Mysterious Amber

At the Pewter Gym, Gary's first Gym battle was underway.

Brock's Onix had already fallen. Facing Gary's Charmander, Brock sent out his second Pokémon. "Geodude, go!"

"Char!" Charmander spread its arms excitedly, keeping its eyes fixed on Geodude.

"Oh, quite the fighter, huh?" Brock smiled. "Geodude, use Rock Throw!"

The move sounded impressive, but in practice...

Geodude simply picked up a loose rock from the ground and hurled it at Charmander. Take this, you bastard!

Smack! Charmander caught the rock, and Dragon-type energy gathered in its hand.

Crunch! A green Dragon Claw crushed the rock into a handful of grit...

"Charmander, no need to hold back for my sake. Flamethrower!" Gary calmly waved a hand.

"Char!" Charmander had a fiery temper too. Throwing rocks at me, huh? It opened its mouth and unleashed a blast of scorching flame.

Boom! Once the pillar of fire cleared, a pitch-black rock lay on the battlefield. Geodude dropped straight to the ground and puffed out a mouthful of black smoke...

Cold sweat covered Brock's forehead. This guy's a challenger? He's here to wreck my Gym, isn't he?

"Oops. That was a little too hard... Sorry..." Gary scratched his head.

Crackle... Charmander puffed out its chest and raised its head in satisfaction as the light of evolution burst from its body.

"Is it evolving?" Brock asked in surprise.

"Yeah, it was about time. After all that training along the way, I figured it was ready to evolve." Gary nodded.

Soon, the white light faded. Standing before Gary was a Charmeleon with fierce eyes, a single horn on its head, a blazing tail flame, and thicker, stronger limbs.

"What beautiful coloring. It must have been raised very well," Brock said admiringly.

"Thank you for the compliment. I really have put a lot of care into this one." Gary nodded proudly.

Although he had lost the match, watching a challenger grow was a Gym Leader's proudest moment.

Brock took the loss graciously, walking over to Gary so they could shake hands and put the battle behind them.

"This is the Deep Gray Boulder Badge, proof that you've beaten the Pewter Gym." Brock took out his Badge and formally presented it to Gary.

"Thank you. I'll gladly accept it." Gary took the Badge, pulled out his Badge case, and placed his first Badge inside.

Ding... Quest complete. Road to the Indigo Plateau updated.

Progress: (1/8)!

Rewards delivered to system inventory.

With the Gym battle over and his goodbyes to Brock said, Gary finally had time to explore Pewter City a little.

It might not have been a major metropolis, but finding basic supplies was no problem.

After buying food and medicine at the Poké Mart, Gary headed to his final stop in Pewter City.

The Pewter City Science Museum!

Many different stones were stored here, along with some spacecraft wreckage.

If the scientists' theory was correct, that wreckage belonged to the spacecraft Clefairy had used to reach Earth.

Of course, none of that interested Gary much. Compared with spacecraft, the Pokémon fossils here held far more appeal.

After paying the fifty-dollar admission fee at the front desk, Gary slipped his hands into his pockets and strolled calmly into the museum.

"Sir, would you like me to introduce some of our exhibits?" A middle-aged researcher wearing glasses and a white lab coat approached him.

"Well, I'd like to look around on my own. Thank you." Politely declining the enthusiastic staff member's offer, Gary went straight to the second floor.

Sure enough, as soon as he looked up, two Kabuto fossils came into view.

Interested, Gary moved closer for a look. These fossils carried the genes of ancient Pokémon.

Before long, once genetic technology matured, they would be restored to living, breathing Pokémon.

As far as Gary remembered, the only scholar who currently possessed this technology was Blaine of Cinnabar Island. The old man was not only an expert on Fire-type Pokémon but also an outstanding scientist.

Although not every ancient Pokémon was a powerful fighter, these Pokémon had crossed hundreds or even thousands of years to reappear in the world. To a scholar, that was undoubtedly a romantic process.

Next, Gary spotted fossils of Omanyte and Omastar.

These were relatively common ancient Pokémon fossils in Kanto.

However, these Pokémon generally lacked combat power, making their academic value greater than their practical value in battle.

"Gary! Isn't that Gary?" Suddenly, a delighted voice rang out.

Gary looked up to find a middle-aged man with a square face standing before him.

"And you are?" Gary asked, puzzled.

"Oh, you might not remember me. I'm Diyuan! Professor Oak was my doctoral supervisor!" the middle-aged scholar said excitedly.

"Hello." Gary nodded politely in greeting.

"Hahaha, it's been a long time! Is Professor Oak doing well?" Diyuan asked warmly.

"Grandpa's doing very well. Thank you for thinking of him," Gary answered honestly.

"Are you here for a visit?" Diyuan continued.

"Yes. I'm on a journey to train as a Pokémon Trainer. I happened to be passing through and wanted to see the Pokémon fossils," Gary explained.

"Just what I'd expect from Professor Oak's grandson. You have a real spirit of academic inquiry." Diyuan nodded approvingly. "There's a fossil revival project in Johto next year. If you're interested, you're welcome to come take a look."

"Really? I'll definitely be there." Gary's eyes lit up. If it's in Johto, I should be able to see Cradily and Anorith. Those two have much greater potential.

"Oh, right. Come with me." After a moment's thought, Diyuan led Gary into an office.

"I unearthed this myself at an ancient site. It's a beautiful stone, so take it as a keepsake." Diyuan took a piece of yellow amber from a drawer and handed it to Gary.

Gary's pupils contracted. Mysterious Amber! What a find!

"Are you sure I can accept this?" Gary asked uncertainly.

"Of course! This isn't a fossil, so I can make that decision!" Diyuan straightened his back. "I am the museum director, after all."

"Thank you so much, then. I love it." Delighted, Gary accepted the amber and clasped it in his hand.

If all went as expected, there was an ancient, ferocious dragon inside.

Aerodactyl, a top predator and one of the ancient world's overlords!

"No need to be so polite. I owe my doctorate to Professor Oak's patient guidance." Diyuan waved a hand. It was clear he was quite the Professor Oak fanboy.

"It's getting late, and I still need to set off for Cerulean City. Uncle Diyuan, I'll see you next time." After this unexpected windfall, Gary was no longer in the mood to keep exploring the museum, so he said his goodbyes.

"All right, then. Until we meet again." Diyuan smiled and nodded, courteously seeing Gary out of the museum.

As he watched Gary walk away, a researcher came up behind Diyuan. "Director, that was Aerodactyl amber. You just gave it away?"

"What do you know? A single piece of amber could never repay everything my teacher did for me. If it helps Gary, I wouldn't mind giving him this whole room full of fossils!" With his hands clasped behind his back, Diyuan smiled without a trace of regret.