Chapter 22Tetsuya was now in the outer area of Mt. Moon, where the Pokémon were mostly at novice or ordinary levels, with very few elites. The closer one ventured toward the inner area, the stronger the wild Pokémon became.

  A Pokémon like Rhyperior was already formidable at the elite level. A typical Rhyhorn evolved into Rhydon at level 42, and with a Protector, it would evolve into Rhyperior. Judging by its sheer presence, this one had been evolved for a while, meaning it was at least level 45.

  Even if Tetsuya could release his Pidgeot in the cramped cave, type disadvantages meant that his Pokémon wouldn't stand a chance. Strong Chicken, his Combusken, had some advantages with its Fighting-type moves, but in close combat, the size and power disparity would be overwhelming. This wasn’t a battle he could win; it was a battle to escape from.

  After running frantically for nearly twenty minutes, ensuring he could no longer hear the monstrous Pokémon’s footsteps, Tetsuya finally exhaled, cursing his bad luck.

  “Damn it! A Rhyperior in the outer area? What kind of nonsense is that?”

  He grumbled as he checked his gear, wincing at the memory of his drone being obliterated by a rockfall. The device had been scouting ahead as usual, but the Rhyperior had noticed and, with a single mighty stomp, triggered a ndslide that turned his drone into scrap metal.

  It wasn’t expensive, but it still stung. Though Devon Corp’s warranty allowed repcements as long as the navigator remained intact, there was no way he’d go back to collect the wreckage. A total loss.

  Sighing, Tetsuya checked his position. Thankfully, he hadn’t run deeper into Mt. Moon but had veered slightly outward. Finding a new path, he refocused on his mission.

  At the exit of a cave, a disheveled young man stumbled out, panting, his clothes covered in dust.

  Behind him, a slightly injured Combusken followed, looking just as exhausted.

  Without wasting a second, Tetsuya tossed a Luxury Ball into the air. “Pidgeot, get me out of here!”

  A fsh of red light, and Pidgeot nded gracefully before him. Securing himself quickly, he recalled Combusken and took off toward Pewter City, leaving behind several Pokémon that had just emerged from the cave, staring after him in confusion.

  As they soared, Tetsuya called out, “Not too high! Lower, just a little lower!”

  He was still shaken.

  Yes, the bedraggled escapee was none other than our protagonist.

  Once safely back near Pewter City, he nded and released a shaky breath. His legs wobbled. Heights weren’t usually a problem, but when you were fleeing for your life, it was a different story.

  After removing the expedition suit’s fastenings from Pidgeot, he recalled his Pokémon and hurried toward the Pokémon Center.

  The moment he stepped inside, he handed Combusken over to Nurse Joy before heading to his rented room for a much-needed shower.

  Refreshed and finally rexed, he examined himself in the mirror. The exhausted fugitive was gone. Now, a sharp, handsome young man stared back at him.

  Tetsuya exhaled deeply, finally feeling at ease.

  Thinking back to his near-death encounters on Mt. Moon, he scoffed, “First, I catch a Pichu, then my luck plummets straight into hell.”

  He colpsed onto the bed, utterly drained from the hour-long chase.

  Rewinding to just after escaping Rhyperior, things had been going smoothly.

  In the next hour, Tetsuya and Combusken successfully encountered and defeated three Paras, as well as a small tribe led by a Sandssh. The job was done.

  Looking at the time, it was still early—just past noon. He figured he’d keep exploring, hoping for an extra reward.

  After all, with Rhyperior out of the way, he assumed there were no more major threats in the area.

  That assumption was dead wrong.

  Mt. Moon was vast, home to a variety of Pokémon. Drawn by the Moon Stone’s energy, not only rare Pokémon like Clefairy thrived there, but so did others—like the Nidoran evolutionary line.

  Normally, Nidoking and Nidoqueen stayed deeper within the caves, as their final evolutions required a Moon Stone found only in the mountain’s core. Seeing them in the outer area was unheard of.

  And yet, there they were.

  Tetsuya had unwittingly walked into a cave where a Nidoking and Nidoqueen were… enjoying some private time.

  Realization hit like a Hyper Beam.

  “Oh, hell no.”

  Without hesitation, he turned and bolted, Combusken right on his heels.

  The enraged Nidoking and Nidoqueen roared, charging after them. The thought of making a stand was tempting, but foolish.

  Not only did these two exceed level 30, but they had a following—Nidorino, Nidorina, Zubat, Geodude, Magnemite, Sandshrew. A full-fledged army.

  This wasn’t a battle. It was a stampede.

  Tetsuya and Combusken sprinted through the byrinthine caves, using every trick to slow their pursuers. Occasionally, Combusken unleashed bursts of fire to create obstacles, but the numbers were overwhelming.

  Eventually, they spotted an exit, dove through it, and, without looking back, called on Pidgeot to escape.

  Now back in the comfort of his bed, Tetsuya reflected on his absurdly bad luck.

  A Rhyperior. An entire Nidoking and Nidoqueen cn. Was today some kind of cursed festival?

  However, as he stared at his navigator, an idea formed.

  A smirk crossed his lips as he pced a marker on the map.

  “Revenge is a dish best served with a fully evolved Combusken,” he muttered.

  His time for payback would come soon enough.

  After resting for a while and feeling ready, Tetsuya took Combusken back and set off to complete the three tasks.

  After all, he still had to train his Pokémon in the afternoon—there was no room for scking.

  The total bounty from the missions after settlement came out to 220,000 yen.

  Not bad. Including the 4.8 million from Pikachu, he had made a total of 5 million today.

  Strength really is everything, Tetsuya thought as he made his way toward Viridian Forest for training.

  Putting aside the unexpected windfall from Pikachu, based on today’s efficiency and income, if he pnned carefully, he could earn nearly 700,000 yen per day just by taking on standard missions—an amount equal to his entire income from the past month.

  So that afternoon, while Pidgeot and Crawdaunt were working hard to complete their training goals in Viridian Forest, Tetsuya was busy mapping out his schedule for the next four to five days.

  Mornings would start with four hours of targeted training from 6 AM to 10 AM, followed by a trip back to the Pokémon Center for food and rest. At around 11 AM, he would take on new missions and set off.

  He estimated that he would return from either Mt. Moon or Viridian Forest by around 2 PM for a break before heading out again for another round of missions. He expected to return by about 5 PM. After dinner, he would conduct standard training at the Pokémon Center’s practice grounds.

  By 10 PM, he would wrap up and head back to his room to study the materials provided by Pewter Gym before getting some rest.

  Tetsuya scribbled and revised his pn, eventually concluding that this was the most efficient schedule he could manage.

  "But if I use Pidgeot to travel, I should be able to save about half an hour between trips."

  He rubbed his chin, considering the idea. An extra half hour could keep missions from running too long, preventing any disruption to his training pns. Alternatively, he could use the extra time for either more training or more rest.

  It seemed like a worthwhile trade-off.

  Tetsuya sighed. It wasn’t like he could avoid flying forever. If he had to get used to it eventually, he might as well start now.

  And so, from the next day onward, Tetsuya fully utilized Pidgeot as his primary mode of transportation, settling into a routine of constant work—bouncing between Viridian Forest, Mt. Moon, the Pokémon Center, and the Bounty Hunter Center.

  Oh, and there was also the bck market purchasing point.

  After all, elite-level Pokémon—regardless of whether they had special traits—could still fetch a good price.

  Though elite-level wild Pokémon were rare, he managed to encounter a fair number over the five days, capturing and selling them at purchasing points.

  Five days ter, Tetsuya, who had promised to meet Brock in the afternoon, finally took a well-earned day off for both himself and his Pokémon.

  Lying on the couch in his room, he started calcuting his earnings from the past few days.

  Excluding the first day, he had completed 12 C-rank missions over the next four days, earning 780,000 yen, along with four B-rank missions that brought in another 1 million yen.

  He had also captured four elite-level Pokémon, selling them for a total of 4.2 million yen.

  That meant in five days, he had made a total of 11 million yen.

  Even after spending nearly 1 million yen over those days, he still had a net gain of 10 million.

  For a moment, Tetsuya was in disbelief. Had he really just made a quarter of the price of a Fire Stone in less than a week?

  But thinking about it, it wasn’t entirely unrealistic.

  This level of income was something most trainers couldn’t achieve under normal circumstances. Several key factors pyed into his success.

  First, his high-level treatment at the Pokémon Center saved him a tremendous amount of time. He didn’t have to wait in line, endure long treatment times, or worry about extra medical expenses. Without this privilege, his efficiency would have taken a huge hit, and his costs would have been significantly higher.

  Additionally, his bounty hunter rank allowed him to accept missions at a higher level. Without it, he wouldn’t have been able to take on three C-rank missions at once, and his efficiency would have been cut in half. B-rank missions weren’t always avaible, and he couldn’t just take one whenever he wanted.

  Second, while his earnings seemed massive, nearly half of them came from selling Pikachu—so he couldn’t count on that luck every time.

  Third, and most importantly, Tetsuya had Zero, his AI assistant, which could accurately gauge the level of wild Pokémon.

  This was a game-changer. Most trainers couldn’t determine a Pokémon’s exact strength in the wild without specialized equipment. Because of that, they would usually avoid unnecessary fights, only battling when necessary or when they found a suitable target.

  Without this ability, trainers risked getting injured or exhausting their Pokémon, which could be a death sentence in the wilderness.

  Tetsuya didn’t have to worry about that. He could maximize his efficiency while maintaining the combat readiness of his team.

  His four captured Pokémon were proof of this—they were all just barely at the elite level. If he had been randomly searching for mission targets, he would have been lucky to find one in ten days, let alone four in five days.

  Moreover, if he had encountered a rge or powerful group he couldn’t handle, he would have had to retreat and waste time searching again.

  Finally, Tetsuya himself had grown stronger. With Combusken and Pidgeot by his side, he could easily take on most elite-level Pokémon—at least in Viridian Forest.

  Mt. Moon was trickier due to its terrain, making it harder for Pidgeot to maneuver.

  All of these advantages combined allowed him to achieve such an absurd level of income.

  Otherwise, even a normal trainer of his caliber, maintaining the same training intensity and expenses, would have only made around 100,000 yen in the same timeframe.

  Thinking about all this, Tetsuya let out a sigh.

  Even though his current approach was effective, he realized he had been pushing both himself and his Pokémon too hard.

  They trained and battled every single day with little to no rest. While he wasn’t sure if his own body could keep up, he could visibly see the exhaustion in his Pokémon. Their performance was starting to dip.

  It was better to strike a bance between work and rest. Perhaps alternating training and mission days would be a smarter approach—it wouldn’t even have a major impact on his income.

  According to his pn, he aimed to stay in each city for about a month. That meant he would spend eight months challenging the eight gyms, with an additional month dedicated to intensive training, leading right up to the start of the Indigo League Conference.

  This pace would also accelerate the development of his main team.

  Tetsuya had underestimated just how quickly his Pokémon were improving. While Pidgeot’s progress had slowed—since it was harder to level up the stronger a Pokémon got—Combusken had skyrocketed. In just four days of constant battles and training, it had already reached level 27.

  At this rate, by the time he left Pewter City, Combusken might even reach elite level.

  And then…

  Ding~

  His Pokémon Watch interrupted his thoughts.

  It was a message from Brock.

  [Hey, have you left yet?]

  Looking at the time, Tetsuya realized he only had half an hour left. He quickly grabbed his things and dashed out the door—being te was never a good look.

  [On my way now,] he replied.

  Jogging toward the Pewter Gym, he soon spotted Brock already waiting at the entrance.

  "Sorry, sorry, I’m te," Tetsuya said, slightly out of breath.

  "No worries, you made good time. I was just getting impatient," Brock replied with a friendly smile.

  "Now that you're here, come on in. Let's check on my Geodude first, then I’ll go over the stuff I prepared for you."

  Tetsuya nodded and followed Brock inside the gym, eager to see what y ahead.