Pokémon: Starting as a Pokémon Researcher with Milotic

"Let's get back to business. Do you know why I called you here?"

Ye Chen and Jiang Shuyun noticed Lao Liu's sudden seriousness. "Could it be about the Southwest University Tournament?"

"That's right, the Southwest University Competition will be held at the beginning of the next semester. The participants are the top senior high school students in the Southwest region. They will participate as a team from their schools, with a total of five slots for each school."

I've been observing and searching for suitable participants for a while now, and you two are the most outstanding Pokémon Trainers I've found. I hope you can join the school team and represent our school in this university tournament!

Jiang Shuyun was immediately filled with passion!

He immediately agreed, "Okay, I'll participate! Don't worry, Lao Liu. Although my strength is not as good as Lao Ye's, it is our duty to rebuild the glory of Rongcheng No. 1 Middle School!"

Ye Chen was calculating in his mind that he needed to provide at least 200 energy cubes every month, and he didn't know how long it would take to participate in this competition.

Moreover, after joining the school team, I have to stay after school every day to train, which takes up a lot of my time.

Seemingly sensing Ye Chen's hesitation, Old Liu advised:

"Ye Chen, I know you plan to pursue the path of a researcher, but right now your Milotic strength is outstanding among all senior high school students. It would be a real shame if you didn't participate in this competition. Moreover, winning an award in a regional competition like this would be a brilliant addition to your resume."

The long-lost system voice sounded.

"Option 1: Accept Lao Liu's invitation to represent Rongcheng No.1 High School in the Southwest University Competition and receive a reward based on the final ranking."

Option 2: Refuse Lao Liu's invitation, only wanting to focus on academic research and having no interest in Pokémon battles. Reward: None.

Old Liu continued to persuade them: "The rewards for each college tournament are very generous. Last time, the team that won first place received 1000 million League Coins in cash alone, and the best individual also received 500 League Coins. Moreover, as society pays more attention to Pokémon, the rewards are getting more and more generous every year!"

Ye Chen suddenly became serious, his expression solemn: "It has nothing to do with the reward. The main thing is that I want to bring glory to the school and repay the nurturing grace of my alma mater!"

Old Liu nodded with satisfaction: "Good! This is the kind of good student we have at Rongcheng No. 1 High School!"

"However, I have one condition: I won't be coming to the group training after school every day. I have more important things to do."

Old Liu frowned slightly: "We can't underestimate our opponents. Although they are rare, there have been high-level Pokémon in the college tournament, so we can't slack off in training."

Ye Chen said, "I'm more effective at training on my own, what do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Old Liu was immediately speechless.

How am I supposed to accept this? Training a novice Pokémon to a high level in just two months, and from what I know, Ye Chen's family is relatively poor and doesn't have many resources to spare. Has anyone ever done something like this before?

"Alright, but I need to check your Pokémon's strength before the match, so don't even think about slacking off."

Thus, Ye Chen and Jiang Shuyun became the only two members of the school team in this year's cohort.

I heard that after the principal found out about this, he called Lao Liu into his office and gave him a good scolding. Ye Chen is a genius academic talent, and his future achievements are limitless. Maybe he will become a future Elf Doctor.

As a result, you tricked people into playing Pokémon battles. What else can you call that but wasting their time?

Later, Ye Chen went to the principal's office to explain in person, saying that he did indeed want to participate in the competition.

Finally, under Ye Chen's insistence, the principal had no choice; after all, he couldn't force someone not to participate. With Ye Chen's repeated assurances, the principal could only hope that after this competition, he could focus on his research and stop with those fancy tricks.

Chapter Twenty-Three: New Home, Hatching

After school, Jiang Shuyun stayed at school for training, while Ye Chen took a taxi to an upscale residential area.

During this period, there were basically no people outside the school gates who wanted to interview Ye Chen anymore. The reason was that those people had indeed disturbed his and his family's normal life. Then Ye Chen remembered that Uncle He had said that he could ask him for help if he needed anything.

So he told Uncle He about it, and I don't know what method he used, but by the next day, basically no one came looking for him.

However, considering the needs of Milos' activities and training, Ye Chen decided to buy a larger house so that his whole family could move there.

"Welcome, sir. Are you looking to view a property?"

Ye Chen came straight here after school, so he was still wearing his school uniform. However, the sales staff did not speak rudely to him or ignore him.

"I'd like to see your villas with yards."

"Our Ziyuan Huacheng villa complex has a total of thirty houses, and there are currently five vacant houses, namely..."

The sales staff provided a very detailed introduction, explaining the specific features of each villa very clearly.

Ye Chen nodded and said, "Take me to see Villa No. 12. If it's okay, I can pay for it now."

The salesperson was quite surprised. She had only talked so much out of a sense of duty and never expected that the boy in the school uniform would actually make a purchase.

"Are you sure? Villa number twelve, ours, is priced at fifteen million."

"No problem, let's go."

The salesperson hesitated. Explaining the selling points of the house to the customer was her job, and it would only take a little talking, but showing the house would take a lot of time.

Ye Chen noticed her suspicion, so he took out the bank card he had opened after the Xiang family transferred the money. It was a black card. According to the regulations of the Elf Alliance Bank, only those with a deposit of more than 1000 million could apply for a black card.

The salesperson paused for a moment when they saw the black card, then immediately realized that this was a big client, and that this deal might actually go through.

So he immediately took Ye Chen on the sightseeing bus in the community to the entrance of Villa No. 12.

This is a three-story villa, not very spacious, but the price is just so-so.

However, the house is fully furnished with appliances and renovations, and cleaning staff come to clean it every day, so it is very clean and you can even move in right now.

After taking a tour inside the villa, Ye Chen was generally satisfied.

The only problem is that it's a bit small. If I catch more Pokémon in the future, it might feel crowded. But we'll deal with that later.

I suppose I won't be short of money by then.

Behind the villa is a yard with a pond of about 20 square meters. The Poké Ball on my waist trembled slightly as I passed by the pond.

Ye Chen gently stroked the Poké Ball: "You like it here? Okay, then it's decided."

Ye Chen had accumulated a total of 31.2 million Alliance Coins from the Alliance rewards he had previously received, plus the sales of Energy Cubes and Water Stones.

After completing the house purchase procedures, Ye Chen was left with 16.2 million. He estimated that as long as the Pokémon egg didn't hatch into a pseudo-legendary Pokémon, it should be enough.

Furthermore, he will continue to sell energy cubes, providing the Xiang Group with ten million yuan worth of energy cubes every month, so he is not short of funds for the time being.

Ye Chen returned home and told his mother that he had already bought a house.

While feeling sorry for the money, Ye's mother also sighed inwardly that her son had truly grown up!

Considering that Milotic had been staying in the cramped Poké Ball, the two decided to officially move three days later on the weekend.

……

Three days later, time flew by.

Ye Chen and his mother arrived at their new home in a taxi, followed by a truck carrying some old items that Ye Chen's mother was reluctant to part with, as well as some things left behind by her father.

She said, "I still need to bring these things with me, otherwise I won't feel at ease staying there."

As Ye Chen carried the Pokémon egg, he said, "We've arrived at our new home. Aren't you happy?"

The egg didn't react, but Ye Chen could sense a faint joy emanating from it.

Ye Chen opened the door to let Hao Li, who was carrying goods, in. Everyone worked for a whole afternoon and finally got everything done.

Ye Chen took out a few ordinary energy cubes and gave them to Hao Li as a reward for their hard work.

"Mahli!" Mahli happily accepted the energy cube.

The blessing from Celebi made him understand the meaning of Hawley.

"You can come to me for this kind of job again next time!"

Because they were too tired during the day, the two ordered takeout for dinner, intending to have something simple to eat.

Meanwhile, Milotic was enjoying a nutritious dinner prepared by Ye Chen. It was made by mixing top-grade water-type energy cubes, Moo Moo milk, and some other Pokémon supplements together and boiling them at high temperature.

Suddenly, a slight clicking sound was heard.

At first, Ye Chen didn't pay attention, thinking it was the sound of Milotic chewing on an energy cube, but then an even louder cracking sound rang out.

Ye Chen suddenly realized what was happening and looked at the Pokémon egg placed on the culture medium base.

The surface was covered in cracks and bulges, and the tiny life inside looked like it was about to burst out at any moment.

The two people and the elf quickly gathered around. Although Ye Chen already had an elf, this was the first time he had witnessed an elf hatch from an egg, and he was equally nervous.

Finally, the top piece of eggshell was pried open, revealing a head with green hair and two small red horns.

It raised its small face, half of which was covered by green hair, and looked around frantically, seemingly very timid and afraid, until it saw Ye Chen.

She immediately opened her little arms and said to Ye Chen in a childish voice:

"La~ru!"

I want a hug!

P.S.: Guys, as usual, I'm asking for flowers and review votes!

Chapter Twenty-Four: Ralts

Ye Chen gently picked up the little guy with a face full of pity, his feelings complicated.

I don't know how to describe this feeling. It's like a father walking into a hospital room and gently picking up his newborn daughter.

This analogy doesn't seem quite right either.

But it's okay. It seems that because Ye Chen often accompanied and talked to her when she was still in the egg, the little one is very dependent on Ye Chen. She nestled in Ye Chen's palm with a relieved expression on her face.

It seems that just smelling Ye Chen's scent fills them with a sense of security!