Chapter 77

Bonus chapter for the flowers~~

Just after dawn, Qing Wu yawned as he pulled on a red life jacket and climbed down the ladder from the midsized yacht, landing in the already-inflated, slightly swaying lifeboat.

"Lord Qing Wu, I can only take you this far. You'll have to travel the rest of the way on your own." Captain One-Eye addressed Qing Wu respectfully, then started the yacht and gradually sailed away.

"Come out, Golbat." The Pokémon best suited to pulling this lifeboat was Golbat.

Golbat (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻.

Golbat was still half-asleep too. Helplessly, it gripped the lifeboat with its powerful feet and flapped its wings forward, forcing itself to resist the urge to doze off.

The morning seawater was bone-chilling, and the sea breeze felt icy against their bodies.

The thoughtful captain had prepared a thin blanket and placed it in the lifeboat long ago. Qing Wu wrapped himself up tightly in it.

Kusaba Port, where he was about to arrive, was also Team Rocket territory—or more precisely, the territory of Giovanni, one of Team Rocket's Three Executives. Natsume and Agatha were Gym Leaders who had secretly pledged allegiance to Team Rocket. By controlling Kanto Region's three most important cities, they also controlled vast amounts of resources.

They stood alongside the Four Generals and were all high-ranking Team Rocket executives. However, they each guarded their own cities and rarely appeared.

Natsume possessed Psychic Power, while Agatha specialized in assassination and poisoning. Giovanni's greatest strength was Pokémon legion warfare. He was an outstanding commander, adept at directing Magnemite to launch group attacks. He had even created a tactic that used large numbers of Magnemite to form a giant warship.

Team Rocket's infiltration of Kanto Region and Johto Region was quite successful. Agatha had even become Johto Region's Poison-type Elite Four. Together with Team Rocket's other hidden agent, Psychic-type Elite Four Will, and Dark-type Elite Four Lorelei, she had become one of Team Rocket's most successful hidden agents.

At Team Rocket's peak, Johto Region had nearly fallen into Sakaki's hands, but the plan failed because of Pryce's obstruction.

Pryce was a renowned Ice-type expert in Johto Region. His strength far surpassed that of an ordinary Elite Four Trainer and was even close to Champion level.

If not for his overly eccentric personality, Pryce would certainly have held a seat among the Elite Four. Even Lance, the Champion of Johto Region, would have been soundly beaten by Pryce one-sidedly.

After all, Lance had failed to claim the Kanto Region Champion's throne because he couldn't defeat Lorelei in Kanto Region.

Although the League publicly claimed that these were all the Elite Four-level experts it had, Qing Wu was certain that the League possessed more than just the Elite Four known on the surface. There were also quite a few deeply hidden Elite Four-level experts.

These were all secret moves prepared by the League. Like the Poison-type Elite Four who had injured Cang, they had remained extremely well hidden and later hunted down many of Team Rocket's elites and executives.

Whenever an underground organization failed to see reason and took the initiative to provoke the League, the League would reveal its ferocious side and wipe out the organization that had challenged it.

The yacht had dropped Qing Wu off not far from Kusaba Port. Golbat flapped its wings with all its might, finally reaching Kusaba City's harbor an hour later—the largest deep-water port in all of Kanto Region.

The cross-region liners traveling from Kanto Region to other regions all stopped at Kusaba Port.

To return to Hoenn Region, Qing Wu had to take a ship from Kusaba Port back to Rustboro City in Hoenn Region.

Kusaba City was also known as the most prosperous city in Kanto Region. Maritime shipping brought Kusaba City enormous tax revenue, and Giovanni, who guarded the city, benefited tremendously as well.

After all, Kusaba City gathered precious goods transported from all over the world, including valuable Pokémon resources.

All kinds of cargo ships came and went. The busy people paid no attention to a boy drifting in from the distance in a lifeboat. After all, many tourists liked to get up early and take lifeboats out to sea to watch the sunrise.

After Qing Wu drifted into the harbor, he sold the lifeboat to a fisherman preparing to sail out for a long fishing trip at an extremely low price, leaving him with five thousand League Currency.

Because Qing Wu always carried his identification card and also had a Trainer's identity, he could stay at the Pokémon Center for free.

After coming ashore, Qing Wu felt the bustling noise of Kusaba City. The streets were packed with people. At a shop, he bought several sets of ordinary Trainer outfits.

After changing into a Trainer outfit at the shop, Qing Wu also fixed his hair. Even Lei Ming and Ailian, the two people in Team Rocket most familiar with Qing Wu, would not have recognized him now. After all, makeup was known as one of the great occult arts.

The Pokémon Center occupied the best central location in Kusaba City. As a place for treating Pokémon, it covered an extremely vast area—roughly the size of three or four stadiums—and was also five or six stories tall.

When Qing Wu stepped into the Pokémon Center, he heard Nurse Joy's familiar voice. Only then did he suddenly feel that he had been missing for two whole months, as if he no longer fit in with the surroundings. He had returned from the scheming Trial Camp to the ordinary Pokémon World.

"Right, I need to make a call. I absolutely have to call Gardevoir and Gallade to let them know I'm safe." Qing Wu shakily picked up the Video Phone hanging on the wall and skillfully entered the number engraved in his memory.

After the call connected, Qing Wu saw Gardevoir's elegant face. She was looking at him gently.

The news of Qing Wu's disappearance would not spread until a month later. Everything was calm for now. Qing Wu gazed at Gardevoir for a long while before forcing back the tears gathering in his eyes.

When Gardevoir saw her little master's reddened nose and his expression as if he were about to cry, she hurriedly comforted him and called Gallade over.

Looking at these two family members who had struggled to support the Nurturing House after his parents' deaths, Qing Wu revealed a blissful smile. Nothing had happened yet. Everything could still begin again.

Qing Wu smiled at Gardevoir and Gallade. "I'm fine now. I just missed you a little. Oh, right, I made a bit of money in Kanto Region. Our Nurturing House can be saved. We won't need to sell the land to keep it running." Qing Wu smiled.

In his previous life, he had saved the Nurturing House by selling the land. After all, the Nurturing House still had the deeds to several hundred mu of land, all property left behind by Qing Wu's parents. But after Gardevoir's child was kidnapped, Gardevoir had lost all interest in managing the Nurturing House... ...

"I'll be back soon. Don't worry." After Qing Wu hung up, he quickly lost control of his emotions. Tears fell like rain. He had not cried no matter how difficult things became in the Trial Camp, yet Gardevoir and Gallade had touched the softest place in his heart.

Having you with me in this life feels wonderful.

After wiping away his tears, Qing Wu registered for lodging with Nurse Joy, then entered the Pokémon he carried into the League's system.

The League strictly required Trainers to carry no more than � Pokémon, but Team Rocket had no such rule.

The Poké Balls Qing Wu used had all been specially modified and were outside the League's monitoring range.

Even if he exceeded the League's limit, the Poké Balls would not trigger immediate teleportation.

Without registration, Nurse Joy could not treat the Pokémon.

This was the League's rule. As a Breeding Master, Qing Wu originally had no need to seek treatment at a Pokémon Center.

However, if Qing Wu wanted to infiltrate the League and become a Team Rocket mole, it was best that he still followed the League's rules.

Qing Wu had another purpose as well: he wanted to use the Pokémon Center's instruments to check whether Kecleon had any hidden injuries.

After all, the system's scan could only detect Kecleon's aptitude. If hidden injuries accumulated too much, they would also affect Kecleon's aptitude.

Qing Wu's other Pokémon had all been raised from a young age, so he was confident they did not have this problem.

Only Kecleon had suffered serious injuries upon first arriving at Trial Island. If not for Qing Wu's Pokémon-breeding methods, Kecleon's eventual fate would have been excessive loss of its source and damage to its foundation.

Qing Wu also needed to conduct a metal test on Kecleon, analyzing the metal strength of its current metal shell—�.7—and determining what kind of metal it contained.

Only then could he provide Kecleon with sufficient trace metals during its subsequent training, strengthening its physique.

Qing Wu knew how to use these testing instruments as well, but since he had not returned to Team Rocket's headquarters, he could only rely on the League's facilities.

Once Qing Wu returned to the Nurturing House, he would also need to prioritize buying some testing instruments so that he could raise Pokémon more effectively.

Qing Wu entered the information of Kecleon and Squirtle into the League's system. Then, under Chansey's guidance, he headed to his room.

On the fifth floor of the Pokémon Center, Dormitory No. 号.

Qing Wu lay on the soft bed. On Trial Island, he had spent most of his time living outdoors. The hard ground had kept him from sleeping well for nearly a month, but the rewards he had gained in exchange were tremendous.

Zubat had evolved into Golbat and reached level �. Although Kecleon had not evolved yet, its level had already reached �, putting it at a stage where it could evolve at any time.

Even Squirtle, which had the lowest level, had reached level � after Qing Wu's training..