A heavy, musty smell, thick layers of dust, pervasive cobwebs, and those nailed-shut windows.
Everything about the Viridian Gym screamed one thing to Ace:
It had been abandoned for a very long time!
"It looks like Silver's disappearance had a huge impact on Giovanni."
Ace covered his nose and mouth, mumbling, "Without Silver, Giovanni would definitely be at the pinnacle of villains. Even many subsequent villains aren't fit to tie his shoes in terms of strength. What a shame..."
Ace lamented that Giovanni, after all, was still a father. When Pryce abducted Silver six years ago, Giovanni's mind was thrown into disarray.
He even squandered six precious golden years of his life. Even though his strength improved significantly in the end, those six blank years effectively dragged Giovanni from being a ceiling-level existence down to the mundane.
Ace was certain that if Silver hadn't been abducted and Giovanni had focused on training for six years, at only thirty-something, he would be at the peak of his strength.
Not like now, where he couldn't even defeat the fledgling Ash.
As he mused, Ace walked to a window. Six years had left the wooden boards sealing the window somewhat rotten. With a gentle tug, Ace pulled a board off, and sunlight desperately streamed into the gym through the gap.
"Come out!"
Ace flung the wooden board in his hand towards the depths of the gym. The sound of the board hitting the ground echoed in the empty space, startling a Pokémon hiding in the shadows.
Soon, a humanoid Pokémon emerged, its body bulging with muscles, glaring unpleasantly at Ace and his group.
It was a Machoke, which had claimed the Viridian Gym as its territory. Now that Ace and his companions had disturbed it, it was naturally furious.
"Bellsprout, Vine Whip!"
Ace didn't panic. Bellsprout stepped forward, and two slender Vine Whips quickly lashed out at the Machoke.
The Machoke roared and threw a Karate Chop at Bellsprout.
"So weak..."
Feeling the Machoke's attack, Ace raised an eyebrow. Was this limp attack truly a Machoke's attack?
The Karate Chop and Vine Whip collided, and Bellsprout's Vine Whip instantly sent the Machoke flying. This seemingly fierce Machoke turned out to be all bark and no bite.
Bellsprout was also a little confused. How could this big guy be so useless? It couldn't even take one of its moves?
The Machoke rolled several times after landing, covered in dust, then scrambled to its feet and fled, not daring to look back. It burst through a window and vanished without a trace.
"Wasting my time, I thought it would be strong. This has to be the most pathetic Pokémon I've ever seen."
Ace was somewhat speechless, then led his two Pokémon deeper into the gym.
This area was the Machoke's territory, so there were no other Pokémon inside the gym.
In this abandoned gym, Ace easily found an office.
Inside this room, there was a large bookshelf filled with numerous books about Pokémon.
Ace walked over, looking at the thick dust on the books, and blew a puff of air. This kicked up a large amount of dust, causing him to cough uncontrollably.
But because he had cleared some dust, Ace could see the text on the spines of the books.
With a simple search, he found "The Esoterica of Ground," personally written by Giovanni, right there on the bookshelf!
Ace pulled it out, wiped it with his hand, and directly stuffed it into his backpack.
"Side Quest (Giovanni's Legacy) completed. Quest rating: D. Reward: 100 gold coins, 1 quest point."
"Only D?"
Ace was stunned for a moment, then realized that perhaps the system's quest required him to obtain this "Esoterica of Ground" under the witness of Ash and Professor Oak.
"If my guess is correct, then the other quest will probably also get a D rating."
Ace was a bit helpless, then began to meticulously search the room.
Since the battle arena was outside, he figured that if he were Giovanni, he wouldn't hide things out there. The most likely place would be this room.
But Ace searched the room thoroughly, almost tearing it apart, yet he found no hidden compartments or mechanisms.
As for the floor, Ace tapped every inch of it, and there were no hollow spaces.
"Where could it be?"
Ace was a bit frustrated, finally turning his gaze to the desk.
This was the only place he hadn't investigated.
After all, Ace had assumed that a Pokémon egg cultivated by Team Rocket's researchers would surely be placed in a secluded spot to prevent it from being found.
Ace crouched down and opened the cabinet beneath the desk. Inside the cabinet, he saw a round Pokémon egg.
The egg was covered in dust, likely having been there for a very long time.
Under Ace's speechless gaze, he took out the Pokémon egg.
Wiping away the dust from the surface of the eggshell, he revealed a hint of pink and an already somewhat faded eggshell surface.
"This is a Pokémon egg on the verge of death. Without any protective measures, it has been here for seven years. Perhaps, at any moment, it could directly die."
"..."
Ace was at a loss for words. No wonder Gary didn't get any new Pokémon after taking over the Viridian Gym later on.
Perhaps by the time he took over the gym, this Pokémon egg would have already become a dead egg.
And now, only with the system's prompt did Ace diligently search for it. Otherwise, if Ace had come on his own, he probably would have just found the "Esoterica of Ground" and left, never considering that there was a Pokémon egg hidden in the corner of this cabinet.
With the Pokémon egg in hand, the system didn't prompt that the quest was completed.
Ace frowned slightly and re-read the quest description.
Finally, his gaze fell on the phrase "it might be helpful to you."
"System, you're not trying to make me hatch this Pokémon egg, are you?"
"Correct answer. Host, please work hard."
"...You're ruthless."
Ace was somewhat speechless. Facing the system's reply, he felt as if ten thousand Arceus were roaring past him.
If it were a normal Pokémon egg, he might have some confidence in hatching it, but this Pokémon egg was almost dead. How was he supposed to hatch it?
"System, give me a hint."
Ace had no choice but to ask the system, and the system thoughtfully opened the system store, stopping on a manual.
"Pokémon Egg Cultivation Manual: Price 500 gold coins."
Ace: ...
Glancing at the quest reward which was only 100 gold coins, Ace ultimately sighed and spent 500 gold coins to buy the manual.
Ace could only comfort himself mentally, thinking that he might obtain more Pokémon eggs in the future, and then the knowledge he learned now would come in handy.