Pokémon: Trail of Ultimate Champion

Toshi handed the Ponyta's Pokémon egg to Nurse Joy. "Nurse Joy, could you please help me inspect this Pokémon egg and see if there are any issues?"

"Sure, please wait a moment. I'll arrange an inspection for your Pokémon egg right away," Nurse Joy said with a smile as she took the Ponyta's Pokémon egg from Toshi's hands.

"Thank you."

Toshi then sat down on a nearby chair to wait.

…

"Did you hear? Last night, Officer Jenny led a team to dismantle an Inkoutou underground experiment base!"

"Is that for real? That happened last night?"

"How could it be fake? I saw several people dressed in Inkoutou outfits being escorted into the police station this morning!"

"Haha, the Inkoutou have been so arrogant in Petalburg City for so long; Officer Jenny should have taught them a lesson a long time ago!"

Nearby, many people were discussing the news.

Toshi thought to himself: I didn't expect the news to spread so quickly; there are already so many people who know. No, I can't let the Inkoutou know that it was me who discovered their base and reported it to the police, or they will definitely come to take revenge on me!

Toshi planned to rush to the police station after the inspection of Ponyta's Pokémon egg was complete to avoid being exposed due to the publicity.

Twenty minutes later.

"Toshi Trainer, we have completed the inspection of your Pokémon egg. It is very healthy! Additionally, this Pokémon will hatch soon, so please keep an eye on it!"

As Nurse Joy handed the Pokémon egg back to Toshi, she continued to remind him of a few precautions.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy. Don't worry, I will keep an eye on it."

Toshi placed the Pokémon egg back in his backpack, thanked the Nurse again, and immediately turned to head to the police station.

…

"Officer Jenny!"

As Toshi arrived at the entrance of the police station, he saw Jenny talking to a police officer. To prevent Jenny from mentioning his situation to others, he hurried forward and said to her.

Hearing the voice, Jenny turned and smiled. "Oh, it's Trainer Toshi! Didn't I say to come by this afternoon? Why are you here so early?"

Toshi replied, "Officer Jenny, I just heard others talking about what happened last night on my way here, and I wanted to know if you mentioned my discovery of the Inkoutou base to anyone..."

"Oh, so that's what you're worried about," Jenny said, waving her hand to dismiss the people nearby and leading Toshi into the police station. "About that, Trainer Toshi, you can completely rest assured. We will not associate your name with what happened last night. In the past, we made mistakes that led to the exposure of informants providing us with information about dark forces, which resulted in that Trainer facing retaliation. Since then, we do not disclose anyone's presence without permission."

Hearing Jenny's words, the worry that had weighed on Toshi finally lifted. "I see. I guess I was a bit too cautious."

Jenny continued, "Trainer Toshi, since you're here, I'll also go ahead and issue your compensation."

Toshi was immediately alert. "Officer Jenny, how much is the compensation?"

Jenny led Toshi to an empty break room.

"Trainer Toshi, please have a seat."

Although Toshi was anxious, he had no choice but to sit down obediently.

After pouring a glass of water for Toshi, Jenny said, "Trainer Toshi, based on the discussions I had with everyone, we are classifying your contribution for this task as high level."

"High level?!" Toshi exclaimed.

He thought it would be classified according to near Champion standards for compensation, but it was only high level.

"Don't rush. Do you think that just because there was a near Champion involved, the task would be defined as elite or near Champion?"

Toshi asked, "Isn't that the case?"

Jenny smiled. "Of course not. The compensation we provide is based on each person's contributions as the measurement criteria. I must say, you were very lucky; during the Inkoutou internal conflict, you allowed Butterfree to sprinkle a significant amount of Sleep Powder, which led to over ten people being captured while still unconscious, including one high-level Trainer, five intermediate Trainers, and the rest being basic Trainers. All of these contributions can be credited to you. Together with the accurate location information you provided, although your overall rating is higher than high level, it doesn't quite meet the elite standard, so we have to classify it as high level."

"I see."

If Jenny hadn't mentioned it, Toshi wouldn't have known the extent of his actions yesterday. Hearing that over ten people had been put to sleep was something he could accept.

"So how much compensation can I specifically receive?"

Jenny said, "Generally, the compensation for high level tasks ranges from 10,000 to 50,000 yen, but since your contribution exceeds the parameters of a high level task, we are ultimately awarding you 80,000 yen, plus 800 League Points."

Toshi was surprised. "That much?!"

Jenny smiled. "There's no need to doubt or be humble, Trainer Toshi. Your contributions are absolutely deserving of such compensation."

Jenny extended her hand toward Toshi.

Toshi looked puzzled. "Huh?"

"Your bank card and task card!" Jenny said patiently.

"Oh!"

Toshi quickly took out the two cards from his bag and handed them to Jenny.

Three minutes later, Jenny returned the cards to Toshi. "Alright, the compensation has been transferred to your card. You can check it."

At that moment, the transaction notification for the money and points appeared on his phone.

Toshi received the cards. "Thank you, Officer Jenny."

"No need to mention it. If there's nothing else, you can head back. I have a lot of things to take care of."

Toshi stood up. "In that case, I won't keep you any longer. Farewell."

…

Walking out of the police station, Toshi couldn't quite believe it; he had unexpectedly earned 80,000 yen in one go. After all, his dad had only given him 10,000 yen to cultivate Ponyta, just enough to support him in getting Ponyta to the basic level. After that, he would need to figure out the cultivation costs on his own.

Toshi laughed happily and said, "With this, I've earned 80,000 yen, and the funds for Butterfree's cultivation are enough now, haha!"

However, when he arrived at the department store in Petalburg City, ready to spend, he realized that 80,000 yen really wasn't much.

After carefully selecting items, Toshi bought some nutrition products favored by newly born Fire-type Pokémon, as well as materials for making suitable nutrition products for Ponyta that his dad had written about in his books. He also prepared some basic Pokéblocks for Butterfree. Since Butterfree is both Bug-type and Flying-type, even basic Pokéblocks were a bit more expensive than usual.

During the final checkout, he found that he had spent about 3,000 yen on items for Ponyta and about 10,000 yen for Butterfree.

And all of that was just enough for each Pokémon's needs for two weeks.

In response, Toshi could only say: When it comes to spending money, it really doesn't feel like money at all.