Two young boys walked out of the gym with happy smiles on their faces. They both had a badge in their hands. It was the Dark Badge given by Hisoka for winning the challenge. As long as they collect six more badges, they will be able to participate in the Pokemon League Conference later this year.
Pokemon League Conference was a major event that attracted countless attention every year. And being able to compete in such a grand regional event as a rookie trainer was quite exciting to them.
And if they can get a good ranking in the tournament, everyone back in their hometown, including their parents, will be proud of them.
"Hisoka, why you-" Ran took Ponyta's Pokeball from Hisoka's hand. She wanted to ask something but hesitated.
"If you want to say anything, just say it," Hisoka said and motioned for Rhydon to close the door.
"Why did you use my Pokemon to fight them?" Ran asked in a puzzled manner.
"I think if you use Weavile or Rhydon, you can beat them easily."
Hisoka turned around and walked toward the gym.
"You still don't get it, do you? A gym battle is different from a regular Pokemon battle. A gym leader's main responsibility is to guide the trainers and evaluate them. We do not necessarily have to go all out every time we face a new challenger. It would wear us out. So most of the time, we would just relax and see if the trainer is worth the badge or not, even if we lose the battle. That's it," he shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh," Ran said quietly.
Honestly, she never knew that. All this time, she thought that a trainer must defeat the gym leader first to obtain the badge. She didn't know that a gym leader could refuse to hand the badge to the winning challenger.
"This is also why the League decided to establish the gym in the first place. And Dark Gym has just been opened. I should give the young trainers a chance first. Those young boys before were good enough, in my opinion. They treat their Pokemon well. And they defeated me fair and square. So why should I refuse to give them the badges?" he continued to explain to her.
...
The next morning,
"Yo Hisoka! What's up!"
Ryoichi waved his hand, standing outside the gym with his truck.
"Ryoichi, it is good to see you," Hisoka greeted with a smile and shook his hand.
"Did you get them?" he asked.
"No worries. I got them right here," Ryoichi answered, pointing to a small box next to his feet.
"Great! Here you go then," Hisoka handed a few paper bags to him.
"Thanks! I love this stuff. It's quite hard to get them. The Joy family never sold them outside," Ryoichi opened the paper bag and nodded in satisfaction.
"By the way, why did you want them?" he asked curiously.
"It's for my gym. Thanks for getting them for me," Hisoka said sincerely.
"No problem, man. They are quite common in Hoenn. I asked a friend of mine back there to send them to me," Ryoichi waved his hand dismissively.
"Alright, I'm leaving now. Goodbye," he bid farewell and went back to his truck.
After Ryoichi had left with his truck, Hisoka walked back into the gym carrying the small box in his hands.
"Huh? What's that?" Ran went up to him and asked curiously.
"It's just something I ordered from a friend of mine," he replied and placed the box on the ground.
There were several Pokeballs inside the box.
'Pokeballs?' Ran thought, arousing her interest.
"Come out, everyone!" Hisoka threw the Pokeballs one by one.
Pop!
Pop!
Following that, ten Poochyena appeared in front of Hisoka and Ran, barring their teeth at them.
Rarf!
Poochyena is a Pokemon that resembles hyenas. Its body is primarily gray with a black face and paws. It is a common Pokemon from the Hoenn region.
Hisoka had exchanged ten of these Poochyena for twenty Chansey's eggs. Since his gym was called Dark Gym, he might as well use Dark-type Pokemon as his gym Pokemon. He can't really borrow a Pokemon from Ran every time a challenge comes, right?
As for why he didn't choose the stronger Houndour? First, Dark City wasn't a suitable place for them to live. Second, they were much harder to care for.
Poochyena was just right for him. Although these guys were unruly, he was confident that he would discipline them. And their keen sense of smell made them a perfect guard dog for his gym too.
"So, which one of you is the leader of the pack?" Hisoka asked, looking at the wary Poochyena with a grin.
The Poochyena looked at each other before a slightly bigger one walked in front of them.
"How about you guys become my Pokemon in exchange for food?"
Rarf!
The leader Poochyena barked sharply.
"Alright then. Weavile!" he called out.
...
A month slowly passed by.
This month was the most fulfilling and leisurely month for Hisoka. Every morning, he went to train the Poochyena pack. After they had been taught a lesson by Weavile, they surrendered to him. He also didn't forget to train with his main Pokemon. Following his plan, his Pokemon steadily improved their strength.
Sometimes, a few trainers would come to challenge his gym. He had lost quite a few battles too. The Poochyenas were still young, so the loss was quite acceptable to him.
This month, he had given out ten gym badges to other trainers, passing the certain assessment standard of the League.
...
[Under the joint of Four Eevee Brothers and several forces in Stone Town, they had decided to increase the reward for the previous task.
Rewards: 400,000 dollars, Ten High-quality Evolution Stones, and A female Eevee with excellent potential.]
This was written on the homepage of the hunter website.
Hisoka was a little surprised when he read this post. He still remembered that this task was posted nearly two months ago.
'Huh? Nobody has completed this task yet?' Hisoka raised his brow.
What surprised him the most was the reward. 400,000 dollars, ten Evolution Stones, as well as an Eevee, a rare Pokemon in Kanto. To be honest, he wanted to rush to Stone Town as soon as he saw the rewards posted.
He was quite curious at this time. What kind of trouble had they encountered in Stone Town. More than two months had passed, yet it was still unresolved.
He was interested in this mission before but never had the time to do it due to some troubles. He didn't expect the task was still available when he went on to check the hunter website.
'Let's see,' Hisoka thought as he logged into his hunter account. He quickly filled up his information and applied for the mission.
Due to the high rewards, it has attracted the attention of many hunters. There were several gold-ranking hunters among them too. Some of them might even have the strength close to Elite Four.
After all, a gold-rank hunter was the highest rank in the hunter profession.
Then, he immediately started to pack as soon as he accepted the mission.
…
"Well, I'm leaving for a few days. Take care of the gym for me. If there's a challenger, just do your best. It doesn't matter if you win or lose."
Hisoka was standing outside the gym. His backpack was strapped to his body.
"Don't worry, Hisoka. I will look after the gym," Ran replied.
In fact, she was quite excited to become a gym leader, even if it was for a short time.
"Look after the gym," Hisoka turned to look at the Poochyena beside her.
Rarf!
They let out several barks in reply, tails wagging.
After a month of staying with Hisoka and the others, the Poochyenas had mellowed out. Hisoka also gave them a lot of tasty foods. They had truly regarded this gym as their home now.
...
Stone Town was a popular place to evolve Pokemon with Evolution Stones. Aside from that, they were also many rare metals found in this area, including the Evolution Stones.
Not only that, but they had also decided to open a park where the visitors could go for a tour inside the abandoned mine that had been transformed into a tourist attraction.
And because this park had been built near the Evolution Mountain, many tourists had often found good-quality Evolution Stones on the ground. The large number of tourists coming to Stone Town also brought high economic growth to the town.
Tourists can not only take everything they find, but they can also sell it to other collectors. It must be known that Evolution Stones found here were much better than somewhere else.
Stone Town wasn't that far from Dark City. Both places were located between Safari Zone and Cinnabar Island, but Stone Town was built at the foot of a mountain. While Dark City was located in the middle of a forest.
...
After driving for about an hour, Hisoka had finally arrived at Stone Town. While driving toward the town, he saw many people walking on the side of the road. Some of them were carrying a few pickaxes as they chatted among themselves.
When he entered the town, he saw rows of two-story houses along the street. They were many rich people living in Stone Town. The children born here can enjoy free education and medical care until they are fifteen years old.
The street in this town was spacious and clean. It was many times better than the street in Dark City. Hisoka reduced the speed of his bike and drove slowly along the street.
His current destination was the mansion located at the end of the town. According to the Hunter Association rules, he needed to meet the mission issuer first.
Then, he stopped his bike in front of a mansion. Standing outside the gate, he could hear the crowd's noise inside the mansion. He parked his bike in the parking lot and went to ring the doorbell on the wall.
Ring!
After a while, the gate automatically opened. Then, an old man with greying hair combed neatly walked out the gate. He was wearing a black suit and leather shoes.
"Hello, my name is Carl. I'm the butler for this mansion," the old man introduced himself with a smile.
"Excuse me, are you here to attend the banquet?"
Hisoka shook his head and smiled, "I'm a hunter. I'm here for the mission."
He bowed slightly and held out his hand, "Please come with me, sir."
…
As they walked into the mansion, Hisoka saw many people standing on the lawn. There were several tables filled with all kinds of foods. At the water fountain, a group of bands was playing some musical instruments.
"Hello! May I have some attention, please?"
Suddenly, an orange, spiky-haired man walked to the front stage.
"That's the eldest Eevee Brothers, Sparky," Carl said to Hisoka.
Hisoka nodded in reply as they stopped and turned to look at the stage.
...
"I hope you guys having a great time." Sparky finished his welcoming speech amidst the cheer of many people.
Clap!
Clap!
"Alright, now that's over with. Follow me, Sir. I'll take you to the waiting room," Carl said to Hisoka and walked into the mansion.
As Hisoka followed the butler's lead, he saw many lavish decorations inside the mansion. After walking to the second floor, they finally stopped in front of a double door.
Carl opened the door slightly and turned to Hisoka.
"This is the waiting room, Sir. You can go and get some rest first. There are many of your colleagues waiting inside. Master Sparky will be arriving soon," he said to Hisoka with a smile.
Hisoka nodded and stepped aside, letting the old man leave first.
When he pushed the door open, many pairs of eyes fell on him. They were even a trace of killing intent among them.
He brushed them off and walked toward the nearest sofa. Then, he plopped himself down on the sofa and closed his eyes.
A few seconds later, he felt many pairs of eyes leave his body. It seemed that they had lost interest in him.
Everyone in this room was at least an elite-rank trainer. To put it simply, they had many experiences in battle.
Most of the hunters had lost interest in him after staring at him for a while. Some people snorted dismissively, thinking that Hisoka was just a snot-nosed brat. No one would care about a young child, after all. Only one person was still staring at Hisoka intently.
For hunters, it was quite a common thing to use some means to get rid of some competitors and improve their own success rate, especially if there were many people applying for a single task like now.
As long as they did it quietly, no one could accuse them of anything. Nobody would care about some random guy who died due to some accident.
The room was quiet. Except for a few hunters who came in a group, most of them kept to themselves.
Some were staring at the window in a daze, and some were lying on the sofa with their eyes closed.
There could be only one person who could complete the task. But with these many people, there was a high possibility that someone might die in this task.
This was the life of a hunter. It was also why many people didn't like to associate themselves with a hunter even though it was recognized by the League.
...