枯叶市.
Night.
Water Flow Auction House.
Xiao Mao and Na Zi arrived at the auction house. Due to the high-class nature of the auction house, a hefty sum was required to purchase an entry ticket. Each ticket cost two thousand, effectively preventing those without means from participating.
The auction featured ten Pokémon, all of them unknown. The only publicly known information was that their potential wouldn't fall below Gym level.
As for seeking rare Pokémon at the auction, forget it. This auction was legitimate, so the Pokémon up for bid were either common or slightly rarer.
Rare Pokémon, like the starters, Scyther, or even Lapras, which are common in Alola, are still considered rare and banned from sale in Kanto.
Although you could purchase rare Pokémon from the black market, even pseudo-legendaries, you couldn't use them in official battles. This was because all legitimate trainers needed to register their Pokémon.
The Pokémon League protected rare Pokémon with set population limits. If those numbers dipped, an investigation would immediately commence.
Finding rare Pokémon in the wild was difficult, and many poachers would venture into no-hunting zones to capture them and sell them on the black market. If you were unlucky enough to buy one, you could only keep it as a pet. Using it in a sanctioned setting was impossible, as the police would be on your case immediately.
“Welcome, everyone. I'm Shiqiao, tonight's auctioneer.”
At precisely 8 pm, the auction commenced. Shiqiao, the auctioneer, stood on the central stage, holding a microphone. He announced, “Tonight's auction will feature ten Pokémon with Gym-level potential or higher. Now, let's begin with the first Pokémon.”
With his words, five or six auction house staff members pushed a large cage onto the stage. Inside the cage was a massive Pokémon.
“Snorlax!”
“They're auctioning off something like that?”
“Snorlax eats too much, nobody wants it.”
The guests in the audience saw the Pokémon in the cage and showed no interest at all.
“They're not interested in this?” Xiao Mao was dumbfounded. Snorlax was actually being rejected.
He remembered from playing the Pokémon games how Snorlax had blocked his path. He wouldn't have been able to wake Snorlax without a Poké Flute.
Moreover, Snorlax was one of the overpowered Pokémon in Kanto, boasting a base stat total of 540, with 160 of those points allocated to HP. It had incredible durability and, combined with Leftovers and the Sleep move, it was practically unkillable.
He knew that Snorlax was probably Ash's Pokémon with the highest kill/death ratio. Whenever it went into battle, it always took out at least one opponent Pokémon, sometimes even two or three. Its record was better than even Charizard and Pikachu.
Yet, at this auction, the audience seemed uninterested.
Xiao Mao clearly overestimated the situation. Snorlax was indeed powerful, but it was also very lazy. Only Snorlax could rival Slacking Off in terms of laziness. Such lethargy was incompatible with normal competitions.
Snorlax also had a huge appetite. Although it could eat cheap Berries, what kind of trainer would want to stay in a place with only Berries growing? Raising a Snorlax was a major challenge, especially since trainers on journeys had limited food supplies to carry.
However, this wasn't an issue for Xiao Mao, because Professor Oak had special, super-filling Energy Cubes. Just two of those would fill Snorlax's stomach.
But…
【LV28 Snorlax♂/Gym】
The Snorlax in front of him was at a low level. Xiao Mao already had enough Pokémon, and he needed to further develop their potential. If he added Snorlax to the mix, it would be difficult to distribute resources later.
So, he had to pass on this Snorlax.
“This Snorlax was found on the Orange Islands. Its ability is Immunity. It knows Body Slam, Sleep, and Dream Eater…!” Shiqiao calmly started explaining the Snorlax’s stats.
Xiao Mao was surprised. Ash's Snorlax was also acquired during his journey on the Orange Islands. But it must have been a different one because Ash's Snorlax was extremely powerful, at least at Champion-level potential.
“The starting bid is 3 million! Each increment must be at least 100,000. The bidding begins now.” Shiqiao announced.
“3,100,000!”
As soon as he finished speaking, a woman raised her bid.
“3,200,000!”
But quickly, a man raised his bid.
Although everyone wasn't crazy about Snorlax, some people were willing to spend money for a Gym-level one. After all, those in the audience had money to burn.
In the end, the Snorlax was sold for 4 million.
Next, the second Pokémon was brought out… a Horsea.
The appearance of Horsea instantly triggered cheers from the audience.
Horsea was considered a relatively rare Pokémon, and its adorable appearance was a huge hit with girls. Plus, it had dragon lineage, so when it evolved into Seadra, it could use a Dragon Scale to evolve into the Dragon-type Kingdra.
This Horsea also had Gym-level potential, which instantly sparked a frenzy. Within minutes, the bids reached 5 million, and ultimately, it was sold for 6.8 million.
The rest of the Pokémon brought out for auction were pretty average. There were Nidoran, Croconaw, Teddiursa, Shellder, Bulbasaur, Ursaring, Growlithe, and Meowth.
There were even Pokémon from other regions, but they were all pretty standard. Only a few of them had potential for training, but their potential was relatively good.
None of them were something that truly caught Xiao Mao’s eye. The only one that made him feel anything was Shellder.
This was because the Shellder was shiny. He still remembered the mission his system had given him: collect 10 shiny Pokémon to get a High-Grade Shiny Charm.
Unfortunately, shiny Pokémon, no matter where you were, were extremely rare. Everyone in the audience had money, so when they started bidding on Shellder, the price instantly went into the eight-figure range. Xiao Mao was priced out immediately.
After all, shiny Pokémon were only different in appearance. They didn’t actually change in any other way. If the price had been under eight figures, Xiao Mao would have been willing to buy it. Buying a Gym-level Shellder for over eight figures was just too much of a loss.
“Too bad. There wasn't anything we needed at the auction today.” Na Zi sighed in regret. She had hoped to find a Gym-level Slowpoke, but sadly, there wasn't any.
“We'll check again tomorrow. If nothing good shows up, we'll just forget about it.” Xiao Mao said.
“Okay!”
Na Zi nodded.
They were about to leave when the lights in the auction house suddenly dimmed, leaving only one spotlight shining on the center stage.
“What happened?”
Xiao Mao was surprised. He thought there was a surprise closing Pokémon coming.