Chapter 500 - Shopping and TM Selection

After arriving in Rustboro City, Aoki changed his costume and went directly to the black market in Rustboro City.

Although Verdanturf Town also has a black market, compared to Rustboro City, a big city in the Hoenn region, the black market in Verdanturf Town is simply nothing.

Before leaving Verdanturf Town, Aoki released all the Pokémon captured in that mysterious lake to the pond in the backyard.

With the guards of the Slowpoke group, there is no problem with the safety of the backyard.

Aoki didn't bring Larvitar out, letting him learn how to control his own power under the guard of Miltank.

Aron has been taught by Larvitar, and Aoki hopes he can learn.

Wearing a black robe, Aoki directly entered the Pokémon sales area.

First, he sold the Pokémon he got from the Void Trio and the useless Pokémon he got from Youhun, leaving only a few pretty good Pokémon that Aoki liked.

For example, the Poison Heal Breloom, Toxic Boost Zangoose, and the Yanmega and Ariados, who were Youhun's, were all good Pokémon, and they can be reserved to improve the strength of his subordinates.

The rest of the odds and ends of the Pokémon were all sold, and a total of 3.5 million Pokécoins were obtained.

It is also a good income.

Then he went to the Hunter's Guild and matched some of the captured wild Pokémon with existing missions, selling the ones that didn't match any mission.

Anyway, they were all Pokémon with light green and green potential, and their value was not very high.

A total of 1,000,000 points and 500,000 Pokécoins were obtained, which is considered a pretty good income.

In fact, the hunting group created by Aoki has earned more money, but these are currently placed in the public account of the hunting group, managed by Skye, whom Aoki trusts the most.

That money Aoki is not going to move for the time being, as it is reserved for the development of the Hunting Group and Team Sky. Once these two organizations are fully developed, Aoki can truly start harvesting money.

Anyway, he has enough money now.

Then Aoki went to the Pokémon TM store in the black market.

In this kind of black market TM store, some basic TMs, such as commonly used ones like Protect and Hidden Power, are plentiful. However, for rarer moves, whether you can buy them depends on luck.

Among them, what Aoki paid more attention to was a move that Slowking needed to learn—Trick Room.

Although this Psychic-type move is not an offensive one, it is crucial for the relatively slow-moving Slowking, especially when battling solo.

Perhaps for Honchkrow and Skorupi, Trick Room is unnecessary, but in the future, Slowking will battle alone as a Gym Pokémon, making Trick Room extremely important.

Thanks to Rustboro City's large black market, Aoki found the TM for Trick Room in the Pokémon TM store.

However, the price was outrageous.

Aoki understood that rare things are valuable, but the price of this Trick Room TM was truly exorbitant. The store had set the price at 3 million Pokécoins, with no room for negotiation.

Psychic-type moves are already difficult to produce as TMs, and space-altering moves like Trick Room are even rarer.

In the end, Aoki still chose to buy it—he could afford to spend more money.

Plenty of money now!

Not short on cash!

Then Aoki selected some TMs for his other Pokémon, mainly to increase their versatility in battle. For example, Skorupi and Honchkrow sometimes need to avoid close combat, so learning some ranged moves was necessary.

So, he bought the Shadow Ball TM for Honchkrow, Skorupi, and Weavile.

Although Shadow Ball may not be their most powerful move, it is still a good long-range option.

And for Haunter, who excels in using Shadow Ball, he could provide extra guidance to the others, helping them master the move more efficiently.

Next, Aoki chose some specific TMs for his Pokémon. Honchkrow's Double Team move increases its evasiveness in battle, possibly allowing it to avoid attacks while using Nasty Plot, ensuring smoother stat boosts.

Slowking's Safeguard TM was a carefully considered purchase. It was an expensive investment but useful for preventing status ailments.

In Aoki's team, Slowking serves as a long-range special attacker. Combining Safeguard with its Psychic abilities ensures it can maintain an uninterrupted offensive presence.

For Haunter, Aoki selected Thunderbolt!

Originally, Aoki hadn't planned for this move.

But while browsing, he noticed that there was only one left in stock.

Since it's a relatively rare move, and Aoki's team lacked Electric-type coverage, he decided to buy it. Aside from the price, everything else was perfect.

Although Haunter isn't an Electric-type, its strong special attack should allow it to make good use of Thunderbolt.

At the very least, it should perform similarly to Slowking's Flamethrower.

He also picked up Venoshock, a move that pairs well with Skorupi's poison-based attacks.

In addition to Shadow Ball, Aoki bought Poison Jab for Skorupi.

Since its Poison-type abilities are well-developed, combining its powerful pincers and stinger for Poison Jab can make its attacks even deadlier.

Finally, Aoki purchased Blizzard for Weavile!

Aoki was pleasantly surprised to find Blizzard available and immediately bought it.

Not short on cash!

This visit to the TM store was worthwhile.

Not only did he get Trick Room for Slowking, but he also found a rare Blizzard TM, and Thunderbolt was an unexpected bonus.

Of course, some of the other moves were also valuable, but he didn't want to overdo it.

Two TMs per Pokémon were enough to keep them busy with training for a while.

Especially for moves outside their usual typing, which are more difficult to master.

Aoki was very satisfied with his TM purchases this time. Although he spent a total of 13 million Pokécoins, these moves would significantly improve his Pokémon's battle potential.

So, the money was well spent.

Aoki still had 45.8 million Pokécoins left.

Enough to sustain him for a while.

As Aoki left the black market, Steven called.