Anorith's evolution Armaldo, though possessing only 495 base stats, had an advantageous distribution.
125 Attack combined with 100 Defense, paired with the Battle Armor ability, made it an excellent defensive support wall.
Its other ability, Swift Swim, could be paired with rain weather teams.
"Sieg, about the Dusk Stone you requested, I've made progress on that. I was actually wondering how to contact you when we coincidentally met here."
Steven proactively mentioned the commission Sieg had made not long ago.
Sieg wasn't surprised Steven could locate a high-quality Dusk Stone so quickly. Setting aside Steven's personal passion for various stones...
With the Stone family's resources alone, their family vault couldn't possibly lack collections of such evolution stones.
And so, the three sat in a café's private room chatting casually, their relationship quickly growing closer.
When Luna and Steven prepared to return to the Solance family's research center, Sieg politely declined, stating he had matters to attend to.
After all, they were conducting a research project between two families, as an outsider, he shouldn't presume to intrude.
Moreover, to afford that premium Dusk Stone from Steven, he first needed to raise some funds.
After purchasing two expensive Pokémon items consecutively, Sieg only had slightly over 1 million Pokédollars remaining.
Needing to reserve some short-term training funds, the available Pokédollars became even more limited.
This amount was nowhere near sufficient to purchase a high-grade Dusk Stone.
"I'll find somewhere to sell off those Sandile. Having them on me daily just drains my feeding budget."
Sandile wasn't particularly popular in the Hoenn region. After all, with Hoenn's numerous sea areas, most trainers raised primarily Water-type Pokémon.
Fire-types could still be supported by Mt. Chimney and inland residents.
But Ground-types truly had no market. At the very least, among trainers Sieg had encountered, virtually none specialized in Ground-types.
Even on Hoenn region's online networks, they were rarely seen.
After visiting the black market and selling all the Sandile plus the trophy Pokémon obtained from his "hero saves the beauty" incident in the grove, his funds increased by another 2 million Pokédollars.
Among these, the most valuable was the Sandile that had inherited Counter and Double-Edge.
This single Sandile with excellent potential sold for nearly 400,000 Pokédollars, accounting for one-fifth of the total.
After leaving the black market, Sieg returned to town and hailed a taxi. Upon arrival, under the driver's puzzled gaze, he walked into the Solance family estate.
Sieg's expression remained natural. The guards and servants he passed all recognized Sieg as an honored guest, so no one stopped him.
After just a few steps, the butler approached: "Young Master Sieg, you've finally returned. The young miss has been waiting quite some time for you."
Sieg paused slightly. Shouldn't Luna have gone to the research facility?
After collecting himself, he followed behind the butler toward a place in the estate he'd never visited before.
Passing through solemn corridors, they finally stopped before an austere wooden door. The butler knocked softly: "Master, Miss, Young Master Sieg has returned."
"Come in."
A dignified voice came from inside the room. Sieg recognized the voice as Gerald's.
The butler opened the door, indicating Sieg should enter, while he himself remained stationed outside, waiting quietly.
Upon entering the room, Sieg discovered it differed from the other magnificently decorated spaces. This room contained only a few tables and chairs, and even the sofa showed obvious wear.
The only eye-catching element was perhaps an exquisite instrument placed in the corner, appearing completely out of place with the rest of the room.
Inside, besides Gerald, both Steven and Luna sat quietly to the side.
Seeing Sieg enter, both visibly brightened.
"Ah, Sieg, let me introduce you, this is the young master from the Stone family, Steven."
"You young people should interact more. After all, as fellow prodigies, there's always that sense of kindred spirits, isn't there?"
After saying this, Gerald hurriedly departed, apparently having some research requiring his attention.
Hearing Gerald praise him as a prodigy, Sieg understood that the talent he'd displayed had likely earned the man's recognition.
Seeing her father leave, Luna completely abandoned her dignified etiquette, bouncing happily to Sieg's side: "Hehe, Sieg, it was such a shame you weren't there earlier! The fossil revival was extremely successful. Father is busy recording data right now!"
Only then did Sieg understand. No wonder Gerald had left so hastily after just a few words, he truly was devoted to research.
"Cousin, Sieg, come on, let's go see the Pokémon just revived from the fossil!"
Steven appeared extremely excited, directly pulling both of them toward the exit.
This was indeed worth celebrating. After all, this was the second case of a Pokémon revived from fossils, proving the previous Aerodactyl wasn't a unique accident. In the future, more fossil Pokémon might see daylight again.
Cooperation between the two families regarding fossils would likely become more solid, potentially expanding into more collaborative projects.
Faced with Steven's eager behavior, Sieg offered no resistance and followed them out to the estate's lawn.
"Come out, Anorith!"
Steven tossed out a Luxury Ball, releasing the recently captured Anorith.
Anorith appeared quite peculiar, a flat, elongated fossil Pokémon with a pair of pincers and four wing-like appendages on both sides of its body.
"So this is a Pokémon hatched from fossils?"
Though Sieg already knew, he appropriately displayed some curiosity.
Steven looked quite proud. He was probably the second trainer in this world to capture a fossil Pokémon, wasn't he?
"This Pokémon is called Anorith. Legend says it's the ancestor of Bug-type Pokémon! According to research, it lived in warm seas 100 million years ago."
Seeing Sieg's interest, Luna eagerly assumed the role of tour guide, explaining enthusiastically.
"So you're saying it originally lived in the sea?"
Though Sieg possessed memories from his previous life and knew of this Pokémon's existence, he only knew its basic type and general appearance.
He remained completely clueless about this Pokémon's lifestyle habits and other obscure knowledge.
Sieg heard his Pokédex beep, discovering Steven had sent him detailed information about this Pokémon.
"Is this... appropriate? After all, it's your Pokémon, and it involves fossil secrets." Sieg genuinely hadn't expected Steven to make such a gesture and asked somewhat hesitantly.
"Hey~ It's fine, we're good friends, aren't we?"
Steven raised his hand and lightly tapped Sieg's chest, asking rhetorically.