Rewards

"I have been tensed up the whole time, I thought you wouldn't make it. I don't even know what happened, the last thing I remember was some oppressive pressure and I fainted," Gregory said in half worry and half excitement.

"Most probably that was Grumpig, the time was almost up, right? even I don't remember anything, I felt the same aura and fainted just like you did," I said innocently.

"Ya dude, I don't even know how the other five died because I couldn't see them among the survivors..."

Before he finished his sentence, we were interrupted.

"Alright, it's time for the announcement so all of you gather up," said a grunt.

We all gathered near the same spot we did when we started the trial, there was a high podium where a mic was set. Captain Carr walked up and took a deeper look at all the survivors. His Arbok and Grumpig stood behind close to each other which made me wonder, are they a couple?? I mean it's possible, they both belong to the same egg group.

Captain Carr neatly combed his almond coloured oiled hair, the rays reflected the glow on his hair. He looked less intimidating than his first appearance, his gaze fell on everyone as he paused for a second when he saw me and moved on. He adjusted his vocals and spoke aloud,

"Great job guys, although fewer people than expected, we have some interesting recruits this year. First, Let me announce the results before we move on to the rewards."

I don't know how many points I got, because that bastard killed around 9 to 10 people, I hope not many of my tokens got invalid. I too killed five so Duke will surely lose five tokens. When I took the tokens from those five bodies, only four tokens were there which makes me think that those guys got the tokens from someone else while Duke confiscated their tokens. I submitted a total of 20 tokens in which five that are valid will surely go to Gregory. That leaves 15, I hope not many got invalid.

There is also a slight chance that Duke might have killed a guy and then stole a token from some other guy later in which the dead guys token was there.....ahhhh whatever, it's easier to just get the results but Captain Carr stopped the announcement because of a phone call.

"Ok attention everyone, there are some changes in the qualification to next round but it's fine. A total of 14 people died among the 34 who participated. Only four of you are qualified to be an agent rank because ten of you lost your tokens," said Captain Carr after he finished talking to the higher-ups on phone.

He took out a paper and announced the results,

"Fourth place- Shawn with one token, Third place- Gregory with 5 tokens, Second place- Duke with 6 tokens and First place- Jay with 8 tokens. All four of you are Qualified for Agent ranks but only three of you will move to the final trial, It's a tournament among all the top3 from rest of the islands."

Some kids started murmuring the moment the results were out. Captain Carr stared intently at the people who began whispering which made them shut their mouth. Gregory was giving me a weird look because of his five-token result. I just ignored him for now and started listening to the Captain.

"There are seven other islands on which trials are happening, the next round will be amongst all the 24 people that qualify. The number one ranked guy from each island goes directly to the quarter-finals while the other 16 will have a random match up to book a spot in the quarter-finals. You three have a week to train before the final round starts so make good use of this time."

Captain paused for a second and continued after we gave a nod. Duke was avoiding me for now, there was not even an eye contact till now. I am going to kill him for sure but now that everyone is a member of Team Rocket, it will be a bit tricky.

"Now I will announce the rewards, there are four winners so we prepared four items. Jay gets to choose his reward first and then the other three according to their rank. Jay, you can go inside and choose your reward," said Captain Carr.

I slowly walked inside under the greedy gazes of everyone. Team Rocket is not announcing the reward which is making me more excited.

A grunt came forward and respectfully guided me to a huge counter, the supply manager welcomed me with a big smile. He was a generic fat manager with a 'suck you for money' attitude.

"Congratulations Agent Jay, we have four rewards here from which you will choose one. Take a look at them and you can ask me for info if you don't recognize them."

I ignored him and gazed at the rewards. The first item was a pack of Great balls, there were six balls in them. The second item was an evolution stone, it was a greyish-green stone. The third item was a purple orb and the final item was a Pink orb with an orange ring at the centre.

I observed them and tried to recognize each item without an appraisal, I could easily guess them as I saw all of them in a picture book from the library. What matters is the quality of these items so I started appraising them while the supply manager gave some space for me to decide.

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Moon Stone(Mid Grade):

Helps in the evolution of certain Pokemon, there is a high chance to upgrade the potential of the Pokemon.

Toxic Orb(Mid Grade):

Badly poisons the wearer if not a poison type. It boosts the power of poison type moves and helps in the growth of poison type pokemon.

Life Orb(Mid Grade):

boosts the power of the holder's moves by 30%, but causes it to take damage when using damaging moves. The only exception is if the Pokemon has the ability, Sheer Force.

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"Manager I recognise the items but can you tell me which one is the rarest out of these three?" I asked ignoring the Great balls.

He was surprised that I recognised all the items, but he calmed down in an instant and started speaking,

"Of course Agent Jay, all the three items are very rare but among them, Life Orb value is triple the amount of both Toxic orb and Moonstone combined. Mid-Grade Life Orbs are as rare as a starter Pokemon, High-grade ones are never sold as they are as valuable as a pseudo legendary. Moon Stone and Toxic orb are similar in rarity as both are only for specific Pokemon. Cost-wise Moon Stone is the most valuable but due to limited uses, Toxic Orb is more preferred. This is the first time that Team Rocket is this generous for a trial so I think next round winners will have more valuable rewards."

I thought for a moment and quickly chose Life Orb. I am not interested in Moon Stone as Oak will have a good amount of them, I have no use for Toxic Orb for now and Life Orb can help me with the Final trial better than the other two. I picked the life orb which was half my fist-size and quickly put it inside my pocket.

When I touched it, I couldn't feel anything different, it feels like any other normal stone. Even after trying out psychic energy, there was no response so I concluded that Pokemon items are no use to humans.

I said goodbye to the manager and walked out, Duke went in after I came back and Gregory was very curious about my reward. I did not answer him as I was wondering about Duke's pick, mostly he will go for the Toxic Orb as he has high potential Gulpin. If Gregory is quarter as intelligent as me then he will pick the moonstone.

Time passed by and Shawn came out smiling picking his only reward. The Shawn guy was the one with houndour from yesterday, his other friend seemed to be dead but I don't care. I will try to recruit him after I finish my last trial.

Later, Captain Carr called Duke, Gregory and Me to his room. Duke maintained his distance with me as we walked behind Carr.

Carr took us to his huge personal room, he went ahead and sat in his custom made seat while I curiously looked around. I was a bit disappointed as there was nothing worthy in this room, it was empty and plain. I think it's understandable because this is only once in a year base, Captain lit a cigar and took a deep puff as he turned towards us.

"You guys have two weeks to prepare, the first thing you need is to catch at least one more Pokemon as the final battle is a three vs three. As a supervisor, I will advise you to train one of your pokemon to a mid intermediate level. If you want to win the trial then you will need more than that."

I raised my hand for permission as I had a doubt, Captain Carr lifted his hand and asked me to shoot it out,

"Captain the pokemon on this island are rarely at an intermediate level, ninety-five per cent of them are all beginner level which is tough for us to train. So, are there any arrangements for us in these two weeks?" I asked.

"Good question. Yes, you will be transferred to a different island through teleportation. That island will have at least 60% of pokemon at the intermediate level. You all will be monitored so this time no killing each other, from now on all the grudges you have should be forgotten. This is the first time we are having a third trial so make good use of it, there will be a base on that island where you can trade pokemon or items for money. You can buy what you need using that money."

We all nodded in understanding, I think he called us here to give this info out. He threw his cigarette down and took some papers out, he handed them to each of us.

" The whole info is on it, memorize the rules. To make the final trial fun, you guys will be designated to a zone and might never see each other till the trial ends. You might meet other trial winners but not each other, now leave the room."

We all went to our designated rooms for today. The room was a basic one with a bathroom, food was provided in the canteen which is free for now. I took the paper out and started reading the rules, after ten minutes I was done reading it.

All 24 members will be teleported to a zone on another island. We will be given ten pokeballs and five basic potions, we need to train for two weeks there and live off of selling caught pokemon or found items. Value of a pokemon is based on potential, higher the potential the higher will be the money earned. Ten zones are on the island and all-region pokemon can be found in each zone.

Only three people are designated to a zone so that we have more space for training without disturbing others. After two weeks, the final tournament will be held and then we will be assigned to our bases. Rewards will be specified on the day of the tournament. So for now, we need to wait till tomorrow morning. Today will be time for resting, I went to the treatment area to recover my injuries.

The basic treatment is free till the trial is over so I asked them to give me high calorie and high nutritious liquids. They directly inserted them through veins like saline. I laid on the bed as time passed slowly, I had nothing to do so I started meditating and doing experiments by lifting objects with telekinesis.

After advancing, my powers improved drastically as I was easily able to manipulate smaller objects. Unknowingly it was already night and I slowly fell asleep with some peace of mind.

---------x Chapter End x---------

Note: There will be a time skip in the training phase as I don't want to drag it with 5-6 chapters on that phase. Mostly it will be two chapters or at max 3 chapters, if you have any issues you can comment them. I hope you are enjoying it so far. Please don't forget to donate power stones.