CH20 (634), A Stint Around The Harbor Area (2)

After buying some pearls of each color, I tried to ask how/where they got the pink and blue pearls from. I was pretty sure that the white pearls were from Shellder since Clamperl pearls tended to be bigger, but neither species produced blue or pink pearls as far as I knew. I was talking about the "waste"/excess pearls and not the main body "pearl" of Clamperl, which was in fact pink(ish).

The seller was not willing to divulge anything and I did not want to break his privacy for this since it was just a mild curiosity on my part since the pearls were nice to look at, so I left him alone and continued to explore the Harbor Market. Most of the stalls did not have anything that really attracted my attention, aside from the snack stalls which I made sure to patronize each time, but I occasionally stumbled upon interesting stuff that I directly bought, such as the Deep Sea Tooth that one of the stalls had on display as a Sharpedo Fang, or the Deep Sea Scale another stall mislabeled as an Alomomola Scale.

I got the Deep Sea Tooth for just 800 Poke which was a fraction of its actual worth, while the Deep Sea Scale cost me 3200 Poke, which was still much cheaper than a Deep Sea Scale would have cost. While I did not really need these two times right now, which was why I had not bothered looking for them until now, I was not averse to buying them if I happened to come across them, especially if I ended up getting them for a fraction of their actual worth.

Aside from those two lucky encounters, I actually saw people/stalls trying to sell live Pokemon, though it was largely limited to 4 species, Magikarp, Feebas, Shellder, and Clamperl. Each seller claimed that all of the Pokemon were untested, so it was up to one's luck whether the bought Pokemon ended up having good or bad potential.

The prices for the Magikarp were relatively cheap, but the prices of the Feebas, Shellder, and Clamperl were still considerable for casual shoppers. Probably because they were much lower in number, though their prices were still nowhere near the price of a regular Pokemon with undetermined potential, which was why I "observed' each Feebas, Shellder, and Clamperl on the market.

In my opinion, 15-20k for a Feebas, 20-30k for a Clamperl, and 25-30k for a Shellder were a steal. Price aside, the two new evolution triggers were another reason I had a sudden interest in Clamperl, though I was not planning to ignore the Shellder and Feebas. What I did mostly "ignore" were the Magikarp even though they went for only 5-10k since I already had more than enough Magikarp in Utopia, though I still made sure to keep an eye out for any that stood out from the rest.

By the time I had done a whole tour through the Harbor Market, 4 hours had passed, and it was close to 5:30 p.m. During these four hours, I checked out a total of 23 Feebas, 37 Shellder, and 68 Clamperl. I ended up buying 2 Feebas that had deep yellow potential and one that had green potential. Along with 3 Shellder that had deep yellow potential, one that had green potential, and one with deep green potential.

Finally, I also bought 6 Clamperl with deep yellow potential, 2 with light green potential, and 2 with deep green potential. I bought as many as 10 Clamperl not only because of the two evolution triggers I obtained but also because Clamperl was one of the species that had a pink Shiny form, so they would be able to join my Pinkan Berry experiment once a sufficient number of berries had grown. The reason I did not buy all Clamperl I came across was that I believed that Pokemon with a higher potential had an easier time adapting to change.

I did not plan to use any of my main Pokemon for the experiment, and while I had a few Pokemon in Utopia that qualified for the experiment, the only Pokemon with a substantial number that qualified for the pink Shiny experiment were the Bounsweet and Wooper. That was why I was planning on visiting the Harbor Market a few more times during my stay in Lilycove City to see if I could buy some more Clamperl to expand the trial group. I could/would try to look for some myself, but I was not averse to buying them to make up the numbers.

At the end of my shopping spree, I paid 50k for the Feebas, 130k for the Shellder, and 220k for the Clamperl, totaling 400k, which was about as much as one would pay for 4 unranked Weedle or 2 unranked Rattata in a Pokemon store. Well, if one did not care about stores and the reputation/prestige connected with them, that amount might be enough to buy 8/9 Weedle or 4/5 Rattata at stalls like this one. I was honestly not sure why they were this cheap.

Anyway, once they had gone through Utopia's loving care, the worst among them had light green potential, and I made sure to throw them all into an isolated underground lake in the main space so that they could reproduce/multiply without any distractions or anyone interfering. Even the Clamperl and Shellder who had blue potential after going through the Utopia special joined their fellows. Their presence would raise the quality of the gene pool a bit, but I was going to open/link the isolated lake with the rest of the main space eventually. It would just take a few years, which was still better than never.

Moving on, since it was 5:30 p.m. I made my way to another well-known restaurant here at the Harbor Market for dinner, and because this one's menu was less extensive than that of Victor's Grill, I was able to confidently order the whole menu, which earned me a few disbelieving looks that turned to gapes once I finished everything. After a satisfying meal, I found a secluded corner and entered Utopia to accompany my Pokemon for their dinner. By the time everyone had their fill it was close to 6:45 p.m., so I was prepared to head to the Sailor's Club.

I recalled everyone including all reserve team members I was planning on using to their respective PokeBalls so that I could call them out during the battles before I left Utopia. I made my way to the Sailor's Club and arrived a few minutes short of 7 p.m. The moment I entered the club, I was met with a lot of "noise". There was the sound of music, chatter, and even the sounds of two Pokemon fighting. A rather lively atmosphere if I had to say so myself.

At first glimpse, I saw a bar counter, a flight of stairs to the right of the bar, a service counter, some billiard tables, a few dart boards, tables/chairs for people to sit, and a small stage with a small table, a mic, as well as some boxes. I also saw a crowd towards the back to the left of the counter. I heavily suspected that that was where the Pokemon battles were held, so I made my way there. On the way, I saw a few displays showing a battle between two people in sailor clothing.

Once I made it to the crowd and managed to push my way to the front, I saw that I had been right in my assumption. I saw the same two sailors I had seen on the displays fighting, or rather their Pokemon were the ones that fought. The people around me were loudly cheering and yelling all kinds of stuff while watching the Pokemon duking it out. I watched the battle and finally close to 5 minutes later the Golduck managed to take down the Primeape it was facing.

The sailor that won laughed happily and proclaimed that the loser owed him 2 drinks of his choice. The loser grumbled a bit but waved the winner over and the two headed towards the bar. Seeing the empty battlefield, I promptly moved to the middle of the field while it was still empty. "Make way little boy! We want to see some men fight," I heard a woman yell from somewhere to my right and a lot of people laughed at that.

"Funny," I said in a dry tone, using my aura to ensure my voice was heard through all the noise. "I've heard that I can get a decent challenge here so I've decided to give it a try. Hopefully, this won't prove to be too much of a disappointment," I taunted a bit earning me some boos and laughter. "I'm looking for 2-round battles, but whoever faces me has to declare the stage of the Pokemon they are going to use so that I can match it. I don't want to win just because I send out much stronger Pokemon after all," I set the rules, but was interrupted before I could say the next big.

"Get to the point! What's in it for us?" somebody yelled which earned the approval of a lot of the others, who parroted him. "I'll buy those that give my Pokemon a decent workout a drink. Whoever manages to beat one of my two Pokemon will get an extra drink, and if someone manages to win the battle, I'll triple that," I announced and there was some cheering in return.

While others were cheering a rugged guy swaggered out and moved in front of me. "I'll take you up on that, little guy," he said after releasing a boisterous laugh, and I heard shouts of "show him" and "stomp him" from the crowd. "Great," I said ignoring the shouts. "Just shout the Pokemon's general stage before calling out your Pokemon, such as bronze stage, and I'll send out a bronze stage of my own. The same applies to the other states," I explained a second time before moving toward the right end of the battleground.

A lady from the crowd stepped out and took over the referee role. "The battle's 2-vs-2. Hank has to call out his Pokemon's stage first, the cutie will match that," she announced while giving me a wink when she said the last bit. "Hank, go on," she then instructed and the sailor pulled out a PokeBall with a smirk before confidently proclaiming "Bronze".

That was a bit unfortunate for me since the only Pokemon in my main team and the reserve team that was at the bronze stage was Mankey, so I pulled out his ball. I was just hoping Hank's second Pokemon would be stronger or I would have to resort to drawing from the minion group. Anyway, the lady nodded when she saw that both of us had a ball in our hands.

"Release your Pokemon when I say go," she declared before she began to countdown from 3. "Go," she finished and we simultaneously released our Pokemon. "Focus," I said as my mid-bronze Mankey appeared on our side and a high-bronze Buizel was released on the other side with a "Go". Mankey immediately performed Focus Energy.

"Jet Tail," Hank ordered and his Buizel flew toward Mankey using Aqua Jet. "Screech," I ordered at the same time, and Mankey screeched at the approaching Buizel. Buizel flipped around and moved into an Aqua Tail. "Cross Chop, then Toss," I ordered in reaction. Mankey blocked the tail with his crossed arms before grabbing onto Buizel and moving onto a Seismic Toss.

"Gun at the floor," Hank yelled as Mankey with Buizel in his arms headed for the floor. Buizel fired a Water Gun at the ground, slowing down their fall and cushioning the impact. "Double Hit/Fury Swipes," we ordered simultaneously. Mankey blocked both of Buizel's hits before landing his third swipe. "Hydro Pump," Hank ordered and I told Make to retaliate with "Karate Chop".

Just as Buizel was about to shoot out a point-blank Hydro Pump Mankey delivered a Karate Chop, forcing Buizel's head downward, automatically slanting the Hydro Pump as well. "Close Combat," I ordered and he began to use Buizel's momentary disorientation to wail on Buizel.

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