On the exit road of Viridian Forest.
"Up ahead is Pewter City."
Ash looked toward the tall buildings in the distance, his eyes full of determination.
"After being in the wild for so long, I can finally take a proper bath!"
Misty's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Do you folks need a guide?"
A calm voice came from a small dirt mound below.
They looked down and saw a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard standing behind a stall piled with stones.
His thick red hat shadowed his eyes, making his face hard to see.
The man's gaze immediately landed on Natsume, the only adult in the group.
"Fifty, and I'll be your guide."
Natsume reached out to pay.
"Fifty is too little, I normally charge five hundred…"
The man paused mid-sentence, sensing something odd, then silently looked at Natsume.
"How about this: I'll buy a few stones from you, and you guide us for free for two days?"
Natsume recognized the man as Flint, Brock's father—if he remembered correctly, Pikachu's recent growth had something to do with him.
Since this involved an S-rank research project, Natsume couldn't afford to be sloppy.
If it didn't interfere with the story, he'd keep it that way.
"Ha! Of course, no problem, but you have to buy enough stones."
Flint laughed heartily, stepping aside and displaying the stones on the counter.
"Hey, are you really going to buy those? He looks so sketchy."
Misty whispered to Natsume.
"Hey, young lady, don't be talking behind my back."
Flint looked at Misty.
"Who's the young lady!!"
"Ah, forget it, Misty."
Ash grabbed Misty before she could blow a fuse.
Meanwhile, Natsume had already started examining the stones.
Pewter City was known for its stone trade. Aside from collectible stones, there were stones used for Pokémon-related items.
Standing in front of the display, Natsume noticed something odd.
Many of the stones had numerous cracks, almost like they had been struck by lightning when cut.
"These are raw stones. You might get something valuable inside!"
Seeing Natsume start picking, Flint said seriously, "These thousand-dollar stones might give you Fire Stones, Leaf Stones, or other items. I recommend these five-thousand-dollar ones—if you're lucky, you might even get fossils."
"Fossils? Aren't those just for collectors? How are they better than evolution stones?"
Misty asked in confusion.
"You sell them to those foolish researchers—they always make a big profit!"
Flint said bluntly.
Natsume: "…"
"These stones?"
Natsume noticed something sharp: beneath the high-priced raw stones, there were smaller stones priced ridiculously low, around fifty to a hundred coins.
Almost like free items—an ordinary Pokéball cost just two hundred.
"Hahaha, those are just for fun—nothing inside."
"Really?"
Natsume scanned the stones with his Rotom, raising an eyebrow at Flint.
Seeing his skepticism, Flint laughed and patted Natsume's shoulder. "If you can find any valuable stones in there, I'll guide you for free!"
"Deal."
Natsume immediately began digging through the bottom layer of rubble.
"Young man, don't say I didn't warn you—these are what I left behind. If you don't have an eye as sharp as mine, you'll never find anything."
Natsume didn't reply. He wasn't sure how sharp Flint's eyes really were, but with Rotom's X-ray vision, that was more than enough.
"This one."
No sooner had Flint spoken than Natsume picked up a palm-sized stone.
"Out, Geodude! Use Rock Blast!"
Flint didn't hesitate and sent out a Geodude.
"Don't worry, this Geodude is professionally trained—it won't hurt anything inside." Flint added.
*Boom!*
With a faint rumble, the stone crumbled to powder, revealing a faint blue glow in the dust.
"A Water Stone!"
Misty immediately recognized it.
"Your luck's incredible."
Flint's pride took a slight hit. The raw stone cost only 60 coins, but a Water Stone's market value hovered around 3,000.
Flint cleared his throat, about to speak, when another fist-sized stone, priced at 120, landed at his feet—thrown by Natsume.
"Open this one too."
"Are you sure? The first opening is free; after that, it's 50 per stone."
Natsume didn't answer, continuing to dig through the rubble. Stone after stone landed at Flint's feet.
Soon, more than twenty fist-sized fragments were piled around him.
Sigh.
Flint shook his head, thinking Natsume was just a foolish kid. After all, finding a Water Stone in this pile was already a huge stroke of luck.
"Twenty-six stones in total, charge 1,300. Geodude, use Rock Blast!"
Flint didn't stop him; Natsume had just scored a Water Stone, and now Flint could recover some of the value.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
After several blasts, the ground was covered in rock powder, sparkling with colorful lights.
"Look at all the yellow stones, red stones, and green stones! Natsume really knows what he's doing!"
"Idiot, those are Thunder Stones, Fire Stones, and Leaf Stones!"
Misty barely had time to correct him, her eyes glued to the dazzling pile of colorful stones.
By her count, there were four Water Stones.
"Ah?"
Flint was stunned.
These fragments were leftover from years of preparing stock. How could there suddenly be so many valuable items he'd missed?
Looking at the rainbow-colored stones on the ground, Flint felt like his heart was bleeding.
"Good thing Natsume doesn't have your lousy eyesight, or he would've missed them all."
Ash marveled sincerely.
Flint: "…"
"Uh, I'm closing up for today."
Seeing Natsume still digging through the rubble, Flint hurriedly rolled up his display and covered his stones.
Natsume was puzzled; the small hill looked hollowed out, so there should've been more fragments.
Misty stood up and clapped.
"In that case, sir, shouldn't you keep your promise?"
Flint froze. He'd almost forgotten—a real mess.
"All right, take us to Pewter City Gym first!"
Ash's excited voice rang out.
Flint paused, then looked up at Ash and glanced at the Pikachu on his shoulder.
*Pika-pi?*
Pikachu looked at Flint, puzzled.
After a moment, Flint spoke seriously:
"You won't beat the Pewter City Gym."
"How can you know until you try? I'm confident I can do it!"
Ash patted his chest, full of confidence.
"I'll take you to the Pewter City Pokémon Center first. Get some rest."
Flint shook his head and led the way.
"Going straight to the Gym? Hey, Misty, why are you pulling my ear?"
"You're not resting, and we still need to take a break, right, Natsume?"
Behind them, Natsume gathered the colorful stones scattered across the ground and looked ahead.
"I think it's better to rest first too."
This time, he had harvested quite a lot: four Water Stones, three Fire Stones, two Thunder Stones, three Leaf Stones—and because this area was near Mt. Moon, six Moon Stones appeared.
In addition to the standard evolution stones, there was one Dawn Stone, one Oval Stone, and one Everstone.
The rest were several elemental gems that could boost move power.
After counting all the extra items in his system backpack, Natsume looked ahead. The three had already walked some distance.
Glancing at Flint's figure at the front, Natsume tilted his eyes slightly.
If he remembered correctly, the way Ash improved Pikachu after struggling at Pewter Gym was taught to him by Flint.
As far as Natsume knew, there were indeed reports on this in the latest research.
But the effect was limited—it could never reach the heights that Pikachu might achieve in the future.