Upon leaving the Pokémon food store, Cain still had 4.4 million Pokédollars.
Suddenly, he had spent 600,000 Pokédollars, so the 5 million wasn't really enough for Pokémon training.
This is considering that Cain can make high-level Pokéblocks himself; if someone had to buy them, the cost would be even higher.
Of course, civilians can't afford high-level Pokéblocks; medium-level Pokéblocks are their limit.
As time goes on as a trainer, the gap between civilian trainers and the League's elite trainers or the nobility only widens.
Without stopping due to the expense, Cain was prepared to spend all his money before entering the black market.
He went straight to the Pokémon attribute items store.
It was the first time Cain had entered this kind of store in this life, and it sold items that enhance Pokémon attributes, like different types of "Anti-Ice" of various years, which are extremely expensive.
Cain's goal was to buy one or several items to enhance Gastly and Skorupi's Poison-type moves.
After browsing the entire store, Cain chose a poison gas from a Quasi-Elite Weezing and a full venom sac from a Quasi-Elite Arbok.
Both items contain extremely potent poison; anyone who comes into contact with them, even with an antidote, would die in less than five seconds if the antidote isn't used in time.
Because these two items are important parts of Quasi-Elite Pokémon remnants, their value is quite high.
Both items cost a total of 1 million Pokédollars.
These items are for prolonged use and cannot be immediately digested by Gastly or Skorupi.
The poison is too potent for any Pokémon, so they will be in contact with these poisons over the next month.
Thus, Cain had already spent 1.6 million Pokédollars, leaving 3.4 million.
After leaving the Pokémon attribute items store, he headed to the Pokémon move store.
Before, in Goldenrod City, Cain had obtained a TM for the move Toxic and two TMs for the move Protect thanks to his system, which he had yet to use.
That had saved him a fair amount of money.
Now, in Cain's team, apart from Fearow, which is used as a tool, the rest of the Pokémon that hadn't learned the move Protect yet were Miltank, Sneasel, and Skorupi.
So he only needed to buy one TM for the move Protect.
Fortunately, the Protect TM is quite common outside Trial Island, and its price isn't high; each Protect TM costs 150,000 Pokédollars.
The move Protect is essential for every Pokémon, as long as the levels aren't too different, as it's almost like a temporary immunity move.
Besides Protect, the move Hidden Power is also almost essential because Cain's team lacks specific-type moves in some areas.
So the move Hidden Power, which is somewhat like a skill gamble, has become a key move. Cain has used it several times in battle and has had good results.
Even if he doesn't get a suitable type, Cain will still have his Pokémon learn the move.
So, except for Murkrow, Slowpoke, and Gastly, the rest of the Pokémon need a Hidden Power TM.
Each Hidden Power TM costs 200,000 Pokédollars, and three of them add up to 600,000 Pokédollars.
Thus, one Protect TM and three Hidden Power TMs amount to a total of 750,000 Pokédollars.
Then Cain started selecting specific moves for each Pokémon. First, for Murkrow.
As the first Pokémon to join Cain, it has learned more moves through TMs than the others.
The additional move requirements are also lower; it only needs to learn a Taunt TM to round out its moves.
The Taunt TM costs 250,000 Pokédollars.
Next is Slowpoke.
Slowpoke is a Water and Psychic-type Pokémon, but it can also learn moves of other types, like Fire, Ice, and Ground.
Since he already has Sneasel for Ice-type moves, that can be set aside for now.
Cain originally planned to teach Slowpoke a Fire-type move to cover the type deficit in his team.
However, the only Fire-type moves Slowpoke can learn through TMs are Fire Blast and Flamethrower, and both TMs are quite expensive.
Cain decided not to spend on them for now due to his limited budget.
So he spent 300,000 Pokédollars to buy a Ground-type TM called Bulldoze to cover the team's deficit a bit.
Then there's Gastly. First, Cain bought the Weezing's poison gas, which will enhance Gastly's Poison attribute.
Fortunately, he already has the expensive Toxic TM, and Cain also decided to give Gastly a Taunt TM to handle other Pokémon better in battle.
The Taunt TM cost another 250,000 Pokédollars.
Lastly, for Miltank.
Miltank hadn't used any TMs before.
In addition to the Protect and Hidden Power TMs purchased previously, Cain chose Substitute and Brick Break for Miltank.
Miltank, being a Normal-type Pokémon, can learn moves of various types, but given the limited budget, Cain chose Substitute for 200,000 Pokédollars and Brick Break for 350,000 Pokédollars.
Substitute pairs well with the move Milk Drink and can nearly negate Substitute's side effects.
Brick Break is a move that complements Miltank's close-combat style and fills a gap in the team, as none of the current Pokémon know Fighting-type moves.
In total, Cain chose moves that align with each Pokémon's combat styles and aim to cover the team's deficiencies.
There's a month and a half left, and he no longer has time to look for more Pokémon, so he has to rely on his Pokémon's moves to cover the gaps.
(End of chapter)