Sieg had no interest in gambling games, he'd simply come to satisfy his curiosity.
Holding a few tokens in hand, he casually found several unoccupied gaming machines. Sure enough, within ten minutes, his tokens were completely gone.
Sieg shrugged indifferently and walked to the lobby's exchange catalog. He had to admit, this Game Corner, openly controlled by the League, truly possessed abundant resources.
Looking at the top three prizes, Sieg couldn't help but be amazed.
Ranked third was a high-quality starter Pokémon, Torchic. Detailed information about this Pokémon hatchling was provided: not only did it possess the hidden ability Speed Boost, it had inherited a full five moves.
Slash, Feather Dance, Counter, Flame Burst, Last Resort.
Excluding Feather Dance, an almost useless move, the remaining four were all highly practical. From this, one could see this Torchic truly had overwhelming advantages in talent inheritance.
Additionally, this Torchic was specifically noted as exceptional in energy control, indicating its own quality was impressive, not merely relying on parental bloodlines.
The second prize was a particularly rare Pokémon, once comparable to pseudo-legendaries, Zorua!
Not much information was provided, but these three five alone were enough to drive most people wild.
This naturally included Sieg, considering he was a Dark-type specialist trainer.
Zorua's unique ability, Illusion.
That was the fundamental reason for its popularity. It could transform into any human or Pokémon appearance, with simulation authenticity far surpassing Ditto!
Ditto still required learning or training to achieve realistic transformations. But Zorua could perfectly deceive through talent and instinct alone!
Sieg pressed his lips together. The countless zeros on screen made him hesitate.
"I just captured Sandile recently. Five Pokémon's training funds are already straining my wallet. A sixth Pokémon should wait a while longer."
Sieg could only console himself this way, looking at the Zorua image on screen with slight envy and reluctance.
As for the grand prize, it was a pseudo-legendary.
Besides Metagross, the Hoenn region's other pseudo-legendary, Salamence's hatchling form, Bagon.
The numbers were even more exaggerated than Zorua's. Sieg couldn't even count how many zeros there were, but converted to Pokédollars, the price was 3 billion Pokédollars.
After checking Petalburg Gym's database, Sieg learned that ordinary pseudo-legendaries should cost around 1.5 billion Pokédollars.
"I thought Team Rocket selling pseudo-legendaries for 2 billion was already outrageous. Didn't expect this place to be even more predatory."
Most critically, this Bagon didn't provide specific data or quality information, meaning the final result depended entirely on luck.
Even thinking with one's pinky toe, one knew the provided Bagon would definitely be the lowest-quality specimen from the breeding group.
Of course, this pseudo-legendary was likely just a gimmick, decorative bait to attract customers.
At the very least, in the nearly ten years since the Game Corner opened, no one had been seen exchanging for the pseudo-legendary. Even top-three prize exchanges were extremely rare.
The only recorded case searchable online was from two years ago, when someone exchanged for the third prize, successfully obtaining a high-quality starter Mudkip.
Reportedly, a wealthy person immediately wanted to buy that Mudkip, even offering the astronomical price of 20 million Pokédollars.
Considering a normally League-produced starter cost only around 2 million Pokédollars, a ten-fold price increase showed just of what exceptional quality that Mudkip was.
Besides these three rare top prizes, the top hundred exchange list without exception contained items precious to trainers.
Various rare held items for Pokémon, such as Everstone, Wide Lens, Light Clay, Toxic Orb, and so on.
Or some rare Pokémon hatchlings. Perhaps not pseudo-legendaries or starters, but still uncommonly seen rare Pokémon, like Ralts, Trapinch, Swablu, Riolu, and others.
Sieg spent a small amount exchanging for a Torchic plush as a souvenir. Advertising claimed this plush's fluff was actually harvested from real Torchic, whether true or false, no one could verify.
However, touching it, there was indeed a warm, cozy feeling.
After leaving the Game Corner, Sieg felt his ears finally calming down again. The noisy sounds and stimulating music inside were also methods the Game Corner used to excite customers.
Walking along the bustling streets, looking at the shops lining both sides, Sieg couldn't help but admire the city's superior development.
"Wonder what kind of person Gym Leader Wattson is, the one who proposed the city renovation plan and drove Mauville City's entire development?"
Anticipation involuntarily welled up in Sieg's heart.
However, based on online information, Gym Leader Wattson seemed to be called the "Cheerful Electrifying Old-Timer."
What Sieg didn't know was that this cheerful old-timer was currently in a special power plant within Mauville City, this special power plant known as "New Mauville."
Legend said this place was once part of urban construction, serving as the power source for the entire city.
However, later this plan was somehow urgently halted by Gym Leader Wattson. The given reason was that construction affected surrounding Pokémon ecology.
In a dim power room.
A Pokémon resembling a saber-toothed tiger with golden fur, powerful limbs, and sharp fangs lay weakly in a corner, licking its wounded body.
The Pokémon's forehead bore black steel headgear covering its forehead, nose, and mouth. Beneath the headgear were X-shaped whiskers.
It had a lightning-shaped light blue tail with a spark-like tip, clearly quite majestic.
Creak~~~
The half-closed iron door was pushed open. Wattson, who appeared quite cheerful before others, now walked worriedly to the Pokémon's side.
Stroking this Pokémon's golden fur, he murmured: "Old friend, they seem to have discovered your traces again. Looks like you can't stay here much longer."
The weakly Pokémon responded with a mournful cry, extending its tongue to lick Wattson's large palm, responding affectionately.
"I'm sorry. Truth is, I don't know what's happened to the League nowadays. Corruption and darkness everywhere, dark forces growing restless, internal factions proliferating."
"Lord Ho-Oh hasn't appeared for many years. Undercurrents surge within the League. And now even you, old friend, I can no longer protect."
At the mention of Ho-Oh, the originally weak Pokémon immediately became agitated, frantic lightning crackling across its body surface.
As the door was slowly blown open by wind, a beam of sunlight shone into the dim room, revealing the Pokémon's true form.
This was one of the legendary Sacred Beasts, one of Ho-Oh's guardians, the Pokémon rumored to descend with thunder, Raikou.