Bonnie had grown quite a bit taller, but was still a head shorter than Serena. Serena petted Bonnie's head and asked softly, "Did you come here just to find me?"
"Mm-hmm!" Bonnie responded. She then looked up, staring at Serena's appearance.
She actually had so many things she wanted to ask, so many things she wanted to say, but at this moment she couldn't say anything. She only felt that it was wonderful to reunite.
As for Serena, she actually couldn't explain why her tears had fallen either.
If she had to say, it was probably after passing by that person last time, she suddenly realized how vast the world was, how long life was—sometimes fate could continue, and sometimes there was only time for a hurried wave goodbye.
"Ah—" Abigail was stunned for a moment. Watching the two catching up, she then reacted, said something to Serena, and followed Ron to sit on a sofa not far away.
"This is from Caroline for you." Ron said, opening his backpack and taking things out one by one.
"Ah, Blackberry Cobbler!" Abigail received it delightedly. "This is definitely handmade by her. You can tell from one sniff. Although Gus can make it too, the taste is completely different from mom's."
She couldn't tell which was better or worse. In any case, both were delicious, but one of them was the taste of home.
Before Abigail could finish reminiscing, she then noticed the mountain of things piled on the table.
"—Are all of these for me? Heavens, did she move the entire general store over?" Abigail covered her mouth and said in disbelief.
"Probably?" Haley smiled: "Just packing them into the backpack, Ron took a long time."
"Mm, it'll probably be a few months before the next visit," Ron said: "Thinking about that, I guess she accidentally prepared a bit too much."
In any case, they wouldn't spoil in the bag. Because it was an interdimensional backpack, it wasn't heavy either, so it didn't matter.
"Right, there's also this." Ron said, taking out a bunch of rings. "These are what Bellossom got from mining during this time. See if you two can use them."
For Haley's side, one Defense Ring. If necessary, a Glow Ring for convenience would be enough.
"Besides that, there's these." Ron continued taking things out. "Some ingredients, these are the instant meals Gus and I researched. When you don't want to cook, just heat them up and you can eat. The taste will be a bit better than the instant meals bought in Kalos."
Of course the selling price would also be relatively higher. After all, the production process was much more complicated, and they were all made with fresh ingredients without using chemical additives to cut corners.
But for now, they weren't planning to sell them yet. They were just for Haley and Abigail to vary their diet. If they could open up sales channels later, they'd talk about it then.
"These are Poké Beans—for Pokémon."
Ron said while taking things out for the two of them.
Although he planned to stay one more day, at least to watch both of their competitions, with the addition of Team Rocket's group, Ron still chose to take them back first.
He could watch the competitions on broadcast anyway.
But if labor ran away, it was gone.
Furthermore, Ron wasn't very reassured about them. If they had any inappropriate thoughts about Haley and Abigail's Pokémon, that would be troublesome.
Although based on their current behavior, Ron didn't think the two of them would fall for their tricks, but you never know.
"Then you're going back tonight?"
"Tomorrow morning." Ron said: "After you two enter the venue tomorrow, I'll have to leave."
"I see." Haley took the things and was about to put them in her backpack. Before the first package in her hand could go into the pocket, Minccino voluntarily ran out from its Poké Ball, then skillfully took the things from Haley's hands and began meticulously stacking them into the backpack.
"Is this a Pokémon you recently caught?" Abigail poked Minccino's head and was impatiently swatted away by its tail.
"Mm." Haley nodded: "It has a cleanliness obsession. It organizes this backpack three times a day."
Hearing this, Abigail laughed. She then took out her own Poké Ball.
"Come out, Sandshrew."
Saying this, a flash of light passed by, and a Sandshrew appeared between the three of them.
"Perfect timing to try some Poké Beans." Saying this, Abigail placed a Poké Bean at Sandshrew's mouth: "This is one I caught later. I challenged the Shalour City Gym relying on this child."
She completely didn't send out Amber, even though she knew Amber could speedrun the match. But after all, Pokémon battles weren't about constant overwhelming victory. This kind of outwitting the Gym Leader, plus training and growing together with Pokémon, was far more interesting than that.
"Right, Ron, will you want to participate in the League Conference later?" Abigail remembered and turned to ask.
"Not sure." Ron thought for a moment and said: "Depends on the farm side. If it's not busy and I have time, I'll come."
"I see." Abigail somewhat regretfully reached out to poke the Froakie on Ron's shoulder.
"Froakie."
Froakie coldly swatted away Abigail's hand, sitting on Ron's shoulder like a great swordsman.
"What's with it?" Abigail asked.
"Mm—on the journey, you always encounter some—uh, people who like Pokémon battles, right?" Haley explained with a smile: "It swept away quite a few people with Water Gun. It might be—"
Haley struggled to find the right words: "Showing off."
"Showing off what?"
"Demeanor." Haley said: "The demeanor of a great warrior."
Before the words finished, Abigail laughed. She poked Froakie's head again.
Before she could say anything, Gengar suddenly burst out from Abigail's shadow, rushing straight to Froakie's face.
The Froakie that had been putting on the demeanor of a great warrior was immediately so frightened that it slipped from Ron's shoulder.
Fortunately, Ron caught it quickly enough that Froakie didn't fall to the ground.
"Amber." Abigail hurriedly stepped forward to mediate.
She had often done this during her travels with Serena. Serena had a good temper, and most of the time when her Pokémon were pranked by Amber, she wouldn't say anything. Abigail's attitude was crucial here.
"Apologize quickly!"
"Froakie!" Froakie suddenly flipped up from Ron's hands, then fired several Water Guns in succession at Amber.
"Amber!"
Before the Water Guns could hit, Amber hurriedly hid back into the shadow.
"Sorry, Froakie. Is this Blackberry Cobbler acceptable as an apology?" Abigail said apologetically.
This actually surprised Haley somewhat.
Amber's love of pranks was almost famous in Pelican Town, and Abigail's protection of Amber was also famous.
Travelling really can change a person.
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