I Am the Clown and Training Pidgeotto (3k!)

Tetsuya: ??? I Am the Clown??

Tetsuya was completely dumbfounded.

No, there was nothing wrong with that price. Defective Items simply weren't worth that much to begin with, especially one with only a 6% effect.

Flying-type items weren't particularly sought after either. Two million was already a very reasonable price, if not slightly high.

Tetsuya was a little baffled and sent the seller a string of question marks, asking what had happened.

Before the seller could reply, Tetsuya saw that the post had been updated.

"Sold, 28 million."

Tetsuya was floored.

Was there really some idiot willing to spend that much on a useless item? They really didn't treat money as money.

Tetsuya felt envious, bitter, and utterly incredulous.

Just then, the seller replied to his message.

"Sorry, brother, I got too excited just now. You're a Trainer, right? Two million is considered a high price among Trainers, but two Collectors came to buy it just now. They started bidding against each other and pushed it straight to 28 million. Sorry about that."

This guy was pretty polite, Tetsuya thought.

After reading the seller's reply, Tetsuya roughly understood what had happened.

Pokemon Collectors were a group whose hobby was collecting all kinds of special Pokemon and related rare items. Most of them were wealthy beyond belief.

Since money itself was no longer anything worth showing off, they could only prove their standing by gathering increasingly precious things.

Apparently, their usual gatherings were mainly for flaunting their collections. The rarer the item, the more praise it received.

Tetsuya had failed to consider that. A Defective Item with a 6% effect might be neither useful enough to keep nor worthless enough to discard for a Trainer, but for a group like Collectors, such an extremely rare thing had considerable collectible value.

Tetsuya gave a wry laugh, but he was not overly disappointed.

He had only checked it out with the mindset of trying his luck to see whether he could buy it. Who would have thought two Collectors would suddenly appear and crush everyone with money?

Not getting it was fine too. At least he had saved two million, which he could put toward training Pidgeotto more intensively.

Tetsuya thought resentfully that once he had that much money someday, he would play like that too.

But wouldn't it be better to use that much money to train Pokemon? Why buy something like that? Tetsuya still could not understand how rich people thought.

After calming himself down, Tetsuya browsed through the entire forum again and found nothing but wanted posts and bait threads.

For example, this one—"Fire-type Pokemon are all trash. Come argue if you disagree."

Tetsuya clicked into it, and sure enough, the comments were filled with insults.

"?? Are you even qualified to say that? Do you even have a Fire-type Pokemon? Broke loser."

"They really are trash. They only dominate the four common types—Grass, Steel, Bug, and Ice. I'm dying."

"Honestly, aren't Charizard and Blaziken cool? So what if they have weaknesses? Their looks are god-tier. Who can't kick a few kids around? (doge)"

"Replying to the comment above: That's true, but I still think Ninetales is stronger. Besides, Vulpix have gentle personalities."

"The commenter above is rich. Vulpix are rare to begin with, and you don't even care about Fire Stones. So jealous."

As Tetsuya kept reading, he suddenly noticed something was off.

Amid all the arguing, the replies below had begun discussing which Fire-type Pokemon were better, constantly presenting evidence and theoretically explaining the trainability of different Fire-type Pokemon.

Tetsuya got it. The poster was fishing for answers.

Ineffective spam post: Does anyone know what kind of Fire-type Pokemon is suitable for training?

Replies: None; not suitable; expensive; bad in the early stages.

Effective spam post: Fire-type Pokemon are all trash. Come argue if you disagree.

Tetsuya learned a little from it, though he found that most of it was just common content and opinions.

After a bout of boredom, Tetsuya closed the forum.

Opening the video section, Tetsuya checked the notifications and found that yesterday's latest Indigo Plateau Conference finals video, along with videos from several Trainers he followed, had all been updated. After paying for them all, he watched them in order with great interest.

Just five videos cost Tetsuya a thousand Alliance Coins, but he did not feel the slightest heartache when it came to learning from outstanding Trainers' commands.

Not to mention that he occasionally read researchers' published papers as well. Those cost five thousand each and did not even come with explanations, making them even more expensive.

These were all necessary expenses.

The night passed without incident.

In the early morning, a soft breeze swept through Viridian City, carrying the fresh scent of Viridian Forest.

The newly risen sunlight in the distance seemed especially gentle, heralding the arrival of a new day.

It was the transition between spring and summer, and the weather was quite cool. Wearing a black sleeveless shirt, Tetsuya performed his daily physical training in the Back Garden.

A qualified Trainer or Bounty Hunter had to possess good Physical Fitness. Only then could they have a chance of surviving at the most dangerous moments. This was a lesson Tetsuya had learned through years of risking his life.

Sweat continuously emerged from his sharp-browed, bright-eyed face and his well-defined body visible beneath his shirt, soaking his tousled brown hair.

After finishing his final set, Tetsuya let out a long breath and took the towel hanging around his neck to wipe away his sweat.

He casually released Pidgeotto. "Pidgeotto, go have some Free Time for now. If you get hungry, eat some Berries first. I'm going to take a shower."

"Pidgeotto!" The released Pidgeotto answered its Trainer, then beat its wings and flew into the sky.

Tetsuya went into the house and began showering.

After his shower, Tetsuya came out while drying his hair.

Wearing only a pair of Light Blue casual shorts, the bare-chested Tetsuya's sturdy physique displayed the unique charm of youth.

After putting on a hoodie, Tetsuya went outside. By then, Pidgeotto had already returned and was perched on a branch of the Berry Tree in the backyard.

"Pidgeotto!" Seeing its Trainer come out, Pidgeotto waved a wing in greeting.

"Good morning, good morning. We'll be starting today's training soon." Tetsuya replied with a smile.

Pidgeotto flapped its wings, indicating that it was ready.

"Then first comes the warm-up. Same as today—120 miles. We'll meet at the Old Meeting Spot." Tetsuya took out the Weight Equipment as he spoke to Pidgeotto.

Pidgeotto obediently flew over to Tetsuya and let him fit the Weight Equipment onto its body.

Once the equipment was secured, Pidgeotto spread its wings and shot into the sky, beginning the first training session of the day.

Tetsuya stretched lazily, then followed behind at a slow jog.

One hundred and twenty miles was actually just a normal distance for Pidgeotto now. After all, a wild Pidgeotto's territory could span sixty miles.

With the weights on, Tetsuya's Pidgeotto only needed around twenty-five minutes to finish its warm-up. Without them, that time could be reduced to fifteen minutes.

Its evolved form, Pidgeot, would be even more ridiculous. Even wild Pidgeot could reach speeds close to Mach 2. Tetsuya was greatly looking forward to seeing how fast his Pidgeotto would become after evolving.

As for whether Pidgeotto would slack off?

In this world, the desire to grow stronger was practically etched into Pokemon genes. Such things basically never happened. Besides, Tetsuya and Zero could effectively display the results of its training through Data Analysis.

So there was no need to worry.

As for Tetsuya, this unhurried jog that barely made him sweat was just enough for him to cover six or seven kilometers to Pidgeotto's usual training ground.

Don't think that was exaggerated. Pokemon World's Physical Fitness was basically monstrous across the board, Not to Mention that Tetsuya had always kept up a rigorous exercise routine.

That little distance was nothing to Tetsuya.

Breathing in the fresh air, Tetsuya jogged all the way to the usual training ground.

It was near the boundary between Viridian Forest and Viridian City, but it was extremely secluded, with dense trees all around.

Tetsuya stretched in place and waited for a while.

"Pidgeotto!" Pidgeotto cried as it landed in the Open Space.

"Alright, warm-up's over. Next is agility training." Tetsuya stepped forward and helped Pidgeotto remove the weights.

"Same as usual. Use Agility to move quickly through the forest ahead." With a wave of his hand, Tetsuya started the next round of training without even letting Pidgeotto rest for a moment. He knew Pidgeotto's endurance very well.

Pidgeotto was equally self-aware. The moment the weights came off, it skillfully began its next exercise.

A yellow blur constantly darted through the forest at high speed. Occasionally, it would crash into a Tree Trunk because it was moving too fast, but it quickly readjusted itself and continued flying.

Tetsuya took out his computer and continuously modified the data according to Pidgeotto's condition.

An hour later, "Alright, you can rest for a bit." Tetsuya called a halt to Pidgeotto, which had grown somewhat sluggish.

Pidgeotto landed beside Tetsuya, panting heavily.

Tetsuya took out a Potion and sprayed some onto Pidgeotto's scraped areas.

"We'll take a break, then move on to the next training session."

Pidgeotto gave its Trainer a resentful look. It was used to this, but exhaustion was still unavoidable.

Smiling, Tetsuya took out a Sitrus Berry he had brought with him and gave it to Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto's eyes lit up, and it quickly began eating.

Sitrus Berries were a variant of Oran Berries. They did not taste all that different, but the former were more effective at restoring stamina and naturally cost more.

Tetsuya had made a big profit yesterday. Otherwise, he would not have given Pidgeotto a Sitrus Berry. Most of the time, it ate Oran Berries to recover instead.

By the time it had finished the Sitrus Berry, it was about time, and Pidgeotto began the next phase of training.

It was not until noon, when the sun hung high in the sky and its dazzling rays made it hard to keep one's eyes open, that Tetsuya finally let Pidgeotto stop completely.

After returning home, Tetsuya ignored his own gnawing hunger and first prepared Pidgeotto's lunch based on its morning training, following Zero's plan. Only then could the training truly be considered meaningful; otherwise, it would merely be simple exhaustion.

Once Pidgeotto began eating, Tetsuya finally entered the kitchen, took out a steak from the refrigerator, and started cooking it.

Before long, Tetsuya carried a plate with steak in his left hand and a glass of milk in his right as he sat at the dining table and began eating his own lunch.

That morning alone, Tetsuya had spent over ten thousand Alliance Coins, including the Miltank milk he was drinking. Of course, the milk itself only cost five hundred Alliance Coins.

The bulk of the expenses had gone toward Pidgeotto's nutritional supplements.

In the afternoon came battle training. Tetsuya and Pidgeotto continually challenged Trainers and their Pokemon at the Pokemon Center's battlefields, occasionally recovering with Miss Joy.

In the evening, they headed to the mall to buy various supplies. After dinner, the day's training was over.

Two weeks passed peacefully like this, and Pidgeotto successfully reached Level 36.

At the same time, after finishing training, Tetsuya looked at his rapidly shrinking wallet and gave a bitter smile.

3k for two days, and tomorrow too.