Alex had just stopped thinking about these kinds of stuff when Crobat was talking next to him, so he ended up overhearing the conversation.
He looked at Gardevoir and Crobat and said, "Stop showing such a concerned expression. It's not like I have a disease."
Gardevoir nodded slightly, but Crobat gave a smirk as he said, "Sure~ If that helps you sleep at night."
Alex ignored Crobat trying to make fun of him and went to a quiet corner of the room to call Maria.
He just had no interest in fooling around with Crobat, so he said nothing and just left.
"Tch! Boring," grumbled Crobat.
Although Crobat would never admit it, he was very fond of Alex's character, and he knows that his trainer also had a very soft spot for him, even if he had never said it aloud.
If he and his trainer are in a very bad mood, they exchange only a few unpleasant words at most. Like when they both had a small argument when they wanted to bring Gardevoir to their mother.
Although Crobat often said not so good things, he believes actions show more than words.
Alex dialled up the number of Maria after sitting on a couch at the corner of the room.
He knew that Maria had been at the Firewood Forest about 3 days ago, located between Vermilion City and Celadon City.
Alex was there once for less than a day and knows that this is a good place for Elite-rank trainers to train.
"Hey, Maria."
Maria said in a tender voice, "Do you have some free time?"
"Wow~," Alex whistled and said with a smile, "What a warm welcome!"
"Ha-ha, playboy. 'Great' joke."
"Why does that sound so unconvincing?"
"You think?"
Alex said with an amused tone, "You are so toxic."
Maria replied in a flirty tone, "What are you going to do about that, big boy?"
Alex, who heard these words, immediately understand what Maria want to say and said, "Where are you at the moment?"
"Hehe, nice try. But I don't want to do it in the wild. I'm still in Firewood Forest, and I made a big find."
"Wow! You call just to tease me and show off. You are lucky that you are so beautiful."
"Thank you very much, my darling. But unfortunately, I can't say the same about you."
Alex, who had heard another joke on his appearance on the same day, felt an indescribable pain in his heart.
He knew that his appearance was only slightly above average in the Pokémon world. But the average appearance of people in this world is just too good. With his current appearance, he could have absolutely crushed it as a model in his previous world. It would have been an easy 8 or 9 out of 10 face there. But of course, this is not his old world.
"*cough* So... Umm- What's going on?"
Alex didn't want to talk about it anymore with people who have flawless faces. If he was talking to Lars or Brock, he could easily say that he looks better. But against Maria and Steven, it's just a joke.
Maria immediately sensed the awkwardness and understood that Alex was sensitive about his looks.
"Alex, for me, you are much more handsome than Steven, so don't worry."
"Can you say that again?"
"Alex- Let me guess. You want to record my words, right?"
"..... Sorry, I can't hear you. Can you repeat what you just said before?"
"Sigh, what should I do with you?" said Maria as she shook her head.
"Should I make a list?"
"Alex, you really a pervert."
Alex recalled the night he had spent with her 1 week ago and wondered if Maria lives in another world.
In his previous life, he had sex with 4 different women, and none of them was half as wild as Maria in bed. Not that he minded.
"Sure~ I'm the pervert one in the relationship. Hmm, hmm, of course~," Alex nodded vigorously, filled with sarcasm.
"Let's stop fooling around and get down to business." Maria switched the subject.
Alex rolled his eyes as he thought, 'I clearly understand why you want to change the topic right now.'
"So, what did you find?"
"Fire-stones; Lots of Fire-stones. I had to defeat a group of 4 -Low Elite-level Arcanine, but it was worth it. It's a shame that an A-rank Low-Elite Pokémon is not worth much. Though the Fire-stones covers for them more than enough."
Alex knew what she meant. An Arcanine with Gold potential below the Elite-level cannot be bought for less than 40 million.
But an Arcanine with Gold potential at a Low-Elite-level cannot be sold for even 5 million.
Of course, it depends on the level of the Arcanine. A LV 40 Arcanine with Gold potential can still be sold for almost 10 million. But you would find it hard to sell a LV 49 for 2 million. The higher the level, the less likely you will be able to tame it.
"How many Fire-stones do you have, and which ones?"
Maria did not hide it and said with a proud voice, "3 Top-Fire-stone, 5 High-Fire-stone, 12 Mid-Fire-stone, 25 Low-Fire-stone."
"You now have a rich girlfriend."
Alex, who heard the massive numbers, said, "Maria, have you caught these 4 Elite-Level Arcanine or are they dead?"
"I caught them. Arcanine is a very popular species, and because they're all below LV 45, I can easily get 250,000 Pokédollars if they're all A-rank."
"That's good. I think you might even be lucky, and one of those turns out to be an S-rank Arcanine."
Alex remembers how he had found so many diamonds in the Rhyhorn Cave that was habituated by several Silver Pokémon and even 3 Gold Pokémon.
Above all, Arcanine species has good average potential, and it is not unlikely that 1 Arcanine has an S-rank potential.
"I was planning to do a talent test anyway, so we'll see. It's a shame that the 4 Arcanine who rushed to me had a very hostile attitude towards me, or I would try to conquer the one with the best potential."
"Forget about it then. It's extremely difficult to tame a Low-Elite S-rank Pokémon if it hates you."
"Yeah. Anyway, as soon as I've sold the Fire-stone, I'll have enough money to buy good items for Arbok and Gible. Both were born with S-rank, so it shouldn't be impossible to get them on the SS-rank."
"Where do you want to sell the Fire-stones?"
"I haven't decided yet. Why do you ask?"
Alex told Maria about his VIP card and Jack, who always gives him very good offers for items.
"If you want, I can help you sell your Fire-stones for a very good price."
"I... don't know, Alex," Maria hesitated.
Alex knew why she was hesitating.
He said with a smile, "Don't worry, it won't take even an hour, and it helps me as much as it helps you. Having more money will make your Pokémon stronger after 1 year. Apart from that, I am not losing any money here."
Maria chuckled. "You are so stupid. If you hadn't said the last sentence, you would have sounded much better."
Even though she said those words, she knew that Alex had said it for her.
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