"Who can tell me when the hell I joined Team Rocket?!"
Inside the Vermilion Gym, Lt. Surge glared at the manga in his hands, his voice so loud that even Raichu at the other end of the training ground couldn't help turning his head.
"Raichu?"
Raichu tilted his head, clearly not understanding why his Trainer had suddenly gotten angry.
Several Gym apprentices beside him exchanged looks.
In the end, the young apprentice who had brought the manga spoke up cautiously.
"Gym Leader, it's just a manga..."
"No kidding! Of course I know it's a manga!"
Lt. Surge shot him an irritated look, then spread the magazine out in front of him.
"But look at what it says here!"
The apprentice leaned closer.
[Team Rocket Executive-Lt. Surge!]
The large, eye-catching words took up almost half the panel.
Beside the character introduction was a drawing of Lt. Surge in a Team Rocket uniform.
His manga counterpart stood with his arms crossed and an arrogant smile on his face, with several Team Rocket members behind him.
At first glance, he really did have something of a villainous executive's presence.
"Well... he actually looks pretty cool."
The apprentice couldn't help muttering.
"What did you say?"
"N-nothing!"
The young apprentice hurriedly shut his mouth.
Lt. Surge snorted and continued flipping through the manga.
As Vermilion City's Electric-type Gym Leader, he certainly knew what kind of organization Team Rocket was.
Those people were always involved in things like stealing Pokémon and illegal trading, and had long been a priority target for the Pokémon League.
And now look at this.
He, a fully Pokémon League-certified Gym Leader, had actually been drawn as a Team Rocket executive by some manga artist!
Even more absurdly, his manga counterpart had to obey Giovanni's orders.
"Giovanni?"
Looking at the middle-aged man who appeared on the next page, Lt. Surge frowned even more deeply.
He had naturally heard of Viridian City's Ground-type Gym Leader.
After all, they were both Gym Leaders in Kanto, so they knew a little about each other's circumstances.
Though he wasn't particularly familiar with Giovanni, he did know that the man was a Gym Leader.
"What the hell?"
Lt. Surge couldn't help cursing. "A Ground-type Gym Leader became Team Rocket's boss? And an Electric-type Gym Leader like me has to take orders from him?"
"What the hell is going on in this manga artist's head?"
The apprentice beside him offered a timid reminder. "Gym Leader, the stories in manga are fictional."
"I know!"
Lt. Surge waved impatiently.
"I just want to know why he had to draw me as a bad guy!"
None of the apprentices dared make a sound.
Only Raichu came over curiously, resting his head beside Lt. Surge's arm.
"Raichu?"
Lt. Surge glanced at him and casually stroked his head.
"You want a look too?"
"Raichu!"
Raichu nodded.
Lt. Surge simply spread the manga open and placed it in front of him.
"Here, take a look. You're in this too."
Raichu immediately became interested.
He lowered his head to look at the manga.
In the panel, a powerfully built Raichu stood in the middle of a training ground, dazzling electricity bursting from both cheeks.
Although it was only a black-and-white image, Smeargle had used dense lines to capture the force of the erupting current in vivid detail.
Raichu's fighting-spirited expression in particular looked quite impressive.
"Raichu!"
Raichu cried out excitedly.
He extended a paw, pointing at himself in the panel, then at Lt. Surge.
It was as though he were asking, Is that us?
"Hahaha! That's right, it's us!"
Lt. Surge was just about to offer a few words of praise when his gaze fell on the Team Rocket emblem at the edge of the panel.
The smile immediately vanished from his face.
"Tch, what rotten luck!"
He kept turning the pages.
The manga's story had gradually begun to unfold.
As an important Team Rocket executive, Lt. Surge was carrying out a secret mission.
And the ones clashing with him were actually a few young Trainers who didn't even look like adults yet.
The most conspicuous among them was a boy wearing a red cap.
Red!
He was also the protagonist of Pokémon Adventures.
Lt. Surge stared at Red in the manga, then looked at the character introduction beside him.
"A rookie Trainer from Pallet Town?"
He raised his eyebrows.
"A rookie dares come challenge me?"
An apprentice beside him couldn't help saying, "Gym Leader, he's the manga's protagonist."
"So what if he's the protagonist?"
Lt. Surge snorted.
"Back when I was traveling, I met plenty of powerful Trainers. Even a rookie has to show some real skill first!"
As he spoke, he continued turning the pages.
Originally, he had only wanted to see just how this manga artist planned to introduce him.
But as he kept reading, Lt. Surge's attention was gradually drawn to the battles in the manga.
"Hmm?"
He suddenly stopped.
In the panel, Raichu was locked in a fierce exchange with his opponent.
The manga's Lt. Surge ordered Raichu to use Thunderbolt, and dazzling electricity instantly engulfed the space ahead.
But his opponent recognized the intended attack beforehand and ordered their Pokémon to dodge in time.
Immediately afterward, Raichu changed position, using the metal fixtures on the battlefield to expand the area cut off by the electricity, forcing his opponent to reposition.
"Interesting."
Lt. Surge rubbed his chin.
He had originally thought that a manga about Pokémon would be nothing more than a few casually drawn lightning bolts and bursts of flame, followed by both sides' Pokémon crashing into each other.
He hadn't expected this manga artist named Masuda Senbei to actually seem to know something about Pokémon battles.
Especially Raichu's movements.
Whether it was his posture while charging up Thunderbolt or the changes in his center of gravity during Agility, everything was drawn quite accurately.
Even the details of Raichu's ears and tail were handled very well.
Lt. Surge couldn't help flipping ahead a few more pages.
When he saw the opponent trying to counter Raichu's attacks by exploiting a Ground-type Pokémon's immunity to Electric-type moves, he even smiled faintly.
"Haha, they've got some brains!"
"They know Electric-type moves don't work on Ground types. Now that's more like a Trainer!"
But immediately afterward, the manga's Lt. Surge also changed tactics, beginning to use the battlefield and his Pokémon's other moves to look for an opening.
The two sides traded blows in a spectacular battle.
Only when that stretch of the story ended did Lt. Surge put down the magazine.
He looked down at Raichu beside him.
"Well? Pretty well drawn, isn't it?"
"Raichu!"
Raichu nodded excitedly.
Lt. Surge also had to admit that this manga really had something going for it.
The Electric-type Pokémon battle scenes in particular were drawn with considerable skill.
"This manga artist certainly knows his Electric-type Pokémon."
Hearing their Gym Leader finally give a positive assessment, the apprentices beside him immediately perked up.
"Right? Right? I told you this manga was really good!"
"The Pokémon battles are my favorite part!"
"And Gym Leader, you really do look cool in the manga!"
"Especially when you first appear. Your presence is just incredible!"
They all began chattering at once.
One apprentice even couldn't help adding another remark.
"Honestly, Gym Leader Lt. Surge in the manga feels even more imposing than he does in real life!"
The training ground suddenly fell silent.
Lt. Surge slowly turned his head.
"What did you say?"
The apprentice immediately froze.
"I-I meant..."
"You mean I'm not imposing enough in real life?"
"Of course not!"
The apprentice hurriedly waved his hands.
"You're imposing in real life too, Gym Leader!"
"Too?"
"..."
The young apprentice wished he could slap himself.
Watching him flounder, Lt. Surge finally couldn't help bursting into laughter.
"All right, all right, I'm not that petty!"
He reached out and patted the apprentice on the shoulder.
"But manga is manga, and reality is reality. You boys had better not actually start treating me as some Team Rocket executive!"
"Understood!"
The apprentices hurriedly nodded.
Lt. Surge sat back down in his chair and turned to the manga's final page.
The author's pen name was printed there.
[Masuda Senbei]
Beneath it was a statement from the publisher explicitly stating that the plot and character relationships were fictional and did not represent the experiences of real-life Trainers.
"Masuda Senbei..."
Lt. Surge read the name aloud.
"This guy's pretty good at picking a name."
The apprentice beside him immediately began explaining.
"Gym Leader, I heard that Mr. Masuda lives in Celadon City. He's a manga artist who's gotten really popular lately!"
"Pokémon Adventures is actually his first long-running series!"
"Oh, and the publisher recently announced that they're planning to release the first collected volume!"
Lt. Surge was somewhat surprised.
"A rookie manga artist?"
"That's right!"
The apprentice took out the magazine and turned to the page advertising the collected volume.
"They say he also has an incredibly skilled Smeargle. That Smeargle draws all these manga."
"Smeargle?"
Lt. Surge froze for a moment.
Then he turned his attention back to the battle scenes in the manga.
Naturally, he knew about Pokémon like Smeargle.
Their greatest specialties were painting with their tails and that extremely unusual move, Sketch.
But he had never seen a Smeargle that could capture Pokémon battles so vividly in its art.
"Interesting."
Lt. Surge rubbed his chin.
"Looks like this Masuda Senbei has raised one incredible Pokémon."
Beside him, Raichu immediately grew a little unhappy when it heard its trainer praising another Pokémon.
"Raichu!"
It reached out a paw and gently tugged at Lt. Surge's pant leg.
Lt. Surge looked down and grinned.
"Hahaha! What, jealous?"
"Raichu!"
"Don't worry! You're the partner I'm proudest of!"
He rubbed Raichu's head, then picked the manga back up.
He had to admit that Pokémon Adventures really had surprised him a little.
Although the premise of the Team Rocket executives was utterly ridiculous, the battle scenes were truly spectacular.
His own portrayal in the manga was especially impressive in terms of strength.
Setting aside his Team Rocket identity, he even felt the author had made him look pretty imposing.
But that was precisely the problem.
"Sigh..."
Lt. Surge suddenly sighed.
"Of all the things this guy could draw, why did he have to make me a Team Rocket executive?"
An apprentice beside him asked curiously, "Gym Leader, does that really bother you?"
"Of course it does!"
Lt. Surge glared at him.
"I'm a Pokémon League-certified Gym Leader, after all! I work hard every day training challengers, and then some manga suddenly says I'm with Team Rocket!"
"What am I supposed to say if some kid reads the manga and comes running over to ask whether I'm a Team Rocket executive?"
"Well..."
The apprentice thought for a moment.
"You could tell them everything in the manga is made up."
"And what if they don't believe me?"
"..."
The apprentice was immediately at a loss for an answer.
Lt. Surge shook his head.
Still, he had no actual intention of charging off to Celadon City, dragging that manga artist out, and teaching him a lesson.
After all, the artist had already stated in the magazine that the story was purely fictional.
And judging by the manga's contents, the author did not seem to be deliberately trying to damage his reputation.
It was just that this casting choice really left him unsure whether to laugh or cry.
"Forget it."
Lt. Surge closed the manga.
"I'll have a chat with that Masuda Senbei if I get the chance."
He wanted to hear just what this manga artist had been thinking.
Did he really think I looked like a bad guy?
At that thought, Lt. Surge looked down at the manga's cover again.
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something.
"Wait!"
Several apprentices jumped in fright.
"Gym Leader, what's wrong?"
Lt. Surge reopened the manga and quickly found the earlier introduction to the Team Rocket executives.
Besides himself, there were two other characters in the panel.
A black-haired girl in a red dress who possessed powerful psychic abilities.
And a man who specialized in Poison-type Pokémon and ninja tactics.
Lt. Surge stared at the two characters, his eyes gradually widening.
"Sabrina?"
"And Koga?"
He had been so focused on his own storyline that he had nearly forgotten about those two.
Weren't they both Gym Leaders from the Kanto region?
And in the manga, they were actually Team Rocket executives, just like him!
"Hahaha!"
Lt. Surge froze for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.
"Well, damn!"
"This manga artist sure has guts!"
"Making me a Team Rocket executive is one thing, but he didn't even spare Sabrina and Koga!"
As he laughed, his expression grew a little odd again.
Especially when he thought of the young female Gym Leader in Saffron City who was renowned for her psychic powers.
Although he had not interacted much with Sabrina, he had heard about her temper.
That girl was not nearly so easy to talk to.
As for Koga of the Fuchsia Gym...
Although that fellow usually seemed quite composed, he was no one to mess with either.
Lt. Surge suddenly began to feel a little sympathy for the manga artist named Masuda Senbei.
"Tsk, tsk."
"This guy actually dared to draw those two as villains too."
"I wonder how they'll react when they see it."
The more he thought about it, the more amusing he found it.
A moment later, Lt. Surge suddenly slapped his thigh.
"That's right!"
"Why not just call and ask?"
He picked up the communicator on the desk and pulled up the contact list shared between Gyms.
Soon, a familiar name appeared on the screen.
[Saffron Gym-Sabrina]
Lt. Surge grinned and dialed the number right away.
"Haha! I bet Sabrina doesn't even know she's become a Team Rocket executive in a manga yet!"
"Perfect timing. I'll ask her what she thinks!"