Sleep in the Ship was dreamless and profound, as if the vessel itself enforced restorative silence. Alberto woke feeling like a reset system—the psychic headache gone, the strange fatigue from using his elemental gifts faded to a mild ache, like the memory of a strenuous workout.
He ate a ration bar from the Pantry, the taste bland but functional. His mind was already running diagnostics, planning the day's operations.
Objective: Acquire a first crew member/partner (Designation: 'Ground-Type Specialist').
Secondary Objective:Continue capital and asset accumulation.
Hypothesis:A Pokémon native to subterranean environments will have non-combat utility (excavation, mineral detection, tunnel-based mobility) and high survivability.
Target:Diglett/Dugtrio. Primary location: Diglett's Cave, route connecting Pewter and Vermilion.
He checked the Catalogue. The Pickup ability hummed softly. On the floor next to his bedroll were two new items: a Repel (which he pocketed) and a Tiny Mushroom, a minor sellable item. The ability was already paying for itself.
Before leaving, he studied the door panel for the Pokémon world. The Premium Catalogue glowed. He had ₽200 and one Pokéball. It wasn't much, but he wasn't going to battle. He was going to negotiate, to offer a deal. And to do that, he needed to speak.
The Catalogue listed an ability: Pokémon Speech (Basic Empathy/Intent Translation): ₽50,000. Far out of reach. But his Psychic telepathy was a different tool. He'd felt the Weedle's simple impulses. Could he refine that? Project as well as receive?
It was a theory to test in the field.
He shouldered a small pack with rations and water from the Pantry, ensured the door to the Ship would reappear on his mental command, and stepped back into the Viridian Forest. The morning sun filtered through the canopy, and the forest was alive with chirps and rustles. He moved with a soldier's cautious pace, his psychic sense stretched out like a faint sonar, avoiding the brighter sparks of awareness that signaled larger Pokémon.
The walk to the route leading to Diglett's Cave was peaceful. He passed a few trainers, who eyed his lack of visible Pokéballs but didn't challenge him. His uniform marked him as an outsider, but not necessarily a trainer.
By mid-morning, he found the entrance: a gaping maw in a rocky hillside, the ground around it pockmarked with small holes. The sign, cheerfully painted, read: DIGLETT'S CAVE - CONNECTING TUNNEL! WATCH FOR FALLING ROCKS!
Alberto knelt, placing his hand on the soil. He pushed his Wood manipulation sense downward, feeling the root systems, the layers of clay and rock. And he felt them: distant, rapid vibrations, like living pistons moving through the earth. Dozens of them.
He took a deep breath and focused his Psychic ability, not on lifting, but on broadcasting. He pushed an image, a feeling: Curiosity. Offer. Partnership. Not capture.
He waited.
For a minute, nothing. Then, the earth three feet in front of him bulged. A small, brown, cylindrical head with a blunt nose and two black eyes poked out. It blinked at him. Diglett.
Its psychic impression was a steady, rhythmic pulse. Earth. Safety. Movement. Family?
Alberto smiled, keeping his body language open. He projected back: Safe. Movement to new places. New earth. Family.
The Diglett tilted its head. It let out a soft, "Dig-lett?" Then it vanished back into the hole.
Alberto's shoulders slumped slightly. Had he failed?
Suddenly, the ground in a ten-foot radius erupted. Not one, but seven Diglett heads popped out, surrounding him. From the central, largest hole, three heads emerged together on a single, shared base, their expressions more focused, more aware. Dugtrio.
The psychic noise increased—a chorus of simple, overlapping thoughts about food, tunneling, and curiosity about the strange surface-dweller who smelled like deep earth and cold stone (his Magma and Ice essence, he realized). The Dugtrio's thought was clearer, a rumbling bass note to the Digletts' chirps. You speak to the earth. But you are not earth. What do you offer?
This was the negotiation. Alberto had no berries, no fancy food. He had only his proposition. He focused on the Dugtrio.
He projected images: The endless steel corridor of the Ship (a feeling of vast, safe enclosure). The doors to other worlds (a concept of different earths, strange skies). He projected the feeling of his own loneliness, and the desire for a crew, a tribe.
Then, he raised his right hand. With careful control, he let a tiny flow of Magma heat gather in his palm, not enough to burn, but enough to make the air shimmer with warmth—the heat of the deep earth. He followed it with his left, coating his other hand in a shell of glittering frost—the minerals and stillness of the deepest rock.
The Digletts chattered excitedly. The Dugtrio's six eyes widened. It understood power. It understood essence.
You carry the deep places with you, the Dugtrio's thought came, intrigued. You offer travel? New tunnels?
Yes, Alberto projected. Partnership. You help me find the treasures of the earth. I take you to earths no Diglett has ever known. We protect each other.
The Dugtrio was silent, its heads conferring with a series of subtle nods. Then it gave a sharp bark. The surrounding Digletts vanished into their holes. The Dugtrio itself ducked down, then reappeared, pushing something ahead of it with one of its heads.
It was a stone. Not a common rock. It was smooth, internally faceted, and glowed with a faint, earthy yellow light. A Soft Sand hold item, which Alberto's game-knowledge identified as boosting Ground-type moves. In the real world, it was a concentrated chunk of geological energy, likely valuable.
First tribute, the Dugtrio thought. A sign of good digging. I will join you. My name is Trias.
A wave of relief and triumph washed over Alberto. He picked up the Soft Sand. It was warm and thrummed with a low frequency. "Thank you, Trias." He held up the empty Pokéball. "This is a… formal token of the partnership. It will connect us, and allow you to travel with me to places where the earth is not open. Do you accept?"
Trias nodded all three heads. One head tapped the button on the Pokéball.
The ball opened, consumed Trias in red light, snapped shut, and clicked locked without a single shake.
Alberto let out a long breath. He'd done it. Not through battle, but through diplomacy and a demonstration of shared affinity. He clipped the ball to his belt. It felt right.
The Catalogue hummed.
Acquisition: Partner 'Trias' (Dugtrio). Bond Established via Mutual Accord.
Pickup Activation: Proximity to Diglett/Dugtrio Colony multiplies effect.
As if on cue, Alberto noticed several small items now dotted the freshly-turned earth around the holes: two Tiny Mushrooms, a Pearl (a small, lustrous sphere worth ₽2,000), and a Stardust shard (worth ₽3,000). The combined Pickup ability and the Digletts' own natural hoarding had generated a small windfall.
He collected the items, his mind racing. This was a viable economic loop. But it was small-scale. He needed more capital, faster. The Soft Sand in his hand gave him an idea.
He looked at Trias's Pokéball, then back at the cave. He focused his Psychic sense toward the earth, amplifying it with his new, faint connection to his partner. He sent a pulse, a question, down into the network of tunnels.
Treasure? Deeper stone? Shining stone? Hard stone? For building. For strength.
A cascade of images and sensations bubbled up from the collective Diglett consciousness—not words, but impressions of locations within the maze of the cave: veins of common ore, pockets of exotic minerals, underground springs. And one, stronger, newer impression from Trias himself, of a recent tunneling project that had uncovered something… hard and bright.
Alberto recalled Trias. "Let's go see."
For the next four hours, Alberto and Trias explored the deeper, wilder sections of Diglett's Cave. It was not a sanctioned path. Trias would dig, Alberto would follow, using bursts of Ice to shore up unstable ceilings or Wood manipulation to grow temporary root-handholds. It was grueling, filthy, exhilarating work. He found veins of iron ore and common gem fragments he carefully chipped out. His pack grew heavy.
Finally, in a small, glittering cavern untouched by human light, Trias pointed three heads at a seam in the wall. Alberto approached. Using a focused, hot blade of Magma energy from his fingertip, he carefully cut away the surrounding rock.
It revealed a cluster of crystals. They were not just pretty. They vibrated with a palpable energy. Six small, blue Water Stones, four leaf-green Leaf Stones, and two fiery orange Fire Stones. Evolutionary stones. High-value commodities in this world.
But to Alberto, they were more. They were concentrated elemental energy in a stable, portable form. Could his Magma manipulation absorb a Fire Stone? Could he use a Water Stone to temper his heat or bolster his Ice? The potential was staggering. And their market value…
He carefully packed them away. This was the motherlode.
Exhausted but triumphant, he and Trias returned to the surface near the original entrance as evening fell. He released Trias, and they shared a meal of Ship rations (which Trias found bizarre but intriguing).
"We did good work, partner," Alberto said, patting one of Trias's heads. The Dugtrio rumbled contentedly, already half-asleep in the cool dusk air.
Alberto pulled out the Catalogue. His total haul, once sold, would be substantial. But he paused. He looked at the evolutionary stones, then at the Premium Catalogue listing for Pokémon Speech. He could afford it now. But was it the best investment?
A new line item in the Catalogue caught his eye. It was under a new tab: Multiversal Resource Index.
He selected it.
Analysis of acquired geological samples complete.
Evolutionary Stones (Pokémon World) classified as [TIER 2: ATTUNED ELEMENTAL CRYSTALS].
Universal Application: Can be used as foci for elemental manipulation abilities, as power sources for compatible magitech, or as high-value trade commodities in most magical/energetic economies.
Note: Certain worlds possess unique geological resources of higher tier. Procurement is recommended.
There it was. The Ship wasn't just a travel guide. It was an inventory system, and it was giving him a shopping list.
Stones. Crystals. Minerals. They were a universal currency of power.
He looked at Trias, then at the cave, and finally at the shimmering door only he could see, waiting to take him home.
He had his first crew member. He had capital. And now, he had a clearer long-term objective.
Step Three: Establish a resource pipeline. He needed more. Not just money. He needed the stones.
"Come on, Trias," he said, standing. "Let's go home. Tomorrow, we start trading. And then… we visit a world where the mountains themselves are alive with crystal."
The Dugtrio perked up, intrigued by the concept of living mountains. With a final look at the darkening cave, Alberto recalled his partner and focused on the Sanctuary.
The door appeared. He stepped through, into the silent, gleaming corridor, his pack heavy with the glow of stones and the weight of a new purpose. The adventure was no longer about survival. It was about construction. And every great construction project needs a foundation.
And for the foundation of a multiversal home, he would need stones.