A Day's Booking

It really was Team Rocket!

Xia Yan kept a straight face as he went to the so-called Human Resources Department. With the certification Supervisor Loto had given him, he completed the registration for an intermediate rank.

The base salary for an intermediate sparring partner was exactly twice that of a beginner sparring partner, reaching sixteen thousand Pokémon Dollars. The rate for each sparring session had also doubled, to eight hundred Pokémon Dollars per hour.

Most importantly, intermediate sparring partners received a thirty percent commission from every session.

That meant Xia Yan and Weedle would earn 240 Pokémon Dollars after each sparring session. Compared to the eighty Pokémon Dollars they had earned per session as beginner sparring partners, it had tripled.

With such a massive increase, it was no wonder 0413 had reacted so strongly to Xia Yan becoming an intermediate sparring partner.

This was the difference between earning around ten thousand a month and earning forty or fifty thousand a month.

The gap was enormous.

With this intermediate certification, Xia Yan had officially entered Goldenrod City's standard middle class.

If everything went smoothly, his salary would be enough to support raising another Pokémon while continuing to train Weedle.

Of course, that was under the premise of maintaining Weedle's original training standard: Intermediate Energy Cubes paired with Moomoo Milk and regular milk.

If he wanted to invest even more into Weedle's training, whether he could still afford to raise another Pokémon was another question.

He collected the reward for the cleanup mission from Finance: a total of 3,200 Pokémon Dollars. That meant they had cleared sixteen threatening wild Pokémon in all, and the five Spearow had contributed quite a bit to that total.

"Next time I go out, I definitely need to bring a few Poké Balls."

With that thought in mind, he returned to his room.

From beginning to end, he did not show much excitement or joy. After confirming that Team Rocket truly controlled the Silph Pokémon Battle Club from behind the scenes, Xia Yan felt considerable pressure.

Team Rocket and the Pokémon League were bitter enemies.

No matter how dissatisfied Xia Yan was with the Pokémon League's various systems, he had to admit that it was the legitimate ruler of this world. Opposing the Pokémon League was clearly not a wise choice.

"But throughout the entire Kanto Region, Team Rocket's influence isn't much weaker than the Pokémon League's. As far as I know, Sabrina, the Psychic-type Gym Leader of Goldenrod City, should be a Team Rocket executive, right?" Sitting in his chair, thoughts churned through his mind.

Even in a metropolis like Goldenrod City, the largest city in the Kanto Region, Team Rocket had already infiltrated the position of Gym Leader, someone practically equivalent to Goldenrod City's highest authority. That showed just how much power Team Rocket had hidden in the city's unseen corners.

"It isn't just Goldenrod City's Gym. Even Silph Co., the largest company in Kanto, is backed by Team Rocket."

Xia Yan even had the feeling that, if Team Rocket were willing, they could completely carve Goldenrod City out of the Pokémon League's territory and become its actual rulers.

The prerequisite was that they could withstand the Pokémon League's frenzied counterattack.

He slowly shook his head. "Team Rocket's reach only covers the Kanto Region and Johto Region at most, while the Pokémon League controls seven, perhaps even eight regions. The Champions and Elite Four alone number in the dozens. The gap is simply too great."

Yet Team Rocket could continue developing and growing stronger because its own strength was formidable. On top of that, every region had organizations similar to Team Rocket, so the Pokémon League could not concentrate all its power on dealing with a single group.

Thus, a strange balance had formed.

"I don't particularly mind working for Team Rocket, as long as the pay is good enough. Given my current situation, I won't find a job elsewhere that pays more, so I can't leave for now. I'll just take things one step at a time."

Xia Yan had to admit that he was living quite comfortably here.

He had a place to live, food to eat, access to all sorts of training equipment, and could earn a considerable amount of money. There were even precise instruments to analyze Weedle's condition, allowing him to understand Weedle's changes and determine the direction of its future improvements.

Whether it was the Pokémon League or Team Rocket, he had thought it through clearly. Whichever side offered greater benefits was the side he could choose.

Even if that made him seem like someone who switched sides with the wind, without enough resources to train Pokémon, all promises were just a joke.

Of course, the Pokémon League did not think highly of him right now, and Team Rocket might not either. But that did not mean they would continue looking down on him in the future.

As a bottom-tier Pokémon Trainer, the choice was not in his hands at all.

Thinking of that—

He remembered that he had not yet looked at the data report Supervisor Loto had given him about Weedle.

He took out the report, and after glancing at it, surprise appeared on Xia Yan's face.

"Did they choose to promote me to an intermediate rank because of this report? The so-called cleanup count wasn't actually that important."

It read:

Pokémon Trainer: Xia Yan

Pokémon: Weedle

Body: Outstanding

Speed: Outstanding

Moves: Outstanding

Reaction: Above Average

Rapport: Above Average

Overall Evaluation: Outstanding

Strength Assessment: Outstanding(?)

Evaluation: Compared with wild Weedle, it is exceptionally outstanding. It possesses tremendous potential for a Weedle, and changes to its body require close attention.

Note: Has immense observational value! Retention recommended.

He stared blankly at the brief evaluation on the report, as well as the four words marked in red at the end: "Retention recommended."

Only after a while did he come back to his senses. He looked at Weedle rolling around and playing on the bed, its body clearly much larger than that of an ordinary Weedle.

He murmured, "So it really was all because of Weedle."

Could two Berries really bring about such huge changes?

Weedle's previous evaluations had all been average or above average. Most of its above-average ratings had been relatively subtle categories such as "reaction" and "rapport," which had raised Weedle's overall evaluation.

None of those evaluations had changed now, but areas directly related to its body, such as "body" and "speed," had both received outstanding ratings.

In other words, Weedle's potential had increased by more than double.

And that was after it had only begun digesting the two Berries, before fully displaying all of their effects.

"If it continues training, Weedle clearly still has even more room to improve."

Its final strength assessment had also reached "Outstanding." Although there was a question mark after it, there was no doubt that last night's adventure had been a night of transformation for Weedle.

No wonder so many wild Pokémon had gone mad over those two Berries.

"This impulsive decision was worth it."

Xia Yan set down the report and let out a long breath.

At the same time, it once again proved that every Pokémon possessed its own unique traits and talents. Some Pokémon had their talents unearthed, while others did not.

But they could not become complacent because of that. Both he and Weedle had only just set foot on this path, and there was still a huge gap between them and other Pokémon and Trainers.

Weedle needed to keep training, perhaps even train at a higher intensity, while he needed to read more books.

This incident proved it. If he had not read some books and learned a little about the Berries favored by Bug-type Pokémon, he would not have been able to make an accurate judgment.

His advantage was his knowledge of all Pokémon and some combinations of moves in battle, but it was clearly not enough to become an outstanding Pokémon Trainer by relying on those advantages alone.

He needed more.

"0451, a member wants to book you for the whole day."

At that moment, Anna's voice came through the notification bell on the wall.

Xia Yan: "..."

The word "book" was well chosen.

"Got it." He let out a long breath and stood up.

It was probably Kenji calling him to Densewood Forest again.

But he was an intermediate sparring partner now, and his price had doubled from before.

Something came up this morning, so this update was late. Sorry.

The monthly votes have reached 100, so there will be an extra update today. There will be another extra update when they reach 200. Come on, throw some votes at me.

One last thing: whether you like Team Rocket or dislike Team Rocket, don't rush. The story has only just begun. Watch me unfold it slowly.