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Chapter 16 - Chapter 16: The Pokémon Center and Joy

After thoroughly exploring the Community Center, Ron found no additional scrolls—except for one detail that caught his attention: the counter area.

It closely resembled a Pokémon Center's layout: one side for healing injured Pokémon, the other for selling essentials like Poké Balls and Potions.

The sales side, in particular, showed signs of recent activity—the corner was conspicuously dust-free, as if someone had recently taken something from there.

Ron paused, then pulled the unused Poké Ball from his pocket.

Just then, the door creaked open.

Ron turned to see Pierre stepping inside, eyes locking onto the Poké Ball in Ron's hand.

"I knew I'd missed something," Pierre said with a pained sigh. "But since you found it, I suppose it's fine for you to have it."

"…"

Pierre walked closer, scanning the room as if searching for more overlooked items. "Don't look at me like that—I paid Lewis fair price for everything. Legally, it's all mine."

He'd happened to see Ron asking Lewis for the key earlier and immediately suspected there was still something valuable left behind.

Missing out on profit? Unacceptable. He'd dropped everything and rushed over.

"This Poké Ball was given to me by Gunther," Ron said, pocketing it. "So… you're price-gouging? Selling one for 5,000G?"

Pierre rubbed his hands together with an awkward chuckle. "That's just business! I paid upfront and assumed all the risk of unsold inventory—so I set the price however I like."

Ron said nothing—just stared at him steadily.

Under that unwavering gaze, Pierre adjusted his glasses uncomfortably.

"I could give you a discount… everything's negotiable," he added weakly.

"What else did you take?" Ron asked, relieved he hadn't actually bought Poké Balls from the store. "Do you have Potions?"

"Potions?" Pierre shook his head. "Shouldn't those be sold at the clinic? Why would I stock them?"

He'd spent nearly 200,000G acquiring those Poké Balls. The good news? As the only supplier, he'd slowly sold some—though not enough to break even yet. But the future looked bright…

Especially now that Ron had inherited the farm and would continue Pokémon breeding. Pierre already saw mountains of gold piling up in his mind.

Watching Pierre's greedy grin, Ron fell silent for a moment, then leaned in.

"You should lower your prices… and sell as much as you can now."

It was a genuine warning.

Since the Community Center's requirements were tied to Kalos, there was likely a way to travel there—and return.

Maybe even set up a new item shop in Pelican Town someday.

Pierre glanced sideways at Ron. "If you're buying in bulk, I'll let you have them for 4,900G."

"…" Ron turned and walked out without another word.

Completely oblivious, Pierre finished his search, confirmed no Poké Balls remained, and left—locking the door behind him, dreams of wealth dancing in his head.

---

Meanwhile, in Kalos – Pokémon Nurse Academy

A new class of soon-to-graduate Joys were reviewing their assignment preferences.

"If I had to choose, I'd pick a big city," one Joy sighed dreamily. "Preferably one with a Gym and Contest Hall… maybe I'd even meet a legendary Trainer!"

"What about you?" another asked.

A Joy with a jelly-like hair clip replied, "I want to go to Pelican Town."

"Pelican Town? Where's that? Is it in Kalos?"

"I'm not sure… but Gabriel was from there." She touched her clip gently. "My mom gave this to me—she used to work in Pelican Town. If they're opening a Pokémon Center there, I'd love to go."

Her mother often spoke of the place—so much that she'd grown fond of it herself.

She'd heard tales of animals unseen in Kalos, creatures too wild to be caught in Poké Balls…

Even whispers of magic—a power that let humans perform moves like Pokémon.

The other Joys exchanged confused glances. Too young to remember the Trainer who'd dominated the scene a decade ago, they'd never heard of Gabriel—or Pelican Town. They simply laughed, thinking she was joking.

---

Back in Pelican Town

Ron was busy chopping trees with Geodude.

Orthworm could technically help—but its digging often shattered wood into unusable splinters. So Ron assigned it to clear weeds instead: preparing a path and clearing space for the future Nursery.

By noon, after hours of clang-clang labor, Ron rewarded Orthworm with an iron ore.

Then, using Linus's survival tips, he stacked some logs and managed to start a campfire.

This wasn't a game—there was no crafting menu. Building a fire required real effort.

But once the flames caught, Ron began preparing his fish.

He'd eaten all the fried sardines from Willy's kitchen long ago—and didn't want to keep borrowing it. So he'd caught fresh fish and decided to try roasting them Linus-style.

Following Linus's directions, he'd found spring onions growing nearby. After planting some bulbs for future harvest, he began cleaning his catch.

It wasn't too difficult—except he lacked a proper knife. He had to make do with his broken iron sword to scrape scales and gut the fish.

Once rubbed with crushed scallions, he skewered the fish and set them over the fire. He broke half a loaf of bread for Froakie.

Just then—footsteps approached the farm gate.

"Uh… good afternoon," said Clint, Pelican Town's blacksmith, hesitating as he took in the scene: Ron, cooking over a crude fire like a true wilderness survivor, and Froakie nibbling bread beside him.

"I'm Clint. I live at the Blacksmith's in the southeast corner." His eyes fell on Ron's rusted, broken sword. After a pause, he added, "I heard you've been mining ore in the caves. Here—take this furnace. You can smelt the ore into metal… and maybe… forge yourself a proper sword."

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