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Although Peter was quite curious that Sato would actually choose a seemingly ordinary Duskull Pokémon Egg tucked away in the corner, he never once asked Sato anything about it.
The reason was simple: Peter figured it was either his own eyes that had failed to spot the egg's true value—or Sato's eyes that had malfunctioned, making him believe he'd struck gold through sheer luck.
Still, whatever the reason, it didn't stop Peter from seizing the opportunity to jack up the price. That, after all, was one of his favorite pastimes aside from bragging.
For Peter, who had grown up in poverty, those green Alliance bills were the most wonderful things in the world—far more precious than any rare collectible.
"I must say, Mr. Sato, you have the sharpest eye I've ever seen. This rare Duskull Pokémon Egg I retrieved from a dangerous ruin in the Hoenn region—I had intentionally placed it in that corner, and yet you still spotted it. For that, I think I can offer you a deal—"
Peter clapped his hands as he walked over with a smile to Sato, who was holding the Duskull Pokémon Egg. With a perfectly straight face, he began to spin a so-called legendary tale about his connection to the egg.
As Peter spoke with flair and enthusiasm, the Duskull Pokémon Egg was transformed in his story into the direct descendant of a Ghost-type Pokémon powerful enough to defeat minor legendary Pokémon. Its value, without anyone noticing, had already inflated dozens of times over.
'If this guy doesn't become a storyteller, it's a waste of talent. He must've put most of his life skill points into the con artist profession—I almost believed I'd picked up a glittering golden egg. Though in fairness, this Duskull Pokémon Egg really is a golden egg.'
Watching the middle-aged man before him lie through his teeth with an utterly calm expression, Sato couldn't help but marvel at how wildly Peter's demeanor contrasted with his earlier persona.
Sato also noticed, keenly, that the shadow behind Peter revealed the embarrassed face of the Gengar hiding within it. Even Gengar seemed ashamed of its trainer's antics.
The aloof and mysterious Peter from earlier?
Gone without a trace!
What stood before Sato now was clearly a flamboyant, repressed middle-aged man in disguise—one who'd willingly shed his mask the moment he smelled the sweet scent of Alliance money.
Unfortunately for Peter, his opponent this time was also someone who had grown up poor—Sato himself. And as a farmer's son, Sato was no slouch when it came to bargaining.
Half an hour later, Sato emerged from the Ghost House with a satisfied expression, carrying two incubators holding Pokémon Eggs. Behind him, Peter also wore a pleased grin.
After a fierce price war, Sato, a fellow child of poverty, had fully showcased his haggling prowess, slashing Peter's original asking price of 80 million PokéDollars down to just 10 million.
Compared to Misdreavus—with a base stat total of 435—Duskull's 295 made it clearly inferior. Add to that the fact that Duskull, like Gastly, was a widely distributed Ghost-type Pokémon, and it was much less rare than Misdreavus.
As such, the typical market price of a Duskull Egg hovered around 5 million PokéDollars, meaning Peter had still made out like a bandit. He was quite satisfied.
As for selling live Duskull—unless one could confirm the individual Pokémon's high potential—most Pokémon hunters wouldn't bother trying to sell such low-tier Ghost-types.
Demand was just too low (looks do matter). Since Ghost-types like Duskull were relatively easy to catch, most trainers preferred doing it themselves rather than wasting money buying one.
This was also why Peter's collection rarely included initial-stage Ghost-types like Gastly. They simply didn't sell. Keeping them around was just a waste of food money—and Ghost-types weren't cheap to feed, either.
Peter, being a shrewd and heartless merchant, didn't deal in money-losing products.
Gastly, in particular, was just too common among Ghost Pokemon in the Kanto region. Anyone willing to look could find one in nearly any graveyard after dark.
Hunters like Peter, who specialized in capturing Ghost-types, preferred going after higher-value or rarer specimens, such as Dusclops or Haunter.
After walking a fair distance from the Ghost House, Sato took out a black wristband and placed the two Pokémon Eggs inside this wristband-shaped storage equipment.
He then turned to glance back at the now-shut Ghost House. Seconds later, Crobat suddenly swooped down from above and carried him into the night sky.
By their very nature, Ghost-type Pokémon were dead things. They didn't need to breathe, and the same was true of their Pokémon Eggs.
So unlike the Pichu Egg he'd handled before, Sato didn't need to keep the Misdreavus or Duskull Eggs in his regular backpack. They could safely be stored in his storage gear.
In addition, Sato also placed the jade pendant into the same compartment as the two Eggs. This pendant was the 770-million PokéDollar Intermediate Life Energy Collector.
According to The Grimoire of Dark Spirits, Ghost-type Pokémon Eggs were much harder to hatch than those of other types. Standard incubators were completely ineffective for them.
The reason lay in their severe deficiency in life energy. Most Pokémon Eggs were born rich in life force. Ghost-type Eggs, however, received no such blessing.
Pokémon Eggs were supposed to nurture life—but Ghost-type Pokémon were, in essence, dead things. Without vitality of their own, if they wanted to be born or even just continue existing in the mortal realm, they had to absorb life energy from living creatures—or certain kinds of negative energy.
In other words, Ghost-type Pokémon Eggs could only hatch by absorbing sufficient life force or negativity.
In a way, hatching a Ghost-type Pokémon Egg was a grueling transformation from death to life.
Misdreavus primarily fed on fear energy, but it could also consume life energy, although it wouldn't significantly improve its growth or potential.
Since Sato didn't have anything like a fear energy collector, the only way he could hatch the Misdreavus Egg for now was by using life energy.
The jade pendant had been hanging from Sato's neck for quite a while, and was now fully charged with life energy. It was the perfect substitute for a hatching accelerator.
After placing the slightly overflowing pendant inside the spatial gear with the Eggs, the little ones inside would naturally begin absorbing the life energy in accordance with their instincts.
And just as Sato had expected, both Eggs reacted strongly to the life energy within the pendant.
When Sato returned to his hotel room and laid the three items out on a table for a short while, he noticed tiny greenish particles of light emerging from the pendant and slowly seeping into the surface of the pitch-black Ghost-type Eggs.
Though subtle, Sato could clearly observe one thing:
Each time one of those green particles merged into an Egg, its lifeless aura would brighten just a little—and the dark mist lingering around its surface would fade slightly.
Moreover, as the Eggs continued to absorb the glowing particles, faint white specks began to appear on their otherwise ink-black shells.
These tiny white dots shone like starlight, standing out brilliantly against the dark shell—just like stars in a midnight sky.