As evening approached, dusk thickened, and the sky turned gray-blue. A bright moon rose over the distant mountain ridge, its cold light casting a glow that outlined brows and hair…
Though the view was beautiful, Tetsuya had no mood to admire it. He got on his Bicycle and headed toward the largest Pokémon Market in Ecruteak City.
This so-called Pokémon Market was actually the Black Market. The Pokémon sold here were completely different from those offered by official Pokémon Daycares. Nearly all of them were caught or stolen by Pokémon Hunters.
The merchants here specialized in purchasing Pokémon from Hunters and reselling them to anyone who needed them. Pokémon here usually had higher combat capabilities than the greenhouse-raised ones from Daycares, but they came at a steep price.
Ecruteak City's Pokémon Market was second only to Goldenrod City one in size. Almost every type of Pokémon was available, clearly marked with a fixed price. Selection was based on appearance and power, no haggling.
Despite the high prices, offer still couldn't meet demand. Anyone who wanted to venture outside needed a Pokémon as a bodyguard; unless they were confident they could fight Pokémon with their bare hands…
Familiar with the layout of Ecruteak City, Tetsuya quickly arrived at the Market.
The Pokémon Market opened promptly at 6:00 PM and closed at 2:00 AM. This schedule had been established by local rules. After all, this sort of business wasn't exactly meant for broad daylight.
Once inside, he found the place packed, bustling with noise. There were hundreds of vendors, big and small.
Some merchants were enthusiastically promoting the Pokémon they had for sale.
Others were loudly advertising the special Pokémon they had that day.
Customers were browsing, searching for ones they liked. On-the-spot move demonstrations were an essential part of the process.
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Tetsuya made a quick round, mainly checking prices. He now had a rough understanding, it wasn't much different from his previous life.
Pokémon prices were determined by five main factors:
First was regional difference.
This was the Johto Region, so local Pokémon were easier to obtain and naturally cheaper. Pokémon from the nearby Kanto Region were slightly more expensive. Those from Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova were even more costly. Pokémon from Kalos and Alola hadn't appeared here in the last seven or eight years, mainly because those regions were too far. The profit just couldn't outweigh the transportation costs and risks, so few were willing to take that gamble.
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Second was the Pokémon's evolutionary stage.
Fully evolved Pokémon were more expensive than unevolved ones. But excessively aggressive final-stage evolutions were rarely seen.
First, they were unaffordable.
Second, even if someone bought one, they might not have the strength to control it, risking serious injury.
Over time, there just wasn't a market for them.
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Third was potential…
Meaning the "base stats" after evolution. This formed the foundation of a Pokémon's price.
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Fourth was rarity.
Common Pokémon like Caterpie or Weedle were everywhere in the forest and couldn't be compared to something like Cyndaquil in terms of value.
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Fifth was ability.
This usually referred to how many moves the Pokémon knew, and whether it had any Special moves.
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Sixth was the difficulty of evolution.
Pokémon that required special conditions to evolve were rarely purchased. For example, no one wanted Magikarp or Feebas. Odds were they'd die before ever evolving…
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Based on Johto-region Pokémon, the price of first-stage Pokémon could generally be divided into five tiers.
◓⃙-First tier: Pokémon with a final evolution base stat total over 540. These were essentially priceless and rarely appeared in the Market. If they did, it was only at major auctions.-◓⃙
◓⃙-Second tier: Pokémon with a final evolution base stat total between 500 and 540. Prices started above forty thousand, though there was no fixed standard. These Pokémon were often out of stock. Most were starter Pokémon, almost entirely monopolized by the League for distribution to their Official League Trainers.-◓⃙
◓⃙-Third tier: Pokémon with a final evolution base stat total between 450 and 500. Prices ranged between twenty to forty thousand. These Pokémon sold reasonably well, but even so, the cost equaled a year's salary for the average worker. Typically, well-off families without connections would buy them for their children to travel with.-◓⃙
◓⃙-Fourth tier: Pokémon with a final evolution base stat total between 400 and 450. These were generally priced between ten and twenty thousand. They were commonly bought by average households for self-protection, and their sales volume was the best.-◓⃙
◓⃙-Fifth tier: Pokémon with a final evolution base stat total under 400. These usually cost less than ten thousand and shared the same target buyers as the fourth tier.-◓⃙
Some might argue that base stats aren't the only factor determining a Pokémon's value. That's true… but every product in a market must have some form of classification.
If you're not using base stats, what else would you rely on? Sure, if you can judge a Pokémon's potential with the naked eye, then go ahead and pick one yourself!
If you believe a certain Pokémon's capabilities don't match its stat total, you're free not to buy it, no one's forcing you.
Or if you think you can train a Beedrill like Giovanni's to beat Lance's Dragonite, then you'd be making a killing. All you'd need is a single Weedle~
Just remember one thing… this is a market. Every Pokémon here is a product. Nothing more.
And the prices above were just general estimates. For instance, Magikarp had an extremely low chance of evolving into Gyarados, so its price was naturally very low. To reach a price of over forty thousand, it would have to already be a Gyarados.
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Now that he had a general grasp on prices, Tetsuya urgently needed to go back and crunch the numbers.
Just as he was about to leave the Market, a vendor sighed and changed the price tag on a Ditto from five thousand to three thousand.
"Three days, and I still haven't sold it… Buying you was a total loss!"
The vendor kept complaining to the Ditto in the cage.
You couldn't really blame him. Ditto was notoriously difficult to sell.
First of all, it only had a base stat total of 288… ridiculously low!
Most had the Ability Limber, and aside from using Transform to copy opponents in battle, they were practically useless. To use a Ditto effectively, a Trainer would need to master every Pokémon type and move. How many people could do that?
Its Hidden Ability, Imposter, allowed it to freely transform into objects.
Years later, the infamous "The Man of a Thousand Faces" -Brodie- would use a Ditto like that to disguise himself and escape pursuit. He committed countless high-profile crimes and was never caught. But such Dittos were exceedingly rare.
Apparently unable to tolerate the vendor's insults any longer, the Ditto turned into a normal dog.
Tetsuya smirked. 'Heh! That Ditto's calling him out for judging "people" like a dog.'
Being able to transform at will meant the Ditto's level was not low, and that it had the Hidden Ability Imposter.
"Boss, I'll take this Ditto."
Tetsuya walked up to the cage and said.
The vendor was naturally thrilled to have a customer. The Ditto quickly returned to its original form upon seeing it was finally wanted.
It was clear the Ditto had been mistreated here. Judging by its sluggish look, it probably hadn't eaten all day.