Chapter 9: Hardcore Pokémon Capture
Hearing Arthur's words, the center staff member following him was momentarily dumbfounded.
He had worked here for several years and had served many trainers with discerning eyes, but this was the first time he had seen someone evaluate a Pokémon's quality with their own body...
But Arthur's words seemed reasonable and well-founded, leaving him at a loss for how to refute them.
In the end, he could only lamely remind him, "Still, be careful. It's dangerous."
Arthur responded, "Okay."
Whether he actually heeded the warning was another matter.
They continued forward to look at other Pokémon nearby.
On the walkways above, more and more people were paying attention to what was happening below.
At first, they pointed and whispered:
"Who's that guy? Is he that brave? Daring to go down there and face a bunch of unfamiliar Pokémon?"
Then came waves of gasps:
"Whoa?! What was that?! How did those three Houndour all go down at once? Whoa! He actually took down Machop with his bare hands?!"
Then, they gradually became numb:
"How is that guy still down there? Is no one going to stop him? Did he come to look at Pokémon or to torture them..."
Their emotions fluctuated rhythmically...
Eleanor Vance, meanwhile, was recording everything with her phone.
She hadn't expected this outcome either, but she quickly realized that a hot topic was right in front of her.
By the time Arthur had finished "inspecting" the sanctuary's Pokémon and finally chose a Water-type Froakie, Eleanor Vance had already uploaded the video, found many accounts to share it, and tagged Arthur's Star Blog account.
Of course, Arthur was still unaware of this.
After he came up, Eleanor asked, "Have you chosen?"
Arthur replied, "Yes, this Froakie is well-developed and has good physical condition. I'll take it."
The people around them looked at him with complex expressions.
Your way of evaluating Pokémon is certainly unique...
The Froakie, at this moment, was also dazed, his young heart seeming to have suffered a massive shock...
A few minutes ago, he was still the overlord of a small pond in the sanctuary.
He lived a simple life of punching Squirtle and kicking Piplup.
Even when humans occasionally picked him up, he could proudly flip his neck and refuse.
Occasionally, when someone pestered him, he could use "Quick Attack" and "Lick," and those weak humans were always helpless against him. He had never failed.
But today, his worldview had collapsed for the first time.
How could a human be so strong?!
Every "Lick" was predicted and dodged!
"Quick Attack" was seen through, "Bubble" was evaded, "Pound" couldn't win, and even with all his little brothers from the pond, he was still taught a lesson.
After getting beaten up in the middle, he got angry and tried to provoke Arthur to take off his protective gear for another fight.
The result was that Arthur took off the gear and beat him up a second time, even worse than the first.
After the second beating, Arthur finally nodded and said, "This Froakie has excellent physical condition, outstanding resilience, and a tenacious fighting spirit. I'll take him."
Although Froakie couldn't understand human speech, he vaguely felt that he had been recognized.
This feeling... was very strange.
He didn't know whether to be sad or happy, and he came along with this human in confusion...
The staff member was also amazed.
He had worked here for many years and this was the first time he had seen such a hardcore Pokémon capture.
But Froakie seemed to admire this person.
Turning to look, he saw another customer on the walkway trying to capture a Pokémon. That person had been using Pokémon food and various snacks for a long time, but the juvenile Pokémon that was brought up ignored him.
The Pokémon kept looking down, as if he was in a hurry to go back to his little home below.
The difference between him and the Froakie, who was now obediently following at Arthur's feet, was obvious...
Seeing that Arthur had chosen, and Froakie didn't seem to resist, the staff member guided them, "Then, let's go over here to register the capture."
After the buyer and Pokémon had both chosen, they would be taken to a special capture area. The sanctuary would provide Poké Balls and assist the buyer with capture and related Alliance registration.
"We found that you don't have any Pokémon registered under your name yet. Initial Pokémon are tax-free. The guide price for a juvenile Froakie is 350,000, and there are currently no discounts. But we can offer you a financial loan with a 20% down payment, three years of interest-free financing, and one year of accidental injury insurance, plus a standard Poké Ball. Would you like that?"
At this point, Arthur could only rely on Eleanor Vance.
He was currently penniless.
Eleanor Vance's approach was more conventional. She asked, "Do you have the data card for this Froakie? Let me see it."
"Oh, yes."
The staff member remembered and quickly handed over a printed data sheet.
The data sheet provided by the sanctuary was like the Pokémon's ID and household registration, detailing the Pokémon's origin, date of birth, age, gender, health report, abilities, inherited moves, etc.
Normally, the common way to choose Pokémon in this era was for customers to first determine the Pokémon species they wanted, then ask the sanctuary to provide electronic data cards for all the Pokémon of that species. They would then select a few they liked and have the staff bring them to the walkway to see if they caught their eye.
Someone like Arthur, who didn't look at the data at all and went directly to the field for a hands-on evaluation, was one in a million.
The staff's rhythm had been disrupted, and they realized that they hadn't even shown him the data sheet yet, which was a dereliction of duty...
"Oops, I messed up. How did this kid throw me off?" the tour guide thought, wiping away sweat.
Scanning the data sheet, Eleanor Vance exclaimed in surprise, "Oh? You're lucky, you've chosen a Froakie with the 'Protean' ability."
She thought he was just guessing, but Arthur said calmly, "I know."
"You know? Uh, how did you know?"
"I fought him twice just now. The power and speed of the 'Bubble' move didn't change significantly, so it's not Torrent. It must be Protean."
Froakie commonly has two abilities: Torrent and Protean.
About 80% of Froakie have Torrent, only 19% have the rare Protean, and the remaining 1% are mutant individuals with unpredictable abilities, rarely seen in the market.
The effect of Torrent is that when the Pokémon is injured, the flow of Water-type energy inside their body accelerates, increasing the power and speed of Water-type moves.
Arthur had fought Froakie twice and knew whether the power of the moves had changed. So he had already guessed what the little guy's ability was.
You see, two hundred years ago, there was no convenient thing like a Pokémon data sheet. Trainers in his time judged Pokémon abilities by personally experiencing and confirming them in battle.
Faced with this answer, Eleanor Vance was momentarily stunned, unable to respond for a long time.
Not only her, but the tour guide around her also had the same thought in mind—
Your approach is really hardcore!