Attire

Kenji wore a simple outfit and carried a backpack, looking every bit like someone about to go on an adventure.

"Xia Yan, why are you dressed like that?" Kenji blurted out in surprise when he saw him.

"And why has your Weedle gotten so much bigger?"

He pointed at the Weedle on Xia Yan's shoulder, gesturing exaggeratedly with both hands.

"It ate too much."

Not wanting to say much about Weedle's changes, Xia Yan headed straight for the door.

"It ate too much?"

Kenji wore an expression that plainly said he did not believe that at all.

But he still hurried after him.

A luxurious car was parked outside, its rear door open.

Before Xia Yan could react, Kenji darted into the car and waved at him from inside. "What are you waiting for? Get in."

Xia Yan pursed his lips.

He knew Kenji's family was probably wealthy, but he had not expected them to be this wealthy. This car alone had to be worth several million Poké Dollars, right?

Compared to that, the wages Xia Yan had worked so hard to earn seemed utterly insignificant.

After a brief hesitation, he got in.

Once inside, Weedle curiously examined the car, sniffing here and touching there. This was its first time riding in anything other than a bus or on foot.

"Uncle Fu, let's stop by the store first," Kenji called.

"Certainly, young master."

An elderly man with graying hair, dressed in a butler's uniform, sat in the front passenger seat. He turned around with a smile as he replied.

The car slowly pulled away, moving very smoothly.

"Aren't we going to Densewood Forest?" Xia Yan asked.

Kenji glanced at him, looking faintly disdainful. "If you go dressed like that, my classmates will look down on you. We're getting you a new outfit first."

The car drove steadily, but it was not slow at all.

Very soon.

It stopped in front of an extravagant store.

The store stood in Goldenrod City's busiest district. Its storefront was enormous, and its decor was far too lavish to be described simply as "extravagant."

"Sato Fashions."

The massive sign hung above the entrance, simple yet far from plain.

Xia Yan fell silent at the entrance.

"We don't have much time. Stop staring and come in." Kenji strode inside and called to Xia Yan.

Sure enough, anyone who could hold membership in the Silph Pokémon Battle Club was no ordinary person. This store alone was enough to demonstrate the Sato Family's wealth.

After spending several days in Goldenrod City, Xia Yan had gained some understanding of the place. Sato Fashions was one of the city's leading clothing companies, with assets worth at least several hundred million, perhaps even several billion Poké Dollars.

He clicked his tongue.

Then he walked inside.

It seemed the Team Rocket-controlled Silph Pokémon Battle Club was not merely there to provide Pokémon data to Silph Co. Perhaps it also existed to maintain connections with, and even establish cooperation with, Goldenrod City's companies and families, both large and small?

"Come on, everyone, get moving. Help my brother change into something decent. I don't have much time, and I only have one requirement: handsome!" Kenji clapped his hands and expertly called out to the store clerks.

At his command, the clerks immediately sprang into action.

Xia Yan simply stood there and let them fuss over him like a puppet, unable to get a single word in.

Whether in his previous life or this one, it was his first time receiving such treatment.

Since Kenji had said there was not much time, the clerks worked extremely quickly.

By the time they left, Kenji looked thoroughly satisfied, while Xia Yan had undergone a complete transformation.

He wore a fitted black undershirt with a slightly fashionable gold necklace, topped with a sharp little black suit jacket adorned with various accessories and pendants. His trousers were tapered without restricting his movements, and he wore a pair of exquisite leather shoes.

On top of that, he had been forced to put on a decorative ring on the index finger of his left hand.

He also held a small black top hat.

Combined with his original short black hair and his sharply defined features, now more pronounced after recovering somewhat from malnutrition—

At first glance, he no longer looked like a bottom-tier Goldenrod City resident who had struggled just to survive not long ago.

Weedle was still perched on Xia Yan's shoulder.

It had witnessed Xia Yan's transformation, and its surprise was impossible to suppress.

It had not expected that changing Xia Yan's clothes would make him seem like an entirely different person.

The clerks were clearly highly experienced. They had followed Kenji's requirements perfectly, and the final result could be summed up in one word: handsome.

Back in the car.

Kenji folded his arms and examined Xia Yan, unable to stop clicking his tongue. "Tsk, tsk. Clothes really do make the man. Changing into a different outfit completely changes how someone feels. Add that cold personality of yours, and you're absolutely a girl killer."

Xia Yan shot him an irritated look.

What was the point of dressing so well?

Other than attracting unnecessary attention and unwanted looks, it served no purpose at all.

"So you're the young master of the Sato Family, Sato Kenji," Xia Yan said.

The Sato Family probably was not a minor presence among the members of the Silph Pokémon Battle Club, was it?

Kenji waved a hand. "I wanted to get along with you as an ordinary person, but there's no helping it now. The truth is out."

Xia Yan: "..."

That line sounded a little familiar.

"It's fine, you don't need to care. Just treat me as usual. My goal is to become an outstanding Pokémon Trainer. Most family matters are handled by my father and older brother. In other people's eyes, what was I called again? Oh, right. A playboy. Some even call me useless."

Kenji looked completely unconcerned.

Xia Yan, however, deeply agreed.

If their identities were switched, he would gladly be a playboy, gladly be useless. Wouldn't it be nice to peacefully eat, drink, and wait for death?

Some people stood at the peak of life from the moment they were born, while people at the bottom of society like him had to struggle, even risk their lives, just to survive.

At that thought, his fists unconsciously clenched.

The red "R" embroidered on Supervisor Loto's clothes flashed through his mind.

Team Rocket was nothing more than that. It was not much different from the Pokémon League. The only difference was that the Pokémon League hid the conditions of competition, while Team Rocket laid them out in the open.

But whether it was Team Rocket or the Pokémon League, as long as they could provide him with resources, it did not matter.

He wanted to live. He wanted to grow stronger. He wanted to completely cast off the identity of "bottom-tier."

Whether the Pokémon League or Team Rocket, they were merely two ladders in his eyes—ladders he could grasp and slowly climb.

An unusual silence settled over the car.

Sitting in the front passenger seat, the Uncle Fu Kenji spoke of watched Xia Yan through the rearview mirror, silently observing him.

Before long, the car carried them to the outskirts of Goldenrod City and arrived outside Densewood Forest.

Kenji and Xia Yan's arrival did not cause much of a stir.

Every student had someone like Xia Yan beside them, a person permitted by the school to enter Densewood Forest with them and protect each student's safety.

Under the teachers' arrangements, the students rushed into the woods like horses breaking free of their reins, eager to begin their "adventure."

There would be another chapter later, though it would probably be a little late.