CH18 (632), Lilycove City

After leaving the Gym, I decided to not check out the city since it was already past 10 p.m. Instead, I entered Utopia and spent two-plus hours hanging out with my Pokemon. The next morning, during breakfast, I contemplated which part of Lilycove City I should check out first. While I had been to the Lilycove Harbor already, I had simply rushed out so I had not even bothered looking into the night market that happened 3 times a week, including yesterday/Arcday.

The night market was not an option right now for obvious reasons, but the harbor had two more points of interest to me. One was the Sailor's Club, which was a mix of a tavern/bar and a battle club aimed predominantly at sailors. Sailors could relax and let off steam at this place, the latter of which included having Pokemon battles or even straight-up "fisticuffs".

I heard that aside from being a bit loud and raucous, one could get some good experience battling a certain set of Pokemon that most Sailors tended to have, such as Wingull/Pelipper, Machop/Machoke, Poliwhirl/Poliwrath, and a multitude of other water types. As far as Pokemon battles were concerned, the Sailor's Club was slightly similar to the Water Club, but without the various restrictions and hierarchies. Well, that and it was not nearly as organized.

You supposedly simply went up to someone and asked if they were interested in battling, maybe offering to buy him or her a drink if they won, or just jumping onto the stage and putting forth an open challenge with a similar stake/offer. I read that the fact that one was not limited to purely water types was what attracted trainers, who wanted to face water types and could stomach the "lively" environment, to head there.

Due to the lack of a hierarchy, there was a certain risk/random factor as far as challenges were concerned, but the stronger sailors supposedly tended to warn challengers about their prowess, though I had read stories about sailors who enjoyed showing up landlubbers, so the net recommended scouting out the scene first before trying to challenge sailors willy nilly. I was obviously interested in visiting the Sailor's Club, and I would definitely head there at least once during my stay in Liliycove City.

Aside from the Sailor's Club, the harbor was also home to the Harbor's Market, which unlike the Night Market was open every day from as early as 4 a.m. until 6 p.m. The goods of the Harbor's Market were a mixed bag and ranged from seafood to supposed treasures found by sailors who wanted to exchange them for money. The Harbor Market was heavily recommended to anyone who did not mind the smell of the sea, and it was naturally one of the places I was definitely going to visit more than once since I had read about quite a few stalls/restaurants that offered delectable seafood dishes. As a self-proclaimed foody with a giant stomach capacity, there was no way I would miss out on something like that.

Speaking of markets, there was also the popular Berry Market that was supposedly being set up daily not far from the harbor. Local berry farmers and merchants from other parts of Hoenn and abroad displayed their Berries and berry-related wares there, ensuring an abundance and diversity that was hard to come by in other berry markets. From what I read the Lilycove Berry Market was one of, if not the largest Berry Market in Hoenn, with only the ones in Petalburg City, Mauville City, and Fortree City being comparable.

Berries were used for a lot of things, and chief among them were PokeBlocks, so it was not surprising that Lilycove City had an exclusive store of one of the biggest PokeBlock brands in the world, and not just any store, but the head store. It was supposedly a super large building that revolved around everything related to Pokeblocks. They did not only sell Pokeblocks but also blenders and tools needed for the production as well as storage of Pokeblocks.

Curiously, they also seemed to have rooms with top-of-the-line blenders that they rented out to those who wanted to create their own blocks. Additionally, and some might find this dumb of them, they offered fairly cheap courses on Pokeblock creation, though according to their own site and the reviews I read online, they only taught/shared the basic recipes/formulae along with a few slightly more advanced ones. I was naturally surprised by that as well, but a bit of digging showed that they got the support of the alliance, particularly the Hoenn branch, for this.

That made much more sense and I saw nothing wrong with that. The people got to benefit from this, so M&M PokeBlocks receiving government support in return was justified. I was sure any aspiring breeder and/or Coordinator was thankful for that. Speaking of coordinators, as part of the home of contests, Lilycove City naturally had a Contest Hall as well, and what a contest hall it was. The videos and pictures I had seen online showed a Mega Contest Hall worthy of one of the commercial centers of Hoenn.

Unlike other contest halls, which only cater to a certain level of Coordinators, the one in Lilycove catered to all levels, so the number of contests taking place at the hall was much higher than in regular contest halls. According to what I read there was some form of contest happening at least once every two weeks, sometimes even once a week.

The reporters working for the Hoenn TV HQ, Hoenn's most popular TV channel, certainly seemed to enjoy that since it was their channel that got the exclusive rights to stream those contests. A film crew could be found at the Contest Hall during each contest, but being based in the same city would do that I guess. Not that this was the only place Hoenn TV had a working contract with.

Lilycove City had a surprising amount of clubs in addition to the Sailor's Club, which happened to be the only one that did not have a dedicated program with Hoenn TV. Probably due to its dual nature and the supposed general rowdiness of the place. Regardless, other than that one, the Trainer Fan Club, Pokemon Fan Club, Battle Club, Water Club, Beach & Surf Club, and even the Fisher's Club had a dedicated program with Hoenn TV. I was most likely going to visit each one of those clubs since I knew I was bound to have an interesting day at each one.

As one could surmise from these many ventures of Hoenn TV and the fact that its HQ was here, there was an abundance of reporters in Lilycove that would love to get a good story, which I no doubt counted as. Yet, I was not worried since I had long decided that I would dial up my "Ignore Me" field along with wearing a semi-disguise outside of official functions, which included Gym Battles. That should be enough to ensure that anyone, including reporters, would be disinterested in me as long as I did not approach/address them first.

The reason for this decision led back to a call I received from Mr. Cameron the day after I won my Munchlax egg. I ended up confirming my suspicion regarding the Gengar and Alakazam that showed up at the start of my journey, while also informing me that my bounty was much more troublesome than I had believed it to be until then. I was thankful that the order had ensured that the worst of the bounty hunters had not bothered me during my practical year, but I would have honestly preferred it if they had informed me about the substantial increase to my active bounty.

Mr. Cameron told me about some of the criminals/bounty hunters that my ex-prorectors had intercepted, and while I was certain that I could have protected myself from their attacks and likely even captured them, I could not have done so with the ease they did, which could have resulted in unwanted damage during our confrontations since I somehow doubted my assailants would have cared about collateral damage.

This was also the reason why I decided to utilize a light disguise as well as my "notice me not" field to avoid any would-be assassins from being able to follow me/track me down, even if I was sure that I did not have to be afraid for my life. Still, it was better this way since having to always keep an eye out for any attacks would have become bothersome. Not to mention that no one could always be ready and that everyone slipped up at some point, so it was better to avoid any attacks if possible.

Before he hung up Mr. Cameron urged me to not do anything reckless against the black market. He requested that I leave it to him and the order. He cited the backers of the black market as the reason for his request, leaving no room for doubt that I could not afford to act against those sons and daughters of b*tches until my Pokemon reached Stage 7 or at least the peak of Stage 6.

I had to admit that I had considered raiding some black market sites at the start of our conversation but I ended up promising Mr. Cameron that I would stay out of it as long as I could, though I did warn him that I might resort to lethal force if I was forced to do so, or if one of those people attacked my family and close friends. He assured me that I was the sole target and that the safety of everyone else was ensured.

Anyway, due to my decision following Mr. Cameron's call, I would have an easier time traveling through Hoenn, which was a plus I guess. Moving on, there were some more places I had listed as must-visit during my stay in Lilycove City. The Devon Mega Department Store, which obviously belonged to the Devon Corporation, was one, just like the Lilycove Art Museum as well as the Lilycove Sea Museum.

I had developed an appreciation for art ever since I started working on earth/glass sculptures, and I was not the only one. My Pokemon had developed a love for the finer arts as well, so I was planning to stream what I was going to see during my visit to Utopia. The sea museum on the other hand was said to have some interesting exhibits involving marine life and the sea that I wanted to see.

Also on my list was the Grass Hall, which was established hand in hand with the Grass Gym and was a rather renowned one for that reason since many of the Gym Trainers who did not follow Sakiko to Littleroot City joined the Grass Hall, which ensured that the services and challenges they offered were of a rather high quality.

The Cove Lily Motel turned Hotel was another one since I had read that members of the Hoenn elite, such as Dragon Master Drake and Water Master Juan, liked to visit the place. The final two places on my list, at least until I found something I wanted to add, were the Sea Ranger HQ and the Psychic House. I was interested in the Sea Ranger HQ due to the information on wild Pokemon in the area I could potentially learn there, while the Psychic House roused my interest due to the services they offered.

While I personally did not need the services of the Psychic House, I was curious about them due to what I read online. Apparently, the Psychic House had a certified psychic that was capable of blocking certain memories of Pokemon related to trauma and another one that could temporarily block access/the memories of certain moves that were interfering with the learning process of other moves, for example, Night Slash interfering with Fury Cutter. They also offered other services such as testing anyone interested to see if they had a talent as a psychic, along with teaching certain psychic moves and helping people/trainers train their psychic-type Pokemon.

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