Petalburg City—the city where people and nature lived in harmony.
Kuroba stood on a busy street, staring almost absentmindedly at the prosperous city around him.
Traffic flowed endlessly through the streets.
Tall buildings rose on every side.
For someone who had spent so long aboard a pirate ship, the sight almost felt unreal.
He couldn’t help remembering Madam Meta’s words when they parted.
“Kuroba, my student. Forget the ugliness and filth of your past. You’ve been given a new life. Perhaps one day, your name will be written upon one of the most glorious pages in the history of the Pokémon League.”
Memories from the past year flashed through Kuroba’s mind.
He was no longer the naive child he had once been.
Whether it was the ruthlessness he had learned, his habit of acting cautiously, or his willingness to bend when necessary and strike when the opportunity came, Madam Meta had changed him profoundly.
If the day truly came when his name was written into the glorious pages of League history…
Kuroba knew he would never forget the teacher who had made it possible.
…
Dressed in ordinary traveling clothes, Kuroba walked through the streets and alleys like any other young Trainer beginning a journey.
“Petalburg Gym hasn’t even been established yet?”
Kuroba browsed through the information displayed on his Pokédex.
“Looks like I’m earlier in the timeline than I thought.”
After considering his options, he decided that the first thing he should do was head to the Pokémon Center and settle in.
That evening, inside the Pokémon Center cafeteria, Kuroba sat in a quiet corner eating dinner.
Corphish and Carvanha were beside him, happily enjoying their Pokémon food.
Many other Trainers occupied the surrounding tables, and quite a few had their Pokémon eating beside them as well.
Naturally, most of those Pokémon were relatively small.
After all, if someone tried bringing an Onix into the cafeteria, Nurse Joy would probably remind them very quickly that her Chansey wasn’t someone to mess with either.
Beware the pink demon!
“Now this finally feels like I’m actually traveling.”
Kuroba happily enjoyed the free meal in front of him.
His identity had been completely cleaned up.
As far as the League’s records were concerned, he was now a Trainer directly affiliated with the Pokémon League.
That status came with numerous privileges.
Free meals and lodging at Pokémon Centers were only the beginning.
Even when his Pokémon required treatment, his status allowed him to receive priority service ahead of ordinary Trainers.
These were the benefits of being part of the League’s inner system.
And Madam Meta’s forged identity was almost flawless.
According to the official record, Kuroba’s parents had been caretakers stationed on a small island.
He had grown up there from childhood and had no surviving relatives.
After finishing dinner, Kuroba headed into the Pokémon Center lobby.
It was crowded.
Evening was when many traveling Trainers stopped to rest.
That was hardly surprising.
Just outside the city lay the famous Petalburg Woods.
Many adventurers ventured into the forest hoping to find rare young Pokémon or valuable natural treasures.
Kuroba walked over to a self-service terminal.
He inserted his identity card.
His personal information immediately appeared on the screen.
He had already memorized every detail.
No matter who questioned him, he was confident that he wouldn’t reveal a single flaw.
“No wonder so many people are willing to do almost anything to become Trainers directly affiliated with the League.”
Kuroba’s eyes moved across the terminal. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“The privileges alone are tempting enough, but this hidden exchange catalog would be enough to shock most ordinary Trainers.”
The list contained an astonishing collection of valuable resources.
Starter Pokémon.
Held items and other training tools.
Pokéblocks.
And countless other treasures.
Everything on the list was reserved for Trainers within the League’s direct system.
There was only one requirement.
League Points.
And League Points could generally only be earned by League-affiliated Trainers who completed official missions.
“Wait… that’s a breeding manual!”
Kuroba searched through the list and found a specialized breeding manual for Corphish.
Price: 200 League Points.
His expression became thoughtful.
“An ordinary starter Pokémon sells for roughly two million Poké Dollars on the black market. The exact price changes depending on inherited moves, individual quality, and other factors, but that’s about the normal range.”
He checked the League exchange price.
“A starter Pokémon costs 2,000 League Points here.”
Kuroba quickly did the math.
“So ten League Points are roughly equivalent to ten thousand Poké Dollars?”
Now he understood even more clearly why the League’s rule remained so stable.
The League attracted talented commoners by offering them a path into its direct system.
And ordinary Trainers had little choice but to accept.
The League’s monopoly over knowledge was simply too severe.
Even if a Trainer became unbelievably lucky and captured a pseudo-legendary Pokémon in the wild, without the proper knowledge to raise it, they could easily waste much of that Pokémon’s potential.
Two of the most obvious examples were Lance, the Dragon-type member of Kanto’s Elite Four, and Drake, the Dragon-type member of Hoenn’s Elite Four.
Lance had the support and resources of the famous dragon-taming clan behind him.
As a result, he had already become a member of the Elite Four while still in his twenties.
Drake, on the other hand, had climbed upward step by step from an ordinary background.
Even after obtaining a pseudo-legendary Pokémon, he hadn’t managed to raise his Shelgon into Salamence until he was already middle-aged.
The difference between the two was obvious.
What truly allowed the League to keep ordinary Trainers under control wasn’t necessarily some dazzling treasure.
It was these seemingly unremarkable breeding manuals.
The Pokémon-raising methods compiled from centuries upon centuries of League experience weren’t something an ordinary civilian could hope to match through trial and error.
Even natural talent could only compensate for so much.
“Whew…”
Kuroba exhaled.
“Fortunately, I’ve managed to get aboard the League’s ship too. My next goal is figuring out how to earn League Points and exchange them for Carvanha’s breeding manual.”
He removed his identity card from the terminal and stored it safely inside his Pokédex.
As he stepped away, he noticed several nearby Trainers looking at him with envy.
“Because of my League status?”
Kuroba quickly guessed what they were thinking.
His expression remained unchanged as he approached the front desk.
“Hello, Nurse Joy. I’d like to register for the League challenge.”
Nurse Joy, dressed in her familiar pink-and-white uniform, smiled warmly and accepted Kuroba’s identity card.
She placed it against the computer terminal.
The Trainer she had been helping was immediately set aside so Kuroba’s request could be processed first.
Once again, this was one of the privileges that came with his League-affiliated status.
The people waiting behind him didn’t complain.
They seemed completely accustomed to it. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
At most, they looked at Kuroba with obvious envy, as though such treatment were perfectly natural.
“Of course, Trainer Kuroba. Please fill in your information here.”
Nurse Joy gestured gracefully toward the screen.
Kuroba entered the required details.
Name: Kuroba.
Sex: Male.
Age: 17.
Place of Birth: Small Sand Island, Hoenn region.
Current Pokémon: Corphish, Carvanha.
Regions Traveled: Kanto, Hoenn.
He deliberately left Fearow off the form.
Keeping one hidden card in reserve had already become a habit.
Kuroba filled in only the mandatory information.
When the form asked for more private details—such as his Pokémon’s levels and his own Trainer classification—he simply skipped them.
Nurse Joy showed no displeasure.
Her voice remained as gentle as before.
Although members of the Joy family had a responsibility to identify and record promising Trainers, Kuroba’s refusal to volunteer additional information obviously worked against that objective.
But did it really matter?
As long as Trainers continued relying on Pokémon Centers for treatment, escaping the Joy family’s information network was nearly impossible.
No matter what Pokémon a Trainer owned or how quickly those Pokémon improved, sooner or later the information would enter the family’s records.
That was the confidence of a family whose foundation had endured for generations.
Since the Pokémon League had been established more than a thousand years ago, countless powerful families had risen and fallen.
Some had once been unimaginably prosperous.
In the end, however, time wore them down.
They declined.
Some disappeared completely.
Only the Joy and Jenny families seemed to remain eternally prosperous.
“Trainer Kuroba.”
Nurse Joy’s gentle voice drew his attention back to the present.
“The Hoenn League Conference will be held one year from now. To qualify for the competition, you’ll need to collect eight Gym Badges.”
Her especially warm tone drew another wave of envious looks from the people nearby.
Nurse Joy smiled at ordinary Trainers too, of course.
But receiving this degree of attentive courtesy was another matter entirely.
Afterward, Kuroba also arranged a room for the night.
He had plenty of Poké Dollars on him, but why waste money when he didn’t need to?
The rooms at a Pokémon Center were already better than those of most ordinary hotels.
That night, Kuroba lay on the bed and unexpectedly found himself thinking about the money-loving little fatty still aboard the Great Shark.
“Without Hoshino Yumi running errands for me, I’m going to have to handle a lot of things myself again.”
A faint smile crossed his face.
With anticipation for the future filling his heart, Kuroba spent his first night back on the mainland.
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