"Haah~"
Silas sat in the Pokémon Center cafeteria, eating his lunch while sighing from time to time.
"Haah~"
The Trainer next to him, as if infected by his mood, also sighed.
Gradually, one became two, two became four, four became eight… Soon, the cafeteria was filled with sighing Trainers.
The Nurse Joys on lunch break listened to the chain reaction of sighs echoing through the room and couldn't hold back anymore.
"I say, can't you people cheer up a little?"
One Nurse Joy, who was carrying noticeably more than her sisters, stood up with an exasperated expression.
"Especially you, Silas! Every single day you come in here and start this atmosphere. You never miss a meal. What is it? Do you think this cafeteria is your personal stage?"
Very quickly, she directed the blame toward the one leading the sighing trend — Silas.
"Don't say it like that, Sister Jun, you know me. I'm actually really positive. It's just… the daily costs of training my Pokémon are way too much. The money in my account only goes down, never up. It hurts, you know?"
Silas grinned as he ate, trying to laugh it off.
It had already been half a month since he completed the task Sabrina gave him. By now, he'd been staying in the Viridian City Pokémon Center for over a month.
To put it bluntly, this Pokémon Center was practically his home now. He knew more about this place than in his previous sixteen years combined.
It wasn't surprising — he had never spent this much continuous time in a Pokémon Center before.
The biggest "achievement" was that he had met every Nurse Joy working here and even figured out their duty schedule.
Not that it meant much. If he made a mistake, he still had to apologize anyway.
He really wondered how Nurse Joy's husbands and Brock in the future could tell them apart.
But there were a few who were easy to recognize.
Joy Jun was one of them, and also one of the supervisors of the Viridian Pokémon Center.
Despite her young age, she was considered something of a genius among the Joy family (supposedly).
"Are you even listening to yourself? Keep this up, and soon our Pokémon Center cafeteria is going to earn a whole new nickname."
Joy Jun rolled her eyes at him, completely immune to Silas's handsome smile.
"Oh? What nickname?"
Another Trainer sitting nearby joined in with a curious grin.
Joy Jun's temper immediately flared: "Don't play dumb! If it weren't for you few teaming up with this little rascal Silas, would our Viridian Pokémon Center's reputation be like this?!"
As she scolded Silas and the other Trainer at full force, the surrounding crowd chuckled quietly to themselves.
Still, a number of people were completely lost.
Sighing… was that really such a big deal? None of the other Pokémon Center Joys had ever complained about it.
"Haah, looks like today's script won't get acted out either."
A young Trainer sitting a bit farther away poked at the meat in his bowl with his fork, sounding disappointed.
Not far off, Joy Jun's sharp ears caught those muttered words, and veins bulged on her forehead.
"You lot—calling you like-minded is already too nice. Our Pokémon Center is becoming more like a training ground for actors than for Trainers! Honestly, you'd be more suited to becoming celebrities."
"Eh? You think so too, Sister Jun? I thought the same. With faces this good-looking, if we don't debut as stars, it'd be an insult to the Pokémon League itself."
Silas's eyes lit up, nodding in agreement.
After all, in the Pokémon world, actors and celebrities were also popular professions.
It didn't stop them from being strong Trainers either. At least right now, quite a few Gym Leaders even worked as actors or stars on the side. Some Elite Four members too.
Movies like Super Hacker X, Time Travelers, and The Magical Gate to a Mysterious Kingdom were widely acclaimed. Their wonderful stories and the bonds between Trainers and Pokémon had inspired countless people.
Joy Jun nearly fainted from exasperation. She was sure one of these days, this group was going to drive her into an early grave.
Taking a deep breath, her body trembled with frustration.
"In short, you lot had better behave these next few days! I don't want to hear any more complaints from rookie Trainers' parents about how the older Trainers in this Pokémon Center are leading kids astray, got it?"
"I'm not…"
Silas's words were immediately cut off by the deadly glare in Joy Jun's eyes.
I'm not a senior Trainer, I'm a rookie too… he finished the sentence silently in his head.
And so, obediently, he just nodded.
It had all started a little over a week ago with one of his bored spur-of-the-moment ideas.
Basically, he had gathered a few like-minded Trainer friends, and in their spare time between training and jobs, they messed around a bit for fun.
As for what exactly they did that made parents come and complain… don't ask. He honestly didn't know.
Quickly finishing the last of the food in his bowl, Silas made it clear he was done for the day.
"I'm out. See you guys at the training grounds tonight."
As he left the cafeteria, he greeted a few familiar Trainers, making plans as he went.
"Huh? Isn't today your job day? Did I get the date wrong?"
One Trainer looked puzzled, checking the date on his wristwatch.
For over a month now, Silas's routine had been absolutely fixed: one day training, one day doing jobs, without fail.
Normally speaking, today should have been a training day, since he had just completed a mission yesterday.
"Don't even mention it. What bad luck—I couldn't find the right target all day yesterday."
Silas shrugged helplessly as he explained.
"Well, now that's rare. 'Lucky Silas' actually failing to finish a mission in one day?"
The Trainer who asked the question, along with his partner, teased him.
Silas spread his hands to show his mood, then walked straight out.
"Lucky Silas"—this was one of the nicknames he had picked up over the past month.
The reason was simple: he always managed to find the requested materials for bounty missions in the shortest possible time and complete them first.
That was no small feat, especially in a massive area like Viridian Forest.
And the missions he accepted were mostly Class B missions.
Usually, completing a Class B mission took an average Trainer two or three days, including the time needed to track the target and draft a proper plan.
As for why Silas could do it so quickly, there were several reasons.
For one, he had a detailed map of Viridian Forest—handmade, no less.
The commercial maps varied in quality, but even the best of them couldn't compare to the precision of the one Silas had drawn himself.
The key was, he updated it regularly.
After all, Pokémon were living creatures. Maybe yesterday you saw a Poliwag colony in one spot, but the very next day, they might have migrated elsewhere.
Finding the right mission target was never easy.
Another reason was that Silas's Pokémon were fairly strong, so his plans didn't have to be overly meticulous.
But the most critical factor of all was… he had Togepi.
Without a doubt, the Ability Super Luck was incredibly useful in daily life.
Simply carrying Togepi around the general area was usually enough to get a positive lead.
He didn't know what went wrong yesterday, though—after circling around four or five times, he still couldn't find the target Pokémon.
Even when he tried switching locations, it didn't help. He had no choice but to give up and return to Viridian City.
He certainly wasn't prepared to spend the night deep inside Viridian Forest.
It wasn't that it would be too dangerous—his strength was far greater than before—but it was still troublesome, especially with the need to arrange for night watch.
"I'm counting on you, little guy."
Silas rubbed the crown-shaped spikes on the Togepi lying in his arms without mercy.
"Toge~pi!"
Togepi chirped idly in protest, as if to say, "Don't blame me! Your bad luck just canceled out my Super Luck!"
And indeed, Silas's own luck had never been that great.
He was practically cursed when it came to lottery draws—always the "Thank you for playing" type when opening bottle caps.
He liked to comfort himself by saying that most of his luck was probably spent on meeting Pokémon.
After all, weren't all six of his partners extremely gifted, each with outstanding potential? That was the only explanation that made sense to Silas.
Even that Keystone he'd found had been uncovered thanks to Togepi's help.
Thinking of this, Silas grew melancholy and once again ruffled Togepi's head hard.
"Piiiii!"
Togepi let out a loud protest. It's your bad luck, why do you always mess with me?
"Don't make a fuss. You don't even have hair."
Silas rolled his eyes.
Recently, his Blaziken's white head feathers were going through a molting phase, shedding lots of plumage every day. But even more feathers grew in to replace them, brighter and shinier than before.
Togepi, however, was afraid that one day it too would start "shedding hair," so it was constantly worried.
Even though Silas had emphasized multiple times that Togepi didn't have hair, the little Pokémon's mind had already spun countless scenarios of its own.
Every few times Silas rubbed its crown, it would bring this up again.
"Look, Mareep never sheds its wool, and it looks great."
Silas pointed at the shiny Mareep walking alongside him.
Right now, the party he had out in the open looked like this—Servine swinging from tree to tree, Mareep running along the ground, and Togepi cradled in his arms.
From an outsider's perspective, he looked exactly like a rookie Trainer showing off an outrageously rich lineup.
No one knew that the tiny dot circling high above in the sky was actually his Pidgeot.
So safety wasn't lacking.
Servine, after more than a month of grueling (and resource-intensive) training, had grown from level 23 to level 30, stepping into the Advance threshold.
In this part of the forest—not too deep—Servine could already be considered a minor overlord.
Mareep was out mainly to get it used to battling.
As for Togepi—don't be fooled by its cute appearance. Its battle ability wasn't that bad.
Just living happily every day, eating and drinking, had been enough to raise it from level 15 to 23.
It had learned all the essential moves it should know.
If it actually had to battle, it could probably defeat a level 15 Pokémon—even without commands.
Holding Togepi in one arm, Silas pulled out his map with the other.
"Hmm, let's try here."
He quickly confirmed his position, scanned the surrounding area, and locked onto a target spot.
It was a stretch of river, marked in blue.
The mission he'd accepted yesterday required him to collect a special aquatic medicinal plant: Bulrush Grass.
Generally speaking, this kind of plant grew along rivers and swamps.
The problem was that Bulrush Grass gave off a delicious scent, so once it matured, it was quickly eaten by wild Pokémon.
And riversides were "safe zones" for many species, so finding it there was rare.
Yesterday, he had searched more than a dozen river sites and hadn't found a single one.
The employer wanted quite a large amount, too. Silas wondered if he could finish it today. He didn't want a single mission dragging on for three days—it would damage his reputation.
Though, finishing too fast wasn't necessarily a good thing either.
"Servine, Vine Whip."
He ordered his Snivy to toss a blocking Mankey out of the way.
In Viridian Forest, the most common Pokémon to ambush travelers were Mankey. They loved causing trouble for Trainers.
Unfortunately, they were also quite weak.
Other weak Pokémon usually fled upon seeing humans, or waited until they grew stronger before picking fights.
Mankey were different. They feared nothing—if you annoyed them, they'd attack immediately.
But outside of picking on rookie Trainers, they weren't a match for anyone else.
This was unlike encountering Spearow flocks or Beedrill swarms—in those cases, Trainers were usually the ones who had to run.
Silas continued to weave through the forest with his three Pokémon.
"Mareeeep~"
The faint bleat of Mareep rang out.
"Yes, yes. Once we get to the river, I'll find you a Water-type Pokémon to spar with. Their parents usually don't mind."
Silas said lazily, with a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"Toge~pi!"
"Huh? Don't you go bullying the little ones, either. You're the big kid now."
Behind them, hidden behind a thick tree trunk, a shady-looking middle-aged man revealed a sinister smile.
"Hmph, yet another reckless rookie," he thought.
His greedy eyes fixed on Silas's three Pokémon.
Servine—clearly a starter. Already set in its ways, not easy to retrain, so its value wasn't too high.
But that shiny Mareep and Togepi…
The man gave a soundless, eerie chuckle.
"Then let me give you a lesson, kid. Rule number one of wilderness exploration—never flaunt your wealth."
He trailed carefully after Silas and his Pokémon.
High in the sky, Pidgeot's sharp eyes caught sight of the man's sneaky figure.
....
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