Chapter 020

"I can keep Crobat?" asked Joseph excitedly.

"Not quite," said the middle-aged man. "You can call me Eyebrow, from the International Police"

"Eyebrow? That's a weird name" said Alex.

"It's a codename, really. My name is classified" said Eyebrow.

"The International Police's Kanto branch was tracking" Roger said when he was interrupted by Eyebrow, "Some bad people with sinister intentions and suspected they drive Crobat to this place to cause chaos." He then looked at Roger and said, "Sheriff can be told details, kids can't."

"Of course, what was I thinking. So anyway, human intervention by sinister people is suspected in the case of this Crobat appearing here. Hence the International Police are looking into it. They would like to study Crobat to see if it was manipulated in some way, experimented upon, or consumed some kind of treasure. In return, they will settle the rangers, and recognise your rightful ownership of Crobat and give it back to you after you have become a trainer and have proven that you can control it" finished Roger.

"Where will it be until then? I mean when it is being studied?" questioned Joseph.

"Oak Corall, Pallet Town. It is going to be studied in Professor Oak's research laboratory. You can claim it by showing your trainer's license when you are ready" said Eyebrow. He then looked at the watch on his wrist, and told Roger "I have to be going now. Remember what I told you. You can inform Officer Jenny to contact me if you see any signs" and walked out of the room. He paused at the door, turned around and looked at the two boys and said, "You two are incredibly brave and lucky. Two traits we need in our line of business. If you manage to pass the third round, do consider attempting the International Police's paper." He then walked out.

"Well, that was quite an adventure eh! Thankfully it's over. I don't think I could take much more excitement. The Crobat is being healed in the Pokemon Center. It will be transferred directly to Oak Corall after it is healed. On the other hand, you two need to continue studying for the PIT. No more monkey business. You can wait half a year if you really want to take some risks. Even then, you should always tread with caution" he said.

"Is the offer by International Police any good?" asked Alex.

He wanted to take an adventure sponsorship, but he knew that unless he was lucky enough to really catch the eye of some big figure, he couldn't do that well. Training Pokemon was expensive. Especially if he wanted to train Pokemon beyond certain levels. Not considering the Pokeball, Elixers, training methods, Pokemon food, and training equipment, he had to also worry about Pokemon storage. 6 was the recommended number by the league, but it took a lot of management and effort to maintain 6 Pokemon at once. And if he caught more, or wanted to not take a particular Pokemon for some reason, he had to have a place to temporarily store them. There was no such thing as PC Boxes to store extra Pokemon here. You either had to spend money to keep them in a daycare or in the care of some other trainer who could manage the Pokemon. Both items cost money. Plus, unless it was a reputable daycare or trainer, there was the possibility that your Pokemon will not be well taken care of, or fed aphrodisiac to breed more Pokemon of that kind for business.

All in all, an adventure constituted a huge expense, and most adventure sponsorships had some pretty restrictive clauses.

Hence, if he could join an organisation like the International Police, which was a big deal, he could have it much easier.

"Hard to tell. The International Police work directly under the Pokemon Alliance and have high authority. Like the rangers take on Pokemon that cause problems, they take on humans that do the same. They have control over the breeding grounds of some pretty rare Pokemon. It is well funded and the treatment of members is quite good. But I still don't recommend joining it" said Roger.

"Why?" asked Joseph.

"Well, first of all, their headquarters is in Sinnoh. So you can't reach the core anytime soon. Second, they find themselves on the front lines of all kinds of trouble. Thus, they have a high casualty rate, especially for newcomers." said Roger.

"And lastly but most importantly," he continued, "the Kanto branch of the International Police the weakest. This is because they have a huge problem and obstruction here in Kanto. I shouldn't be telling you this considering how young you are, but I think you should know. They are weak here because their opponent is very strong. The largest underground force in the region, maybe even the world, Team Rocket."