Chapter Summaries

Yu Hai and his Pokémon infiltrated the luxury cruise ship and killed the Young Master and his bodyguards before escaping at dawn. He captured the Young Master's Riolu and flew toward the Kanto Continent.

• Yu Hai sent Spinarak, Darkrai, and Gengar to rob and dispose of the ship's crew and bodyguards.
• Yu Hai and his Pokémon entered the Young Master's room, put him and his two bodyguards to sleep, and poisoned them.
• Gallade sensed Yu Hai's presence next door but chose not to warn its Trainer, Xiao Feng.
• Yu Hai woke the Young Master on the balcony, taunted him, and put him back to sleep with Dark Void.
• Yu Hai crushed Riolu's Poké Ball and captured Riolu despite its hostility, then left the ship on Pelipper as dawn broke.

After Yu Hai left the cruise ship to protect Ai from Team Rocket, Blaine read his warning and went to confront Captain Kenichi. Kenichi gave up resisting when Blaine assured him Xiao Feng was safe, and Blaine asked him to help the League capture the First Mate.

• A thunderstorm woke Ai, and Blaine comforted her before finding Yu Hai's letter warning that Team Rocket knew about Ai and that Yu Hai had left the ship.
• Blaine burned the letter, left Ai in the maid's care with Arcanine guarding her, and went to confront Captain Kenichi.
• Blaine told Kenichi that the League had known about his undercover role for years and mentioned Xiao Feng, causing Kenichi to abandon his resistance.
• Blaine offered Kenichi a chance to atone by helping the League capture the First Mate.

Blaine persuaded Captain Kenichi to become a double agent and promised to take Kenichi’s son Xiao Feng into Cinnabar Gym. Kenichi agreed to betray his longtime friend, the First Mate, but after poisoning him, he discovered Xiao Feng had already died.

• Blaine told Captain Kenichi that the First Mate’s son had provoked someone important and offered him a chance to redeem himself by helping the League.
• Captain Kenichi asked Blaine to protect Xiao Feng by taking him into Cinnabar Gym, and Blaine agreed.
• Blaine told Kenichi to deal quietly with the First Mate and shut down the Black Market, and Kenichi agreed to drug his old friend.
• Captain Kenichi lured the First Mate to the Captain’s quarters, poisoned his wine, and confessed that he had acted for Xiao Feng.
• The First Mate stabbed himself with his dagger after asking Kenichi to care for Xiao Feng, and Kenichi closed his eyes.
• Captain Kenichi realized Xiao Feng had already died, though the First Mate had died believing his son was alive.

Captain Kenichi deceived Sakaki and Blaine to protect his family, becoming a double agent while arranging for Xiao Feng to join Cinnabar Gym. Meanwhile, Xiao Feng learned that Yu Hai had left the ship, and Yu Hai remained stranded in flight over the distant sea.

• Captain Kenichi told Sakaki that Blaine had exposed the ship’s Black Market, and Sakaki ordered him to liquidate its assets while keeping ten percent and passing some intelligence to the League.
• Captain Kenichi planned to use part of his share and the First Mate’s inheritance to help Xiao Feng become Blaine’s disciple at Cinnabar Gym.
• Xiao Feng found his childhood friend’s room empty, then learned from Captain Kenichi that Yu Hai had left the ship with the First Mate and would not be returning.
• Gallade kept quiet about sensing Yu Hai’s actions and the Blue Puppy being taken away.
• Yu Hai spotted land after flying for over an hour through heavy rain and realized the distant coast was much farther away than it had appeared.

Yu Hai waited out a heavy rain in a cave on Kanto’s east coast and reviewed the Riolu he had acquired, whose low potential and distrust of humans could make it difficult to tame. He remained unsure whether Riolu would accept him as they continued their journey through the wilderness.

• Yu Hai landed on Kanto’s east coast in heavy rain and had his Pokémon find a cave for shelter.
• Yu Hai dried his clothes, fed his Pokémon, and slept in the cave while Spinarak and Kingler kept watch.
• Yu Hai woke to more rain, boiled water, and switched Kingler’s watch shift with Poliwhirl’s.
• Yu Hai checked Riolu’s status and found that he had 41% potential and the Inner Focus ability.
• Yu Hai considered Riolu’s difficult past and his own impure intentions, and doubted whether Riolu would ever trust him.

The narrator recounted several vivid dreams, including a frightening lucid dream in which they realized they were dreaming but could not wake up. They ended by describing a dream where their mother urged them to marry, which ended when they noticed she had disappeared.

• The narrator described becoming lucid on the roof of their home when their phone flashlight repeatedly failed to turn on.
• The narrator felt themselves drifting backward across the roof and woke before reaching the railing.
• The narrator recalled an earlier dream about getting ready for work, where they could not tie their shoelaces and realized they were dreaming.
• The narrator described a later dream with eight familiar family members, where only three could speak to them at once.
• The narrator dreamed that their mother urged them to find a partner and woke after noticing her retreating figure had vanished.

Yu Hai released the abused Riolu, who repeatedly charged Poliwhirl before collapsing, and cared for him while they sheltered from the rain. After Poliwhirl shared memories of his bond with Yu Hai through Aura, Riolu accepted an Energy Cube and resolved to seek his own answer; Yu Hai then set out with his Pokémon for a nearby town and a Pokémon Center.

• Yu Hai released Riolu, who lunged at him but was repeatedly knocked back by Poliwhirl until he fainted from exhaustion.
• Yu Hai treated Riolu's injuries, fed him Moomoo Milk, and kept him warm in the cave while the rain continued.
• After waking, Riolu refused Yu Hai's Energy Cube and demanded to know why Poliwhirl protected a human.
• Poliwhirl connected their Aura and showed Riolu memories of how Yu Hai had protected and supported him and their companions on the Deserted Island.
• Riolu accepted the Energy Cube and decided to seek his own answer, though he still hated humans.
• Darkrai and Pelipper returned, and Yu Hai packed up and flew with Pelipper toward a town to find a Pokémon Center and learn where he was in the Kanto Continent.

Yu Hai stayed in polluted Black Cloud City, where Nurse Joy treated Riolu and cleared up her misunderstanding about his injuries. After learning how local trainers used Toxin Crystals to raise Poison-type Pokémon, Yu Hai saw an opportunity to catch Koffing and pursue combination evolution before leaving the city.

• Yu Hai visited the injured Riolu, and Nurse Joy angrily accused him of abusing the Pokémon before he explained that he had rescued Riolu from traffickers.
• Nurse Joy apologized, returned Yu Hai's Pokédex, and said Riolu was weak and malnourished but would recover with rest.
• Yu Hai left Energy Cubes and Moomoo Milk for Riolu, then noticed many Poison-type Pokémon at the Pokémon Center showed signs of toxin exposure.
• Yu Hai visited a Pokémon food shop and learned that Toxin Crystals came from Grimer and could poison anyone who touched them.
• The shop owner explained that trainers had copied a book advocating poison-based training, and Yu Hai concluded that Black Cloud City's Grimer and Koffing could support his combination-evolution plans.
• Yu Hai asked whether the city had a Gym, and the shop owner said none existed and that he planned to move away from the pollution.

Yu Hai captured a Shiny Koffing and proved that Koffing gained Potential by evolving into Weezing and devolving again. After visiting Riolu, he went to the Power Plant to catch Magnemite.

• Yu Hai searched the industrial district for high-Potential Koffing, caught a Shiny Koffing, and released the ordinary Koffing he had captured.
• Yu Hai threatened two ordinary Koffing into combining into Weezing, then had Scyther split them apart and confirmed their Potential had increased.
• Yu Hai planned to search for Toxin Crystals and more Shiny Koffing, while Darkrai and Gengar went looking for crystals.
• Yu Hai visited the Pokémon Center and left food beside Riolu, who pretended to sleep until Yu Hai had left.
• Yu Hai reached the Power Plant and began knocking out Magnemite with Toxicroak so he could catch them.

Yu Hai returned from the power plants empty-handed except for a chance encounter with an old acquaintance, while Darkrai and Gengar brought back Toxin Crystals and valuable items. He prepared to have Darkrai contact the acquaintance through a dream, declined to pursue a Shiny Muk, and reflected on strengthening Gengar in case Darkrai left.

• Yu Hai failed to find worthwhile Magnemite or Koffing at the power plants, released his catches, and headed back toward the hotel.
• Darkrai and Gengar returned with Yu Hai and identified a familiar trainer with a big black dog among the Power Plant workers.
• Yu Hai secretly followed the trainer to a nearby residence, then returned to the hotel and learned that Darkrai and Gengar had collected more than a hundred Toxin Crystals.
• Gengar returned the crystals he had hidden, and Yu Hai let him keep them while Darkrai selected Dark-type stones and gems from their stored loot.
• Yu Hai checked Darkrai and Gengar's status, noted Darkrai's growth and Gengar's rising level, and considered preparing Gengar in case Darkrai departed.
• Yu Hai asked Darkrai to draw the trainer with the big black dog into a dream so they could talk, but rejected the idea of catching the Shiny Muk Darkrai had found.

Yu Hai used Darkrai’s dream world to question A Ping and learned that he was a Team Rocket member on a three-month mission to gather Poison-type resources and strengthen his Pokémon. Yu Hai offered to recruit him as an undercover agent for the League, and A Ping considered joining if his sister could be protected.

• Darkrai found A Ping feeding Toxin Crystals to Muk and Haunter, whose bodies were developing black patches, and reported it to Yu Hai.
• Yu Hai entered A Ping’s dream and learned that Team Rocket had sent him to Black Cloud City to collect Poison-type resources before returning to the front lines.
• A Ping explained that Muk and Haunter were slowly changing color as he tried to mutate them into stronger Pokémon so he could survive future battles.
• Yu Hai offered to teach A Ping in exchange for his help, then revealed that he worked undercover for the League and invited A Ping to work for him.
• A Ping worried that Team Rocket would target his younger sister if he betrayed them, and Yu Hai suggested bringing her to the Gym as a trainer for protection.

Yu Hai offered A Ping a way to get his sister Xiao Mai into Blaine’s Cinnabar Gym and advised him on accelerating his Pokémon’s mutations. A Ping tested the advice, strengthened his Muk with a Shiny Muk’s toxins, and evolved Haunter into a Shiny Gengar, leaving him hopeful about escaping Team Rocket with his sister.

• Yu Hai told A Ping that he could arrange for Xiao Mai to enter Blaine’s Cinnabar Gym and gave him a way to make contact through Mikan Island.
• Yu Hai advised A Ping to strengthen Muk and Haunter with increasingly potent toxins and suggested using toxins refined by other Muk to accelerate Muk’s mutation.
• Yu Hai sold A Ping a naturally mutated Shiny Muk for two million and learned that Team Rocket’s Black Market was hidden beneath the Power Plant where A Ping worked.
• After waking from the dream, A Ping used the Shiny Muk’s black sludge to strengthen his own Muk and saw its body begin transforming rapidly.
• A Ping fed Haunter more than a hundred Toxin Crystals, causing it to evolve into a black Shiny Gengar that immediately fell asleep.
• A Ping decided to keep collecting Toxin Crystals and looked forward to leaving Team Rocket and living safely with Xiao Mai.

Yu Hai entered Black Cloud City's underground Black Market and saw the unsettling effects of its poison-centered trade before reuniting with A Ping. A Ping paid him two million League Coins and asked him to examine his newly evolved Shiny Gengar and Muk, whose condition Yu Hai found promising.

• Yu Hai left Poliwhirl to watch over Riolu, then followed masked visitors through the Power Plant to reach its underground Black Market by Teleport.
• Yu Hai explored the poison-focused market and witnessed unstable Pokémon and Trainers fighting while Team Rocket left them undisturbed.
• A Ping recognized Yu Hai in the Black Market and led him back upstairs to a café for a private conversation.
• A Ping gave Yu Hai two million League Coins and asked him to check on Muk and Gengar, who had evolved from Haunter overnight.
• Yu Hai found that Muk was healthy and nearly transformed, while Gengar had become Shiny and had strong potential; he also took five odor-isolating Poké Balls from A Ping.

Yu Hai advised A Ping about the risks of overfeeding Gengar Toxin Crystals and assessed his Nidoran♂, then recruited A Ping to help him search Power Plants for talented Magnemite. After checking five plants, Yu Hai found two Magnemite with decent Potential and left with them.

• Yu Hai told A Ping that Gengar would sleep for at least half a year after consuming over a hundred Toxin Crystals, and warned that its Poison-type energy had greatly outpaced its Ghost-type energy.
• Yu Hai assessed A Ping's Nidoran♂ and explained that a high-grade Moon Stone could help it reach upper-mid Elite Four potential.
• Yu Hai asked A Ping to take him to Power Plants so he could find Magnemite with good Potential, and A Ping led him to Team Rocket's Power Plant.
• Yu Hai searched the warehouse's Magnemite and found only one with fifty Potential among a thousand, then took it after A Ping recorded the removal.
• Yu Hai and A Ping searched four more Power Plants, finding one Magnemite with fifty-five Potential at the third plant and none at the others.

Yu Hai sold three batches of black-market Pokémon to Old Drunkard while learning that the League had confiscated Starters and breeding Pokémon during its crackdown on Hasa Island. He finished the sale and considered how he might profit from the Great Families in the future.

• Yu Hai gave A Ping a Magnemite with fifty Potential and explained how to judge Magnemite talent and evolve it.
• Yu Hai asked A Ping to help him use the Power Plant teleporter, then sent the first two batches of black-market Pokémon to Old Drunkard for two million and twenty-five million.
• Yu Hai negotiated with Old Drunkard over a male Starter Charizard, and accepted fourteen million after learning that the League could confiscate illegally bred Starters.
• Old Drunkard told Yu Hai that the League had swept through Hasa Island’s Black Market and breeding industry, confiscating Starters and Seed Dragons.
• Yu Hai sold Kingdra, Flygon, Electric Dragon, Gyarados, and Rhydon to Old Drunkard, completing the sale of his black-market goods.

Yu Hai counted his growing savings, transferred Magnemite and Feebas to Ada at Mikan Gym, and planned how to find another Shiny Koffing. He sent Golbat to search the factory chimneys while Darkrai and Gengar continued gathering Toxin Crystals in the sewers.

• Yu Hai learned that his latest sale had earned sixty-eight million League Coin, bringing his bank balance to nearly two hundred million, and dismissed stealing Pseudo-Legendary eggs as too dangerous.
• Yu Hai parted with A Ping, then called Ada and transferred Magnemite and Feebas to Mikan Gym while checking on the Pokémon staying there.
• Yu Hai reviewed his expenses and earnings in his notebook and concluded that he still needed to keep making money and find another Shiny Koffing and more Toxin Crystals.
• Yu Hai realized that Koffing likely absorbed waste gas inside factory chimneys and decided to search there for a Shiny Koffing.
• Yu Hai visited Riolu and Poliwhirl, then sent Golbat to inspect the factory chimneys while Darkrai and Gengar searched the sewers for Toxin Crystals.

Yu Hai fused two Shiny Koffing into a Shiny Weezing and used repeated evolution and devolution with Toxin Crystals to raise its Potential to 88.46%. He discovered that fusion could combine Abilities and moves, and planned to test the method with other Pokémon before leaving Black Cloud City.

• Yu Hai fed the two Shiny Koffing Toxin Crystals, and they fused into a Shiny Weezing with Levitate, Stench, Flamethrower, and Thunderbolt.
• Yu Hai had Scyther cut Weezing apart and recorded how fusion and devolution affected the two Koffing’s Potential, levels, Abilities, and moves.
• Yu Hai offered the Koffing Poison-type Energy Cubes and threatened them with Toxicroak, persuading them to cooperate with repeated evolution and devolution.
• Yu Hai used more than three hundred Toxin Crystals to raise Weezing’s Potential to 88.46% and decided to let it grow while building their bond.
• Yu Hai considered testing fusion’s ability to combine Abilities, moves, and talents in other Pokémon, then went to the Pokémon Center to visit Poliwhirl and Riolu.

Yu Hai discovered that Riolu had been kidnapped from the Pokémon Center and tracked it to a Team Rocket shop in the Underground Black Market. After learning the shop was tied to Lamuda, he prepared to recover Riolu and expose the Black Market, leaving the evidence for Officer Jenny as his plan began.

• Yu Hai learned Riolu had disappeared overnight, and Darkrai found traces of Sleep Powder at the Pokémon Center.
• Darkrai sensed Riolu underground, so Yu Hai asked A Ping to lead him into the Underground Black Market.
• A Ping warned Yu Hai that Riolu was being held by a shop connected to Lamuda, a Team Rocket Four General; Darkrai confirmed the owner had ordered the kidnapping.
• Yu Hai had Darkrai photograph illegal dealings while monitoring Riolu, and A Ping stayed behind to look for a chance to profit from the coming chaos.
• After midnight, Darkrai reported the shop owner was asleep and Riolu was locked in his room, so Yu Hai sent Officer Jenny a note and evidence exposing the Black Market.

Yu Hai sent Darkrai and Gengar to reclaim Riolu and use the turmoil surrounding Officer Jenny’s raid to cover their escape. Riolu was recovered, but Gengar’s brief attempt to loot the shop exposed the Pokémon to Team Rocket, and A Ping’s staged explosions triggered a riot that engulfed the Underground Black Market.

• Yu Hai ordered Darkrai and Gengar to retrieve Riolu from the Breeding House owner and take valuables only if an opportunity arose, while he waited outside the Power Plant.
• Darkrai put the owner to sleep, and Gengar retrieved Riolu with his Poké Ball before poisoning the owner and setting the corpse alight to destroy evidence.
• Alakazam’s Trainer chased Darkrai and Gengar into the shop, where Gengar narrowly escaped a Psychic attack after trying to steal valuables.
• Alakazam’s Trainer learned that Officer Jenny was approaching and ordered Team Rocket to withdraw, then questioned the Victreebel Trainer about the stolen Riolu.
• A Ping shouted that the League had surrounded the market and set off explosions, prompting shop employees and looters to scatter through the Underground Black Market.

Yu Hai escaped Black Cloud City with Riolu and lured the Team Rocket pursuers into a forest, where he ambushed them with his Pokémon. After defeating two subordinates, he confronted their leader and began a six-on-six battle, with Rhydon gaining the upper hand against Nidoking.

• Darkrai and Gengar returned with Riolu but revealed that an Alakazam had discovered them, so Yu Hai fled Black Cloud City on Pelipper with three Team Rocket members in pursuit.
• Yu Hai landed in an Overlord Teddiursa’s territory and hid near its tree hollow, preparing to ambush the pursuers with Darkrai and Gengar.
• When Teddiursa charged at the approaching Team Rocket leader, Yu Hai’s Poliwhirl, Toxicroak, and Scyther killed one subordinate, while Darkrai and Gengar killed the other.
• Yu Hai confronted the leader with six Pokémon and learned that Team Rocket had traced his identity through Riolu’s registration information.
• Yu Hai ordered Rhydon to battle Nidoking, and Rhydon used Rock Armor and Thousand-Horsepower to overpower Nidoking’s Ice Punch and send it crashing through trees.