Chapter 124: The Industry Changing Revelation

"Clarification needed, Mr. Grave," the host's voice wavered slightly. "You're announcing a thirty percent price reduction?"

"No," Ethan's calm reply cut through the growing murmur. "I am announcing that all Pokemon Biotech products will be priced at thirty percent of their current cost. A seventy percent reduction, permanent and effective immediately."

The convention center erupted. Annie Wheeler's tablet practically flashed with incoming alerts as trading algorithms struggled to process the implications. In the front row, cryptocurrency traders were already executing trades, betting on how this would reshape the entire biotech sector.

"All Pokémon?" someone in the audience shouted. "Including future releases?"

"All Pokemon," Ethan confirmed. "Present and future. Pokemon Biotech believes that genetic engineering should be accessible to everyone, not just the economic elite. As our nutrient costs continue to drop, prices will drop even further."

The comment sections of the live streams exploded with speculation:

"Must be a publicity stunt..."

"Impossible to maintain..."

"RIP Northam's stock price..."

"Is it because of the Japan contract?"

Northam's Jason Hobbes was already on the phone, probably trying to calculate how this would affect their market position. Behind him, Margaret Judith's expression had turned to stone. Her "generous" month-long fifty percent promotion had just been completely overshadowed.

"Ethan always said that Pokemon should be affordable," Oliver muttered to Anton. "We just never thought he meant affordable like this."

"He's going to kill us all," Anton replied, his Polar Bear Group credentials suddenly feeling less impressive. "Unless... production capacity. That must be the limiting factor."

Back in the green room, Annie finally cornered Ethan away from the cameras. "Sir, the board will have questions. Serious questions. We're talking about billions in projected revenue."

"The Japan deal netted us eighty billion dollars," Ethan replied calmly, setting aside the first place trophy. "More importantly, it proved that our technology works at scale. We don't need artificial scarcity to be profitable."

"But seventy percent?" Annie's trademark composure cracked slightly. "We could have started with thirty or forty percent reduction and still dominated the market. This is..."

"Revolutionary?" Ethan smiled. "That's more the point. We're not just selling Pokémon, Annie. We're selling the future. And in that future, everyone should have access to what we're creating."

He didn't mention his longer-term plans - the wild Pokémon reserves he envisioned, the complete rethinking of how humans and Pokémon could coexist. Those would come later, when the proper legal framework was in place.

The market analysis on Annie's tablet had stabilized somewhat. Her stock was actually trending upward as investors processed the implications. Pokemon Biotech wasn't just disrupting the market - it was expanding it exponentially. At these price points, whole new customer segments would enter the market.

"The competition will claim it's unsustainable," Annie noted, already drafting press releases.

"Let them," Ethan replied. "They're still thinking in terms of traditional R&D costs and development cycles. They don't understand that we've fundamentally changed the equations. Every Pokémon we create represents breakthrough technology that they're still trying to reverse engineer.

Social media was already abuzz with supportive messages:

"Finally, someone thinking about regular people!"

"Goodbye to Northam's overpriced products..."

"Pokemon Biotech actually delivers on its promises..."

But there were also skeptics:

"Just wait, the prices will go up again..."

"No company cuts profits like that..."

"There must be a trick somewhere..."

Ethan understood their skepticism. No one expected a biotech company to voluntarily cut prices so dramatically. But that was because they didn't understand what Pokémon Biotech had actually accomplished. When you could create Pokemon that could clean up nuclear waste or precisely control temperature changes at the molecular level, traditional pricing models became obsolete.

"Sir," Annie said quietly, "this is going to change everything."

"That's the point," Ethan replied, watching the continuing chaos in the convention center. "The biotech industry needed disruption. We're just providing it a little more dramatically than expected."

The trophy glittered under the lights, but it was just a symbol. The real victory wasn't winning first place - it was reshaping the future of an entire industry with a single announcement. Sometimes the most effective business strategies were the ones your competitors dismissed as impossible, until the moment they became inevitable.