"Huh?" Mr. Qi froze for a moment, watching as Froakie instantly passed out right on Bellossom's hand.
Ron looked at the still-unconscious Froakie, and after a while, silently opened the Pokédex to check its stats.
"..."
*At least its stats went up quite a bit, it didn't drink it for nothing,* Ron thought, poking Froakie's belly.
"Froakie—"
"It just overdrank, it'll be fine once it rests a bit," Ron said to Nurse Joy nearby.
"How do you know?" Nurse Joy asked, taking out her examination equipment.
"Just a guess."
"Oh." Nurse Joy thought for a moment, but just to be safe, she gave it a full check-up. After confirming that Froakie really didn't have any major issues, she put her equipment away. "I wonder what it drank. It smells absolutely awful."
"...I don't know," Ron said. "It probably found something it shouldn't have eaten in the mines."
"It has that kind of habit?" she said, finding some medicine and feeding it to Froakie.
—
It took a good while before Froakie slowly climbed up from the simple makeshift bed Joy had set up.
Seeing Froakie wake up, Nurse Joy couldn't help but advise it with concern: "You're fine, but don't just eat random things you find next time, okay?"
"Froakie?" Froakie looked at Nurse Joy in disbelief, then looked past her to see Bellossom, who had just received a Magic Rock Candy from Gil.
It just opened its mouth, and noodle-thick tears began streaming down from its eyes.
"Froakie—"
"Alright, get some good rest," Nurse Joy said. "As long as you know you did something wrong, just don't eat random things next time."
"Froakie—"
Over on the other side, seeing that Froakie had woken up, Bellossom dragged its long sword and walked over.
Ron, meanwhile, was standing next to Gil.
"I was just thinking."
"About what?" Ron asked, looking at Gil.
"Hmm—I'm wondering if this counts as you reaching the 100th floor." Gil rubbed his chin and turned to look at Marlon. "What do you think?"
"If it's a Pokémon... I guess it counts," Marlon said uncertainly.
They had previously agreed that if Ron reached the 100th floor of the desert mines, the Adventurer's Guild would hand over another Pokémon to him.
However, this was quite a bit earlier than the originally estimated delivery time. According to the original plan, it should have been handed over when Ron had fully managed the farm, led the entire Pelican Town into common prosperity, and went to Kalos to challenge the Pokémon League.
"Then, once the Desert Festival is over, come to the Adventurer's Guild to pick it up," Gil said, leaning back in his chair again.
"Alright."
Ron agreed.
On the other side, Froakie was busy being mad at Bellossom.
Even though that thing really did help boost its stats a lot, and even though Bellossom's strength was indeed far above Froakie's, and even though letting it have the item was definitely more beneficial than harmful—
It was just way too disgusting.
Froakie even felt like every time it burped, that weird stench came up.
It couldn't find a single adjective to describe the taste of that milk. It was like fishy, gamey milk mixed with some sort of metallic flavor, plus a strange, pungent, indescribably weird aftertaste.
Thinking this, Froakie dry-heaved again and slowly turned its body around, turning its back to Bellossom, who was looking at it with a face full of concern.
"Froakie."
If you're here to beg for forgiveness, you can turn right around!
"Bell?"
Hearing this, Bellossom held the Magic Rock Candy in its hand and shoved it right in front of Froakie's face.
"Bellossom?"
An alluring, sweet fragrance instantly wafted into Froakie's mouth. It involuntarily opened its eyes, took a glance at the gem-like popsicle, and then closed them again half a second later.
"Froakie."
This is no longer something that can be fixed with just one popsicle.
"Bellosom?"
Seeing this, Bellossom yanked the Magic Rock Candy back and turned its head to ask Sailor, who had hurried over after smelling the scent.
Do you want to eat it?
"Rattata!!!"
If Bellossom wasn't on the sickbed and Sailor wasn't on the ground, it would have leaped up and snatched it right out of Bellossom's hands.
"Froakie!"
Without another word, Froakie turned its head and took a huge bite out of the popsicle.
"Rattata—..." Sailor looked disappointedly at the Froakie, who had been successfully baited by the popsicle, and walked away in sorrow.
It hadn't gone far before it ran into Sandy, who had come looking for it.
"What's wrong?"
Sandy asked with concern.
"Rattata." Sailor pointed its paw at Froakie in the distance, who was happily munching on the Magic Rock Candy.
"You want to eat that?" Sandy asked.
"Rattata!" Sailor nodded vigorously.
"Hmm—that thing." Sandy thought for a moment. "I think you can trade for it at that tent over there using Prismatic Shards—"
"As for Prismatic Shards, I think Emily has a few."
She had just mentioned earlier that she was going to bring out her Prismatic Shards to set up a stall tomorrow.
"Let's go ask her."
Saying this, Sandy picked Sailor back up.
Sailor looked up at Sandy with pure adoration in its eyes, as if it were looking at a savior.
Perhaps the saddest thing in the world is when you're just about to give a certain Rattata some delicious food, only to snatch it away at the very last second.
Even though it knew full well that Froakie and Bellossom had earned that item through their own hard work, Sailor decided that until it got to taste that beautiful, gem-like popsicle itself, it would absolutely never forgive them!
They made their way all the way to Emily's tent. Emily was currently encouraging Robin to wear the dress she had picked out for her all the way home.
"Really?" Robin spun around. "Does it really look good? It's been so long since I've worn a dress. I don't even know how long ago the last time I wore one was."
"Really, it suits you perfectly," Emily said. "Sandy, am I right?"
"It looks great," Sandy clapped, and Sailor in her arms clapped its paws along with her.
Hearing this, Robin happily kept the dress on and strode away.
"...But you probably should have reminded her to walk a bit more elegantly when wearing a dress," Sandy couldn't help but say.
"But that's just Robin's style, isn't it?" Emily replied. "Right, why did you come back? Don't tell me you want a favor from me?"
Seeing that Emily had guessed exactly right, Sandy told her what she needed. Upon hearing that she wanted a few Prismatic Shards, Emily couldn't help but scream out loud.
"A few?!" Emily's eyes widened. "I only have one! Do you know how precious that thing is?!"
Saying this, Emily pulled out her single Prismatic Shard. "If I didn't have no idea what else to sell, I wouldn't bear to take it out at all! I even unboxed this from a Geode last time!"
"Rattata?"
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