Glancing at Machop, who was vigorously shaking its head, Robin couldn't help but look back at Ron.
"Indeedee sings well, so it got excited and started shaking to the rhythm," Ron said.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Machop shook its head even faster.
Robin paused but didn't dwell on the matter. She patted Machop's head, signaling it to stop shaking, and then headed straight for Team Rocket's cabin nearby to begin preparations for expanding their house.
Meanwhile, on the other side—Team Rocket.
Strictly speaking, they were now the Ginger Island Development Squad. Jessie and James stepped off the boat and looked around.
"Bellossom?" Bellossom dragged its sword down from behind the group, gave them a glance, and then headed straight toward the farm.
Froakie also gave the two of them a passing glance before hurriedly following after.
Bellossom was essentially serving as Team Rocket's bodyguard.
Because there was no Wizard's protective barrier around the farm, occasional wandering Slimes would show up.
Their level and damage were both quite high, so even with just the two of them plus all of their Pokémon combined, they might not be able to defeat even one of those Slimes.
As a bonus, Ron planned to have Bellossom make a trip to the Volcano Dungeon, where it could obtain miscellaneous items like Dragon Teeth. These could then be used to buy useful things at a shop he had previously repaired using Golden Walnuts, including a Warp Totem for Ginger Island.
As for Froakie, its role was to help Bellossom navigate the lava-filled areas in the Volcano Dungeon. As long as Froakie used Water Gun to cool the path, Bellossom's speedrun through the dungeon would be unhindered.
After Bellossom and Froakie slaughtered all the Slimes near the farm, Bellossom dragged its sword and advanced toward the Volcano Dungeon.
They hadn't gone far before running straight into Jessie and James, who were heading over. Looking every bit like vacationers, the three of them entered the farm, waved at Bellossom, and cheerfully set off for their new posts.
"Let me see—first, harvest all the ripe Starfruit, and then—" James pulled out his notepad, looked at the tasks Ron had assigned them, exchanged a glance with Jessie, and released all of their Pokémon.
"Mime Jr., can you handle planting the seeds?"
"Mime Jr.~" Mime Jr. mimicked James's movements. James rubbed Mime Jr.'s head, feeling deeply moved, and picked up the seeds to get to work.
"Meowth, Wobbuffet, and I will handle the harvesting, right meow?" Meowth asked.
"Mm." Jessie nodded.
Normally, by now she would have dragged out a chair, or simply gone to sit at the resort outside. But not today. After a brief moment of thought, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.
Fortunately, Ron had already set up Sprinklers across this farm long ago, so the work wasn't as troublesome as they had imagined. With the combined efforts of all their Pokémon, progress slowly but steadily moved along.
Time skipped to the 11th.
The farm work on Ginger Island was more exhausting than Team Rocket had anticipated. So much so that the vacation outfit Jessie had prepared—and even her sunglasses—went completely unused. By the time the farm work finally wrapped up, all they wanted to do was lie in bed and go nowhere.
"It's a sunny day today, meow." Meowth glanced from the bed at the sun outside the window. "Jessie, aren't you going to go sunbathe on the beach chairs over there, meow?"
"I'm already tanned enough." Jessie rolled over in bed. "I don't want to go anywhere today."
"That's not very good, meow."
"But aren't you also lying in bed?" James said, his face buried in his pillow.
"Meowth is a Pokémon, meow—"
Just as the three of them were still rolling around in bed, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from outside the house.
—
"It's really all fixed up—it looks exactly like it did back in the day."
Outside, Evelyn looked at the repaired houses with deep emotion, then glanced at the Warp Totem nearby. "To think it could be restored to this state in just a few short days?"
Everyone in town more or less knew about Ron's trip to Ginger Island. With a rough calculation, anyone could figure out how many days it had taken Ron to restore this place to its former glory.
Evelyn looked up for a while. Just as she was about to push George away and leave, the door of the cabin swung open.
"Good morning! Granny." Jessie enthusiastically greeted Evelyn.
"Oh, Jessie. Have you guys been working here these past few days?"
Evelyn smiled warmly and asked softly.
"Yeah, that's right."
"I see, no wonder the crops in the fields are growing so well."
Hearing this, Jessie sheepishly scratched her head. "They're not growing that well... It's just what we're supposed to do."
"Those crops were planted by Meowth and James, meow," Meowth murmured. "The ones growing poorly over there are the ones Jessie planted—"
James immediately clamped a hand over Meowth's mouth and, right before Jessie could turn around, said, "Meowth means that you really pulled your weight, Jessie."
"Is that so? Thank you for your hard work." Evelyn turned back, took a careful look, and recognized that these crops were grown from Seasonal Forage Seeds. Making her judgment in an instant, she smiled gently at Jessie: "Come here, child. Let me teach you. You need to take care of this one like so."
Seeing Jessie and Evelyn squatting on the ground together studying the crops, Meowth couldn't help but remark, "I can't believe Jessie actually has the patience to learn this."
James paused, but didn't reply.
"By the way, the day after tomorrow is the Egg Festival. Are you guys participating?" Evelyn asked, looking up from the field.
"Egg Festival?" Jessie thought for a moment and recalled that Ron had indeed mentioned something like that. "That's for little kids. We're not going."
"I see, then this year's Egg Festival will be quite lonely." Evelyn said, then turned to look at James and Meowth. "But in Granny's eyes, you're all little kids—The crops have sprinklers, so it's fine if you take a break the day after tomorrow. If it really comes down to it, how about Granny comes over in the morning to help you out?"
Hearing this, Jessie waved her hands repeatedly.
But Evelyn didn't give her a chance to refuse, agreeing to it without missing a beat.
"I'll go talk to Ron about it myself," Evelyn continued. "This is your first Egg Festival since coming to Pelican Town, after all. You should participate! Plus, if you get first place, there's even a prize."
"A prize?"
Evelyn smiled and nodded.
But thinking that the prize was only a straw hat, she slowly averted her gaze under the watchful eyes of Jessie, James, and a starry-eyed Meowth, swallowing her explanation back down.
After Evelyn pushed George away and they were out of earshot, Jessie couldn't help but whisper, "There's a prize! What do you guys think it is?"
"I think it's gold, meow!"
"I think it's gems!"
"After all, this village is so rich, meow." Meowth swallowed his saliva. "The prize must be really generous, meow."
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