In the woods, two Team Rocket members were currently hiding in the bushes.
"Oh no, did she spot us?"
"I don't know, whose fault is it that you moved so slowly?!" one of them scolded angrily, then sneaked another peek over at the group. "Don't make a move rashly later. Based on my observations over the past two days, that staff has to be on her person to work. As for the other frog, although I don't know how it's summoned, as long as that frog isn't by that girl's side, we're safe."
He then added, "As long as we catch them later and restrain their movements, we'll be fine."
"Got it."
The person beside him said, taking out a communicator to contact their teammates.
On the other side, Abigail stared for a while but couldn't make out what it was, so she turned her head and continued forward.
"But I just feel like something's off," Abigail muttered, turning around to ask, "By the way, the Farm Totems Ron gave us before—you all have them on you, right?"
Seeing the others nod, Abigail breathed a sigh of relief.
Originally, they had kept these items in their backpacks, but since Ron suggested it was best to keep them somewhere easily accessible, Serena had specially sewn a small pocket inside everyone's clothes to store the totems.
The advantage was that even if their hands were tied, they could still activate the totem to escape to Pelican Town.
The downside was that they couldn't even mentally review the instructions Ron had taught them for using it. Otherwise, there was a high probability they'd instantly teleport to Pelican Town.
With this in mind, Abigail felt reassured and continued onward, chatting along the way.
At this very moment, at the farm.
Ron took a stroll but still couldn't figure out a coping strategy. When he got back to the farm, he immediately spotted Indeedee staring at him with a sinister look.
Intuiting that it was up to no good, Ron changed course and headed straight for the storage shed to check the current stock of fiber and various seeds.
The shed had also been built recently. It was proposed by Magearna, and Ron had hired Robin to construct the addition.
Previously, since neither Indeedee nor himself could really remember which chest held what, they hadn't bothered building a dedicated shed; they just put things in convenient spots.
But after Magearna took over, things changed. Magearna's data center could easily categorize everything, and the moment Ron asked about an item, it could instantly locate the corresponding position and report the exact numbers to him.
Ron opened a chest while listening to Magearna report the number of Tea Saplings.
Counting it up, the materials collected recently were almost enough to craft about 100 Tea Saplings. Honestly, for the tea demand over there, this was just a drop in the bucket.
But Ron hadn't planned on mass-producing them anyway.
After all, it was Stardrop Tea (Reduced-Ingredient/Budget Version). Although he wasn't entirely sure, Ron had a vague feeling that these things also had the effect of boosting affection levels.
He wasn't sure exactly by how much, but if it really had this effect, he could totally market it in Kalos as a must-have item for gifting—
"Magearna?" Magearna chimed in confusion.
This line of thinking was something the old farm owner had never done.
To be honest, the differences between the two farm owners were quite huge. For instance, the old farm owner leaned more toward large-scale animal husbandry and leading Pokémon to dominate everywhere in battle.
Once the animal farming scale was up and running, the old farm owner spent years adventuring across the continent, participating in Pokémon League tournaments everywhere.
But Ron had no such ambitions. He didn't even have a single fully-evolved Pokémon with strong combat power.
Another difference was the use of weapons—even Magearna was startled when it saw that Bellossom wielding a longsword.
"——" Ron gave an awkward laugh. "Just thinking out loud."
It's actually normal for gifts to increase affection, right? Ron pondered.
Maybe it wasn't necessarily the effect of the Stardew Tea; who wouldn't be happy to receive a gift they liked out of the blue?
Especially a tea like Stardew Tea, which was highly targeted and tasted perfectly tailored to whoever drank it.
"Magearna."
Just as Ron was pondering this, a cry for help came from outside the cabin.
Ron's footsteps halted. For a moment, he thought there was something wrong with his ears—otherwise, how could he be hearing Abigail's voice, who was all the way over in Kalos?
"Is anyone there?! Ron! Indeedee! Anyone! Come help untie me!" Abigail yelled from outside.
Right after, a Rattata noticed the four tied-up people and bit down hard on the ropes with its teeth, snapping them instantly.
"We're saved." Abigail breathed a sigh of relief, turning her head to check on the others. "Serena, Bonnie, Haley, are any of you hurt?"
"We're fine." Serena twisted her wrists and looked around at the unfamiliar place. "Is this Pelican Town?"
"Yeah, this is Ron's farm."
"Indeedee!!!!" Indeedee poked its head out of the cabin. Upon noticing Abigail, Haley, and the two girls from Kalos, it let out a joyful cheer and trotted over to the four of them.
"Long time no see, Indeedee." Abigail greeted it.
For some reason, she felt that Indeedee was being a little strangely enthusiastic today.
Inside the cabin not far away, another head poked out.
Then, Meowth shrank back with a look of pure horror on its face.
"Why are those two little girls here too?" Meowth muttered, leaning against the wall.
Come to think of it, those two seemed to already know that Team Rocket was currently staying at the farm—
It probably wouldn't cause any issues, right?
Thinking this, Meowth slowly walked out of the cabin.
"Meowth really is here." Bonnie didn't really dislike Meowth. She smiled at it and said, "Long time no see."
"——Haha," Meowth laughed awkwardly. "Long time no see, meow. How did you guys get here?"
"We were just kidnapped by Team Rocket," Serena said. "So we used the teleportation totem Ron gave us."
"——" Meowth rubbed its paws somewhat nervously. "Meowth and the others have already quit Team Rocket, meow. What they do has nothing to do with us, meow."
"Alright, alright, no one is blaming you." Abigail scooped Meowth up into her arms. "So cute, and it can talk too. How interesting."
Meowth's head was being vigorously rubbed by Abigail. It opened its mouth as if to protest, but ultimately gave in and snuggled comfortably into her arms.
"Indeedee?" Beside them, Indeedee enthusiastically extended an invitation. "In?"
"It's asking if you guys have had lunch yet, meow," Meowth translated. "Do you want to join us for lunch?"
"Yay!" Bonnie cheered.
Indeedee then asked, "Indeedee? Indee!"
"And it's also asking if you want to stay here for a few days before heading back, meow?" Meowth added. "There's a really fun festival tomorrow, meow. That's what it said."
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