Grey checked the sender—Lorelei.
[Lorelei: Dojo Master Grey, are you with Sabrina right now?]
[Grey: Yeah. What's up?]
[Lorelei: A source reports Team Rocket activity near Rock Tunnel. There's at least one executive-level trainer present.]
[Lorelei: I want you and Sabrina to split up and pinch them from both sides. The League bounty's been issued—check the official site dashboard.]
[Grey: Hoh? Team Rocket's acting up again? OK, I'll loop Sabrina in.]
The mention of Team Rocket lit a fire under Grey.
The opponents he'd fought these past few days were all babies—no challenge at all.
Now he could go grab some Rockets, cash the bounty…
Heh. That'd be sweet.
With that thought, he set his phone down and turned—right into Sabrina's calm gaze.
"Whoa—when did you get here? You walk without a sound?"
Grey patted his chest, exhaled, then waved his phone. "Sabrina, Lorelei says there's a job. Want to head to Rock Tunnel and nab Team Rocket together?"
"How?"
Sabrina squeezed out a single, cool question.
"?"
Grey blinked. How?
How else?!
You knock them out and bag 'em for delivery!
"I… don't really know how to… do that…"
Sabrina let out a soft breath and met his eyes.
Looking into Sabrina's pupils, Grey could see the tangle in there:
Lost, baffled, confused, at a loss.
"Seriously? You don't know how?"
He tested.
"Mm…"
Sabrina nodded. "If I did, Saffron Gym wouldn't be a ruin."
Grey fell silent.
Fair. If she knew how to arrest people, she wouldn't have blown up her own Gym.
He sighed, pulled out his phone, and peeked at the League back end.
He logged in.
One email stood out.
Grey opened it, and his eyes went wide.
[Fighting Dojo Expansion Certificate]
Nine short characters, pure gold.
An expansion permit!
In Saffron City, every square meter was worth its weight in nuggets. Even with money, expanding was hard.
And an official League-issued permit?
Priceless.
Grey read on.
[Holders of this Expansion Certificate are authorized to expand a Fighting Dojo within designated Saffron City zones (original site or planned-use lots). Requirements:
Max expansion area: up to 500 m².
Fee schedule: ¥100,000 per m² as the expansion license fee; total cap ¥50,000,000.
Usage: training facilities, ancillary function areas, or necessary public facilities only; no unauthorized conversion to commercial or residential use.
Additional terms:
Submit a design plan and pass safety review.
Construction must not disturb nearby residents or public order.
Violations may incur fines or revocation of the certificate.
Note: Non-transferable. Final interpretation rests with the Saffron City government.]
At first, Grey was thrilled.
He could expand!
But—
The price tag hit, and a headache bloomed.
Maxing it out would take fifty million!
All his savings, scraped together, didn't even hit three hundred thousand!
At ¥100,000 per m²… he could afford three square meters. Not even enough for a restroom!
Grey wanted to cry.
He had the permit—but not the cash.
Granted, the League's favor was huge…
So he was joyful and miserable at once.
Mostly miserable because: no money!
So—get money.
He made up his mind: time to find an opportunity to earn big.
"What's wrong? Your mood swung wildly just now…"
With her psychic sense, Sabrina read emotions in fine detail.
Grey's feelings had spiked and plunged in seconds.
It puzzled her.
Snapped back to reality by Sabrina's voice, Grey suddenly took her soft, pale hand and held on. "Sabrina, can I ask something… a little personal?"
"?"
"Um… how personal?"
Sabrina tried to pull back, but Grey had a firm grip.
Without using psychic power, slipping free quickly would be tough.
Still, she was curious what he'd ask.
Come to think of it…
This was the first time he'd talked to her like this.
Was he trying to get to know her?
She'd been watching Unovan films lately—plotlines said getting to know someone starts with their secrets.
"How much do you have in your bank account?"
Grey blinked, arm rocking their joined hands.
"F-five million, give or take. Not much."
She answered honestly.
"Five million… fifty square meters…"
Grey muttered, then rubbed his hands together and waggled his brows. "Sabrina, how about a deal?"
"What kind of deal?"
Her cool brows pinched, curiosity sharpening.
Last time he'd said "cooperate." Now it was a "deal."
She wanted to see what kind of deal Grey would spin.
"Simple. I teach you how to nab Team Rocket, and you… chip in some tuition. Fair?"
Grey grinned. "This is exactly where you're stuck, right? And in this field, I'm basically a grandmaster."
He let her hand go and opened his photo album, tapping through pictures of the commendation pennants the League had awarded him.
All for catching Team Rocket.
Say what you will about other things—
When it came to Rocket busts, Grey knew his stuff.
Inside League circles, his record was creeping up on the Elite Four.
He'd helped Lorelei arrest Petrel, one of the four Team Rocket Executives, after all!
Ever since Team Rocket's infamy spread through Kanto, most of the arrests had been small fry.
At best, a few elites.
Hardly anyone got near the core.
In that landscape, Grey and Lorelei bagging Petrel had become legend in the League.
Everyone wanted to know what kind of trainer Grey was.
Digging deeper, they found that the Fighting Dojo that had nearly been shuttered by Saffron Gym…
had hired this guy as Dojo Master.
Why keep him as a Dojo Master?
Make him a League investigator specializing in Rocket arrests already!
Anyway—back to the point. Grey showed the photos to tell Sabrina:
Choose him as your "arrest mentor," and you won't regret it.
"Mm…"
Sabrina fell quiet, meeting his eyes.
At last, she slowly opened her mouth and said…
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