Chapter 88

Just as they reached the entrance of the Sea House, Ash pushed through the crowd and leaned over: "Huo La! Blue! Your battle just now was too cool! This afternoon, just this afternoon! Let's have another battle!"

Huo La glanced at the tourists gathered in the field, and then looked at Ash's expectant appearance, and said helplessly: "Stop thinking about battling for now.

Release your Pokémon and take advantage of the crowd to help Old Man Pook pull customers—otherwise, just relying on the shouting of the three of you, even if you get the beauty contest prize money tomorrow, you might not be able to pay back the yacht's compensation."

"Right! Why didn't I think of that!" Ash slapped his forehead violently, instantly forgetting about the battle, turned around and greeted Misty and Lilian, "Quick! Let Pikachu and the others come to help attract customers too!" Saying that, he ran into the crowd in a hurry.

Returning to the room on the second floor, Huo La lay on the bed face up, replaying every detail of the battle with Blue in his mind, and sighed helplessly after a long while: "Sure enough, the gap is still too big."

For the next training, he must look for new tactical combinations.

Setting off a year early, with the experience and foundation of a veteran trainer like Blue, the gap opened was indeed large enough.

However, the League Conference is held every four years, and there is still enough time to polish tactics and improve strength, so this little setback is nothing.

Throwing the annoyance of failure behind him, Huo La was about to check the system's task rewards, but found that except for the "Pokémon Query" function that could still be used normally, all other modules had lit up the same prompt: 【System upgrading... functions are temporarily unavailable.】

"Suddenly upgrading?" Huo La smacked his teeth, but didn't think much of it—anyway, this system hadn't given any reliable benefits before.

He flipped through a yellowed notebook from his backpack, which was precisely the breeding insights Brock had accumulated over the years.

Although he didn't intend to become a breeder, learning more breeding knowledge was never wrong.

The shouting downstairs was still continuing, and he could vaguely hear Brock's voice helping to greet customers.

Huo La flipped through the notebook, accompanied by the sea breeze outside the window and the lively human voices, and fell into a nap without knowing it.

The next day, the beauty contest in Porta Vista opened as scheduled, the stage on the beach was decorated with flowers and ribbons particularly dazzling, and the cheers of tourists came one after another.

But in the crowd, Huo La and Brock were nowhere to be seen—at this moment, the two had already boarded the early ferry to the port.

Brock was full of expectations for the beauty contest, and was still muttering about "finally being able to see big sisters in swimsuits" before setting off, but his interest was extinguished by Huo La's words: "Brock, think clearly, do you want to earn one million in prize money, or stay here to watch big sisters compete in beauty?"

In the face of real money, beauty and liveliness instantly became floating clouds.

Brock immediately clenched his fists: "Let's go! To the port!"

And precisely because Huo La dragged people away in a hurry, he ultimately missed the "unexpected joy" of this beauty contest—Bilan's arrival.

"What the hell! He actually left?!" Behind the wooden door of the Sea House, Bilan stood with her hands on her hips, puffing out her cheeks, her tone filled with a young girl's coquetry and annoyance.

Professor Oak stood on the side, looking at her angry appearance, his expression a bit awkward, not knowing how to comfort her for a while.

After Bilan's anger gradually subsided, Professor Oak sighed and said slowly: "Don't worry, Huo La told me before he set off that he was going to the port to take a boat to Saffron City. If you chase now, you might be able to catch the tail end of the early boat."

"Chase! Must chase!" Bilan raised her eyes instantly, her eyes firm, "My Pokémon egg is still in his hands, I can't let him run away like this!"

"Pokémon egg?" Professor Oak let out a soft exclamation upon hearing this, a hint of realization flashing in his turbid eyes, then looked at Bilan, his tone carrying a bit of probing, "You wouldn't... have dragged Huo La into that matter, would you?"

Hearing this, Bilan blushed instantly, lowered her head a bit awkwardly, her fingers twisting the corner of her clothes, and the previous arrogance dissipated without a trace.

She thought she would face the professor's reprimand, but after waiting for a long time, what came to her ears was Professor Oak's exclamation: "I originally thought you would find Red or Blue to help, but I didn't expect you to choose Huo La."

He paused, his gaze looking toward the distant sea level, his tone carrying a bit of praise: "But that's fine. This child has been meticulous since he was a child and considers things comprehensively, sometimes so restrained that he doesn't look like a young man. Having him help you might be more suitable than the straightforward Red and the arrogant Blue."

"Eh? Professor, you don't blame me?" Bilan raised her head violently, her eyes full of surprise.

"What's the use of blaming you?" Professor Oak waved his hand, his eyes carrying the gentleness of an elder, "Besides, if I really blamed you, why would I have specially delayed Red's departure for a year and entrusted Squirtle to you? Take care of yourself on the road, and pay attention to safety in everything."

Saying that, he began to nag about details like "contact Officer Jenny if you encounter danger" and "keep enough Pokémon food."

On the other side, Huo La and Brock had arrived at the port.

This port city was as famous as Vermilion City, and both were important shipping hubs in the Kanto region.

The only difference was—Vermilion City connected to land, with people flowing like weaving; while the port was a transit station for routes transformed from a small island, surrounded by water on all sides, and the salty and damp scent in the sea breeze became increasingly rich.

As soon as they walked into the main alley of the port area, a reward notice more than one person tall came into view, and the words "Reward One Million" on it were particularly eye-catching.

Huo La's eyes lit up, and he patted Brock on the shoulder: "Let's go, Brock, let's go make money!"

He compared the address on the notice and pulled Brock straight toward the travel company.

"You are the ones who signed up today?" In the office, an old woman with a face full of wrinkles and leaning on a cane looked down at the two, her eyes full of suspicion, "How come they are two children who haven't even grown their hair?"

Brock stared at the old woman's face for a long time, and suddenly realized: "You... aren't you Granny from Porta Vista? How come you are here?"

"What Granny! I'm Granny!" The old woman slammed her cane on the ground violently, correcting angrily, "Porta Vista's Granny is my cousin! What a lack of eye for people!"

She took a deep breath, seemingly too lazy to care about this little thing, waved her hand and said: "Forget it, no matter who you are, as long as you can solve the Tentacool and Tentacruel groups in the near shore, besides the one million reward, there are also one-year free vouchers for all hotels under my name."

"Solve Tentacool and Tentacruel?" Brock frowned, full of confusion.

Huo La didn't pay attention to Brock's question, his gaze locked straight on Granny, his tone calm: "Don't worry, we will definitely be able to solve the problem. But ugly words are said in front—how do you guarantee that this one million and the vouchers can be cashed?"

"Are you little ghosts afraid that I won't keep my word?" Granny raised her eyebrows, her tone carrying sarcasm.

"Business, after all, always has to leave a hand, so as not to end up with nothing." Huo La responded neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Humph, the trainers now are indeed more cunning than before." Granny snorted coldly, but also nodded, "However, you are right, anyone else would ask. As long as we can get on the island, I will settle it for you on the spot."

She paused and asked impatiently: "Little ghosts, any more questions?"

"No more." Huo La nodded.

"Then hurry up and get to work! Don't waste time here!" Granny waved her hand, as if driving away flies.