"Huh?"
"Because I only do what I want to do," Jessie continued. "What I can do, I do it to the best of my ability."
Aside from being a bit thick-headed at times, Jessie had truly lived her life by this principle.
"As for things beyond that, things that can't be changed, complaining about them is useless, right?" Jessie said, stretching leisurely. She suddenly thought of something, turned to Penny, and asked softly, "Do you like that farmer?"
"Eh?!"
"If you like someone, you have to work for it! Work hard to convey your feelings," Jessie said. "Some things, if you miss them, are truly missed for a lifetime."
Penny paused and watched Jessie wave at her before striding off toward the farm.
After a long while, she walked home, lost in thought.
Meanwhile, Ron.
Ron had just come out of the Mastery Cave.
As expected, the Mastery Cave was now unlocked. After looking through the five proficiency skills, Ron ultimately chose Combat Proficiency.
Coincidentally, Bellossom was also preparing to go back down into the Skull Caverns during this time. If they could get any useful accessories, he could bring them to Hailey and Abigail the next time he went to Kalos.
As for the remaining skills, given the farm's current progress, unlocking the next skill before spring wouldn't be a problem.
Then there was the matter of Willy's boat.
Everything else was just about ready. Ron had started smelting the Iridium Ore early in the morning, just waiting for the Iridium Bars to be finished tomorrow so he could begin repairing Willy's boat.
There wasn't much else Ron was concerned about, though he did think about the ginger from Ginger Island.
Ginger wasn't used much in Western-style cooking, so it was almost never featured in Gus's recipes.
But some of the dishes Ron knew how to make required it.
He had browsed the markets in Kalos before but had never seen any ginger. This was a perfect chance to get some.
As he was planning all this, Ron started walking towards the farm.
Before Ron had gone far, he ran into James, who was chatting and laughing with Shane.
Shane would respond with a word or two from time to time and occasionally chimed in. When they saw Ron approaching, they both greeted him.
"Good afternoon," Ron replied, then headed straight for the farm.
James watched Ron's retreating back, then turned to Shane and said, "He really is a good guy."
"Mm," Shane said, lowering his gaze. "I'm very grateful to him."
Therefore, aside from Ron's good deeds, he wasn't about to say a single word about the farm. Shane wasn't stupid; he knew James was trying to pry information out of him.
He also knew that Ron definitely had some secrets and some strange quirks.
But so what?
His life had genuinely changed for the better because of it, and that was enough.
As for other things, he didn't want to delve into them or figure them out. He loved his current life and didn't want it to change in any way.
If conditions allowed, he just wanted to live out his life peacefully like this.
Thinking this, Shane glanced at Jas, who was happily playing with a toy, and smiled.
Seeing this, James said his goodbyes to Shane and headed back to the farm as well.
As the only one who still remembered their mission, James had gathered information and chatted with quite a few people.
But without exception, he hadn't managed to get any information, other than the fact that Ron was a good person.
If you had to say there was anything, it was one trivial piece of gossip.
The girl named Penny, the house she was currently living in seemed to have been funded by an interest-free loan from the farm.
Therefore, some townspeople were speculating that there seemed to be something going on between Ron and Penny.
Other than that, he hadn't gleaned a single useful piece of information.
James ate his dinner in silence. After returning to the cabin, he lay on his bed, listening to Meowth and Jessie talk about their day in Pelican Town.
"Penny?" James leaned on his arm, listening as Jessie recounted her missed first love while also talking about Penny. He then relayed the information he had learned to Jessie.
"Really?" Jessie thought for a moment. "Then it's very possible that the feelings are mutual."
"After all, they were shopping together at the Night Market, and even Indeedee said—"
James took a deep breath and decided to ignore Jessie and Meowth, who were actively gossiping.
Time rolled around to the next day.
Last night, Meowth had mentioned Maru's robot.
Ron hadn't even thought about using robots on the farm. Now that Meowth had brought it up, he realized he could use robots to replace labor.
However, since the Rotom wasn't his to give, Ron made a special trip to the Pokémon Center to ask Clemont if he could keep one of the Rotom.
Clemont on the other end quickly agreed, even stating that as long as Ron was willing to raise the Rotom for a little longer and could provide a stable supply of them, anything was possible.
Clembot beside him nodded rapidly, as if they were sending off a plague.
"—Alright." Ron nodded. After hanging up the phone, he returned to the farm.
As expected, Maru came to the farm to discuss the matter of the Rotom with Ron.
With Clemont's permission, Ron handed over the first Rotom born on the farm to Maru.
"So this is it," Maru said, looking at the Rotom floating around her and spinning. She nodded, took the Rotom's Poké Ball and its food, and said, "I'll take good care of it! If I can really get the robot made, I'll bring the blueprints to you!"
Since Ron would also benefit from the robot, he generously gave Maru a batch of materials, saving her the trouble of having to go mining in the caves specifically.
Maru, feeling deeply grateful, hugged a pile of metal ingots and, with the Rotom in tow, headed home.
Only Team Rocket stood frozen at the entrance to the farm, watching Maru's back.
"Is that shiny thing a gold bar, meow?" Meowth muttered. "There are so many, meow— how much money must that be worth, meow?"
"It looks like— he gave a lot." Jessie's eyes could only see the gold ingots Maru was holding. "Is running a farm really this profitable?"
Only James seemed relatively rational; he just gave Ron an inquisitive look.
Ron turned back and, looking at the expressions on their faces, suddenly realized something.
"Gold— is it rare over in Kalos?"
Ron asked with a tone as if he'd seen a ghost.
"Gold— is it really that common in Pelican Town, meow?"
Meowth replied with a look on his face as if he'd seen a ghost, too.
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