Kuroba finally submitted the map he had drawn during his trip through Petalburg Woods.
“Ten League Points?!”
He was genuinely surprised.
Most of what he had mapped was on the outskirts of Petalburg Woods, terrain that countless people should have submitted before.
It shouldn’t have been worth much at all.
“Was it because of that cave?”
The only truly concealed location he had discovered was Seviper’s cave.
Unless someone searched the area carefully, it really was quite well hidden.
After submitting all of his completed missions, Kuroba opened the exchange catalog again and switched to the section reserved for Trainers directly affiliated with the League.
“Carvanha’s breeding manual costs 200 League Points, the same as Corphish’s. Looks like I’ve still got a lot of points to earn.”
There was one final matter to take care of: selling the Seviper he had captured.
Kuroba put on his black robe and, following the route he remembered from last time, entered the black market again.
Once he reached the stall area, he paid 1,000 Poké Dollars to rent a spot for one hour.
“Damn, the black market makes a killing. Maybe I should open one myself someday.”
He spread an ordinary cloth over the ground and placed Seviper’s Poké Ball on top.
Thinking the display looked a little bare, he casually added the Poké Balls containing his remaining Taillow.
Then he spent another 100 Poké Dollars on a wooden sign and wrote:
“Seviper — Level 27 — Inherited Move: Iron Tail — 400,000 Poké Dollars.”
Short and simple.
He had deliberately listed Seviper at the high price of 400,000 so buyers would have room to bargain.
Sure enough, it didn’t take long for his stall to attract attention.
Several people came over and began making offers.
“How about 300,000? Seviper are naturally vicious. Even after I buy it, I’ll have to put in some effort before it’ll obey me.”
The person negotiating wore the same sort of black robe as Kuroba.
Kuroba considered the offer briefly, then nodded.
Three hundred thousand was already within the range he had expected.
There was no reason to waste time fighting over a little extra profit.
Seviper was sold, but Kuroba still had twenty or thirty minutes left on his rented stall, so he stayed.
In the end, only one Taillow sold directly, earning him another 90,000 Poké Dollars.
No one showed much interest in the remaining two, so Kuroba simply bundled them together and sold them to one of the black-market shops.
Once all his business was finished, he quickly left the black market and returned to the Pokémon Center.
“Good evening, Nurse Joy.”
After returning, Kuroba greeted Joy Rin, who was still busy at the counter.
She was a Nurse Joy, after all.
Maintaining a good relationship with her could never hurt.
Then he returned to his room, dropped onto the bed, and fell asleep almost immediately. The source of this chapter is g.com.
The day had exhausted him.
…
Early the next morning, Kuroba was once again enjoying the delicious free food in the Pokémon Center cafeteria.
“At Carvanha’s current rate of growth, it’ll probably evolve in less than half a year. But if I don’t build a proper foundation before then, evolving into Sharpedo could end up wasting some of its potential.”
That settled it.
He needed to continue earning League Points.
This was one area where he couldn’t afford to slack off in the slightest.
Kuroba returned to the self-service terminal and searched through the available missions again.
The more he looked, the deeper his frown became.
“Missions that reward League Points either take forever and involve a ridiculous amount of tedious work, or they’re so difficult that I can’t complete them at my current level.”
Was his only realistic option to venture into the dangerous core of Petalburg Woods and continue drawing maps?
He didn’t need to think very hard to understand why the League offered that mission in the first place.
They wanted Trainers to voluntarily explore dangerous, uncharted areas.
Put more simply, they were using attractive rewards to persuade people to risk their lives filling in the blanks on the map.
It was an open scheme, but an effective one—the League’s rewards were simply too tempting.
“I’ll take the group mission instead. The one where you cooperate with the police to clear the Wurmple colony beside the main road through Petalburg Woods.”
Kuroba hadn’t accepted it before because it had to be handled as a dedicated assignment.
It couldn’t be combined conveniently with his other missions.
Once he accepted it, he wouldn’t be able to take other missions at the same time.
“All for the League Points.”
In the end, Kuroba printed out his résumé and proof that he had accepted the mission, then headed to the police station.
“You’ve got to be kidding. Even a kid is applying now? Are we really that short-handed?”
Officer Jenny spoke bluntly, obvious surprise in her voice.
She was strikingly attractive, with a confident figure and an imposing presence even while sitting behind a desk.
Kuroba pressed his lips together and deliberately put on a shy expression.
“No, Jenny… I accepted the Wurmple-clearing mission, so I came to report in.”
He made his voice sound innocent enough to inspire sympathy.
After more than a year surviving at sea, Kuroba had long since learned how to wear different faces.
Depending on whom he was dealing with, he could quickly adjust his expression and attitude to suit what the other person wanted to see.
This time, he had chosen the image of a shy, innocent teenage boy, hoping it would make Officer Jenny lower her guard.
“All for the League Points. There’s nothing embarrassing about doing what works.”
Kuroba held out his résumé and mission certificate with both hands, carefully placing them on the desk in front of her.
Officer Jenny finally sat back in her chair and crossed her legs.
Her posture was relaxed yet confident, her pale legs set off by a pair of high heels.
Her green hair fell over her shoulders like a waterfall, brushing against her fair skin.
Kuroba’s eyes, however, quickly settled on the golden medal pinned to her chest.
“Looks like this Officer Jenny holds a pretty high position.”
Then again, perhaps that was only natural.
As a member of the Jenny family, how likely was she to start from the very bottom as an ordinary police officer?
On the surface, Kuroba continued pretending to be nervous.
The act amused Officer Jenny enough to make her laugh.
“Your Pokémon seem reasonably strong,” she said after reading his information, “but they’re Water types. They won’t give you much of an advantage for this assignment.”
She slowly shook her head, clearly leaning toward rejecting him.
Kuroba ultimately chose not to reveal Fearow.
As a result, he wasn’t selected for the mission and could only leave helplessly.
“Corphish and Carvanha are both fairly common around Hoenn’s waters, but Fearow is from Kanto. You don’t see them very often around here.”
Kuroba had always made a habit of keeping one hidden card in reserve.
This time was no different.
Fearow would remain his trump card.
Over the next few days, Kuroba stayed at the Pokémon Center.
Aside from having practice battles with other Trainers, he spent his time producing more Pokéblocks so he would have a reserve when he needed them.
“Whew… time to find another mission. As soon as I earn enough points, I’ll exchange them for Carvanha’s breeding manual and leave Petalburg City.”
Kuroba drew a deep breath, determination flashing through his eyes.
He still needed to collect Gym Badges.
There was no point remaining here indefinitely.
His next destination would be Rustboro City.
A famous company called Devon Corporation was headquartered there, specializing in the research, development, and manufacture of Pokémon-related products.
“Though I haven’t heard anything about Steven yet.”
Kuroba thought about what he knew.
Devon had supposedly developed a new multifunction Pokémon navigation device.
He intended to visit the company and see whether they had any useful high-tech products suited to him.
“And more importantly, Rustboro definitely has a Gym—the Rustboro Gym. Rock type, too. That’s perfect for me.”
Kuroba browsed the information on his League Pokédex, and the corner of his mouth curled upward in satisfaction.
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/Meegoatbaa Whether you join as a free or paid member, you’ll also get access to 2 extra chapters.