Chapter 39: Mission (Patreon)

That said, as a traveling Pokémon Trainer and Breeder, he had only a handful of ways to earn League currency.

The first was the route most mainline Trainers with confidence in their own strength took: accept quests posted by the League or by individuals on the Mainline Trainer Forum, earn points for completing them, then find someone to exchange the points for League currency.

The second was to enter a town-level event, or one of the small and mid-sized regional tournaments the League held. Place near the top, usually the top three, sometimes stretching to the top ten, and you'd receive a sum of League currency as a prize.

The third was to venture deep into the forests, canyons, or plains along the roads and gather wild Pokémon products: honey brewed by Combee and Beedrill, mushrooms dropped by Paras, shed Ekans skin, and other things that could serve as medicine or food. Items like Leaf Stones and Fire Stones counted too. Then he'd sell it all to a shop or a Pokémon Center.

But no matter which method he chose, each one needed real strength behind it.

Take his predecessor, who'd been bold enough to venture deep into the forest along Route 7 for the sake of a Ralts so elusive he'd never even glimpsed its shadow.

Even though he'd been lucky that time and escaped an ambush by Team Rocket's grunts, if he'd kept going, then one day he'd have ended up like so many Trainers in this world who didn't even leave a name behind, dying quietly in some corner.

Renan currently had three Pokémon. Among them, the freshly evolved Charmeleon, with Thunder Breathing active, had already firmly reached Veteran grade in close combat.

Nidoran and Pidgey still lagged behind. For now, they couldn't truly apply Breathing Techniques in actual battle.

By rights, at this stage, he could forget about placing in regional tournaments.

The quests on the forum also required repeated screening and careful selection, and there was no guarantee he'd even manage to snag one.

But he shouldn't forget: compared with his three little ones, who hadn't grown up yet, Renan himself was the strongest member of the team.

Elite-grade combat power was already more than enough, unless he was in a natural reserve like Mt. Silver or in the League's undeveloped wilds. If he only moved around the middle and outer rings of the forests and plains beside the roads, there was no problem. And even if he did run into something he couldn't beat, Renan figured that with Thunderclap and Flash, he could escape easily.

Of course, since his funds were still reasonably plentiful, he wasn't especially eager to take a quest.

He was just killing time on a dull evening. After dinner, and after saying goodbye to Ritchie, he went to the corner of the hall where several computers sat, slotted his Pokédex into the card reader, and waited a dozen seconds on the spot before finally getting into the League forum.

Renan scrolled the mouse, opened the Kanto quest section, and ticked the 'Near current location' filter under advanced settings.

Then three quests that had been up for a while without anyone completing them quietly appeared before his eyes.

[Posted by: Officer Jenny Hong, Blazing Town]

[Quest requirements: A group of Pokémon abandoned by Trainers has arrived in Blazing Town. Please help drive them off, capture them, or communicate with them.]

[Quest reward: 20 points.]

[...]

[Posted by: Principal, Pokémon Trainer Elite Academy]

[Quest requirements: Fight a total of ten battles against students in the Academy's beginner/advanced classes. The Pokémon sent out must be Ordinary grade/Veteran grade, and you must not win. A draw is the best result allowed.]

[Quest reward: 10 points/30 points.]

[...]

[Posted by: Cerulean City, Cerulean Gym]

[Quest requirements: The Gym Leaders will leave for the Hoenn region on March 13th (four days from now) for a one-month water ballet tour. Cerulean Gym is temporarily recruiting a Trainer with Breeder qualifications to feed the Gym's Pokémon for one month. Applicants must arrive by March 12th and pass the interview.]

[Quest reward: 15 points and one Water-type Pokémon egg.]

[...]

Blazing Town lay east of the Pokémon Center where Renan was staying. If he took the road and set out tomorrow morning, he'd arrive around noon.

Renan had been planning to capture a Pokémon anyway, so he decided to go take a look.

As for the Pokémon Trainer Elite Academy... despite the word 'Elite' in its name, it was really a place only for rich kids whose families had money but who hadn't managed to get into Viridian Academy.

Still, according to his predecessor's memories, the principal was a ruthless piece of work in some respects. Who knew which connections he'd worked, but he'd actually wrangled a privilege out of the higher-ups: his students could enter the Indigo Conference directly upon graduation.

Over the past two years, that had drawn in a whole crowd of students and parents who didn't know the truth.

Renan wasn't short of money right now. And even if he did need points one day, he would never get involved with a group so obviously tangled up in all sorts of vested interests.

So he just glanced at it and skipped it.

The temporary Breeder recruitment from Cerulean Gym, on the other hand...

Renan narrowed his eyes.

In the anime of his previous life, until Misty's training bore fruit, Cerulean Gym had been called the easiest Gym to challenge in all of Kanto.

Often enough, the three Gym Leader sisters, busy with their water ballet performances, would even hand out the Cascade Badge for free.

'If I remember right, the League even sent investigators later over what went on at Cerulean Gym.'

That was what Renan recalled, but he quickly shook his head.

As ever, he had five whole lifetimes of memories. He was no real teenager.

As for other people's choices, the most he'd do was grumble about them privately. Interfering was out of the question.

Still, a Water-type Pokémon egg, and one provided by Cerulean Gym at that, was tempting in every sense.

Cerulean Gym's current Gym Leader was weak, but that was only this generation.

A decade or more ago, according to the records at Viridian Academy, the previous Cerulean Gym Leader had been a genuinely powerful Trainer capable of challenging the Elite Four!

Even if the current generation had declined, the Pokémon the old Leader left in the Gym were clearly still in top form. Their offspring, maybe not every one, but at least the vast majority, couldn't possibly have low potential.

It was more than enough to become a piece in his puzzle for taking on the Indigo Conference.

Thoughts flashed through his mind. Renan clicked the mouse a few times and accepted both quests, the Blazing Town one and the Cerulean Gym one.

Early the next morning, he said goodbye to Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center, and to Ritchie, who planned to stay a while longer, and set out on the road again.

Since he was short on time, he didn't let Charmeleon walk slowly beside him as usual. He recalled it into its Poké Ball instead.

After he'd gone some distance and made sure no one else was around, he took the opening stance of Thunderclap and Flash and sprinted toward his destination.