Chapter 9: Game Corner Challenge
"Ding. Congratulations to the host for completing the side quest - helping Lillie overcome her fear of Pokémon. Reward: Rare Candies, Technical Machines, Bond Enhancement Items."
The system's notification confirmed that Lillie was completely healed, which also made Ryan marvel at Sabrina's incredible psychic abilities. Lillie closed her eyes, carefully examining her restored memories, tears streaming down her face.
After a long moment, Lillie opened her eyes, wiped away her tears, and said to Ryan gratefully, "Ryan, thank you for bringing me to Kanto and helping me recover my sealed memories."
She then took the initiative to hug Charizard and said with a genuine smile, "This is wonderful! I can interact with Pokémon again! I'll have to properly thank Cosmog when I return to Alola."
"Lillie, are you planning to go back soon?" Ryan asked, feeling a sudden pang of disappointment.
"Well, I probably won't be returning for a while. After all, I still need to deliver this Pokémon egg to Professor Oak, and I'd also like to explore the Kanto region." Lillie shook her head thoughtfully. "Ryan, would it be okay if I traveled with you?"
"I'd be honored to have you join me," Ryan said with a warm smile, extending his hand toward Lillie, who shook it enthusiastically.
The two left the Saffron Gym, and Ryan decided they should rest in Saffron City that night before departing for Cerulean City tomorrow. It would be a perfect opportunity to show Lillie around the metropolitan city.
While shopping with Lillie, Ryan mentally called out to his system: "System, are there any quick ways to earn resources? I'm running really low on everything. Evolution stones, held items, TMs - I need so much but have so little."
"Patience, host. Building a solid foundation is key to long-term success."
"I understand the importance of a solid foundation, but your main quest requirements are incredibly demanding. High-potential Pokémon are so rare, and the resources needed are expensive. I've only caught two Pokémon that meet the criteria so far. How can I not feel pressured?"
"..."
"Ding. Special challenge issued. Host, please visit the Game Corner and achieve the highest score record. Time limit: 10:00 PM tonight. Rewards: Premium Items, Rare Evolution Materials, Advanced Training Resources."
Ryan was stunned. Was the system being unusually generous? Checking his watch, it was only 3:00 PM. Ryan immediately took Lillie to Saffron City's famous Game Corner.
Entering the establishment, they saw the current high score was over 300,000 points, apparently achieved after an entire day of dedicated gaming. Ryan finally understood: there was no such thing as easy rewards!
But for such valuable prizes, he was willing to go all out! He exchanged 300 Pokédollars for game tokens at a rate of 1 Pokédollar for 10 tokens. He gave Lillie 1,000 tokens so she could enjoy the games too, then sat down at a slot machine and began playing.
After an hour of mixed wins and losses, he'd barely managed to double his tokens, accumulating about 5,000. Looking over at Lillie, Ryan's jaw dropped: she had three entire baskets full of tokens!
As expected, protagonists always seemed to have incredible luck. Ryan simply handed his remaining tokens to Lillie and let her continue playing.
"Host, this seems like cheating," the system commented.
"Which part of this is cheating? Lillie and I are sharing the tokens I purchased. That's called teamwork!" Ryan replied smugly.
"You have no shame."
"Shame doesn't help me build a strong team! For rare items! For evolution stones! For training resources! I'm willing to do whatever it takes!" Ryan declared shamelessly.
With Lillie's incredible fortune at the machines, they successfully broke the high score record well before 10:00 PM. Under the Game Corner owner's incredulous stare, they began redeeming their massive token haul for prizes.
Opening each prize Poké Ball and examining the Pokémon inside, Ryan couldn't help but be impressed by the variety and quality available in a major city's Game Corner.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he discovered a pair of Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ with exceptional potential! He considered taking both, but since they had similar stats and movesets, having both would be redundant on his team.
After careful consideration, Ryan decided to save the Nidoran♀ for Lillie. After all, she'd contributed significantly to their success. He then selected a high-potential Clefairy for her as well. He remembered that Lillie's mother had a Clefable as a companion, and this Clefairy would be perfect for her once she was ready.
After examining nearly two hundred Pokémon, Ryan discovered a top-tier Oddish. Three exceptional Pokémon in one trip was incredible! With such variety available, he'd made significant progress toward completing his team-building goals.
He also selected over twenty high and moderate potential rare Pokémon to send to Professor Oak for research purposes. Since Oak was helping with Pokémon storage and care, contributing to his research seemed like a fair exchange.
He kept the exceptional Nidoran♂ and Oddish with him, bringing his active team to six Pokémon. He asked his system to store Nidoran♀ and Clefairy, deciding to wait until Lillie's Ice-type Vulpix hatched and became her starter before giving her the others.
Lillie was browsing the clothing and accessory section. Ryan simply requested a year's supply of premium Pokémon food - Pokéblocks that were far more nutritious than standard Pokémon food.
After Lillie finished selecting her items, supplies, and accessories, they both left the Game Corner satisfied, leaving the owner to contemplate his massive payout.
That evening, Ryan excitedly collected his system rewards, then opened the shop interface to browse available items. In the held items section, he purchased a Focus Lens without hesitation. He'd discovered an interesting system feature: purchased items could be integrated into Pokémon in ways that real-world items couldn't, while Mega Evolution items could be worn normally.
This meant that Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution could potentially benefit from both integrated and worn items - a unique advantage of his system.
Next, he considered TMs and Mega Evolution stones. Mega Evolution sets came with both the Pokémon-specific stone and a Key Stone for the trainer. The cheapest sets were quite expensive, with legendary Pokémon stones costing even more.
After some deliberation, Ryan decided to focus on TMs first. Expanding his Pokémon's move coverage was more immediately practical than Mega Evolution, which could make them targets for focused strategies. Without diverse movesets as a foundation, even the strongest Mega Evolution would have exploitable weaknesses.
The TMs were expensive but permanently taught moves to compatible Pokémon, making them worthwhile investments for building a versatile team.
To be continued...
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