Under the driving of Pryce's League special car driver, Pryce and Tetsuya arrived at the League Headquarters in the evening.
Each Elite Four had a private residence on Mt. Silver. Of course these were all allocated by the League. These Elite Four had made contributions to the League, so rewarding them with a villa was nothing unusual.
However, among those who successfully rose to the position of Elite Four, held great authority, and could still remain upright and maintain their original intentions like Pryce, there were very few.
After settling down in Pryce's private villa, they would enter the League Headquarters tomorrow, so Pryce naturally had some things to explain to Tetsuya.
"Tetsuya, after all you are not my official student. I know very clearly that the 'high-ranking' officials of the League are waiting to see me make a fool of myself. I heard from Sheila that she also gave you the guides for raising and training Cloyster and Froslass.
You can be considered to have obtained all of my raising knowledge and experience. Even if they have something to say, I do not fear them! Tomorrow in front of those people try to speak as little as possible. Hmph! They are all petty villains. It is best to stay far away from them!"
Pryce's words left Tetsuya rather speechless. Pryce like this was truly someone who could not be provoked. Fortunately he was someone who did not follow the usual path. If he had planned to rely on the power of some Elite Four to take shortcuts, Pryce's actions would have directly cut off his future. With such a personality, it seemed that Pryce's position as an Elite Four would only last these four years. In the next term he would probably return to Mahogany Town and become a Gym Leader.
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Pryce's villa only had one caretaker brought from Mahogany Town. She was probably loyal to Pryce, otherwise Pryce would not have trusted her. After all, this place was full of informants everywhere. If there were another traitor, then there would be no secrets left at all.
He released Piloswine and Golett to eat dinner. Ditto still secretly returned to its original form in his room. He had never let Ditto change back from the wrist guard into its original form in front of others. This was also a safeguard for him in times of crisis and would not be exposed easily.
Pryce stroked Tetsuya's Piloswine and could not help letting out a sigh. He murmured to himself, "So similar… really too similar… I wonder if in this lifetime… I will have another chance to see you…"
'…'
"Tetsuya, this Piloswine of yours… can maintain the Hail weather, right!?" Pryce seemed to suddenly remember something.
Tetsuya could only nod.
"Good… very good. Heh… I didn't expect that without Eternal Ice I could still raise a Swinub with such Ice-type energy… After this 'challenge' ends, you must let me properly study this Piloswine!"
The more Pryce spoke, the more excited he became.
Meanwhile, Tetsuya's heart was already pounding wildly, and cold sweat kept appearing on his body. If Pryce studied Piloswine, the matter of the Eternal Ice cold energy inside Piloswine's body would certainly not escape the eyes of this Ice-type expert.
What should he do!?
Originally he had planned to use the Eternal Ice in his possession to deal with Pryce, but now it seemed that this lie was completely unworkable.
In half a month, the Eternal Ice that Piloswine had been licking had only shown a slight trace of a tongue mark. At this rate, who knew how long it would take before Piloswine finished licking that Eternal Ice.
If Pryce really discovered it, he would have no way to deal with it!
---◓---
That night Tetsuya tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. He truly had no way to figure out how to get past Pryce's scrutiny.
When the time came, he could only refuse by force, return directly to Ecruteak City, and reduce contact with him!
Pryce was not someone who forced others to do things against their will. As long as he relied on Matsuba and firmly refused to give it to him, Pryce would certainly have no way due to the "dignity" of his Elite Four position. After all, Pryce had promised in front of Matsuba to give him a Swinub. Asking for it back would simply be a slap in his own face.
However, he would certainly raise another Swinub in the future. If that one did not produce such an effect… would Pryce regret for the rest of his life for giving this Swinub to him for nothing!?
The next morning Tetsuya was doing morning training in Pryce's courtyard. Before going to the League, Pryce said to Tetsuya, "I am going to the League Headquarters now for a meeting. The Sinnoh delegation already arrived yesterday.
Since this is your first time at Mt. Silver, you can walk around and take a look. There are still three days before the matches. When I have time I will give you some systematic training."
Tetsuya nodded. He was preparing to go to the Ho-Oh Shrine. Even without Pryce saying it, he would still walk around Mt. Silver. After all, it was the highest administrative center of the Johto region. All kinds of goods, TMs, Items, Evolution Stones and so on were available.
However, there was no Black Market here. Under the eyes of the League, no one would dare to conduct underground trading here.
After Pryce left, Tetsuya carried his backpack and headed toward the super large shopping center of Mt. Silver.
Since it was the New Year period, many things had discount promotions. As soon as he entered the shopping center, he saw various stores holding promotional activities.
Tetsuya entered a large Pokémon Held Item shop. All goods were discounted by twenty percent.
"Stone-type" and "Gem-type" held items were Tetsuya's objective.
Fortunately, these types of held items were the cheapest among all held items. For example, Damp Rock could maintain Rain weather. However, in the Johto region the only Pokémon that currently had the Ability Drizzle was Politoed. Its evolution method had only recently been reported by him to Professor Witherwood, and the systematic theoretical report had not yet been released. Therefore, very few people bought this type of held item.
Gem held items were even more useless, because the cycle required to help absorb energy was very long. It took a long time before they could help a Pokémon enhance the power of a move once.
What Tetsuya needed were Damp Rock, Icy Rock, Ghost Gem, Ground Gem, and Light Clay. These were supplementary materials/ingredients used as food for Golett and were also components of its body. To evolve into Golurk, these items were indispensable!
Originally, five Damp Rock, five Icy Rock, five Ghost Gem, five Ground Gem, and five piles of Light Clay together were exactly the amount Golett needed for one year. The total cost was fifteen thousand Pokédollars. With the twenty percent discount, it only cost twelve thousand.
After leaving here he would stay at Ecruteak Gym for two years, and he could be certain that he would not return to Mt. Silver within three years. Therefore Tetsuya directly bought three years' worth for Golett, which meant fifteen portions of each material. After swiping the card, he still had two hundred and four thousand left on his card.
He packed these materials together and placed them into the Spatial Backpack.
He continued walking around the shopping center, hoping to find more goods he needed. After browsing through a TM shop, there were indeed all kinds of TMs available in this era. However, he did not need any of them now.
The move he currently wanted Haunter to learn was the Fairy-type move Dazzling Gleam, but the Fairy type had not yet been researched, let alone Fairy-type moves.
After leaving the TM shop, he felt a little thirsty. Coincidentally there was a Moomoo Tea Shop ahead. At the counter there was a girl about eight or nine years old ordering Moomoo Milk tea.
This girl had flowing blonde hair, with both beauty and intelligence.
Such a familiar figure, whether it was this outline or this hairstyle.
Tetsuya could not help knocking his head. A name finally appeared in his mind…