The next morning, with no customers in the breeding house, Carver sat behind the counter looking at his Viridian Power fragment, starting to think about how he could collect these things.
One hundred fragments—it wasn't difficult, but it also wasn't easy.
The easy part was that he just needed to help wild Pokémon living in this forest and boost their joy levels to receive rewards.
But the difficult part was that not all Pokémon needed help.
Many wild Pokémon lived in this forest. Although wild Pokémon would fight over territory, injured Pokémon like Zigzagoon who happened to be picked up by Bewear during its outings were few and far between.
Unless those Pokémon could come looking for help themselves...
But how could he attract those Pokémon to come?
Pokémon were different from humans. Although they were intelligent and could understand human language, they couldn't comprehend human writing.
From this perspective, posting flyers throughout the forest obviously wouldn't work.
What about having wild Pokémon who had received treatment at the breeding house spread word about it in the forest?
This was feasible, but the only problem was limited reach.
Because most wild Pokémon were of different species, aside from some gentle-natured Pokémon, the rest rarely communicated with each other.
"Ching!"
Just then, Chingling's pleasant bell sound came from outside the door.
Carver stopped thinking and looked toward the shop entrance.
Whenever Chingling made this sound, it meant customers were coming to visit the breeding house.
The door opened, but instead of the customer Carver expected, a fluffy Pokémon that looked like a tanuki entered.
It was clearly the wild Zigzagoon that Bewear had brought back from the wild yesterday.
At this moment, Zigzagoon stood at the doorway with bright eyes looking toward Carver, but didn't come in.
"Zigzagoon?" Carver was slightly stunned. Hadn't this Pokémon already returned to the forest?
Soon, however, he understood Zigzagoon's intention.
Because this Pokémon was holding a delicate, small object in its mouth.
The thing glittered golden and looked very precious.
Zigzagoon lowered its head and placed the treasure it had picked up on the floor, looking at Carver with eyes full of gratitude.
Carver looked down, and information about the object immediately appeared before his eyes.
[Ancient Gold Coin: A gold coin used by a civilization from about three thousand years ago. Very precious in the eyes of antique enthusiasts and can be sold for a very expensive price.]
This was...
Carver was stunned in place.
He looked at Zigzagoon, and when their gazes met in midair, Carver immediately understood.
This Zigzagoon was thanking him in this way!
For Pokémon with the Pickup ability, every item they found was their treasure, something they would cherish for life.
This Zigzagoon's willingness to give its treasure as a thank-you gift showed that he had really helped it greatly yesterday.
Carver couldn't help but smile: "This is a very precious treasure. You must not have found it easily. I appreciate your sentiment, but you should keep this treasure yourself!"
Moreover, treating an injured Pokémon was quite easy for him.
However, hearing these words, Zigzagoon shook its little head repeatedly. As if worried Carver would refuse, it quickly turned and ran away, not giving Carver any chance to decline.
Carver: "..."
Hey, wait! He still wanted to ask Zigzagoon to help promote the breeding house in the forest!
But when Carver chased outside, Zigzagoon had already disappeared into the roadside grass, completely out of sight.
Carver fell silent again.
He turned back and picked up the dusty ancient gold coin, feeling somewhat conflicted.
If he remembered correctly, such an ancient gold coin sold for 60,000 League dollars in the games!
This price far exceeded the cost of one treatment.
"Well, since it's Zigzagoon's sentiment, I'll accept it!" Carver thought to himself.
When he encountered that Zigzagoon again later, he could feed it more Pokéblocks.
The breeding house wasn't short on money currently. With move tutoring and inn operations, they had no problem putting food on the table.
Therefore, Carver chose not to sell this meaningful ancient gold coin, but decided to keep it as a memento.
Carver turned around, preparing to put the coin away safely.
Just then, yesterday's inn guest came down the stairs carrying a bag.
Carver noticed the girl's bag moving behind her—there seemed to be something alive inside.
A Pokémon?
Some trainers did keep their Pokémon in backpacks while traveling together.
Then the girl spoke.
"Boss, can you board Pokémon here?" she asked.
"Board Pokémon?" Carver returned to behind the counter and nodded: "Of course. What kind of Pokémon do you want to board? Do you need breeding services?"
"No!" The girl shook her head repeatedly. Long was still young! There was no way it could breed yet.
"Just boarding the Pokémon? That's fine too," Carver said.
The girl came down the stairs to the counter. She unzipped her backpack, and the next second, a Pokémon with a hard skull, blue body, and two small arms appeared before Carver's eyes.
When Carver clearly saw this Pokémon's appearance, he was completely stunned.
This was... a Bagon, the baby form of Hoenn region's pseudo-legendary Pokémon Salamence?!
"It's this Pokémon!" As the girl finished speaking, information about this Bagon also appeared before Carver's eyes.
[Pokémon: Bagon]
[Type: Dragon]
[Gender: Male]
[Ability: Rock Head]
[Moves: Leer, Ember, Bite, Dragon Breath, Dragon Rush]
[Status: Healthy]
[Mood: Terrible]
[Joy Level: -50]
[Friendship: 0]
[Description: Don't want to leave Jun! —Bagon]
Every pseudo-legendary Pokémon was an extremely rare and uncommon existence, whether it was Dragonite or Salamence that Bagon evolved into.
They were powerful and rare, with each one being very precious.
And now, this seemingly ordinary girl had one in her hands. Was it an encounter she had in the wild?
Carver was inwardly shocked, but showed nothing on his face. Looking at the small dark cloud floating above this Pokémon's head representing its bad mood, he asked:
"Are you sure you want to board this Bagon here? It looks like it doesn't really want to be separated from you."