"A quasi-Elite Four?! I never expected Ron to progress this fast—he's already surpassed us!"
Holding the newspaper in his hands, Matthew spoke in disbelief to Lugo.
"Who knows? Maybe this is just the difference between a genius and the rest of us. But you—still calling him 'kid'? Next time you see him, you might have to address him as 'sir.'"
Lugo shared Matthew's sentiment, equally astonished.
Who could have imagined that the once-promising young man with good talent and character would achieve such a remarkable feat so quickly?
A quasi-Elite Four-level Pokémon hunter, ten High Elite Pokémon hunters—all wiped out in a single confrontation.
No matter what methods Ron employed, the fact that he accomplished this was proof that his quasi-Elite Four strength was genuine. In fact, he had only just broken through but had already surpassed Kano, who had been accumulating strength for half a year.
"Fine, I'll call him 'sir' if I have to. Who knows? Maybe I can even leverage this connection to get a promotion. I don't think that kid is the type to let power and status go to his head."
"You're probably right. I just wonder when we'll see Ron again."
While Matthew and Lugo reminisced about their long-lost acquaintance, other individuals who had been following Ron also received news of his latest achievements.
Professor Oak at the Oak Laboratory, the Five Great Families, and even Lily, who had recently completed her training and become a full-fledged ranger, were among those informed.
Moreover, Ron's feats caused quite a stir throughout the Kanto region.
No one had expected that the champion of the Indigo Plateau Conference would rise to the rank of quasi-Elite Four so quickly, possessing such immense power that he was now only one final step away from reaching the Elite Four level.
Under Bruno's deliberate promotion, Ron's reputation rapidly spread, inspiring more and more people to join the rangers.
As a result, Bruno significantly reduced the surveillance on Ron. In fact, he had decided that if nothing suspicious was discovered in the next half-month, all monitoring on Ron would be lifted.
...
Meanwhile, Ron had traveled to a small village during his relocation.
At this stage, with no urgent matters to handle, he decided to take the opportunity to rest and strategize his next moves.
Now that he had reached the quasi-Elite Four level, targeting Mid Elite Pokémon hunters or small poaching gangs was no longer necessary. Instead, High Elite-level poaching groups would become his new focus.
Thus, he needed to gather intelligence on such groups, selecting those lacking ways to detect or counter Gardevoir's psychic abilities as his next targets.
As he strolled through the village streets, Ron's enhanced senses picked up a faint sound.
Ever since practicing the breathing technique, his physical abilities had steadily improved, and his perception had sharpened considerably. Otherwise, he might not have caught this barely audible noise.
Following the sound, Ron soon encountered a familiar sight.
A group of tall boys, roughly eleven or twelve years old, had surrounded a frail boy on the ground, mercilessly kicking and punching him.
Clutching his vital areas to protect himself, the boy's face showed neither pain nor anger. In fact, his expression slowly faded into calm determination, as if he had made up his mind.
Ron found this scene eerily familiar—because the original owner of his body had once been in a similar situation. The resemblance between them was uncanny, down to the very expression on their faces. It was the look of someone who had already decided to make their tormentors pay in blood.
To them, there was no need to feel anger toward the dead, nor was there a reason to show pain before them.
"Remember this! If you want to enter the village next time, you'd better bring us some Berries! Otherwise, you won't get off so easily!"
One of the bigger boys yanked the frail boy's hair, forcing him to meet his gaze. His eyes gleamed with arrogance and excitement, as if reveling in his sense of superiority.
"Let's go!"
With a wave of his hand, the rest of the children followed him away.
...
This situation could be explained by the well-known Black Sheep Effect.
The boy being bullied was the black sheep—he had done nothing wrong, yet he was persecuted by the butchers, who were the bullies. Those who witnessed but did nothing were the white sheep.
The black sheep often faced exclusion and bullying for no apparent reason. The more they cowered, the worse the abuse became.
In some cases, the tormentors even found pleasure in their cruelty, convincing themselves that they were righteous, and that the black sheep deserved to be punished.
In Ron's current situation, the boy on the ground had made only one mistake—he likely wasn't a native of the village. To the other children, it was their duty to put an outsider in his place.
Over time, this behavior escalated into routine bullying, even turning the boy into an outlet for their frustrations.
Even if this hadn't been the reason, something else would have made him the black sheep. In any given group, the existence of a black sheep was almost inevitable.
...
Patting the dust off his body, the boy—Amon—calmly walked out of the street and headed toward the village outskirts.
Curious about his next move, Ron silently followed.
Not far from the village stood a dilapidated shelter, barely qualifying as a house.
Amon pushed open the door with ease. Inside, the room was sparsely furnished—a broken table, a makeshift bed cobbled together from wooden planks and cardboard, and a filthy, tattered blanket.
Reaching into the gaps of his bed, Amon pulled out a rusty dagger and began sharpening it.
After removing as much rust as possible, he grabbed a few already-rotting fruits from the table and ate them without hesitation. Then, he lay down on his bed.
The parts of his body exposed to the air revealed numerous old scars, some layered upon each other, indicating that he had endured abuse for a long time.
Ron was certain that the adults in the village had noticed this. However, from their perspective, there was no reason to stand up for a stray child like Amon.
Or worse, their own children were likely among the bullies.
Filling his stomach as best as he could, Amon carefully adjusted his position, searching for a way to sleep with the least amount of pain.
Once the faint sound of his breathing settled into the rhythm of sleep, Ron released his Gardevoir.
He had long considered the idea of building his own force, and he saw potential in Amon.
But first, he needed to understand the full extent of Amon's experiences.
With a wave of his hand, Gardevoir cast Hypnosis. Exhausted from years of suffering, Amon barely resisted before he started revealing his past to Ron.
As he listened to Amon recount his experiences, Ron couldn't help but feel a deep sense of empathy. After all, the memories of this body's original owner held a similarly dark past.
-----
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