A Casual Chat

"What an interesting little fellow."

Steven smiled as he watched Dreepy flying circles around his Pokémon.

"He's a troublesome little fellow too. You have no idea how much trouble he was to raise. He stayed in his egg for over twenty years and was only recently born. When he had just hatched, I took him to the Pokémon Center every day for checkups. Thankfully, nothing was wrong."

Blake looked at Dreepy and spoke with half a joke and half a complaint. Although Dreepy had truly driven him crazy at first—the little guy had far too much energy—Blake had gradually come to enjoy the feeling. It was like taking care of a child, and it was rather nice.

"Over twenty years? That certainly is unusual. Beldum took quite a long time to hatch as well, and newborn Beldum were very delicate. They might be Steel-type Pokémon, but their bodies hadn't hardened after hatching. Not only did they lack the toughness of steel, they were more like potato chips—very easy to break. Taking care of him in the beginning took a great deal of effort."

Steven could not help talking about how difficult it had been to raise young Pokémon back then, and Blake, who had not seen many Steel-type Pokémon hatchlings, was very interested.

"Oh? I've heard that raising Steel-type Pokémon in their early stages is difficult, but I never knew exactly why. Could you tell me about it?"

Blake asked curiously.

"Of course. I'm also curious about raising Ghost-type Pokémon. Let's share what we know."

Steven naturally did not hold anything back. Or rather, he was simply too generous by nature. He could give away things like Mega Stones without a second thought, so sharing a little training experience was nothing.

"Of course. Ghost-type Pokémon aren't actually as mysterious as everyone thinks. Perhaps you could try raising a Ghost-type Pokémon yourself someday."

"Hahaha, that would be wonderful, though I'd have to encounter one first. Let me start, then. Take Aggron, for example. You might not believe it, but wild Aggron are generally malnourished. Aggron live in groups. Usually, one male Aggron serves as the leader, with several female Aggron around him, followed by the rest of the group. Such groups often live within a particular mountain range, which Aggron constantly maintain as their territory."

Steven spoke.

"Then why would they be malnourished?"

Blake asked curiously.

"That brings us to the most common food of Steel-type Pokémon: all kinds of metal ores. A mountain range only has so much ore, and those ores may not necessarily suit a particular Steel-type Pokémon's tastes. Once an Aggron group discovers that an Aron has the potential to evolve into Aggron, they drive it away and make it grow on its own. As a result, Aron must search for food by itself during the period when it needs nutrition the most. On top of that, one mountain range has to support an entire group, so Aggron are generally somewhat poorly nourished. Some papers have even shown that Aggron raised by people from a young age tend to be taller and heavier than the average height and weight listed in the Pokédex. It all comes down to the food supply."

Steven explained patiently. At that moment, Steven's Aggron was casually gnawing on a silvery-white chunk of metal. Curious, Dreepy could not help taking a bite as well, but unfortunately, toothless Dreepy could not bite through it at all and was made quite miserable by the metallic taste.

"I see. So that's why you said most wild Aggron are malnourished, right? Speaking of which, how much did it cost to raise your Aggron?"

Blake asked curiously.

"Him? Quite a lot, actually. Including the high-grade metals he eats every day, it has probably cost around eighty million Pokémon League credits so far. When raising Steel-type Pokémon, food is the most expensive part."

After thinking for a moment, Steven answered without much concern. As an extravagant tycoon among tycoons and a top-class young nobleman, Steven had no need to worry about money. He had ten entire mineral veins under his control, all of them merely food reserves for his Pokémon. Moreover, only the finest minerals were worthy of being fed to them.

"Eighty million? Well, that certainly proves Steel-type Pokémon are something you shouldn't raise unless you have money. Compared to that, raising Ghost-type Pokémon is practically... actually, it doesn't seem cheap either."

Blake carried Haunter on his shoulder. At the moment, Haunter was performing magic tricks for the other Pokémon. Relying on his ability to turn into mist and reassemble himself, Haunter's tricks had captured every Pokémon's attention, especially the younger ones.

"That makes sense. I've seen quite a few Pokémon from Gengar's line, but not a single one had this kind of spirit. Raising him must have been difficult, right?"

Steven looked at Haunter and smiled. Anyone who could raise such an outstanding Haunter was certainly not as simple as Blake appeared. In truth, aside from a very small number of exceptionally gifted Pokémon, nearly every powerful Pokémon had been built with money. Ask any Elite Four member: which of their Pokémon had cost less than five million to raise? In fact, five million was already the bare minimum, an amount only used by people who were truly too poor to invest more in an Elite Four-level Pokémon.

"How should I put it? Haunter only evolved recently. Strange, right? He's a Pokémon that usually evolves quickly, yet it took him a long time."

Blake said as he rubbed his forehead.

"No, I understand. You were building a foundation, right? When I was traveling, I once met someone who spent ten years laying a foundation for a Pokémon while keeping it in its most basic form. I have to say, that kind of perseverance isn't something ordinary people can maintain."

There was not the slightest hint of contempt in Steven's tone. The Steven of the past might have found it strange, but ever since an elderly man had used a Bagon to defeat four of his Pokémon, he had never again dared to underestimate the importance of building a foundation.

"Yes, building a foundation. You know, my family has raised and used Ghost-type Pokémon for generations, so we've stockpiled a huge amount of materials that Ghost-type Pokémon need. If we're talking about money alone, it actually wasn't much, but I have no idea how many materials from home we used. Adding everything up, it probably exceeded thirty million. Dreepy, on the other hand, hasn't used much. He's too young, and he stayed in his egg for too long, absorbing too much energy. Using too many materials now might overnourish him instead. Dhelmise is a different matter. The energy he absorbed in the past was too mixed, so he needs to be replenished slowly, bit by bit."

Blake had detailed training plans for each of his Pokémon. After all, a true Pokémon Trainer could not only know how to battle. There were very few people like Ash, who had a Breeder constantly by his side and a true big shot like Professor Oak looking out for him from behind. After all, even Red, known as Red, needed Blue, a Breeder, to help care for his Pokémon.

"Thirty million? I think you've calculated that a little too low. To say nothing else, as members of the Ghost-Taming Clan, many high-grade items are difficult for others to obtain. It's like the charm you gave me. It isn't easy to buy something like that outside, yet you could simply take one out because you made it yourself. You only need to count the cost of materials, but others can't calculate it that way."

As Steven spoke, he took out the charm Blake had given him before and rubbed it in his hand.

"Perhaps, but aren't you the same? If I'm not mistaken, you calculated the prices of those metals at the lowest possible rates too, didn't you?"

Blake smiled as he retorted.

"More or less."

Steven immediately laughed as well.

Ding-dong!

Then the doorbell rang.

"You two! Lunch is ready! President Devon has gone a little overboard with the ordering!"

Cynthia's voice came from outside the door, and the meaning behind her words made Steven inwardly cry out in alarm.