The Solaceon Town Free Market was a chaotic, beautiful symphony of commerce and desperation.
If the Solaceon Nursery was the town's prestigious front parlor, the Free Market was its cluttered, exciting backyard. Because Solaceon was the central hub for breeding and raising Pokémon in Sinnoh, it naturally became a magnet for everyone associated with the trade. You had top-tier Breeders looking for rare held items, rookie Trainers searching for a bargain, and shady middlemen trying to offload "authentic" artifacts they'd found in the nearby ruins.
The League had officially sanctioned the area to encourage the trade of Pokémon-related goods, but as with any place where money changed hands in the shadow of a mountain, the rule was simple: Trainer beware.
Julian moved through the crowd, his senses overwhelmed. To his left, a man was shouting about a "Mid-grade Fire Stone" that looked suspiciously like a piece of regular granite painted with orange gloss. To his right, a woman was selling Starly eggs, claiming they came from a lineage of Elite-Class Staraptors with "perfect Roost genetics."
"Get your Pokéblocks here! Made by a certified Intermediate Breeder! Buy three, get a Pecha Berry free!"
"Fresh Charcoal! Direct from the furnaces of Lavaridge! Boost your Fire-type moves by 20% guaranteed!"
Julian dodged a kid running with a net and wove past a group of hikers. He was mostly here to look for high-quality spices for tonight's promised feast, but he couldn't help but keep an eye out for "treasure." In a place like this, you could find a life-changing Miracle Seed sitting in a pile of junk for ten dollars, or you could spend a hundred on a Focus Band that turned out to be a discarded sweatband from a nearby Gym.
Suddenly, a voice cut through the din—a voice so rhythmic, so practiced, and so utterly ridiculous that Julian stopped dead in his tracks.
"Step right up! Come and see the marvel of the age! The Magikarp that produces gold! Only ten thousand Poké-dollars for a lifetime of wealth!"
Julian's ears perked up. Wait... that pitch. Those specific numbers. It couldn't be.
Julian turned his head toward the source of the noise. Standing behind a plastic water tank was an older man with short black hair styled in a severe 3-7 split. He wore a white headband and a green vest, his eyes darting around the crowd with the predatory hunger of a man who had sold a bridge to a Slowpoke.
Inside the tank, a very average-looking Magikarp was flopping listlessly.
"Come on, come on! Look how energetic this Magikarp is!" the man shouted, spotting Julian and immediately locking onto him like a Heatmor on a Durant. "Friend! You! You look like a man of culture! A man of vision! Come take a look! My Magikarp can literally produce gold!"
Julian walked over, a smirk playing on his lips. He wanted to see if this was real. "Is that so? Produce gold, you say? Tell me about the logistics of that, Uncle."
The man's eyes practically turned into dollar signs. He leaned over the tank, whispering as if he were sharing the secrets of the universe. "Let me tell you, young master! This Magikarp is a biological anomaly! A miracle of nature! A single Magikarp can lay a thousand eggs, right? And those thousand eggs hatch into a thousand Magikarp!"
He gestured wildly with his hands. "Then those thousand Magikarp lay a thousand eggs each! Soon, you have a million Magikarp! And because these are the 'Golden Strain,' every single one of them represents a fortune! You sell them, you trade them, you live like a King! Imagine the money! The power! The luxury!"
[...I knew it.]
Julian stared at the man. The 3-7 hair split, the frantic energy, the nonsensical pyramid scheme involving fish. This was the legendary Magikarp Salesman—the man who had single-handedly bankrupted James of Team Rocket across multiple regions.
Julian felt a strange sense of nostalgia. Seeing this man in the flesh was like seeing a historical landmark, albeit a very greasy, dishonest one. He didn't expect to run into him in a quiet town like Solaceon, but then again, a market full of gullible breeders was a buffet for a guy like this.
Without saying a word, Julian reached into his backpack and pulled out his high-end camera.
Click!
The flash went off right in the salesman's face.
"Huh? Hey! Little brother, what are you doing?" The salesman blinked, spots dancing in his eyes. "No photos! The Magikarp is shy! It ruins the golden aura!"
"Nothing, nothing," Julian said, checking the digital display on his camera. The photo was perfect—caught him right in the middle of a "trust me" gesture. "It's just a habit of mine. I like to take souvenirs of the most interesting things I see in every town. And you, Uncle, are definitely the most interesting thing in Solaceon today."
"Oh! Oh, well..." The salesman puffed out his chest, regaining his composure. "I suppose I am a bit of a local celebrity. So! Since we're practically friends now, how about I give you the 'Destiny Discount'? Ten thousand dollars. I'll even throw in the Magikarp spawning manual, a parenting guide, a specialized incubator, and this gold-plated water tank! It's a steal!"
Julian looked at the "gold-plated" tank, which was clearly just yellow plastic.
"No, I'll pass," Julian said, his voice dropping into a flat, unimpressed tone. "And just a bit of advice, Uncle? Scamming people in a town full of professional Breeders isn't a long-term career move. Magikarp don't lay 'golden eggs,' and false advertising is a felony in the Sinnoh region."
Julian leaned in, a sharp glint in his eyes. "I'm thinking about showing this photo to Officer Jenny at the station nearby. I bet she'd love to have a high-definition copy for her 'Most Wanted' board. What do you think?" ( ￢ _ ￢ )
The salesman's face went from tan to a ghostly pale in 0.5 seconds. His "jolly merchant" persona evaporated.
"Farewell, customer! I just remembered I have a very important meeting in... uh... Johto! Right now!"
What followed was a display of physical speed that shouldn't have been possible for a man of his age. In under three seconds, the salesman had pulled several Poké Balls from his belt, sucked the Magikarp back inside, folded the water tank, and packed his entire stall into a giant bundle on his back.
Whoosh!
A cloud of dust was the only thing left where the stall had been. Julian watched as the man's silhouette disappeared over the horizon, moving faster than a Ninjask with a Speed Boost.
"...Well," Julian muttered, wiping a bit of dust off his camera lens. "He certainly lives up to the reputation. No wonder Team Rocket never catches him. The guy has a base speed stat of at least 200." -_- ||
Julian didn't actually intend to call the police—he didn't have the time to file a report and deal with the paperwork—but he figured scaring the guy out of town was a public service. He'd still print the photo later, though. It was a collector's item.
The Taste of the Tropics
With the "Magikarp Incident" concluded, Julian continued his trek through the market. He still needed supplies for the feast.
"Fresh Chesto Berries! Guaranteed to wake up a Snorlax!"
"Herb-infused sausages! Perfect for the traveling Trainer!"
Julian was about to head toward a local butcher stall when a scent hit him. It wasn't the smell of hay or grilled meat. It was something floral, sweet, and distinctly... tropical.
He followed the scent, weaving through a crowd of bearded hikers, until he reached a stall at the very edge of the market. The vendor was a dark-skinned man wearing a vibrant, floral-patterned shirt and a wide-brimmed straw hat.
A sign above the stall read: ALOLAN SPECIALTIES – A TASTE OF THE SUN!
Julian's eyes widened. Alolan goods in central Sinnoh? That was a rare find. He stepped up to the table, which was covered in items that looked like they belonged on a beach, not in a ranching town.