Olaf's Poké Mart!

The alleyway wasn't exactly a clean place to hang out in. Leon had caught sight of a decently sized fish tank, but he couldn't tell what its condition was from this far away.

"Wait, stop." Leon stopped Machoke from attempting to pick up the fish tank.

Leon summoned another Machoke to help with carrying around this fish tank. It wasn't that Machoke couldn't carry the fish tank, but it just needed to be carried by two individuals.

The fish tank would simply slip out of Machoke's grip since it wouldn't be able to get a firm grasp on it.

"This should allow me to sell a few water-type Pokemon, say, a Poliwag, Krabby, etc." Both Machoke held one end each by lifting and carrying it over.

Leon carefully inspected the fish tank and luckily found that it had no cracks. The only bad part was how dirty it was, this wasn't normal dirt, it was caked on thick dirt. Even the insides were a mess, but he wasn't worried about something like this.

Continuing onward, he suddenly felt the urge to check out Olaf's Poké Mart. Leon had ₽21 on him right now, so he wasn't the richest but it should get him something decent. Leon thought.

He knew nothing about this market, only the worth of certain Pokemon and the knowledge he had from his experience playing the games. However, the currency worked a bit differently here compared to the games. 

Leon walked for about Ten minutes before he could finally see old man Olaf's Poké Mart.

Of course, as usual; Leon received many weird gazes on his way here.

Both Machoke put the fish tank down as Leon went into the Poké Mart alone. From the outside, the blue coloration on the building of the Poké Mart seemed faded.

"Oh, air conditioning." Leon immediately felt the cool breeze engulf his body the second he stepped inside the store.

Inside the store's waiting area, there was nothing but an empty space. There was nothing on display or anything being advertised.

There were no shelves filled with stock and products like he was expecting.

"What the..." Leon looked around speechlessly.

"Hmm, kid, what do you want? This isn't a playground or a place you can just take from, don't try anything funny."

There was an old man behind the counter, who had a few wrinkles on his face. He had a large gray beard with thick eyebrows, his eyes showed a great deal of seriousness—like he wasn't taking anyone's crap.

"You're Olaf, right? I'm a customer, where are all the products? Is it all behind the counter or something?" Not even the ghettos in his world would hide all of their products from the public.

This place must get robbed often or something.

"The product has been stored away, if you're buying I can go grab it for you. Here's a list of what we have, take a look if you're buying—if not, scram out!"

Olaf said stiffly, his voice seemed neutral but at the same time, Leon could feel some aggression in it. Leon walked over to the counter to check the list of items being sold.

'Grouchy old man, jeez!' Leon thought before checking the list.

-----

-Olaf's Poké Mart-

-Potion: ₽3

-Antidote: ₽2.50

-Paralyze Heal: ₽2.50

-Repel Spray: ₽4

-Poké Ball: ₽5

-----

'Why is it so expensive?' Leon frowned when he saw the Pokeball prices, they were simply too high.

"What's wrong, you can't afford any of them? Hmph! Kid, I'm not a fan of window shoppers or plotters, leave if you have no money!" Olaf said coldly, he glared at Leon sharply.

"I can afford them, but they're just so high for low-ranking goods." These were essentially beginner items, why did they cost so much?

"It's called inflation, whether you accept it or not, it doesn't matter." Olaf scoffed and didn't bother to get into details about it.

"Okay, then what about the number of items being sold? Do you sell Great Balls? Why are there limited items being sold here?" Leon couldn't help but question why the list of items being sold—was so little.

"....."

Olaf was silent for a moment, he stared at Leon for a bit before saying. "I don't expect you to understand, but my shop is merely a Tier 1 Poké Mart. Thus, I'm only qualified to sell the items you see on the list."

Leon's eyebrows knitted but he was enlightened.

"Oh, so it was like that. So, uh, what's the highest Tier a Poké Mart can reach?" Leon wanted to know as much as possible.

"Kid, you're just full of questions, aren't you? Did you come here to buy or question me to death?" Olaf glared at Leon but he went on to explain anyway.

Apparently, the higher the Tier a shop was, the more items it sold. This also included the quality of items being sold at the Poké Mart.

If the Tier reached 5, which was the highest Tier, you could turn your store into a Department store.

"Any more questions?" Olaf squinted and said.

"Yeah, I have 20 more questions." Leon smiled roguishly.

"Boy, you're pushing it!" Olaf almost exploded, was this kid messing with him?

"I'm joking, it's a joke!" Leon hurriedly and said.

Secretly, Olaf almost laughed out; it had been a while since someone had messed with him like this.

"Darn it, I don't have much. I only have enough to afford 4 Poké Balls. I got dreams too, I want to be a trainer one day, but it's so hard to even buy the items to become one." Leon expressed his sorrows, these prices were indeed too much for him right now.

"Brat, I'm feeling good today, so I'll give you a 50% discount for today, only."

Leon was surprised for a second, but he wouldn't pass up such an opportunity.

He quickly stated the items he wished to purchase, which were Six Antidotes, Five Potions, and Four Paralyze Heals. Leon paid the fee before Olaf went into the back to bring him the items.

Olaf put them into a nice blue bag with a Poké Ball icon on it before handing it to Leon. Now, Leon was left with only a ₽1 to his name.

Olaf was speechless, didn't this kid want to start his journey or something? Why didn't he buy any Poké Balls?

"Thank you for your business, sir, I'll be taking my leave now." Leon had learned and bought quite a bit here, so he was satisfied.

"Sure kid, come back anytime. We have a sale going on—If you buy 10 Poké Balls, you get a free Premier Ball. Here, take these three Poké balls, but make sure you come back to actually buy more, I could use the business."

Leon noticed that Olaf changed his tone when talking to him, he wasn't sure why but he was glad this was so. Leon thanked him before putting the Poké Balls into his bag

"I may be back in a few days, so I'll be sure to remember that, thanks." Leon nodded and exited the shop where both Machokes were still waiting silently.

"Alright, fellas, let's go." Leon checked his watch and found that it was already 10:27 P.M., so he still had some time before curfew.

Leon arrived at his new base in near to no time, but he spotted something eerie. There were several suspicious characters further down the street from his base.

They wore cloaks while staring at the building. Leon couldn't see their faces but once they saw him they turned to leave.

He could see their head movements but not their faces; there was a total of Three of them. Leon frowned, but he couldn't be bothered to chase them, that would be ridiculous.

While walking toward the building base, he could see the mountains of trash in the distance. Their base was next door to a junkyard—where many Pokemon roamed about.

Even finding region-exclusive Pokemon such as Gulpin or Trubbish wouldn't be surprising in such a place.

Leon started to feel a headache coming when he thought of the smell wafting over on a long sunny day.

He had both Machoke take the fish tank around and into the parking lot out back. Those floors were just cleaned, he didn't want dirt falling onto them.

Once Leon entered the building, he was approached by two shadows.

Leon jumped in fright for a second, but he soon realized that they were just both the Haunter he released earlier.

"Haunt~Haunter!" One of these Haunter seemed to be explaining something, but Leon obviously couldn't understand it.

'She said that there are Pokemon in the lower parts of the building—with one particularly stronger one.' Alakazam's voice echoed in Leon's head, letting him know what Haunter was saying.

'How strong, exactly?' Leon asked curiously.

'It isn't nearly as strong as this Ghostly duo, or anyone else assisting the children on the 3rd floor. In terms of strength—going by the human standard, it would be considered an Early Stage Tier Two Pokemon.'

Alakazam gave its analysis of the Pokemon's strength. Alakazam simply stated that it could remove the pokemon from the building, or directly kill it. Of course, Leon could have it extinguished easily, but he wanted to confront it himself.

With that, Alakazam went on to say how hostile it was, so it was best to bring some hard hitters with him.

Alakazam also added that some of the lights were activated on the lower floors and that it could teleport Leon around there.

Alakazam was on the top floor, its new job was to monitor the whole building or any unusual activities close by.

Of course, it knew of the Pokemon on the lower floors for a long time already. But Leon had summoned both Haunter for this job, so it didn't mention anything about this.

"Alright, I need to get rid of this problem now, so yes, send me to the lowest floor." Leon already had both Haunter with him.

"Teleporting, now," Alakazam said.

Suddenly, a purple hue of energy engulfed the void and warped them all away.

In the next moment, Leon and both Haunters found themselves on the lowest floor. Leon summoned Crobat from Pokemon Home, it was perfect for this sort of environment.

This was also because he would feel safer with more Pokemon guarding him.

"Lead the way, Haunter." Crobat looked around with a slight bit of confusion until Leon briefly explained what was going on.

Leon was actually quite shocked by the appearance of Crobat, it was so friggin huge!

Leon could see briefly due to the lights around the hallway, with some flickering every now and then. They soon came to a secluded room where the lowest floor actually had a hallway that branched off to rooms down there.

The large room that both Haunters led him to appeared to be a storage room back in the day. The room felt cold and lonely, dark, and mysterious. One light flickered on and off in a somewhat horror genre-type fashion—something you'd see in those scary movies.

Crobat immediately noticed the threat sitting in the corner. Leon's eyes widened, he could barely see it, but the lights that were flickering on and off helped a lot.

There was a large web spun up in the corner, nearly taking up that whole section of the room.

Leon could hear the sound of movement on the web—itching at his ears eerily, though it wasn't very loud, the room was oddly quiet.

That's when he saw a pair of cold dilated eyes glaring his way, they eyed Crobat, both Haunters, and especially him!

The light flickered brightly again, that's when its full body came into view.

"My gosh, it's an Ariados.!" This large spider would send anyone from his previous world shrieking in terror if they caught sight of it.

Leon himself was even frightened by the first sight of it; it was a large spider straight out of nightmares.

He analyzed it quickly, Leon could tell that this Pokemon was about to attack!

Author Note: For this world's currency, I am going by the American currency instead of the Japanese currency. It's just easier to regulate and understand than reaching into foreign currency.