6 Virbank II

April 2nd

Of the three choices that Richard was interested in adding to his team, The Sword Pokemon Honedge stood out more to him as it has a unique typing with three immunities, a decent movepool overall and the price was below the average price a Honedge normally goes for at the Gold Grade, meaning our Blonde Hero was saving some money on this Pokemon.

Richard reconfirmed with his Gift there wasn't any problems with the Honedge, meaning it was as advertised. It was a Gold Graded Talent, it was Level 12 with two moves on the Intermediate Rank being Autotomize and Shadow Sneak. As well as its Innate Move being Block. So why is it cheaper than normal? Richard surmised that the seller may have no time to raise the Pokemon, needs to raise quick money or something to that effect. In the end the cost of the Pokemon being cheaper does not matter to Richard as the sellers problems aren't of any concern to him.

The Honedge was floating peacefully near the seller, looking like a normal Honedge meaning its sword body was silver with a light grey hilt, a long dark blue cloth attached to the pommel part of it's body and a Triquetra design on its dark brown sheath.

The seller was a pale and weary looking young man with green hair, Richard saw the young man wave off a few middle-aged ladies whom were trying to haggle with him about the pricing of the Pokemon. These "customers" reminded Richard of some people back in his old world whom would shout and complain about price and then proceed to look for a manager no matter the response they would get just because they felt like it. Literally one of the worst customers to sell something to, Richard felt for the man but did not intervene as it was unneeded. The guy handled it well by letting them know if they can't afford something maybe they should go back to the Bronze section of the market as it should match their price range.

Richard walked up to the seller after the rabble scampered off somewhere, proceeded to purchase the Pokemon without any problems. The seller seemed a little disheartened at having to sell such a Pokemon, though to Richard that emotion from the seller did not matter to him as he was more focused on team planning for the future and how to bond with the new Pokemon as Ghost Type Pokemon have a level of danger to training them. It was pointed out in the Academy that some unprepared trainers were killed by the Ghost Type Pokemon they caught due to not feeding them sufficient ghost type energy, so the Pokemon ended up reaping their vital energy killing them in the process.

Ghost Type items are fairly expensive though not as expensive as items for the Dragon Type. These items usually have a price nearing 400,000 in the stores for items at the Mid-Grade Level. Any grade higher than that can normally be found in Auctions, though High-Grade items can be found in stores occasionally. These items, including stones are the more commonly found ones like fire/water/thunder stones and gems.

Richard thought about the items and TMs he can buy for his new Pokemon while he walked out of the market area and headed to the mall near the hotel to buy things for his new Pokemon.

The blonde teen walked into the mall and went to the TM vendor first where he picked up Brick Break and Shadow Claw for 25,000 each, then he went to get 16 Low-Grade Ghost Gems for 50,000 each as Honedge doesn't need to eat but absorb 2 low grade gems a week to keep a steady supply of Ghost Energy at least in the early stages of its growth.

Richard then left the mall, proceeded to walk back to the hotel. He grabbed a Bouffalant burger and a lemonade at the hotel restaurant for 300$ and went to the hotel training room where he released his Gallade so he can get an understanding of his new Pokemon, Honedge.

As the Gallade was released he said "What can I do for you?".

"Can you translate what our new friend is saying?" Richard asked.

"Sure"

Richard then released the Honedge. Honedge came out of his Pokeball fully sheathed, it quickly unsheathed itself and said "...Hon...Edge..." Richard looked towards his Gallade for the translation.

"Well, he asked what our goal was in acquiring him was."

When he heard that Richard he looked at the Honedge smiled and said "I need a strong Pokemon that can attack and defend with my team in a variety of situations and you, Honedge can resist a total of 12 types of Pokemon thus fitting my requirement of a Pokemon that can be used in any situation, so would you like to journey and fight alongside me?"

"Hon...Honedge!"

"He said, he understands.... and that he will join us." Gallade translated

"Excellent." the blond teen was glad he got a new partner and that his money wasn't wasted.

Richard then took out a Ghost Gem and had his new Pokemon "feed" on it and then returned it to its Pokeball.

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Richard then went back to his room, sat down at the desk in the room and turned on his computer where he looked up the possible Pokemon he will face at the next three Gyms, especially Roxie's Team as that is of an immediate concern to him.

According to League Sources and the Unovan Gym Forum these are the possible Pokemon our Blonde hero may face when he challenges Castelia, Striaton and Virbank.

Roxie Melody: Scolipede/Garbodor/Weezing

Cress, Chili, Cilan Dent: Simipour/Simisear/Simisage

Burgh Arthur: Escavalier/Leavanny/Crustle

It is also noted that to participate in the League Conference one must have 6 of their 8 badges from "Major Gyms", these so-called Major Gyms were just Gyms featured in the games back on earth. The other 2 badges can be obtained by beating the gyms that were not mentioned in the game such as the Dark Gym at Nuvema Town. Richard may or may not collect badges from the "Non-Major Gyms" after he finishes collecting 8 Major Badges.

As Richard was done looking at the possible Pokemon he will face on April 4th he then started watching battle videos of Roxie he found online, and he had to admit Roxie was a good trainer. She has been running her gym for two years and has sent many aspiring trainers to a different profession with just her Garbodor alone.

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April 3rd

Richard stayed in his room the entire day watching several videos of Roxie and her Pokemon. He formulated some plans on how to deal with these Pokemon with his Gallade and Boldore. Though battles are ever changing and his plans may go awry.

Richard also started planning out how to train Honedge, looked into other Pokemon he can add to his team and the possibility of upgrading his team's potential. The young trainer is planning on having Honedge learn Psycho Cut and Slash from Gallade after Honedge gets an intial understanding of the TMs Shadow Claw and Brick Break.

Richard also has plans of getting an Diamond-Grade Axew via the an Auction for around 60 Million, though he could attempt the Trial at the Village of Dragons and see if he gets an Axew that way. It is also possible to get another Dragon Pokemon at the Trial, it completely depends on luck(Arceus).

If Richard wanted a Healer like Chansey or Audino on his team, he'd also have to go through various checks with the Joy clan and possibly several tests as well. The Joy Clan has the monopoly on these two Pokemon so you have to go through them to get any, the League does not interfere in this regard. There was even a rumor of a guy marrying into the Joy Clan just to get a Chansey though it seems unlikely you will acquire one if you marry into the Joy Clan.

For ranged attacks, he was looking into acquiring a Magmortar and a Water or Grass type Royal Pokemon that he could possibly get through any number of tournaments, such as the Royal Island Tournament held at the end of July in the Orange Archipelago which is South of the Kanto Region.

It is common academy knowledge that upgrading the potential of Pokemon is really hard and the best time to do so is during the evolution process. So if Richard wants to upgrade his Gallade it will be a long and expensive process as he has no possible evolutions left. It may take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to reach Platinum-Grade, though it is all depended on luck. His Boldore has one solid chance to upgrade its talent and Honedge has two chances to upgrade as well.

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Badge Count: 1

Balance: 27,034,700$ (-915,300 for TMs, Gems, Richard's Food and Honedge)