December 16th, Wednesday.
Clear skies.
The Pokémon Studio's promotional campaign was set to go smoothly.
Oleana gave a small nod and called Lu Ye, speaking meticulously, "We've stationed professional security personnel near the rented venue. You can rest easy."
"Uh…" Lu Ye fell into thought, 'If they're weak, they can't beat Gengar. If they're strong, I won't be able to run anyway, right?'
But thinking it through—Giovanni sometimes traveled with bodyguards, too. They're basically like lifeguards at the Olympic swimming pool.
In other words—very chill.
Lu Ye nodded and asked, "Which security company did you hire?"
"She's a specialist. Didn't ask for a specific fee," Oleana adjusted her thin-rimmed glasses, "Feedback from previous clients speaks highly of her professionalism."
"As a professional, it's only reasonable to adjust compensation based on difficulty. Besides…" Oleana's tone turned frosty. "If she makes any unreasonable demands, we can take legal action and won't even need to pay the original fee!"
Lu Ye blinked, 'So let me get this straight—she does the job, and might still end up owing us money?'
"We'll see how it goes," Lu Ye cleared his throat, "Who's the security expert?"
Oleana flipped through her folder and said slowly, "The one who accepted the job is a 100% positively reviewed ninja from Fuchsia City—Jasmine."
---
As the Fuchsia City Gym Leader—
Jasmine's profession as a ninja somewhat contradicted the nature of public exposure.
After all, fame is a burden for any ninja. But in hard times, even ninjas needed to pivot.
Jasmine had once conducted fire drills at the Goldenrod Art Museum, worked with Brock on a job at Pewter Museum security…
In short, she was a trained, highly capable young woman.
If it hadn't been for Koga running off and leaving home, forcing her to take over early, she wouldn't have had to go through the whole "finding Dad" arc.
Lu Ye recalled the info he'd read about Jasmine and murmured, "A tragic girl, huh…"
The Soul Badge was most likely in her hands.
And sure, Lu Ye wasn't panicking. But maybe… panicking a little.
Still, Jasmine was here on a job.
Time is money, and she didn't have time to be challenging people to battles left and right.
After all—
She wouldn't have taken this gig just for Lu Ye… right?
"Understood." Lu Ye nodded. "I'll attend the event."
---
The Pokémon Studio's upcoming promo in Saffron City had already made its way into the ears of every hardcore gamer.
Even though the company was relatively new, the games it released—
Both in quality and sincerity—had hit legendary levels. More importantly, Pokémon Sutdio had nailed what makes a game fun.
Graphics, story, gameplay—every aspect was built around pure enjoyment. And every title from this little company came with innovation and breakthroughs.
Even when compared to industry giant Devon Corp—Pokémon Studio had been neck and neck in the gaming scene over the past six months!
"Did you hear? They're revealing a new game at the event!"
"Delay it, launch it, whatever—as long as it's fun, I'm in."
"That's not even the point—the real deal is the raffle."
"Prizes include Teacher Lu's signature, and even a gold UR card!"
Within moments, every PTCG fan lost their minds.
"Don't even try—anyone who fights me for it is dead to me!"
"Wait… Teacher Lu's signature is that popular?"
Amid all the noise and hype—The small-scale press event in Saffron City officially kicked off.
Up on the second-floor balcony stood Jasmine, dressed in ninja gear, looking down at the massive sea of people with a dazed expression, 'You call this small-scale? Looks more like someone stirred up a hornet's nest of gamers!'
Even though URs were extremely limited, it did nothing to cool the crowd's enthusiasm.
As for the new game reveal from Pokémon Studio—Everyone was puzzled.
Auto Chess?
What the heck is that supposed to be?
"I don't care! It's an instant 10/10 from me!"
"Please, just open a payment channel already—I want to throw money at this!"
---
Far off in the crowd, three shady figures poked their heads out of a bush.
James had seemingly been summoned back to Kanto recently by some sort of mission.
And of course, Team Rocket's trio wasn't about to fall behind.
"So many people, meow," said Meowth, peeking through binoculars.
"Let me see!" Jessie leaned over, shoving Meowth aside.
"Ugh, fine." Meowth crossed his arms, thinking aloud, "This one's for the executives. Should we help out?"
"Forget it. Don't mess things up for the execs," James licked his lips and cracked open his card pack with a snap!, "Let's see what today brings!"
"What's that?" Jessie and Meowth huddled closer, curious.
"It's a special pack they're releasing here at the event," James explained, "You can pull UR cards."
"Collecting PTCG cards has become my favorite thing—next to bottle caps…" James muttered.
"Must be nice to have money." Meowth and Jessie sighed in unison.
"Snort!"
"No way—I actually pulled one!!"
James suddenly held his card aloft, light glinting off its surface.
"Gold Magikarp!!"
"Yeah yeah, congrats." Jessie said flatly.
"Thanks for your business. Come again, meow." Meowth added in a lazy tone.
"Tch!" James turned his head with disdain, but his eyes glistened as he looked at the card.
They just don't understand!
With this card… I've finally completed my full Kanto UR set!
Thank you, Mentor!
---
Slacking off was fine and all, but they still needed funds.
In under ten minutes, Team Rocket's ramen stand was up and running.
On the foggy winter afternoon—Jessie stirred the tonkotsu broth, wearing a headband.
James, hamming it up with a Kansai accent, stretched the noodles high, "Much obliged!"
Meowth carefully placed a slice of pork onto the ramen and handed the bowl to a customer.
"Watch out, it's hot, meow~~" Meowth looked up—and froze.
"M-M-Mentor!?"
Lu Ye's mouth twitched, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"
"We're not here to mess anything up, meow!" Meowth panicked.
"Yeah! That giant Gyarados thing last time—it was all a misunderstanding! We're paying off our debts by running this stall!" Jessie added.
"We weren't trying to steal your event's spotlight!" James looked desperate, "Please don't bury us in a concrete pillar under the Kanto Bridge!"
"Whoa! That's way too intense!"
"He'd do it! That's totally something Mentor would do, meow!"
Lu Ye looked at the whispering trio, face twitching, 'Wait a sec… is my rep really this bad!?'
"Ahem. I'm not some kind of demon," Lu Ye sighed, then cracked a small smile, "I just came to check on you guys. Thought maybe you were overworking yourselves."
The trio froze.
Then—an unexpected warmth washed over them.
"Mentor! ﾍ(;´Д｀ﾍ)"
Just then, a customer in the back called out, "You selling ramen or what!? Hurry up, I'm starving here!"
Meowth wiped at the corners of his eyes, passed Lu Ye a bowl of ramen, then hesitated, "I-It's too salty, meow… Should we make a new one?"
"That's not the issue," Lu Ye rubbed his chin. "The real issue is—I'll take 30% of your profits."
"Eh??!!"
"Just kidding." Lu Ye waved it off with a grin. "Keep it up, folks!"
The trio began to bow, but realizing they were in public, quickly corrected themselves:
"Yes, Mentor!"
---
After saying goodbye to Team Rocket, the press event finally neared its end.
Aside from the new game reveal, a few lucky fans also snagged UR cards and Teacher Lu's autograph.
Jasmine looked at the satisfied crowd, and suddenly felt a sense of realization.
"This concludes today's job."
Lu Ye stretched with a yawn, then turned to Jasmine beside him, "So then, Miss Expert—how much do I owe you for security?"
To be fair, Jasmine had helped resolve quite a few problems that day, and as a pro, she clearly had the skills to back up a good rate, "I don't want money."
To Lu Ye's surprise, Jasmine shook her head.
"Then… what do you want?" he asked, blinking.
A strange sense of danger crawled up Lu Ye's spine, 'No way… it can't be that answer!'
"I took this job specifically for this reason…" Jasmine, as if explaining herself, removed her mask. A faint blush crept across her cheeks, "I want you."
Jasmine stared straight at Lu Ye, "To give me serious, one-on-one guidance!"