CH38 (99), Cyan City (2)

The pad in my hand had the whole assortment of the store, so I first chose the evolution section. Surprisingly the section was divided into 3 sub-segments, which were books, supplements, and triggers. I was here for the triggers, which fit surprisingly well since I assumed that anything that triggered an evolution was in that segment evolution stones included.

However, I was kind of curious about what they had to offer in the other segments, so I took a short peek. The book section contained a variety of you wouldn't believe it books. There were all kinds of books that were about many different topics all on evolution.

Books containing talking of the experience of training up certain Pokemon up to their evolution. Books about evolution items either in general or specific ones. Books about evolution in general and books about what to do before and/or after an evolution. In short, there were books for many different topics all focusing on the main topic of evolution.

None of the books were cheap, but some of them were pretty expensive. Even more astonishing was that some had extra requirements for the buyer, like psychic enforced nondisclosure or a certain trainer class.

I checked out the supplements section next. There were all kinds of supplements listed there. Concoctions, Drinks, Materials, and even Food that helped to alleviate the consequences of premature, rushed, or desperate evolution. Others helped boost the positives of evolution and so on.

Naturally, the first group had to be taken for an extended period, and the latter was no miracle that multiplied the effects but generally gave a small but welcome boost. After satisfying my curiosity I took a look at the trigger section and found all kinds of water-type evolution items.

Each item had a picture of the product besides its name. From Deep Sea Tooths to the standard Water Stones they had quite the variety, and most were available in multiple classes as well.

I chose to use the filter since I was looking for items that worked for species that could use a Water Stone to trigger their evolution. That still left me with quite a few options, so I tried to see if I could target certain species and it seemed that option was available. I naturally chose Staryu and I was left with 3 items that were for sale.

The standard Water Stone, something called "Tear of the Deep Sea", and a "Red Gem of the Sea" which from what I could see was actually a Starmie's red jewel core. No wonder the last one was among the items most useful for Staryu, it came directly from its f***ing evolution itself.

They even used the species nickname to name the item after adding a red at the beginning. Well, at least it could still help the next generation in some way, so at least that was nice, right?

Anyway, since the highest class Star could effectively utilize was C-class, there was no reason to look for anything higher. Fortunately, they had the C-class version of all three items available, and boy was there a large difference between the prices.

The cheapest was the Water Stone, which cost 140.000 Poke. That was okay since I already knew beforehand that the C-class Fire Stone, Thunder Stone, Leaf Stone, and Water Stone cost as much. The "Tear of the Deep Sea" was next and cost 920.000 Poke, while the "Red Gem of the Sea" was the most expensive at 1.490.000 Poke.

That was even a bit more expensive than the B-class Water Stone, yet I knew that we were going to buy the red gem. We could afford it and I was pretty sure that it would be the most useful for Star's evolution which was the most important point for us.

I decide to take a look to see if they had any red gems of the F- and E-class. I was planning to use them as supplements to boost the evolution a bit. There were not many, since not many people wanted F-class evolution items and even E-class ones were not that popular. Nonetheless, they had 4 F-class red gems and 6 E-class ones, which cost 24.000 Poke as well as 90.000 Poke per piece respectively.

After coming to a decision I returned to the pad to the employee and thanked him for his help. I had essentially already made my decision, but I decided to take a look at "Deep Sea Treasury" first to see if they had something that may change my choice.

So, I left "Ocean's Fortune" and made my way towards the other store. Once there, I looked through their assortment and they had something called "Azure Jewel" that was pretty good but not as good as the red gem, at least not for Staryu.

Apparently, the "Azure Jewel" was the best evolution item for Shellder. It was a bit cheaper than the red gem at 1.280.000 Poke, but that was not enough to change my mind. After I found out that they had no better alternative, I left the store happy to have finished my parent's assignment.

Afterward, I made my way to the Gym to check it out. At the reception desk, I asked if they were selling photos of the Gym Leader and they were. After examining the photo I can only confess that she really resembles her namesake.

She was pretty tall and had a slender build with long, platinum-blonde hair. She also had pale skin with a light dusting of freckles as well as blue eyes, rosy cheeks, thin pink lips, and a small nose. The picture showed her in a teal dress while she was manipulating some ice.

After satisfying my purely professional curiosity, I put away her picture and asked the receptionist and the other visitors some questions regarding the gym challenge. From what I learned, Gyms used the same format for their challenges as the Minor Gyms, with the difference being that the Pokemon were generally stronger by a whole stage.

This made sense since Gyms were part of the Senior Circuit like the Major Gyms, unlike the Minor Gyms that were part of the Junior Circuit. So, the weakest Pokemon used during the challenge was at the (low) bronze stage instead of the (low) iron stage, and the strongest Pokemon used by the Gym Leader for 3-Star challenges was (low) gold instead of (low) silver.

Elsa herself was apparently an Elite-class trainer, which was impressive considering her relatively young age. I was unable to learn her exact age, just that she was young. Anyway, after learning more about the Gym I left and made my way towards the Flying Hall.

It turned out that this Flying Hall was more combat-oriented than the one in Dew City. While they did offer courses for Pokemon care and moves in addition to the challenge aspect, the selection was less extensive than in Dew City. However, in return, the average strength of the Hall members and Hall Master was higher.

After leaving the Flying Hall I went towards the Water Hall next. The only water-type Pokemon I had were my Magikarps. It was just that I was pretty sure that they already learned all the moves they could learn before evolving to Gyarados.

So, this visit was more to check what they had to offer, and if there was something that my Magikarp could profit from. Well, they did the standard challenge thing all Halls did, and they also offered care and move courses but unfortunately, none were useful for my Magikarp.

Still, I was planning to return once they evolved or I got some new water types because they were offering to teach some good moves like Aqua Ring, Rain Dance, and Crabhammer. My last stop for today was also the last Hall.

Once I was at the Normal Hall I acquainted myself with their offers as well. While I was browsing through their selection at the reception desk, the people around me suddenly started to excitedly chatter. From their talking, I managed to get that the Hall Master was going to walk through the reception along with his ace Pokemon, a female Pyroar.

I could understand their excitement, because from what I had heard most Hall Masters preferred to focus on training or their duties. So, they appeared less in a public manner than Gym Leaders. The reason Hall Masters were pretty popular was the fact that many of them were just as strong as Gym Leader and strong trainers are pretty popular on Terra, kind of like celebrities.

This was especially so for trainers with distinct Pokemon and after hearing that the Hall Master had Pyroar variant instead of a regular one everyone's excitement made sense. Once I heard that piece of information my curiosity shot through the roof, so I decided to check her status even if that was most likely only going to yield her potential.

I planned to position myself in such a way that the Pyroar would hopefully have to slightly brush by my side to walk past me since I seriously doubted my chances of checking her undetected through my telekinesis. Still, I did not believe that she would react too aggressively to that. It was unlikely that the Hall Master would let her walk outside among the pedestrians otherwise.

Anyway, I moved towards the entrance to get in position, but the area was already pretty full due to the other people in the reception hall that wanted to see the Pyroar, I mean the Hall Master. Naturally, I did not let that discourage me and started to push my way through.

While I was shoving, nudging, and tugging my way through the crowd under the quiet curses of my victims, sorry got a bit dramatic there, I meant curses of the innocent onlookers, I concocted my plan of action. By the time I had reached the front of the crowd a small distance from the entrance I had a simple but effective plan.

Once the Hall Master and his Pyroar came into my immediate area, I was going to act as if I got pushed by the people behind me and accidentally stumble into the path of the Pyroar. Then I only had to somehow had to brush by her side or have her brush by my side and use that moment to check her status.

Obviously, I was not going to risk myself if she seemed aggressive or dangerous, so I was going to evaluate her behavior first, before executing my plan. About two minutes later, they turned up and I observed Pyroar's reactions to the crowd and any interactions that happened. I have to say the difference to a regular Pyroar is obvious at the first glance.

Regular Pyroar had dark brown fur with light brown legs, tail tip, chest, and face. They also had a gold and red mane that looked like a shield for males and females had a crest-like mane in the same colors. Well, the normal-variant Pyroar of the Hall Master kept the color pattern for her body, but her mane differed from the regular one.

Instead of red and gold it kept the color pattern of its body and was dark as well as light brown. It looked pretty cool, at least in my opinion it did. Anyway, after I was sure that I would not end up mutilated because of my plan I got ready to enact it. Once they were close enough, I used a slight push from the people behind me to stumble forward right into the path of Pyroar.

The Pyroar simply dodged slightly to the side and just walked past me. Still, it used its tail and brushed the tip of it on my face, while giving me a slight smile. I used that chance to check her status while smiling back, obviously without showing my teeth, and waved at her. I saw Hall Master Isaac just nodding at me and I naturally nodded back.

I looked after them for a while until they were further away before I checked the status screen of Pyroar.

'Species: Pyroar

Gender: Female

Type: Normal

Potential: Blue

Stage: ?

Genetic variation: ?

Abilities: ?

Talents: ?

Affinities: ?'

Her status was as empty as I had expected, but what could see still allowed me to infer some things. First of all, her type only showed the normal type so it was reasonable that the genetic variation was of that type as well. Especially since I knew that she was a normal variant, that simply confirmed it.

Next up that I could see her potential meant that her strength was somewhere around Stage 5, the dark gold stage. Being unable to see anything after her potential meant that she was above the (low) gold stage. Taking these points into consideration meant that her strength was somewhere between the (mid) gold stage and the (high) dark gold stage.

Once I was done musing over her status and my curiosity was sated, I returned to the reception desk and went over their offers once more. From the move courses, I singled out four that I thought were the most useful for now; Disable, Flash, Hyper Voice, and Screech. Not everyone could learn one of those, but they were pretty useful and I believed that many of my Pokemon could learn at least one of them somehow.

Once I had singled out those moves I mentally noted them down and left the Hall, since it was time to go back home. During dinner, I told my mother about the items I found for her and that the red gem seemed to be the best one. My parents didn't even flinch when I told them the prices, which showed that they had expected as much.

They decided to visit Cyan City with me during Kyoday to take a look at the items and to hopefully buy one. I was going to visit the Battle Club tomorrow to participate in some battles, so I decided to go to bed slightly earlier than usual.

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