บท 22: Exploring the Black Market.

Alan walked around the black market with a mask on his face while he looked at all the pokemons and eggs that were up for sale.

The first time he came to the black market, he finally understood how naive he was to sell a pokemon on The League's auction house. A green potential pokemon that went for 10 million poke-dollars could go for about 30 million in the black market, maybe even more if the bidders went crazy.

But then why did no one buy it from the league's auction house? It was because no one sold them there as they would always come to the black market to sell their pokemon. Unless it were someone as naive as Alan, they would never sell a green potential pokemon on official auction houses.

And if someone does sell it officially, they would rather sell it in an auction that takes place in person than auction it online.

As he remembered his past mistakes, he shook his head. There was no use thinking about them; he had changed within six years. Not just in strength but mentally as well.

He had also improved his control over his God Eyes. They no longer glow in red light every time they are used unless he wants to use them for something other than seeing the potential of a pokemon.

As he was walking through, he noticed a shop selling TMs, and one of those TMs was something he could not understand how it was not sold off or auctioned. He walked towards the shop, and a man with a scar on his face greeted him.

He did not wait and came straight to the point, "how much for that TM."

"3 million, take it or leave."

Alan finally understood why it was not yet sold; the price was too high for just one TM. Though it was a rare TM, one could come across a cheaper one, but in Alan's opinion, would you be able to buy a cheap one when everyone was competing for it? But why was it that this shop sold it here when it could easily make profits somewhere else?

"I will take it," he said, surprising the shopkeeper, but the man soon nodded.

As Alan transferred the money, the man handed the TM to him, which Alan quickly used, as he placed it on the Pokeball hanging around his neck.

As he saw the TM dissolve into the Pokeball, he made a satisfied smile.

[Dazzling Gleam?] asked Eve from inside the Pokeball.

"I finally got it," said Alan as he once again walked around the Black Market looking for something useful.

[Did you buy some chocolate cake for me?]

"I will when we go back home. I still can't believe how you have not turned into a fat Eevee after eating so much."

[Hmph, what should I say? I am just that awesome.]

"And narcissistic."

[Who's the one looking at his face in the mirror every day and smiling like an idiot?]

Alan did not reply and kept walking.

After five hours he spent in the black market and going to every shop in it, he bought a few light Orange and Deep Orange potential pokemon that failed the Potential Test and were sold at a low price.

He immediately used the Potential Testing machine before these pokemons were ready to be resold for him to make a profit.

Today, he needed all the money he could get since the Arcelia City auction was one of the best yearly Auction in the whole Elian region. Alan was sure he would find something good here.

He currently had around 180 million pokedollars in his bank account, which was a considerable sum for someone of his age. But he was sure it might not be worth anything during the auction.

On his way around the black market, he found some good TMs once again.

TM: Protect

TM: Agility

TM: Mega Punch

He bought all three since they could be used in his next possible pokemon.

After buying a few more pokemon and reselling all of them, he finally had about 210 million before it was time to leave for the auction. He carefully walked towards the exit, ensuring no one followed him before noticing three men trying to keep up with him.

He recognized one of them, the shopkeeper who sold him the TM: Dazzling Gleam.

He knew why this was happening, 'it's not every day someone buys such an expensive TM without even thinking twice. Since I look young, they think I am an easy catch. Is this why they sold that TM here to lure someone and then rob them?'

As he thought about all these things, he gave a slight smirk and made his way into the ally from where he had first entered the black market.

He walked deeper into the alley before he finally stopped.

"Why don't we talk this through like gentlemen, or do you want to do it the har..."

His words were cut off as he jumped towards his right as a Sludge Bomb passed by him.

"Why did I even hope this would be resolved easily," he said before turning around as he saw the three men looking at him fiercely.

"Kid, don't waste our time. The last attack was nothing but a warning; hand over all your money, and we might consider letting you live," said the shopkeeper before he looked at Alan's neck, "and leave that pokemon behind as well; it will be our property from now on."

Alan gave a short sigh before he pulled up the sleeves of his shirt, "let's finish this quick since I have some placed to be," as he said those things, he moved towards the three men who had already called out their pokemon.

Alan tapped the left side of his head, and a large screen appeared in his view.

[Arbok

Type: Poison

Level: 23

Stage: Intermediate Stage (Mid)

Blood Bond: Zanfu]

[Golbat

Type: Poison/Flying

Level: 23

Stage: Intermediate Stage (Mid)

Blood Bond: Whiz]

[Beedrill

Type: Bug/Poison

Level: 21

Stage: Intermediate Stage (Mid)

Blood Bond: Drick]

'Three of them and the Golbat has the highest level,' he looked at the information given to him by the Pokedex, and then he looked at them with his God Eyes, 'All three are Deep Orange, are these guys even trying to be a trainer?'

He had learnt many things during the six years, and what surprised him the most was how easy it was to earn a good amount of League points if you worked hard enough. Even though he could earn money through the black market, he had made sure he earned as many League Points as possible to buy resources that were only available in the league.

'Are they not their Blood Bond pokemon?' he thought before taking a fighting stance, 'no need to think about it now, it does not seem like they have done this first time, maybe...'

"Arbok, use Iron Tail."

"Golbat, use Poison Fang."

"Beedrill, use Fury Attack."

As the three gave their commands, the pokemons ran towards Alan at their fastest speed.

Alan looked at them with a calm face, but his body had already prepared for the fight.

"Look at that idiot not even calling out his pokemon," said Zanfu as he saw Alan was planning to fight these pokemon by himself.

Alan did not care about what they said before he waved his hands, and two swords appeared in one hand each.

The first one to reach him was Arbok, who had charged its tail in silver light. Just as it swung its tail at Alan, it gave a surprised expression as it hit nothing but air. But then it saw something fly in front of him.

It was none other than its tail.

It gave a loud screech of pain which scared the other two pokemon, and their short hesitation was all the time Alan needed.

He appeared behind the Golbat and cut off its wings, then did the same for the Beedrill.

It hasn't even been a few seconds since the fight started, and all the pokemon were down on the ground crying for help.

Alan ignored their cries and walked towards their trainers while swinging his swords.

The trio became numb when they saw a young boy massacre their pokemon, and now he was walking towards them while swinging his swords which were covered in blood.

They immediately dropped to their knees, begging for forgiveness.

"Please, please let us go; we won't do this again."

"It was all his plan; please, we had nothing to do with it," said another while pointing at Zanfu.

"Shush," said Alan making them stop speaking before he asked his question, "where are your starters?"

The three looked at each other before giving a sorry smile, and one of them spoke in a very low voice, "they were killed when we tried to rob someone before."

'So I was right; these idiots got their starters killed,' he thought before he spoke out loud, "I don't care about what you do or if you will do this again. Steal all you want for all I care, but..."

He bent down and looked at them as his eyes started glowing red, "you dare waste my time, so tell me, what should I do with you three."

"P-p-please, w-we are s-s-h-orry, we..." Zanfu tried to speak, but Alan placed one of his swords in his mouth to shut him off.

"I don't care if you will do this again; what I do care about is how you are going to compensate me," he said with an intimidating voice as he looked at the trio before he made an expression as if he had thought about something and made his signature evil smile, "oh, how about some of those TMs you were selling?"

As soon as he heard what Alan had said, Zanfu lost all the colour on his face. He tried to speak, but the sword dug deeper into his mouth, and he immediately shut up. He knew they had bitten off more they could chew once again; he cursed himself for being greedy and coming after Alan.

He gave a long sigh before he took off the bag hanging on his shoulders.

He opened the bag for Alan to show him the contents of it.

There were four TMs, a large amount of cash and some pokeballs.

Alan nodded his head and made a pleasing smile behind the mask before he grabbed everything from it and transferred it to his bag.

"Good, now for you two..."

"That belonged to us as a group...."

"...so you mean to tell me even though you steal things, this was all you guys had?" he asked in disappointment. He could tell by their faces that they were not lying, so he shook his head and stood back up and turned to Zanfu, "return my money for the Dazzling Gleam."

Without even speaking, Zanfu made another transaction and returned the money Alan had used to buy the TM: Dazzling Gleam.

Once he was done collecting the 'compensation,' he quietly started walking towards the ally's exit. He had already called the cab waiting for him by the time he was out.

"Arcelia City Auction house," he said, and the driver nodded his head.

Back in the alley the trio were still on the ground while their pokemons were now unconscious after the massive blood loss. They however did not seem to care as they were still in shock of what had transpired.

"An advance stage trainer?"

"I-I don't know but he was at least peak intermediate stage," said Whiz as he looked at his pokemon, "a trainer gets stronger as its blood bond gets stronger. If he can take out our pokemon by himself then..."

"We were lucky he did not use his pokemon," said Drick with a sacred face, "who knew what kind of monstrosity would have appeared."

Then the two looked at Zanfu who was still to stunned to speak anything, "maybe we should stop what we are doing..."

Within an open space a small comfortable bed was placed and on it, a cute ball of brown fur was sitting, curled into itself.

[*Sneeze*]

Suddenly a worried voice rang inside the open space.

"Eve, are you alright?"

[Yes, I am good, maybe someone is talking behind my back?]

"Who could ever dare to do that? Are you done sleeping? We will soon reach the auction house, they serve your favourite chocolate cake, so if you keep sleeping...."

As soon as she heard chocolate cake, Eve immediately stood up on her bed before she disappeared from the open space.

A black light flashed in the cab as Eve appeared on Alan's lap.

[When are we reaching the auction house?] she asked as she looked at Alan with sparkling eyes.

"We will be there shortly," he said while stroking her fur as she laid down in his lap.

Alan looked at the stone hanging around her neck as a thought came in his mind, 'soon we can remove it and she will be able to evolve...'

He tapped the left side of his head once again and a pokedex entry appeared before his eyes.

As Alan looked at the results of their hard work over the six years, a please smile appeared on his face.

He looked at Eve who was resting in his lap and activated his God Eyes.

A dense fume of blue aura was radiating from her but it had one more colour mixed in it. Violet coloured fumes mixed with blue appeared in his eyes. This was the last hurdle that he had been unable to break, it was this tough to make Eve enter into Light Violet potential.

According to Cynthia, her Gabite was still at Violet Potential even though she had used more resources than Alan had.

He looked at the sunroof, the tall building covering the sky appeared in his view.

'One final push and she will evolve.'