Memories

The Starter Pokemon were mainly Water-, Fire-, and Grass-types, though the species varied by region. In Kanto, they were Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur. All three Pokemon had three evolutionary stages and enormous potential.

Moreover, the League had specialists who could roughly assess aptitude. The Starter Pokemon given to direct-line novice Trainers were invariably gifted and mild-tempered. With proper training, reaching Quasi-Elite Four level would not be much of a problem.

In the Black Market, Starter Pokemon were not as expensive as pseudo-legendary eggs. After all, not every one had outstanding talent. Even so, a Starter Pokemon Egg still sold for more than 20 million Alliance Coins.

The price was simply staggering.

As of yesterday, even counting the money he had spent, Tetsuya had only earned a little over 4.5 million Alliance Coins in the past four years.

This villa had cost only 800,000 Alliance Coins. Most of the remaining money had gone into raising Pidgeotto.

Even so, the Pidgeotto Tetsuya had raised for over a year had only recently entered the Elite level. Of course, that was also related to his lack of money and the slow progress of laying Pidgeotto's foundation.

Tetsuya fell into his memories.

Tetsuya's first Pokemon had not been his current Pidgeotto, but a Rattata.

After all, when Tetsuya had first entered society, all he had was the League scholarship—10,000 Alliance Coins.

That was enough to support him for A Period Of Time and let him find a job with his own abilities, but if he wanted to become a Trainer, then bluntly speaking, that amount of money was practically the same as having none.

Even the cheapest Pokemon Eggs in the Black Market, even Caterpie eggs, cost the exorbitant price of 50,000 Alliance Coins. Most Caterpie that hatched from them could not evolve, and their Combat Power was practically zero.

A captured wild Caterpie, on the other hand, cost only 10,000 Alliance Coins if it was kept in a Poke Ball. But such Caterpie did not even have a chance to gamble with their lives; they simply could not evolve.

If they could evolve into Metapod, they would not be so cheap. Given the growth cycle of Bug-type Pokemon, they would have evolved long ago if evolution had been possible.

Tetsuya was unwilling to accept that. In this world, only by becoming a Trainer did he have even the slightest chance of changing his fate. Besides, he had his Cheat/System.

So Tetsuya had risked his life and entered Viridian Forest alone, hoping to take a gamble.

As long as he found a Pokemon Egg, no matter its aptitude, Tetsuya was confident he could overcome the initial difficulties.

Fortunately, after the miserable experiences of being chased by Weedle and driven away by Caterpie's String Shot, Tetsuya had truly found an egg left behind by a Raticate. Its aptitude was only ordinary, and it could not evolve into Raticate.

After returning to Viridian City and hatching the Rattata, Tetsuya did not have the means to raise it according to the plan Zero had provided, but he still cared for it with all his heart.

Once Rattata passed its Young Stage, Tetsuya registered as a Bounty Hunter and began his journey of earning money. Naming himself Mercenary was also his way of preserving a memory of his Previous Life.

The income was low and life was difficult, but during those two years of adventure, Tetsuya and Rattata gradually managed to save up some money.

But misfortune struck without warning. During one adventure, Tetsuya and Rattata encountered a flock of Spearow.

Though Tetsuya survived that battle, the level 18 Rattata could not escape the claws of the Spearow flock.

Tetsuya was devastated.

But dead Pokemon could not come back to life unless he found Ho-Oh. How could that possibly happen?

So Tetsuya could only Head Towards the Black Market, intending to rely on his knowledge and Zero's abilities to select a Pokemon with exceptional aptitude and start training again.

The Black Market, as its name implied, was a market in the shadows, unrecognized by the League In the Open.

After all, League regulations explicitly prohibited the trade and sale of Pokemon, including Pokemon Eggs.

But as long as the profit was great enough in this world, many people were willing to take risks. Thus, the Black Market came into being.

Gradually, more and more Black Markets appeared, and their scale grew larger and larger. They became an unwritten gray area. Though the League did not support them, it tacitly allowed their existence, because only this way could people at the Deepest Layer have even the slightest hope.

Tetsuya walked through the Black Market, concealing himself beneath a black robe. Everyone around him was dressed the same way.

When he reached a stall selling eggs of common Pokemon such as Caterpie, Weedle, and Pidgey, Tetsuya looked at the vendor, who wore the same black robe, and asked, "How much for a Pidgey Pokemon Egg?"

Hearing Tetsuya's slightly youthful voice, the vendor was not surprised. There were simply too many people like him. He answered blandly, "The Black Market's standard price. 250,000."

Tetsuya was neither surprised nor did he think the vendor was trying to cheat him.

Just as the man had said, prices for ordinary Pokemon Eggs like these were standardized throughout the Black Market. He had only asked to confirm it once more.

Though Pidgey was not powerful and its gentle nature made it unsuitable for intense battles, it had as many evolutions as the Starter Pokemon. Its final evolution, Pidgeot, was not only handsome but also powerful.

If most Pidgey did not have poor aptitude, if evolving into Pidgeotto were not already one in a thousand, and if evolving into Pidgeot were not even rarer, Pidgey eggs would have cost far more than this.

Tetsuya casually picked a Pokemon Egg and put it in his bag. He took out an unregistered Savings Card he had prepared in advance and handed it to the vendor, completing the transaction.

Tetsuya turned and left.

The vendor did not think much of it. After confirming that the money on the card was correct, he continued waiting for his next customer.

Though he could tell that Tetsuya had only appeared casual, having actually carefully examined every one of his Pidgey eggs before choosing, he did not think the eggs produced by a flock led by a Pidgeotto he had wiped out could contain any particularly good Pokemon.

Besides, there was no instrument in this world capable of determining a Pokemon's aptitude while it was still inside an egg. Even the best aptitude appraisers could only make a rough judgment from a young Pokemon's development, fur, and bloodline.

Much less a child who was obviously a commoner.

How could the vendor have known that Tetsuya possessed Zero, something that did not belong to this world?

Tetsuya's heartbeat accelerated madly, but he was still inside the Black Market. He could only forcibly suppress his excitement and walk back to his rented room at a pace slightly faster than normal.

Back in his rented room, Tetsuya could no longer hide his excitement. Taking out the Pokemon Egg, he screamed inwardly.

"Zero, open the panel for the Pokemon Egg in front of me."

A blue panel immediately unfolded, and Tetsuya's attention locked tightly onto the Potential line.

Displayed there were two words: Champion.

This was Champion potential! Tetsuya nearly failed to stop himself from shouting.

During his previous two years of adventures, the highest aptitude he had ever seen in a Wild Pokemon had only been Elite. He had not even encountered a Quasi-Elite Four.

Tetsuya had never imagined that heading to the Black Market out of desperation would bring him such an enormous surprise.

Originally, Tetsuya had planned to spend a large portion of his savings on a better Pokemon Egg, something like a Sandshrew. If he chose one with Elite aptitude, it could evolve into Sandslash, which would already be a fairly good Pokemon.

If he kept some money for training as well, Tetsuya was fully confident he could develop it properly.

But who could have expected that the moment he entered the Black Market, Tetsuya would discover that this Pidgey egg actually possessed Elite Four Level potential!

At the time, Tetsuya had not dared believe his eyes. He had even suspected that Zero was malfunctioning.

For Pokemon names, I usually choose the ones that sound better to me rather than the official ones. Personally, I think Pidgeot sounds much less lame than Pidgeot.

Happy 521!!