Eric woke up in the middle of the night, breathing hard. He was sweaty all over, and his heart was racing. His mind was stuck halfway between the dream and reality.
He had a nightmare in which he was reliving the ugliest moments of his past.
This wasn't a new thing for Eric. In fact, had it not been for Gastly's hypnosis, he would barely get any sleep at all.
As a 16 year old, Eric had dreams like anyone else. It wasn't anything grand. Just a peaceful life without the fear, without the constant tension, without the nightmares. Just living normally.
But this simple goal felt far away.
Because he was too weak.
Without strength, his mind could never relax. Even if he somehow attained peace, his mind would constantly be in stress, consumed by the worry that this peace could be snatched at any moment, because he was too weak to protect it.
He needed strength.
That was the only reason he was pushing himself so hard these past few days.
Training, planning, utilising every minute, every second of the day as well as he could. Just continuing to move forward without stopping for even a moment.
Because if he slows down, then his thoughts catch up to him. And he does not want that.
Eric hadn't even spoken to anyone in the town yet. Partly because of his obsession. But also because he just didn't't know how.
He had never been good with people, and the ones he knew made him dislike humans in general.
"Gas..."
Eric looked up to find Gastly floating near him, watching him quietly.
Eric then sighed and leaned back a little.
"I'm fine, Gastly."
'Atleast he wasn't alone this time.'
Eric's thoughts then drifted towards his Pokémon.
The Gastly line is known to be mischievous, but his Gastly is a lot more serious. Perhaps because he was captured against his will. He didn't have a Pokeball when Eric caught him, so they must have used a different method to imprison him.
Although now Gastly was starting to loosen up a bit, slowly regaining his mischievousness. He would often have fun irritating Spearow whenever they spared.
Pokémon are simpler than humans. They can move on much faster and are not as hung up with their past.
His Spearow on the other hand is quite a cocky little bird. Short-tempered, proud, easily irritated. Still, Eric had formed a decent connection with her. Even if she lagged behind in strength, he doesn't plan on abandoning her.
'Alright, time to get up.'
Eric forced himself to get up and start moving. No time to waste.
---
A week passed by as Eric continued his usual routine of training his Pokemon.
He spent most of his time in the Butterfree territory, returning to Redwood only to gather supplies or to sleep. He would sometimes explore the areas outside the Butterfree territory to get some real battle experience where their lives are on the line.
A huge amount of progress was made this past week. The Pokéblocks he bought also started to show some real results. Gastly's physique grew denser, and the purple Haze around him got deeper.
Both his and Spearow's training efficiency atleast doubled in this time.
Pokémon: Gastly
Gender: Male
Level: 16
Type: Ghost/Poison
Ability: Levitate
Held Item: None
Potential: Deep Blue
Moves: Lick(B), Hypnosis(B++), Confuse Ray(B++), Astonish(B), Disable(B+++), Clear smog(B+++), Toxic(B++), Ghost Ball(B++)
[B means Basic, for simplicity. I, is intermediate and so on.]
Pokémon: Spearow
Gender: Female
Level: 14
Type: Normal/Flying
Ability: Keen Eye
Held Item: None
Potential: Deep Yellow
Moves: Leer(B), Aerial Ace(B++), Pursuit(B+), Growl(B), Peck(B+++), Fury attack(B+), Feint attack(B+)
In this time, Eric again got a reward from the Butterfree for winning. This time Gastly fought stronger Butterfree, the strongest of them being at lvl 23. They also gave him more honey than last time, around 600g.
All in all, his total earnings the past week earned him roughly 72,000P.
After purchasing a week's worth more of Pokeblocks and some other expenses, he was left with just 10,000P
His money problems will end soon, however. Because Eric had finally decided on going to the Black Market!
There was still risk, but he felt confident enough.
Eric bought a disguise and headed towards the black market. It was not as difficult to find as one might think. In fact, the original owner of Eric's body knew one of the entryways. He never went there, but he knew where it was.
Eric entered a Pokemon Store that looked quite normal on the outside. He was wearing a Black Cloak that covered his features.
"Welcome customer! How can I help you?"
As he entered, he was greeted by an emploee.
Eric replied to her in a cold voice,
"I'm more interested in your 'other' business"
Eric had a naturally cold presence. He was also secretly making Gastly, who was hidden in his shadow, manipulate the Ghost type energy in the air, giving him an eery, intimidating vibe.
"Whatever do you mean, dear customer? We are but a humble shop that sells supplies for Pokemon."
"We both know that's not true. Don't make me repeat myself" Eric replied coldly.
The employee observed Eric quietly. She was in charge of determining whether to let someone in or not. She could tell Eric was a novice. He was trying too hard to look intimidating. But the air around him, and his cold eyes were not faked.
"Please follow me this way." The employee made her decision and led Eric to the back exit. 2 guards were sitting besides the door. Upon recieving a signal from the employee, they moved aside and let Eric pass.
Eric released Spearow and made her situation on his shoulder as he entered the Black Market. He observed his surroundings with cold eyes. The market was massive. It was divided into multiple areas, each of them under a different organisation. They were the 5 major gangs of Redwood, the Poacher Guild, the Mercenary guild, and...Team Rocket!
Eric entered the area governed by the Poacher's guild and ignored the rest. They were the best place if you wanted to buy or sell Pokemon. Eric could also sell to other organisations, but this was the safest choice. The 5 gangs operate only in Redwood, they don't have the safety or professionalism that organisations like Team rocket or the Poacher's guild have.
Eric chose a decent looking store under the Poacher's guild, and went in.
"Well that's a new face"
Eric was greeted by a scrawny looking man, who invited him in lazily. This man looked very laid back and easy going.
"I'm selling these Pokemon"
Eric said coldly and started placing Pokeballs at the counter. There were 7 in total. All of them were caught by him in the past week, and all of them had a yellow potential.
"A man of few words, huh. Well, let's see what we have here."
The man didn't mind Eric's attitude and lazily picked up the balls, placing them in a machine.
"I'm charging you 5000P per appraisal by the way. You don't have to pay for the Pokemon with decent potential if you are selling them to me."
"1 Beedrill of C+ quality, 1 pidgey of C+ quality, 3 Rattata of C quality and 2 Spearow of C quality"
The scrawny man counted impassively.
(The grading system goes from Grade E to SSS, E being Grey potential, and SSS being Black potential.)
"I can pay you 60,000 for the Beedrill, 65000 for the pidgey, 25,000 each for the Rattata and Spearow." He replied lazily and shot Eric a look.
"If you're not interested, I'm leaving"
Eric replied coldly as he began collecting his Pokéballs.
The Scrawny man observed Eric, sizing him up. He offered a lower than market price for these Pokémon. Partly because C grade Pokémon were not enough to catch his attention. But mainly because he was testing Eric, trying to see if he had any potential.
He then smiled and offered,
"Fine. 90,000 for the Beedrill, 100,000 for the pidgey, 50,000 for the Spearow and Rattata each. This is my final rate."
He offered a rate that was slightly above the market price this time. This amount didn't mean anything to him anyways.
Eric accepted the deal.
"Here. I've placed 4,40,000 Pokedollars in this card. Its untraceable."
Generally the league cards function as a bank for a trainer. Transactions in this world are completely cashless. Its best not to deposit illegal funds in your registered account though. So the black market uses untraceable cards to transfer money.
Eric took the card wordlessly and made his way to the door.
"The name's Robert by the way"
The shopkeeper said lazily before Eric left.
Robert then laid back lazily on his chair.
'You're trying too hard, kid' he thought to himself. He could tell Eric was a novice. Eric was trying too hard to show a cold front, something Robert's experienced eyes could tell in an instant.
'Still, there's potential.'
All of Eric's Pokemon had decent potential. Usually when a trainer comes to sell pokemon, most of them have terrible potential and can't be sold. Thus the 5000P appraisal cost. It could be a coincidence, or Eric could have had them appraised beforehand.
It wasn't anything much, just enough to make Robert slightly curious. And that was enough for him.