บท 72: Going To Dark City
Large transport trucks loaded with tons of building materials went straight from the Saffron City Highway to Route 7. Because of the previous Diglett outbreak, these heavy load trucks would usually get stuck in the potholes after they entered the road leading to the reservoir site, causing a huge loss of manpower, materials, and time for the dam management.
And after this issue had been resolved, the reservoir, which could benefit more than a dozen towns and villages, had finally resumed its work.
At the reservoir construction site, many workers in yellow safety helmets were directing the Machoke to move the heavy building materials and processing machines from the heavy-duty trucks.
Aside from well-known Conkeldurr species from the Unova region, Machoke from the Machamp family was one of the Pokemon heavily used in the construction industry. These modest Pokemon, in order to exercise their muscles and consume their near limitless energy, they can often be found on many construction sites, helping people with manual labor.
For this powerful Pokemon, lifting extremely heavy objects was a simple thing for them.
As an official project approved by the League, there was no need for the management to worry about the fund allocation. There were as many as fifty Machoke at the construction site, led by two Machamp.
These two Machamp and fifty Machoke didn't belong to the workers. It was lent to them by the League until the reservoir had been completely built.
And these Pokemon weren't free labor. The League still needed to pay them the wages they deserved, not in cash, but in other things such as food, medicines, etc.
At this moment, inside the small cabin, Hisoka and Ryoichi were doing the final inspection of the area.
Now that Hisoka's job here was done, he would continue his next journey. He had seen several lucrative tasks on the hunter website that he was quite interested in. And the location of these tasks was not really far from here. He can stop by these places and take a brief look.
Although Hisoka still had more than 700,000 dollars left in his bank account, he would never refuse any opportunities to make more money. And he still needed to buy a Prism Scale in case it popped up in an auction later. He didn't think that his measly 700,000 dollars could compete with the capital of Sootoplis Gym.
Besides that, they still have a new regional Champion of the Hoenn League as their backing.
...
"So, you are leaving, huh?"
Ryoichi looked at the young man in front of him sadly. Although they had some friction back during their meeting at S.S. Anne, after several interactions, the two people with different personalities finally became
At first, when Ryoichi first saw Hisoka, he only thought that the young man was just a talented trainer with potential. After all, he had seen much more powerful young trainers back at the League.
But after several days of getting to know each other, the other party's resolve, as well as his response and judgment in the face of danger and difficulty, made Ryoichi respect him from the bottom of his heart.
Hisoka didn't have the brash and reckless character that was so common among many young teens. He always seemed calm, as if any difficulties and setbacks could not bring him down.
Ryoichi immediately changed his assessment of Hisoka. He thought that Hisoka would be a great figure in the future.
"Yeah," Hisoka nodded.
"The work here is done. Of course, I would have to find another job. After getting Chansey, I have five Pokemon on my team. I have to find a way to make money to feed them."
"Kid, are you planning to work as a hunter all the time?" Ryoichi's expression suddenly became grave.
"Working as a hunter is dangerous and risky. Oftentimes, it is quite easy for them to go astray. I have seen too many people fall to the dark side among the hunters. Unless you always complete your task alone and become a lone ranger, you will definitely encounter those things."
At this time, Ryoichi took a deep breath and said, "I don't want your name to appear on the League wanted list someday."
Ryoichi's sincere tone could be clearly heard by Hisoka. He smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about this. I have no wish to tread on the toes of League."
After saying that, Hisoka nodded earnestly.
Ryoichi sighed in relief when he heard Hisoka's promise. At least he didn't need to worry about Hisoka doing some illegal or criminal activities just for some money.
Then, Ryoichi suddenly remembered the news he got from Miss Joy in Saffron City.
Ryoichi's eyes lit up with joy. He quickly turned to Hisoka and said, "Hisoka, I want to ask you something. Are you interested in opening a Gym?"
"No. I won't consider it for the time being!" Hisoka shook his head.
"I'm not talking about the kind of training Gym."
Ryoichi then quickly explained, "I'm talking about an official Gym recognized by the League. You know, if you become an official Gym Leader, you can receive a cut of the city's tax revenue. The League will also distribute some funds to you every year."
"How about that? Are you interested?" Ryoichi finished, looking at Hisoka expectantly.
Hisoka was surprised about what Ryoichi said just now. Of course, he knew that being able to become a Gym Leader was one of the fastest ways to become rich. But he never heard about any Gym opening in Kanto right now.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ryoichi was flustered, seeing Hisoka's distrustful eyes.
"What I said just now was true. The League is going to open a new Gym in Dark City. Even the Pokemon Inspection Agency has sent an official to inspect the gyms that had applied for the Offical Gym Assessment."
"Dark City?" Hisoka murmured softly.
Hisoka had heard about this city. It was located in the southern part of the Kanto region, and its economic strength was relatively weak.
If the Saffron City was an international metropolis, the Celadon City was a first-tier city, and Viridian City was considered a second-tier city, then Dark City was just at the bottom among the many third-tier cities. Even Lavender Town, with its unique Pokemon Tower, was much more popular and developed than Dark City.
Currently, there are ten official gyms officially recognized by the League in the Kanto region.
Although you only needed to get eight Gym Badges to participate in the League Conference, some trainers will often collect ten badges just to prove their strength.
If it was the official Gym officially recognized by the League, then Hisoka was quite interested. And if he remembered correctly, there were two gyms competing with each other in Dark City at this time. The two sides even fought each other just for the League's official qualification.
Dark City is a backward city. But once it became part of the official Gym of the Kanto region, the benefits that could be obtained later were quite tempting to many people.
...
To be honest, the idea proposed by Ryoichi was quite feasible. Right now, the two gyms in the Dark City are competing with each other fiercely. The battles came to resemble street fights more than anything else and caused such damage to the town that it seriously affected the daily life of the local residents.
Thus, the local residents hated these two vying Gyms the most. At this time, let's say a savior suddenly appeared and defeated these two clashing Gyms and restored order to the city. Perhaps the resident of Dark City would be more willing to support this savior as their Gym Leader.
"Miss Joy, who was the official sent by the Pokemon Inspection Agency, is Miss Joy in Saffron City's cousin. And their relationship is quite close. As long as you arrive in the Dark City in time to resolve the conflict over there, I'll put some good words about you with Miss Joy. So, what do you say?"
Ryoichi's voice remained in Hisoka's mind for quite some time. Finally, Hisoka had to admit that he was indeed tempted.
To have an extra income was important to him. Not only that but being an official Gym Leader of the League would open many doors for him.
Dark City was located between the Safari Zone in Fuchsia City and Cinnabar Island.
Compared to Dark City, Cinnabar Island was much more popular among many trainers. Besides its famous hot springs, it was also the home to the strongest Gym in the Kanto region, Blaine. It is also a hot spot for many trainers.
Cinnabar Gym specialized in Fire-type Pokemon, and its Gym Leader, Blaine, was even more amazing. He was the former Fire Master Elite Four of the Kanto region. He was a person from the same era as Professor Oak and Agatha.
The current Elite Four Bruno had defeated Blaine to become the new Elite Four.
Elite Four was a title bestowed upon the strongest Elite-ranking trainers in each region. There would only be four in a region. They, including the Champion, stood at the top of the League.
Besides being called the strongest, they were able to exercise strong influence and right in the League. On top of that, each Elite Four were given a large amount of money for their own use.
Who doesn't want to become an Elite Four or Champion?
However, there were thousands of trainers in each region alone. How many powerful trainers were hidden among them?
Whether it was for money, power, or fame, each trainer's goal was to rush to the throne of Elite Four.
Even so, do you really think being an Elite Four is easy? They are also under a lot of pressure. Every three years, the League will hold an Elite Four competition. The current Elite Four of each region will be challenged by the winner of the Pokemon League Conference.
It goes without saying that for the successful challenger, honor, money, rights, and fame were within their reach.
In doing so, the League naturally hoped to ensure its competitiveness. It also served as a warning to the acting Elite Four and Champion not to slack and relax in their training. Otherwise, don't blame them if you're defeated by someone else.
'Only the strong survive.'
No matter which world you go to, this rule will not change.
...
The sun was high up in the sky. A bike was cruising down the road, surrounded by the forest.
Hisoka's original plan was to go to Stone Town to complete the second task he had accepted back in Vermilion City. It was a mission about exploring the disturbance in one of the Evolution Stone mines.
The largest force in Stone Town, the Four Eevee Brothers, had a mine that produced high-quality Evolution Stones each year. And it seemed that it had been occupied by a group of mysterious Pokemon as they had suddenly stopped their supply of Evolution Stone to the market, causing the price to increase.
Unfortunately, the Four Eevee Brothers couldn't deal with this problem even after using all of their strength. Finally, they could only post a task on the hunter website, hoping an expert would deal with this issue soon.
Many people had accepted this task after seeing the reward posted on the page. However, since this task was posted about two weeks ago, nobody has completed it yet.
Between a high-paying task or getting a Gym qualification, Hisoka chose the latter without hesitation.
So right now, Hisoka had to go to Dark City to investigate the situation first. And if the task at Stone Town was still available later, only then he would go and check it out.
Dark City was located in the southwestern direction of the Safari Zone, surrounded by forest, just like Viridian City. The only problem was getting to this city. The road leading to this city was quite remote and difficult to travel, considering that this city was built on a low plain surrounded by endless mountains.
To be honest, Hisoka almost thought that he had traveled back in time when he first arrived at Dark City.
Hisoka was standing underneath the city welcome sign board, looking at the row of old wooden houses located on both sides of the street. Even the main street wasn't paved. Just a simple dirt road. And he had yet to see any modern buildings in this city.
Hisoka had studied the history of this world to understand this world culture. The architectural style of the buildings here was the same as two hundred years ago. Does that mean that city remained a backwater place?
Walking on the street, Hisoka seemed to have traveled through time and returned to the ancient Pokemon era. The old spots on each house told a lot about the city's heritage.
Although it was daytime, there was not a single passerby on the street. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
Hisoka covered his mouth and nose as he continued his walk around the city. He found that many wooden houses had signs of damage, some were burnt, and some were cut off by a sharp object.
Thud!
A small wooden sign with Grandma's Ramen written on it fell right in front of Hisoka. Looking closer, there was a little scorch mark left on it.
"Hey, boy!"
At this time, the door of the shop next to him was opened slightly. Hisoka saw an old woman with grey hair peeking at him through the small opening.
The old woman glanced in both directions before quickly whispering, "Youg man, get your bike inside my backyard quickly. Hurry up. There will be war in the city soon. Or you'll get caught in the crossfire. It's too dangerous for you to be outside at this time."
"Thank you," Hisoka bowed to the old woman.
Hisoka didn't reject the old woman's kindness. He was new to the city and didn't know the specific situation of the dark city. He had to hide temporarily, collect information secretly, and make a plan first before revealing himself.
Hisoka's competitors were mainly the two local forces in this city, Kaz Gym and Yas Gym. As Muhammad Ali used to say, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see. Right now, he needed to stay patient and only strike at the right moment.
...
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