If Gimmighoul wanted to evolve into Gholdengo, it had to gather 999 coins. These coins couldn't be ordinary gold coins; they had to be Gimmighoul's own coins.
To put it simply, only gold coins nurtured by Gimmighoul's own energy could become its coins.
Gimmighoul was a very special Pokémon. Its body released an energy that could slowly infuse gold coins. Once a coin had been nurtured by that energy, it became connected to Gimmighoul. When 999 such coins were gathered, Gimmighoul would assimilate with them and evolve into Gholdengo.
It took Gimmighoul a full year to nurture a single coin. If it wanted to produce all 999 by itself, it would need 999 years. That was basically impossible. No one could say what would happen over such a long period of time.
In the past, humans had used gold coins as currency, but now paper money was used instead. Gold coins were no longer part of everyday circulation.
If people happened to find gold coins, most would either sell them or keep them in storage. As a result, fewer and fewer gold coins remained in circulation, and the chances of Gimmighoul evolving into Gholdengo became lower and lower.
In modern times, very few Trainers had a Gholdengo. Without human help, Gimmighoul simply could not evolve into one on its own.
After all, since gold coins were no longer circulating, if Gimmighoul wanted to gather them, then aside from slowly nurturing coins by itself, the only other option was to steal coins from others of its own kind.
But the more coins Gimmighoul piled up, the harder it became for it to move around. It also had to guard them constantly. Otherwise, if it left to search for more coins, its hoard might be stolen.
Gimmighoul's coins were all real gold coins. Not only did other Gimmighoul want them, but humans and certain Pokémon that liked shiny objects wanted them too.
It could only be said that Gimmighoul's coins were extremely rare items. That made it even harder for Gimmighoul to collect 999 of them. It was almost impossible for one to do it alone within its lifetime.
After deciding to catch a Gimmighoul first, Gary went to the Pokémon Center to look up flights to the Paldea Region.
He discovered that there was a direct flight from Veilstone City Airport to Paldea, with one flight every three days.
"Perfect. I can challenge the Veilstone Gym on the way."
After deciding on his route, Gary set out for Veilstone City that afternoon.
Veilstone City lay in the eastern part of the Sinnoh Region. To get there from Hearthome City, he had to cross nearly half of Sinnoh, but with Garchomp, covering half the region only took a short time.
"What a hassle."
Gary looked at his color-screen phone and felt a headache coming on. Mobile technology was still too primitive. It wasn't possible to buy things directly over the phone yet.
Gary had originally planned to challenge the Veilstone Gym, but since he was in a hurry to get to the Paldea Region, he first had to go to the airport and buy a plane ticket.
After arriving at the airport, Gary bought a ticket to Paldea at the counter. The flight would depart at 9:00 the next morning and head to Mesagoza in the Paldea Region.
Mesagoza was the largest city in the Paldea Region. The oldest Pokémon school in the world was located there, called Naranja Academy. Naranja Academy was very special. There was no age limit for admission, so the age range of the students was extremely broad. From children to adults, anyone could study there. Almost all of the academy's courses were related to Pokémon.
"It's already past three. I can only go have afternoon tea."
Gary had originally thought that if there was still enough time, he could challenge the Gym after buying his ticket. But it was already past three o'clock. By the time he reached the Gym, it would be around four, and they would be preparing to close.
Left with no choice, Gary went to have some afternoon tea instead. While he was at it, he also exchanged for the move Phantom Force. Although most Ghost-type Pokémon specialized in special attacks, Phantom Force allowed the user to hide in another space, making it an extremely practical move.
The next day, Gary came to Veilstone Airport and boarded the plane to the Paldea Region.
Paldea was still quite far from Sinnoh, and the plane didn't arrive in Mesagoza until after three in the afternoon.
"Right, the Tera Orb."
After leaving the airport and seeing the busy streets, Gary immediately thought of the Tera Orb.
There was no Tera energy in the air of other regions, so the Tera Orb couldn't replenish its power there. But in the Paldea Region, it could absorb the Tera energy in the atmosphere and slowly recover.
Gary took out the Tera Orb and found that the originally dark orb was now glowing with a crystal-blue light. It looked very beautiful and was clearly fully charged.
"It looks like it started absorbing Tera energy as soon as the plane entered Paldea's airspace."
Gary put the Tera Orb away and began looking for antique shops in the city.
Since Gimmighoul needed gold coins, it generally wouldn't stay too far from humans, and it often snuck into antique shops, since antique shops were one of the few places in a city where gold coins were still kept.
There were still many people who liked collecting ancient gold coins. After all, gold itself was valuable, and if a gold coin had been preserved from ancient times, then its value would be even higher.
In ancient times, gold and silver had been used for trade. Whenever a dynasty changed, the gold coins of the previous dynasty would usually be melted down and recast into the exclusive coins of the new dynasty. Under normal circumstances, very few coins from the previous dynasty survived. The older the gold coins were, the more valuable they became as collectibles.
Mesagoza was a highly developed city in the Paldea Region. Normally, people arriving from other regions would stop there first, so naturally there were many antique shops in the city.
Gary didn't ask around. Instead, he headed straight for the busiest streets and began searching there. Before long, he found an antique shop.
As soon as he entered, he saw all kinds of objects displayed on the shelves. Antique shops were like that—there was a little bit of everything inside.
"Young man, are you looking for something?"
Hearing the movement at the door, the owner of the antique shop came out as well. When he saw that Gary was just a teenager, he didn't really think Gary was a customer. After all, teenagers usually didn't have much money. He assumed Gary might only have come in to ask for directions.
"Boss, do you sell Pokémon here?" Gary asked.
"Young man, this is an antique shop. We sell antiques, not Pokémon," the owner reminded him.
"I know. But the Pokémon I want to catch can only be found in an antique shop," Gary said.
The owner looked a little puzzled. He did have two Pokémon of his own, but those were just his personal Pokémon, usually used to help clean the store.
"Young man, what Pokémon are you talking about?"
"Gimmighoul. Do you have one here?" Gary asked.
"Oh, so it's Gimmighoul."
The owner suddenly understood. If it was Gimmighoul, then yes, an antique shop really was the place to look.
"Yes. Do you have one here?" Gary asked again.
"No." The owner shook his head and said, "Gimmighoul do come into antique shops to steal gold coins. Normally, if we run into one, we drive it away immediately. There's no way we'd let it stay in the shop."