"What? The road is blocked?!" Ash was walking toward Vermilion City when he was suddenly surrounded by several men in military uniforms, who said that the main road to Vermilion City had been blocked, and the only way to get there was through the underground path.
Poor Ash had no choice but to take the long way around, entering Vermilion City through the underground path.
Taking the underground path would only take five days to reach Vermilion City, but the main issue was that the underground path was filled with trainers, making it very noisy. Sometimes, if a trainer didn't like you, they would come up to challenge you to a battle...
"Hey, kid, let's have a Pokémon battle!" A burly man stood in front of Ash, challenging him to a battle.
"Here we go again," Ash sighed. This was already the seventh time someone had challenged him today.
"Go, Machop, use Karate Chop!" The man commanded Machop.
"Pidgeot, use Aerial Ace to finish it off." Ash said with a hint of annoyance.
A random NPC Machop was knocked out in an instant by Pidgeot's Aerial Ace attack.
"Ah... my Machop." The man stared at his Pokémon in disbelief, unable to fathom that it had been defeated in a single move.
Ash had no time to deal with him; he simply walked past him. The day passed quickly, and soon it was night. Since it was an underground path, they couldn't see the weather, but Ash had a watch. Glancing at it, he saw it was already past 10 PM. Fortunately, the shops in the underground path had special rooms set aside for trainers to rest at night.
Ash found a relatively quiet shop and prepared to stay the night. The shop owner was a man in his 40s, and there was also a woman in her 20s.
The woman was the man's daughter. Ash took a look at her; she was average-looking, about 5 feet tall, with shoulder-length hair, neither large nor small breasts, her legs tightly crossed, probably a virgin, her eyes neither large nor small. Overall, she gave off a very approachable vibe, especially when she smiled.
"Hello, my name is Ash. I hope I can stay here for the night," Ash said to the shop owner.
"No problem, but it's 500 Poké Dollars for the night. Do you want to stay? Our rooms are nice and spacious," the man said with a smile.
"Money..." Ash thought to himself.
"No problem, I'll pay," Ash said, pulling out 500 Poké Dollars and handing it to the man. The man took the money and smiled, "Lumi, take the guest to the guest room." The man smiled at Lumi.
"Alright." Lumi smiled at Ash and led him to the guest room.
"My money. It's not that easy to get. If you take it, you have to pay the price." Ash thought to himself, then followed Lumi to the guest room with a sly smile.
"This is your room." Lumi led Ash to a guest room, handed him the key, and smiled.
"Wait. Wait a moment." Ash called out to Lumi, who was about to leave.
"What is it?" Lumi turned to look at Ash.
"Come to my room after midnight," Ash said to Lumi, his right eye turning purple.
Lumi's eyes first became vacant, then returned to normal, and she turned and walked out.
"Alright, let me have some fun tonight," Ash smiled, lifting the corner of his mouth.
Two hours, it could be quick, or it could be slow, but it was soon midnight…