Red suddenly came to a halt, looking curiously at Officer Jenny standing before him.
"Hm? Did I trigger some kind of event?" he muttered inwardly, then promptly initiated the dialogue.
"Excuse me, Officer Jenny! Is something the matter?"
"Mm, yes, actually…"
Though she was clearly just an NPC, Officer Jenny's expression unexpectedly became vivid. She reached behind her and pulled out a Pokémon with a smooth, bald head and a heavy turtle shell on its back—Squirtle.
Officer Jenny said, "This is a Squirtle I recently caught. He loves causing mischief, so I've been looking for a capable Trainer to entrust him to…"
"You currently have… two Gym Badges!"
"It looks like you're already a strong Trainer. In that case, I'll leave this Squirtle to you!"
Without waiting for a response, Officer Jenny pushed Squirtle straight toward Red.
The next instant, her face returned to the blank indifference of an NPC. Once again, she became the cool, stern policewoman in a short skirt, standing silently in place.
"So it's a Pokémon giveaway event?"
A flash of joy passed through Red's eyes as Squirtle in front of him suddenly transformed into a pale blue beam of light and shot straight into his backpack.
Exactly like that Charmander before!
"Charmander… Squirtle…"
"Which means later on, there should be an event where someone gives Bulbasaur too, right?"
Looking at the newly added Water Gun TM in his backpack, Red felt genuinely happy, even if he wouldn't have a chance to use it anytime soon.
But what excited him even more was—
Before he had even taken a few steps, he triggered yet another NPC-initiated event.
This time, it was a burly martial artist dressed exactly like "Hakan" from Street Fighter.
The man jumped up from a bench as soon as he saw Red and eagerly rushed over, asking enthusiastically:
"Do you like Growlithe, or Meowth?"
A dialogue box abruptly popped up, clearly presenting two choices: [Growlithe] and [Meowth].
Red: "???"
"What kind of weird question is that?"
After hesitating for a moment, recalling the Growlithe he had encountered back on Route 6, Red ultimately selected [Growlithe].
But the strangely dressed fighter waved his hand dismissively.
"Hey~ no need to tell me the answer! Isn't it obvious?"
"Come back to me after you've caught five Growlithe!"
"When that happens, I'll give you an incredible Pokémon~!"
"Does Vermilion City really have this many benefits?"
Watching the martial artist return to his bench, Red couldn't help but marvel.
If only he had known about this hidden quest earlier, he would've just caught those Growlithe he defeated before.
Still, this wasn't so bad.
The sudden side quest helped Red make a quick decision—
He'd spend the rest of his game time grinding levels on Route 6.
The two of them first went to the Pokémon Center in Vermilion City to help Nami fully recover, then dove straight into the tall grass on Route 6, beginning a cheerful leveling session.
To boost efficiency, Red even used a bottle of Lure.
[Item: Lure][Effect: For the next 30 minutes, increases the encounter rate of wild Pokémon. Rare Pokémon are more likely to appear.]
This Lure had been picked up by Nami during their recent gameplay, thanks to her Pickup ability.
Beyond that, she had also collected plenty of common Pokémon items during that time—Escape Ropes, Repels, Potions, and medicines that cured status conditions.
Honestly speaking, Nami truly lived up to her reputation as the most notorious money-grubber in the world of pirates. Just the items she'd picked up during this period would fetch several thousand Beli if sold at a friendly shop.
Red suspected that even Pokémon who genuinely possessed the Pickup ability couldn't match Nami's absurd efficiency in collecting items.
Of course, various stat candies also appeared frequently among her finds.
Any suitable ones had already been used by Nami, helping patch up her weaker stats such as Special Defense and Speed.
With the Lure in effect, the frequency of Pokémon encounters increased noticeably.
The moment they stepped into the grass, four Pokémon sprang out at once.
One of them was exactly what they were looking for—a Growlithe.
"Not bad luck!"
A grin spread across Red's face as he immediately began issuing commands to Nami.
Working together, they quickly captured the first Growlithe.
Focused entirely on clearing the quest, Red ignored the other Pokémon and concentrated solely on hunting Growlithe in the grass.
They didn't even need half an hour to successfully capture five of them.
And seeing that all five Growlithe together dropped nothing more than a single berry that cured freezing left Red completely giving up on the idea of farming wild Pokémon for valuable held items.
The reason Abra had dropped a TM before was simply because it could naturally hold one.
Under normal circumstances, berries were the most common held items among Pokémon.
Returning to Vermilion City, Red immediately sought out the martial artist.
"Looks like you've successfully caught five Growlithe. In that case…"
"I'll gift you this handsome and beautiful Persian!"
Red: "..."
"So what was the point of making me catch Growlithe?"
Red complained weakly as he reached out and accepted Persian's Poké Ball.
The very next second, just like Charmander and Squirtle before it, Persian transformed into a strange beam of light and vanished into Red's backpack.
Once again, Red's TM collection increased by one.
Counting Water Gun, he had obtained two TMs today alone.
But compared to Water Gun—a damaging move with only 40 base power—
This newly acquired TM was, in Red's eyes, unexpectedly useful.
[Move: Switcheroo][Type: Dark][Category: Status][Power: —][Description: Switches the held items of the user and the target at blinding speed.]
Such a brief description, yet it instantly maxed out Red's expectations.
In the game, this move might not seem that impressive.
After all, even Gym Leaders' Pokémon usually only carried recovery items.
But in the real world…
This move was practically a close-range version of "disarm your enemy."
"Switcheroo… just hearing the name makes it sound like it was made for thieves…"
With a thought, Red tapped the Learn Move button.
In that instant, [Can Learn] icons appeared beneath both Buggy's and Nami's portraits.
However, since learning moves required the Pokémon to be present in the game world, Red could only teach it to Nami.
As a result, Nami's four move slots were now fully filled:
Zippy Zap, Buzzy Buzz, Pay Day, Switcheroo.
"Sigh… if only there wasn't a limit on the number of moves."
"I wonder if Pokémon move slots will reset after unlocking the next version of the game…"
After pondering for a while and waiting for Nami to fully absorb Switcheroo, the two returned to the Pokémon Center once more to recover their stamina.
With only a little battery left—and no time to do anything meaningful—Red decided to save his progress and log out.
Back in the real world, a chorus of loud snoring immediately reached his ears.
Luffy and Zoro—completely exhausted after a full day of training.
Seeing this, Red exchanged a smile with Usopp, who had also just exited the game, and then drifted off to sleep as well.
The night passed without incident.
(End of Chapter)