Life in the nameless valley had become very unpleasant for the Geodude colony lately.
For a long time, things had been good. With a Level 58 Graveler leading them, the colony had dominated the entire valley. Every rival Pokemon community that tried to challenge them for territory had been crushed. The valley was theirs, and they had no reason to expect that to change.
The valley was an ideal home for Rock-type Pokemon. The saltwater lake at its floor constantly evaporated, leaving behind rare mineral deposits along the banks, the kind that Rock-types needed for a healthy diet. On top of that, a vein of low-grade corundum ran through the steep cliffs along the right bank. With food, minerals, and territory secured, the colony had everything it needed. Their leader had fought hard to keep it that way, holding off rival Pokemon and the occasional trainer who wandered in from outside thinking they could set up camp.
One trainer the previous year had insisted on camping in the valley despite every warning sign around him. A well-placed Rock Throw had changed his plans permanently. He and his Pokemon partners became just another entry on the list of missing persons in the Cengluan Mountain Range that year.
The colony had expected that quiet, comfortable life to carry on indefinitely.
Then Nova showed up.
He arrived without warning, like a raider who had decided the valley was simply his for the taking. The colony was peacefully grazing on corundum when this stranger walked in, said nothing, and started setting up on the flat sandstone ground along the left bank of the lake. Then he started doing things to the lake water.
Graveler led the colony down to put a stop to it. Nova did not bother with explanations. He sent out his team, and before Graveler could get a word out, it was already on the ground. More than a dozen Geodude were left badly injured by the assault. There was nothing to be done. In the wild, strength was the only argument that mattered. The colony retreated to the cliffs.
The flat sandstone on the left bank was not something they had much use for, so they could live with losing that stretch of land. But then Nova used some method to filter the lake water, stripping out the complex mineral content that naturally accumulated in it and leaving behind nothing but ordinary clean saltwater. The mineral supplements the colony depended on vanished along with the rest.
That was harder to accept, but they endured.
Then one of Nova's Pokemon, the largest and most aggressive of the group, started using Earthquake across the valley floor with no apparent reason. Several more colony members were injured in the shaking. A large crack split through the right bank cliffs, exposing the corundum vein directly.
Nova's team moved straight into the cliffs, drove every Geodude out, and spent the better part of a day chipping away at the rock face. By the time they were done, a good portion of the corundum had been hauled out and taken away.
The colony endured.
At least the group left the next day. The vein still had ore in it, and the lake water would return to its natural state given enough time. Things would recover. That was what the colony told itself.
Four days later, Nova was back.
He stood at the base of the cliff and called up to the ledge above.
"Graveler! I want to talk!"
Graveler looked down at him, its body covered in cracks from the last encounter, barely in any condition to fight. The last time this trainer had shown up to handle things, it had ended with half the colony on the ground. Whatever this was, it was not going to be a friendly chat.
Graveler was not wrong. Nova was not here for conversation alone. He had a proposal, and it leaned heavily in his own favor.
"Here is the situation," Nova said. "There is a corundum vein in these cliffs, and I need what is inside it. I want you and your colony to help me mine it. In exchange, I will provide meals for everyone during the work period."
Graveler stared.
You want to take things from our home. You want us to dig them out for you ourselves. And then you want to pay us with our own things as compensation.
Whatever Graveler said next, it was not polite.
Nova acknowledged the arrangement without any particular shame. He noted that powerful nations had been running similar operations for centuries and had successfully rebranded the whole thing as progress and civilization. If that standard had been set elsewhere, he saw no reason not to apply it here.
"Think of it as entering the modern economy," Nova said. "You should be grateful."
Graveler did not look grateful.
"The vein is yours, you say?" Nova continued. "Call out to it. See if it answers." He let that sit for a moment. "I am not unreasonable. There are no bonuses for good performance, but there are consequences for poor performance. Nidoking will be supervising. Anyone who tries to use Slack Off will get a very personal introduction to Double Kick."
Graveler's expression shifted from fury to something more calculating. The cracks running across its body and the memory of the last fight seemed to cool its temper somewhat.
Nova could see the resolve beginning to falter. Time for a different approach.
"There is one more thing I want to tell you," he said, lowering his voice. "Just between us. Call it a privilege of being the one in charge around here."
He looked Graveler over with what passed for honest respect.
"You have done something real out here. Nearly Level 60 in a place like this, on your own, without a trainer. That is not easy. But you are stuck, are you not? Still in your second stage, with no way forward in sight."
Graveler went very still.
"Help me get this done, and I will personally make sure you evolve into a Golem. I will also see to it that every injury you have right now gets healed. That is my offer."
There was a pause.
Graveler looked at Nova. It looked at its cracked arms. It looked back at Nova.
There was really nothing to think about.
For a wild Graveler, evolution was not just a goal. It was an impossible one. A Graveler raised by a trainer could evolve through a trade with another trainer, or through a Link Cable if no trade partner was available, a device capable of simulating the electromagnetic signal needed to trigger the change. For a Graveler living in the wild, finding a location that naturally produced that kind of signal was nearly out of reach. Outside of a small number of specific sites with unusual electromagnetic conditions, wild Golem were almost never seen. The vast majority of wild Graveler spent their entire lives unable to take a single step further.
Nova had understood exactly what Graveler needed most. He had built his entire offer around the one thing it could not get on its own, and he had delivered it at the exact right moment.
Whether one called it a deal, a strategy, or something else entirely, the outcome was the same.
Graveler agreed.