The cold wind of the morning air brushed past Arthur's face as he looked down at the box in his hand that was suddenly given to him by Brock.
The box was made completely of wood and looked to be really old. There was still some dust on top of it, indicating its old age.
"What is this?" Arthur tilted his head as he was suddenly handed over a wooden box.
"A gift. I thought you can make good use of it in your journey ahead."
Brock said with a slight, but mysterious smile on his face.
Arthur wondered what was in the box and why Brock had even decided to give him a gift. In the anime, nothing like this had happened and there was no mention of a wooden box either.
"Can I open it?" Arthur asked, glancing between the wooden box and Brock.
"Yeah, you can."
As Brock nodded his head, Arthur opened the box and there, in the centre of the box, he found a glistening, orange hardened substance that looked to be some kind of a rare metal.
It looked clear, like water with a reddish tint.
'Wait! Is this...'
Arthur looked closely at the orange substance and realised what it truly was. It was not hard to recognise it as the substance in his hand was one of the ways to get an incredibly strong and rare Pokemon.
At that moment, Brock began to explain what sort of gift he had given Arthur.
"It's an Old amber. In simple words, it's hardened tree resin that holds the DNA of an ancient Pokemon called Aerodactyl. You mustn't have heard about it before, but people say that you can revive Aerodactyl if you have an Old amber."
Brock said in one breath.
On the other hand, Arthur was still staring at the Old amber in a trance. He wasn't able to believe his luck that he had been simply gifted such a valuable item.
He obviously knew about this item as in games, it was mostly the only way to get an Aerodactyl on one's team, but he had never thought that he would be able to get his hands on this item in real life too.
Fossil Pokemon were more rare in this world and the way to revive them was still shrouded in mystery.
Even Professor Oak had never been able to do research on a fossil Pokemon.
"Where did you get this Old amber from?"
Arthur asked, curious about how Brock had been able to get his hands on such a valuable item.
"My grandfather found it."
"Your grandfather?"
"Yeah, he used to say that the mountains surrounding Pewter city have lots of fossils hidden around here and there. He had found this Old amber while searching for fossils and it had been passed down in my family since then."
Brock said and the more he heard, the more surprised Arthur became.
As there was no mention of Brock's grandparents or ancestors in the games and anime, it was all new information for him and he was quite shocked to hear it.
According to what Brock told him, his grandfather was called the 'Master of rock Pokemon' in his prime and their family's obsession with rock Pokemon came from there too.
His grandfather had even helped in the creation of the city walls and was a really strong trainer overall.
"... After his death, he passed down many things to us through his will. One of those was this Old amber. He wanted me to find a way to revive an Aerodactyl through this and capture him"
Hearing that, Arthur raised an eyebrow.
If the Old amber was that important, then why was Brock giving it to him as a gift?
"Didn't your grandfather leave this for you? Why are you giving this to me?"
Arthur ultimately asked and Brock just shook his head.
"I don't have any use for it. Like I told you, I don't want to be a trainer and I don't even know how to revive Aerodactyl from this Old amber. It will just get dust staying with me. I think you will be able to use it much better than me."
Actually, Pewter city museum was one of the places where one can revive fossil Pokemon in both the anime and games, but in this world, the museum was still newly made.
Even the technology to revive fossil Pokemon was still in its researching phase.
"But why me? Why are you giving it to me specifically?" Arthur asked as in the anime, Brock hadn't even given the Old amber to Ash.
There was not even a mention of it.
"I just feel like you are the right person for it. Moreover, you are the first person to actually understand me and I also had fun during our battle yesterday. Think of it as a memoir."
Arthur didn't say anything more.
He felt like he shouldn't say more or Brock can actually take back his gift.
He was not an overly greedy person, but Old amber was still really valuable and he would be able to get his hands on an Aerodactyl thanks to it, later on.
In the end, Arthur just thanked Brock and nodded his head.
They talked a little more about his journey and how Brock himself wanted to go on one, but wasn't able to due to gym leader work and his siblings.
He looked really sad while saying that, but Arthur knew that he would soon be able to go on a journey. As soon as Ash made his way through Viridian forest.
'Come to think of it, Flint must have already entered the city.'
Arthur thought about Brock's father who was probably somewhere in the city.
If he waited a few days, then maybe he would be able to see through the events of Ash's first gym battle.
He was also quite curious wondering if the 'sprinklers' will help Ash win his gym battle this time too. Maybe he would even be able to recruit Brock instead of Ash?
But thinking more on it, Arthur gave up on this thought due to one reason.
'Ash won't be able to survive if he doesn't have Brock.'