CONTINUING FROM HERE

“You want me to… what?” The player stammers.

“Catch it.” Kazuki reaches down, grabbing the newbie by his stupidly huge collar—it was more like a cone of shame, really—and yanking him to his feet. “Two people can capture the same pokemon. This dragon’s expensive and hard to get, so grab it now.”

“O-okay…” The player mutters, fumbling for a ball as Kazuki watches. He captures a copy of the fallen Duraludon, at which point both copies had been claimed, and now the pokemon was gone. “I don’t really… want one, though. How is this supposed to give us bytes?”

Kazuki raises a brow. “It’s a quest. You give it to the professor, she gives a hundred for each of these dragons you hand in.”

The player’s eyes widen. Right, to someone new, a hundred bytes would be a hefty sum. “That much?”

“Yeah, so let me give you an offer.” Kazuki opens up his UI, tapping around through his storage box. “I want that dragon for upgrades. You give it to me, and I’ll exchange it for these.” He already knows which pokemon he's sending away. In particular, that one cat he got from the tower. The rest he can do whatever the hell with, but if Verai finds out he's sold a kitten, he'll get turned into fillets.

KAZUKI has sent you a TRADE OFFER!

Your Pokemon | Kazuki's Pokemon
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ACCEPT OR DECLINE?

The newbie eyes the trade request, gaze flitting between the pokemon and the ball in his hands. Kazuki can see interest, but still, the man hesitates. “Are you sure? This magikarp is covered in gold. And my pokemon...”

Kazuki scoffs. Truth be told, this guy's pokemon are basically box fillers, but that doesn't matter. They won't be staying with him for long. “I’ve already got a Gyarados. I don’t need another. And hey, let me sweeten the deal some more—” he throws his arm around the player, grinning and leaning down with a mouth full of sharp teeth. “You take the offer, and you can call me in to help kill these things if you find one again. And I'll let you keep the next copy. What do you say, Saint?”