Chapter 30

"Excuse my abruptness, I did not realize how valuable your merchandise was and as a big corporation, Devon has too many enemies even within these walls." Saying so, Steven took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his forehead. When the madam brought out the pokemon parts the first time, Steven already knew how incredibly power the pokemon they came from were. As such, these were definitely premium products that deserved his sole attention. With so many spies within Devon Corporation from rivaling companies, Steven pulled the mother and son pair into a private room away from prying eyes.

Looking at the excited young man before him, Jax came to his senses. He already figured that this blue-haired teenager was the person he thought he was. It was only reconfirmed during his introduction. 'Steven Stone. As of right now, he's still too young to be Hoenn's champion. I doubt he barely grew any hair there yet.' Thinking so, Jax took a glance down. Feeling the curious stare of the boy, Steven reflexively took a step back.

'Scary, it felt like a predator was looking at me.' Thinking so, Steven asked to examine the materials in closer detail. Having received the Metagross and Beldum parts, his heart started to race even faster. 'From what I can tell, these parts should still be fresh. Probably only a day old. And from the lingering energy being emitted, I'd say these parts here came from a strong, adult Metagross in the level 80s if not 90s. Sadly, the other parts look like they came from some Beldums. Must have been the Metagrosses children. Although their quality and the processing used to harvest the materials are good, the energy they're releasing is weaker compared to their parents.'

Using this experience in dealing with all sorts of steel-type pokemon, Steven was able to infer what kind of pokemon the materials belonged to and their general level before dying. Feeling confident, Steven gave them the best offer he could. Someone who could kill such a strong pokemon, two at that and a flock of Beldums by herself was a strong trainer in his book.

"After taking a look at all the materials, I, representing Devon Corporation's House of Auction, would like to give you a quote of 12.5 million Pokedollars. 3.5 million for the strongest Metagross material, 3 million for its partner, and 6 million for all of the Beldum parts." Shocked by such a huge amount, Doria was left speechless. Thinking that the prices he listed was too low, Steven shook his head and thought about hard about how he could make the madam agree.

"Mhm, after consideration, I, Steven Stone, will also do any one favor for the beautiful madam or handsome, young sir so long as it doesn't conflict with my morals or bring harm to neither Devon Corps nor my family. That's really the best I can offer madam."

With the new proposal, Jax immediately ran forward and held the young man's hand. With glistening eyes, Jax replied with a resounding "YES!" while nodding his head up and down with so much energy, Doria worried his head might fall off. Taken aback that it was the young boy who agreed to his proposal and not whom he considered the boy's mother, Steven gave a sheepish smile and glanced towards the madam. Seeing as how she nodded to confirm with her sons answer, Steven gave a satisfied smile and handed the mother his business card.

"This is my business card with Devon's Pokenumber; as well as, my own written down at the bottom. Should you ever want to cash in on that promise on day, give either one a call and I'll come running. It should actually be me who is thanking you. I've been looking for strong steel-type pokemon materials for my Beldum but who knew they were so hard to find on the market!"

After concluding their business at the auction house, the mother-son pair took a stroll through the city's garden in the heart of the bustling downtown area. The two watched as lovebirds sat on benches in each other's arms and old folks do a weird dance in slow motion. A little girl with a blue scarf was holding her parent's hands feeding some Pidgeys. Wait, blue scarf? We're in the middle of summer, why would anyone be wearing a scarf right now?

Doing a double take, Jax noticed that what he had assumed to be a scarf at first was actually moving around on the girl's neck! 'I only know one girl who has something blue on her neck year 'round!' Thinking so, Jax called out towards the little girl to see if she was who he thought she was.

"Ally! Is that you?"

Hearing someone calling out her name, the little girl turned towards the voice only to see an unexpected acquaintance. Feeling caught doing she shouldn't have; Ally immediately began to blush beet red and hid behind her parent's backs. Finding their daughter's antics to be funny, both mother and father turned in the direction of their daughter's refreshing emotions. Their gaze landed on a pretty but handsome boy around their daughters age running over as fast as his legs could go and a blonde-haired beauty chasing after him. Knowing the reason for their daughter's sudden shyness, the parents glanced at each other before giggling among themselves.

"Hey! That is you isn't it, Ally! Why are you hiding? I haven't seen you for a couple of days and now you act like we're strangers. Aw, I'm hurt~" Reaching the place where his crush was hiding behind her parents, Jax placed both his hands over his heart and pouted his lips as if her actions really was hurting him.

"U-um, h-hi, J-Jax." Ally mustered up the courage to squeak out that one line. While she usually did better talking to him at school, meeting the boy who she occasionally glanced at outside of school was a whole separate matter. Think of it this way, imagine you're at the store in day-old sweatpants you found off the floor and a mismatched shirt you threw on that was hanging in the closet to go to the grocery store for the day's needed calories only to run into your crush! Yikes! I'm running off in the opposite direction, thank you very much.

"See! I was right! What are you doing here? I'm out on a date with my mommy, today. It's my first time in downtown so everything looks so cool! Did you know they have a store that sells pokemon? There's even a place you can win a Platinum grade Magikarp!" In his excitement, Jax didn't notice the young girl's red face turn a shade more red.

Running up to her son, the blonde beauty smacked him on the back of his head. "If you ask so many questions, how would she ever have time to answer any of them! I swear you were raised out in the wild by some pokemon!" Chastising her son about his ungentlemanly conduct, Doria turned and faced the two parents who had a similar smirk on their faces.