"Hah! Finally! That guy was a real piece of work!"
"Pika!"
At this time, Dante closed the recording on his phone as he and Pikachu exited the auction house. Luckily, the official in charge of processing the item for auction was not as 'talkative' as Richard.
After signing the contract and handing over the item, Dante now only has to wait for the cash to come in. The Alliance Auction House will solely be in charge of putting it up online on their website for auction and promotion.
Just like in some MMORPG games, registered Alliance Trainers in all parts of the world can place a bid for the item. After a set amount of time, the auction will end and the one with the highest bid will get the item. The payment will be transferred to Dante's card after some processing, making it very fast and secure.
Dante chose to end the auction of the Mega Stone on June 15 according to the recommendation given by the staff. This allows enough time for the interested parties to be informed and liquidate some assets.
'Although the contract states that the Auction House is not allowed to leak the identity of both the seller and buyer, I'm a bit worried about what that Richard will do. His target should be my money. So if he wants to take action, it'll be after June 15 when the auction ends.'
'Two weeks, huh. I'll probably focus on strengthening Azumarill first to the same level of stats Pikachu and I have. With his Ability, he'll become the strongest among our team. Maybe we can explore other higher rank dungeons to gain levels faster and expand the task we can accept?'
As Dante was planning for what to do in the next two weeks, he didn't know that the item he just auctioned was causing waves among the Trainers all over the world.
—
On the official Alliance website, a post was suddenly pinned to the top of the page: New type of Mega Stone up for Auction!
It contained an image of the Diancite, along with the machine readings indicating that it contains Rock and Fairy-type energy. The initial bid for the stone was set at 100 million. And not even an hour after the start, it has already reached 600 million!
Squirrelfig03: OMG! A new type of mega evolution!
Ryebreadran: Based on the type of energy, isn't it clearly for carbink?
Porkalive69: YES! YES! YES! MY CARBINK SHALL RISE ONCE MORE!
Zebrasoda: I wonder, will its stats shift from being defensive to an offensive one?
Porkalive69: @ChampionLance this will be the downfall of your 'Dragon Team' lolololol
IceCream: Carbink, huh? I hope the alliance quickly gives us the details regarding its mega evolved form.
Pienotes: I'm sure the alliance officials are already testing the stone right now as we speak. Maybe they'll even have a demo later to hype it further!
Rearwindowkiwi: The guy that found it is so lucky! I bet that after this auction, they'll become a billionaire!
Borat: According to what I inquired from a friend, the stone was auctioned from the Philippines.
Pokemonngc5195: What a waste of resources to just auction it! If I were the one who found the stone, I would have traded it to the Alliance to get other benefits instead of just getting money!
Trainers around the world silently began a bidding war, especially those powerful Trainer families. Carbink is a strong Pokemon that is relatively easy to obtain. If they secure this Mega Stone, it will not be too late to train a Carbink from scratch!
—
In a prominent city in France, a huge palace is clearly visible on the horizon. The Palais Mermonia - the main building of the French Alliance and residence of the country's current Champion. It exudes a solemn atmosphere from the outside, making those who dare come close subconsciously slow their breathing.
Inside this luxurious palace, Champion Neuvillette and his two daughters were currently having their breakfast.
Neuvillette is a middle-aged man with hair that has streaks of blue. He constantly has a stern expression on his face, whether during battle or in business dealings. The only time his expression will relax is when he is in the presence of his two daughters.
Seeing his two twin daughters, Furina and Focalors, laughing and chatting with each other made him feel warm inside. Both of them inherited his white hair with blue streaks. Meanwhile, their short height was inherited from their mother.
Due to being twins, the two almost had the exact same appearance. However, their personalities had a contrasting difference! Focalors inherited her father's calm personality while Furina was as bubbly and cheerful as her mother.
'Egeria, I hope you are still here to see our daughters right now. I'm sure you'd be glad to see that they grew to become such lovely and elegant ladies.'
A sudden knock on the door interrupted the warm atmosphere between the family of three. Neuvillete furrowed his eyebrows as he gave the visitor permission to enter.
"I apologize for the disturbance, Monsieur Neuvillette. We have just received information about the stone you instructed us to urgently find."
"Is that so? I apologize, Furina, Focalors, I'll have to deal with some business matters first. Continue your breakfast without me."
Neuvillette's slight displeasure over having his precious time with his daughters interrupted disappeared after hearing his assistant's words. Standing up from the chair, he apologized to the two of them and then quickly walked out of the room followed by his assistant.
"Moouu Dad! At least finish your breakfast first!"
"Don't sulk, Furina~ That's unbefitting of a noble lady. You know how busy father is at this time of the year."
"B-but this is the final month the three of us can spend together…When we go to university, we won't have much time to meet with each other again."
"Hahaha, don't worry. I will make sure to give you a call every week. I am certain our father would also be amenable to such an arrangement. Furthermore, we can always meet each other during the holidays. There's no need to fret."
"...Alright, I guess I am overreacting a bit. Thanks, sis."
Focalors responded to Furina with a smile as the two finished their breakfast.
After that, the two of them proceeded to do their daily routine. Furina was sitting on the sofa in the living room, looking at the latest fashion magazine with Horsea in her arms. Meanwhile, Focalors was inside the training room with her Dragonair.
Just before noon, Neuvillette finally returned just in time to have lunch with his daughters. Looking at the two sitting opposite him, he thought for a moment before asking.
"How would the two of you like to take a vacation in the Philippines?"
—
Two weeks quickly passed.
During this period, some notable things happened in the human world and the PMD world.
Firstly, rumors about a newly emerging explorer named Dusknoir were circulating in Treasure Town and Spinda's Cafe. He was said to be a solo explorer who was able to discover and fully explore many new dungeons that had a rating of S-level and above!
Secondly, Chatot announced that the guild was preparing its member selection for those who would join the expedition a month later. The guild instantly became lively after the announcement, with the apprentices motivated to complete more tasks in the hopes of being selected.
Dante and Pikachu also met Skuntank, the boss of Koffing and Zubat. His stench was a hundred times worse than the ones they smelled on the stairs in Beach Cave! Dante seriously doesn't know what Wigglytuff and Chatot were thinking, letting their team join the expedition.
And lastly, the final thing of importance that they did in the PMD world was the exploration of the S-rank Mystery Dungeon - Mt. Steel! Here, they encountered a Spearow, Geodude, Tyrogue, Zigzagoon, Aron, Meditite, Baltoy, Pinsir, and a Beldum.
The stats of each Pokemon in the dungeon ranged from 55 to 65. In addition, the number of Pokemon on each floor has also noticeably increased!
Luckily, Dante learned the move Ominous Wind before they entered the dungeon. Ominous Wind is a Ghost-type special attack that has a base power of 60. It has a very wide range that can cover an entire dungeon room.
Dante's Special Attack of more than 70 allowed him to injure most of their opponents in one attack, with Psychic Pokemon like Meditite, Baltoy, and Beldum even fainting after being hit once.
There was also Azumarill. After equipping the Power Band, his attack has reached almost 70! He'd use Aqua Jet to travel to the side of the room opposite Dante and Pikachu's, and then use Earthquake within a limited range to quickly knock out the other attacking Pokemon.
Although the process was tiring compared to the other dungeons, the experience their team gained was also higher. It allowed Dante, Pikachu, and Azumarill to quickly increase in level.
After two weeks of constant progress, these are the current status of the three:
Dante (Hisuian Zorua)
Type: Normal/Ghost
Abilities:
Super Luck (Increases the critical hit ratio)
lllusion (Can disguise as another Pokemon)
Level: 35
HP: 77/77
Attack: 96 Defense: 79
Sp. Atk: 79 Sp. Def.: 74 Speed: 78
Item: Power Band (Attack +12)
Moveset:
- Leer
- Scratch
- Astonish
- Copycat
- Fake Tears
- Quick Attack
- Fury Swipes
- Shadow Sneak
- U-turn
- Brutal Swing
- Scary Face
- Burning Jealousy
- Hyper Fang
- Feint
- Extrasensory
- Swords Dance
- Counter
- Ominous Wind
- Mystical Fire
- Aerial Ace
Pikachu
Type: Electric
Abilities:
Static (Can paralyze attackers that made physical contact)
Lightning Rod (Draws Electric-type attacks and boosts Special Attack)
Level: 36
HP: 104/104
Attack: 81 Defense: 86
Sp. Atk: 93 Sp. Def.: 73 Speed: 80
Item: Special Band (Sp. Attack +12)
Moveset:
- Thunder Shock
- Growl
- Grass Knot
- Tail Whip
- Thunder Wave
- Quick Attack
- Electroweb
- Double Team
- Slam
- Draining Kiss
- Thunderbolt
- Feint
- Nasty Plot
- Agility
- Shock Wave
Azumarill (Shiny)
Type: Water/Fairy
Abilities:
Huge Power (Doubles the power of Physical Attacks)
Sap Sipper (Absorbs Grass-type moves and boost the Pokemon's Attack stat)
Level: 30
HP: 112/112
Attack: 75 Defense: 64
Sp. Atk: 76 Sp. Def.: 66 Speed: 65
Item: Power Band (Attack +12)
Moveset:
- Tackle
- Defense Curl
- Tail Whip
- Water Gun
- Aqua Jet
- Ice Punch
- Knock Off
- Soak
- Rollout
- Earthquake (Shiny-Exclusive)
- Draining Kiss
- Bubble Beam
- Focus Blast
- Aqua Ring
- Focus Punch
- Liquidation
Now, for the notable things that happened in the human world. First of all, there's a Champion from another country requesting to meet with him!