Ash and the others saw Erika, and naturally, Erika saw them too. A slight look of surprise appeared on her pretty face as she slightly parted her red lips and smiled, "I didn't expect that we'd meet again so soon, Ash."
"Miss Erika! I didn't expect we'd meet again so quickly either! We must be connected by the red thread of fate; this is our love..."
"Alright, alright, let me take a good look at the perfumes, okay? Don't act silly!" Misty tugged on Brock's ear, pulling him away from in front of Erika.
Ash and Erika both twitched at the corners of their mouths and then collectively chose to ignore Brock.
"Ahem, I didn't expect to meet you here, Erika... Come to think of it, didn't you say you were the manager of a perfume shop?" Ash recalled that Erika had mentioned she was the manager of a perfume shop back when they challenged the Gym.
The machine barrier for challenging the Gym was also to protect the surrounding flowers and plants because those were the raw materials for the perfumes.
"Yes, this is my perfume shop, and it's the most famous and largest perfume shop in Celadon City," Erika said with a proud wave of her little hand.
Being the manager of the perfume shop seemed to give her more pride than being a Gym Leader.
"The biggest perfume shop... It must be quite profitable," Ash said with slight envy.
He wasn't very interested in perfumes, but he was very interested in money!
You could tell just by looking that this place made quite a bit of money, which made him, this poor guy, really envious!
Shortly after arriving in Celadon City, he had already spent most of the money he earned from the fights on the field, buying things mainly for use by Pokemon, like higher-end Pokemon food ingredients and some Pokemon nutrients.
Basically, Ash didn't spend a penny on himself, but even then, he still felt that the money was not enough because he had too many Pokemon relying on him!
If it weren't for the Pokemon stored at Professor Oak's place, which he didn't have to pay for, he might have gone bankrupt by now!
Even so, Ash's financial situation wasn't great, so when he saw Erika with such a big perfume store, he couldn't help but feel envious—it must be nice to be rich!
"I don't really pay much attention to whether it makes money or not. I make perfumes because I'm interested in it, and being able to cover girls in the fragrances I create is a wonderful feeling, isn't it? As for money, well, it's just a number after all. There are things in the world that money can't buy, like the Move Machine you have in your hand."
Erika said with an indifferent look.
She really didn't care much about money. After all, Celadon City was one of the most prosperous cities in Kanto, and owning the biggest and most famous perfume shop here—how could she possibly be worried about money?
But Ash was different. Hearing Erika's words, he actually wanted to suggest giving the Grassy Glide back to Erika in exchange for some money.
Bulbasaur had already learned Grassy Glide, and although it had only mastered it slightly, that was enough.
If other Pokemon wanted to learn it in the future, he could be a human Move Machine, and the skills he taught were more precise than those taught by the Move Machine, so once one Pokemon learned a move, the Move Machine meant nothing to Ash.
However, since this was something Erika gave him, it seemed a bit excessive to return it for money, so Ash dismissed this idea.
"Are you here to buy perfume for the girl behind you?" Erika suddenly leaned closer to Ash and whispered, and the scent wafted to Ash's nose as she leaned in.
Ash followed Erika's gaze behind him to see Misty picking out perfumes, occasionally smelling them, with a blissful expression on her fair face.
"I'm just here with Misty and Brock. I'm not interested in perfumes. What man uses perfumes?" Ash turned his head and said carelessly, not bothering with the suddenly dark face of Erika in front of him.
"Mm-hmm~ You're really good at talking! If perfume could enhance a Pokemon's training efficiency, increase the speed of learning skills, and help level up faster, would you still say the same?"
Hearing this, Ash's eyes widened, and he showed a 'Are you kidding me?' expression on his face.
Is this perfume or a miracle drug? Can mere perfume accomplish so much? Isn't it just something to spray on girls to increase their satisfaction?
Seeing this, Erika's expression eased a bit, and she displayed a playful smile, "I'm not lying to you. Some luxury perfumes indeed have such effects. It depends on the blending techniques, materials, and formulas, which determine the perfume's efficacy."
"The perfumes I mentioned just now casually cost five figures per bottle, and you can only use them five or six times, with each use lasting about an hour. They're a bit pricey, but the effects are very real."
Erika played with her beautiful nails on her delicate hand, speaking nonchalantly, but her words made Ash's rapidly beating heart instantly fall silent.
A five-figure bottle, and it's unclear what number starts those five figures, combined with only five or six uses, is totally a money-burning machine!