Pokémon: My Titles Know No Limits! [258]

By the time August brought Slowpoke into the hall, he found the place completely empty — only Gary was left.

"Finished handing over the prisoners?"
August didn’t see Sabrina anywhere, and figured she must have dumped the work onto Gary.

"All done... August, do we have any other tasks coming up?" Gary asked.

"Why are you asking... Getting ambitious all of a sudden? If you’re that eager, I could arrange a few extra assignments for you," August said lazily.

As he spoke, Slowpoke gave Gary a slow, pitiful look, the kind you’d give an idiot.

Gary felt utterly insulted by that look.

He briefly considered challenging Slowpoke to a battle right then and there, but thinking about it — arguing with a Slowpoke was just plain stupid.

In the end, he restrained himself, mentally telling himself not to stoop to Slowpoke’s level.

Gary, struggling to maintain his composure: "I was just asking..."

"Honestly, I’m not sure either," August said, spreading his hands in an exaggerated shrug under Gary’s speechless stare. "I was hoping to get some entertainment out of Giovanni, but not only did he not rise to the bait — he even hung up on me."

"So next up... I guess we’ll have to go pick a fight with Team Aqua and Team Magma."

"Speaking of which, how’s that thing I asked you about? The former Mauville Corp employees?"

"If everything’s lined up, set up some interviews."

The other day, August had asked Gary for the forum URL not just to fish for gossip — he genuinely wanted to recruit some of Mauville Corp’s ex-employees as informants.

At the mention of it, Gary immediately perked up.

"We’ve got more than a dozen applicants already... but a lot of them are hesitant. I mean, our recruitment process is pretty sketchy..."

"Doesn’t matter. I just need people who know Mauville Corp and the local situation in Hoenn — quality over quantity," August said dismissively. "Tell them to come in for interviews."

Seeing August so relaxed about it, Gary nodded.

At the same time, he got a little excited — did this mean he could be an interviewer too?

The thought made Gary practically bubble with excitement.

"I’ll go notify them right away—!"

Slowpoke watched Gary, who was now completely bamboozled by August's smooth-talking, and a strange glint flashed in its eyes.

What an idiot... Fooled so easily.

Just then, Slowpoke felt a sharp gaze fall on it. Instinctively, it shifted its eyes to the side — and froze.

"What are you looking at?"

August’s voice drifted lazily over, making Slowpoke flinch. It immediately put on its best blank, vacant look.

"Don’t even bother. I saw you."

August gave the seemingly dopey, but actually razor-sharp Slowpoke a sideways glance.

"Looks like I’ve been going too easy on your training lately. Guess it’s time..." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully while Slowpoke watched him with growing unease. "...to double your regimen!"

Double?!

Slowpoke thought about its current training load...

⊙_⊙

I'm going to die!

...

"Name?"

"Hashimoto."

"What was your position at Mauville Corp?"

"I was in charge of maintenance for the Seafloor Mauville Energy Platform... Here's my resume!"

"Hmm... Looks good. You’re hired. You'll be responsible for base facility maintenance. Starting today. Salary and benefits will be as discussed... any problems?"

"No problems! Thank you so much!"

The engineer named Hashimoto stood up and bowed repeatedly, so grateful that August actually wondered for a second if he’d offered too high a salary.

He glanced at the contract terms he’d set...

Pretty standard, he thought.

Seeing August’s doubtful expression, Gary leaned in and whispered, "August, you don’t understand how bad things were at Mauville Corp..."

And then he launched into an explanation about the working conditions there.

The description was... shocking.

In short, it wasn’t a place fit for human beings.

No wonder Mauville Corp had gone bankrupt.

August could only sigh in amazement.

He motioned for Hashimoto to send in the next candidate and then turned to Gary. "By the way, Sabrina mentioned you caught a new Pokémon outside in Steel Valley?"

At August’s words, Gary gave a deliberately modest wave. "It’s just a Skarmory. Nothing impressive~"

August: "....."

Who asked if it was strong or not?

But judging from Gary’s smug attitude, that Skarmory had to be pretty good.

August’s lips curled into a faint smile. "Well, now I really want to see it."

Seeing August’s look, Gary’s heart gave a nervous jolt.

Before he could say anything, a bald middle-aged man knocked and entered the office.

"Go ahead and introduce yourself," August said casually.

Judging by the numbers, this should be the last interviewee of the day.

Honestly, even though Mauville Corp had collapsed, their employee pool wasn’t half bad.
Not only had they found good field agents, but they even snagged maintenance specialists.

"My name is Doga. I used to be an engineer at Mauville Corp. Actually, I’m not here to apply for a job — I just heard someone was recruiting former Mauville employees, and got curious..." the bald man, Doga, said.

"Doga...?" August frowned slightly, feeling like the name rang a bell.

He quickly pulled up the International Police database.

"...Chief Engineer at Kusunoki Shipyard?" August asked.

He might not have known Doga personally, but Kusunoki Shipyard was very familiar.

In the original story, both Team Aqua and Team Magma had used a submersible called the Abyss One — it had been built by Kusunoki Shipyard.

To reach the underwater Seafloor Cavern, two things were needed:

One: the Abyss One, constructed by Kusunoki Shipyard.

Two: a core component manufactured by Devon Corporation...

The latter had already been stolen by Team Aqua. As for the former...

"Uh, pardon me for asking," August said, "but... is the Abyss One still operational?"

Doga looked puzzled. He had expected August to ask why a working professional would show up at a recruitment event — not this.

Instinctively, he answered, "Of course. The Abyss One’s doing just fine... Wait, that’s confidential! How do you know about the Abyss One?!"

Halfway through speaking, Doga suddenly caught himself and stared at August warily.

Originally, Doga had come here suspicious of this "recruitment" — worried someone was plotting something shady.

But now it felt like he had been tricked into spilling secrets.

August waved his hand nonchalantly. "Relax — no need to be so guarded. I’m friends with Steven Stone. I heard about it from him."

"Anyway, Mr. Doga, given your experience... and the fact you once handled corporate intelligence for Mauville Corp behind the scenes — you’re exactly the kind of talent we need right now."

---

This is a fan translation of 我，宝可梦称号大师！ by 落唯 白良. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!