"I heard from Gym Leader Roxanne earlier that you not only possess top-tier commanding abilities and raise Pokémon whose strength far exceeds the norm, but that your appearance is also quite handsome and distinguished. Meeting you tonight, I find her words were perhaps an understatement."
"You flatter me, Mr. Steven." Hakuya subtly withdrew his hand.
It had to be said, as the Hoenn Champion and the heir to the Devon Corporation, Steven's interpersonal skills were truly flawless.
Gentle, refined, and as comforting as a spring breeze.
It was just that... he was a bit too enthusiastic. It gave Hakuya the illusion that he had some ulterior motive.
—You aren't eyeing me to drag me into the League to be a corporate slave just so you can focus on your rock-digging career, are you?
Looking at the somewhat excited Steven in front of him, Hakuya couldn't help but feel this suspicion arise in his heart.
After a standard round of mutual professional flattery and pleasantries, given Steven's original purpose for coming to the Rustboro Gym, the topic naturally shifted back to the fossil Hakuya had asked to sell.
"Once this fossil is revived, it should be a Cranidos." Steven rubbed the uneven surface of the fossil on the table and said.
"Indeed. Ms. Roxanne also appraised it as such earlier. If I remember correctly, its evolved form should be Rampardos, right?" Hakuya similarly confirmed Steven's statement.
He had previously wondered if items from the randomized world might have issues—for instance, if this fossil would revive into some bizarre, twisted Pokémon. But through observation and testing, he had roughly figured out the underlying code of Randomized Emerald.
—As long as the fossil wasn't revived inside the randomized world, once brought back to reality, this fossil was guaranteed to only revive into a Cranidos. Furthermore, the Cranidos's ability would only be its original, vanilla version.
Therefore, he didn't need to worry about randomized 'shit-mons' invading reality.
"Most Fossil Pokémon only have two forms. Once it reaches a sufficient level, Cranidos evolves into Rampardos. Its type is Rock. It's said that in the past, people who dug up its fossils would use its skull—which is harder than steel—as a helmet..."
Bringing up fossils and Fossil Pokémon, Steven completely lost his previously relaxed, gentlemanly demeanor. The aura surrounding his entire body suddenly shifted. "Could it be that you also have a certain understanding of battling with Fossil Pokémon like Rampardos, Hakuya?"
Hakuya smiled.
"I have dabbled in it slightly, yes."
Although Rampardos's aesthetics didn't exactly suit his tastes, as a Pokémon battling fanatic in his past life, besides playing the standard meta teams (like the classic Skarmory/Blissey/Venusaur/Swampert/Rotom/Heatran stall cores, or the Genie/Heatran/Cresselia cores), he would occasionally experiment with more niche Pokémon. Rampardos belonged to that category.
Immediately after, Hakuya offered some of his relevant insights, saying: "First, regarding my definition of Rampardos: it should belong to the 'glass cannon' archetype of Pokémon. Its offensive capabilities are extremely strong, but its dual defenses are on the weaker side."
According to its base stats in the games, Rampardos's Attack reached a staggering 165—high enough to sit at the same table as the Ice Rider and Shadow Rider forms of Calyrex. Furthermore, the abilities it was assigned were highly synergistic.
Mold Breaker and Sheer Force pushed its offensive attributes to the absolute limit.
"Although Rampardos possesses incredibly high damage output—coupled with Sheer Force and Head Smash, very few opponents can tank a hit from it—its weaknesses are equally glaring. Its dual defenses are too frail, and its speed is too slow. It will often be taken out by the opponent before it can even launch an attack. However, overcoming this is actually quite simple: you just need Rampardos's teammate to set up Trick Room in advance."
"Trick Room?"
Steven's eyes lit up, instantly piqued.
"Yes. Utilizing the effect of Trick Room, where slower Pokémon move first, you can completely turn the tables when facing faster opponents. This solves Rampardos's dilemma of having its health chipped away before it can act, allowing it to maximize its overwhelming offensive advantage."
Hakuya nodded, confirming his point once again.
Using Trick Room to steal priority—this was the absolute best way to utilize Rampardos as the core of a team composition.
Of course, while its raw power was immense, that didn't mean it could easily arm-wrestle with the top-tier meta Pokémon. It was slow, but not slow enough to guarantee moving first in Trick Room; its Rock typing gave it terrible defensive synergy; it was terrified of priority moves like Mach Punch and Bullet Punch; and very few of its STAB Rock-type moves had 100% accuracy.
Thinking of this, Hakuya ultimately added a mental footnote.
This type of Pokémon is too awkward and specialized. It's not a reliable 'wheelchair' carry, so it's perfectly normal for it to be a niche pick.
However, Steven reacted as if he had just discovered a new continent, muttering to himself.
"I see... Utilizing Trick Room to strike first, and pairing it with a Life Orb and the Sheer Force ability for short-burst, targeted explosive damage... That is indeed a very sound tactical concept..."
Regarding the Pokémon Rampardos, the only person in the League who actively used it was Roark of the Oreburgh Gym in Sinnoh.
And his basic strategy was very simple and crude: utilizing the Special Defense boost provided to Rock-types in a Sandstorm to engage in a war of attrition with the opponent. After hearing Hakuya's explanation, Steven admitted this was truly the first time he had ever heard of the concept of slotting Rampardos into a Trick Room team.
For a moment, Steven's mind raced. He instantly formulated team compositions in his head, like Bronzong + Rampardos, or Claydol + Rampardos. The idea of Trick Room plus targeted explosive damage truly seemed viable.
"Hmm... I feel like this goes far beyond simply 'dabbling' in it. Hakuya, your insights just now can absolutely be described as profoundly knowledgeable." Finally snapping out of his thoughts, Steven reached out, patted Hakuya's shoulder, and couldn't help but sigh in admiration. "You are far too modest, Hakuya."
As an expert in Rock, Ground, and Steel types, he naturally had a deep understanding of Cranidos and its evolution, Rampardos.
What Steven hadn't expected was that a rookie Trainer who had only recently started his journey possessed such uniquely insightful and advanced perspectives on a niche Pokémon like Cranidos/Rampardos. Truly, a hero emerging from the youth.
Not only is he handsome and incredibly strong, but he also possesses such vast Pokémon knowledge...
Once I resign from my Champion position, the Hoenn League will finally have a worthy successor!
The more he looked at him, the more satisfied Steven felt. He pulled Hakuya aside and continued chatting about other Fossil Pokémon.
Meanwhile, as the middleman who introduced Hakuya and Steven—and someone equally interested in fossils and Fossil Pokémon—Roxanne found herself completely unable to find a window to join their conversation. Ultimately, she could only smile helplessly.
She originally thought their first meeting would be a bit formal and awkward, and that she could stand by and act as the mediator to spark topics and liven the atmosphere. She never expected the speed at which their relationship advanced to be this fast.
In just one short hour, they had already reached the "bros with arms around each other's shoulders" phase.
"Has Mr. Hakuya's charm really reached the point where it captivates both men and women alike?" Roxanne revealed a thoughtful expression.
The Cranidos fossil was ultimately sold to Steven for 100,000 League Dollars.
Hakuya looked at the extra zero in his PokéNav account with satisfaction. Then, he tapped his forehead, suddenly remembering something.
"By the way, I have some other stones here. Could I trouble you to take a look at them, Steven?"
"You have more stones to sell? Of course, no problem at all. I'll take as many as you have."
Driven not only by his rock fanaticism but also by his secret view of Hakuya as a friend and potential successor, Steven patted his chest confidently.
Then, he watched in shock as Hakuya pulled out a massive pile of bizarrely shaped stones.
"This many?!"
Faced with Steven's astonishment, Hakuya didn't think much before providing an excuse.
"I accidentally dug these up in a cave during my travels."
Saying he 'accidentally dug them up' was just a cover. The reality was that these were items he randomly picked up off the ground in the randomized world.
Unlike the overpowered shit-mons and Legendary beasts that were as common as stray dogs, the items rolled in the randomized world were mostly useless garbage.
Since he didn't have a Rock-type Pokémon on his team, these Hard Stone items were completely useless to him.
Furthermore, regardless of the appearance or texture of these Hard Stones, in the randomized world, they all only provided a flat 20% power boost to Rock-type moves. And even if he sold them to the Poké Marts in town, the NPC cashiers capped the price at a measly 500 League Dollars—only slightly more expensive than two basic Poké Balls.
Therefore, rather than letting them gather dust in his backpack alongside the Arceus Plates, or selling them for dirt cheap to the unscrupulous NPCs in the randomized world, Hakuya ultimately decided it was better to just sell them all to Steven.
The moment he touched these stones, the Hoenn Champion's eyes visibly lit up.
Even having seen countless rocks, he had to admit that the Hard Stone items Hakuya provided were of exceptional quality.
Ultimately, Steven, with his immense wealth, offered an exorbitant purchase price of 200,000 League Dollars.
Nearby, Roxanne couldn't help but cast a surprised look.
She was equally a fanatic rock enthusiast. Based on market acquisition prices, no matter how good the quality was, it should absolutely never reach such a terrifying figure.
But regarding this, Steven had his own personal considerations.
As the Hoenn Champion, investing this bit of pocket change into a Trainer he highly valued was nothing at all.
Even if Hakuya asked to trade these stones for a villa on the spot, he wouldn't even blink.
"This..."
Hearing the offer, even though he had prepared himself mentally, Hakuya still sucked in a breath of cold air.
Alright. As expected, a sugar daddy is a sugar daddy no matter where you go.
Hakuya's gaze toward Steven was filled with the profound reverence one holds for a wealthy benefactor.
The game gifted him a Mega Stone for Latias, and in reality, he was equally generous. Hard Stones that would only sell for a total of 2,000 League Dollars at a randomized Poké Mart... Steven casually threw down a massive purchase price of 200,000 League Dollars.
"Two hundred thousand for the Hard Stones, plus the Cranidos fossil from earlier... that's a massive windfall of 300,000 hitting my account."
Thinking about his bulging wallet, Hakuya couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth from curling upwards.
After concluding the transaction, Steven finally revealed his true purpose for coming to the Rustboro Gym.
"Well then, I wonder if you would be interested in having a battle with me, Hakuya?"