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Walking into the manor, you are greeted by bursts of hustle and bustle, with all kinds of cries and bargaining sounds mixing together. It completely resembles a bustling vegetable market.
In the black market, several booths are set up in prime locations. These booths are charged at high prices, but if you don't rent one, you can simply find an open space, lay out your goods, and start shouting. This approach works too.
Chris wandered around casually at first. Everyone here wore masks to conceal their identities, just like him. The black market attracted a significant number of trainers, maintaining a very lively Condition throughout the year.
At one booth, the owner, a trainer wearing a Bulbasaur mask, displayed three items: a Pokémon egg, a green-and-white Poké Ball, and a space bracelet.
"Is this Pokémon egg really for sale like this?" Chris asked, pointing to the Pokémon egg on display.
"This is a Sandshrew Pokémon egg. Its qualification will not be lower than two stars, and the price is 360,000 Alliance coins," the stall owner replied calmly, without enthusiasm.
"How can you tell it's a Sandshrew Pokémon egg and claim it's at least two-star quality?" Chris questioned. He knew the truth but was curious about the stall owner's confidence.
"This is the identification report for the egg. It confirms the species as Sandshrew and includes a professional qualification test. You know that unhatched Pokémon cannot be 100% identified, so even organizations under the Pokémon Alliance can only provide estimated qualifications," the middle-aged man explained, showing Chris a test report bearing the Pokémon Alliance's seal.
Seeing Chris still deep in thought, the stall owner added, "If you don't trust the report, we can arrange for an on-site appraisal through a black market appraiser, but the appraisal fee will be on you."
After hearing this, Chris realized the stall owner's claims were correct. The actual condition of the Pokémon egg aligned with the professional appraisal, making the report reliable.
Shifting his focus, Chris asked, "How much for the Friend Ball and the space bracelet?"
The green-and-white Poké Ball, known as a Friend Ball, had the unique ability to quickly establish a strong bond of favorability between a captured Pokémon and its trainer. This greatly reduced the time and effort needed to build trust. The space bracelet, a more advanced storage device compared to a space backpack, was convenient to carry and offered significant capacity, the smallest one larger than the largest space backpack.
"Friend Ball, 50,000. The space bracelet, with a capacity equal to a basketball court, is 250,000. No bartering—payment is in Alliance coins only," the stall owner declared.
Chris marveled at the prices. The Friend Ball was ten times the price of a standard Poké Ball. While the unique features of these specialized Poké Balls were impressive, their drawback was that, like common Poké Balls, they became unusable if the capture attempt failed.
The price of the space bracelet seemed quite reasonable. In the official flagship store, a space bracelet of this size typically costs around 280,000–300,000 Pokédollars, and in the black market, it might be similar or even cheaper.
"I'll take the Friend Ball, but not the others. Give me your card number," Chris decided after some thought. The Poké Ball's ability to quickly build rapport with Pokémon made it well worth the 50,000 Pokédollars.
Every time Chris received a text notification for a purchase, he couldn't help but sigh. He had spent 50,000 Pokédollars even before earning any.
Chris wandered through the market again, consulting various stall owners and gaining a good sense of the black market's pricing trends. This gave him a clearer idea of the value of the items he planned to sell.
Although stalls could be set up anywhere in the black market, the sellers followed an unspoken rule of organizing their goods in neat rows, leaving pathways for buyers.
After his survey, Chris laid out a white tablecloth and set up a fishing chair next to the last booth in the row. He displayed a Poké Ball containing a Teddiursa and a Leaf Stone and propped up two cardboard signs detailing their information and prices:
[Leaf Stone]
Buy Now: 1,500,000 Pokédollars!
[Teddiursa]
[3-star qualification, Level: 10]
Buy Now: 800,000 Pokédollars
Chris had carefully considered these prices. Evolutionary stones in the market generally ranged from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 Pokédollars, so he chose a mid-range price to attract serious buyers. As for Teddiursa, a 3-star Pokémon from the Pokémon Alliance required multiple reviews and a payment of 1,000,000 Pokédollars. Selling it here for 800,000 was a fair deal, saving potential buyers the hassle of the formal process.
Though Chris's booth was in a less prominent area, he remained confident. His items were among the top-tier offerings he'd seen in the market, and anything more valuable wouldn't fit the scale of this black market. He knew that once someone noticed his booth, more buyers would soon gather.
Time passed slowly, and no one approached Chris's booth. A cold wind blew, and he began to feel awkward. Just as he considered calling out to attract attention, a commotion erupted at the neighboring stall.
"Are you kidding me? You're a scammer! Your sign says 'Buy one, get one free,' but you're giving a Poké Ball for free instead of a Pokémon?" a trainer wearing a Beedrill mask shouted angrily at the neighboring stall owner.
Although the stall owner's face was hidden behind his mask, his trembling posture betrayed his irritation. "Hmph! When did I ever say 'Buy a Pokémon, get one free'? I said buy a Pokémon and get a Poké Ball free. The transaction is complete. Are you trying to cause trouble here?" he retorted sharply.
The Beedrill-masked trainer, hoarse with frustration, glanced around and saw other trainers and black market security personnel watching the scene. With a final outburst, he snapped, "You're nothing but a cheat! I hope you have a kid born without manners!" He stormed off, muttering curses.
Chris shook his head. The stall owner had clearly used clever wordplay to mislead buyers, but only those who failed to ask basic questions would fall for such tricks. A little caution could have saved that trainer from being duped.