Chapter 057

Alex walked out in a great mood. Apparently, Professor Oak decided to reward him for his excellent work by giving him a chance to go out on a mini-adventure. If the Professor managed to find the exact location of the village by looking into John Wikerbush, he would go to the village by himself. If not, Alex would lead an expedition into the forests northeast of Vermillion City, a C rated wild area, along with two trainers who would answer to a mission issued in the Correlation app.

The Professor also promised him a reward for a job well done.

"If the Professor is generous enough rewarded me for some random search on the internet, wouldn't he absolutely shower me me with rewards when I 'discover' how to evolve Poliwhirl into a Politied after he reaches a dead end?" Alex thought happily.

He remembered that Politoed needs to be traded while holding a King's Rock to evolve into a Politoed. It was two separate conditions that wouldn't be associated with Politoed easily.

Here, trade evolutions were a thing. A few years ago, when trade machines were first created, people found that some Pokemon evolved while being traded. It was later found that this was due to the unique waves emitted by the trading machine when a Pokemon was being traded. Now, a machine called Trade Ray Machine, that would simulate the conditions that would appear while a Pokemon is being traded was used instead. An upgraded version of the Trade Ray Machine could even emit some positive radiation that could help the Pokemon develop and evolve better also existed.

Only a few trade evolutions were discovered until now however. In Kanto, Alakazam, Machamp, Golem, and Gengar were Pokemon that were known to evolve this way. Electivire, Magmotar, Rhyperior and such Pokemon that needed to be traded while holding an item were not yet discovered.

King's Rock was a not so rare oddly shaped rock, that would provide the Pokemon wearing it a vague aura of majesty. Some weaker Pokemon may flinch when exposed to this aura. But after a Pokemon gets strong enough, it could ignore the aura. So King's Rock was more of a decoration of prop after than something used for battle. The Slowking and Politoed evolutions were not yet discovered, which made the King's Rock rare but worthless materials. A complete King's Rock would go for about 5,000 Poke, while those with exceptional quality would go for no more than 50,000 Poke.

The cheapest evolution stone was over 100,000 Poke, so the value may shoot up after it was apparent that King's Rock allows Pokemon to evolve.

Alex wondered if he could make some money off King's Rocks by buying a huge stock before the discovery is announced.

Alex walked out of the lab up to the house in the distance, with an increasingly sour face. Professor Oak also just asked him to go to his house and babysit Gary. Apparently, his parents would arrive in the evening, and Alex was to keep an eye on him until they returned.

Alex our on a poker face and knocked on the door. Gary opened the door, and Alex went in.

"Hey Alex! Show me your Shiny Charmader! I saw the picture you sent gramps! I want to see it." he yelled.

"No" said Alex.

"Why not?" cried Gary.

"Its sleeping" replied Alex.

"I dont mind if its sleeping. Its still Shiny whje its asleep right?" said Gary sourly.

Alex was about to reply, when he heard knocking on the door, followed by a yell.

"Hey Gary! Alex! Open up! I want to see the Shiny Charmnader too!" yelled a childish voice, which Alex instantly recognised.

"Why is he here?" Alex asked Gary.

"Earlier, gramps tried to drop me off at that loser's house for a while. His mom was busy, so gramps told me he would send you to keep an eye on me. He mentioned that I could see your Shiny Charmader. Maybe that loser's mom overheard us and told him about that." said Gary pouting. He went and opened the door anyway.

Ash flew in and should, "Where is it? Where is the Shiny Charmander?"

Alex sighed, took out his Pokeball and let Charmander out.

"Chhaar" cried Charmander as it came out.

"Wow so cute!" yelled Ash as he dove to give Charmander a bear hug. Charmander was alarmed, and shot Smokescreen to his face.

Ash collapsed onto the ground in a fit of coughing.

"Such a loser" muttered Gary, but his envy filled eyes were on the Shiny Charmander.

Ash got up and started at the Pokeball in Alex's hand longingly.

"Hey! Come to think of it, since Charmander hatched from the egg, I was right when I said the colour of a Shiny Charmander's egg. So I win the bet. How about calling me big brother?" said Alex.