Rinshin Town.
After more than four hours of traveling, Baimu and Aggron finally arrived here.
"Making some money isn't easy."
He exhaled heavily and looked at the big monster behind him, who was breathing a bit heavily, "You've worked hard; let's celebrate tonight, it wouldn't be in vain."
"Goo... roar!"
Aggron placed the heavy stone on the ground, and its breathing quickly calmed down.
Although worried that Officer Jenny might show up, Baimu ultimately called upon Steelix to act as a transport worker to ensure that Aggron wouldn't be exhausted - in fact, as long as they flew lower, they wouldn't be so conspicuous.
The two Pokémon took turns moving forward, and in the end, none of them were really exhausted, it was just like a little outing.
Especially when they found a road and hitched a ride. After all the fuss, they covered in over four hours what Ash Ketchum and his friends would take one or two days to travel.
Congratulations are in order.
The only thing left was to bring the stone onto the train and head to Kanaz City.
Unfortunately, Aggron was too tall and heavy to be allowed into the carriage, and Mawile, with its super strength, found the stone too dirty, which meant Baimu had to handle it himself.
"Fortunately, I can manage this distance."
Baimu struggled to lift the stone, getting on the train under the curious gazes of people and Pokémon around him.
Honestly, luck is luck, but acquiring luck seems to require some kind of sacrifice. For example, Nuzleaf destroyed his nectar, and he chased after it and only then obtained the Powerful Vanilla and Sun Stone.
The Leaf Stone and crystal required him to transport them long distances to Kanaz City to sell for "hard-earned money."
You never know; maybe Shunsuke's price for establishing a Gym was that no one would come to it? This makes the Lucky Scale seem even more mystical all of a sudden.
"What will the new gift be? Beldum?"
Baimu sat by the window seat, looking at the scenery outside, curious about what Da Wu would exchange for the Key Stone.
If it's Beldum... he currently wants to invest more energy into Deino and consider breeding a second Quasi-God only after it's fully evolved.
And compared to a regular Metagross, he knows there's a place in the Sinnoh Region featured in the animation where you can catch a Shiny Metagross, though he can't quite remember where exactly.
The animation didn't name that mountain; he only recalls it's somewhere near "Musashi and Kojirō Ramen Shop," but there are already twenty-two chain shops of those...
Hard to say.
He'll look for it when he gets a chance to visit Sinnoh.
Baimu flipped through his phone; he hadn't forgotten his reason for choosing Hoenn as his first travel destination—Lugia.
Whether Lugia ultimately agrees to go with him back to Ore, he definitely plans to ask.
Moreover, he needs to carefully consider how to quickly make Ore prosperous.
——
Kanaz City.
A city pursuing the fusion of nature and science.
It wasn't originally planned to arrive so early, but to earn food money for Aggron and its companions, they did so in advance.
Taking a taxi to the street where De Wen Company's headquarters is located, he couldn't help but look up at the skyscraper filled with Western castle style.
Somewhat puzzled by President Zifuqi's taste.
"Hey, hello."
Baimu used the number Da Wu gave him to contact the expert who would assess the stone's value. The other party was very polite, asking him to wait on the spot, and arrived within half a minute, approaching from a distance with a small cart, greeting him.
"Over here~"
The person was a ponytailed girl in a lab coat, no more than 1.5 meters tall, looking somewhat flustered.
He quickly approached, "No need to rush, right?"
"Oh, it's urgent." The ponytailed girl gasped, "I heard President Zifuqi skipped work again, and if he found this stone, it wouldn't be good."
"Skipped work..."
Baimu was slightly stunned, then remembered that Zifuqi Mujin in the animation was quite unique, more like an inventor than the president of a large company, often skipping work to display inventions to kids on the street for inspiration.
This was why this big president was often scolded by his secretary and constantly played cat and mouse with him.
Thinking of this character setting, it wouldn't be surprising at all if he fought with Da Wu for the stone.
Baimu loaded the stone onto the cart, and the girl immediately turned and fled around the front of the De Wen headquarters building, saying as she ran, "I'm Laisa, a researcher at De Wen Company, specializing in studying various energy-rich stones."
Huh?
She's researching infinite energy?
He knows very well that De Wen Company's current largest project is infinite energy sourced from Pokémon life energy, a renewable clean energy that won't cause much pollution and is a blueprint that could benefit all of humanity and Pokémon.
And the Key Stone, Super Stone, and the Carlos Region's ultimate weapon "Flower" were their sources of inspiration.
The two snuck in through the back door of the building, sneaking like thieves around several corridors, finally arriving in an office.
Laisa sat on a chair, exhaling heavily in relief.
"Whew, dodged successfully! Sit, want something to drink? I have all kinds of drinks here." She stood up and opened a small fridge in the corner, "Soda? Fruit juice? Milk?"
Baimu replied, "Anything's fine."
"Then let's have it all." Laisa placed the soda and milk in front of him, opened a bottle of soda for herself, and after drinking, let out a satisfying sound, "Woohoo!"
This one... is quite informal.
He tugged at the corner of his mouth, opened the milk, and handed it to Mawile. Mawile blinked and drank it in small sips.
Laisa found its cute actions amusing and couldn't help but smile, "What an adorable Mawile, you've raised it well."
Baimu replied, "Thanks for the compliment... So, aren't you going to appraise it? Or is someone else coming to help?"
"What's the hurry."
Laisa picked up a handheld magnifying glass from the table, untied the nylon cord, and carefully examined the split moss stone, her expression becoming serious and focused, "Did you find this in Petalburg Forest?"
"More or less," he briefly described the process.
"Then you have good luck. Did you read the paper Dr. Oda published last year?"
"Uh, no."
"You should take a look; it states that many Pokémon, which need an Evolution Stone to evolve, tend to inhabit places with the corresponding Evolution Stone; it's their habitat pattern."
Laisa lifted her head, "The quality is good. Polished well, it could sell for at least eight million at an auction."
"... Eight million!"
Baimu was shocked but quickly realized that's the auction price, "So how much can you offer?"
Laisa couldn't help but chuckle, "Quick reflexes, huh? As for the price I can offer—it's halved."
"Purchase price is halved, but the auction really makes money, fair enough."
Baimu wasn't too disappointed, earning four million in an afternoon was quite strong, "How do I receive the payment?"
"Don't rush."
Laisa watched his every reaction and said, "That was the price I could offer. The actual amount will depend on Da Wu's judgment... He said he'd offer you the industry's top rate, so it's still eight million."
Baimu: "..."
Why does she talk in such a roundabout way?