Because they had agreed to go shopping for a little dress in the afternoon, after eating, Axel didn't return to his own home but went directly to sleep in the little loli's room.
The little loli, on the other hand, ran to Aunt Stacy's room to sleep.
But just after sleeping for a short while, he was awakened by a burst of urgent knocking on the door.
Axel hurriedly defeated the Deep Gray Gym's Leader, didn't have time to look at the dropped tags, and exited the dream realm.
He tidied up slightly, quietly put the sleeping Ralts into the Poké Ball, and left the room.
"Why did you wake me up so fast?"
The little loli was obviously a little nervous, stuck out her tongue and pointed behind her.
In the little loli's living room, Aunt Stacy was pouring tea for two people.
One of them sat on the sofa, complexion rosy, exuding a faint aura of someone in a superior position.
The other stood to the side, her proud figure outlined under a blue uniform. It was precisely the Officer Jenny they had just seen that day.
Next to the two people, there were also some gift bags piled up.
Axel just glanced slightly and could already tell those were all expensive Pokémon items.
"And this is?", Axel's gaze stopped on Officer Jenny, a bit of confusion in his eyes.
He was very certain that he had no interactions whatsoever with this middle-aged man.
Officer Jenny quickly introduced, her tone as friendly as ever:
"This is our Emberpine City's Pokémon Center Chairman, Mr. Ishida."
"He heard about your performance in the trial secret realm earlier today and specially wanted to come take a look."
Axel nodded, but his tone didn't change much.
"Chairman Ishida, hello, I'm Axel. May I ask what this is about?"
Seeing Axel's calm expression, Ishida felt no dissatisfaction in his heart, but instead appreciated Axel even more, inwardly praising him.
Calm in the face of favor or humiliation, with a kind of unique ease, and also with quite good strength.
Such trainers often easily attract powerful Pokémon to follow them.
This isn't some seniority-based immortal cultivation or high martial arts world.
In the world of Pokémon, as long as one's affinity is high enough, getting recognized by a strong Pokémon can lead to meteoric rise.
Ishida got straight to the point.
"Hello, Axel. Officer Jenny should have told you, our Emberpine City only has one month to unlock the secret realm."
"From a personal standpoint, I would prefer for the treasures in this secret realm to end up in the hands of Emberpine City's younger generation."
"And you, the one who opened the secret realm, are the most likely person to clear it."
"So I came this time to talk about sponsoring you."
Axel's eyes lit up.
Ever since seeing that Team Rocket outfit, Axel had inexplicably felt a sense of urgency.
If backed by money, maybe he could break through this secret realm faster and improve his strength.
The little loli next to him was completely stunned.
"Axel, didn't you say earlier in the car that the secret realm only had ordinary Rock-type Pokémon? Why would you get sponsored?"
"Mm, Rock-type... Aerodactyl."
Little loli: "..."
If Officer Jenny weren't here, she'd show Axel what iron mouth and steel teeth really mean right now.
"Eva, don't make a fuss. Your Brother Axel is discussing serious matters."
Seeing the group talking about such topics, Aunt Stacy wisely pulled the little loli back into the room, leaving the living room to the three of them...
———
"What? You mean this trial ruin requires sub-level-30 Pokémon to fight level 40 Pokémon?"
"That's Gym-level already!"
Axel helplessly nodded.
If it were a same-level fight, with Ralts carrying the "Fairy Quern" entry, he would've cleared the level long ago.
Ishida's eyebrows nearly twisted into the shape of the character "川."
Normally, the first trainer to clear a trial secret realm gains benefits from it.
It could be a Pokémon with excellent potential, or a rare treasure.
According to Alliance regulations, once a trial secret realm appears and is opened, it is offered to all local trainers via paid access.
If no local trainer clears it within a month, the secret realm must be handed over to the provincial capital, so their trainers can go in for the trial.
If the provincial capital still can't clear it, then it opens to trainers nationwide.
For him as Chairman, naturally, he hopes that kids from his own city will gain those opportunities.
If the city's trainers grow stronger, not only will the Pokémon Center receive more resources, but Emberpine City's foundation will also become stronger.
Once a dangerous secret realm descends and threatens city residents, a hometown-raised trainer is always better than a borrowed one.
'But to be honest…'
'This trial secret realm is absurdly difficult.'
'Letting a trainer under 20 years old bring sub-level-30 Pokémon to fight level 40+ Dragon-types.'
'This is supposed to be a trial?'
Any trainer who can meet both of those conditions doesn't need those measly treasures after clearing it.
It's not like there's a baby Rayquaza inside.
But to just hand over this secret realm to provincial capital trainers… he really couldn't accept it.
If Axel had been instantly wiped in the first level, fine. But he already passed the first level.
Finally a genius from his city appears, how could he let him fall off?
Taking it further, maybe this young man even holds the key to his own destiny.
After thinking for a while, Ishida made up his mind.
'I must help Axel clear it!'
With that thought, all his earlier hesitation vanished.
"Axel, the center has decided to provide you with a certain level of sponsorship."
"Later, write a list of what you need, just tell me anything."
"Whether it's sub-level-30 Pokémon, or resources for raising Pokémon."
"As long as the total value doesn't exceed 2 million, I'll cover it all!"
Officer Jenny's gorgeous lips twitched slightly, speechlessly looking at her stingy chairman.
"Chairman, you're way too cheap…"
"Two million? What can that buy? A few TMs and it's gone."
"Yes," Axel quickly agreed.
"Ahem, is that so?", Ishida clearly felt a bit embarrassed too, scratching his thick head.
"Then make it three million… Axel, please understand, our place is just a small county town, the center is really tight on funds."
"Of the three million, over a million is from my own pocket."
"And no need to write a list, just go directly to the Pokémon Center and pick."
"Let them give you everything at cost price. It should theoretically allow you to get up to 5 million worth of stuff."
"If you don't have any objections, then let's settle it like that."
Of course Axel had no objections.
Getting 5 million worth of stuff for free, who would say no?
Besides this money, he still had over a million left by his late mother.
Add the two together.
According to Ishida's earlier conversion, he could theoretically get around 7 million worth of items at cost price.
That would be more than enough to bring about a qualitative leap in Ralts's strength.
Though Ralts' current strength was decent, in Axel's opinion it was a bit too aboveboard.
Not that the skill set was bad, just that this kind of path made progress too slow.
With some debuffing skills, Ralts could fight Aerodactyl like a walk in the park.
"Then thank you, Chairman. I'll strive to clear Aerodactyl by tomorrow."
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