48 22. More Debt

Robert frowned and thought hard, he felt like he had heard of those delta Pokémon before at least but he just couldn't put his finger on it. "From the look on your face, you don't know much. That's not surprising. Holon is a new, small region that is quite far from here and it focuses primarily on research."

Margret tapped on the plate sitting on the table as she spoke, "The reason I bring it up is that there might be a way for your Eevee to absorb this plate." Robert looked confused at Margret, "how could Eevee absorb it and why is it only a maybe."

"First I'll tell you a little info on Holon. The Region is still very new and as far as I know not even completely mapped yet. There are a lot of unique areas in the Holon region but the main reason for people going there is because there have been sightings of many legendries in that area, the biggest attracter of them being Mew."

Robert nodded his head in understanding. Even in the games and anime in his previous life, mew was an especially uncommon and hard to get mythical Pokémon. "The region itself has a unique environment in that it has an especially strong magnetic field. The scientists built a special tower to use this field in an attempt to track mew's movements. I don't know what results they have gotten from this but as a side effect of manipulating the field, it has caused mutations in the Pokémon's types in the surrounding environment."

Roberts's eyes widened as he listened, the closest thing to mutations in Pokémon he had heard of is Shiny's. Mutations in a Pokémon's type! That was crazy. Margret leaned back in her seat to let Robert digest what she said.

Robert was indeed shocked at this new information. He thought hard to remember if there was anything like that from his past life, then it suddenly hit him. The trading card game! Robert was more into the computer games rather than the trading cards but he did remember them releasing some cards where the Pokémon had completely different types to normal. If he remembered right there were things like an electric and grass type Dratini, a fire type Ralts and a lot of others.

He was pretty sure they brought out a Mew card as well and not just one. A pink fire type mew and a shiny blue water type mew. Robert thought it would be interesting to go there one day and see if they were there, that was far into the future and not for him to think about for now.

More importantly for him is that in these delta Pokémon, a lot had Steel as their second type. Robert then looked at Margret with an extra glint of excitement in his eyes, "I'm hoping you're not telling me all this so I can learn a bit of geography." Margret saw the excited gleam grow in Roberts's eyes and knew he was more than just a little interested.

"It seems like you have an idea why I'm saying this but wait until I've explained everything. The Holon Region has always been open about their research, including the study they have done on these unusual Pokémon with different types. The region with the most success in this area of study is Sinnoh because they have Mt Coronet to help them. Having said that we have also had our success in this field. instead of completely changing a Pokémon's type the researchers of the Kanto and Johto regions focused more on adding a second type for those that didn't have one already."

As Robert listened, he become more and more excited. Margret also noticed the gears turning in his head but continued. "The researchers took into account that the Pokémon of the region tend towards changing to or taking on the steel type and have had a lot of success with that particular type. A particular Pokémon known for its unstable and mutable DNA has seen particular success in this project. I hear that they have progressed to the point of perfecting the process when evolving Eevee while adding steel to one of its evolutions."

Robert was almost vibrating in excitement, this was more than he could hope for. Robert knew what he wanted Eevee to evolve into but the items he could use to upgrade Eevee's talent for this evolution were rare. Now with this, not only did he have an incredible item to not only give a huge boost to its talent but also add a second Type.

The best of all is that while for most Pokémon the process sounded experimental, it looked like for Eevee they had the process perfected or at least remarkably close to. So far Robert could see no downsides to going through with this.

There was only one thing he needed to do now before he decided on this. Robert plucked a Pokéball from his waist and pointed it beside him. After a flash of light Eevee was sitting on the couch sitting beside Robert. Eevee looked at Robert with determined and unflinching eyes the moment it appeared.

While in a Pokéball Pokémon spent most of the time in a dormant state where they recover and keep in peak condition. If a Pokémon wished to however it was also capable of observing its surroundings while inside. Since being returned beck in the colosseum all three of Robert's Pokémon had chosen to remain aware and had heard all of what Margret said.

Robert had long discussed his plans that he had for Eevee's future. Most trainers probably wouldn't worry about a Pokémon's opinion but Robert felt that since Pokémon were self-aware and most quite smart, they should have an opinion on their future.

Robert brought out Eevee to check its opinion on everything he just heard from Margret. As he looked into Eevee's eyes he knew he didn't even need to ask. Out of all his Pokémon Eevee was the most determined to grow stronger, oftentimes needing to be made to rest to not push itself too hard, much like himself…

Robert expected Eevee to respond like this but still wanted to check with her. He turned to Margret with a smile, "so how do I go about getting my Eevee in".

"Well, when you first enter into the League all of you will receive one item to assist in upgrading the talent of your Pokémon. The new entrees can buy this first item at a one-time offer at half price on credit. I don't know what the exact credit limit is but I'm sure it's much lower than what you will owe."

Robert smiled wryly hearing this. It would appear that his Debt was about to grow. "I can give you two options. One, you use that one item deal like the others and use it to get a single high-grade stone that suits the evolution you want for Eevee. Two, I can use this piece of metal to make something like the gem I gave you for Magikarp and you will need to pay for everything except for this plate."

Margret paused a little before adding her own opinion, "I would recommend the second option, normally the most expansive part of items like these is the main ingredient, in this case, you will be providing that."

Robert didn't need to think about it much to know which option to choose. The gem had boosted Gyrados talent from Dark Silver all the way to Dark Gold. Normally boosting a Pokémon's talent by just one grade is a cause for joy, the process was especially difficult when crossing to a new phase. Even if the item was well matched to it, for Gyrados to jump three grades while also crossing to a new phase was incredible, to say the least.

If he could arrange a similar item for Eevee, who was already Gold Grade there was a high chance of it reaching Platinum phase. Before he could say anything Margret raised her hand and stopped him, "Before you answer let me tell you that the entrees must pay back all of their Debts within the first year or they will be kicked out. For most this isn't too hard. If you choose option two, even if you provide this plate as the key item it is still going to be costly. Not only will you have to pay for this new item in the first year, but you will also still have to pay what you owe me in two years."

Robert indeed flinched a little after hearing this. Robert had to admit that even he was starting to feel the pressure when Margret laid it all out. Even with that, he didn't hesitate, "I still want to choose the second option."

Margret saw his determination and didn't try to dissuade him anymore. the truth was she also hoped he would choose this, after all under more pressure someone would either break or push against it and rise to greater heights. Although he didn't show it often Margret had seen how Prideful and stubborn Robert could be. She didn't believe he would break so easily.

"Then for now you can leave this plate with me and I'll arrange for it to be made into... Well, I guess I should tell you what we call these. They are still fairly new and not widely spread yet. Because of that, they didn't have a name until recently. We call them Potential Gems."

Margret held up three fingers, "There are three different grades of potential gems that are decided by how they are made. Depending on the main ingredient also dictates how many high-grade evolution stones are needed to make the gem. One stone makes it a mid-grade, two stones make it a high grade, three stones make it peak grade. Peak grade is the highest we can currently make."

Margret tapped her finger on the plate on the table, "as I said before, this plate is about the same value as the main ingredient from the last Potential gem I gave you. That gem was a peak grade, so this plate should also make a peak grade."

Robert was excited to hear that the potential gem was going to be a Peak Grade but then he also caught what else that meant. He would need to pay for the process to make such a gem and also for the three high-grade evolution stones.

"There is one more thing. The research facility that studies these mutated Pokémon types is not on this island and once here entrees cannot leave until they are fourth years. This means that Eevee will have to leave this island to undergo this process, but you cannot follow."

Robert's face contorted a little when he heard this. The furthest he had been from any of his Pokémon is when he left Magikarp in the pond when he wondered the farm. This was vastly different, Eevee would need to travel to this lab wherever it was and stay until its evolution was done. Because this was different from most evolutions Robert wasn't sure if it would take longer than usual.

Perhaps because of the time it spent alone while being hounded by wild Pokémon before it found a companion in the young Vulpix is what drove Eevee to get stronger, Robert also thought that this is what made Eevee the most attached. While Vulpix was aloof and only let Robert spoil it, it was Eevee that was the first to grow anxious when separated from Robert.

Robert looked over to Eevee and indeed saw that it now looked to be struggling and a little indecisive. Margret looked at the two in surprise. Out of all the things she said to discourage them she didn't think it would be the thing she mentioned as an afterthought that would be what caused them to struggle the most.

It didn't take too long for a determined light to enter Eevee's eyes again, only stronger than before. Robert saw Eevee get over its internal struggle sooner than he could and felt a little embarrassed. He didn't realise that it wasn't only his Pokémon that had grown overly attached.

Robert took a deep breath, "I'm sure we will both be ok. After all, there may be times where we will have to separate in the future when adventuring together. Just because we will be apart physically doesn't mean we will truly be separated." Eevee nodded a little and rubbed against Roberts side where she lay down next to him.

Margret Grinned a little at this scene but soon hid it away again. "Ahem, I'll still need to contact the lab and have the Potential Gem made so it won't happen right away. I'll let you know when everything is ready." Robert patted Eevee a little before returning her and standing. "Then I look forward to hearing from you."

As Robert stood up and walked to the door Margret suddenly remembered something. "I almost forgot to ask what you what you want to evolve Eevee into. The plate is to add steel as a second type, but I will need to know what kind of evolution stone to use." Robert froze in place. He had completely forgotten to tell Margret this and felt a little silly for not remembering this sooner.

Robert told Margret his choice and she nodded her head, "interesting choice. Alright, I'll arrange everything and let you know when it's ready. There will be somebody waiting outside to take you to your dorm." Robert thanked Margret and then left. He was looking forward to seeing his new home for the next few years.