The Auction House

Alan stood in front of a tall building with a red carpet spread out in front of it.

He had already removed his mask and was now walking towards the entrance of one of the most famous places in whole Arcelia city: The Auction House.

The Auction House had a small auction every month where they would auction off all the things they got, but every once a year, they would hold a grand auction where the rarest of the items would be sold.

This auction was held in three tiers, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3.

Tier 3 was for the general public (Privilege Tier: 10 to 8), while Tier 2 was available for people with at least Tier 7 Privilege within the league. However, the tier 1 auction was only available to the rich (People who have large businesses), the gym leaders, people who worked for The League (at very high levels.)

This was also the auction that sold the best items; even some rare pokemons were sold during this auction.

As Alan reached the entrance of the building, a beautiful woman in a black dress came forward to greet him.

"Hello, sir, we welcome you to the annual Arcelia City auction," she spoke in a polite and professional tone, "how can I help you?"

Alan took out a black card and handed it to the woman, "I have a place reserved for all the auction tiers."

The woman was surprised when she heard that, and so were the others who listened to what Alan had just said.

Many had already arrived to reach their seats as early as possible since no one wanted to miss this grand auction. Hearing that Alan say he had a spot in all three tiers, it was no coincidence that they were shocked. All three tiers meant he would take part in the tier 1 auction, which was only for the very influential people of the Elian Region.

"I just need a moment," said the woman as she pulled out a small machine and scanned Alan's card once done. She handed it back to him, "please, this way, I will show you the way to tier 3 auction first since it will start in thirty minutes. Once done, I will be there once again to lead you to tier 2 auction."

She explained a few things to Alan as they walked towards an elevator that led them to the upper floors.

As they entered the elevator, a commotion arose among the trainers waiting in the lobby.

"That has to be someone really important."

"Maybe the young lord of a rich family?"

"Are you all stupid?" as everyone was discussing the possible identity of Alan, a cold voice broke them out of their discussion.

"What did you say?" they all turned around to look at the man who had just said that.

Seeing that he had angered a tough crowd, he immediately raised his hands, "I did not mean it in that way, but I don't think he is from an influential family."

He hurriedly explained himself to avoid any misunderstandings.

"Why would you say that?" asked someone among the crowd.

"Tier 1 auction is only for the very influential people," he said, trying to explain his point.

"And even we know that, doesn't that prove he is from an influential family?" said someone trying to make a point.

"Wait, how can we forget this?" said someone else as if he realized something, "the auction is for the influential only, but it also has a rule that only they can come but not invite someone or send someone on their behalf."

As if understanding what he meant, everyone showed a surprised expression once again.

"Then doesn't that mean..."

"He may be young, but he has done something that makes his standing within The League way above others," said the guy who had called everyone idiots at first.

'Just who is he?' everyone thought.

Inside the elevator, not knowing how big a commotion he had created, Alan played along with the black card he had received when he first registered for the auction four years ago.

'Ever since I came back from the camp, 'someone' or 'something' has helped me without letting me know who it is,' thought Alan as he played with the card, 'my best guess is that it is none other than the Elian League. Even though they tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, it was easy to figure out since I have been getting 'special' preferences with league missions and the amount of care provided to me when I go to The League headquarters.'

'Maybe it is because of me coming second during Prof. Oak's training camp? They have been helping me indirectly ever since. Not that I complain about it.'

And Alan's guess was right as well.

When Prof. Oak declared him a Champion Candidate, many people started paying attention to the young man named Alan Salvador. Many were shocked by the news of someone being recognized by Prof. Oak, but many more were happy that Alan had rejected him since that would mean another monster would be born in the Kanto region.

However, the happiest were the higher-ups of the Elian Region.

To them, Alan was the hope of the Elian Region, and they had already decided to help him in every way they could without directly interfering with his training. They helped him get the best missions available, 'random' discounts on resources, even the black card was given to him by the league to participate in higher levels of the auction and broaden his views and possibly buy something in the future.

What was even more worth mentioning was that Alan only had to pay 80% of the bid Alan had made; the League itself paid the 20%.

Each region had a 'star' they all supported behind the scenes. Elian region had not given birth to any 'star' in previous years, but when Alan showed his outstanding talent coupled with his hard work, they knew he would make a name for himself. His name would raise the standing of the Elian Region among other regions as well.

It was all politics, but it was all beneficial to Alan at the end of the day.

Few people from different regions had tried to pull a bud when it was still growing, but once 'he' came out with a declaration, no one even imagined doing anything funny with Alan.

Alan and the woman leading him to his room were having a short conversation inside the elevator.

"Is there anything you would like to sell?" she asked, hoping to get something good from Alan since he seemed to be someone important judging from the black card. And her mood was elated when she heard Alan's answer.

He pulled out some pokeballs before he handed them to her, "there are three Deep Green Potential pokemon, six Green potential, and three are Light Green potential."

"Rest are either yellow or orange, you might have to check it yourself to be sure," he said as he handed them the pokeballs he 'received' from the trio just an hour ago

The woman was shocked to see so many pokemon with high potential. She looked at Alan as if she could not believe what he was doing. Wouldn't it make more sense to use these pokemons for himself?

Alan, who could understand her thoughts, decided not to comment on them. If he wanted, he could have taken those pokemon into his family and trained them, but Alan did not feel a 'connection' with any of them for some weird reasons.

Was it weird that he hoped for a connection between him and some pokemon he had never met? Yes, but he still went with what his heart told him. If he wanted a green potential pokemon, he could get it, though hard, it was not impossible.

If he and his pokemon did not share a bond, they would never make a good team. At least that was how he felt.

"A-are you sure about this, sir?" asked the woman to be sure about it, "once they are given for auction you..."

"Yes, I am sure," said Alan with a small smile but a sharp voice, making his point as clear as day.

The woman did not ask about it again and nodded her head.

"Since they are all pokemons with green potential, we will be selling the ones with Green and Light Green potential in the tier 2 auction. Depending on what the people might need, their prices might be more than what you could have expected. While the ones with Deep Green potential would be sent to Tier 1 auction."

"Tier 2?" asked Alan with a puzzled face.

Understanding his confusion, the woman gave him the answer, "usually, a pokemon with potential between Light Green to Deep Green potential would go in Tier 1 auction, but this time, as the quality of items is a lot higher, we have made some changes."

"Heh?" pleased by her answer, Alan nodded his head as he was now looking forward to the tier 1 auction.

As the elevator opened, the woman led Alan to a private room for the tier 3 auction.

"Someone will soon come to serve you food; I hope you enjoy your bids; I will be back once this auction is done," she gave a polite bow and left Alan alone in the room.

With a comfortable chair facing the glass wall, the room had dim lighting, perfect as Alan's preference.

He sat on the chair and overlooked the non-VIP seats. No one could see him from the outside, but he could from the inside.

Eve appeared in his lap as soon as he sat on the chair; Alan knew why she decided to come out instead of nap.

[Cake]

Alan shook his head and pressed on the chair's right arm, and a screen with different food options appeared in front of him. He scrolled through till he found the chocolate cakes and ordered them in bulk for Eve.

[What are we going to buy?]

"Anything useful. I was planning to get some more pokemon with Green Potential to be sold in this auction, but no luck at the black market."

[What TMs did you get from those three?]

"TM: Fire Punch, TM: Thunder Punch and TM: Quick Attack," said Alan as he recalled the names of the TMs he had 'taken' from the trio, "sadly, you cannot use any of them. Let's hope we can get something useful for you during the auction."

As they talked to each other, Alan heard a knock on the door after a few more minutes.

"Come in."

As soon as he said those words, a man in a formal black suit entered the room, followed by two more as they dragged a cart that carried all the chocolate cakes Alan had ordered for Eevee.

Eve jumped up from Alan's lap without even warning as she excitedly made her way towards her food.

"You can leave them here," said Alan, and they respectfully followed his words and left the room as quietly as they came, "I still can't believe how you can fit all these chocolate cakes in that small stomach of yours."

[Don't you dare comment on it, Hmph] with a small pout, Eve made her way to the cakes and started eating them with a wide grin.

'I swear I can see hearts in her eyes,' thought Alan before he looked back towards the auction stage.

The general room was now packed with people, and Alan was sure, so were the VIP rooms. Every one of them had an excited expression on their faces as they were waiting for the auction to begin.

Just few minutes later, when everyone was getting a little impatient, a man in auction house' clothes walked up to the podium that was placed on a raised platform.

"Hello everyone! My name is Rick and I welcome all of you to this years Arcelia City Auction," he spoke in a loud and clear voice, "I know all of you have already been waiting for this moment so I will make this introduction short."

"We will be selling items of varied varieties, the highest bidder would take the item with them. Each increase should be a minimum of 10k pokedollars with no higher limit."

He explained couple more rules before he said the words everyone was waiting for.

"Now the Auction has officially begun."

"First Item; it is a rare ore which can be used to increase the potential of any steel type pokemon. The price starts at 1 million pokedollars."

"1.5 million."

"2 million."

.

.

.

As the auction continued, Alan had an bored expression as he could not even find one thing he would want. It was not that they were not good items but, the benchmark he had set was not met by any of these items. He just watched and waited for the auction to end.

'I hadn't expected anything from a Tier 3 auction anyway.'

As the auction came to an end with Alan buying nothing, he stood up and looked at Eve who was sound asleep after eating all the cakes he had ordered.

He went ahead and whipped her face clean and held her in his arms before walking to the door.

At the same time the woman returned, leading Alan to the next auction.

"Did you find anything interesting in the tier 3 auction?" she inquired.

"Nothing, I am hoping for something good in the next one," he said looking forward to the next auction, 'at least I made some money with the orange and yellow pokemons.'

He checked his bank account and it had 260 million pokedollars.

'Will this be enough?'

*****************

As Alan was heading towards the next auction, outside the building, a huge commotion was taking place.

A man in his thirties walked out from am expensive black car.

"Has it begun?" he asked as he stepped down.

"No sir, it's Tier 2 that will be starting soon," replied a woman who was walking beside him.

"Hoh?" he exclaimed before nodding his head, "Let's head their for fun."

"Yes sir!"