When Cain reappeared on the streets of Goldenrod City, he was once again wearing his League identity mask.
This method of having multiple identities allowed him to act as he pleased in many situations. As long as he controlled that his identities didn't interfere with each other, he could avoid many problems.
For example, when he had just dealt with those thugs, he wore the mask of a taciturn young man. Even if someone tried to investigate, they wouldn't be able to trace anything back to Cain.
Goldenrod City at night was even more beautiful than during the day, with twinkling lights illuminating the whole city in a multicolored splendor.
Cain was unaffected in the slightest by having just killed someone. Since his previous life, when he had come to fully understand this world, he had grown accustomed to such blood-filled days.
Skillfully, he found Goldenrod City's black market and sold the recently captured Pokémon along with their Poké Balls to a Pokémon merchant there. In total, he made eighty thousand Pokédollars.
It's likely that the Beedrill slain by Murkrow and Gastly was that person's main Pokémon, so the other Pokémon together only sold for eighty thousand.
As for why he didn't exchange the Pokémon at the Hunter's Guild, it was because the guild follows the law of the wild and does not accept domesticated Pokémon.
This time, he didn't stay long in the black market nor caused much commotion. After selling the Pokémon, he used the money to buy a large quantity of supplies, including various antidotes and sufficient healing potions.
When he left the black market, the moon was already high in the sky, and the streets were almost deserted.
Cain found a nearby luxurious-looking hotel and paid three thousand Pokédollars to rent a luxury suite. Anyway, that money had been obtained by force, so he didn't mind spending it.
Following the hotel room number, he found his room.
It wasn't called a luxury suite for nothing; the room was very spacious, even allowing for more complex physical training for Pokémon.
Dinner had already been taken care of before he went to the black market.
It cannot be denied that Cain and Murkrow are quite similar; right after dealing with some thugs, they went to eat, and the food tasted even better. Murkrow, after releasing his long-repressed combat desire, ate more enthusiastically than usual.
However, Slowpoke felt a bit disappointed for not being able to participate in the fight.
After entering the room, Cain locked the door, and Gastly, on his own initiative, began inspecting the room's security.
Tomorrow it would be time to leave Goldenrod City. Cain had previously bought the locations of some reliable Nidoran colonies on the black market.
While hunter missions don't generate large earnings at first, as you level up, the rewards become more lucrative. Now, he needed to level up quickly.
Just as he sat on the couch, ready to plan how to head to Mahogany Town, Gastly suddenly interrupted him.
"What's wrong, Gastly?" Cain asked upon seeing Gastly's strange behavior in front of him.
"Kekeke!" Gastly let out a laugh and then dove directly into Cain's shadow.
"Could it be...?" Seeing Gastly's behavior, Cain had a hunch.
As Cain had suspected, Gastly soon emerged from his shadow again, this time holding an incubator in his smoky hands.
Seeing the incubator, Cain's eyes gleamed.
Skorupi!
Taking the incubator containing the Skorupi egg from Gastly's hands, he saw that the marked hatching time was less than five minutes.
Slowpoke and Murkrow also noticed Gastly's actions and approached with expressions of joy.
The first team member to hatch would also be the youngest of the group.
The arrival of a new teammate generally brings joy, and the training paused as Cain and his four Pokémon attentively observed the Pokémon egg.
Slowpoke felt it the most. With his mastery of psychic powers, he could clearly sense the vibrant life energy within the egg and the increasingly strong heartbeat.
Time, which normally passed quickly, seemed to have stopped; every second felt like hours.
Finally, the five minutes were up, and the egg began to tremble slightly. The incubator slowly opened, as if blooming, as the countdown ended.
The Pokémon egg was now fully exposed to the air, and a faint violet vapor started to appear around the egg, which was now shaking more vigorously, as if something inside was struggling to break free.
Crack! The first crack appeared in the egg, and the surrounding violet vapor, as if finding an escape route, rushed toward the fissure.
With the help of the violet vapor, the crack expanded more and more, and the cracking sounds became more frequent as fissures spread all over the egg.
Boom! Finally, the eggshell couldn't withstand the force of the little being it contained any longer, and it broke completely, revealing a small blue and violet Pokémon now in front of Cain.
The little Pokémon, about the size of a palm, was full of energy. Its blue eyes looked at Cain, filled with closeness and a bit of curiosity.
Its tail, which took up half of its body, was upright, and its small white pincers were raised above its head, waving in the air like a child asking for a hug.
"Welcome to this world, little one."
Seeing the little creature that showed such closeness to him, Cain smiled sincerely and extended his hand toward Skorupi.
Skorupi looked at Cain and then at his hand, hesitated for a moment before happily jumping onto it.
Cain immediately took out a bottle of milk he had obtained from Miltank, and then, after placing a straw in the bottle, put it in front of Skorupi and said:
"Try this; I'm sure you'll like it."
Skorupi, who had just hatched, had expended a lot of energy breaking the shell. Seeing Cain offering him something to eat, he curiously sniffed the straw. Sensing a peculiar milky aroma, his eyes lit up, and he began drinking enthusiastically.
As he drank, he found the milk more and more delicious, and eventually, he took the entire bottle from Cain's hands. His small pincers held the bottle perfectly, much heavier than he was, and in between sips, Skorupi made little sounds of joy.
While Skorupi drank the milk, Cain activated the system to scan his stats.
Pokémon: Skorupi (Light Blue)
Gender: Male
Level: 1
Type: Poison + Bug
Ability: Sniper
Held Item: None
Egg Moves: Screech, Agility, Poison Tail, Pursuit
Basic Moves: Bite, Poison Sting, Leer
Learned Moves: None
TM Moves: None
Cain's eyes immediately lit up. He hadn't expected Skorupi to have the Sniper ability. Although all of Skorupi's abilities have good development paths, Cain had always preferred the Sniper ability.
(End of chapter)