Making connections.

Author Note:

Happy new year everyone !!!!

I know my update schedule is fucked up but sadly I can't do anything about it.

I was really stressed and sleep-deprived due to my university continuously fucking up my life so I decided to take a break.

I don't know when I can have a regular schedule but let's hope for the best.

Thanks

************

Celedon black market

After walking for a while and looking through the shops if he could find anything note-worthy, Aoki reached the place he got the information about.

He stood in front of a large shop with an entrance similar to the one of Pewter city with large stones.

The name of the shop was "Celestial Ores" written in bold letters.

Aoki entered through the glass door and met with a well-decorated room.

At the end of the room was the reception desk where was a middle-aged woman with blond hair.

Beside her was a Scizor with a face that was ready to strike if anything went wrong.

"What can I do for you, sir?" the woman asked politely...

"I am here to sell gold. You buy it here right? " Aoki said looking at the prices displayed.

"Do you know the weight of the Gold sir?"

"More than 100kgs, " Aoki said without hesitation.

Hearing that the woman lost her composer for a second before saying...

"Pl-please wait a moment sir, for this much quantity, I need to inform my manager about this"

"Sure take your time "

[Darkrai follow her and report to me about the conversation]

Aoki took a seat in the chairs in the area.

But he didn't have to wait long as the woman asked him to follow her. He walked deep into the store which had a lot of doors and stopped in front of a door.

"My manager is inside, please go inside," the woman said before leaving...

Aoki unlocked the door and went inside….

"Wellcome customer, please have a seat " came a voice from a man that was sitting on a couch.

The man was very tall and had a large build like Lt.Surge.

He was wearing very light and colorful clothes that people wear to relax on the beach side. He had well-combed long brown hair and a beard.

'Soundproof room ' Aoki concluded.

There was a desk at the end of the room where a lot of papers were kept and a big screen behind it.

The room was air-conditioned with the presence of a refrigerator in one corner.

There were three couches in the center of the room with a glass table in the center. The man was sitting on of them while opposite to him were two youths who appeared to be only a few years older than Aoki.

One of them was a handsome guy with light silver-blue hair with a formal suit while the other was a green-haired guy with a flamboyant style of dress.

From the looks of it, the blue-haired guy was having a conversation with the manager while the green-haired guy just tagged along.

'Interesting pair of people we have here '

Those two were Steven Stone, the heir of Devon Corporation, and Wallace, the current type official gym leader of the Hoen region.

Aoki sat down on the couch that was empty

"Let me introduce myself, I am Andre the owner and manager of Celestial Ores group" the man introduced himself forwarding his hand for a handshake.

Andre understood Aoki's gesture of removing his mask and showing his face.

Aoki removed his mask and shook his hand.

" I am Aoki, nice to meet you, Mr.Andre"

The other two people first ignored Aoki but when he removed his mask, everyone's attention was on him.

Not because of his being handsome but because of his bounty and status as an elite trainer.

Although the bounty was released not so long ago, quite a lot of people had seen the bounty details and three of them did the same.

"Steven, Wallace can you give me some time to discuss this with him" Andre requested.

"Sure, we will be waiting in the other room, " Seven said before leaving with Wallace.

As they left Andre turned his attention toward Aoki.

"So, I heard that you wanted to sell a lot of gold "

"Yes, you heard right I am looking for a person to sell gold ores on my behalf "

"How much do you have? "

"More than 1000kgs. Not just gold, I have platinum too"

Andre's eyes widened upon hearing that.

"Fooooo!!

That's quite a lot of metals you got there man…..

You trust me that much huh...Aren't you worried that I would disclose that information " said Andre looking directly into the eyes of Aoki slightly trying to intimidate him.

"If you were not trustworthy, the heir of Devon corporation and a gym leader would not be having a conversation with you" Aoki answered.

"hahaha!

It seems like you have a good source of information.

Since you trusted me with that info I will give you some too. I am a major dealer and have contracts with major corporations like Devon corporation and Silph co.

I deal with the major ore export in the Hoen region.

If you want a stable chain to sell your goods, my service is the best you can find. " Devon said laughing.

"So let's start the deal. How much will be your share in the total sales?" Aoki asked.

"We usually take 20% but since we would be dealing with such a large quantity I will claim %15 of the total sales"

Andre decided to lower the rate as if Aoki was telling the truth, he could gain a lot of money anyways.

"It is acceptable, let's start the paperwork then"

It took a few minutes to fill up some forms to finalize the deal. He had given the bank account that was only used for the black market for the money deposited.

"How much are you willing to sell today? We need to check the purity of the ores before selling" asked Andre.

"I am willing to sell 50kgs today "

"Hmm, the minimum amount of money you can get after selling that much should be around 20 million.

I am willing to give you 5 million as advanced payment and the rest will be given after that amount of sold. What do you say? "

"Deal "

"Follow me then to deposit the ores"

Both of them left the room and entered deeper into the store. Andre took Aoki to underground chambers where a lot of machines and loading trucks were present.

He called for a worker to whom Aoki handed a bag that was full of gold ores. The worker unloaded all the ores present in the bag into a machine that started to check the tier and purity of the ores.

It took about 30 minutes to give the result.

"Congratulations, most of them have very less concentration of impurities.

I have got to say you have hit a jackpot with these ones" Andre said to Aoki.

He did not care about how Aoki got so many gold ores, he only cared about the money that he could get from selling such a large quantity of gold.

Andre took out his phone and transferred the promised amount of 5 million to Aoki.

They returned to the main office to discuss some more details.

As Aoki would soon be leaving Celedon City, he was given the locations of the branches of Celestial ores that are spread over Kanto and Hoen.

In Kanto, there were 4 locations namely Pewter, Vermillion, Saffron, and Celedon.

The place Aoki currency was, is the main office where Andre spends most of his time. Throughout the discussion, Andre was very polite, unlike his intimidating figure.

As their discussion was done, Steven and Wallace were called back to the room.

"What did you discuss? " Steven asked.

"Well, I can't tell about that. It's a trade secret Steven " Andre denied it.

Steven knew that Andre would not answer but still asked to satisfy his curiosity. He looked at Aoki, specifically the unique ring that he wore.

His curiosity took the control of him seeing the stone.

Steven's side profession was archaeology which started from his fascination with the stone collection.

Seeing a stone that was similar to the one in his collection, he decided to make a contact with Aoki.

"Let me formally introduce myself, I am Steven Stone and this is my friend, Wallace"

Steven introduced giving Aoki a card from Devon Corporation.

Wallace did a dramatic bowing posture to introduce himself.

"I am Aoki Gunhildr, you can call me Aoki or Professor Gunhildr. Nice to meet you Steven and gym leader Wallace " Aoki said showing his ID as a professor.

Hearing that Andre's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

As some whose life revolves around Black Maret, he was familiar with the fact that Professor Gulhildr was someone who was very young.

Aoki telling a lie was very slim was the card was a genuine identity card of the Researcher Alliance.

Steven and Wallace were surprised by the revelation too.

"I appreciate the introduction, are you sure that you should reveal that here? " Steven asked

"Don't worry about it. A lot of people know my identity and I was going to reveal it soon anyways.

Even if I don't reveal it, I don't think a gym leader and two people from Devon corporation would break their trust.

Am I right, Steven and Andre"

"Haha, so you knew about me !" Andre laughs.

The information from Sabrina, the presence of Steven, and the familiarity among them were too much of a coincidence.

Moreover, Steven and Andre had a friendly conversation as that can only be done among family members.

Some of Andre's facial features matched Steven's but can only be noticed in close observation.

Some parts of the conversation were transmitted to Aoki with the help of Darkrai so he reached that conclusion.

"So you found out from such a short interaction. What can I say except as expected of a professor of your fame " Wallace commented casually.

"Since you have found out….Andre is my uncle"

"So, Steven what are you doing in the Kanto region? " Aoki asked.

"I have decided to take a break and enjoy a vacation in the Kanto region with my friends, " Steven said.

"So the friends include Wallace and Phoebe right? "

Steven and Wallace were not so surprised to hear that Aoki knew about them.

"If you know about my group, you must have known about my main objective too right? "

"Yes, to see the Kanto representatives for the Youth Cup as you three are selected as Hoen representatives."

"You are indeed correct "

Steven concluded that it would be better to make Aoki his acquaintance so he started a conversation with him.

As they talked Steven and Wallace remembered a very nice restaurant they visited in Saffron city a few days ago. The information that Aoki's family owned the restaurant was nice information for them.

"Wallace you are a water-type trainer right? Since you are here to spectate the participants why not battle someone I know who is a water-type trainer too? She is my girlfriend Misty, she would give you a nice battle"

"Sure, we had planned to stay in Celedon City for a week, a battle would be appreciated. I wish to see the passion of a fellow water Pokemon enthusiast " Wallace replied.

Somehow every sentence Wallace spoke was a bit weird.

"You are a participant too, right? Let's have a match too, " Steven asked, knowing that Aoki knew he was asking about the battle.

"You can fix a date for the battle, we shall be present there, " Aoki said giving Steven his phone number.

*********

In a hotel, three people can be seen sitting and having a discussion. They were Steven, Wallace, and Phoebe, the final member of the Hoen trio that was selected for the youth cup.

Phoebe is a slim cheerful girl.

She has short spiky black hair and tanned skin due to spending a lot of time under the sun.

She, Steven, and Wallace were childhood friends and strong trainers.

"That guy was interesting and with that face, he must have a lot of female followers," Wallace said recalling his meeting with Aoki.

"Isn't it obvious? If you keep dressing and speaking like that nobody is going to date you anyways " Steven said.

"Hmph! You are just jealous of my style and popularity. " Wallace snorted.

"Yeah, the style that made every girl you asked out flatly rejected you. Even the woman at the reception at my uncle's company rejected you"

"Hahaha ! so you got rejected again, Wallace! " Phoebe laughed out.

After having a good laugh they started having a different discussion.

"A professor so young and such fame it's unheard of. He must be a monster in terms of observation and intelligence" Phoebe said after hearing about Aoki.

"That reminds me I completely forgot to ask about the stone he was wearing. I have a similar stone but much smaller. I found that when I was a kid...…."

'Here he goes again !' both Wallace and Phoebe had the same thought.

Since Steven started to talk about stones he was not stopping anytime soon.

Ding Dong!

Their conversation was interrupted by a ring on their door bell. Phoebe stood up and opened the door and was confronted by a person

The person was a tall old man with a white mustache. He has loose-fitting clothes, a jacket, and a cap with a matching style.

"Welcome back Mr.Drake " Phoebe greeted as the man entered the room.

This man was Drake, the Dragon-Type elite four of the Hoen region who is selected to be the representative of the trio from Hoen.

"Seems like you children are enjoying well," Drake said.

"Of course, we are enjoying ourselves, this city is fun!!" Phoebe said with her usual cheerful attitude.

"Hmm, it's good then. Enjoy for a few days more then we will resume our training. In comparison to Kanto and other regions, we have an advantage that our preliminaries were over earlier so we cannot let this opportunity go by "

"Yes!" thee of them said in unison.

"Are you done with your business, Mr. Drake ?" Steven asked.

"Hmm I am done with my work, what about you children? Did something noteworthy happen?"

"We made contact with one of the top participants from Kanto who is traveling with another participant. To see their strength I managed to set up a battle among us." Steven said.

Steven decided not to disclose Aoki's identity to Drake.

"Good job Steven. Did you know his name ?"

"Yes, it was Aoki "

"Hmm…Aoki huh…from the information I have received from the league he started his journey this year and hasn't lost a single gym battle yet is an impressive record.

Well as long as we are strong, we can tackle everything.

In the match don't use your ace Pokemons. Use those that are in the middle of strength"

"Mou! You don't have to tell us that, we are not children we know that " Phoebe complained.

"Hey, Phoebe don't be rude.."Steven rebuked

"Fine-Fine I will not say anything more. I am going to sleep so you three should get to bed too" Drake said as he started to leave.

'Good night Mr. Drake!"

"Good night children"