Bird Gun for Cannon

Sato carefully browsed the exchange list. Skipping the First Floor and Second Floor, he opened the Pokémon exchange section on the Third Floor.

Charmander / Squirtle / Bulbasaur: 1,000 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 on the Third Floor exchange list cost no more than 1,000 Game Coins, including the Starter Pokemon from the Kanto and Johto Regions.

"Can I pick one on-site?" Sato asked with interest when he saw the Sneasel and Houndour.

"Whichever Pokémon you wish to exchange for, I can take you to choose one in person!" A polite, well-mannered attendant approached and spoke softly.

"Houndour and Sneasel. If there are any Murkrow, let me see those too."

"We have Murkrow as well. This way, please."

Upon entering the room specifically for exchanging Pokémon prizes, he saw enormous glass enclosures arranged in neat rows. Each one housed one or more Pokémon of the same species.

In the very center of the room, inside a glass enclosure reinforced with who knew how many layers, a lazy Larvitar lay beneath an Incandescent Lamp with its eyes closed, asleep.

Before it evolved, Larvitar did not have the Dark Type, so Sato could not sense its talent through Dark Power.

He looked up at the glaring lights on the ceiling and felt a trace of pity for the Larvitar. It could never grow well in such an environment.

The attendant did not interrupt Sato as he stopped. Everyone who entered this room was drawn to the Larvitar at First Time.

"Sorry for the trouble." Sato came back to himself, then turned and Indicated for the attendant to lead the way.

After walking a few steps, he first saw a flock of Murkrow sitting in neat rows, obediently Stay In the Branches. Dark Power activated, and the emotional feedback was surprisingly uniform. All ten Murkrow were Elite Level.

Sato secretly shook his head and pretended none had caught his eye, having the attendant take him to see the Houndour and Sneasel. As expected, although none of the Pokémon offered as prizes had ordinary talent, they were all merely Elite Level.

Converted into Pokemon Coins, spending Three Hundred Thousand on a Houndour or Sneasel was a little expensive. Still, their talents were guaranteed, so there was no risk of being cheated.

Sato had to admit that Silph Game Corner cared about its reputation!

"Did none of them catch your eye, sir?" The attendant read his expression and asked softly as Sato prepared to leave.

"No. Let's go back and exchange for something else." Sato pretended to be uninterested, perfectly playing the part of a Little Kid.

"I noticed that you seem particularly fond of Dark Type Pokémon. The Game Corner recently acquired a batch of Dark Type Pokémon from other regions. Would you be interested in taking a look?"

"Other regions?" Pretending to be very surprised, Sato nodded excitedly.

"This way, please." The attendant smiled with pursed lips. Serving children like Sato was relatively easy. A few extra words often made it easier to persuade them to exchange for prizes, and they had performance quotas too.

The more prizes a player exchanged for at once, the lower the value of each individual prize, and the lower the Game Corner's costs. After all, some things were available on the market but priceless; putting them on the exchange list was merely a gimmick.

Like the Larvitar in the glass enclosure. It was already over thirty years old, completely an old Larvitar. It was truly pitiful.

Further inside, the glass enclosures disappeared, replaced by many Iron Cages. Clearly, the Pokémon inside had just been delivered and had not yet undergone initial taming or evaluation.

They were not his companions, so Sato did not care. Although he showed disgust on the surface, he felt nothing inside.

"This is it. These Pokémon are Dark Type Pokémon captured in the Hoenn Region. Let me introduce them to you..."

"No need. I know them all." Sato impatiently waved his hand and silently used Dark Power to sense the batch of sleeping Pokémon before him.

In fact, this batch contained only the three most common Dark Type Pokémon in the Hoenn Region: Poochyena, Carvanha, and Nuzleaf.

The three species were kept in two Iron Cages and a large water tank respectively. All of them had been drugged unconscious. Clearly, this was an "urgent shipment," and there were quite a few of them.

There were around forty or fifty Poochyena, including seven or eight Mightyena. Sato guessed they had rounded up an entire wild Mightyena pack.

Dark Power fed back that four or five were Elite Level, while the rest were Normal Level. With his high standards, Sato immediately turned to sense the Nuzleaf.

Poochyena were not Pokémon Sato particularly liked, and unfortunately, none of the more than thirty Nuzleaf had talent above Elite Level either.

"Huh?"

Sato's heart stirred. From within this tank of murky-looking water came an intense surge of excitement, and its level had astonishingly reached Elite Four level!

I found a hidden gem!

Sato was overjoyed. This would have been completely impossible ten years later, but right now, communication between regions was scarce. Even in Kanto, the region closest to Johto, many local Trainers still did not know Dark Type Pokémon even existed!

Not To Mention the Hoenn Region. Even the Talent Analysis Machine West had given Sato contained data only on Pokémon from the Kanto and Johto Regions.

"How much are the Carvanha?"

"Because they are Pokémon from the Hoenn Region, their price is Not Low—800 Game Coins each."

"That expensive? They're almost as costly as Totodile. Carvanha are everywhere in the Hoenn Region. They're about as common as Goldeen are here, right?"

The attendant was somewhat surprised by this Little Kid's knowledge, but she still patiently explained the difficulties of transportation, the challenges of care, and so on.

Looking at the murky, bottomless water tank, Sato had to admire the attendant's ability to lie with her eyes Open Eyes. He was only haggling for the sake of haggling anyway, so he reluctantly nodded and then had the attendant fish the "lost pearl" out of the muddy water.

Holding the Carvanha with Elite Four Level Dark Type talent, Sato Walked Out Of The Room in complete satisfaction.

Afterward, Sato did not hesitate at all and used all his remaining Game Coins to exchange for TMs.

Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Psychic, Energy Ball, Brick Break, X-Scissor, Protect, Ice Beam, and Waterfall all cost 100 Game Coins each. Sato exchanged for one of each, except Protect, of which he exchanged for five.

Aerial Ace and Venoshock each cost 80 Game Coins, so he got one of each as well.

Finally, Sato bought two boosting moves: Swords Dance and Rock Polish, each costing 130 Game Coins.

Including the 800 Game Coins for Carvanha, Sato had only eighteen Game Coins left. Since he still needed to come back tomorrow to scout the place out, he kept them.

These moves were assigned to the Pokémon that needed them most. Even Carvanha, which he had not yet begun to train, got its share.

This Time, Sato's entire team had truly gone from Bird Gun for Cannon!

(For Pokémon data, please see the work-related section. I'm not padding the word count!) Thanks to reader Satay Panda for the 500 Book Coin reward, thanks to reader Zhe Mo for the 100 Book Coin reward, and thanks to reader 150625130432197 for the 100 Book Coin reward!

Thank you all for your Recommendation Tickets!

Little Moyan has already caught five Pokémon. I'll update the Pokémon data in a bit!