Pokémon: Above the Top-Chapter 268: Opportunistic

Gardevoir clearly possessed intelligence no less than that of a human. Even the way she shook her head and sighed seemed entirely human-like.

Regarding Steven's words, Gardevoir clearly agreed with him, but that didn't mean she trusted humans.

"How can you humans guarantee that after leaving, you won't return and disrupt our lives again?" Gardevoir asked in return, leaving Steven momentarily speechless.

The Seafloor Cavern clearly possessed extremely rich Pokémon resources. Just the Lileep and Anorith alone, taking out any single one of them would already cause a huge sensation.

And here, there was a whole group of them!

So, Steven's persistent enthusiasm all this time might not be without ulterior motives; perhaps he hoped his company could monopolize the excavation and gain massive profits from it.

In this situation, a single Elite Four-level Gardevoir wouldn't be enough to stop a corporation's invasion.

But if they failed to give a satisfactory answer now, what if Gardevoir went for mutual destruction and wiped them all out?

"Everyone says the Gardevoir line can see into people's hearts. Whether or not you trust us... you should already know the answer in your heart, right?"

At this moment, it was actually Joseph who stepped forward.

Those words made Sato and the others glance at him in surprise.

"That actually makes a lot of sense. I can't even argue with it!" Gardevoir rolled her eyes at Joseph, but then flirtatiously winked at the Kirlia beside him.

"Kir~" Always quiet and well-behaved, Kirlia actually blushed, shyly hiding behind Joseph.

"Alright then. You can, indeed, get some good things from me. But among you all, I don't trust him."

Gardevoir didn't waste any more words and extended her arm, pointing directly at the silent Steven.

'As expected...' The three of them thought the same thing at once. After all, they knew each other well and were aware that none of them were particularly money-driven.

But Steven was different.

Though he wasn't lacking in wealth, he was still the heir of a major corporation. Even if he loved digging for stones out in the field, the family business was still a predetermined part of his life.

So, it was natural for Steven to think about the company and his family.

For a moment, the atmosphere seemed to solidify. Steven remained silent, while Gardevoir stared at him motionlessly.

One minute... two minutes... five minutes...

"I can promise never to return here. But I don't want to leave empty-handed either."

In the end, Steven chose to take a step back.

There was no other choice... after all, their lives were in Gardevoir's hands now. Strictly speaking, they were the ones taking advantage of the situation.

"You are a strong human. I choose to trust you," Gardevoir finally said seriously, after remaining silent for a long time following Steven's reply.

So for now, host and guests were at peace.

Then, Gardevoir, right in front of everyone, began to devolve.

Two flashes of white light later, Gardevoir had turned back into that fragile little Ralts, carefully placed back on Slaking's shoulder.

Freely controlling one's evolution... some Pokémon could indeed achieve this to a degree.

But being able to reverse the evolution process. None of the four had ever even heard of such a thing.

Gardevoir was clearly even more mysterious than they had imagined.

With Ralts devolved, the wild Pokémon's wariness was somewhat eased.

After the rampage caused by Slaking, the wild Pokémon had already forgotten all about making trouble for Sato and the others.

Moreover, as long as they didn't actively provoke the wild Pokémon, it was no problem for Mark to go get water by the river or even pick a couple of fresh Berries.

"What a pity," Steven sighed as the four sat around the table eating.

"Whath' pithee?" Mark mumbled with a mouth full of food, speaking incoherently.

"Don't you think it's strange that such a small area can support so many Pokémon?" Steven pointed to the carefree Pokémon playing and laughing around them.

"A little," Sato nodded, deep in thought.

"A place like this wouldn't be able to develop like this without some kind of powerful energy source."

"You mean the Origin Ore?"

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Steven shook his head at Sato. "Origin Ore is only useful up to Elite Four level Pokémon. Think about how much you'd need to support all this."

Alright, Sato went quiet, he blamed himself for being inexperienced. After all, the Origin Ore was already the most high-level item he had ever seen in both his past and present life combined.

"Then what kind of treasure is hidden here?"

And this was when Joseph, who was thick-skinned and completely shameless, stepped up to ask without any embarrassment.

"Well... I don't know either."

Steven gave an awkward smile, he truly didn't know.

"..."

---

Judging by the time, they had just finished lunch, and the reason they hadn't left yet was obviously because they were waiting for Ralts's "hush money".

In fact, Ralts clearly didn't intend to let them stay much longer. Almost exactly when their meal finished, it came over.

"Slaaaking!"

Slaking approached the group, lifting its pig-like nose to the sky and opening its hand to reveal a few oddly shaped items.

A completely withered root, an irregular metallic ball that looked like a meteorite, a pale yellow stone, and a deep indigo-colored stone.

Among the four items, Sato only recognized the last two: a Shiny Stone and a Dawn Stone.

Before they could even discuss among themselves, Ralts used Confusion to distribute the four items to each of them.

Sato received the withered root, Steven got the meteorite iron ball, Joseph received the Dawn Stone, and Mark was given the Shiny Stone.

"Raaalts!"

Ralts pointed in the direction they had come from, and without saying anything else, Slaking took it away.

"They're just letting us leave like that? And what are these things even for? They didn't explain anything," Mark said, playing with the Shiny Stone, pouting.

"They're all valuable items. I'll explain on the way," Steven replied with a broad smile on his face.

Hearing that, they didn't delay any longer. Even though the wild Pokémon weren't attacking anymore, the sensation of being constantly watched by thousands of eyes was still uncomfortable.

"Oh great one, what does this stone of mine do?"

Given how rarely Shiny Stones and Dawn Stones were found, it was understandable that Mark didn't know.

"This is a very pure Shiny Stone. Once your Togepi evolves into Togetic, using this stone will allow it to evolve again."

Steven didn't keep him in suspense and answered directly.

"Togepi can evolve twice?!" Mark was even more surprised by how many times Togepi could evolve.

"Joseph's is similar, he got a very pure Dawn Stone. You know what that does, right?" Steven continued.

"Of course. If used on Kirlia, it can evolve into Gallade." Joseph nodded.

"Then what about mine... what even is this thing?" Sato pursed his lips, fiddling with the withered root in his hand. He really couldn't figure out what it was.