3. Set Up A Garbage Pick-Up Team

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Turn on the handheld and start the night.

Entering the game, the protagonist was still on Route 101.

Without leaving, Chris continued to control the protagonist, wandering around in the tall grass on Route 101.

As he sipped his Red Bull and coffee, Chris pondered how he could quickly acquire items in the game, get rich, and achieve financial freedom.

Advancing the plot and picking up items along the way seemed like a good way to make money.

In the game, each map had several items scattered around, just waiting to be picked up.

Among them were items like Evolution Stones, which could sell for tens of thousands.

Selling one would easily cover a month or two of Pokémon's rations.

But... this was just a one-time gain. Once picked up, items didn't regenerate. It was the same as defeating NPCs for money and then heading to the store to buy items and convert them into reality—these were all non-renewable resources.

What Chris really needed was a "sustainable development path."

The first idea that popped into his mind was the move "Thief."

In the game, you could battle Trainers, use Thief to steal their held items, and return them after the battle. But when it came to wild Pokémon...

Why would you need to return anything to them?

A perfect zero-cost acquisition method.

However, the Thief TM could only be obtained later in the game, and reality wasn't a game—there were no TMs. If you wanted to learn the skill, you'd need a teacher who knew how to teach it. And that cost...

For now, it was far out of Chris's budget.

So, the zero-cost acquisition plan was put on hold.

Then, Chris suddenly remembered the Zigzagoon he had just caught.

Zigzagoon's ability was Pickup. There was a chance it could find items after a battle, and the best part was, Zigzagoon didn't even need to be in the battle to pick something up!

Chris knew that Zigzagoon's Pickup ability didn't trigger often, but what if he multiplied that chance by five?

He controlled the protagonist to keep walking in the grass, intent on catching four more Zigzagoons!

Forming a team of Torchic and five Zigzagoons—perfect for scavenging!

Along the way, Chris could continue progressing through the story, with Torchic handling the battles and the five Zigzagoons scavenging for items.

It wouldn't be long before financial freedom was in sight!

[A wild Poochyena appeared!]

Just knock it out!

Torchic made two quick moves. Ember took down Poochyena, though it managed to land a Tackle in the first round, causing some damage to Torchic.

No big deal.

Keep going!

[A wild Zigzagoon appeared!]

Finally, a Zigzagoon!

Chris had Torchic weaken it with Ember, then threw a Poké Ball.

[Zigzagoon broke free!]

[Protagonist: So close!]

No instant catch? No problem. Keep throwing Poké Balls.

[Zigzagoon broke free!]

[Protagonist: So close!]

Just two balls. I've got two more. No problem. Keep going.

[Zigzagoon broke free again!]

[Protagonist: So close!]

Chris's blood pressure started to rise!

"Zigzagoon, I advise you not to be shameless! I only have one last Poké Ball, and if this one doesn't work, don't blame me for being cruel!"

Perhaps Chris's threat worked because the last Poké Ball finally captured Zigzagoon.

"Finally got it," Chris sighed in relief and then opened up the status screen to check.

**[Zigzagoon (Normal)]**

**[Level: 3]**

**[Ability: Gluttony (The Pokémon eats its held Berry when its HP drops to half or less, instead of one-quarter.)]**

**[IVs: HP (30), Attack (7), Special Attack (22), Defense (25), Special Defense (11), Speed (11)]**

**[Moves: Growl, Tackle]**

**[Held Item: None]**

Chris's blood pressure spiked!

"What the heck! This Zigzagoon that cost me four Poké Balls doesn't even have the Ability I wanted! And the IVs are terrible! How do you even have the nerve to make me waste four Poké Balls on you?"

"Release immediately! Don't let me see you again!"

Frustrated, Chris nearly lost his cool, but the plan had to go on.

He controlled the protagonist to leave Route 101, headed to the Pokémon Center in Oldale Town for healing, and restocked on Poké Balls. Torchic had taken three Tackles from Zigzagoon, and its stamina was low.

On the way, Chris also talked to a salesperson at the entrance of the village. The NPC led him to the Pokémon Mart and gave him a Potion as a gift.

Inside the Mart, Chris planned to spend all his money on Poké Balls. Judging from the current situation, four or five weren't enough.

"I remember the protagonist starts with 3,000 pokédollars ," Chris thought.

In the game, the starting amount was usually around 3,000 pokédollars .

The price of Poké Balls, both in the game and reality, was 200 pokédollars symbol each, just enough to buy 15.

"Not every Zigzagoon should be that hard to catch, so this should be enough," he thought.

He opened the shop interface. The top-right corner showed the amount of money he had:

**[Money: 2,125.3]**

"Wait... Why is there change?"

And… why does this number look so familiar?

Chris took out his phone and checked his bank account.

**[Bank Balance: 2,125.3 yuan]**

His face went pale. "So, the money in the game and my own money… are interchangeable?!"

Chris froze, unsure whether to be excited or horrified.

The good news is that the money you earn after defeating Trainers can be used directly, no need to buy items from the Pokémon Mart and sell them in reality.

The bad news? I just wasted 800 bucks on four Poké Balls for a useless Zigzagoon!

Chris felt his blood pressure skyrocketing!

Before, it didn't feel like a big deal—Poké Balls were given out by Professor Birch, and even when Chris bought them, it was with game currency, so the impact wasn't real.

But now? It was actual cash being thrown away.

Chris could feel his heart bleeding.

Still, he reluctantly bought 10 Poké Balls for 2,000 yuan, and the Pokémon Mart threw in a Premier Ball as a bonus.

Of course, the Premier Ball had the same capture rate as a regular Poké Ball, just with a fancier look. It was a game-only perk—no such luck in real life.

With his new stock of Poké Balls, Chris returned to Route 101.

Time to grind!

Thankfully, catching that stubborn Zigzagoon with four Poké Balls was just a rare case.

In half an hour, Chris fought about 20 battles and visited the Pokémon Center three times. Torchic leveled up to 6, and he managed to capture seven Zigzagoons using eight Poké Balls. Four of them had the Pickup ability.

The team was ready! Five Zigzagoons, all set for scavenging. The Scrap Picking Team was officially established!

Chris continued to wander Route 101 for another 10 minutes. After more than ten battles, the five Zigzagoons picked up a total of five items:

Two Oran Berries, one Potion, one Antidote, and one Poké Ball.

The Oran Berries were valuable—they could be used as ingredients for Potions or as Pokémon food, with a store price of 100 yen each.

Potion was priced at 300 yen, but could only be sold back for half that, 150.

The Antidote was priced at 100 yen, sold back for 50.

The Poké Ball? Priced at 200 yen, sold back for 100.

All in all, Chris had made 500 yen in just ten minutes. That's 3,000 yen in one hour!

"If I work 10 hours a day, that's 30,000 yen! In a month, 900,000! Earning a million yen a month isn't a dream if I just work hard!"

Chris felt a surge of excitement.

This wasn't a scrap-collecting team—it was a gold-collecting team!

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100 power stones=1bonus chapter

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