After demolishing all the food on the table like a storm sweeping away fallen leaves, Sieg bought quite a lot more food for his Pokémon.
Especially for Umbreon, who loved all kinds of snacks and desserts, she was completely liberated and let loose.
Sieg was happy to indulge her. After all, since evolving, Umbreon rarely showed her former affectionate and adorable expressions, maintaining a cool and aloof demeanor most of the time.
This left Sieg feeling somewhat unaccustomed.
Although he was very satisfied with Umbreon's current state, since this was precisely the personality a qualified Dark-type Pokémon should display.
But that cute little Eevee from the past still held a considerable place in his heart.
"Umbreon, no need to rush, eat slowly."
Sieg reached out and wiped the cream from the corner of Umbreon's mouth. These cream desserts were Umbreon's favorite snacks.
Sieg continued strolling through Mauville City's Central Garden Plaza. Along the way, he passed a vending machine and purchased a bottle of refreshing soda.
Just like that, with Umbreon by his side, he wandered until he unconsciously arrived at a crowded area. There were two buildings here, both with massive queues forming.
This wasn't particularly surprising, after all, some of Mauville City's landmark buildings often had long lines.
However, the trainers in these queues almost all had a starter Pokémon by their side. The vast majority were from the Hoenn region, Torchic, Mudkip, and Treecko lines.
But there were also starters from other regions, for example, Charmander from the Kanto region, Totodile from the Johto region, and so on.
Such a large number of starter Pokémon instantly attracted countless gazes.
The signs on these two opposing buildings read "Ultimate Move Tutoring Workshop" and "Pledge Move Training Dojo" respectively.
Sieg immediately understood what was going on.
So-called starter Pokémon referred to Pokémon most suitable for beginners to raise. Besides their consistently strong performance at each evolutionary stage and final forms with base stats reaching around 530.
More importantly, they could often learn two exclusive moves that other Pokémon couldn't learn.
These were the Grass, Water, and Fire-type Pledge moves.
Grass Pledge, Water Pledge and Fire Pledge.
Besides those, there were also three ultimate moves. Official statistics showed each had a power of 150 and an impressive accuracy of 90. These were the Fire-type Blast Burn, the Grass-type Frenzy Plant, and the Water-type Hydro Cannon.
"Excluding self-destructive moves like Explosion and Self-Destruct, as well as certain signature moves exclusive to specific Pokémon, these are currently the most powerful moves discovered."
Sieg silently contemplated. According to the current Pokémon world, the Alola region hadn't been discovered yet.
For now, 150 was theoretically the maximum power for any move.
Normal-type Hyper Beam and Giga Impact.
Fighting-type Focus Punch.
Fire-type Blast Burn and Fire Blast.
Water-type Hydro Cannon and Hydro Pump.
Grass-type Frenzy Plant.
Rock-type Rock Wrecker and Head Smash.
Sieg understood why there were such long lines in front of both buildings. If a Pokémon mastered such powerful moves, it could truly battle above its level.
"Unfortunately, these two types of moves can only be learned by starter Pokémon, and the learning fees are outrageously expensive."
A sign nearby read:
"One month of instruction: 500,000 Pokédollars. Success not guaranteed."
The corner of Sieg's mouth twitched. How could ordinary trainers possibly throw 500,000 Pokédollars away just to watch it go down the drain?
According to reviews from most people online, very few could actually learn these moves. If not one in a hundred, it was pretty close.
However, even so, countless League trainers still came seeking this opportunity, all for that slim chance.
"But judging from their appearance, not a single one is from a common background. The vast majority are wealthy or noble trainers from prominent families."
Sieg took a sip of his refreshing soda, observing the long queue, when he suddenly spotted a Pokémon that stood out from the rest.
"Hmm? There's even a Simisear here. Oh right, how could I forget about these guys?"
Speaking of Grass, Water, and Fire-type Pledge moves, besides starter Pokémon, there was one exception.
That would be the three monkey combination from the Unova region.
Panpour, Pansage, and Pansear.
These three Pokémon were also the only ones besides starters that could learn Pledge moves.
Moreover, Sieg recalled a rumor from his past life that these three monkeys were abandoned starter Pokémon proposals.
Sieg didn't linger long in front of the two buildings. After all, they were of no use to him, serving merely to broaden his knowledge a bit.
Sieg turned and followed the navigation of his Pokédex to find a shop called "Rydel's Cycles."
After spending a modest amount of Pokédollars, he had the owner give his Mach Bike a thorough tune-up.
After briefly experiencing some of Mauville City's famous attractions, Sieg began planning to challenge the Gym. After all, he still needed to collect badges to participate in the League Championship.
If he wanted to go further on the legitimate path, the League route was unavoidable. The most direct approach was undoubtedly to make a name for himself at the championship tournament.
But just as Sieg was preparing to head to the Mauville Gym, he suddenly received an urgent summons from Team Rocket, ordering him to assemble at the base.
Hastily donning his black robe under the cover of night, Sieg once again entered the Black Market. Following the same method as last time, he re-entered Team Rocket's base.
As soon as he entered, a young man approached him, saying impatiently: "What took you so long? Are all you Kanto people this slow?"
Sieg's mind stirred, catching the implication in the other's words. In other words, he wasn't the only one urgently summoned.
This put his mind somewhat at ease. He'd previously suspected his identity replacement had been discovered.
Although after learning Team Rocket's specific structure, he knew they probably wouldn't make a big fuss over a mere squad leader, he still couldn't help worrying a bit.
The young man before him complained impatiently: "Let's go, let's go. I'll take you to see the superior."
From beginning to end, Sieg maintained his taciturn demeanor, silently following behind the young man.
Along the way, many people saluted the young man as he passed, and quite a few even acted like mice seeing a cat when they spotted him.
"Looks like this young man holds a high position."
Sieg speculated internally.
However, this young man wasn't wearing Team Rocket attire, nor did he have a badge indicating his rank pinned to his chest.
Sieg guessed he probably belonged to some special Team Rocket department, such as logistics or intelligence.
Sieg followed him all the way to the third floor of the inner circle.
With his squad leader position, he normally wouldn't have clearance to enter here, but the layout inside was indeed different from the outside.
There were fewer people here, and combat personnel like Sieg with obvious battle-hardened auras were even rarer. Most were researchers in white lab coats.
Besides that, there were various state-of-the-art precision instruments everywhere.