Important note before the chapter: Humans in this fic are around twice as strong as the humans in our world and also live twice as long on average. The MC is around five times weaker than an average kid his age.
After clearing his mind of self doubt for now, even if barely, Haruki started walking through the forest and Elekid started following him, Haruki gave his field medic kit to Elekid to hold. After all, it was around 3 kg, quite hard for Haruki to carry.
Haruki told Elekid to start running near him at full speed while staying with him and holding the field medic kit. During this period, he should also be releasing low-level electric shocks toward the ground, shocks so weak that they wouldn't even be able to hurt Haruki.
Elekid, of course, being a kid, complained and wanted to delay training, but Haruki bribed him by giving him the temptation of stories, stories that Haruki would tell during the journey when he wasn't asleep. Pokémon have a limiter which does not let them increase their various stats more than a certain amount in a day, and that limiter depends on various factors such as their talent, genetics, and diet.
Elekid, of course, stopped, but Haruki, who constantly observed him, reminded him to restart or he wouldn't be able to hear any good stories. Haruki made Elekid train in such a manner from afternoon to evening to make sure the little guy didn't get too scared away from training.
Haruki stopped once or twice to rest, during which time he also slept. But now, because Haruki had Elekid with him, he had to keep an eye out for Elekid to not run off somewhere, and even the slightest movement from Elekid woke him up, a testament to his aura powers. So after falling asleep and waking up around three times in a very short period of time, Haruki decided that it would be better to not sleep and just walk and rest until he was out of the forest.
Even when Elekid was not with Haruki, it was not uncommon for him to be woken up once or twice every break by a Pokémon around 50 meters away, even though he took the shortest route with the minimum number of Pokémon.
Elekid, being a Pokémon, did not find it challenging to only sleep for short periods of time and then wake up, but that was not the same for Haruki.
Food was also easy to get in the forest because of the many berry trees in it.
The journey, which had been quite dark at many moments such as when Haruki sensed a Pokémon eating another, was now over, and Haruki and Elekid reached Duskmarch City before another problem, which was related to the little yellow gremlin, emerged.
In the city, if Haruki were to go with his Elekid looking as dirty and poor as he did, it would not be long before his Elekid would be separated from him, since Elekids were quite rare and could fetch a high price in the market or the black market.
Haruki had no Pokéballs with him, but he did have around 5,000 Pokédollars, and the Pokémon item shop was not too far away.
After telling Elekid to go into a bush nearby for 20 minutes and promising him a gift, Haruki went into the city and started looking for the Pokémon item shop. He did not really get any dirty looks from people on the streets since they were used to people looking dirty and ragged.
He found a Pokémon item shop and entered it. He then went straight to the clerk, asked him for a Pokéball, and bought one for 200 Pokédollars. He also had to pay another 300 Pokédollars as bribe money since he did not have a trainer's license and thus was not allowed to buy things in the Pokémon item shop.
The little gremlin had thankfully not caused any trouble, as he was still in the bush he had to hide at. Haruki told Elekid to stay put and not resist, and then captured Elekid. After releasing him, he said, "Here is your new gift, a comfortable place to stay at, right?" causing him to pout in dissatisfaction. But before he could protest more, Haruki said, "Did it feel bad in the Pokéball?" to which Elekid shook his head as if saying no.
Haruki then told Elekid to quickly go to sleep, and Elekid, who indeed wanted to sleep, started laying down. But he remembered that his new gift would be where he slept. Haruki, not seeing any protest from Elekid, took him into his Pokéball.
He was very dirty and wearing very poor-quality clothes, which was unacceptable to him. According to him, to get stronger, he would need money, and to get money, the most efficient way for him would be selling Pokéblocks. And to sell them and earn the amount he wanted, he would need to be able to look like someone with proper guidance who was capable.
With how he looked, no one would take him seriously, and so, he needed to get good clothes and look cleaner.
The reality, however, may not be only that.
He entered a good-looking hotel and went to the receptionist, who looked kind and asked where his parents were and why he was all alone, before he could even say anything. He told her that they were just busy. Before she could say anything else, he said, "Please, can I just have a room? I am feeling very tired and want to rest," to which she could only comply.
After paying 400 Pokédollars, he got the keys to his room and quickly went there.
After entering, he saw that the room came with a kitchen, which was perfect for him since he could also work on creating Pokéblocks.