The day's training passed in a blur.
Shiro lost track of how much water he drank or how much meat he ate at the cafeteria. By the time he noticed the sun had set and it was nearly time to rest, Growlithe had already completed its fifth set of a hundred laps.
Corvisquire and Gastly were completely drained, sprawled out on the floor, while Growlithe flopped onto its side in front of Shiro, tongue hanging out. Its tired eyes seemed to say, "I've gone way beyond what you asked me to do."
Shiro chuckled, giving Growlithe a few pats before removing the training weights from both Corvisquire and Growlithe. He tossed his own weights aside as well.
The moment they came off, his entire body felt light—almost weightless.
After leading his Pokémon to the shower room and giving them all a thorough wash, he recalled them into their Poké Balls. With that, the day's grueling training finally came to an end, and he headed back to his room to rest.
Once he finished washing up and taking a shower, he collapsed onto his bed.
Exhaustion hit him like a wave. The second he lay down, his mind shut off, and he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Corvisquire, Gastly, and Growlithe were just as worn out.
Only Drakloak remained awake. Emerging from the shadows, it silently observed Shiro for a moment before vanishing back into the darkness.
"Dreeeep~"
Dreepy, resting on Drakloak's head, let out a sleepy yawn before dozing off.
Drakloak closed its eyes as well, its thoughts drifting back to its kin at the Lake of Outrage.
The night passed in the blink of an eye.
...
The next morning, Shiro got himself a communication device to check for any updates from the company. After that, he jumped right back into his relentless training routine, just as he had the day before.
He wasn't going to stop until all the resources were nearly used up.
Corvisquire was handling it fine, but Gastly was starting to struggle.
Unlike the others, Gastly had a naturally lazy personality. If it weren't for Corvisquire pushing ahead, Growlithe chasing from behind, and Shiro leading by example, it would have definitely found a quiet corner to slack off for a few days.
As for Growlithe, after the previous day's training, it seemed to have awakened something deep within itself. It had become obsessed with weighted running, treating it like a game. The more it ran, the more excited it became.
During breaks, Shiro also trained with Drakloak, familiarizing himself with its move set and combat style.
Since Macro Cosmos hadn't assigned him any missions or sent any messages, he continued this intense training for over ten days straight.
With a steady supply of resources, his Pokémon's strength improved rapidly.
Corvisquire had been in the most battles and trained the hardest. It easily advanced from Intermediate-level to Advanced-level, prompting Shiro to give it an Everstone to store up more energy before its evolution.
Gastly finally reached Intermediate-level as well, just a step away from evolving into Haunter. It was only a matter of timing now.
Not to be outdone, Growlithe pushed itself to reach Intermediate-level too, much to Gastly's frustration. Its evolution into Arcanine, however, would require a Fire Stone.
...
Inside a 9th floor training room, Shiro caught Growlithe mid-leap, effortlessly flipping the hundred-kilogram dog as if it were a balloon.
"Grow!" Growlithe stretched out its tongue, trying to lick Shiro's face.
He sighed and gently placed it back down.
Raising a Growlithe properly was proving to be a challenge. Even after asking other trainers and searching Galar's online forums, he couldn't find a clear answer.
In the end, he had to spend ten thousand Pokédollars on the black market to get some reliable information.
Aside from basic speed training, a Growlithe's fire was just as important. It needed to consume specific berries regularly and, most importantly, carry a Fire-type item—Charcoal.
Legend had it that Charcoal was the sacred fuel left behind after Ho-Oh's divine flames burned through ancient trees. No one knew exactly how it was obtained, but its effects were undeniable..
To properly raise a strong Growlithe, it needed to consume Charcoal regularly. The best method was to grind it into a fine powder and mix it into daily meals.
The price of Charcoal wasn't too bad. A high-quality piece cost only a hundred thousand Pokédollars.
What gave Shiro the biggest headache, though, was Growlithe's evolution.
"Groowl!"
Growlithe barked again. Seeing that Shiro wasn't responding, it wagged its tail and trotted over to Drakloak, who was resting with its eyes half-closed.
Drakloak slowly opened its eyes, only to find that Dreepy had already floated off its head and was now playfully chasing Growlithe around.
"Cooor!"
Up near the ceiling, Corvisquire was still training relentlessly.
Gastly, on the other hand, had collapsed onto the ground, its purple-black gaseous body flickering weakly.
It felt like it was dying.
There was no denying that growing stronger felt great, but for the past two days, its progress had suddenly come to a halt.
Shiro had reassured it, saying this was normal before evolution—that it was simply gathering the final bit of energy it needed. But without any visible progress, the pain from training seemed to double. Exhaustion weighed down on Gastly, making it want to pass out and sleep for three straight days.
Yet every time it opened its eyes, it saw Corvisquire pushing itself to the limit. That alone made Gastly feel ashamed. And then there was Growlithe, constantly breathing down its neck. The competition made Gastly more anxious than ever.
Shiro understood how Gastly felt, so he decided to give everyone the afternoon off. No brutal training today.
That gave him time to think about his long-term plans for raising his Pokémon.
The best time for Growlithe to evolve was when it reached the peak of Advanced-level, just before breaking into Gym-level. Pokémon that evolved using Evolution Stones benefited the most when they evolved at this stage.
The energy from the stone, combined with the Pokémon's natural growth, made it much easier to shatter the limits of Advanced-level and step into Gym-level.
But a perfect-quality Evolution Stone was incredibly rare. In all of Galar, they were practically priceless. Rumor had it that they could significantly boost a Pokémon's potential and talent...
'Better to believe in it than not.'
Shiro sighed. No matter what, he had to get his hands on a perfect-quality Fire Stone, even if it cost him everything.
Besides, the spending limit provided by the company was about to expire. If he didn't use it by next month, whatever was left would go to waste.
Shiro counted his funds. He had about 7.63 million Pokédollars in cash. Adding the remaining 15 million from his spending limit, that gave him a total of 22.63 million.
An Evolution Stone couldn't possibly cost that much, right?
With that thought in mind, he took the elevator up to the black market floor.
He walked through the red-carpeted corridor and casually pushed open a door.
Buzz...
The door shut behind him as he stepped into the familiar black market trading room.
"Hm? Mr. Shiro, how can I assist you today?"
The black-cloaked merchant remained motionless, speaking in a deep, muffled voice. "Is there anything you need?"
Shiro sat down at the table, completely at ease. He had done this plenty of times before.
"Check the price of a perfect-quality Fire Stone for me."
**
**
**
Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:
P@treon/SilverShark769
Vote with Power Stones for Bonus Chapters!
Your support means a lot, thank you!