Littleroot Town.
After a grueling four-hour journey, Kashiwagi and Aggron finally arrived.
"Making a quick buck is never actually easy, is it?"
He exhaled a cloud of stale air and looked back at the massive beast behind him, whose breathing was slightly heavy. "Thanks for the hard work. We'll celebrate properly tonight—you earned it."
"Agg... rron!"
Aggron set the heavy stones onto the ground, its breathing quickly leveling out.
Although he'd been worried about Officer Jenny spotting them, Kashiwagi had eventually called out Steelix to act as a temporary porter to ensure Aggron didn't collapse from exhaustion. As long as they flew low, it wasn't too conspicuous.
The two Pokémon had taken turns carrying the load, so in reality, neither had overexerted themselves. It had felt more like a rugged hike.
They even managed to find a road and hitch a ride on a passing truck. After all that maneuvering, they had covered a distance in four hours that usually took Ash and his friends a day or two.
A victory in itself.
The next step was getting the rocks onto the train to Rustboro City. Unfortunately, Aggron was too tall and heavy to be allowed in the passenger cars, and Mawile—despite her Herculean strength—refused to touch the "dirty" rocks. This left Kashiwagi to handle the logistics himself.
"At least I can carry it this far."
Kashiwagi managed to heave the rock up, boarding the train under the puzzled stares of nearby passengers and their Pokémon.
Truth be told, luck comes with a price. Nuzleaf had ruined his honey, and he'd had to chase it down just to get the Power Herb and Sun Stone. Now, the Leaf Stone and the crystals required him to lug them all the way to Rustboro to earn his "hard-earned money."
Maybe the price Toshiki paid for establishing a Gym was that no one ever showed up? If that was the case, the Prism Scale's luck was becoming increasingly metaphysical.
"What will the new gift be? A Beldum?"
Kashiwagi sat by the window, watching the scenery fly by. He couldn't help but wonder what Steven had swapped the Key Stone for.
If it was a Beldum... he currently wanted to focus his energy on Deino. He'd rather wait until that little guy reached its final evolution before considering a second pseudo-legendary.
Besides, he knew from the anime that there was a place in Sinnoh where one could catch a Shiny Metagross—he just couldn't remember the exact location. The show hadn't named the mountain; he only remembered it was near a "Team Rocket Ramen" shop. But since that brand now had twenty-two franchises...
It was hard to say. He'd look for it when he eventually visited Sinnoh.
Kashiwagi scrolled through his phone. He hadn't forgotten the real reason he chose Hoenn as his first travel destination: Lugia.
Whether or not Lugia would agree to return to Orre with him, he had to at least ask. And he needed to think carefully about how to make Orre flourish again.
-----
Rustboro City
A city that pursued the integration of nature and science.
He hadn't planned on arriving this early, but for the sake of Aggron and the others' food fund, a little ahead of schedule was fine.
Taking a taxi to the street where the Devon Corporation headquarters was located, he looked up at the skyscraper designed like a Western castle. He found President Stone's taste a bit difficult to grasp.
"Hello? Yes, I'm here."
Kashiwagi used the number Steven had provided to contact the expert appraiser. The person on the other end was very polite, asking him to wait. Less than thirty seconds later, a girl appeared in the distance, waving at him while pushing a small trolley.
"Over here~!"
The newcomer was a girl with a single ponytail, wearing a white lab coat. She stood no taller than 1.5 meters and looked quite flustered.
He hurried to meet her. "No need to be in such a rush, is there?"
"Oh, there's a huge need!" she wheezed, catching her breath. "I heard President Stone is skipping work again. It'll be bad if he spots this rock."
"Skipping work..."
Kashiwagi paused, then remembered that Mr. Briney... no, Joseph Stone—the President in the anime—was a bit unique. He was more of an inventor than a corporate executive, often ditching his meetings to show off his gadgets to children on the street for "inspiration."
Because of this, the President was constantly scolded by his secretary, leading to a perpetual game of cat and mouse. Knowing that, the idea of him fighting Steven over a rock didn't seem strange at all.
Kashiwagi moved the rock onto the trolley. The girl immediately did a U-turn, fleeing the front of the Devon building as if being chased.
"I'm Lyra," she said while running. "I'm a researcher at Devon. I mainly study various energy-rich stones."
Wait... is she studying Infinite Energy?
Kashiwagi knew that Devon's biggest project was Infinite Energy, derived from Pokémon life energy. It was a renewable, clean energy source meant to benefit all of humanity and Pokémon—though it was quite the ambitious "pie in the sky." Key Stones, Mega Stones, and the "Ultimate Weapon" from Kalos were their primary inspirations.
They reached the back door, slipped inside, and navigated several corridors like thieves before finally entering an office.
Lyra plopped into her chair, letting out a massive sigh of relief.
"Whew! Evasion successful! Sit down. Want something to drink? I've got everything." She opened a small fridge in the corner. "Soda? Fruit milk?"
"Anything is fine," Kashiwagi replied.
"Both it is, then." Lyra placed a soda and a carton of milk in front of him. She cracked open a soda and took a long swig. "Aaah! Refreshing!"
She was... certainly informal.
Kashiwagi twitched his lips, opened the milk, and handed it to Mawile. The little Pokémon blinked and began to sip it daintily.
Seeing the cute display, Lyra beamed. "What a darling Mawile. You've raised her well."
"Thanks for the compliment... anyway, aren't you going to appraise it? Or is someone else coming?"
"What's the rush?"
Lyra picked up a monocular magnifying glass from her desk. She undid the nylon ropes and laid out the two halves of the Moss Rock, her expression instantly shifting to one of serious professionalism. "You found this in Petalburg Woods?"
"Pretty much." He gave a brief summary of the event.
"Then your luck is incredible. Did you read Professor Birch's paper from last year?"
"Uh, no."
"You should. It states that many Pokémon requiring Evolution Stones to evolve tend to live in areas where those stones are present. It's a pattern in their habitats."
Lyra looked up. "The quality is solid. If you polished this and put it up for auction, it would fetch at least 8 million PokéDollars".
"...8 million!"
Kashiwagi was stunned, but then he remembered that was the auction price. "And what price can you offer?"
Lyra couldn't help but smirk. "Quick on the uptake, aren't you? The price I can offer is... half that."
"Half for a direct buy-in? Auctions are where the real money is, I guess. That's fair."
Kashiwagi wasn't too disappointed. Earning 4 million in an afternoon was still legendary. "How do I receive the payment?"
"Hold your Ponyta."
Lyra watched his reaction and said, "That was the price I could offer. The actual payout depends on Steven... He told me to pay you the top industry rate. Which means you're still getting the full 8 million."
Kashiwagi: "..."
Why did this girl have to take the long way around to say that?