Chapter 02: #2 - Where does Aunt Hanako get the money?

"Grumble..."

Su Sheng's stomach protested again.

"Fruit really isn't filling."

Su Sheng patted his protesting little belly and looked down at Umbreon, saying:

"There's an old saying in Yanhuang, 'Food is the first necessity of the people.' Let's fill our stomachs first, then slowly think about the future."

"Umbre~"

Umbreon nodded in agreement.

Although it hadn't yet emerged from the sorrow of being abandoned by its original owner.

In the short time of less than ten minutes spent with the human boy before it, Umbreon had already sensed that the boy held no malice or prejudice towards it.

This was enough to be the reason for Umbreon to follow him.

......

After Su Sheng and Umbreon left.

A figure dressed in a black cloak, styled like a gambler, emerged from an alleyway beside the street behind them.

His eyes under the round hat were filled with disbelief, and he muttered to himself:

"Dark type... causing a Pokémon to regress after evolving... that kid... is he joking?"

If it were any other time, he would have thought it was just some chuuni nonsense from a kid.

But through the short period of covert observation just now, he also discovered that Su Sheng exuded a maturity completely unbefitting his age, as well as a powerful confidence contained within his eyes.

Making him have to wonder, could he... really do it?

Giovanni was silent for a long time.

At any other time, even if he didn't personally observe, he would at least send a subordinate to follow that kid and see if he could really stir up something.

But now... he wasn't in the mood.

Recently, Giovanni had been secretly searching for his missing son.

Unable to find him in Kanto, Giovanni had come to Johto.

He didn't even mobilize his Team Rocket subordinates.

Because Giovanni hadn't told anyone about having a child, including his subordinates.

Because children often become a parent's weakness.

As the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni had countless enemies.

If his opponents knew he had a son, what would happen? There was no way Giovanni, as an old fox, couldn't imagine it.

So he had kept this matter a closely guarded secret.

Yet even so, his child had still gone missing!

"Just... who is it!?"

Giovanni gritted his teeth secretly, in no mood to pay attention to Su Sheng, and turned to melt back into the darkness.

......

Pokémon Center.

"Big sister, the food at the Pokémon Center is free, right?"

Su Sheng looked up, blinking his cute eyes, and asked Nurse Joy sweetly.

Along the way, he had obtained a lot of information through this appearance.

First of all, this was Cianwood City in the Johto region.

However, the timeline of this Pokémon world was different from the one he watched in anime and played in games in his previous life.

The current Kanto League Champion was the Ghost-type user Agatha, not the Flying-type Elite Four member.

In other words, it was at least several years away from the storyline Su Sheng was familiar with.

Moreover, Professor Oak hadn't invented the Pokédex yet, so the public didn't know about the "Dark" type, which wasn't a very common attribute.

Also, the Pokémon transfer devices and Pokémon recovery devices that players used every day in the game... all of these were nonexistent.

But there was one thing that existed.

That was, just like Ash in the anime, Pokémon Centers provided free medical services, food, and lodging.

"Yes, little brother."

Seeing such a cute little loli, the Nurse Joy on the other side of the counter immediately returned a smile.

Su Sheng felt the happiness of that little brat, Momonosuke.

Alas, speaking of which, not destroying the World Government in my previous life was my first regret, and my second regret was not killing that Momonosuke bastard.

Hearing that the Pokémon Center did indeed provide free food, Su Sheng immediately beamed.

I love this world to death!

However, Nurse Joy's next sentence stunned Su Sheng.

"Little brother, please show me your Trainer ID."

"Huh?"

Trainer... ID?

What's that?

Oh wait!

It seems like there was something like that in the game, I remember it had the Trainer's name, Trainer number, and how many badges they had obtained.

But because it seemed to be just a decoration, he didn't pay attention to it at all when he played the game in his previous life...

Seeing Su Sheng's expression was not right, the bright smile on Nurse Joy's face also showed a bit of doubt.

"Little friend, are you not a registered Trainer with the League? Then you'll have to pay, the cost of accommodation and meals for one day is 1000 Poké Dollars."

Su Sheng touched his pants pocket, which was cleaner than his face... and began to calculate how to leave without looking so embarrassed.

"...I'll treat you to this meal."

Nurse Joy suddenly said again.

"This..."

Su Sheng was a little surprised.

Nurse Joy smiled, "I can still afford this little bit of money."

......

Half an hour later, in the restaurant of the Cianwood City Pokémon Center, many Trainers cast expressions of seeing a ghost at Su Sheng.

Well, he was indeed a ghost.

A starving ghost.

Even Umbreon, who was squatting on the ground with a bowl of Pokémon food in front of it, felt that the food in the bowl was no longer fragrant.

How embarrassing...

"Is it delicious?"

At this time, that Nurse Joy came over with Chansey.

"Thank you, Sister Saori, I will repay you in the future."

Su Sheng swallowed a mouthful of curry rice and gave Joy Saori a thumbs up.

According to the other party's self-introduction, Su Sheng learned that "Joy" was the surname of the Joy family.

After the surname, each Joy naturally also had a name.

And from Joy Saori's mouth.

Su Sheng also learned a lot of knowledge about this real Pokémon world.

Among them, there was the knowledge of "League Registered Trainer".

Only such Trainers can enjoy free accommodation and treatment services at Pokémon Centers.

Just like the players in the game, and Ash and his friends in the anime.

The condition for becoming a League Registered Trainer is to pay a tax to the League every year from birth, and then at the age of 10, the League will issue a Pokémon with good aptitude to this Trainer.

Most of them are the starter Pokémon.

However, this service can only last until the age of 20, during the minor period.

Uh, come to think of it, that's right.

If you could really eat and drink for free at the Pokémon Center for a lifetime.

Then how could there still be "office workers" in this world?

In his previous life, Su Sheng played games and fought many Trainers of the type [Business Person] on the roadside.

But after understanding these things, Su Sheng thought of another question—

Where did Ash's mother, Auntie Hanako, get her money from?

Out of curiosity, Su Sheng asked Joy Saori how much tax she had to pay to become a registered Trainer for ten years.

After getting the answer, Su Sheng was really curious about where Auntie Hanako, who didn't seem to work usually in the anime, got so much money.

Could it be Professor Oak's sponsorship... cough cough! I can't think about it anymore, if I think about it any longer, this book will be gone.

"...Sheng, are you an orphan?"

Just as Su Sheng was thinking wildly, Joy Saori suddenly asked.

Su Sheng: ???

Hey, hey, hey, why are you cursing people?