Silas finally submitted the topographical map he had drawn.
"Ten points…?"
He blinked in surprise. He'd only sketched the outskirts of Petalburg Woods ,an area charted dozens of times before by trainers. He hadn't expected them to be worth much.
"Must've been that cave…" he muttered.The only thing that might've given it extra value was the Seviper's lair he'd marked. That cave had been well-hidden; Without careful searching, most trainers would have missed it.
After turning in the rest of his tasks, Silas checked the Alliance exchange list for direct trainers of League. He scrolled until he found the breeder manuals.
"A Carvanha breeding manual… 200 points. Same price as Corphish's. Looks like I'll have to grind harder," he muttered, lips tightening.
But first, there was the matter of the Seviper.
Donning a hooded cloak, Silas slipped back into the city's underbelly and made his way toward the black market, following the directions he'd remembered.
He rented a stall for 1,000 Pokédollars, A stall cost 1,000 Pokédollars for an hour. He set a scrap cloth on the ground and placed the Seviper's Poké Ball on it.display.
To make the setup look less bare, he added a few of the Taillow he'd caught earlier. For another hundred Pokédollars, he bought a scrap of wood and scrawled across it:
Seviper — Lv.27 — Inherited Iron Tail — 400,000 Pokédollars
The price was deliberately high; negotiations were expected here.
Sure enough, the stall soon drew attention ,People crowded around faster than he expected. The black market liked predators like Seviper; the right buyer would pay well.
Soon A robed man stepped up and inspected the Poké Ball.
"Three hundred thousand Pokedollars," he offered flatly. "That thing's vicious. I'll need effort to tame it."
Silas considered briefly and nodded. The man's offer matched Silas' margin; there was no need to squeeze more.
By the end of his hour, he had also sold one Taillow for 90,000 Pokédollars. The other two, unwanted, he bundled together and sold cheaply to a shop that would take them off his hands. Satisfied, he left the market and returned to the Pokémon Center.
Back at the Pokémon Center, he passed the front desk.
"Goodnight, Nurse Joy," Silas greeted politely.
Nurse Joy looked up from her work, returning his smile with a professional warmth and
waved back with a practiced smile.. Silas gave a small nod - it was never wrong to build good relationships in the right places.
That night, he collapsed onto his bed and slept deeply.
.....
By morning, Silas was back in the Center cafeteria, enjoying the Pokemon centers free food.
"At this pace, Carvanha should evolve into Sharpedo within six months," he mused, watching his Pokémon eat. "But if I don't lay the groundwork now, its potential might never be fully realized."
Silas headed to the self-service terminal to browse Alliance tasks again. The point-earning missions were brutal: either interminably long gathering tasks or extremely difficult objectives he wasn't ready for.
"Most missions that give Alliance Points are either painfully tedious… or way too difficult for me right now," Silas muttered, frowning.
Exploration jobs stood out - the Alliance clearly wanted trainers to risk their lives mapping the dangerous, unmapped zones. The rewards were enticing, but it was obvious what they were doing:they wanted expendable bodies out there.
It was a bold, cold strategy in exchange for generous rewards, the Alliance asked trainers to risk their lives mapping hostile terrain.
He sighed and scrolled down. "What about this… assisting the police in clearing Wurmple swarms along the main road in Petalburg Woods?"
It was a group mission and the reason he hadn't accepted it before. Once you joined, you couldn't take other tasks simultaneously. But the Alliance Points reward was steady, and he needed them.
So Silas printed out the acceptance form and walked into the local Police station.
.....
Later that day, Silas arrived at the police station with his printed acceptance slip.
"Really? A kid applying to help us? Don't tell me the department's gotten that desperate."
The voice belonged to a strikingly confident Officer Jenny.
Silas gave an embarrassed smile and kept his tone as innocent as he could."No, Officer Jenny… I'm here for the cleanup mission. It's for Alliance Points."
Having survived adrift at sea, Silas had long since mastered shifting his demeanor to fit the situation.
"All for Alliance points…" he whispered, clutching his mission slip with both hands as he placed it on her desk.
Officer Jenny leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs with elegant confidence. Her emerald hair fell like a waterfall across her shoulders, brushing fair skin that caught the light. The police uniform, snug around her frame, did nothing to hide her curves.
Silas noted the gold medal pinned to her chest. This Jenny's rank wasn't low. Hardly surprising - the Jennys of Hoenn were born into service; none started from the bottom.
Jenny's eyes flicked over the forms, then back to him."You've got some talent, but… Water-types won't do you much good against Bug swarms."
Silas stayed silent. He still hadn't revealed his Fearow his hidden trump card.
Jenny tapped the papers once, then slid them back. "Sorry, kid. Not this time."
Her refusal was blunt, but not cruel. Silas bowed his head, masking his frustration with a look of polite disappointment. He left without complaint.
"Corphish and Carvanha are common enough in Hoenn's waters," he reflected on his way back. "But Fearow… that's a rarity here. I'll keep it hidden until I really need it."
...
The next few days, he stayed at the Pokémon Center. He sparred against other trainers for practice, prepared Pokéblocks to keep his Pokémon fueled, and stockpiled extras for emergencies.
"Once I earn enough points, I'll redeem the Carvanha manual… then move on to Rustboro," Silas told himself.
His next destination was already clear: Rustboro City. The home of the Rock-type Gym he wanted to challenge and of Devon Corporation, a company said to be developing a new multi-function PokéNav device.
He flipped through the Pokedex, eyes narrowing with quiet determination.
"Perfect for me."
Silas smiled faintly, determination glinting in his eyes. His next destination was set.
A Gym badge. A breeder's manual. A future plan.
The road ahead wasn't easy but for the first time since leaving the Giant Shark, Silas felt the map of his own journey finally taking shape.
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(End of chapter)