"You talk a lot of nonsense."
Shiro shook his head and continued, "I asked how much those thirty-six Fire Stones cost. What I use them for is my business. Do I need to explain everything before I buy it?"
Hearing that, the cloaked merchant immediately apologized. "Of course not. I'm sorry. That was out of line."
After a moment, he said, "An intermediate-quality Fire Stone costs five hundred thousand Pokédollars. Advanced-quality ones costs five million—"
Before he could finish, Shiro cut him off. "I'll take all the intermediate-quality stones. Forget the other one."
What a rip-off, a single advanced-quality stone costs as much as ten intermediate-quality ones. Not worth it at all.
Higher grade Evolution Stones just have fewer impurities and more refined energy. But that doesn't mean they have ten times the energy of lower grade ones. They're overpriced for other reasons.
Most Pokémon can only evolve once or twice, so whether the stone used is of high grade affects future growth potential. That's why quality matters.
But for Shiro, these stones were just fuel for helping his Larvesta improve. Basic-quality ones had too little energy and too many impurities. Intermediate-quality stones were good enough.
"Uh..." The cloaked merchant paused, then nodded. "Alright. That'll be twenty-eight and a half million Pokédollars."
"I'll also take fifty kilos of perfect-quality powdered Charcoal," Shiro added.
At this point, the merchant could already guess he was raising a Fire-type Pokémon. But he didn't ask. "That adds another five million."
"Hmm... And I want the best special berries for each type too," Shiro said again.
Aside from the Fire Stones and Charcoal, he planned to use the rest of his allowance to buy special berries.
These company-cultivated berries were the best resources for Pokémon. They helped boost strength and could even improve type specific talent. The only thing they couldn't do was affect a Pokémon's natural ability, if they did, that would be way too broken.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, Shiro also sold the loot he'd got in this time's trip to Wild Area, getting over a million in cash.
Now, he had over ten million Pokédollars on hand. Even without the black market, he had plenty of money to spend. Plus, he had more funds stored with Professor Rowan. It was technically for research, but using some of it to "study" Pokémon through training seemed reasonable.
Smiling, Shiro grabbed his backpack and walked out of the room.
"Come again soon," the cloaked merchant muttered behind him.
Once he left, the man's gaze stayed fixed on the door. His psychic powers reached out, slowly creeping toward Shiro as he stepped off the carpet.
'Watch out!' Unown A shouted in Shiro's mind. His face tightened, but his steps remained steady as he kept walking forward.
He could feel the twisted psychic energy lingering behind him. It was probably the merchant's doing. He wasn't sure if it was just a test or an attempt to probe into his mind directly.
Ding!
The elevator doors opened, and Shiro stepped in. The second he turned his head, the psychic energy vanished.
'It was that black market g—' he began.
'He's not a real human,' Unown A cut in. 'I sensed a familiar psychic presence.'
Not human?
'Could it be a Pokémon?' Shiro guessed right away.
He always felt these black market merchants seemed more like Pokémon. Because whenever he saw them, they were dressed in thick cloaks and hoods that covered their entire heads. Maybe that was normal in the wild, but inside the company building? Shouldn't they show at least a bit of their face?
Not to mention, every time Shiro had tried to peek under their hoods, it was just a blur or darkness. If the "merchant" underneath was a Pokémon, then it would all make sense.
Including how they seemed to be everywhere and in large numbers. Rather than training a human with psychic abilities, it would be easier to raise a powerful Psychic-type Pokémon. One at the Intermediate-level could probably get straight to work.
'Was that guy just now a Pokémon?' He asked Unown A.
But it replied in a low voice, 'No. I sensed it clearly. He's human... but not a normal, living one.'
"Huh?" Shiro was confused. Based on his knowledge, there were no zombie-type events or anything like that in this world. So what did it mean by "not normal"? Unless...
He suddenly remembered the many ways psychic Pokémon could control humans. Maybe that guy wasn't a Pokémon himself. But what if he was being controlled?
Unown A confirmed, 'Exactly. That was a human under psychic control. And judging by the frequency of the psychic waves... the Pokémon controlling him was very familiar with him. It could even mimic his way of speaking and his usual gestures. That's the truly terrifying part.'
Shiro's heart skipped a beat. 'Wait... are you saying the Pokémon controlling him might actually be the one he trained himself?'
'That's right.'
As soon as Unown A said that, the elevator stopped on the twelfth floor.
Shiro quickly headed back to his room. He tossed his bag containing the Fire Stone and other items by the bed, glanced around the space, and asked in his mind, 'A, are there any surveillance devices in here?'
Unown A scanned the room thoroughly with its psychic power, then answered, 'None.'
"Phew..." Shiro let out a breath and dropped onto the couch. Unown A and Unown G both appeared beside him.
'T-That psychic power…' Unown G's voice trembled as it tilted its lid-shaped head and pointed downward. 'The source... it's coming from below…'
Below?
Shiro looked at the floor, "You mean... the bottom of this building?"
'Y-Yeah..' Unown G said before flickering out of sight.
Meanwhile, Unown A floated in the air, circling quietly like it was deep in thought.
Shiro used the time to release a few of his smaller Pokémon and started feeding them.
Since Corvisquire had evolved into Corviknight, it was too big to keep in the room. The newly captured Bewear didn't quite fit in here either. And adding Rhyperior... well, that made three.
Drakloak was also on the larger side, but it was a ghost-dragon. It could turn partially invisible and even let objects pass through its body.
Currently, the Pokémon he had on hand were: Corviknight, Haunter, Growlithe, Vibrava, Drakloak and Dreepy, Bewear, and Rhyperior.
And one Larvesta egg.
Unown A and G didn't count.
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