Pokémon: Above the Top

Sato carefully browsed the exchange list, skipping past the first and second tiers before selecting the third-tier Pokémon section.

Charmander / Squirtle / Bulbasaur – 1000 game coins

Totodile / Chikorita / Cyndaquil – 800 game coins

Eevee – 800 game coins

Abra – 500 game coins

Lapras – 500 game coins

Houndour – 300 game coins

Sneasel – 300 game coins

…

All the Pokémon available for under 1000 game coins were listed in the third-tier exchange list, including the Kanto and Johto starter Pokémon prominently at the top.

"Can I select one in person?"

Seeing Houndour and Sneasel, Sato became interested and asked the question casually.

"If you wish to exchange for a specific Pokémon, I can take you to see them in person." A polite and well-mannered attendant approached and replied smoothly.

"Houndour and Sneasel. If you have Murkrow as well, I'd like to see those too."

"We do have Murkrow. Please, follow me."

Sato was led into a special room reserved for Pokémon exchanges. Inside, large glass enclosures were neatly arranged, each containing one or more Pokémon of the same species.

At the center of the room, encased in thick reinforced glass, a lazily dozing Larvitar rested under the bright fluorescent lights.

Since Larvitar didn't possess the Dark type before evolving, Sato couldn't use Dark Energy to gauge its potential.

Glancing up at the harsh overhead lighting, he felt a pang of pity for the Larvitar.

In this kind of environment, there was no way it could develop properly.

Noticing Sato's brief pause, the attendant remained silent.

Everyone who entered this room would inevitably be drawn to the Larvitar first.

"Let's keep going."

Snapping back to reality, Sato signaled for the attendant to continue leading the way.

A few steps later, they arrived at a row of Murkrow, neatly perched on tree branches inside their glass enclosures.

Activating Dark Energy, Sato scanned their emotional feedback—to his surprise, all ten Murkrow were of Elite Stage potential.

Shaking his head internally, he pretended to be unimpressed, signaling the attendant to move on to the Houndour and Sneasel enclosures.

As expected, every Pokémon offered as a prize had at least Elite Stage potential, but none exceeded that level.

If converted into Pokédollars, purchasing a Houndour or Sneasel for 300,000 Pokédollars would be expensive, but at least the guaranteed potential meant no risk of being scammed.

Sato had to admit—Silph Game Corner had a reputation to uphold.

"Did none of them interest you, sir?" The attendant, noticing Sato's reluctance, asked in a polite yet observant tone as he prepared to leave.

"No. I'll exchange for something else instead."

Feigning disinterest, Sato put on a perfectly convincing "childish disappointment" act.

"I noticed you seem quite fond of Dark-type Pokémon. Our Game Corner recently acquired a batch of Dark-types from other regions. Would you like to take a look?"

"Other regions?"

Pretending to be surprised, Sato eagerly nodded.

"Right this way."

The attendant gave a small smile. Handling kids like Sato was easy—they were easier to convince, and more likely to exchange for multiple prizes once tempted.

After all, the more items a player redeemed, the lower the individual value of each prize.

For the Game Corner, reducing costs while still offering valuable rewards was the key—some prizes existed only as bait to draw in players.

Take the Larvitar in the center glass case, for example—it was over 30 years old now.

An old Larvitar, utterly pitiful.

As they moved further inside, the glass enclosures disappeared, replaced by metal cages.

Clearly, these Pokémon had just arrived and had yet to be tamed or assessed.

Sato didn't care about Pokémon that weren't his partners. So, while he showed a look of disgust on the surface, inwardly, he felt nothing.

"This is the place. These Dark-type Pokémon were captured in the Hoenn region. Let me introduce them to you..."

"No need, I know them all," Sato said impatiently, waving his hand as he used his Dark Energy to scan the unconscious Pokémon in front of him.

In reality, this batch consisted of only the three most common Dark-type Pokémon from Hoenn—Poochyena, Carvanha, and Nuzleaf.

The three species were separated into two iron cages and a large water tank, all completely unconscious. This was clearly a "rush shipment," and the numbers were considerable.

There were about forty to fifty Poochyena, including seven or eight Mightyena, making Sato suspect that they had captured an entire wild Mightyena pack.

His Dark Energy feedback revealed that only four or five of them had Elite potential, while the rest were Ordinary level. With his high standards, Sato immediately turned away and scanned the Nuzleaf instead.

Poochyena had never been a Pokémon he particularly liked, but unfortunately, among the thirty or so Nuzleaf, not a single one had a potential above Elite level.

"Huh?"

Sato's heart stirred.

In that murky water tank, something emitted a powerful surge of excitement—and the intensity of its potential was at the Elite Four level!

"A lucky find!"

Sato was thrilled.

Ten years from now, something like this would be impossible. But right now, regions had little communication. Even in Johto's neighboring Kanto region, many local trainers still weren't fully aware that Dark-type Pokémon existed!

And as for Hoenn, it was even more isolated. Even Wester's Pokémon Potential Analyzer only had data for Pokémon from Kanto and Johto.

"How much for a Carvanha?" Sato asked.

"Because they're from Hoenn, the price isn't cheap. 800 game coins per Carvanha," the attendant explained.

"That expensive? It costs as much as Totodile! Carvanha is a dime a dozen in Hoenn, basically the same as Goldeen over here," Sato remarked.

The attendant was a little surprised by the kid's knowledge but still patiently explained the difficulties of transport and care.

Looking at the murky water that concealed everything inside, Sato had to admire the attendant's ability to lie with a straight face.

Still, he had only haggled for the sake of haggling, so after pretending to reluctantly accept, he signaled for them to fish out the "hidden gem" lurking in the depths.

Holding the Carvanha with Elite Four Dark-type potential, Sato walked out of the room with satisfaction.

After that, he wasted no time and spent the rest of his game coins on Technical Machines (TMs).

Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Psychic, Energy Ball, Brick Break, X-Scissor, Protect, Ice Beam, and Waterfall—all priced at 100 game coins each, and he exchanged for one of each.

Aerial Ace and Venoshock cost 80 game coins each, and he picked up one of each as well.

Finally, he acquired two stat-boosting moves—Swords Dance and Rock Polish, each for 130 game coins.

On top of that, he exchanged five copies of Protect for added security.

Including the Carvanha he bought for 800 game coins, he was left with just 18 game coins. Since he planned to return tomorrow to continue gathering information, he decided to hold onto them.

Each of these TMs was assigned to the Pokémon that needed them most—even the Carvanha, which he had yet to train.

This time, Sato's entire team had truly leveled up!