A Casual Chat

"What an interesting little fellow."

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

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

Blake looked at Dreepy and spoke with half a joke and half a complaint. Though Dreepy had indeed annoyed him terribly 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. Pretty nice, really.

"Over twenty years? That certainly was unusual. Beldum also took a long time to hatch back then, and newborn Beldum were very delicate too. Don't be fooled by the fact that they're Steel-type Pokémon—their bodies hadn't hardened at all when they were first born. Not only did they lack the toughness of steel, they were actually like potato chips, easily broken. Taking care of them at first took quite a lot out of me."

Steven could not help talking about the difficulties of raising young Pokémon back then. Blake, who had not seen many Steel-type Pokémon hatchlings, was quite interested as well.

"Oh? I've heard that raising Steel-type Pokémon in their early stages is difficult, but I don't really know why. Could you tell me about it?"

Blake asked curiously.

"Of course. I'm also curious about raising Ghost-type Pokémon. Let's explain it to each other."

Steven naturally had no intention of holding anything back. Or rather, his personality was simply too generous. He could give away something like a Mega Evolution Stone without a second thought, so sharing some breeding experience was nothing at all.

"Sure. Actually, Ghost-type Pokémon aren't as mysterious as everyone thinks. Maybe you could try raising a Ghost-type Pokémon someday too."

"Hahaha, that would be wonderful, of course—but 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 a group often lives in a particular mountain range, which the Aggron continuously maintain as their territory."

Steven spoke.

"Then why would they be malnourished?"

Blake asked curiously.

"That brings us to the most common food for Steel-type Pokémon: all kinds of metal ores. A mountain range only has so much ore, and those ores might not suit a particular Steel-type Pokémon's taste. Once an Aggron group discovers that an Aron has the potential to evolve into Aggron, they drive him away and make him grow on his own. That means Aron has to search for food by himself at the very time when he needs it most. On top of that, one mountain range has to support an entire group, so Aggron are generally somewhat poorly nourished. Some papers have also shown that Aggron raised by people from a young age tend to have greater average height and weight than the Aggron listed in the Pokédex. That is due to food supply."

Steven explained patiently. At that moment, his Aggron was casually gnawing on a silvery-white chunk of metal. Curious, Dreepy could not help taking a bite too, but unfortunately, toothless Dreepy could not bite through it at all and was left miserable from the metallic taste.

"I see. So that's why you said most wild Aggron are malnourished? By the way, how much did it cost to raise your Aggron?"

Blake asked with curiosity.

"Him? He did cost quite a bit. Including the high-grade metals he eats every day, probably around eighty million Pokémon League credits by now. When raising Steel-type Pokémon, food is the most expensive part."

After thinking for a moment, Steven answered without a care. As the richest among the rich and a top-tier young master, money was the last thing Steven needed to worry about. He had ten entire mineral veins under his control, all of them merely food prepared for his Pokémon. And only the highest-grade minerals were worthy of being fed to them.

"Eighty million? All right, Steel-type Pokémon really are the kind you shouldn't raise if you're broke. Compared to that, raising Ghost-type Pokémon is practically free—well... apparently not that cheap either."

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

"I suppose so. I've seen quite a few Pokémon from the Gengar line, but I've never seen a single one with this kind of spirit. It must have been difficult to raise him, right?"

Steven smiled as he looked at Haunter. Anyone capable of raising such an outstanding Haunter was certainly not as simple as Blake appeared on the surface. In truth, apart from the rare Pokémon blessed with exceptional talent, nearly every powerful Pokémon had been built up with money. Ask any Elite Four member—how many of their Pokémon had training costs below five million? In fact, five million was already the bare minimum, an amount only someone truly too poor to do otherwise would spend raising an Elite Four level Pokémon.

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

Blake rubbed his forehead.

"No, I understand. You were building a foundation, right? During my travels, I once met someone who spent ten years building up a Pokémon while keeping it in its most basic form. I have to say, that kind of perseverance is not something ordinary people can maintain."

There was not a trace of disdain in Steven's tone. He might have found it strange in the past, but after that old gentleman had used a Bagon to defeat four of his Pokémon, Steven no longer dared underestimate the importance of building foundations.

"That's right, building a foundation. You know, my family has raised and used Ghost-type Pokémon for generations. As a result, we've stockpiled a huge amount of materials needed by Ghost-type Pokémon. So if we're talking strictly about money, it wasn't much, but I have no idea how many materials from home were used. All told, it probably exceeded thirty million. Dreepy, on the other hand, hasn't used much. He's too young, and he stayed in the egg for too long, absorbing too much energy. Using too many materials on him now might overnourish him instead. As for Dhelmise, that's a different matter. The energy he absorbed in the past was too mixed, so he needs to be gradually replenished bit by bit."

Blake had detailed training plans for all of his Pokémon. After all, a true Pokémon Trainer could not only know how to battle. There were too few people like Ash, who always had a Breeder at his side and a true big shot like Professor Oak backing him up. Even Red, known as Master Red, needed Blue, The Breeder, to help care for his Pokémon, didn't he?

"Thirty million? I think you've calculated it a little too low. Setting everything else aside, as members of the Ghost-Taming Clan, you can get many high-level items that are difficult for others to obtain. Like the charm you gave me—it isn't easy to buy outside, yet you could take it out so casually because you made it yourself. You only need to count the cost price of everything, but other people can't calculate it that way."

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

"Perhaps. But aren't you the same? If I'm not mistaken, you calculated the price of those metals at the lowest possible rate too, didn't you?"

Blake retorted with a smile.

"More or less."

Steven immediately laughed as well.

"Ding-dong!"

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

"You two! Lunch is ready! President Stone is getting a little out of control with the ordering!"

Cynthia's voice came from outside the door, and the meaning behind her words made Steven inwardly panic.