"What's wrong?"
Baimu and Mawile curiously leaned over and saw that Aggron seemed to want to smash the rock covered in moss, but appeared hesitantly.
"Roar~"
Aggron turned its head and pointed at the knee-high rock, indicating it felt something.
"Is this... a Moss Rock?"
He squatted down to take a closer look. In the game, there's a type of rock that can assist Eevee in evolving into Leafeon, prominently found in Petalburg Forest in Gemstone Reproduction.
But apart from that, it doesn't have any other effects, so it remains uncertain if this is the thing.
He searched for related entries, compared the aspects, and found it's likely a Moss Rock.
For one, Moss Rocks usually only have moss growing on "top"; other parts don't.
For another, Moss Rocks don't weigh as much as rocks of the same size, and feel much lighter when lifted.
Baimu, having grown up in Pyrite Town, had an understanding of the weight of rocks of similar size in his mind, and as he looked further, his eyes suddenly brightened.
The entry stated that not all rocks covered in moss will trigger changes in Eevee's body. Through analysis, it was found that most Moss Rocks likely contain Leaf Stones or unformed Leaf Stones.
The special force field they emit causes Eevee with unstable genes to evolve even without touching them.
Similarly, another type of rock called Frozen Stone contains Ice Stones or unformed Ice Stones inside, which is why further research revealed Eevee can evolve directly with Leaf Stones and Ice Stones.
"Hiss! Could you casually pick up an Evolution Stone?"
He gasped, unable to help but praise Aggron, "Kid, great luck! Luck—eh?"
Thinking of something, he pulled out a box from his pocket, which surprisingly contained the Beautiful Scale Shunsuke gave him yesterday.
'This is my Lucky Scale, I hope it brings you good luck too.'
"No way... is it a coincidence?"
Baimu suspiciously looked at the Beautiful Scale, uncertain about these mystical things.
Forget it.
Since it costs nothing, might as well believe a little.
He put the box back and discussed with Mawile and Aggron how to dismantle the Moss Rock. Violent destruction wouldn't work, as Mr. Da Wu said, Evolution Stones have quality differences like pearls and jade.
It's uncertain if better Evolution Stones make Pokémon stronger, but they're definitely more expensive.
Baimu had checked before and, though he didn't understand much of this field, when he saw a Water Stone with no cracks, seemingly with fish swimming inside being sold for millions, he realized these things are truly valuable.
Cheaper ones exist too; if you go to malls in big cities, you will find ordinary Evolution Stones costing only tens of thousands, the gap is really big.
Evolution Stones were reportedly rare back then, but as more veins were mined, the prices plummeted with a lot of Evolution Stones unearthed.
Back to the point, the urgent task is deciding how to handle this Moss Rock.
Usually, it should be carried to the nearest town and seek help from professional craftsmen and machines to process it.
Unfortunately, who knows if Rinshin Town even has machines to process stones, not to mention he'd need to carry the rock to Rinshin Town, which is a long journey from where he currently stood.
Ride Steelix over there?
Possible, but it might scare people.
Miss Jun Sha just warned him yesterday, recklessness might get him arrested.
Better try dismantling it himself first, making the rock smaller so it fits into his backpack.
"Let's take a gamble! It's a found item, as long as something comes out, even tens of thousands are nice, you're up!"
Baimu handed the rock to Aggron, since it found it, it's logical for it to handle the dismantling.
"Roar..."
The latter was somewhat nervous; it's fine to blow up a rock, but knowing there are valuable items inside made it unsure what to do, feeling a bit at a loss.
"Take the patience you use when planting trees and use those Metal Claws to cut it bit by bit!" Baimu nudged it, "Come on, hurry up!"
"Chi doh!"
Mawile couldn't help but shout too.
Aggron angrily glanced at the two teasing it, hesitatingly as its claws gleamed silver, beginning to "caress" the Moss Rock tremulously.
The moss was scraped off, followed by a layer of stone skin—
Nothing inside.
Aggron used a bit more force and the sound of crackling, snapping noises filled the air, its movements and expression suddenly froze, "Goo roar..."
Something big happened!
"What's wrong? Did it break?" Baimu's heart skipped a beat, seeing its expression collapse, he said, "It's fine! If it broke, it broke, just go for it!"
"Roar?"
Aggron asked uncertainly.
"Break it!" Baimu gritted his teeth, nodding firmly while his hand couldn't help but clutch Mawile's little paw.
So.
With a series of cracking sounds, Aggron applied just a bit of force and split the entire rock into two, sunlight streamed through tree shades, scattering green light everywhere.
"Green crystal!?"
Baimu was surprised to see the interior, discovering the Moss Rock was actually hollow, with many green crystal-like minerals growing inside, and the Leaf Stone was prominently wrapped within the green crystals.
No wonder Aggron's random squeeze had produced cracking sounds earlier, turns out they were all crystals.
Is this thing valuable?
He checked the price of the green crystal and couldn't help but hold his breath as it was written to be extremely rare and precious!
"Really? Overnight fortune?"
However, when he realized the so-called green crystal wasn't the same thing as the one appearing with Leaf Stone, his excitement dwindled slightly.
"Wasted my expression, I should just take a photo and ask Mr. Da Wu." Baimu snapped, took photos, and queried Mr. Da Wu who was whereabouts unknown via Pokémon communication.
Though they had each other's private numbers, they barely communicated—
Primarily because he felt awkward disturbing the busy Champion, who used to run all over the world as the retired Champion, now surely busy as ever—
Ding ding!
Response came quickly!
Baimu opened the chat interface in surprise and saw Mr. Da Wu sent several exclamation marks followed by many text messages.
Da Wu: 'Baimu, are you in Petalburg Forest now?'
Da Wu: 'Baimu, could you take more pictures for me to see?'
Da Wu: 'Baimu, sorry, could you take them under the sunlight or video chat with me?'
Gone mad! Champion's gone mad!
Baimu exchanged glances with Aggron and Mawile, directly video chatting with Mr. Da Wu and instructed the two to push the split rock halves into the sunlight.
The video request was accepted quickly.
"Hi! Baimu!" Mr. Da Wu's face appeared on the screen, still looking so poised, if not for the slightly rapid breathing, "Long time no see."
"Long time no see, Mr. Da Wu. I won't waste your time, take a look." Baimu knew he eagerly wanted to see the Leaf Stone and adjusted the lens as he wished, sweeping back and forth among the "green crystals".