Short chapter.
•.•.•.•.•.◓.•.•.•.•
In this area, there were no flocking Flying-type Pokémon like Pidgey and Spearow. Noctowl and Hoothoot generally acted alone.
After catching another Hoothoot, Tetsuya headed toward the Shadow Team's base.
After walking for two days, he naturally encountered many people exploring in the forest, but most of them were catching Pokémon.
Raven was indeed an old Ninetales, coming up with such a ranking system…
This way, everyone wanted to catch more Pokémon to secure a better rank, so they could be matched with "weaker" opponents during battles.
Without a doubt, the one benefiting from this method was the Shadow Team. So many Pokémon being sold to the Black Market would naturally bring in a large amount of money.
However, no matter how large this island was, it could not withstand such fever forever. One day it would be emptied, and at the beginning, it was always the weaker Pokémon that were caught first.
Even fishermen release young fish when catching, in order to ensure sustainable development and maintain a healthy ecological cycle.
In fact, the Shadow Team had already exposed many flaws. Even if in the previous timeline, it had not suffered a great loss due to the island destruction incident and been wiped out by Team Rocket in one fell swoop, this kind of model could not have lasted long anyway and would eventually have been eliminated.
To put it bluntly, the Shadow Team could only be considered an underground force seeking profit. It was simply not on the same level as a "Villainous organization" like Team Rocket.
Moreover, Team Rocket had always existed as the biggest force in Kanto and Johto. Although other Villainous organizations constantly emerged, they were all replaced over time. Even those once famous such as Team Magma and Team Aqua in Hoenn, Team Galactic in Sinnoh, and Team Plasma in Unova had all been destroyed. The regional forces that replaced them were nothing more than insignificant clowns.
Only Team Rocket stood firm. Although it had its ups and downs, it had never disappeared. One could not help but admire Giovanni…
---◓---
Arriving at the Shadow Team's base.
One Hoothoot was exchanged for a batch of Pokéfood, and Noctowl was exchanged for thirty Poké Balls.
"You'd better hurry up. You definitely won't be able to keep first place this time. Many people have already sent in a lot of Pokémon," A member of the Shadow Team "kindly" reminded Tetsuya.
"…Do you even have that many supplies?"
Tetsuya said disdainfully.
The Shadow laughed, showing an expression as if a Marshtomp had seen through everything, and said, "The supplies available for exchange are limited for each person every month. If you can't exchange anymore, we'll remind you. But extra Pokémon can be exchanged for points. This way, you can still maintain your ranking. So, do you feel that...-"
The Shadow kept talking endlessly, but Tetsuya was already nowhere to be seen.
"Hey! Make sure to catch more Pokémon!" He shouted toward the outside.
The moment he heard the words "exchange for points," Tetsuya already understood their purpose clearly. People fought to the point of bleeding heads just for those few points. Even if one reached first place, so what? Every day was spent catching Pokémon. His own training would fall behind, and Pokémon would only become tools for catching, with no benefit to improving his strength. At that time, even the first place might end up being eliminated.
In fact, this kind of model was commonly seen anywhere, in any kind of organization, company, or even school.
If such a phenomenon was placed into a small society, it would be a university!
The simplest way to summarize it would be collective "honor". Now more than sixty people were equivalent to a class, and Raven and the others were like the homeroom teacher, the advisors, and the class coordinators.
The remaining sixty people desperately caught Pokémon. They were only given a fixed amount of supplies, along with illusory "honor" points, wasting their time and energy, yet gaining no benefit at all. Without systematic training, how much strength could Pokémon really demonstrate?
Without professional principles and practical experience, what use were even more credits for a university student?
Tetsuya remembered once seeing a post asking why there were always one or two people in a class who did not participate in any class activities and seemed unrelated to everything. Why did such people have no sense of collective "honor"?
Why?
Because they were smart!
They knew that so-called collective "honor" was all empty. Only tangible benefits were real.
The benefits brought by so-called collective honor are all held in the hands of a small number of people. These people do not distribute the benefits to everyone. The majority who put in the effort are often just making the "one sows and another reaps" for the minority.
Moreover, this so-called collective only lasts three or four years and does not have long-term control or influence over one's life. After graduation, who knows who?
Then what is the use of this sense of collective honor?
What harm is there in not caring about this?
Who would put in effort and cost for the collective without seeking any return?
Investing it in oneself is obviously more worthwhile!
Tetsuya resolutely left the Shadow Team's base and returned to catch Pokémon…
However, Tetsuya would only catch Pokémon when necessary and would not deliberately catch to exchange for points. Of course, if a Pokémon had training value for him, he would also step forward. Many people now were just catching weak Pokémon to make up the numbers.
Now his Beedrill could wipe out all the Grass-types in the flower field, but it was of no use at all in improving its strength.
'No…' Tetsuya seemed to have thought of something.