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"——" The Wizard paused. Thinking that he had never flown in this region before, he changed his tune: "Then when we get to Lumiose City, you have to help me buy a ticket... for Sinnoh."
"No problem."
Although this request sounded a bit strange, maybe that town just naturally produced eccentrics. Thinking this, Viola readily agreed.
"It's decided, go Surskit," Viola said, sending out her Surskit.
"——" The Wizard tossed his Poké Ball, and a sluggish Caterpie appeared in front of Viola.
It looked absolutely no different from any other Caterpie. Viola thought for a moment and launched the first attack: "Surskit, use Water Gun."
"Hold on—I remember Ron mentioning something about type advantages, let me check." Saying this, the Wizard opened his Pokédex.
Surskit's Water Gun hit Caterpie squarely. Logically speaking, even without a type disadvantage, a Caterpie hit by Water Gun should at least take some damage or be knocked back a certain distance.
But no. The Caterpie just stood there blankly, just like its trainer, without any of the expected reactions.
At this point, the Wizard finished looking at the moves on the device and snapped the Pokédex shut: "Caterpie, use Thunderbolt."
"——?" Viola froze in place, looking at the Wizard in disbelief. Just as she was about to give him a crash course on basic Pokémon world common sense, she saw the Caterpie actually unleash Thunderbolt.
The Thunderbolt instantly struck Surskit with heavy damage.
Viola widened her eyes, looking at the Caterpie in disbelief.
The Caterpie, likewise, looked in disbelief at the Thunderbolt that had just struck Surskit.
"Pii..." I should be used to this by now...
The Caterpie thought, slowly wriggling a short distance across the ground.
"Pie." Maybe I'm not actually a Caterpie anymore...
Maybe I actually died after being caught by this man. And then was reincarnated as a magical Rayquaza.
Thinking this, the Caterpie wriggled a bit more and returned to the Wizard's feet.
"This situation probably means it's lost the will to battle, right?" The Wizard pointed at the fainted Surskit.
"——Ah, yes, right, right." Viola scooped up her Surskit and was just about to dig out a Potion from her pocket when the Wizard handed her a vial of potion.
"I brewed this myself; it's quite useful," he said, putting Caterpie away.
Viola looked at the bizarre, weird-smelling potion. Out of trust for Ron and Pelican Town, she fed it to Surskit.
After a moment, the Surskit in her arms started dry heaving, then trembled for a while. It took a long time before it finally opened its eyes.
"Sursk..." Was I poisoned to death?
Surskit wondered uncertainly. "Sursk."
It must be a hallucination right before dying from poison. That's why I saw a Caterpie use a super-powered Thunderbolt...
If I weren't a Pokémon, I probably would have been reduced to ashes by that terrifyingly powerful Thunderbolt...
Seeing that Surskit had recovered, albeit moving a bit sluggishly, Viola quickly recalled it and hurried after the Wizard.
"How did you do that?" Viola asked. "Why does your Caterpie know Thunderbolt? Is it a regional form?"
Are the Caterpies in Pelican Town Electric-type Pokémon?
"Regional form?"
"It means a Pokémon unique to Pelican Town," Viola explained.
"——No, I just caught it in this forest," the Wizard paused, then added, "Caught it last night."
"——?!"
Viola looked back at the forest and decided she would come back in a few days to catch a few Caterpies for research.
Meanwhile, Ribbon had finally bought enough accessories it liked. Ron carried Ribbon out of the shopping mall and took a look at the sales of the floral tea supplied to the food company along the way.
Ribbon sat contentedly in Ron's arms.
Because of Indeedee, almost before Ribbon even had to sensibly make a choice, Ron immediately bought every accessory that Ribbon liked.
For Ribbon—who used to scrimp and save for a long time, braving wind and rain every day just to afford a small hat or a hair clip—it was so happy right now that it felt like it was going to faint.
"Rattata, Rattata..." I'll wear this one tomorrow, that one the day after tomorrow, I can't wear them all, I simply can't wear them all!
"Rattata!" Ribbon cheered.
"——Indeed."
Indeedee patted Ribbon's head, not knowing whether to feel amused or envious that, as a Rattata, Ribbon's happiness came so simply and easily.
"Rattata." Ribbon called out happily, looking up at Ron: "Rattata!"
"Indeed."
Because listening to Indeedee's voice indirectly meant eavesdropping on the inner thoughts of all passersby, Ron had stopped using that skill after finishing his shopping.
No one wanted to inexplicably know what the random pedestrian next to them wanted to eat for dinner or what they went through yesterday.
Therefore, Ron didn't hear what Indeedee and Ribbon were chatting about. Anyway, it probably wasn't anything too important.
Thinking this, after coming out of a nearby tea shop, Ron held Ribbon and asked, "Do you plan to go back to Pelican Town for a few days, or stay here with us?"
"Rattata?"
"If you want to go back, I'll bring your things over when I return later," Ron continued. "But if you want to follow me, you'll probably have to stay in a Poké Ball most of the time."
"Rattata!" Ribbon grabbed the hem of Ron's shirt without any hesitation.
"Alright." Ron agreed.
After the tea trees were planted, Ron's plan was to first go to Lumiose City to check things like tea pricing, and then drop by Santalune City to invest all the money he had saved up recently into the construction of the ranch and factory there.
Ribbon looked up at Ron, who was planning things out, and called out again after a moment.
"Rattata."
Meanwhile, in the forest.
Less than a day's journey away from Lumiose City, Viola and the Wizard chose to set up camp in the forest for the night.
Having eaten Ron's cooking before, Viola took it for granted that the Wizard's culinary skills would be pretty good too. So she confidently took on the logistics work, watching with anticipation as the Wizard pulled out a large pot and tossed all sorts of ingredients into it.
"What's this?" Viola pointed at an unidentified wriggling ingredient inside.
"Uh——" The Wizard opened his mouth, about to say it was Bug Meat collected from the mines, but remembering Ron's warnings, he changed his words: "A Pelican Town ingredient."
"Then it must be delicious." Viola said, her face full of anticipation.
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