Just a few hours after the article was published, Eric's phone was flooded with notifications. Some of them were from people he knew, like Alan or Ethan, congratulating him. But many of them were, surprisingly, job offers or invitations.
Several powers in Kanto had sent an invitation for him to join them. Even the league had given him an offer to take on a higher position within the organisation.
While he was technically a part of the league ever since he registered as a trainer, he had not taken up any formal post or duty. Thus, even the newly created Mission Hall was inaccessible to him.
Eric had no plans to take up any such roles in the league, however. If he was going to join them, it would be directly as a Gym Leader or another role that was at that level or higher. Being a regular league trainer didn't interest him.
He then went through all the other invitations. Most of them offered him some perks but also came with many restrictions.
They gave the impression of 'Be honoured that we are inviting you', which wasn't appealing to him. It was clear that they didn't take him that seriously yet. He was only at the intermediate level after all. Even if he reached that level very fast, that wasn't quite enough to prove to them he was a good investment.
Well, Eric wasn't interested in joining them either. He would never give up his freedom.
As he was about to close his phone, one message caught his eye. It was from Blaire Williams.
"Hey, kid! Congrats on reaching the intermediate level. Didn't think you were this talented. I'll cut to the chase. A month from now, the Williams family is hosting an event that involves all of Kanto's rising geniuses.
It's nothing much, just a socialising event to increase rapport amongst the people who will most likely lead Kanto in the future. I want to invite you to it as well. It would be good for you, so do consider it. Also, Belle said Hi!"
Now this surprised him. Kanto's rising geniuses? Did that include Red and Blue? Various thoughts ran through Eric's mind, but he chose to ignore them for now. He still had a month to think about it.
For now, Eric planned to focus on his gym challenge.
Next up, he planned to go to Cerulean City. But instead of taking the train, he would go through Mount Moon. He wanted to train on the way.
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Eric finally left Pewter City the next morning. He made his way through Route 3 without anything eventful happening and entered Mount Moon.
The Pokémon in Mount Moon were generally considered strong, but the league had mapped the path that regular trainers could follow to reach Cerulean City safely. Unlike the uncharted territories, Mount Moon was already fully explored by the league.
This made it a popular training spot for trainers, as they had a general idea about which areas were safe or which they had to avoid.
"Haunter, Shadow Ball!"
A large, double-layered ball of condensed Ghost-type energy formed in front of Haunter. As it did, the ghost-type energy in the area visibly spiked, as if it were about to come alive.
The expression of the Golem standing in front of it changed into one of pure panic. It tried to roll away, but the attack came at it like a bullet, sending the Golem crashing backwards, tearing through its rocky shell as it crashed into a wall 50 meters away.
"Haunt!'
"Hm, that one wasn't so bad. Looks like you've regained full control over your energy at this point."
While Shadow Ball was still at the B+++ level, in terms of power, it already surpassed Haunter's Ghost Ball. Once this move reached intermediate level, it would fully replace Ghost Ball as Haunter's signature move.
In this training trip, Eric wanted to focus on 3 moves for Haunter. Shadow Ball, Flamethrower, and Sludge Wave, with the priority being on the latter two. Improving flamethrower's mastery would be more difficult than the other two, as Haunter's core didn't support fire-type energy.
Regardless, it was important for Eric's plans that Haunter mastered Flamethrower completely. Fortunately, its purple potential would play a huge role in speeding up the process.
Eric wanted to fuel Haunter's fire-type energy with his Ghost-type, thereby making fire-type moves just as powerful as his natural Ghost-type moves while still maintaining their fire typing.
This was a concept Alka described in his book. But he himself didn't master it, showing the difficulty level of achieving something like this.
But Eric thought it was doable, with the system by his side. He had already made slight progress after combining the information from Rudy's study with Alka's.
At the very least, he surmised, Haunter would need to completely master Flamethrower, and reach Grade 6 with his Ghost-type energy.
Combining energy types wasn't a new concept in this world. Just that it was very difficult, especially with a powerful move like Flamethrower.
Alongside Haunter, Eric also wanted to train the Tm moves of Fearow and Poliwhirl that he had purchased. For Fearow, he wanted to teach her Drill Peck as well.
She was really suited for it, and while she would learn it on her own, he wanted to expedite that process. It won't be how he accidentally created Ghost Ball for Gastly before. The current Eric had enough knowledge on how to train her correctly.
While that was happening, Growlithe watched curiously as he was resting in Eric's arms. His eyes shone especially brightly when he saw Golem blasted away in one move. Seeing all these battles, somewhere deep inside him, a fighting spirit was forming.
Looks like all of Eric's Pokémon were destined to be battle maniacs.
Eric ruffled Growlithe's hair as he patted him.
"Don't worry Growlithe. Soon you will also be joining the rest."
He found out that he had a bigger soft spot for Growlithe than his other Pokémon. Perhaps because he was still a baby. Eric wanted to keep him protected.
In this manner, Eric relaxedly made his way towards Cerulean.
This peace won't last, however, as a certain infamous group in black uniforms had different plans...
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