"What is that?" Giovanni stared blankly at the frog. After a long pause, he finally spoke up: "An unknown Pokémon?"
"Perhaps?" The secretary said. "Or similar to the situation in Alola; it could be an Ultra Beast from an alternate dimension."
Giovanni rubbed his chin and reached out to rewind the video.
He specifically zoomed in on the frog's movements this time. Watching it easily spit out its tongue and instantly swallow the 5-meter-tall Zygarde whole, Giovanni fell silent for a moment before pointing at the frog and saying, "Use whatever means necessary. Get your hands on it."
"Understood." The secretary nodded and turned around to start issuing orders.
On the other side, Bonnie poked Squishy, who had lost its drive to fight inside her bag, then squatted down next to the frog. "It's so amazing—even more amazing than Squishy."
"Does it only know that one move?" Serena, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but ask.
"Yeah, it only has that one," Ron replied. By now, he had finally finished cooking and brought the food to the table.
Along with the food, he placed the brewed Stardrop Tea next to everyone's plates.
"Time to eat," Ron called out to the side.
Before the words fully left his mouth, the few people who had been studying the frog had all sat down at the table.
"Smells good! Can we start eating?" Bonnie asked.
Seeing Ron nod, she immediately grabbed her spoon and started eating heartily.
"So good, this is so good!" Bonnie held up her fork, pointing at the pan-seared beef. "Delicious, and this is delicious too."
The frog, which had been the center of attention just a moment ago, was now sitting all alone on the ground. Although the frog didn't seem to mind, Froakie still sympathetically patted its shoulder before leaping onto the table and starting to eat with big bites.
Aside from everyone's Pokémon, Team Rocket's Pokémon were also in the line to eat. Facing a trainer they were meeting for the first time, the few Pokémon maintained a high level of vigilance.
Especially James's Mime Jr. It stared at Ron warily, looking him up and down. If it were other Pokémon, they might have had the experience of being borrowed by some Team Rocket members. But Mime Jr. had absolutely none. Moreover, because of its relatively weak abilities, even James rarely let it participate in battles.
"Smooch." Mime Jr. cried out to the Lickitung next to it.
"Lick?" Lickitung had just extended its tongue, rolling the food from the plate into its mouth. Hearing Mime Jr.'s inquiry, it paused, tilted its head, and replied, "Lick."
Seeing Lickitung's completely unbothered attitude, Mime Jr. instantly grew anxious.
"Mime!"
"Lick." Lickitung chewed the food in its mouth. Seeing Mime Jr. try to drag it away to find James, it paused, reached out a paw, grabbed a handful of food from the plate, and shoved it right into Mime Jr.'s mouth.
"Lickitung."
At this point, let's just eat first.
"Mime!" Mime Jr. was just about to spit the food out, but as it rolled around on its tongue, it couldn't help but chew it a bit.
"Miiii—" It chewed a bit more, paused, and then kept on chewing.
"Mime!"
"Lick." Seeing Mime Jr. start to eat heartily, Lickitung finally relaxed and began eating as well.
Completely oblivious to the Pokémon's little commotion, the four people at the table were quietly eating their meal.
Serena picked up the cup beside her, praised Ron's cooking, and then took a sip of the so-called low-spec Stardrop Tea.
The moment the tea entered her mouth, she froze.
"How is it?" Abigail asked eagerly from beside her.
"It's delicious—" Serena smelled it again, then took another sip. "I can't believe there's tea this good in the world! If this is sold in Kalos, it'll definitely be a massive hit!"
Bonnie nodded in agreement.
"See, I told you," Abigail said. Leaning back in her chair, she took a sip. As the tea went down, she shot a sideways glance at Ron. "Hey, I just noticed—"
"Noticed what?" Haley asked.
Abigail opened her mouth, then leaned in close to Haley's ear and whispered, "Don't you think—Ron looks different?"
"Different?" Haley froze for a second. To observe Ron without being obvious, she picked up her cup, taking sips of tea while carefully studying him.
"How so?"
"I don't know," Abigail said. "He just feels a little... unfamiliar."
She couldn't quite put it into words, but she just felt that Ron was a bit more eye-catching right now. If she had to say it, maybe he just looked a little more handsome?
She pondered this.
"Now that you mention it, yeah." Haley stared at him for a while and couldn't help but say, "He does seem more handsome. I never noticed it before—maybe because we've been traveling for so long, I feel a bit distanced from him, so I'm noticing things I didn't before?"
Haley said, sounding a bit unsure. "So you end up noticing his charming points that you missed."
Abigail thought about it and agreed with Haley's reasoning.
After finishing lunch, the group started packing up their things, preparing to spend the night at the Pokémon Center in the next town. At their current pace, they would undoubtedly arrive in Shalour City by noon tomorrow. Ron planned to escort the four to Shalour City and then immediately head back to Coumarine City.
Judging by Serena and Bonnie's reactions, Ron felt that selling the Stardrop Tea in Kalos shouldn't be a problem at all. If things went smoothly after returning to Coumarine City, he could go back to Pelican Town and start preparing the tea saplings. Because he would need a massive amount of seeds, fiber, and wood, preparing enough tea saplings would keep Ron quite busy.
With this in mind, the group finished packing up and continued onward toward the next town.
Meanwhile, in Coumarine City.
Because the tea had been delivered personally by the Mayor, the research lab immediately tested its composition.
"How is it?" The Mayor waited anxiously for the results. "Were any psychoactive drugs mixed in?"
"None," the researcher said, carefully looking over the inspection report. "It just contains regular tea leaves, plus a certain type of fruit. This fruit is a bit unusual; we haven't found a match for it in our database yet—it might be unique to that region."
"However, the composition of this fruit is still a bit strange," the researcher continued. "But based on our observations so far, it's not harmful to either Pokémon or humans. If anything, it seems to have the effect of improving one's physical constitution."
"I see." The Mayor let out a long breath of relief. His brows smoothed out, and he excitedly dialed Ramos' number.
With the intention of using this tea to turn Coumarine City into a hot tourist destination in Kalos in one fell swoop, the Mayor immediately zoned off a massive plot of land for the upcoming tea plantation.
"That's roughly the plan," Ramos replied over the phone. "The moment he arrives, I'll notify you right away."
The Mayor acknowledged this and left the research lab happily, carrying the remaining bit of tea leaves with him.
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