"Miss Rika of the Paldea Elite Four, correct?"
Hikaru had already heard from Professor Juniper that Geeta wanted to get in touch with him, and had dispatched a staff member of very high standing.
So the so-called "high-ranking staff member" turned out to be Rika?
He had half-expected it to be Larry the salaryman instead.
Also… this "invitation" was a bit too straightforward!
From appearances alone, it was hard to tell whether Rika was male or female, but in reality she was definitely a woman, with long green hair tied into a single side ponytail.
Compared to Hassel's light green hair, Rika's shade was significantly darker.
She was also one of the very rare Ground-type specialists, and served as one of the League's official interviewers.
Judging from the timeline and her age, though, Rika probably hadn't been an Elite Four member for very long yet, at least not as long as Larry had held his post.
Hikaru said, "I didn't expect my position as the Black Skyscraper's floor warden to have already made its way to Paldea."
Rika answered, "That's because our Top Champion has been searching for powerful Trainers. Someone as strong as you shows up in Paldea, causes a small commotion, and then even becomes a minor local sensation. There's no way we wouldn't notice!"
"Hello again. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I'm Rika, one of the Elite Four of the Paldea region."
When speaking with juniors under normal circumstances, Rika would unconsciously slip into her dialect, even jokingly asking them to call her "Rika-onee-chan" or something similar.
But what she was doing right now was extremely important, so she consciously restrained herself and didn't let the accent slip out.
That said, just looking at age alone, Hikaru was undoubtedly younger than she was.
And yet someone this young had already served as the boss of a major battle facility. In comparison, while her position as an Elite Four member was indeed higher on paper…
Across different regions, you really couldn't just compare job titles one-to-one like that.
Paldea was a relatively new League, and its Elite Four hadn't yet reached the level of those in older regions. They were literally short one member in the first place.
Rika herself felt that there was still a considerable gap between her and the Elite Four of other regions.
If she tried to take on the role of a battle facility boss in those places instead, whether she could make the cut at all was honestly questionable.
As another Ground-type specialist, Bertha of Sinnoh's Elite Four was her target and role model for growth.
"Even though this is all a bit sudden, I'll keep it short and get straight to the point!"
"Under the orders of our Top Champion, and just as I mentioned earlier, I'm here to invite you to join Paldea's Elite Four!"
"Paldea's League is suffering from a shortage of powerful Trainers. To develop the League further, we're recruiting strong candidates, and in return the League can offer very generous pay and benefits!"
Rika pressed her lips together, took a deep breath, and did her best to calm herself down so she could negotiate properly.
"Paldea might not have a battle facility like the Black Skyscraper, but we know very well what that kind of place is like. To serve as the warden of Area 10 there, your strength is undeniably on par with any Elite Four member."
Hikaru replied, "Since you know I'm no longer serving as a warden, then you must also understand that I'm not going to accept an Elite Four position either."
"Staying in the same place too long runs counter to my way of life, and besides, I already have a job."
Rika, however, cut straight through the surface.
"You're an item artificer, right? I've actually bought your products before. They're crazy strong."
"I was the buyer who ordered those Ground-type training tools."
Rika thought back on what happened after she used that series of training items.
They worked absurdly well. A batch of young students who could have challenged the Elite Four got knocked out in the very first interview round. That result had made Rika genuinely wonder whether she'd gone overboard, only for Geeta to tell her not to worry about it.
"So you're one of my customers too? I really must apologize for not realizing sooner."
Hikaru was a bit surprised. He had guessed something along those lines in the past, but hadn't expected it to actually be Rika.
On second thought, though, it made perfect sense. Ground-type specialists were very rare. Among random hikers and Ruin Maniacs, there were plenty who used Ground-types, but their skill levels were wildly uneven, and battling for them was just a hobby.
Even though the earth and soil were everywhere, Ground-type Pokémon were actually quite difficult to raise properly.
"Exactly. We know what your primary profession is. Many Gym Leaders in Paldea have their own main jobs too, and that doesn't conflict with taking a League position. That's simply how Paldean life is."
"As a side note… since I knew you were an artificer, I also knew that you started out in Sinjoh. I don't know much about that place, but back when I lived in Johto, I did hear a few legends about Sinjoh."
Something in the way she spoke suddenly caught Hikaru's attention.
Every now and then, that Kansai-style accent slipped out. She'd even talked about her accent during the Pokémon Masters EX event, when she was chatting with Whitney. That meant…
"You wouldn't happen to be from Johto, would you?" Hikaru asked.
"Ah, you caught that?" Rika grimaced slightly. "I've really been trying to hold back my accent. But yes, I moved from Johto to Paldea."
"So, you and I are actually from the same homeland."
"As for Elite Four work… we really are short-staffed, so it is a bit busy. But if you're willing to join, we can discuss all of that."
In other words: no matter what the conditions were, they would do their best to agree. The most important thing was to keep a talented Trainer like this in their ranks, everything else could be handled later.
If the person in question really didn't want to work overtime, that was fine too.
"I'm sorry, Larry."
Even Rika couldn't help sighing inwardly.
At this rate, they were going to pile all of Paldea's overtime work on Larry again. Then again, maybe that wasn't entirely fair. She herself did put in a lot of overtime too.
Hikaru's reply, however, made things difficult all over again.
He shook his head.
"No, no. From what I've heard, your Top Champion has a real talent for personnel management. She's supposed to be very good at assigning everyone just the right amount of work, which means not doing overtime sounds… basically impossible."
"From what they say, she's very capable. Whether it's older veterans or young prodigies, she can deploy all of them with surgical precision."
"From my point of view, if I joined the Paldea League, the job would eat into all the time I use to gather materials, craft items, and train while traveling. And there's no way I could stay in one place for long. From the perspective of the League's development and long-term planning, recruiting a guy like me, who's always sneaking off to slack whenever he can, doesn't sound like a great idea, does it?"
Huh?
Had Geeta's "make full use of everything and everyone" management style already become infamous in other regions?
Didn't that count as "bad news travels fast"?
Even Rika felt deeply embarrassed. Her cheeks flushed as she winced inwardly.
"A-ahem. That situation is only because we're desperately understaffed. Top Champion Geeta also does plenty of overtime herself."
"All of this is for the rapid development of the League, and it's a necessary step in that process."
"I think I understand what you're getting at. You don't really want to be constrained by League rules. In your case, being a battle facility boss is indeed much freer. The rules for each area of the Black Skyscraper are set by the floor warden, but that obviously isn't possible inside a League structure."
"But!"
Rika clenched her teeth.
"All of that is still negotiable!"
"You could do it part-time!"
She had no choice. Geeta's instructions had been: "No matter what conditions they raise, agree to them if at all possible." It was obvious that their Top Champion was absolutely determined to recruit this man.
If he refused outright, then they would even accept some strange "part-time Elite Four" arrangement.
Of course, if they did that, both she and Larry would be working even more overtime. A part-time Elite Four meant that the person could resign at any moment, so they couldn't stop the candidate selection process and would actually have to accelerate it.
She personally didn't mind. She was passionate about work. But Larry would probably be in agony.
"Paldea's League can also provide rare materials," Rika added. "There's one type only our region possesses, and that is—"
"You mean Terastal energy, or…?" Hikaru prompted.
Rika shook her head.
"No. It's something even more valuable than ordinary Terastal energy. But the details of that can only be discussed with our Top Champion herself."
The conversation between Hikaru and Rika had left Brassius and Iono completely stunned.
Iono's thoughts were: "This is definitely today's biggest headline. Shocking! Paldea about to welcome the final member of its Elite Four?!"
Brassius, on the other hand, inhaled sharply.
"Um, Miss Rika! Lady Hikaru is here at my invitation, to attend my art festival. An Elite Four appointment is so important…"
He had no objections to Hikaru becoming an Elite Four member; he was simply shocked that this young man, already so famous in the art world, was just as terrifyingly strong in battle.
He didn't really understand what sort of place the Black Skyscraper was, but judging from Rika's expression, it had to be extraordinary.
That said… was that really what they should be focusing on today?
"T-the art exhibition… avant-garde art… today we were supposed to…"
Rika sighed. "Sorry, Brassius. This is an absolute order from the Top Champion. I'm going to have to borrow some of your creative time! So, my lord warden, let's settle this discussion quickly!"
"I believe I've shown plenty of sincerity already!"
Hikaru thought for a moment, then suddenly pressed, "Can those conditions be extended even further?"
Rika was momentarily speechless.
Then she realized he was testing the waters.
Which, in fact, was a good sign. If he was probing, that meant he was at least somewhat moved by their offer. The rest could be left to Geeta to hammer out in detail.
"Yes!"
"So long as it helps make this happen… we'll do anything!"
Rika answered without the slightest hesitation.
"This is huge! Absolutely huge! This is a super-massive hot topic!" Iono's hands trembled around her camcorder.
She'd really picked the right event to crash today,忒嘻嘻~!
Iono had never seen League staff act like this before, practically bending over backwards with no bottom line just to recruit an outside Trainer.
In other words, this legendary artist from Unova was even more absurdly powerful than she had imagined.
"Thinking about it that way, I'm actually a little jealous. When I became a Gym Leader, nobody went this wild over me," she muttered.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Brassius rubbed his temples. These people just kept intruding on his art festival, but even he was shaken by how far the League was willing to go.
On second thought…
"Top Champion Geeta is especially good at finding ways to use people," he said quietly. "Look, even other regions have heard about her by now. If she took a liking to you, you would never have time to edit your videos again, would you?"
"Heehee~ when you put it like that, maybe it's good I'm not being valued that highly! I mean, the workload and the pay are totally out of balance…"
Listening to the two Gym Leaders gossip, even Hikaru could not help feeling a bead of cold sweat slide down his cheek. Rika's smile, meanwhile, had gone stiff at the edges, the corners of her mouth twitching in barely concealed irritation.
This was a critical moment in her recruitment pitch, and these two were whispering just loudly enough for her to hear about how the "company president" liked turning people into beasts of burden.
If the League was a company, then these two were the jaded old employees who, instead of praising the company's perks, complained that the CEO loved working people like draft Miltank. That kind of talk would scare any new hire off.
Were they jealous? Was that it? Complaining about the workload and the pay being out of sync…
"P-please, take your time to think it over before you decide!" Rika managed through gritted teeth.
She couldn't scold Brassius and Iono directly, but she was already planning her revenge.
She would make them redo their Gym challenges from scratch and "take care" of them properly.
"I will," Hikaru replied, pretending not to have heard the chatter behind him. He cleared his throat. "Since this mysterious, valuable item needs Champion Geeta herself to come discuss it, I think this is a good place to pause our negotiations."
"Oh!" Hearing that, Rika didn't feel disappointed at all. Her eyes lit up.
"So you're willing to meet with our Top Champion, and discuss terms and details with her?"
"I do have conditions," Hikaru said thoughtfully. "I want access to Area Zero. As for why, I can't tell you."
He had originally planned to ask Brassius to introduce him to important League figures, but having them come to him like this was much more convenient.
As for being an Elite Four member…
If it was just a "temporary, part-time" role, where he could collect a salary, hit Area Zero whenever he wanted for materials, and still be free to come and go, it honestly didn't sound so bad.
With the Ring of Another Dimension and the Great Gate at his disposal, all he really had to do was leave a "door" here.
With a personal warp gate, Unova and Paldea were literally just one step apart.
What Hikaru really wondered about was the "secret material" Paldea was hinting at, something so sensitive only Geeta herself could discuss it.
"If it isn't ordinary Terastal energy, then it still has to be related to Terastal somehow, just more hidden."
"Outside of the Treasures of Ruin and that ancient coin hoard, the only real treasures Paldea has are all tied to Terastal."
"The Herba Mystica shouldn't be part of this. The Terastal Mother Tree… even the League hasn't fully figured that one out."
"The mysterious iron plate? No, that thing should be wedged deep in the Great Crater."
"What in the world could it be? It definitely has to be connected to Area Zero research… could it be Booster Energy…?"
Rika, hearing his condition, actually relaxed instead of tensing up.
Area Zero certainly contained priceless things, but even if ordinary people went in, they wouldn't get much out of it. The primary reason for sealing it off was to prevent dangerous creatures and energies from escaping.
If a strong insider wanted to go in, that was honestly no problem.
"To a tool-crafting Trainer who chases rare materials, Area Zero must sound like a legendary treasure trove," she thought. "But whatever his reasons, being able to put that kind of bait on the table is our advantage."
"What's scary is when they don't ask for anything. If they start naming terms, it means they're interested."
Out loud, she said, "No problem! I'll explain everything to the Top Champion! At the same time, we'll also provide you with Area Zero exploration data."
"Area Zero is extremely dangerous. Only Trainers with a very high level of strength are allowed to enter… of course, in your case there's nothing to worry about. We'll also send a detailed notice to the scientists currently working there."
"Within Area Zero, your actions will be completely free. Any resources you obtain will be yours alone."
"Eh?! Even that condition was accepted so easily?" Iono blurted.
Brassius murmured, "It seems… Champion Geeta really has made up her mind. She's ready to pay any price to secure Lady Hikaru's support."
The Gym Leaders didn't know much about Area Zero, nor did they really care, but they understood it was an extremely important research zone.
Paldea's government organizations had been investigating Area Zero for over eighty years. Only a few years ago did the research finally bear fruit. One of the most important outcomes was "controlled Terastalization," which led to the creation of the Tera Orb, a device that could freely handle Terastal energy.
For the Paldea League, that was a truly epoch-making achievement. Controlling this mysterious power meant Paldea could introduce its own region-exclusive battle format, just as Galar had done with Dynamax.
In the past, Galar had been poor and barren, but with controlled Dynamax battles, it had transformed within a few short decades into a highly developed region, attracting countless battle experts and skyrocketing its economy past many of the older regions.
Paldea's League intended to borrow heavily from that development model.
At this point, both Gym Leaders were frankly jealous.
It took this much effort, and this high a price, just to bring in one Elite Four member.
Rika noted their expressions and sighed internally.
"It's because you lot don't work hard enough."
Everyone in Paldea wanted to live a slow, leisurely life. They did run their Gyms day to day, but very few of them treated battling as a primary career. That mindset ran completely counter to Geeta's vision for the League, but it also wasn't realistic to expect people to change their lifestyles overnight after so many years.
That simply wasn't how humans worked.
Rika's willingness to go all in made Hikaru rather impressed.
This was, frankly, an incredibly generous offer. Anyone with the slightest bit of conscience would have a hard time turning down that kind of sincerity.
You could say that when it came to recruiting talent, the Paldea League had reached the "we'll give you anything you want" stage.
Speaking of recruitment, though, Hikaru suddenly remembered something amusing.
In Pokémon Masters EX, even Rika herself had been headhunted by Chairman Rose.
"Ahem. In that case, I won't say anything more. Once Chairwoman Geeta arrives, we can talk it through in detail," Hikaru said.
"Whew… so we've at least reached a temporary agreement." Rika finally let out a real sigh of relief. Then battle-flames lit up in her eyes again.
"Next is my personal request."
"As I said at the very start, I want to battle you!"
"This has nothing to do with the Elite Four invitation. I simply want to test my own strength!"
"I want to know: if I, an Elite Four member, went to other regions, exactly how strong I would be compared to their top Trainers!"
Rika's gaze burned.
"I've heard that the bosses of the various battle facilities in different regions all have battle power on par with the Elite Four. That means people like you can already be treated as Elite Four candidates in your own right."
"Battling Trainers like that, sharpening my skill, and pushing to a higher realm!"
"Please allow me to challenge you!"
Ah, now that was more like it.
She really was a Johto native. Her bones still carried that deep-seated thirst for battle. Hikaru could understand perfectly why she had no side job and devoted herself fully to League duties. Even Chairman Rose had praised her in another world.
As he thought it over, a fresh idea gradually took shape in his mind. It was connected to Entei's previous mention of something related to the Eternal Battle Reverie.
The Maelstrom of the Heart could store the "reflections" of Trainers one met. If those reflections could be reconstructed inside a dream…
That meant Trainers themselves could be "collected," too.
"All right," Hikaru said. "As the former warden of Area 10 of the Black Skyscraper, I accept your challenge."
"The rules are three-on-three. No other restrictions. Can you accept that?"
"No problem!" Rika agreed instantly. Her desire for battle was surging. "Please show me your strength!"
She quickly selected three Pokémon to use, while Hikaru glanced around at his partners.
"All right, who wants in?"
"Kadunk!"
Charcadet raised its hand first. It felt like it might get one-shot, but…
A knight doesn't flinch just because the enemy is a giant!
"Your fighting spirit is great," Hikaru said, "but Ground-types really counter you. If you go up, the matchup is going to be brutal."
"Kadunk…" Charcadet mulled over how it could fight Ground-type Pokémon, only to feel a blue paw pat its shoulder.
Riolu gave it a thumbs-up.
"Awooo!"
Leave this one to me. You sit on the sidelines and watch closely. I'll show you what battling really looks like!
Riolu needed to stretch its legs anyway.
Charcadet's eyes lit up.
So that was it. A live combat demonstration. I'll be in your hands, Riolu-senpai!
The other partners began clamoring as well, all wanting a spot on the team. It was hard to make a decision.
"Haha~ what an energetic bunch. Every single one of them looks strong," Rika said happily.
Staring at all these strange and unfamiliar Pokémon she'd never seen before, her anticipation only grew.
Which ones would he send to face her?
"Guh-ho~ (crunch, crunch)."
Suddenly, a certain fat dragon shouldered its way to the front, gnawing loudly on a chunk of fallen meteorite. It refused to stop eating even for a second, but its eyes were rock-steady, as if it had made up its mind.
"Archaludon…? Wait, the opponent is a Ground-type expert, you—"
"Guh-ho! (Leave it to me. I've got this!)"
Archaludon thumped its chest.
Everyone said it only cared about eating, and that it hadn't even shown its signature move yet.
Today, it would show them.
Everything it had eaten along the road had been converted into power. All that trash it had picked up wasn't for nothing.
"But I wanna play with Electro Shot…"
"Guh-ho~! (No, no. Let's go with Iron Wall Tackle instead!)"
For the third slot…
"Haa!"
"All right, you then!"
Hikaru pointed at the saber-toothed leopard who had been puffing out clouds of frosty breath, rolling around on the ground and making a scene to fight for the third spot: Chien-Pao.
Thankfully, Aerodactyl had gone off to stretch its wings. Otherwise it probably would have dive-bombed the cat with a Sky Attack to settle things "properly."
Chien-Pao slapped its fangs with a paw, eyes blazing with intent.
Meow-haa! My turn. I won't disappoint my Trainer, hehe!
Am I a very bad kitty? Usurping Entei's throne, seizing the top apex niche in the ecosystem… the time is now!
Watch me stack three Frosty Huffs in a row and then smash them with a basic attack!
(End of Chapter)
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