The God of Reimbursements!

"The God of Reimbursements!" "Koujie?"

Jing He was writing something. Gastly, clutching a phone while watching battle videos and sipping Digestion-Promoting Liquid, drifted over and poked its head in.

What was he busy with? Why had he been hunched over the desk writing ever since they returned? Without looking up, Jing He simply said, "Medical records."

"Camerupt's medical records."

Perhaps worried that Gastly would not understand, he added another sentence.

Gastly still only half understood.

What were medical records for? Then it watched Jing He write the final word and stack the document together with several application forms.

"Koujie?"

What were those? Gastly smacked its lips. Nurse Joy's Digestion-Promoting Liquid really did taste pretty good—sweet and sour, quite appetizing. It had already downed half a dozen bottles without realizing it.

"Reimbursement application forms."

Since he had finished writing, Jing He did not mind showing Gastly his "work."

This had been Drake's idea.

Treating Pokémon with both physical and mental injuries counted as working for the Pokémon League, so they had to follow the League's regulations, fill out forms, and go through the reimbursement process.

"Koujie."

Gastly glanced at the application form, its mist forming a finger that pointed at "damaged clothing."

This could be reimbursed too?

It remembered that Jing He's clothes had indeed been damaged somewhat when they rushed to Mt. Chimney and passed through the fissure inside it.

"I'm only stating the facts." Jing He's tone was calm.

"Koujie?"

But why was it "×3"? "Steven Stone's, Flannery's, and mine. I'm filing for them too."

"Ahh—"

Gastly nodded as though enlightened. Steven Stone's clothes really were rather expensive.

"Koujie?"

What about this one?

It pointed at "appeasing Heatran: Energy Cubes ×10 boxes, Moomoo Milk ×5 crates."

Never mind how they had brought that much up there. But Jing He seemed to have used just one bottle of Moomoo Milk and a handful of Energy Cubes to appease Heatran, right? Had there even been ten cubes?

There were a hundred Energy Cubes in one box, weren't there? Jing He's tone remained as placid as ever.

"If you told people that you appeased a legendary Mythical Pokémon with one bottle of Moomoo Milk and ten Energy Cubes, do you think they'd believe you? What if they did believe it and tried to imitate it? That would be very dangerous!"

"Besides, who do you think these reimbursed Energy Cubes and Moomoo Milk are for?"

"K-Koujie?!"

Gastly's voice rose several pitches.

They were all for me?! "Of course, some of them are for the injured Pokémon," Jing He added.

He was not so shameless as to embezzle the food meant for those Pokémon, so he could only ask for a little extra.

Gulp—

Gastly swallowed.

Its mist moved further down the page. "Luxury Balls ×10 expended in the capture of Camerupt." Even though Gastly had mentally prepared itself, its heart still skipped a beat upon seeing "Luxury Balls ×10."

"After all, One-Ball Men are rare. And given how berserk Camerupt was at the time, isn't it reasonable that it took ten balls to catch it?"

Jing He spread his hands in explanation.

This reimbursement application form was all based on the "actual" circumstances, all right?

The key was to make it reasonable.

As for how the ordinary Poké Balls used to catch Camerupt had become "Luxury Balls"—

Jing He had originally wanted to write "Cherish Balls," but considering the Pokémon League's circumstances, he temporarily gave up on that option.

It was perfectly reasonable for Steven Stone, the Young Master of Devon Corporation, to carry ten or so Luxury Balls, right? He had simply been unlucky, and Jing He had ended up catching it with an ordinary Poké Ball.

Purely a matter of luck.

Gastly did not understand.

But it was deeply shaken.

Aside from those, Jing He had filled in quite a few other items.

For instance, quite a number of Cheri Berries had been used to remove the Burn status. Gastly and Steven Stone's Pokémon had all been injured in the battle with Camerupt, requiring plenty of Healing Spray.

And treating and appeasing Camerupt also required some medication to assist with physical intervention.

See? It could not have been more reasonable.

"K-Koujie..."

Was this really okay?

Even Gastly, which was usually utterly lawless, could not help asking that question now.

Was it okay?

"Of course there's a problem."

Jing He neatly stacked the sheets and fetched a document folder.

As long as the person reviewing the reimbursement form was not an idiot, they would definitely spot the issues with it.

Eh, eh?!

Gastly blinked.

Then why submit it?

Jing He smiled faintly.

"If a Pokémon League staff member reviewed it, it definitely wouldn't pass. But Drake is the one reviewing it, so that changes things."

Other than a very small number of people, was there anyone in the Hoenn League with a higher status than Drake? Once Drake had signed the reimbursement form, no one would raise objections.

Otherwise—

Why had Jing He not haggled with Drake and agreed so readily?

On one hand, Drake had indeed offered quite a lot.

On the other, it was a kind of tacit understanding reached between Jing He and Drake.

When Drake was young, he had merely been an ordinary sailor. His dream was to conquer the seas with his companion Hatch.

But after nearly dying in a shipwreck, only to be saved by a Dragonite, he fell in love with Pokémon—especially Dragon-type Pokémon.

He had embarked on the path of a Trainer.

Because of that, Drake had always treated Pokémon with kindness.

And when he saw Jing He make the anxious Camerupt smile like that, something in his heart had been stirred.

That was the true reason he had decided to invite Jing He to help.

Otherwise, while Pokémon psychologists like Jing He were relatively uncommon, the Pokémon League's resources made it impossible for there to be no others in the profession.

It was simply that they could not truly and precisely soothe berserk Pokémon as Jing He could.

Moreover, the purpose of Jing He's reimbursement forms was primarily for the Pokémon, whether Gastly or the injured Pokémon.

That was the tacit understanding between him and Drake.

Of course, the most important point was that Drake had hinted at this himself. After all, the injured Pokémon needed food as well.

Naturally, Gastly knew none of this.

But it trusted Jing He's words completely.

If Jing He said there was no problem, then there definitely was no problem.

And so, Gastly suddenly understood.

I get it!

The next second—

"Koujie!"

Crack!!

A crisp sound of something breaking rang out.

Jing He froze in the middle of arranging the documents and turned toward Gastly in disbelief.

There—

The phone Gastly had been holding like a treasured possession had fallen to the floor and shattered into pieces!

"I—"

A vein bulged on Jing He's forehead.

"Koujie, koujie!"

But Gastly looked utterly unashamed. It had long been fed up with that battered old phone, with its slow internet and constant lagging.

Using Hypnosis during the day had been exhausting, so it had not held on tightly enough—A dark line appeared on Jing He's forehead as he squeezed out a sentence through clenched teeth.

"Did it occur to you that you could have filled it in without smashing the phone?"

"K-Koujie?!"

Gastly: Σ()

"Did it occur to you that reimbursements take several days to come through? What are you going to use for the next few days after smashing it?"

Gastly: Σ(дlll)

"Phew—"

Jing He slowly let out a breath, shook his head, and took out the reimbursement form he had already put away.

He wrote on it, "...Smashed phone."

Seeing him write those words, Gastly also breathed a long sigh of relief.

But when Jing He expressionlessly wrote "phones ×2," Gastly froze again.

Its understanding was too shallow.

It had still understood too little.

"Koujie, koujie!"

Gastly formed a hand out of black mist and gave Jing He a thumbs-up.

Reimbursement truly was an art.

I hereby proclaim you—the god of Ancient Sinnoh in charge of reimbursements!