Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

“Let me see. The place we’re going to is… a red house next to Lake 3 at the second fork of Route 30.”

Tetsuya took out a map and searched for today's destination, matching the location Professor Oak had sent him yesterday.

I don't know what kind of person would choose to build a house in the wild to live in; it's an extremely dangerous act.

Having confirmed the direction of travel, Tetsuya put away the map and sighed unconsciously.

Although Route 30 is a main road that the Alliance maintains regularly, this area is still considered to be in the wilderness rather than a town.

Building a house in such a place would undoubtedly increase the likelihood of being attacked by wandering elves.

The only advantage is that the Wilderness Building Alliance doesn't levy any taxes on you, because it's not under their jurisdiction.

But anyone who wants to survive would not choose to live in such a place.

Since he's Professor Oak's friend, it must be because he's highly skilled and daring; otherwise, he wouldn't have done something like this.

Tetsuya, who considered himself fairly familiar with Professor Oak, racked his brains but still couldn't figure out who this person could be.

"Never mind, we'll see each other soon anyway."

He quickly put the question of who was who out of his mind, since the distance wasn't too far anyway.

Since consciously moving closer to Route 30 yesterday afternoon, Tetsuya is now only about a two-hour walk from his destination today.

His only worry was how to pass the boring two hours walking on the main road.

"Sure enough, that's why Ash always brings someone along on his trips. Traveling alone is just too boring."

Looking at the monotonous scenery on both sides of the road, Tetsuya felt quite miserable.

Although he had the electric dragon with him, the language barrier still made communication a bit awkward.

He was deeply aware of the concept that humans are social animals.

"beep--"

No one knows who heard his thoughts, but just as Tetsuya was lamenting, his wristwatch rang.

He looked up and saw it was Du.

"Hey, this is Watari."

Du's calm voice rang out, though the wind was quite strong.

"I'm on Dragonite's back right now, so please excuse me if I can't hear you clearly."

His next sentence explained why his surroundings were so noisy.

Tetsuya couldn't help but think that the other person was just showing off.

So what if he has a Dragonite? He wants one too.

"Good morning, Mr. Watari. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Tetsuya greeted him subconsciously, but he quickly realized that Watari couldn't possibly want to see him for anything else.

"It's about that red Gyarados scale you found earlier."

Du didn't mind the trouble and repeated it very carefully.

"Based on the data you sent, this possible red Gyarados does indeed appear to be somewhat unusual."

I reviewed the logs from the mission where Lorelei and Shiba took you to the Seven Islands. The documents recovered from the Fifth Island mentioned something called forced evolution via radio waves.

I wanted to confirm with you, do you think this forced evolution using radio waves is the same method Team Rocket used to cause the Gyarados rampage in Vermilion City?

Du said a lot in one breath, which shows that he really cares about the Rockets.

Aside from the information on the Fifth Island, he even found out about Tetsuya Konoha's almost non-existent involvement.

"Yes, I think the way Team Rocket did that time proves that they already have a somewhat immature method of forcing evolution using radio waves, and the Gyarados that appeared during that riot was even more violent than normal."

Zhe, who was somewhat familiar with the plot, was confident in his judgment, but he couldn't say it outright, so he made some changes and added his own so-called perspective.

"Even more brutal than normal?"

Du frowned on the other end of the phone; this point hadn't been mentioned at all in the mission report.

The main reason is that all Gyarados are inherently very ferocious. Once they go berserk, they can burn everything to ashes, even in a storm.

According to research, the irreversible tyranny is likely caused by the drastic species change during Magikarp's evolution into Gyarados, which led to the reorganization of brain cell structure.

Therefore, it's quite normal that no one noticed.

"Yes, but that's just my personal feeling."

Tetsuya didn't offer much assurance on this matter.

Although he knew it was related to Dr. Tobo's so-called rage energy, he couldn't explain it directly, as he had said before.

There's absolutely no trace of this thing right now; it's more accurate to say that this is based on my own experience and abilities than on guessing.

"I see."

Du fell into deep thought.

He still had a certain degree of trust in Tetsuya's feelings, after all, judging from his past performance, this young man was not someone who spoke without reason.

Moreover, the other party definitely has considerable authority in the field of Pokémon breeding, at least more so than the average person who submits a report.

"The Johto region?"

Du murmured to himself.

That's certainly possible.

Compared to the heavily defended Kanto region, the Johto region, with its ancient atmosphere, is a very suitable place to hide.

At least you don't have to worry about being discovered all the time.

"So where could it be hidden?"

He quickly fell into deep thought.

"Mr. Watari?"

Tetsuya asked, puzzled.

The sudden silence on the other end left him somewhat puzzled.

"Oh, sorry, I was thinking about something."

Wataru snapped out of his daze and remembered that he was still on the phone with Tetsuya.

"Where do you think the Rockets would hide if they were to do so?"

For no apparent reason, Watari voiced his doubts to Tetsuya.

Logically speaking, as one of the Four Heavenly Kings, he shouldn't have asked a child in his eyes this question, since the other party had absolutely no experience.

But Du asked that question anyway.

"Huh?" Tetsuya was taken aback. He couldn't very well say definitively that it was in the Lake of Wrath.

That would be impossible to clear his name even if he jumped into the lake; how did he know about the Rockets' secret base?

"Probably on a cliff? Or somewhere with lots of water."

He could only offer a vague guess.

This area is too vast; due to the terrain, countless parts of the city are like this.

"Hmm, that's true."

Watari wasn't disappointed; in his opinion, it was already quite an achievement for Tetsuya to come up with such a prediction.

Even he himself didn't have a clear direction for investigation.

"It looks like we'll need to ask someone else for help."

Du thought to himself.

He is indeed strong, but it is definitely not a wise move for one person to act as a hero.

Especially when it involves guessing and finding where the other party is hiding.

He had used information from the Officer Jenny family before to help him complete his missions.

Only a reckless fool would search an entire region by himself.

Tetsuya and Watari exchanged a few words before hanging up the phone.

"It looks like Lance's red Gyarados will join the team ahead of schedule."

He once again felt the power of his own little butterfly.

Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is unknown, but the Dragon King has captured another Pokémon whose name contains the dragon attribute but not the dragon name.

Tetsuya genuinely felt that "Flying-type Elite Four" was actually a pretty good title.

The conversation with Watari helped pass a significant portion of the boring time on the road.

After walking for a while, Tetsuya finally saw the red house that Professor Oak had mentioned.

There's no way around it; the signs of human habitation in this place are just too glaring.

"Ah, you must be the Tetsuya kid that Oki guy mentioned."

An elderly man dressed like a British gentleman from a past life stood in front of the house and greeted Tetsuya from afar.

"I am Mr. Pokémon. People usually call me Grandpa Pokémon. You can call me that if you don't mind."

When Tetsuya approached, the gentlemanly old man politely took off his hat and gave him a formal greeting.

"Um, hello."

Zhe, somewhat at a loss, didn't know how to respond and could only bow.

"Hahaha, what an interesting young man."

Grandpa Pokémon was smiling very happily.

Chapter 318 The Doctors' Research Subjects and Grandpa Pokémon's Gift (Revised, will read in ten minutes)

At this moment, Tetsuya was secretly regretting that he had forgotten about this person.

Few people know the exact name of the old man in front of us anymore.

As he himself said, people often called him Pokémon Grandpa so much that his real name was unknown.

Just like Professor Oak, everyone knows that Professor Oak is called Professor Oak, but not many people know the name Yukinari Oak.

At least most people wouldn't deliberately call Professor Oak "Professor Oak Yukinari" because they believe there is only one Professor Oak.

It was tough on Professor Oak's other relatives who were also Pokémon professors.

This person has been a close friend of Professor Oak for many, many years.

Their biggest commonality is their incredibly strong interest and love for Pokémon.

Grandpa Pokémon is also an expert on Pokémon.

However, unlike Professor Oak, who spends most of his time in the Kanto region and only occasionally goes out to conduct research, Grandpa Pokémon is very enthusiastic about traveling all over the world.

This is probably related to their respective responsibilities.

As a regional professor, Professor Oak doesn't have that much free time to go out.

The reason Tetsuya didn't think of this person at first was because his Pokémon grandfather was away all year round and he didn't think the other person would be in Johto.

"Come in and have a seat. You look like you need to rest."

Grandpa Pokémon warmly invited Tetsuya to his room as a guest.

Following him into the house, Tetsuya found that the interior was indeed as simple as the exterior.

"Hahaha, isn't it simple?"

Because I travel to various parts of the world, I don't live here often, and I didn't intend to make it particularly nice.

Seeing Tetsuya looking around, Grandpa Pokémon said with a smile.

"No, no," Tetsuya said, waving his hands sheepishly.

It seems rather impolite to express doubt about the decorations as soon as you enter your elders' home.