Professor Wälhder went to Misty and praised her for the tactics she showed during the fight.

He thought that her improvement was fabulous, and this defeat couldn't change that fact. If she had fought like this in the last fight, she would have unquestionably won the tournament. ​​

Misty talked to Professor Wälhder a bit before saying goodbye only to him and walking away. She totally ignored Alex and didn't say anything to him.

Alex showed no reaction to Misty's behavior. He knew that this relationship could not be mended instantly. This takes time. And although it is beneficial to have a Gym Leader as a friend, it is not a must. (Misty gave him the 2 million before the fight started)

Professor Wälhder went over to Alex with a smile and said, "Alex, that was a great fight. Although you had told me beforehand, I'm really impressed with how speedily your Pokémon leveled up."

Alex, who was starting to like Professor Wälhder more, said with an appreciative smile, "Thank you, Professor. Me being able to successfully increase the potential of my Pokémon is one of the key factors for that. But I know that this fight was closer than it looked. I'm still way too weak. Even in my age group."

Professor Wälhder said with a pressing tone, "Alex, I see that you bought a lot of items to increase your Pokémon's potential. And I have to tell you one important related to that."

"The base talent of a Pokémon is very important, more than you may think. And it's very challenging to raise Pokémon with poor talent too high. For example, if your A-Rank Pokémon was initially born with B-Rank, then you will have it much more difficult to increase its talent to the S-Rank."

"Although it is possible to make even a B-Rank Pokémon an SS-Rank, journey to the SS-Rank from S-Rank will be much much harder compared to the Pokémon born with S-Rank."

Alex, who heard this for the first time, had a surprised expression when he said, "Why haven't I heard of this before? That should be important basic information for trainers."

Professor Wälhder said with a smile, "Not many people know about it, and it is forbidden to talk about it to someone who does not have a high rank in the Alliance. The Alliance does a basic check of the top 3 rookies every year. When they pass this test, they get this information along with the invitation to this auction. You can see it as a small bonus. Although you will be severely punished if they find out that you are giving this information without authorization. Honestly, the Alliance only allows it because they afraid that you not knowing this may harm your potential as a trainer."

"Hmm, but why is it forbidden to share this information?"

Alex pondered for a second, and suddenly a thought came to his mind.

"Wait! Is it because if it became common knowledge, then the regular trainers will treat their Pokémon with poor potential even worse?

Professor Wälhder nodded and showed a sad expression when he said, "Sadly, you are right. Many trainers treat their Pokémon poorly, even if they know that the potential can be improved infinitely with expensive items. What do you think trainers will do with their Pokémon if they know this info?"

Alex, who heard this, showed an understandable expression. In this world, there are just as many good trainers as there are bad ones. But even with this knowledge, he will not change his attitude towards his Pokémon. As long as it is not impossible to get his Pokémon stronger, he will do better even if it is a difficult path.

Professor Wälhder and Alex went out to eat together and talked about different Pokémon knowledge.

For example, Alex got to know that the death rate of rookie trainers is too high. To be precise, it is 95%. That means that only 5% survives every year. Though It drops sharply after a trainer becomes an Elite trainer.

On average, only 4% of Elite trainers die annually, which is really low when considering the dangers this job contains.

...

Later at the hotel in Celadon City.

Alex, who ended the conversation with Professor Wälhder, started thinking about a certain Pokémon and its evolution.

The Pokémon, whose evolution demanded intense thinking from Alex, was none other than Eevee, who has many different evolution possibilities.

After thinking about it for a long time, Alex went to Eevee and pulled out a picture book.

In that, there were pictures of all possible Eevee evolution forms. It didn't feel right to determine which future form Eevee will get without even asking her.

If Eevee hates the form it evolves into, it would become really problematic.

It's better to ask Eevee about her preference.

Eevee looked at the pictures for a few seconds and pointed her paw at the image of Umbreon.

Alex, who saw this, showed a smile. For him, this choice was the best. And that is not because Umbreon is stronger or is of Dark-type, but because Alex has the optimal items to improve Eevee's potential in this evolution.

Eevee evolves to Umbreon under the moonlight when the friendship between its trainer and Eevee reaches a certain level. And he can train Eevee for Umbreon optimally with the help of Moon Stone.

The Moon Stone is a stone that has absorbed a lot of energy from the moon and is the ideal item in this situation. And Alex, who has 2 Top-Moon Stones, had already come up with a training plan for Eevee.

He will give Eevee 1 Top-Moon Stone and tell her to slowly absorb the energy from this stone when she is training. If this training is done at night, then it will be even more effective.

With this expensive training, Eevee should be on the Gold potential long before the evolution. And when Eevee is too close to evolving, Alex will give her the other Top-Moon Stone to hopefully bring her potential to the Deep Gold rank.

Although this plan costs 10 million, it's worth it if Eevee gets a lot stronger.

Alex took a small collar where held-items can be put in and put the Top-Moon Stone there. This small collar costs more than 100 Pokédollars, which is nothing for Alex.

Then Alex took the collar and carefully put it on Eevee's neck.

After wearing the collar, Eevee gave Alex a big bright smile.

Alex explained the plan to Eevee in detail, and the other Pokémon looked curiously at Alex and Eevee.

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