After settling the arrangement with Pam for Nacli to take the bus to the desert, Ron showed Nacli the route to the Desert himself, then returned to the farm.
There wasn't much other work during this period. Aside from sending cows to Kalos via the Warp Totem when they were ready for market, and Ron going to the pasture himself to buy more cattle, there was nothing else to keep him busy.
Although he had used up all the savings from both the farm and Kalos a few days ago, and the profits from the Pale Ale were being withheld by Lewis until the 500,000g was paid off...
...he still had money to buy cattle. After all, the farm had income from vegetables, plus the beef and chicken sold to Kalos, so he wasn't too short on cash.
After finishing the day's work, Ron lay on his bed, examining the Everstone in his hand.
The Everstone wasn't among the stones needed to unlock the Greenhouse, so there was no immediate use for it.
Just as Ron was pondering this, Froakie beside him suddenly reached out a paw and pressed it onto the Everstone.
"You want this?" Ron turned his head and asked.
"Froak!" Froakie cried out.
Ron suddenly remembered. He grabbed the Pokédex from beside him and checked, realizing that Froakie's level had long surpassed the requirement for evolution.
So the reason it hadn't evolved yet was because it didn't want to?
Ron turned to look at it.
Unfortunately, his mind-reading ability wasn't active, so Ron didn't know what it was thinking. However, suppressing evolution on its own must be very uncomfortable, so Ron reached out and handed over the Everstone.
Meanwhile, Indeedee, lying on the small bed, turned its head to look at Froakie squatting by the pillow.
After listening for a moment, it turned its head with understanding.
The reason for not wanting to evolve was simple. Ron didn't have any battles to fight right now, so evolving or not made no difference to Froakie.
But if it evolved from Froakie into Frogadier, its body would be larger, and it wouldn't be able to squat on Ron's shoulder anymore.
Watering on the farm was now fully automated. Aside from fishing, there wasn't much else it could help with.
Ron had plenty of work to keep him busy. Only when squatting on his shoulder could it spend more time with Ron.
Additionally, it had heard some experiences from Nacli about staying with normal trainers. It seemed few trainers kept larger Pokémon by their side; most Pokémon only traveled alongside their trainers while small, and once they grew slightly larger, they were kept inside Poké Balls.
"Indeedee."
Indeedee called out from over there.
Froakie also knew that Ron might be the type who wouldn't interfere much even if it evolved, as long as it wanted to stay outside its Poké Ball.
But compared to running behind Ron, standing on his shoulder was definitely more comfortable.
Thinking this, Froakie responded with a cry, wrapped the Everstone in bubbles, and stuck it onto its neck.
Ron was also leaning on his pillow, thinking about winter.
The factory in Kalos didn't require anyone to be there all the time.
If possible, taking everyone on a trip to challenge Gyms wouldn't be a problem either.
Thinking this, Ron asked, "When winter comes, would you guys want to travel around Kalos for a while?"
As soon as he said this, Froakie beside him responded first.
The Rattatas didn't react much, which wasn't surprising. Among this nest of Rattatas on the farm, aside from Sailor's cheerful personality, the rest were all timid.
As for Sailor, it had its own work to keep it busy. Compared to traveling and adventuring with him, it preferred the safe yet adrenaline-pumping activity of rummaging through Pelican Town's trash cans every day.
Things like having to look left and right every time to avoid affecting its image in the eyes of the Pelican Town residents, and so on.
Indeedee shook its head from the side.
Although traveling with Ron wasn't bad, it preferred to stay on the farm and take care of the whole family there.
Besides, Pokémon Centers had Pokémon transporters, so even if Ron needed something, it could be brought over urgently.
Seeing this, Ron thought for a while. After a long moment, he decided to let Froakie go with Gloom to the Mine to gain some experience during this period.
Additionally, since the Glow Ring was equally effective when worn by Pokémon, Ron planned to test whether other rings could be used and if they provided extra bonuses when worn.
Thinking this, Ron slowly closed his eyes.
—
Fall 18th.
Early that morning, after making breakfast for the Pokémon as usual, Ron squatted at the doorway allocating Potential Points for Froakie and Gloom.
Just as Ron was evenly distributing the stats to prepare for the upcoming trip, Gloom pulled out a stack of papers from somewhere and handed them to Ron.
"What's this—" Ron paused, took it and looked, realizing these were blueprints for crafting combat-related items.
He flipped through the Pokédex and noticed that Gloom, the only one with combat skills, had now reached the max combat level of 10.
Because Gloom's situation was special, with both Attack and Defense stacked very high, Ron chose two professions that couldn't be upgraded with Potential Points but provided crit bonuses.
They were Scout and Desperado, increasing crit rate by 50%, plus 2x Crit Damage.
After making the profession choices, Ron took a look at Gloom's current stats.
Every single stat was amazingly high.
Although its overall level was only 50, thanks to the accumulation of so many Potential Points, its stats were comparable to a max-level Gloom.
After thinking for a moment, Ron decided to let Gloom take Froakie along to try out the Skull Cavern.
Ron hadn't been to the Skull Cavern even once since picking up the Dwarf.
For one thing, the mechanics were different. Unlike the regular Mines, where an elevator was unlocked every five floors allowing access to corresponding levels later, the Skull Cavern reset every day regardless of how deep one went.
For another, the best option for mining in the desert was using bombs, not digging with a pickaxe.
This wasn't very friendly for Geodude, the main mining force.
Furthermore, most of the combat experience was concentrated on Gloom. The Geodudes weren't high level; although they had Potential Point bonuses from mining, taking them to the Skull Cavern would still be tough.
Calculating this, Ron made a bunch of bombs, took Gloom and Froakie, and headed towards the bus stop.
Pam came to work early in the morning. Since her and Penny's new house was scheduled to be built on the 24th, she had been working with high spirits every day during this period.
Seeing Ron, she greeted him warmly.
Upon learning he wanted to take the Bus to the Desert, Pam reached out to block his hand from buying a ticket, then pointed at the bus and said, "No need, get on!"
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