Inside the Safari Zone's guest lounge...
Outside, the Safari Zone reception area was already bustling. Many locals from Fuchsia City had heard about what happened and had co to take a look.
Most of them rarely used up all their permitted visits. So only entered once or twice, because there wasn't really a need.
Many people, like Kagari and Iga, only raised a single Pokémon as their companion.
Part of the reason was a lack of interest in battling, part of it was because being a full-ti Trainer was too expensive, and the rest—well, who knew?
Every ti a rare Pokémon appeared, it caused a commotion. This ti, the excitent was even greater.
If soone truly discovered the whereabouts of a rare Pokémon… well, even though the rules forbid revealing that information, people weren't robots. Those who understood, understood.
Director Baoba poured two cups of tea and sat across from Silas.
"'Handso and promising'—that phrase was made for you. As expected of Master Bruno's junior! Your talent as a Trainer is exceptional. Even Koga often ntions you…"
He had barely taken a few sips of tea before Director Baoba launched into an awkward round of flattery.
Silas looked completely confused. What is this about? Such forced complints coming from soone as socially smooth as Director Baoba felt totally unnatural.
After all, Baoba himself wasn't particularly strong as a Trainer. The reason he was the director of the Safari Zone had more to do with his extensive connections.
Especially with the Fuchsia Gym—Koga had practically grown up under Baoba's watch.
Seeing Silas's plainly skeptical and disbelieving expression, Baoba felt a bit embarrassed himself. He coughed. "Ahem, let's be direct and get to the main point."
Silas put down his teacup and gave a silent nod. He wasn't sure what the "main point" was, but his instincts told him it might be in his favor.
"It's like this. Our Guardian Team A, dispatched by a forr supervisor, ended up interfering with your attempt to catch that Trapinch. We sincerely apologize for that.
This was a mistake on our part. The Safari Zone staff failed to identify the Trapinch in ti. On behalf of the Zone, I ask that you please keep this matter confidential.
As compensation, we're willing to return the Trapinch to you. In addition, I'll personally give you a high-quality fossil from my private collection if you don't mind."
Baoba sounded helpless. It wasn't that he was reluctant to give up the Trapinch or the fossil—it was just that this situation, if it got out of hand, could severely damage the reputation of the Safari Zone, which was his life's work.
If word got out that the Zone had secretly prevented Trainers from catching Pokémon, who would want to co anymore?
Even if that hadn't been their original intention, the mont Silas discovered the truth and especially since the team had approached him sneakily it would look just like that.
What Baoba regretted now was not having Guardian Team A be open and direct from the beginning.
He had been trying to save face. Now, he was about to lose more than just face.
Silas blinked, then quickly pieced everything together.
So your staff really are just that incompetent and failed to notice the Trapinch, huh?
He rubbed his temples with a serious expression, but inside he was practically dying with laughter.
"Khng!"
He couldn't hold it in.
"Ahem, I still need to think it over."
Luckily, he quickly pretended to choke on his tea to cover it up.
But judging by the twitch in Baoba's mouth, it clearly didn't work.
"Of course. You're free to take your ti," Baoba said with a strained smile. "And by the way, congratulations on catching that Togepi."
"Haha, I know, right? I feel like my luck's off the charts today!"
Silas lifted the Togepi in his arms.
That gesture felt like another dagger in Baoba's heart.
"Yeah… great luck indeed," Baoba forced out.
But thinking back to the dossier he had read, and the more detailed intel he had gotten through Koga, Baoba managed to keep himself composed.
The room fell into a short silence.
Silas, on the other hand, was seriously pondering a question: Did he really need Flygon? Or more accurately could he even afford to raise it?
The answer was clearly no. If things had gone normally, maybe it would have been possible. But now that he had this little cutie in his arms, it was absolutely out of the question.
Let's not forget, he also had a Snivy waiting back ho.
If not for today's ridiculous stroke of luck, he hadn't even planned to start raising his fifth main team mber yet.
As for the Pokémon itself, sure, Flygon was a great option especially because it could form a synergistic combo with his future Gigalith.
But that didn't an there weren't better alternatives.
In fact, the Pokémon he'd truly envisioned pairing with Gigalith was the Tyrant of the Desert…
Tyranitar.
"Alright then, Director Baoba," Silas finally spoke up.
Baoba imdiately focused. He had been hoping Silas would accept his offer.
"I'm afraid I'll have to decline your suggestion," Silas continued, delivering a heavy blow.
Before Baoba could even ask why, Silas went on, "Here's what I'm thinking instead—forget the Trapinch. But in exchange, I want six Soothe Bells, one Dawn Stone with a quality rating above 95, and 20 million Pokédollars in cash. What do you think?"
The longer Baoba listened, the happier he looked. Just a mont ago, he'd been worried Silas would make an outrageous demand, but now all those fears evaporated.
This kid… is a good person.
Although on paper, the items Silas asked for were actually worth more than a juvenile Trapinch, the value of things wasn't always about money.
A pure-blooded Trapinch was undeniably rare, but for soone like Baoba, with deep networks and influence, its value went far beyond its monetary equivalent in League credits.
"Excellent, I think. If this arrangent works for you, then all the better."
Director Baoba agreed so readily that Silas actually started to regret whether he had asked for too little. Should I have tossed in a King's Rock, so Leftovers, or a Razor Fang too?
Forget it. Ahh, Silas sighed to himself. Still thinking too small. Should've aid higher.
"The 20 million Pokédollars has already been transferred to your Trainer account."
With a few quick taps from Director Baoba, Silas's watch gave a soft chi. "Ding!"
"??"
So this… is the charm of the wealthy? It's only been two minutes. I love it already.
Director Baoba's expression remained calm. For a League-backed institution especially the only one of its kind in the region this kind of payout was barely a drop in the bucket.
Even for Baoba personally, it wasn't a significant sum.
Besides, the money didn't have to co from the Safari Zone's or his own pockets.
At that mont, a certain forr Safari Zone supervisor was quietly sobbing elsewhere. That payout had just wiped out nearly all his life savings.
Director Baoba continued, "As for the Soothe Bells and the quality-95 Dawn Stone, they'll need so ti. For now, we can give you three Soothe Bells imdiately. The remaining three, along with the Evolution Stone, will be delivered to Professor Oak's lab. Is that acceptable?"
Tch, so extravagant, Silas secretly scoffed.
Even though Soothe Bells didn't have any particularly mysterious effects (at least not before the concept of "friendship" was officially introduced), their ability to calm Pokémon made them extrely popular among wealthy ladies.
Especially when raising Pokémon like Pichu—this item was essential. So naturally, the market price wasn't low.
Yet here they were, just casually handing over three of them.
And then there was the Evolution Stone with a quality rating of 95. Even though Silas had initially requested "a Dawn Stone above 95," it was obvious that neither he nor Baoba took that part too literally.
Because when it ca to Evolution Stones, the real quality threshold started at 95. Above that, each incrental point in quality could an a massive jump in value.
This was because higher-quality Evolution Stones could alter a Pokémon's aptitude—its potential.
The higher the quality, the more significant the transformation and the greater the chance of success.
According to information Silas had once received from Pewter Gym, this was one of the few confird ways to enhance a Pokémon's innate aptitude by using a compatible Evolution Stone during evolution.
The principle behind it? Research had shown that when Pokémon evolved, there would naturally be a subtle shift in their potential.
However, most of the energy absorbed during evolution went toward remodeling their bodies for the next stage. Only a tiny fraction of that energy affected their potential.
This ant that without outside intervention, even evolving twice might not significantly enhance a Pokémon's aptitude.
There were only around a dozen recorded cases where a Pokémon's potential had broken through its natural limits after evolving and that's after filtering out many false positives due to faulty asurent tools.
Given the astronomical number of Pokémon in the League system, you could imagine just how rare those odds were.
So, soone ca up with the idea: If the root problem was a lack of energy for potential enhancent, why not add a source of compatible energy?
What was the most compatible energy source? The answer was obvious to everyone Evolution Stones.
These stones contained the purest elental energy and were compatible with all Pokémon of their respective types.
That sounded perfect, right? Everyone was thrilled while rare, Evolution Stones could still be mined.
Even Professor Oak and Professor Rowan had confird that the League possessed three special Evolution Stones that never depleted and could continuously regenerate energy virtually eternal.
But after collaborative experints between the League and major researchers, reality hit them hard.
Only Evolution Stones with a quality rating above 95 had any significant chance of enhancing a Pokémon's potential during evolution.
Stones below 90 offered zero chance of enhancent. Stones between 90 and 94 had a probability of less than one in a thousand.
Only those rated 95 or above had a chance greater than ten percent.
Silas had no idea how they gathered this data, but the cost must have been mind-boggling.
He was just grateful that the Fire Stone he'd once gotten only rated at 89 right at the point where it had the highest resale value before quality spikes dramatically.
Otherwise, people—himself included at the ti wouldn't have realized that Evolution Stones rated above 90 were significantly more valuable and might have sold them cheaply. That's the profit gap created by an information asymtry.
As for whether you could toss in two Evolution Stones at once to get better results? Don't even think about it.
.....
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