Chapter 11: The Value of Money

The next day.

Cheng Hong came looking for him.

The youngster only had some external wounds and bruises, and after a day of rest he was fine; upon entering, he found Baimu playing fetch with a Poké Ball together with Roggenrola.

"Huh? You're getting along that well already?" He was a little surprised — he had seen with his own eyes how resistant Roggenrola had been toward the Poké Ball before.

Baimu gave no reply, silently watching Cheng Hong open a Poké Ball with a proud look on his face.

In the white light—

The Pokémon landed.

It was a strange creature whose main body was a black rock ball, with a pale-yellow hexagonal hole at its center, a slender rock on top of its head, and a pair of stone legs.

Having arrived in an unfamiliar place, the fellow seemed rather panicked and kept trembling.

"Roggenrola — it suits you pretty well."

"Pretty good, right? It's very well-behaved!"

Cheng Hong laughed and scooped it up, saying, "Speaking of which, Baimu, when are you planning to go pick a Pokémon? If you wait any longer, all the good ones will be taken."

"I'm not picking one. I'm choosing the cash equivalent."

Baimu shook his head.

Since Roggenrola had become a partner, it was necessary to help it get out of its malnourished state, and he himself needed to get used to the business of raising Pokémon.

Real Pokémon-raising is nothing like in the games; anyone who has kept a pet knows how troublesome it is, and training one into fighting strength is even harder and more grueling.

Many half-backs in the Quicksand Team couldn't raise Pokémon properly, often choosing to swap out the individual in hand, never seriously raising any. They would constantly replace them with new ones, much like buying magic treasures in a cultivation novel.

This phenomenon even swept across all of Iron Town and the Ore Region, so Pokémon that were already strong when caught were always especially expensive.

Pokémon that trainers in other regions considered rare but not particularly strong were, on the contrary, not in such demand — even when priced high, not many people bought them.

"Cash equivalent, huh… fair enough, you've already got Roggenrola."

Cheng Hong nodded, then chatted a bit about their colleagues.

The three people they had rescued were more seriously injured and might be bedridden for ten days to half a month; among the others who had failed to link up with them on the first day, only one had passed the assessment.

Unfortunately, after coming out he was practically wrecked too — currently lying around recovering.

Six people qualified on the first day.

For their little group, this was undoubtedly a tremendous boost.

"If only the next few days go this smoothly too."

Cheng Hong sighed.

"Mm."

Baimu nodded, watching Roggenrola make contact with Roggenrola, idly tossing the Poké Ball in his hand.

The night before, the two of them had unburdened their hearts to each other; although progress was slow due to the language barrier, it had correspondingly brought them considerably closer. Unfortunately, when the topic of goals came up, Roggenrola hadn't been able to give him an answer.

Or maybe it had, and he just hadn't understood… Hopefully an answer would come in the future.

In the blink of an eye—

The four-day assessment passed.

Apart from a little incident on the first day, the following days became unusually steady, and more people passed.

In Baimu's little group, those who took part later also finished the assessment; as for Shibata's lot, he wasn't too clear.

In the end, nearly a hundred people stood out and crossed the threshold to become full members, accounting for a quarter of all participants. At first glance it seemed like a lot, but in reality quite a few were people who had taken the assessment multiple times and finally made it through.

Therefore, Yugo, the current acting leader, was not satisfied with such a result.

The Quicksand Team's subordinates — that is, full members — numbered only a little over two thousand eight hundred in total; in Iron Town, with its population of several hundred thousand, they were like a drop in the ocean, and if they couldn't absorb enough fresh blood, they would forever remain a second-rate force.

And would never be able to develop any better.

However, this anxiety did not affect those joyful passers-by; to many people, the status of full member was no less than a step to the heavens, signifying that the days of toil were gone forever.

They had every right to be happy.

—

The day of discharge.

Baimu was packing up his things with Roggenrola when a sudden knock came at the door behind him.

"You're Baimu?"

The visitor met his gaze, looked him over on his own, and said, "Decent build — I'll count you as qualified. Report to the Sand Unit tomorrow. Including those colleagues of yours, anyone who can come, get them all there."

Having said that, he didn't give Baimu a chance to reply and immediately turned and left.

"…It's nothing."

He shook his head at the bewildered Roggenrola.

The Quicksand Team's internal factions were just as numerous; within the Combat Division alone, apart from the top boss, below him were the Sand, Crystal, and Stone Units, each led by one of the three top executives.

Among them, the top executive leading the Sand Unit was a giant of a man over two meters tall; outsiders said he was open-hearted, acted carelessly, and hated dragging things out. He was fairly caring toward his subordinates — a decent leader.

Hopefully the rumors would hold true.

Baimu understood he had no right to choose; within the Quicksand Team, only the Special Ops Unit could freelance like Jessie and James, but every member of Special Ops had been raised within the organization from childhood.

The other party coming to him in person could already be considered a show of sincerity.

After packing up his things—

Baimu left the hospital with Roggenrola and headed straight to the Quicksand Team building to register his identity and collect the items related to being a full member.

The clerk assisting him looked at Roggenrola with some surprise; he rarely saw grunts who already had a Pokémon before collecting theirs.

After all, most people who could get one directly looked down on it.

"Please convert my Pokémon's reward into a cash subsidy — that should be possible, right?"

"Huh? Ah! Yes, it is!"

All Baimu's words jolted the clerk back to his senses, and he hurriedly nodded.

After some processing.

The former received a hundred thousand and left happily with Roggenrola.

The Pokémon the Quicksand Team provided to new members were usually only Geodude and Graveler, with occasional Wooper and Sandshrew types — though the species differed, the prices were basically the same.

It should be mentioned that the Pokédollar currency used in the Orei region was roughly equivalent in value to the Japanese yen, meaning Poké Balls cost two hundred each and Soda Pop cost three hundred.

Most prices were still fairly normal, but Pokémon, since they had to be imported, were worth far more than in other regions — especially in a place like Iron Town, while the coastal Qinggang and the largest city, Cathode City, were slightly lower.

"Our food expenses have gone up again~"

All Baimu smiled and waved the bills at Roggenrola.

"Goo!"

Roggenrola tilted its head up and cheerfully responded.

Copper Milling Street.

Here stood the apartment building the Quicksand Team assigned to its underlings — a three-and-a-half-story concrete high-rise, its facade heavily weathered and a dull gray cement color, with no greenery to be seen and the roads all broken and battered.

But the infrastructure here — things like water pipes, sewers, electrical systems — was far better than the shanties of the old Iridium Street.

Presumably it could also take more punishment, since it had to bear the weight of Pokémon.

All Baimu liked it here, regardless of the facilities — only because he could see all kinds of Pokémon frolicking about.

His old residence had only people around, which made him wonder many times whether he'd actually come to the Pokémon world.

"Baimu! Want to go out for a meal tonight? Everyone wants to thank you, and we figured we'd celebrate too."

Narihiro, laden with big and small packages, said with a beaming smile.

"Sure, just let me know the place."

All Baimu nodded. Even among the Quicksand Team's underlings — who were just slightly higher-level bottom-rung members — sticking together was important, let alone the top brass.

But socializing… that was what he was worst at handling.

He didn't know if it had been deliberately arranged, but the places assigned to their group were all quite close — Narihiro was just two doors down, and the rest weren't much farther either.

Was it arranged by that person during the day?

He wondered if he could get detailed intel on Shi Yuan from him — family environment, friends, backers, Pokémon, that sort of thing.

"Let's start unpacking the new place!"

"Goo!"