The value of TM moves already had a mature, well-established pricing system on the market, so this wasn't something Ash needed to worry about.
At present, the pricing for skill-learning services in his online shop was set at 10% higher than the market price of the corresponding TM.
That meant Ash only needed to reference the TM price and do a simple calculation.
For example, the market price of the Air Slash TM was 6,000 Poké Dollars.
Adding a ten percent markup, Ash charged 6,600 Poké Dollars.
Flamethrower, on the other hand, was a high-tier Fire-type move with an initial base power of 90. Its TM market price was 30,000 Poké Dollars, and with Ash's markup, the final charge remained 30,000 Poké Dollars.
After helping five Pokémon learn their respective moves, Ash collected a total of 54,850 Poké Dollars.
Subtracting the cost of Pokémon food—used for the 20 customer Pokémon delivered yesterday plus his own two Pokémon—
Ash's net profit from the skill shop was:
54,850 − 18,000 = 36,850 Poké Dollars
And this was only five orders completed so far.
Out of the initial 20 orders, Ash had already netted over 36,000 Poké Dollars. Once the remaining fifteen orders were finished, earning at least 100,000 Poké Dollars more was almost guaranteed.
It could be said without exaggeration that Ash's skill-learning shop was not only a zero-cost business, but also an absurdly high-profit one.
…
"Pidgeotto, Charmeleon, Drowzee, Gloom, Primeape—have you all finished breakfast?"
"If you're done, you can head back to your Trainers now."
"Piiidgeot—!"
"Roar—!"
"Droo—!"
After the Pokémon finished eating, Ash recalled them into their Poké Balls and used the Poké Ball Transfer Machine to send them back to their original locations.
Then, after having Rotom operate the shop backend, Ash grabbed the customers' site IDs and tagged them in the fan group chat.
Transaction Website IDs:
Swift Pidgey, WowMankey, GloomFriedIce, BigMouthBat, SuperHotPrimeape
Your Pokémon have successfully completed their skill learning.
They have already been transferred back—please head to the Pokémon Center to pick them up.
After receiving your Pokémon, don't forget to confirm the order and leave a positive review~
The moment the message was sent, the group chat exploded.
"Wow, I thought I'd have to wait several days. I placed the order yesterday, and today my Pokémon already learned the move and got transferred back—this efficiency is insane!"
"My Gloom!! I'm heading to the Pokémon Center right now to pick you up~!"
"My Primeape learned Thunder Punch already?! I'm so happy!"
"Holy crap—my Charmeleon learned Flamethrower already?! I'm beyond excited!"
"Upstairs, are you dumb? Charmeleon can naturally learn Flamethrower around LV.30. You spent over thirty thousand Poké Dollars just to learn it early—and wasted one of the limited 20 opening-day slots."
"The real idiot is you! Who knows how long it'll take to reach LV.30 naturally? Learning it early isn't amazing? Plus, you can start grinding proficiency immediately!"
"Do you even realize that Flamethrower is a core move even after Charmeleon evolves into Charizard? Isn't this something you want to learn as early as possible?"
"With Flamethrower, my chances of advancing to Professional One-Star in this weekend's City Arena: Battle Night jump to at least 80%!"
"And besides—it's just thirty thousand Poké Dollars. That's not even expensive. Also, that last line about 'wasting the opening-day slots' really exposed you, hahaha—you're clearly jealous."
…
Yesterday's opening-day quota of twenty orders—five had already been completed.
Those Trainers who had originally been hesitant, unsure whether Ash's so-called "superpower" could really help Pokémon learn moves, were now itching to place orders.
Unfortunately, even if they wanted to, all twenty opening-day slots were still occupied.
Ash deliberately did not rush to complete the remaining fifteen orders, nor did he accept additional ones.
He didn't want people to think that using his power to help Pokémon learn moves was effortless or trivial.
…
After feeding the customer Pokémon, Ash also infused them with a bit of Source Cleansing, subtly improving their potential while earning another wave of Viridian Power growth for himself.
Only then did Ash prepare to head out with Pichu and Frogadier for their morning training.
However—at that very moment—
…
Outside Pallet Town, at the unavoidable crossroads where the dirt road met the asphalt highway…
After waiting the entire night and feeding countless mosquitoes, the patience of Team Rocket's two humans and one Meowth was finally exhausted.
"Ahhh! I can't take this anymore!"
Jessie scratched furiously at the itchy red welts covering her arms and face, on the verge of a meltdown.
"We've been lying in ambush here since 4:30 yesterday afternoon, waiting all night! Is that brat ever coming back?!"
"Maybe he got lost in the forest," James mused, stroking his chin.
"Or maybe he was caught by an Ariados that went hunting at night, wrapped in webs, and eaten."
"That doesn't make sense, though," Meowth chimed in.
"If the brat didn't come home yesterday—or if he really got lost—shouldn't the whole town be panicking?"
"But from yesterday afternoon until now, eight in the morning, nobody in Pallet Town has been searching with torches or flashlights, meow!"
"So… maybe he already went home?" Jessie frowned.
"But we clearly saw him escape into the forest. Then we rushed back to the highway, drove the jeep, and set up an ambush right here—the only route back into town."
"There's no way that brat is faster than us!"
"Then what do we do now? Keep waiting?" Jessie snapped.
"I'm done with this!"
"How about disguising ourselves and sneaking into Pallet Town to investigate further?"
"Forget it," Meowth said quickly.
"Leaving aside that old Oak, a Champion-level powerhouse—just the League investigators secretly protecting Pallet Town are already more than we can handle, meow."
"Then what do you suggest, Meowth?" Jessie demanded.
"Should you sneak in alone? You're a Pokémon—less likely to be noticed."
"No way! Too dangerous!" Meowth shook his head violently.
"And who says we need to enter Pallet Town to gather intel?"
"We can just pretend to be milk company staff and call to ask if they want to subscribe to milk deliveries…"
…
"Hello? Who's calling?"
Just as Ash was about to head out for training, his phone rang. He answered immediately.
"This is the ×× Milk Company~"
A voice asked politely from the other end.
"May we ask if your household would like to subscribe to our milk delivery service, meow~"
"Meow?"
At first, Ash really did think it was a sales call.
But the moment he heard that unconscious 'meow' at the end, his brows knitted together—and his alertness spiked instantly.
"Oh—nothing, nothing~!"
The voice hurriedly continued.
"Seems like you don't need milk after all. Sorry for the disturbance. Have a wonderful day. Goodbye!"
Beep… beep…
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T/N:
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