On the road at the exit of Viridian Forest…
"We're almost at Pewter City."
Ash looked at the tall buildings ahead, his eyes filled with energy.
"After roughing it in the wild for so long, I can finally take a proper bath!"
Misty, walking beside him, was clearly excited too.
"Hey there, need a guide?"
A calm voice called out from the small dirt slope below.
The group looked down and saw a scruffy-looking middle-aged man at the base of the slope, standing behind a stall piled high with stones.
The man wore a thick red cap pulled low over his face, making it hard to see what he looked like. He glanced toward Natsume—the only adult in the group.
"Fifty, and I'll be your guide," the man said, holding out his hand.
"Fifty? That's way too little. I usually charge five hundred—"
Halfway through his sentence, the man suddenly stopped himself, sensing something was off. He went quiet and stared at Natsume.
"How about this," Natsume replied, "I buy a few stones from your stall, and you guide us for free for two days?"
He recognized the man in front of him as Flint, Brock's father. If he remembered correctly, Pikachu's strength later on had something to do with this guy.
Since this was connected to his S-Rank research topic, Natsume couldn't take any chances. He'd avoid disturbing the original timeline if at all possible.
"Haha, sounds good to me—if you buy enough."
Flint laughed heartily, stepping aside to reveal the stones lined up on the table.
"Wait, you're seriously buying from him? He looks so shady," Misty whispered in Natsume's ear.
"Hey now, don't talk trash about me behind my back, little guy," Flint replied with a grin.
"Who're you calling little guy!?"
"Ah, Misty, let it go," Ash said quickly, pulling Misty away before she could blow up.
Meanwhile, Natsume stepped forward to inspect the goods.
Pewter City was known for its rocks. Aside from some valuable collectibles, there were also evolution stones and battle-related materials among them.
Natsume glanced over the stones and frowned slightly.
Many of them had multiple fractures—almost like they'd been sliced with lightning.
"These are raw stones. You never know what you'll get inside—maybe something good!" Flint said with a serious tone when he saw Natsume browsing.
"These ones here, priced around 1,000, can sometimes reveal Fire Stones or Leaf Stones. But I'd recommend the 5,000-tier ones—sometimes you get fossils!"
"Fossils?" Misty asked, puzzled. "Aren't those just collector's items? They're nothing compared to evolution stones, right?"
"You can sell 'em to those clueless researchers. They always pay big!" Flint replied shamelessly.
Natsume: "…"
"These smaller stones underneath…?"
Natsume noticed that underneath the higher-priced raw stones were some smaller ones, priced at a mere 50 to 100 Pokédollars—almost like they were being given away. Even a basic Poké Ball cost 200.
"Haha, those are just for fun. There's nothing inside them," Flint explained.
"Is that so?" Natsume raised an eyebrow and pulled out his Rotom Phone to scan the stone in his hand.
Flint saw his doubt and clapped him on the shoulder. "Tell you what, if you find anything valuable in there, I'll be your guide for free!"
"You've got yourself a deal."
Natsume immediately started digging through the pile of cheap stones.
"Kid, I'll be honest—those are the leftovers I sorted out myself. Unless you've got a good eye like me, you won't find squat."
Natsume didn't answer. He didn't know how sharp his eye was—but Rotom's X-ray scan certainly was.
"This one."
Right after Flint spoke, Natsume pulled out a palm-sized rock.
"Go, Geodude—use Rock Smash!"
Flint sent out his Geodude without hesitation.
"Don't worry, my Geodude is professionally trained. It won't damage anything inside."
Boom!
With a light tremor, the rock shattered into dust—revealing a faint, bluish gleam beneath the debris.
"A Water Stone!" Misty immediately recognized it.
"Whoa, you got lucky," Flint said, looking a bit embarrassed.
That stone was priced at just 60 Pokédollars—but a Water Stone was worth at least 3,000.
Before he could say anything else, Natsume tossed another fist-sized rock—this one marked at 120—at Flint's feet.
"Crack this one too."
"You sure? First one's free—after that, it's 50 Pokédollars per crack."
Natsume said nothing and continued digging through the pile, tossing rock after rock at Flint's feet.
Soon, there were more than twenty stones stacked up.
"…Sigh."
Flint shook his head, assuming Natsume was just a clueless rookie.
To him, finding even one Water Stone among the scraps was already a miracle.
"Twenty-six rocks. That'll be 1,300. Geodude, Rock Smash!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of explosive cracks later, the ground was littered with glittering dust and—
Brilliant colors sparkled among the fragments.
"So many yellow ones, red ones, green ones—Natsume, you're amazing!"
"Idiot, those are Thunder Stones, Fire Stones, and Leaf Stones!" Misty corrected him, eyes gleaming as she stared at the dazzling pile.
Yep… there were even four Water Stones in there.
"…What?" Flint was frozen.
These rocks were just leftover scraps from years of sorting—and now he realized he'd thrown out a fortune.
He stared at the colorful evolution stones, feeling his heart bleed.
"Good thing Natsume doesn't have your trash taste. Otherwise, all of this would've been missed," Ash said sincerely.
Flint: "…"
"Ahem… I think I'm closing for the day."
Seeing Natsume reaching back into the pile, Flint quickly bundled up his stall and covered the remaining stones.
Natsume found it odd—he clearly saw that the mound looked hollow, like there were more rocks deeper inside.
Misty stood up, dusted her hands, and said, "Anyway, mister, shouldn't you honor your promise now?"
Flint froze. He'd nearly forgotten… not only did he lose his stock, now he had to work for free.
"Alright, alright. Uncle's gonna keep his word…"
"Great! Take me to the Pewter Gym right away!" Ash said excitedly.
Flint stopped in his tracks. He looked at Ash, then glanced at the Pikachu on his shoulder.
"Pika pi?" Pikachu tilted its head in confusion.
After a brief pause, Flint said seriously:
"You won't beat the Pewter Gym."
"Well, I won't know until I try! I'm pretty confident!" Ash said with a grin, patting his chest.
"I'll take you all to the Pokémon Center first. Rest up before anything else," Flint replied, turning to lead the way.
"Come on, let's go straight to the gym—Ow! Misty, why're you pulling my ear!?"
"You might not need rest, but we do. Right, Natsume?"
Natsume was behind them, packing up the rainbow-colored stones before turning to follow.
"I agree. Better to rest first."
This haul had been incredible.
Water Stone x4, Fire Stone x3, Thunder Stone x2, Leaf Stone x3—and likely due to their proximity to Mt. Moon, Moon Stone x6, the most common of the bunch.
In addition to the standard evolution stones, there was one Dawn Stone, one Oval Stone, and one Everstone.
There were also several type-enhancing gems that boosted the power of specific move types.
After reviewing the newly added stones in his system inventory, Natsume looked up. The others had already walked ahead.
He stared at Flint's back in thought.
If he remembered correctly, Flint was the one who taught Ash the trick to strengthening Pikachu after losing at the Pewter Gym.
As far as current research went, there was some published data on that method. But the power boost was minimal—nowhere near enough to make Pikachu the powerhouse it would one day become.