After selling Dragonair last time, Tetsuya still had 20,000 Pokédollars in cash remaining. Now, with another 500K in hand, not having a card was indeed very inconvenient.
Recovering his identity had become his most urgent priority¹[1]!
Of course, with money on hand, he also needed to fill in some gaps in his inventory. After discussing it with Catherine, they decided to head to a larger town to look for some Held items for their Pokémon.
Tetsuya already had plans in mind for several of his Pokémon. Ditto's body had already fused with Quick Powder, so it no longer needed one.
Although Gengar remained within his shadow, it still carried its Spell Tag.
Mamoswine had already absorbed Eternal Ice and Everfrozen Ice, so a Held item such as Never-Melt Ice no longer had any effect on it. At present, Mamoswine was training Curse, Amnesia, and Fissure.
These three moves placed extremely high demands on Mamoswine's physique, so Tetsuya planned to temporarily equip it with a Macho Brace. This Item was artificially manufactured. Wearing it reduced Speed, but it was most beneficial for physical training, and it was inexpensive, too.
Of course, this was only temporary. Once Mamoswine's physical condition became strong enough to successfully use others top-level boost moves such as Curse and Amnesia, the Macho Brace would lose its value.
As for Golurk, its Held item, Bright Powder, remained from its days as a Golett and currently covered roughly one-third of its body. Therefore, Tetsuya needed to acquire enough to cover the remaining two-thirds. This absurd Held item, which the League would ban from competitive tournaments more than ten years later, would give Golurk a massive advantage once fully "equipped".
As long as Bright Powder reflected light, it would flash into the opponent's eyes. At that point, the opponent missing an attack would be the least of the problem. Losing even a momentary opportunity in battle could ultimately lead to defeat.
As for Beedrill, although he could prepare a Scope Lens to increase the chance of landing critical hits, constantly aiming for critical hits often resulted in missed opportunities. Therefore, such things could not be pursued excessively. Furthermore, Beedrill had already trained Focus Energy to a very high level, so a Scope Lens would not provide much improvement.
A Metronome would be a better choice. When the same move was used consecutively, its power increased. This would pair perfectly with Beedrill's most commonly used strategy of Double Team combined with [Twin Fury]. As the effect of the Metronome stacked, the more the same move was used, the greater its power became, making [Twin Fury] even more terrifying.
Tetsuya had also already made plans for Houndoom. Houndoom naturally possessed the "aura of a king", and every battle it fought intimidated its opponents. King's Rock was a very special ancient item that may cause the target to flinch. It was perfectly suited to a Pokémon with Houndoom's imposing presence.
However, King's Rock was expensive and rarely available for sale. Purchasing one was virtually impossible unless it appeared at an auction. Fortunately, ahead of them was Rikishii Town, a small town with a long history in Johto.
Every four years, Rikishii Town hosted the Pokémon Sumo Conference, and the champion's prize was a King's Rock. Many Trainers were willing to remain in Rikishii Town and have their Pokémon specifically learn sumo for the sake of this item.
Tetsuya had already seen the registration schedule released by Rikishii Town. In one week, this year's Sumo Conference would begin. For the sake of obtaining a King's Rock, he naturally intended to give it a try.
As for Koffing, its toxicity was already extremely strong. Any Item that increased the power of Poison-type moves would seem weak by comparison and would have virtually no effect. Therefore, its Held item could only be put aside for the time being.
As for Slowbro and Miltank, there was no need for them to carry Held items either.
For Catherine, Skarmory already had her family's unique Held item, a Metal Beak, which was even better than Sharp Beak. In particular, its boost effect on pecking moves was very significant.
Chatot was the same as Beedrill, and she also planned to equip it with a Metronome.
Honchkrow, on the other hand, was always the type to charge into battle and fight recklessly. Therefore, Catherine planned to equip it with a Focus Band. It was best suited for Pokémon that fought with a reckless, life-or-death style.
As for Gliscor, its favorite item was naturally the Razor Fang that had enabled its Evolution. Attached to its fangs, it could sometimes cause opponents to flinch when using biting moves.
As for Spiritomb, Catherine planned to equip it with a Spell Tag.
Adding everything up, even 500,000 Pokédollars might not be enough. They could only hope that buying in bulk would bring some advantages.
---◓---
Tetsuya and Catherine arrived at the largest Held Item Shop in the city. What Tetsuya cared about most was the discount policy. Purchases over 200k Pokédollars received a 10% discount, while purchases over 400k Pokédollars received a 20% discount.
Tetsuya first brought out Golurk and selected Bright Powder. Any large Held Item Shop would have professionals capable of polishing a Pokémon's body and integrating Bright Powder into it.
Of course, Tetsuya was not going to let them apply the Bright Powder to Golurk right now. This batch of Bright Powder was twice the amount of the previous one, and the actual cost of Golurk's Bright Powder alone came to 160,000 Pokédollars!
Although Mamoswine's Macho Brace was the cheapest item, it was still made from high-density special materials and cost 10,000 Pokédollars.
Metronome was also artificially manufactured, but compared to the Macho Brace, it was considered high-tech, at least right now. Two of them cost 60,000 Pokédollars.
They purchased two Razor Fangs for Gliscor, costing a total of 80,000 Pokédollars.
Honchkrow's Focus Band was priced at 40,000 Pokédollars.
Spiritomb's Spell Tag was priced at 50,000 Pokédollars.
The total came to exactly 400,000 Pokédollars. That conveniently saved Tetsuya the trouble of trying to reach the 400k threshold. With the 20% discount applied, the final cost was 320,000 Pokédollars.
After paying at the shop, the Bright Powder could only be stored there temporarily. Tetsuya knew that after Bright Powder was applied, Golurk would be unable to participate in any kind of training for three months. In fact, it would barely be able to move at all.
The Rikishii Town Pokémon Sumo Conference one week later would depend on Golurk. If it became unable to move now, he would have no suitable Pokémon to enter in the competition. This concerned Houndoom's Held item, King's Rock, so there was absolutely no room for carelessness.
The owner of the shop issued Tetsuya a receipt and a Bright Powder storage certificate. With this receipt and certificate, he could return to the shop at any time and have the Bright Powder applied to Golurk.
After leaving the Held Item Shop, it could be said that they had returned with a full haul. The shop's service was indeed excellent. All the items had been equipped to the most suitable locations on the Pokémon.
The only problem was that the 500k Pokédollars he had just received had already been reduced by 320,000 before it had even had a chance to warm his pocket…
◘.
◘.
¹. Ciri I'm coming! Just… just one more Gwent round…
•.
•.
For those reading on their mobile browser. Whenever it's anime‑exclusive events or locations, I always post images in the comments. As far as I know, they don't show up on mobile. If you'd like, you can check them out… on my P a t r e o n~ /romeloff
[1] Ciri I'm coming! Just… just one more Gwent round…