CH18 (79), Shopping

The next day after he woke up, Mikail remembered the news about the missing people on Route 4, and his promise to his parents, that he will stay either at home or in Honey City. 'Seems like another trip to the bug club is going to happen today,' he thought to himself.

He had actually been planning to turn Dialday into his club day so that he could use the last day before the weekend to battle there. With that in mind, he made his way downstairs to eat his breakfast, before leaving for Honey City.

While he was eating he felt his mother staring at him and she seemed to be thinking about something, and seeing how she was staring at him, it probably had to do with him. Right as he was done with his breakfast she seemed to have come to a decision, because her face gained a resolute look.

'Oh, boy. Whatever she has been thinking about, it has to have been quite serious. I hope it's nothing bad,' Mikail thought before he heard his mother clear her throat.

"Mikail, honey. I plan to visit Honeydew City. I want to get a sixth Pokemon, so before I try to find one in the wild, I decided to try my luck there to see if I can find one that appeals to me in one of the stores selling Pokemon and I want you to accompany me." She said.

'What the hell! That's it? Give me back my feelings of worry and seriousness." Mikail thought relieved that it was nothing serious. "Sure, mom. I'll go with you to Honeydew City. I was only going to visit the bug club in Honey City anyway, so accompanying you instead is not a problem." He told her.

"That's good. I was actually planning to accompany you to Honey City and try my luck there, but I decided to change our destination to Honeydew City at the last moment because the probability of finding something good is higher there." His mother told him.

"No problem," Mikail told her before he continued. "Have you already decided what exactly you are going for?" He asked his mother and she looked a bit contemplative before she answered my question.

"Yes, I have thought about it and I have also talked with your father about this topic. I, we, decided that I would get a Pokemon with either the Fire, Electric, Ghost, or Dark typing." She told him, and he had to nod at that. All of those would help counter one of the types her Pokemon had not been covering until now.

"That's a great idea. Honestly, I think you should bring father along instead of me if you want to get lucky and find a good Pokemon at those stores, but I'll try my best to find you a good one. My luck is not bad as well, at least I think so." Mikail said, while secretly adding, 'especially since I can just check their potential', in his head.

"Hmm, I'm sure you can, honey. We'll use Xatu to teleport over to Honeydew City. He should be able to reach there in 2-3 jumps. Since you're going to be accompanying me shopping, you won't need to wear your trainer gear, so please wear normal clothes, and no mask, or hat, please." His mother told him before she started to clean the table.

After they were done cleaning and had changed into appropriate attire, they left the house and had Xatu Teleport to Honey City first. After resting for a few minutes, Xatu Teleported them to the teleportation hub of Honeydew City, since that had been the only place they had been to in this city.

From the explanation of his parents that Mikail remembered, Honeydew City had a Bug-type Gym, as well as a Grass, Flying, and Normal Hall. So, he expected those to be the most available types on the market, but he hoped they would have some Pokemon with good potential from the types his mother wanted. As long as they were available Mikail was sure he would identify them thanks to his observe function.

His mother grabbed his hand and started to drag him along. "I know where the best stores that sell Pokemon are, so we don't have to ask around." She said, while purposefully walking in a certain direction. "Your father and I visited this city quite a few times during our journey, so I know my way around. Just keep following mommy and we will avoid any unnecessary detours as well as any subpar stores." His mother added shortly after.

They kept walking for around 10 minutes until they stopped in front of a Store called "PokePals". 'How original,' Mikail thought sarcastically when he saw the signboard of the store. "This is the first store on our list, so let's enter and see if they have any Pokemon of interest." His mother said, before entering the store with Mikail following behind her.

"The stores we are visiting only have undetermined Pokemon available. In case someone wants to buy a Pokemon with an assessed potential, one has to call or inform them in advance, so that they can prepare the desired Pokemon beforehand." She explained while she strode right up to one of the counters.

Before he could say anything, she addressed the employee. "I would like to know if you have any Pokemon of either the Fire, Electric, Ghost, or Dark typing available. If so, which Pokemon species are they and how many of them do you have?"

"Certainly, madam. Of the typings you listed, we have Pokemon of the fire and electric type available. The fire-type Pokemon we have are, Vulpix and Slugma, of which we have 8 and 12 respectively. As for the electric Pokemon we have, they are Pikachu and Voltorb. We have 16 and 10 of those respectively." The employee answered his mother, after looking up the information on their system.

"Excellent, we would like to take a look at them." His mother replied, and the employee nodded. He called over another employee and told her to lead us to the Pokemon. "Did you notice that he did not mention their price? He did that because he wants us to see the Pokemon first. This way we won't simply leave because we find the price too high. Furthermore, in case we find one that we like, we are more likely to buy it even if it is pricier than expected after we have seen it ourselves instead of simply hearing the price." She quietly told him, and he nodded to show his understanding.

"Either way, we'll take a look at the Pokemon first. Inform me if one of them stands out to you in any positive way." His mother added. Unfortunately, the best one among the fire-types was a Slugma with less than satisfactory potential.

'Species: Slugma

Gender: Male

Type: Fire

Potential: Deep Orange

Stage: Iron-stage (high)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Magma Armor

Talents: None

Affinities: Fire'

The best one among the electric types was a Voltorb that was also a bit underwhelming.

'Species: Voltorb

Gender: Genderless

Type: Electric

Potential: Orange

Stage: Iron-stage (high)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Soundproof

Talents: None

Affinities: Electric'

After they had seen all listed Pokemon, his mother gave him a look, but he simply shook his head. She nodded her head at his gesture, and they left the store, after thanking the employee, even if she was simply doing her job. The next store they visited was called "PokeDreams" and he had to suppress a snort after seeing the store's name.

'For real, who names these things? These names are so cliche, it's hard to believe.' Mikail thought to himself as they were entering the store. His mother once more strode directly up to one of the counters and addressed the employee, without letting her say anything.

"I would like to know if you have any Pokemon of either the Fire, Electric, Ghost, or Dark typing available. If so, which Pokemon species are they and how many of them do you have?" She asked and the employee started looking up the relevant information.

"One moment, madam," she said, and shortly after she started listing the Pokemon they currently had on site. "Of the typings you listed, we have Pokemon of the electric, dark, and ghost type available. The electric-type Pokemon we have are, 8 Pikachu and 14 Magnemite. The dark types we have are 9 Murkrow and 6 Poochyena. As far as ghost Pokemon are concerned, we have 4 Ghastly and 3 Misdreavus." The employee informed his mother.

'Species: Pikachu

Gender: Female

Type: Electric

Potential: Deep Yellow

Stage: Iron-stage (high)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Static

Talents: None

Affinities: Electric'

The best one of the electric types was this Pikachu, but she was not good enough as well. He had hoped that they would maybe find a Magnemite with good potential because Magnezone were really strong Pokemon, but unfortunately, the best one only had light yellow potential.

'Species: Poochyena

Gender: Male

Type: Dark

Potential: Light Green

Stage: Iron-stage (high)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Run Away, Quick Feet

Talents: None

Affinities: Dark'

Amongst the dark type Poke on he actually managed to discover a rather good one, even if he had no real interest in the species. He decided to shelve it for now, and in case they could not find a better Pokemon, he would inform his mother of this one. The ghost types had no Pokemon with better than orange potential.

When his mother asked for his opinion, he told her that he maybe had a candidate, but he wanted to visit the other stores first. She nodded and they walked towards "Tom & Thomas", which was the third store on his mother's list.

After they entered, his mother once more strode directly up to one of the counters and addressed the employee, without letting him say anything. "I would like to know if you have any Pokemon of either the Fire, Electric, Ghost, or Dark typing available. If so, which Pokemon species are they and how many of them do you have?" She informed the employee, who started looking up the relevant information.

"Just a moment, madam." He said, and shortly after he started listing the Pokemon they currently had available. "We currently have Pokemon of the fire, and dark type available. The fire-type Pokemon we have are, 6 Vulpix, 11 Ponyta, and 7 Slugma. The dark types we have are 4 Sneasel and 8 Murkrow." The employee informed his mother.

He had practically gotten used to that exchange by now because it kept repeating at each store. They visited the fire Pokemon first. The Vulpix and Slugma were useless, but one of the Ponyta turned out to be a surprise, and what a surprise it was.

'Species: Ponyta

Gender: Female

Type: Fire

Potential: Light Blue

Stage: Iron-stage (high)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Run Away, Flash Fire

Talents: None

Affinities: Fire'

He couldn't contain his surprise and wonder after seeing her, which his mother noticed. "Did you like this one, honey?" She asked him. "I have a really, really good feeling about this one. Something is just telling me that we definitely need to buy this Ponyta." Mikail answered her while emphasizing the need to buy this Ponyta. 'A light blue potential, unbelievable.' He thought to himself, while subtly trying to get his mother to buy it or rather her.

"Okay, let's just take a look at the dark-type Pokemon and after that, we can decide if we are going to buy any of them." His mother said to him, and the employee led them to the dark types. After checking them all he could not believe their luck. He had actually managed to find another good Pokemon among the dark types.

'Species: Sneasel

Gender: Male

Type: Dark, Ice

Potential: Green

Stage: Iron-stage (high)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Inner Focus, Keen Eye

Talents: None

Affinities: Dark, Ice'

One of the Sneasel turned out to have green potential, and if he had not seen the Ponyta, he would have made his mother buy this one, but he could not force his mother to buy both without seeming suspicious because of his insistence.

This was why he decided to give up on the Sneasel, but he still told her about it. "Mommy, this Sneasel gives me really good feelings as well, but the Ponyta still feels better." He told her with a slightly disappointed look.

"Really, that's great. So, why do you look down if you have found another Pokemon that you think is good?" She asked, seeing his look.

"I am just slightly disappointed that we are going to miss one of them because you want to buy one of them," Mikail answered her question.

"Really?" She asked him and he answered with, "really," before he added to it. "Those two give me the best feeling out of all the Pokemon we have seen until now, and among the two, Ponyta is the better one."

His mother gained a pensive look after listening to him. 'Maybe it is his psychic and aura abilities giving him an inkling into the potential of the Pokemon he meets. If that is the case then I definitely need to get the Ponyta, but by his reaction, the Sneasel is nothing to sneeze at either.' She contemplated.

Shortly after she came to a decision and nodded to herself. She turned to the employee that had been guiding them and pointed at the Sneasel while asking for its price. When Mikail tried to tell her something, most likely trying to revert her focus to the Ponyta, she stopped him, and he did.

"670.000 Poke." The employee told her the price of the Sneasel, and she had to nod at that. It was an acceptable price for a Pokemon of a good species at the upper spectrum of the iron stage, especially if its potential is good. "What about the Ponyta we have seen before?" I asked and I could see Mikail sigh in relief at that. "590.000 Poke," the employee promptly answered.

That was an acceptable price as well, and the price difference between the two was normal since Sneasel were in general rarer than Ponyta. 'Buying one of them is definitely no problem, but if I buy both of them then I'll have to dip into my reserves quite a bit.' She thought to herself, before coming to a decision. "I'll take the Sneasel," she said and her boy's head snapped in her direction as soon as she said that. She had to chuckle a bit at that.

"Certainly, Madam. Would that be all?" The employee asked and she shook her head. "I also want to buy one of the Ponyta, we have previously seen." She answered and she saw her son relax at that. "In that case please follow me." Said the employee after getting the Pokeball of the Sneasel they wanted and recalling it.

They went back to the Ponyta and Mikail pointed out the Ponyta he mentioned. After the employee recalled that one as well, they went to the cash register and paid for them. She had not expected to expend so much but she decided to trust her son's intuition, so she swiftly paid the 1.260.000 Poke.

After they left the store with her two new Pokemon, Mikail hugged her, thanking her for trusting him, and she returned the hug while telling him that she naturally trusted him. Since they had gotten what they wanted, she decided to simply stroll around for a bit, before eating lunch and returning home. She would perform the check-up of their potential on another day, since she had to apply for it first, and she currently did not want to do that.

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