บท 489: CH120 (484), Covert Mission (2)
Once I was done checking out the rest of the folder, I began considering my next steps. I felt that starting with Melissa would be the best way to go about it. If she ended up choosing her new Pokemon before I got to her, I would lose the easiest and least suspicious way to approach her.
I did have to be subtle during the process after all if I wanted to avoid alerting the others, and Melissa suddenly vanishing, getting hurt, acting different, or straight up warning the others would cause them to hide, which would make my mission extremely hard or even close to impossible.
Anyway, since I knew that Melissa had 4 Pokemon, I chose to openly carry 4 as well. I did not want to look like an easy target so they could not be too weak, but at the same time, they could not be obviously stronger than hers to avoid startling or scaring her. The goal was to seem to be a run-of-the-mill grunt/seller under a black-market dealer after all.
To that end, I chose a (high) bronze-stage Raticate, a (mid) bronze-stage Fearow and a (low) bronze-stage Beedrill as well as Raticate. Yeah, I chose to have two of those, one weaker than the other. It seemed right for my cover, so I went with it.
Naturally, one could not forget the "commodity" if one wanted to act as a seller, so I chose a (mid) iron stage Ekans to act as the "product". For someone like her, the Ekans was strong enough that it could join her team after training it for a while, and weak enough that she could train it however she wanted without it being capable of causing any problems.
Obviously, there was a reason why Melissa was trying to get a poison type from the black market instead of simply trying to get one in the wild, and that was the Pokemon's potential. I deliberately chose one with green potential (4-star), so it was definitely above average but not that great.
However, to ensure that Melissa would actually be interested enough to talk to/haggle with me for long enough that I could rummage through her mind, I made sure that the Ekans I chose had a point that stood out. It actually knew Poison Fang which was something that was not in Ekan's innate move pool.
Obviously, there was no way that Melissa, or any other criminal for that matter, would take another criminal, Pokemon dealer/seller or not, by the word, so I had to go and have Ekans potential verified first before I could head toward Viridian City.
Naturally, I made sure to stay anonymous when I handed in Ekans for the potential check, so when I left with the 4-star certification in my pocket, no one knew who I was. I also made sure to use blue contact lenses to change my eye color and dyed my hair dirt blond with a soluble hair dye before I left the house.
That, together with some light powder to adjust my face for a bit along with a change in get-up, caused me to look totally different from my usual look. I doubted that someone aside from my parents and maybe my close friends would be able to recognize me even when looking right into my face.
I was sure that directly heading to Melissa's "hideout" would have been pretty stupid since my appearance there would have definitely been suspicious. Instead, I made my way to the black market I knew Melissa had visited. I proceeded to spend the next two-plus hours there, going around looking at some of the poison types while trying to "act" subtly and asking around for anyone interested in a good Ekans.
My goal was to create the image of a newcomer to the Viridian Black Market that was "subtly" looking around trying to get some information on some potential customers. I did not mind if I was not able to reach my goal today, since I was confident that my method would help me get either Melissa's name or her attention by tomorrow.
Well, it would probably attract all kinds of attention, and most likely not the good kind, but the only one I cared about was Melissa's attention, so I would have to fend off everything/everyone else until I succeeded. Besides, the other kind of attention was good as well since it gave me a good excuse to vanish after "closing" the deal with Melissa.
Anyway, shortly before my third hour at the market I chose to leave seeing how none of the people there mentioned Melissa during my inquiries. I went around a few crowds before settling in a rather average motel. After that, I spent the next three hours meditating before handing out everyone's dinner and eating something myself.
Once I was done with that, I went back to the black market to see if my previous act had borne fruit or if I would have to spread some more seeds for tomorrow. Thankfully I only had to go around for 20 or so minutes before someone approached me to act as a middleman.
The guy straight up told me that he would call over a potential customer that was interested in my Ekans for me if I paid him 10.000 Poke. I could have naturally plucked the number from his mind, but that would have been useless since it would not have fit into my plan.
Still, I did a bit of mind-reading to confirm that the person he was referring to was Melissa. I did not want to "accidentally" meet up with someone else after all, and I was lucky enough that it was actually Melissa.
Anyway, the plan was also why I did not agree with the price even though I actually would not mind paying that much for the completion of the mission. However, there was no way that someone in the position of my role would be willing to do that, so I directly complained.
"What are you on my man? Are you trying to rob me or what?" I directly retorted. "I'll give you 100 at most," I counteroffered instead and he looked seriously affronted at my bid.
"100?! Are you sh*tting me? Do I look like I am running a charity? What am I supposed to do with that buy milk? Actually, forget it, you can't even buy milk with 100 Pokes. Who taught you how to haggle? 8000, take it or leave it," the dude fired back, and I raised an eyebrow in return.
"Do I look stupid? There's no way I'll pay you 8k just for a phone call. I'm sure I'll find someone else willing to refer someone to me for much less.
Let's say 1k, sounds like a good deal, right?" I returned and the guy released a snort in return.
"Right, my ass. I think you're mocking my intelligence. 7000 is already generous on my part," he went a bit lower but did not forget to cuss a bit before he did that. Still, I released a short mocking laugh for the next bit.
"7000 in exchange for 7 seconds sounds like a dream come true. I think it's time you woke up. I'm feeling generous right now since you made me laugh, so I'll pay you 2k for the referral. Aren't I generous?" I returned and the man glared at me.
"2k, I'm starting to think you're not serious about this. Are you trying to waste my time? 6000 is my last offer," he semi-growled the last part, and I felt that it was about time to finish up.
"Wow, dude, calm down, don't get all rabid on me," I joked first before taking a slightly more serious tone. "Alright, my mom always used to tell me to be nicer to the old, children, and mentally retarded, so I'm willing to give you 5k in return for the call," I threw in a not-so-subtle taunt with my last offer. You know, in the spirit of the negotiations, but looking at his face he might have taken it a bit too seriously.
"You're the retard. You can either pay me 7000 Pokes, or you can spend the rest of the day wandering around the market like a drunk Mr.Mime," he actually raised the price again while pretty much calling me a clown.
"I happen to like Mr. Mime, so I'll take that as a compliment. Still, I'm getting bored of this, so how about you make that call and I give you 6k return so we can get out of each other's hair?" I offered and he agreed but he seemed unwilling to let me have the last word.
"Fine, I was starting to get tired of you anyway. Hand over the 6000 Poke and I'll call the interested gal," he said and I took another peek to ensure that he was actually planning to do it instead of pulling off a running man.
After I confirmed that he was going to do what he said, I gave him a skeptical look and said "How do I know you won't run off once you have the money" in accordance with my role, and he released a snort.
"I won't ruin my rep for your meager money. I worked too hard to earn it. Everyone knows that Greg delivers what he promises," he half bragged, half assured me, and having already confirmed that he was saying the truth, I pulled out the money and paid him. In return, Greg pulled out his phone and called Melissa.
"Mel. Yes, it's me," he said before throwing me a glance. "Yeah, I have someone here looking for someone to buy his Ekans and I immediately thought of you. How about it, are you interested in taking a look?" he asked her, and I heard her asking if the Ekans was worth her showing up.
Thankfully, the guy did his job seriously. "You know me, I would not have called you if I did not think you might be interested," Greg assured her, and I heard her agree. She said that she would go to the usual place as quickly as possible.
Greg gave me a smug smile before speaking up again. "Don't forget to pay my referral fee," he told her and I heard her promise to pay his 3k immediately. No wonder he gave me that smug look. Not only was he earning money from both sides, but I had paid him double his usual referral rate.
Now, I might not have cared all that much about having to pay him 6k, but I had to admit, his smug look coupled with what I heard did irk me a bit. Actually, it irked me quite a bit, but I let it go since causing a scene right now would only throw a wrench in my plans. Melissa might not show up if she heard that I beat up her contact.
Once they hung up, Greg turned to me and told me "And now we wait". Just a minute later his phone rang once and he smiled after looking at the notification. I was guessing he had received his payment from Melissa, but aside from giving me a smirk he kept quiet.
A few minutes later his phone rang and he picked up. I heard Melissa's voice telling Greg that she had arrived. Greg told her that we were coming over before hanging up. Looking at me he asked me to follow him before leading me outside the black market.
He explained that he had rented a room close to the market where he allowed his clients to meet so that they could handle their business in private and that Melissa was waiting there.
I knew that he was saying the truth since I could tell that he was doing so and because I had confirmed it, but I had a role to play so I acted hesitant when he mentioned following him to a different place for a private meeting.
"How do I know that you're not leading me to an ambush or something like that," I stopped and questioned. He simply looked amused.
"I told you that I value my reputation, and robbing clients is not good for one's reputation. Still, you don't have to follow me if you don't want to. You've already paid me after all. I'll simply pay Mel back and treat it as earning 6k by wasting my breath with you," he said with a shrug.
I acted indecisive for a bit before pretending to look resolved. Then I told him to lead the way and followed him while he brought me to a building two blocks from the black market. We walked to a flat on the third floor and I saw my first target waiting for us at the door of the flat.
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