Chapter 120 Preparations Before Departure!
"After today, I'll be leaving Cinnabar City, so everything here will be handled by you all. After all, I need to challenge other gyms to obtain badges and participate in this year's Indigo League." Having successfully cultivated the loyalty of Jessie, James, and Meowth, Xia Mu spoke up.
Actually, Xia Mu didn't know the exact level of Jessie and James' loyalty, but he could analyze their situation through Meowth.
Since Meowth is a Pokémon, its data panel provides friendship and emotion indicators, allowing him to indirectly gauge their loyalty levels.
It's worth mentioning that Meowth's friendship level with him reached 165 points, a near-maximum increase.
Most importantly, Meowth isn't his Pokémon.
Without a master-servant relationship, increasing friendship isn't so simple.
Like wild Pokémon, even if you treat them well, rapidly increasing friendship is extremely difficult.
It's worth mentioning that Meowth is in an uncaptured state, and it's unclear why.
Of course, Xia Mu won't dwell on it.
How do you know this? It's because Pokémon that have already been captured by others don't display friendship levels, but rather affection levels.
Affection and friendship are similar, yet different.
Xia Mu had tried raising friendship levels with other people's Pokémon, but the feedback was minimal, unlike friendship, which, upon reaching a certain value, would cause the Pokémon to develop a specific, special affection for you.
"Don't worry about it, we're trustworthy. If we couldn't even handle something this simple, we'd be utterly useless," James nodded solemnly.
As he said this, Jessie immediately added, "That's right, we'll definitely do what you asked of us, and we'll definitely do it even better than you expect."
As soon as she finished speaking, the Happy Egg chirped happily, naturally blending into the team.
"And me, Meowth, I can't guarantee anything else, but within a month, we'll definitely get the factory on track for production. Maybe we can even get some free advertising at the Indigo Conference, Meowth." Meowth said, then suddenly a brilliant idea flashed through her mind, "With your skills, if we win the championship, our products, if not sold out, will at least become bestsellers in a short time. This is the Energy Cube that the league champions have been using, Meowth."
"Great idea! How come I didn't think of that? Meowth, you're getting more and more strategic," James exclaimed.
"Of course, Meowth, I'm the strategist, Meowth," Meowth said proudly.
Xia Mu listened to their discussion from the side, feeling very satisfied.
If their proposed plan succeeded, the Energy Cubes alone could bring in huge profits in a short period of time.
"Since the Dream House Energy Cube Factory is now entirely under your management, you are the bosses. So, feel free to pursue any ideas you have. If you lack working capital, you can contact me anytime. I only have two requirements!
First: Now that the factory is up and running, you absolutely cannot be stingy. Every step must be done perfectly from the start. The same applies to the wages and benefits for recruited workers—enough to cover all expenses. Second: The purchase of raw material tree fruits must not be of inferior quality. It's better to produce more than to wait until you need them to prepare; by then, it will be too late."
Xia Mu explained his thoughts.
"Understood. You can rest assured on these two points. As for funds, we currently have over 60 million Alliance Coins in the account that can be mobilized, so we don't need any more reserves." " But we need to establish partnerships with many merchants and businesses, plus advertising investment..." James professionally pulled out his notebook to calculate in detail and explained the current situation.
Being able to get into work mode anytime, anywhere—that's top-notch talent.
"Perhaps we could choose to open our own shops selling Energy Cubes. After all, selling Energy Cubes doesn't require high-end shops. Although we need to cover the entire Kanto region, we only need a few dozen. The initial investment is indeed large, but the later returns will be much more substantial." Musashi's words broadened Xia Mu's horizons.
He used to think Musashi was simple-minded, but in reality, she just hadn't yet unleashed her talent. Once she did, her ideas were incredibly advanced.
Xia Mu's original plan was simply to sell online or find some partners, such as the League's friendly stores.
"Great, seeing you all have so many ideas, I'm completely relieved. Like I said, if you need money, just contact me directly."...
After leaving these words, Xia Mu didn't linger.
He had other things to do.
After seeing Xia Mu off, Musashi, James, and Meowth were even more motivated. This time, Blissey had joined the team, and it seemed that Blissey's influence made them even more hopeful for the future, as if they had been chosen by Lady Luck.
...
Back home, Xia Mu immediately began choosing Pokémon and confirming his travel route.
There was less than a month left until the Indigo League opening ceremony, which was four weeks at most, but actually only three weeks, because the last week was for finalizing the list and registration would close.
"Arcanine, Gardevoir, Vaporeon, Venusaur, Pidgeotto... who should I bring for the last one?"
Muttering to himself, Xia Mu was actually quite anxious.
With so many Pokémon, his decision-making difficulties were kicking in.
In the early stages, Xia Mu only brought Arcanine as his main Pokémon, to give other Pokémon more opportunities to shine, since challenging gyms wasn't a high-intensity battle.
If Arcanine weren't essential as a mount, Xia Mu would have even abandoned it.
In short, Gardevoir and Vaporeon were Xia Mu's two main Pokémon currently being trained, followed by Venusaur, being one of the original starter Pokémon and the leading Grass-type Pokémon. Then there's the starter Pokémon, Pidgeotto, for aerial mobility, an indispensable Flying-type for travel.
Why not Charizard and Dragonite? Frankly, Charizard's Fire-type overlaps with Arcanine's, so Xia Mu didn't want to bring it. As for Dragonite, Xia Mu didn't want to become too famous yet.
"How about bringing Pikachu?" A thought flashed through Xia Mu's mind, and he suddenly laughed.
As an anime enthusiast, most people do want a yellow-skinned mouse, and Xia Mu was no exception.
He didn't have a better idea for the time being, so bringing it wasn't a bad option. Besides, while Pikachu was fragile, it was indeed an offensive Pokémon, and evolving into Raichu would make it quite powerful.
Xiao Tian's Raichu is very well-trained.
...
(PS: Based on suggestions from some readers, I've modified the settings here. For example, wild Pokémon and the protagonist's Pokémon will display their friendship level. However, when viewing other people's Pokémon data, the friendship level changes to a friendly level. Since it's someone else's Pokémon, showing only friendship would seem strange, so friendly level is more appropriate.
Of course, this friendly level is different from the friendly level in the game, so please just treat it as a substitute.
I spent several hours checking the previous text today, and there shouldn't be any major errors. If you find any mistakes, please correct them. Thank you very much.)
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(End of Chapter)