"You bought a boat?!!" Willy swallowed the smoke ring he was about to blow out. "Where? In Kalos?"
"It's already been sailed back." Ron paused, then added, "It's anchored in nearby waters."
This was a bit difficult to explain, but fortunately Willy was never one to dig too deeply, so he readily put away his fishing rod and stood up.
"Alright, let's go. I was just thinking about seeing what a Kalos boat looks like." Willy drained the tea from his cup and handed it to the Kingler beside him. Then he boarded his boat and sat in the cockpit.
Once Ron was aboard, the boat sped off toward the horizon.
"Boats from Kalos should work much better than my old gal here." Willy asked while searching for the location of the boat Ron mentioned.
"They're about the same." Ron thought for a moment. Since it was only for traveling between Pelican Town and Kalos, Ron hadn't bought an expensive one. The boat was generally similar to Willy's—if anything, the control system was slightly more advanced than Willy's.
"I see." Willy held his pipe between his teeth, took a puff, and remembered something. "By the way, actually there's a larger boat parked behind my Fish Shop."
Seeing Ron look at him, Willy continued while smoking, "It's just missing some materials. Otherwise, if repaired, it might be able to take you to the Fern Islands. Your grandfather also built a farm there back in the day—it's probably abandoned by now."
Seeing Ron freeze, Willy couldn't help but smile. "However, the climate there is quite nice. Not cold in winter. It seems all of Pelican Town's crops can be grown there year-round. If you're interested, help me look for the materials."
"What do you need?"
Hearing this, Willy reached into his pocket and fumbled around. After a while, he pulled out a list. "Just these. If you collect them all, you can find Robin to repair the boat. Once it's fixed, whenever you want to go there, just come call me at the Fish Shop."
Ron's small boat appeared on the horizon. Willy steered his vessel toward it while saying, "If you provide the raw materials, then I won't charge you boat fare later. Whenever you come, I can take you there anytime."
He suddenly thought of something and turned back to Ron. "But there's one thing—if you bring the Farm Totem or plan to use something like that to return early, you must tell me."
When the old farm owner was still alive, that old fellow never remembered to tell him, causing Willy to have to search the island for him for half a day each time to confirm he was no longer on the island.
Hearing this, Ron nodded.
After the boats drew alongside each other, Ron jumped onto his own boat.
"By the way, can I dock the boat near the Fish Shop later?"
"Sure, no problem." Willy readily agreed. Then remembering the Night Market, he added, "But not during these Night Market days. I can help you dock the boat somewhere else and bring it back after the Night Market ends."
After discussing the boat matters, each piloted their own vessel back to Pelican Town.
Meanwhile, in Kalos—Coumarine City Pokémon Center.
Haley examined the freshly printed Ribbon in her hand.
Serena beside her showed no signs of resentment, smiling as she asked Haley, "How does it feel to get your first Ribbon?"
"Amazing!" Haley said. "Last time when I saw you get that Ribbon on TV, I thought that one day I definitely had to get one of these too."
She then placed this Ribbon into her Ribbon case.
"You watched that too." Serena rested her chin in her hands. "The Pokémon from your Pelican Town all seem so amazing. Is there some secret?"
Hearing this, Haley hesitated. If there was a secret, she could only think of the Stardrop Ron had given her. But since she wasn't sure if this counted as Ron's confidential information, she didn't know how to explain.
"Ah, it's fine if it's inconvenient to tell." Serena said, "I was just marveling."
After the match ended, she and Bonnie had called Clemont in Lumiose City, and thus learned about Ron's Bellossom.
"What a mysterious place." Serena reached out to pet the Sunkern in Haley's arms. "This child really exceeded my expectations."
"Sun sun~"
The Sunkern chirped sweetly.
This reminded Abigail of the two evolutionary stones Ramos had given her. She quickly took them out and handed them to Haley.
After explaining the story, Haley accepted these two unexpected gifts with a surprised expression. Although she had originally planned to look for a Sun Stone, having them suddenly handed to her still came as a bit of a surprise.
"So are you planning to evolve into Sunflora, or planning to use the Eviolite?" Serena couldn't help but ask.
"If it were up to me, of course Sunflora." Haley smiled, holding the two stones before the Sunkern. "But let's see what this child wants."
After all, you can't devolve after evolving, and it would be too late to regret later. Haley wanted to leave this choice to the Sunkern itself.
Hearing this, Bonnie excitedly squatted before the three, staring at the Sunkern with great anticipation. "Which one will it choose?" Bonnie rested her chin in her hands, meeting the Sunkern's round eyes.
"Sun sun~"
The Sunkern chirped and jumped out of Haley's arms. Under the four people's watchful gaze, the Sunkern burrowed into Haley's bag and dragged out a silk scarf, then brought it to Haley's side.
"Sun sun!"
Abigail looked at Haley in confusion. "What does that mean?"
Before Haley could answer, Minccino ran out on its own. Under the Sunkern's watch, it wrapped the two evolutionary stones in the silk scarf, then quickly fashioned them into a rather pretty bow on its paws and tied it to the Sunkern's leaf.
"It wants both?" Serena guessed incredulously.
"Sun sun!"
The four were all stunned, then burst out laughing. Even if they couldn't figure out the Sunkern's reasoning for this choice, it didn't matter. Haley lifted the Sunkern back into her arms.
Just then, she noticed a poster nearby with the words—#Coumarine City Festival!#
"Coumarine City Festival?" Haley read aloud.
"Ah, that." Serena couldn't help but touch the blue ribbon she was wearing. "It's a Coumarine City tradition. People give gifts to their Pokémon at sunset, thanking them for coming into our lives."
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