"There's someone near our base," Sable said as the base reached the edge of her detection range. "And he's alone."
"Can you tell his rank or how many Pokémon he has?" Alex asked.
"I can't tell his rank, but he has three Pokéballs on his belt."
"He's an Expert," Lyra said. "Elites always have at least six because they can afford to fill out their teams. Trainers with only three are usually Experts still waiting for a lucky encounter to complete their roster."
"What's he doing?" Alex asked.
"Waiting, I think. He's just standing there."
"He isn't a threat, which means he's here to sell us something," Alex concluded. "Let's go see what."
Sable moved around the base and the dead end, preferring to exit from the reinforced walls of the tunnel farther from their base's entrance. This was to ensure their movements and methods remained hidden.
As they approached the entrance, they were greeted by a portly, bearded man wearing hiking gear and carrying a huge backpack.
"Hello there," he greeted. "I take it this empty base belongs to you?"
"It does," Sable replied.
"Ah, excellent," he said, setting his bag on the ground. "My name is Korbin. I'm a traveling merchant of the Grand Underground. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Sure," Sable said flatly.
"The reason I've come today is to help you start turning your base into a proper home," he continued, rummaging through his bag.
He began pulling out large statues, exact-size replicas of Pokémon that radiated the same aura as the creatures they represented. He also displayed digging tools, depth scanners, traps, furniture, pedestals, custom signs, and various other knickknacks.
"I only accept Spheres in exchange for any of these items if you're interested," he concluded, presenting his wares.
"What are these statues?" Sable asked, inspecting the stone they were made from.
"They ward off stray Pokémon," Korbin answered. "I'm sure you can feel the Champion ranked aura they emit. It permeates your base and keeps any stray Elites from trying to make it their nest."
"What's it made out of?"
"I don't know, honestly. I just sell them, but I do know they leave these statues in rooms whose aura it emits for years before they can produce enough by themselves. I believe it will take a decade before they need to be recharged."
"Why are there so many of them? Wouldn't selling just the most powerful ones be enough?"
"Well, they have the side effect of attracting strays that match their desired nest. So if you ever want to run into a stray Charmander, you place a Charizard statue in your home, and it will come meekly to try to join you."
"What about these weaker ones?" Sable asked, pointing to statues of Sandshrew and Bidoof emitting Adept or Expert ranked auras.
"Some people want to attract specific Pokémon to their bases," Korbin explained. "These statues enhance the authenticity of the aura, making it seem like a real nest rather than the lair of a single powerful Pokémon. Also, people love collecting them."
"Do you have any statues of Lucario?" Alex asked, still wearing his helmet.
"I'm afraid not. They're incredibly popular and hard to get a hold of."
"What about Raticate, Arcanine, and Hydreigon?"
"I don't have those either, I'm afraid. But I do have one of Garchomp!" he said, taking a statue of Garchomp out of his bag.
"How much?" Sable asked.
"Five large Spheres of any kind."
"That's expensive!" Sable exclaimed.
"Garchomps are just that popular," he replied with a shrug.
While Sable and Korbin started bartering, Alex took note of the traps for sale. They looked like meter-wide square pressure plates with the effects listed on labels.
The majority were explosives that might not necessarily kill Elite ranked Pokémon but were enough to cause cave-ins. There were also shock traps, snares, and even some that used move crystals to detonate a Pokémon attack.
He wasn't particularly interested in using them or making his own, but perhaps Rhea would appreciate a few samples.
By the end, each of the girls had bought statues while Alex purchased a few traps. Mika chose a Flygon statue, Lyra bought a Donphan, and Sable took the Garchomp statue. As for the furniture and other equipment, they brought their own and they could simply make their own pedestals and signs.
"It's our second day here, and we've already run through our initial stock of Spheres," Mika said. "How many do we still have left?"
"A few hundred," Sable answered.
"Wait, what!? How?"
"Weren't you paying attention when we were out digging for the entire day? We've basically cleared out miles of resources that can be found in the area. We need to move to a different section tomorrow."
"Exactly how much stuff did we find?" Lyra asked. "I know we found a lot, but I lost count by noon."
"Let's see then," Sable said as she started emptying the space bags she had been stuffing with whatever she found.
There were tens of fossils, hundreds of Evolution Stones and Spheres, tons of raw metal and move crystals, and even remnants of broken statues. There were also a few miscellaneous items, including colored Shards, Heart Scales, Odd Keystones, Hard Stones, Light Clay, Weather Rocks, Damp Rocks, Heat Rocks, Smooth Rocks, Icy Rocks, Rare Bones, and Star Pieces.
Altogether, it was roughly 30 million Pokédollars' worth of goods, not including Spheres and Shards, which have no equivalent exchange rate to Pokédollars, as well as the random Elite ranked Pokémon they often ran into.
"Why are we bounty hunters again?" Mika asked, staring at their loot. "We've made more today than we usually make in a year."
"Only if we don't get a big score," Lyra pointed out. "We capture plenty of criminals who are worth more than this."
"Yeah, but we only worked for a day. Getting a big score takes months of effort, and we only get a few in a year."
"You forget that without Sable, we wouldn't be earning nearly as much. It's thanks to her that we managed to get anything at all. Most miners earn this much only when they get lucky, just like we do with our bounties."
"Honestly, this really isn't that big a deal," Sable said, cutting in. "We earn significantly more from capturing stray Pokémon than whatever I can dig up in a year."
"True, but we eat those rather than sell them, so it evens out," Mika said. "This, however, is raw income."
"Anyway, how do we split this?" Sable asked.
"You get half," Alex answered. "The three of us will split the rest. As for the captured Elites, we split them evenly."
"Are you sure, Alex?" Lyra asked. "You have more Pokémon than the rest of us."
"They have more than enough food without touching our captures, so I'm not worried about my cut. I'm more interested in credit bounties."
"You know, Alex, you could probably earn more by just capturing Pokémon."
"True, but I'd start butting heads with the other breeders and hunters. Nyx is already on a few watchlists because we keep selling Elites by the hundreds each year. I don't want to pick a fight with those groups any more than necessary."
Selling captures was big business, bringing in massive credits. Most trainers got by with luck, but Elites could turn it into a career, hunting high-value Pokémon like Shinies or rare species.
Alex was only a minor nuisance to them. If he expanded his operations, he would face harassment through both official and unofficial channels, while others profited.
He didn't mind picking fights, but these breeders and hunters were usually operating legally. Defending himself fully would mean joining the Underworld, something he wanted to avoid given the League's heavy presence.
"Before we divide the spoils, I want to buy all of it from all of you," Alex suddenly proposed.
"All of them?" Sable asked.
"Rhea could use the raw minerals and move crystals. Kaia could use the weather rocks. Stocking up on Fossils and Evolution Stones for the bounty hunters would be another added benefit for the Silver Network. As for the Spheres and Shards, we can split those. I'm sure we can buy more stuff with them when we reach the Grand Market."
Included in their information package from the bartender were mentions of Grand Markets scattered throughout Sinnoh. These were places where people from the Grand Underground came to exchange the resources they had gathered, including plenty of products from above ground.
The League would have wanted to shut down such a public place. Unfortunately, the markets were built directly beneath heavily populated cities. If a battle broke out, not only would the Underworld be devastated, but the cities above would suffer the same fate.
"Do we even have enough Spheres?" Lyra asked. "I'm sure they trade them by the millions in the Grand Market."
"We're not aiming for the big players," Alex said. "Let's focus on the small fry first. For that, we'll need far more Spheres than just a few hundred each."
"No problem," Sable said with a grin. "All we have to do is just keep digging."
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