rayquaza back into its Poké Ball.

At that moment, a girl wearing a sunhat, a sports jacket, a skirt-styled pair of shorts over black leggings, and twin buns styled into twintails suddenly approached.

“Excuse me, are you arresting criminals here?” she asked curiously.

“You are...?” Caitlin instantly became wary.

Anyone approaching now might have ties to Team Plasma.

The girl didn’t look like Team Plasma, but disguises couldn't be ruled out.

“Ah! Sorry, forgot to introduce myself—I’m Rosa, a student at the Trainers’ School!” the girl replied cheerfully.

Upon hearing that she was from the Trainers’ School, Caitlin relaxed slightly.

Icirrus City’s Trainers’ School had a solid reputation across Unova. While not as prestigious as Blueberry Academy or Paldea’s Uva Academy, it had produced numerous talented trainers.

“Then what are you doing here?” Caitlin asked. Given their current location on the outskirts, a student shouldn’t normally wander this far out.

“Um...” Rosa looked embarrassed. “My Snivy wanted to take a walk outside, but she ran off so fast I lost her... I’m looking for her.”

“Snivy?” Caitlin closed her eyes and activated her psychic powers.

The next instant, a dazed Snivy appeared right in front of Rosa.

Rosa stared wide-eyed in surprise, quickly scooping up Snivy into her arms.

“Don’t run off again!”

Snivy squirmed, desperate to escape Rosa’s tight embrace, but it was wrapped too tightly. Unable to free itself, Snivy resorted to using [Vine Whip]!

Snap!

“Ouch!”

Only then did Rosa loosen her grip on Snivy.

Rosa and Snivy’s interaction eased Caitlin’s lingering doubts.

However…

“I’m Caitlin, a member of Unova’s Elite Four. You've accidentally stumbled into a confidential League operation. To ensure your safety—and maintain secrecy—I’ll need you to temporarily accompany us.” Although Caitlin spoke politely, her tone brooked no refusal.

Rosa froze completely. “Eh?!”

---

August was unaware that yet another Unova heroine had just been swept into Caitlin’s entourage, under the guise of operational secrecy.

At the moment, he was following Drayden through Opelucid Gym.

Despite its name, Opelucid Gym’s trainer-testing area was structured as a maze of three dragons rather than two, somewhat contradicting its title.

Of course, August had enough tact not to point this out.

Moreover, he knew the “twin dragons” referred more to Reshiram and Zekrom.

Upon entering the reception hall behind Drayden, August took in the numerous dragon Pokémon sculptures decorating the room.

“These are...?”

“Most of these were collected by Iris. Her passion for Dragon Pokémon exceeds even mine!”

Hearing Drayden praise her so warmly, Iris smiled shyly.

August chuckled. “Then you’d probably get along really well with a friend of mine.”

“A friend I’d get along with?” Iris’s eyes sparkled.

She’d left her hometown young to train under Drayden in Unova, so she hadn’t had many chances to make friends.

“Mm. She's…a bit of an idiot, I suppose,” August remarked. “Usually not the brightest, but completely fanatical about Dragon-types, especially Rayquaza. She’s always going ‘Lord Rayquaza’ this and ‘Lord Rayquaza’ that.”

“Rayquaza!” Iris’s eyes lit up immediately upon hearing that name, completely ignoring the part about the “idiot.”

Rayquaza—the legendary dragon of the skies, ruler above the clouds!

Though she’d seen August arrive at the World Championship opening ceremony on TV, riding atop Rayquaza, she hadn’t yet witnessed it in person.

“Mr. August, did you bring Rayquaza with you now?”

“Sorry, not today.” August shrugged apologetically. “I lent Rayquaza to that idiot friend of mine.”

“But if you're interested, I can take you to meet her.”

“Really!?” Iris’s excitement surged.

However, she quickly remembered to seek Drayden’s approval first and glanced at him pleadingly.

Faced with Iris’s expectant look, Drayden sighed helplessly and nodded.

If he refused, Iris would certainly nag him endlessly. Besides, if not for his responsibilities to protect Opelucid City, he’d love to see Rayquaza himself.

Seeing her master’s consent, Iris let out a cheer.

Dragonite beside her happily shared her excitement.

August smiled, already imagining how Zinnia would react to Iris, this new devotee of “Lord Dragon God.”

He eagerly anticipated Zinnia’s expression.

After finishing their chat, August turned to Drayden. “Drayden-san, though we've dealt with Team Plasma this time, I'm sure you’re aware these weren't their main forces. We'll need to be vigilant for their counterattack.”

Drayden nodded, agreeing with August’s assessment.

Team Plasma hadn’t seemed concerning when they masqueraded as a simple environmentalist group. However, since their true colors had been revealed, he'd realized just how extensive their reach had grown throughout Unova.

Nevertheless, Drayden remained confident. “I’ll protect Opelucid City no matter what.”

Hmm…

Considering what happened in the original storyline, August appreciated Drayden’s resolve.

But this time, with August present, he’d make sure Opelucid City wouldn’t endure that crisis again.

---

This is a fan translation of 我，宝可梦称号大师！ by 落唯 白良. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!