I woke up the next day in the pokecenter on Kumquat Island, which I had flown to with the remaining daylight of the day before. Onix had been kept for overnight care, while Drako and Hellen were returned after a quick exam and treatment.

I headed downstairs to collect onix after my morning routine.

“Hello, I’m here to pick up my onix.” I said to the nurse at the front desk, handing her my trainer’s license.

“Well, you have a beautiful onix there.” She said as she checked my license. “Never seen one like it. Luckily the physiology is mostly the same and she’s almost fully healed. She just needs to refrain from strenuous activity for two days.”

I thanked the nurse after receiving my pokeball. I wasn’t overly concerned about poachers as only the nurses had seen onix and pokecentres have strict rules about confidentiality. But it’s better to be safe than sorry, so I let out Drako and resumed my journey to Saffron City. The quicker I got this pokemon to the auction appraisal, the better.

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Three days of flying got us to Saffron City, with the usual stops for training and breaks. Drako was getting used to long distance flying and riding the air currents to reduce his energy use.

Upon arriving, I beelined to the auction appraisal centre where you had to apply in person to register a pokemon or item to be sold. They didn’t allow just any pokemon or items to be sold at the Pre-Season Auction in Saffron City, they were the cream of the crop. Luckily I had made it with a couple days to spare, as the auction house stopped taking items to sell two weeks before the auction to make sure they can authenticate their wares.

I entered the building and got into the small queue for appraisal. Each client was talked to by an appraiser in a private booth and if needed they were escorted to a larger room, so I couldn’t tell what items they were bringing to be appraised.

After some time, it was my turn at one of the booths.

“What will we be appraising?” The appraiser asked in a routine matter.

“I have a variant onix.” I replied.

“Ah, the green variation?” He questioned with some intrigue.

“Well, maybe it’s best I just show you in the private room.”

“Very well then.” He said and led me to a larger room which had bright lights.

Once inside, I moved to the centre and released the crystal onix. She formed while coiled on the floor, and slowly rose up. Her crystalline frame glinted in the lighting.

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“Ooonix.”

“Oh my, that is quite the specimen!” He exclaimed. “Though she could use some buffing.”

“Nix!” She said as she raised her head up.

“Not that you’re not beautiful, but with our pampering before the auction you will just shine!”

After that we just had to work out the details and sign the paperwork. I informed him of my thoughts on the crystal onix being weak to fire, and that she was residing in water when I first found her. He was curious at my anecdotes and said that they would look into that while doing the usual testing for pokemon to be auctioned.

When putting a pokemon up for auction, the auction house takes 7% of the earnings. Part of which are used to cover the expenses of the comprehensive testing and pampering that the pokemon got before they were auctioned.

After asking, I was able to get a credit of $4 million to use at the auction as they were sure the crystal onix would sell for more than that.

I happily signed the papers and gave him onix’s pokeball. $4 million would definitely be enough to buy a pokemon that catches my eye at the auction.

With about two weeks until the auction, I had some down time. So, I booked a room in a pokecenter and was excited to finally get some battles for my pokemon.

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“Alright team, we’re going to the Battle Arena!” I say as I let Drako and Hellen out into our room.

“CHAR!” Drako was fired up to have some battles after so long.

“...saur.”

“Don’t worry, Hellen. I’m sure you’ll do well. Remember the strategies we came up with on the island?” I try to allay her fears. “And it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, we’re just trying to get some experience.”

“Bulba!” She says as she perks up. To be honest, I think she’s going to do fine. Back when we were training on the island, she was able to hone her technique and she was already plenty strong.

“Alright, let’s go.” I say as I return them and head to the Battle Arena. The Battle Arena in Saffron is a large stadium with many arenas. There was a main open area with ten stages for battles that weren’t too destructive and there were two separate stages for higher level or higher stakes battles.

Upon entering, I had to register at the front desk with my trainer ID. They would track each player’s wins and losses, automatically adding or deducting money to their account accordingly while taking a percentage. The minimum bet was $200, though the trainers could raise it as they pleased.

The way trainer’s were matched up was through a ranking system that took into account your number of badges, team composition, as well as your wins and losses. There are five major divisions in the rankings:

Class S - Elite Trainers

Class A - Ace Trainers

Class B - Advanced Trainers

Class C - Seasoned Trainers

Class D - Rookie Trainers

Currently, I was a rookie trainer and to become a seasoned trainer I would need to get some badges and some wins. Since it was the off season and I couldn’t get any badges yet, I could only work on getting some wins.

I joined the crowd of trainers in the stands and looked over the field. There were ten stages in a five by two grid. I could easily see the closer five stages from the side I was on, but the further ones were a little small. Luckily there were large screens showcasing each of the stages, with some information about the trainers battling. Most of the battles involved rookie trainers, with only 3 showing seasoned trainers.

Most advanced trainers battled in the two separate enclosed stages, and sometimes didn’t broadcast their fight. That is, if they battled at the Battle Arena at all. A lot of them just stuck to tournaments. Currently, there were no streams of the enclosed stages.

As I waited for my match, I watched the current rookie battles. Most of the trainers had two pokemon, with a few having one or three. They also usually had one stronger pokemon that had evolved and a weaker first evolution pokemon. I saw an oddish being trounced by a pidgeotto, a machop beating on a geodude, and even a bellsprout outplaying a rhyhorn. Among the rarer pokemon I saw were a bayleef, wartortle and a magmar.

The battles were quick, usually lasting under ten minutes. So after twenty minutes my phone alerted me through the Battle Arena app that my match was up, as well as one of the televisions showing me and another trainer as the next to battle on stage six.

I grinned, tapping my pokeballs as I made my way to the arena. Time for my debut battle.