After Aaron and his Pokémon finished breakfast, they set off.
Charizard beat its wings through the sky while Aaron sat on its back.
Gyarados was far too large and eye-catching. Charizard was also a little faster, so Aaron chose to ride Charizard instead.
"Rookidee..."
A small bird was perched on Aaron's shoulder.
It was, of course, Rookidee.
The little one seemed to have attached itself to Aaron completely. He had told it to go home, but it stubbornly refused to leave.
Aaron had no choice but to keep it with him for now.
...
After Charizard flew for more than two hours, Aaron saw a town appear below.
He took out the map and checked it.
There really was a town here.
Its name was Tidefall Town.
The town was famous for producing a special kind of high-energy ore.
Fifty years ago, this place had still been a mountain range. After that special ore was discovered, people began coming here to mine it. Gradually, the population grew, and a town formed naturally around the mining area.
However, Aaron had heard that the high-energy ore had already been completely mined out.
Even so, the people here had not all left.
Quite a few people still came every year.
Some had already made this place their home, while others came hoping to get lucky, digging around to see if there was any overlooked ore left behind.
Because of that, the town still had a decent flow of people.
"Charizard... you're tired too, right?"
"Let's rest in this town first."
Aaron patted Charizard on the head and spoke softly.
"ROOOAR..."
Charizard nodded, flapped its red wings, and flew down toward the town below.
"Rook..."
Aaron did not notice that Rookidee, perched on his shoulder, was staring down at Tidefall Town with a strange look in its eyes.
...
Tidefall Town.
There were quite a few people coming and going on the streets.
Some were dressed like miners and carried pickaxes, clearly here to try their luck in the mines.
Aaron walked down the street with Rookidee carefully leaning against his neck.
"Roast chicken! Fresh roast chicken! Seasoned with Farfetch'd leek—so good it'll make your mouth water!"
"Roasted sweet potatoes! Fresh and fragrant! Ten gold each, you won't regret it!"
"Beautiful pearls for sale! Pearls produced by Shellder, shiny and sparkling! Only fifty gold each!"
"Ice-Dodo popsicles! Cold, sweet, and refreshing!"
...
The stall owners along the street called out one after another.
Aaron could not help walking over to a roasted sweet potato stall.
"Boss, give me two roasted sweet potatoes."
"Coming right up!"
The owner quickly looked up to answer, but the moment he saw Rookidee perched on Aaron's shoulder, a strange look flashed across his face before vanishing.
Then he packed two roasted sweet potatoes and handed them to Aaron.
"Here you go, young man. Two roasted sweet potatoes."
"Thanks."
Aaron took the bag, paid the owner, and left.
He handed one sweet potato to the little one.
Unexpectedly, the little glutton refused to eat it, which surprised Aaron.
What Aaron did not notice was that after he walked away, the stall owner took out his phone and made a call.
"Hello? High Energy Group?"
"That Rookidee you posted a bounty for... I found it."
"It's on Tidefall Avenue."
"Good, good. Don't forget my reward."
...
Aaron ate his sweet potato as he walked down the street and browsed the market.
The upper half of the street mostly sold food, while the lower half sold all kinds of strange stones and ores.
Aaron casually glanced over the stones laid out on the stalls.
Then a familiar-looking stone suddenly caught his attention.
It was a bead-like stone with blue and red stripes inside.
Aaron's pupils shrank slightly.
A surprised and delighted voice rang out in his heart.
Gyaradosite!?
That was right.
This stone was Gyarados's Mega Stone.
Gyaradosite.
Aaron had never expected to run into one here. He was surprised, but more than that, he was thrilled.
I'd be an idiot to pass this up.
The corner of Aaron's mouth curled up, and he walked toward the stall.
...
"Boss, take a look. See any stone you like?"
"I dug all of these out of the mountains myself."
The stall owner was a sleazy-looking man with a handlebar mustache. When he saw Aaron come over, he immediately gave him a bright smile.
Aaron pretended to scan the stones on the stall, casually touching a few of them.
Then he picked up the Gyaradosite as if it were nothing special and muttered to himself,
"This stone looks kind of interesting. Big Guy might like it."
The owner's mouth twitched slightly when he heard that, but he pretended not to notice.
Aaron looked up and asked,
"Boss, what kind of stone is this?"
"How much are you selling it for?"
The handlebar-mustached man smiled.
"You've got a sharp eye, young man!"
"This stone is no ordinary thing. You know Lugia, the sea god, right?"
"This stone is called the Ocean Stone. They say it was formed from a drop of Lugia's heart-blood."
"Legend has it that if a Pokémon with the right destiny uses it, it can gain unimaginable power."
The handlebar-mustached man spouted complete nonsense with an utterly serious face.
Aaron's mouth twitched.
He nearly rolled his eyes.
Who the hell would fall for that!?