Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

Thinking about the balance in my bank account, I felt a little sad.

Suddenly I feel like I'm so far away from getting my third Pokémon.

Tetsuya sighed, "It's really not easy to make money these days."

After studying today's plan, I went to bed and fell asleep immediately.

After all, I expended a lot of energy today. During my chat with Xiaogang tonight, I kept trying to show off some of my abilities while pretending to hide some of them that could be known.

They couldn't reveal their potential to identify Pokémon eggs, and they also needed to find a way to get information out of Brock.

This is incredibly difficult, it's like living hell.

Tetsuya sighed, realizing that life had forced him to become the very thing he disliked most when he was a child.

...Nothing happened that night.

Early in the morning, Tetsuya, having finished his morning exercise, emerged from Viridian Forest with two spirits.

He was juggling a Poké Ball in his hand as he walked.

"What great luck! I've encountered a Pichu with such an interesting pattern on its chest that hasn't evolved yet."

Tetsuya was quite happy, feeling that his luck had suddenly improved a lot since he started traveling.

Don't get me wrong, Zhe didn't intend to raise a Pikachu like Pikachu, after all, that's unrealistic.

Moreover, even Raichu isn't a particularly powerful Pokémon, and it requires a Thunder Stone to evolve, which isn't worth it at all.

The key point is that Pichu is an exceptionally cute sprite, making it a favorite among noblewomen.

The one that was just captured had black fur on its chest that was different from the others.

The black hair on a normal Pichu's chest is serrated and arranged in a neat and orderly manner.

However, the black hair on its chest is shaped like an upside-down heart.

It's important to know that Pikachu groups in Viridian Forest usually appear in large groups, and they are basically one big family.

Pichu can evolve simply by reaching a certain level of friendship and slightly increasing its level.

What intimacy level can be increased faster than kinship? And baby elves are easy to level up.

This resulted in Pichu, which was born not long ago, quickly evolving into Pikachu under the care of its parents and extended family.

You will almost never see Pichu appear in the Pikachu family.

Such individual differences are extremely rare; once they evolve into Pikachu, they basically all look exactly the same.

Even after the egg hatches, there's no guarantee that the fur on the pelt will grow to be special; even if it's trimmed, it will soon revert to its original state.

The ladies of high society liked to keep these somewhat special elves as pets.

Bring it to a tea party; it's not only cute but also makes you look very impressive.

Therefore, a normal Pichu might only be slightly more expensive on the black market, but a special Pichu like this would be much, much more expensive.

"Wow, I was just short of money and something good came to me on its own. I guess I'm not the main character."

Tetsuya walked along the road, thinking happily.

Chapter 30 The Black Market Acquisition Point and Xiao Gang's Reunion

Anyone would be just as happy as Tetsuya if they had such a great unexpected find while training in the morning; it's like finding money on the street.

As for what you'll do if Pichu evolves due to being raised in captivity.

There is another item in this world called the Everstone, which has a rather useless function: it prevents Pokémon from evolving to the next stage.

Generally speaking, for this type of Pokémon, it is given an Everstone so that it will not evolve.

The key point is that although the Everstone is useless, it is also rare and relatively expensive.

Pichu can suddenly discharge electricity when it gets excited, so it needs to be trained by a professional breeder. Otherwise, it's not fun to get shocked yourself. Although it doesn't hurt, it's embarrassing and quite awkward.

This is another huge expense.

All I can say is that those wealthy women's hobbies are indeed, well, expensive.

But what does this have to do with Tetsuya? All he needs to know is that the Pichu he just caught will bring him about 500 million yen in income.

"The people are really happy today," Tetsuya hummed as he walked down the street.

Arriving at a small cabin on the outskirts of Nibi, he took out a mask from his bag to conceal his face.

Following the code, they tapped the ground in an orderly fashion with their feet.

A moment later, a hidden compartment on the ground was opened, and Tetsuya walked straight in.

Below is a narrow passage, with only a little light from above to make it possible to see and walk.

After walking for a while, we reached the end, and suddenly everything became much clearer.

Before him was an underground hall with about a dozen enclosed small rooms scattered in the middle, surrounded by dark passageways, just like where Tetsuya had just come from.

A masked man in black stepped forward and directed Tetsuya to a small room.

Pushing open the door, I saw a masked man in black sitting at the table.

Tetsuya was also speechless. Was this a nested doll?

However, he pretended to be very cool and took out a Poké Ball containing Pichu and placed it on the table.

The man in black remained silent and released Pichu to observe it for a while.

Pichu looked completely bewildered and was taken back by the man in black before it could even react.

“480w.” The voice of the man in black rang out, strangely, somewhat like the sound of electricity.

Tetsuya didn't mind and nodded to indicate that it was okay.

After all, although it's still a bit short of my target price of 500 million, selling it directly to them would definitely be cheaper.

Seeing that Tetsuya had agreed, the man in black took out an anonymous card, processed it, and handed it to him.

After confirming with his wristwatch that the amount was indeed 480 million yen, Tetsuya turned and left.

As I stepped out of the room, a man in black, I couldn't tell if it was the same one from before, approached me and gestured for me to follow him.

Tetsuya followed behind and walked out through another dark passage.

The return journey was exactly the same, and I ended up back in another wooden house that looked almost identical.

Tetsuya took off his mask and stepped out of the cabin. He looked at his current position and realized that he was now much further away from where he had been before.

"Good heavens, everyone's dressed in black and masked. This black market buying point is really something. But the semi-random entrance and exit setup is quite good."

Yes, the place he just went to was a black market acquisition point. Although there is only one black market in a region, black market acquisition points are scattered throughout every city, and there are even many acquisition points in a single city.

Simply put, people can sell their harvest to black market collection points, but the price will definitely be lower than if they went to Viridian City to sell it on the black market themselves.

Its main advantage is its convenience, since both traveling and setting up a stall take time.

If you want to buy Pokémon or Pokémon eggs, then I'm sorry, you have to go to the black market. The black market only buys, not sells.

As for the worry of bumping into others, that's unlikely to happen, since there are people watching over the black market between the various passages.

Although Zhe didn't know exactly how to avoid it, the black market had its own set of rules, otherwise it wouldn't have survived for so long.

Back at the Pokémon Center, I gave the Poké Balls of Combusken and Pidgeot to Nurse Joy to restore them.

Tetsuya himself went to the Fairy Restaurant to have breakfast, as he was hungry after exercising early in the morning.

I had just sat down and hadn't even eaten a few bites of food.

Just like last night, a black hand landed on Tetsuya's shoulder.

Tetsuya paused for a moment, then turned around. Sure enough, it was Tsuyoshi, holding a sandwich and milk.

"Good morning, Tetsuya!" Kogoro greeted Tetsuya and then sat down opposite him.

Tetsuya looked at Brock speechlessly. "You're a gym leader, and you come to the Pokémon Center for breakfast every day, acting like you live here. What a joke."

Xiao Gang seemed oblivious to Tetsuya's gaze and casually began eating his sandwich.

A moment of silence fell over the dining table.

Neither of them knew how to begin.

"I've come to see you today because I have something important to discuss." It was Xiao Gang who broke the awkward silence first.

Tetsuya gestured for Kogo to continue.

"As I told you yesterday, I am the future heir to the Pewter Gym, and yesterday was also the first time I conducted a gym battle audit."

Xiao Gang paused here and looked at Tetsuya.

“After talking with you last night, I thought you were very capable. I went back and told my father about it, and he gave me an evaluation and report on you.”

Tetsuya chuckled. "Oh? So, what exactly did I say in the report?"

Xiao Gang relaxed slightly when he saw that Zhe wasn't angry.

Although in this world, it is common for some families to invest in talented ordinary trainers, and many ordinary trainers are very happy to accept this.

After all, without funding, no matter how high their talent as trainers or other talents are, it would be difficult for them to become strong. They would simply need help and to repay favors later.

Once you become powerful, these are not major problems; they are just normal exchanges of interests.

There will also be no situation where the support and the effort are disproportionate.

However, there are still many people in this world who believe that they can succeed on their own, that owing favors in the future would be bad for them, or that they feel they have lost their freedom, so they are unwilling to accept investment.

Even though Xiaogang felt that Zhe wasn't that kind of person, because Zhe also had a clear understanding of his own abilities and future, as could be seen from yesterday's conversation.

The report clearly states that the other party accepted the Joy family's initial investment, but it is possible that Tetsuya might not want to accept Nibi Dojo's investment in the future.

So Xiaogang was initially a little hesitant, after all, it was his idea to invest in Tetsuya that was first proposed, and it was the first investment in a person that his father asked him to make.

Tetsuya's reaction was a relief to him; at least Tetsuya wasn't opposed to him speaking to him as the representative of the Pewter Dojo.

Xiao Gang organized his thoughts, and combining the report and assessment given to him by the dojo staff, he continued speaking.

Chapter 31 Harmonious Conversation and the Trip to Mount Tsukimi

".......

So that's roughly all the information. If you're satisfied, you can finalize it.

After a detailed explanation, Xiao Gang felt parched and drank half a bottle of milk before he felt better.

"Xiao Gang, this isn't just your first time participating in a gym battle, it's also your first time negotiating an investment like mine."

Tetsuya smiled, but instead of answering Kogoro's question, he asked about something else.

"Haha, definitely." Xiao Gang scratched his head. "Is it that obvious?"

“Well, how should I put it?” Tetsuya put down his cutlery. “To be honest, this is the first time I’ve talked about something like this. Although I felt that Miss Joey and the others had given me this kind of investment before, it was just a direct upgrade in treatment, and we hadn’t communicated like this before.”

"But I always feel that your directness is a bit off. Shouldn't it be normal for me to propose conditions, you to consider them, reject them, change the conditions, and then reach a consensus?"

"It's not impossible. How about I void what I just said and you say it again?"

"No need, I think it's very reasonable and appropriate, I have no objection." Tetsuya quickly waved his hand.

The two looked at each other and laughed.

Xiao Gang continued, "It's official business, so a verbal agreement is usually enough. I'll have someone send the details to your watch later, and you can take a look."

"What about the personal matter?" Tetsuya asked, looking at Kotsuya.

"It's a personal matter. I'd like to ask you for a favor: to create a training plan for my little Geodude. Of course, I'll pay for it myself." Xiao Gang squinted, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

"No problem, but it will take a few days." Zhe readily agreed.

"No rush. You can go about your business first. Five days later, just go to the front desk of Pewter Dojo and tell them you're looking for me."

"Okay, got it." Tetsuya glanced at his watch. "I have something to do, I'll be going now."

"Okay, goodbye." "Goodbye."

Xiao Gang watched Tetsuya leave with his eyes still half-closed, and then slowly stood up.

I recalled my conversation with my father this morning.