18 Feebas

It didn't take more than three minutes for the first match to end. And instead of crowding around the arena with the others to spy on his future opponents during his free time, he decided to stroll around the Cerulean Gym in a leisurely manner.

Hisoka had already checked the public information of the trainer who came to apply for this mission on the bounty hunter website. Except for a few experienced trainers, most of them are just normal trainers.

Before he knew it, he had left the arena and come to the swimming pool area. This appears to be the place where the Gym Leader trains their Water-type Pokemon. There is a lot of Water-type Pokemon swimming around in the pool, but most of them are commonly seen around the Kanto region.

Staryu, Poliwag, Tentacool, Seel

'Hmmm? Wait for a second, this Pokemon!'

Suddenly, one Pokemon in the far corner of the pool captured Hisoka's attention. It is a shabby, old-looking, fish-like Pokemon with a light brown body covered in dark, irregular spots and tattered dull blue fins. Moreover, it has large sluggish eyes as it stays motionless in the pool. If it weren't for the occasional bubbles coming out of its mouth, everyone couldn't help but think it was dead.

It is Feebas, an ugly-looking Pokemon. It looks similar to a Magikarp but much smaller in size and far more ugly.

'Well, it looks very ugly.'

This is the first thing that usually comes into everyone's mind after discovering this Pokemon.

'Feebas!'

Hisoka was extremely surprised upon recognizing the fish-like Pokemon.

'But, how did it get here?' he thought.

Feebas are often found in oceans and weed-choked ponds, the kind of waters that are full of aquatic plants. While they are not as numerous as Magikarp, which can be found in waters around the world, there are still many of these Pokemon in existence. They just tend to cluster in small areas. That's why Feebas is considered a rare Pokemon.

However, due to its poor appearance, it is largely ignored by everyone. Even if a trainer catches a Feebas, they seldom choose to train it and just throw it back into the waters like an ordinary fish.

Moreover, only a few people know that the famous Milotic, called by the locals the most beautiful of all Pokemon from the Hoenn region, evolved from a Feebas.

Or maybe everyone just ignored it subconsciously?

After all, it is hard for everyone to believe that such an ugly-looking Pokemon could evolve into a beautiful Milotic. There's a world of difference between the two Pokemon appearances.

If it weren't for the memory from his previous life, Hisoka would not even have the slightest interest in the Pokemon in question. In fact, he would laugh at the person who told him that a Feebas could evolve into Milotic.

Another thing to note is that a Milotic is much rarer than a pseudo-legendary Pokemon from various regions. It has a beautiful peerless appearance and a mysterious and powerful strength.

The number of Milotic seen in the wild is low. And the number of Feebas that can evolve into a Milotic is even lower. This is due to Milotic's harsh evolution condition. So, even if the trainers knew Milotic's evolution method, they are considered extremely lucky if they owned a Milotic.

Hisoka knows how to evolve a Feebas from his past life memory, but he wasn't sure if the method is valid in this world. To evolve a Feebas, a trainer must raise its beautiful condition. And even if the beautifulness meets the evolution requirement, a trainer still must obtain a special item as a catalyst to induce its evolution.

That's right. The item is a Prism Scale.

Prism Scale is a mysterious scale that shines in rainbow colors. It is said that they were formed from the scales of Milotic that fell off from its tail after its natural death.

He obtained this information after he hacked into the main computer of the Water-type Pokemon research institute in the Hoenn region a year ago.

This means that every time a Feebas evolved into a Milotic, it is from the death of another Milotic. So, it's really hard to see a Milotic in the wild. Although a Prism Scale can also form naturally on a Feebas, it is a one-in-a-million occurrence. Meeting a wild Milotic is almost like meeting a legendary Pokemon.

...

"Hey, do you know anything about this Pokemon?" A women's voice snapped Hisoka out of his musings.

"Oh, it's you," Hisoka turned his body and saw a woman walking toward him. It was Lily, who served as the referee for his match just now.

"You haven't answered my question yet," Lily pointed her hand toward the pool and asked with a smile, "I see you've been standing here for a long time. Are you interested in this Pokemon?"

"I'm just curious. I have never seen this Pokemon before," he lied.

"Yeah, I was the same as you back then."

Then, she continued, "At first, my sisters and I thought that it was only a sick Magikarp. But after we brought it to Miss Joy, we later learned that it was a Pokemon from a different region, a Feebas. Well, it is an ugly-looking Pokemon, to be honest."

"Huh?"

Hisoka noticed the Feebas were glaring at Lily for a few seconds before diving toward the pool's depth. Apparently, it had heard Lily's words and went to brood by itself.

"Oops, looks like I made it angry again," Lily also noticed the movement underwater as she said embarrassedly.

Though, she quickly recovered as if she didn't mind her slip of the tongue and continued her talk, "It was accidentally discovered by my youngest sister when she was playing near the beach. Unfortunately, its fin was injured while it was stranded on the beach. Luckily, my sister saw it and quickly went to help it. If it weren't for her, the Pokemon would already be dead by now."