That night, John found himself once again playing host, treating the museum owners and senior management of the Trainer Association to a lavish dinner. The conversation flowed as freely as the drinks, with glasses being raised and refilled in steady succession.
As the evening wound down, Harisson leaned across the table toward John.
"So, when are you planning to challenge an Elite Four?" Harrison asked, swirling the amber liquid in his glass.
John considered the question carefully. "I’ll need some preparation time. In a few month? But much more probably next year," he replied.
The strategy made perfect sense. To successfully defeat an Elite Four member, one needed absolute certainty. The later, the better, especially since John still needed to obtain the extraordinary abilities hidden within the Galar region.
Harisson nodded approvingly. "I’ll have my assistant send over all the Elite Four materials my team has collected. We’ve been gathering intel for three years now, and some of it is... let’s just say, not public knowledge."
"Thank you, Harisson," John said with genuine gratitude.
This was invaluable. Challenging an Elite Four member wasn’t something you did on a whim. You needed to study your opponent thoroughly, what kind of rival they were, which Pokemon they owned, their trump card Pokemon, and their preferred battle style. Only then could you formulate an effective counter-strategy.
"Don’t mention it," Harisson waved dismissively, his expression brightening. "I’m just waiting for you to claim that Elite position first. Then I’ll make my own challenge in the second half of next year."
He grinned broadly. "Just imagine, three Elite Four members from the same school!"
It was an ambitious fantasy, but not an impossible one.
"Then let’s work hard together," John extended his fist, and Harrison bumped it with his own.
Starting the next day, John invited several senior members of the Trainer Association to accompany him while visiting Froakie populations across various ranches.
For half a month, John inspected ranch after ranch with meticulous attention. Each facility housed more than 10,000 Froakies. As one of the three royal starter families, the Froakie breeding program was extensive.
From each ranch, John selected one hundred Froakies, half with perfect IVs, half ordinary specimens. By the time he returned to Grassmere Gym, he had collected approximately 2,000 Froakies. Among them, only a single Froakie possessed the "Battle Bond" ability.
The probability was discouragingly low.
In just fifteen days, John had visited nearly all the major ranches and Froakie-exclusive facilities in Draconia. He’d examined approximately 500,000 Froakies, roughly three-quarters of the entire Froakie population in the country.
"I’ll need to schedule visits to foreign ranches," he muttered to himself.
A single Froakie with the Battle Bond ability wasn’t enough to satisfy his research needs. There was no need to plan a trip specifically for this purpose, though. The World Pokemon Tournament would involve challenging high-ranking Trainers from beyond Draconia’s borders. He could simply incorporate ranch visits into his international competition schedule.
After completing his domestic ranch inspections, John returned to Grassmere Gym.
He’d barely set foot in the backyard when a golden blur launched itself at him, bringing with it several small fireballs that nearly knocked him to the ground.
"Woof! Woof! WOOF!" Arcanine circled him excitedly, tongue lolling out.
"Even after evolving, you’re still basically a husky!" John laughed, rubbing his dog’s head affectionately. He had only brought his main team on this trip, leaving several Pokemon behind, including Arcanine.
Since evolving with a treasure-level Fire Stone, Arcanine had developed an effect similar to Morning Sun. As a Shiny Pokemon, it resembled a miniature sun on bright days, radiating warmth throughout its body. During winter, John never needed to turn on the heater when at home. In summer, however, he had to crank the air conditioning down a few extra degrees.
"Go play," John patted Arcanine and then waved to the "gargoyle" perched on the roof.
Aerodactyl didn’t budge from its favorite spot.
"Everyone, we’re home! Come out!" John tossed all the Pokeballs from his belt into the air.
His Pokemon emerged one after another, each heading to their preferred spots in the ranch.
Totem Salamence soared immediately skyward, making its way toward a distant mountain peak it called home.
Shiny Gyarados dove straight into the dark rain clouds and began stirring up waves. It had been raining at Grassmere Ranch for days, another sign of the water dragon’s contentment.
Greninja sprinted across the grassland, where the newly arrived Battle Bond Froakie awaited training.
Steelix burrowed underground, carving out passages for Tyranitar and Aggron to follow.
Hariyama headed straight for the kitchen to begin preparing the evening’s Pokemon dinner.
After releasing his Pokemon, John entered the villa.
Emerald, his ranch manager, was waiting with a financial statement covering the month John had been away from Grassmere Gym.
John skimmed the figures.
Monthly income: approximately 10 billion. Not extraordinary, but respectable.
The market for Ralts had begun to shrink, with prices falling accordingly. John maintained his policy of releasing only ten Pokemon at a time to the market, meaning only twenty had been sold this month. Unless they were Pokemon with perfect IVs or quasi-legendary status, individual sales rarely reached the 500 million mark.
Therefore, a significant portion of the 10 billion revenue came from Pokeblocks.
As John sold more Pokemon, the Pokeblocka that accompanied them as complementary items had become sought-after commodities among wealthy Trainers. Many discovered that their Pokemon refused ordinary food after tasting Pokeblocks. Furthermore, Pokemon raised on Pokeblocka consistently outperformed others in both strength and appearance.
Professional researchers eventually determined that Pokeblocks were highly concentrated nutritional supplements. Pokemon absorbed nutrients from Pokeblocka much more efficiently than from ordinary food, explaining the enhanced development.
However, John’s breeding facility remained the sole source of Pokeblocks. Other breeders and businesses had attempted to replicate them without success.
The raw ingredients were common enough, ordinary berries, but the true technology lay in the Berry Mixer.
John had established a laboratory to mass-produce the Berry Mixer he’d obtained from his Gameboy. With only one Berry Mixer per region, meeting market demand for Pokeblocks remained challenging.
Wealthy Trainers represented just the first step in John’s Pokeblocks business plan. Once Berry Mixers could be mass-produced, he intended to revolutionize the entire Pokemon breeding food industry.