He knows Pokémon better than me.

A few minutes later, the Blazing Ace was able to condense a small energy ball the size of a fist, which it nimbly rubbed against its feet like a pebble.

Kawu and the Nine-Tailed Fox both had completely bewildered expressions.

Isn't this cultivation speed a bit too fast?!
This progress should be fully utilized before the Max Soup is ready, right?!
"That one just now was called 'Master Seed'!"

Ash smiled and casually gave Kawu three.

Now that the rice can be grown, there's no need to use it sparingly.

"If you feed it to a Pokémon, it can learn new moves more quickly."

As for mastering moves, I won't go into details; let's wait for Sinnoh to share them.

"Proficient in seeds?"

Kawu blinked, having never heard of it before. However, the Galar region has special ointments and special mints.

If other regions have such amazing "movement accelerators", it doesn't seem particularly strange.
"I'll leave the Flame Ace to you for now. I'll be back later."

Ash glanced at the time; it would still be an hour and a half before the Max Soup was ready, so he decided to go out for a walk.

"give it to me!"

Kawu immediately patted his chest and said, his face instantly glowing.

Not only the energy ball, but he also planned to pass on all his fire-attribute combat experience to this Cinderace.
This Pokémon can go further than itself!

"cowry!"

Flame Ace immediately understood and bowed in response.

It's now considered a leading figure among the younger generation in Ash's team, but that's only within the younger generation. There are still quite a few "old monsters" in the castle!

Let alone Lucario, even a Gengar that's been beaten to a pulp wouldn't be able to be defeated by Cinderace.

It hadn't even passed the backyard of Pallet Town yet, but Lucario had told it that the area was full of talented people who spoke very kindly.
I must become stronger!
Kawu raised an eyebrow, wondering why the Flame Ace had suddenly ignited.

But this is just right!

boom! boom! boom!
Kawu unleashed all his trump cards—Centipede, Arcanine, and Salazzle—in preparation to teach them their signature moves one by one!

On the other side, Ash arrived outside the Motostoke Arena and headed straight for Uncle Pierre's general store at the street corner.

"Gah~~Gah~~"

Before we even got close, we could hear the unpleasant, hoarse cry of the ancient moon bird from afar, sounding weak and listless.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Ash stepped forward and casually ruffled the head of the Clamshell Bird.

Although he usually has a blank expression, he's never this weak, is he?

Speaking of which, it seems a new store has opened across the street, and it's quite lively there.

In contrast, Uncle Pierre's general store was practically deserted.

Pierre was inside, dusting away cobwebs in the corner with a feather duster. There was only one customer in the shop; business was slow.

"Hey Ash, you're finally back from your trip? How was it?"

Upon seeing a familiar face, Pierre perked up slightly and went to greet him.

"Long time no see. Uh, has business gotten that bad lately?"

Xiao Zhi picked up a small cloth bag containing seeds from the shelf next to him; it was already covered in dust.

Pierre walked helplessly to the door, put his hands on his hips, and looked across the street:
"There's nothing we can do. A new general store has opened right across from us, completely stealing our business!"

Xiao Zhi looked across the street. It didn't seem to be a bungalow like Uncle Pierre's, but a three-story modern shop with a rather luxurious exterior.

The sign above the door reads "Xisuo Department Store".

"Hisoka?"

Xiao Zhi blinked; it seemed like he had only just heard this word recently.

Finally finding someone to vent to, Pierre immediately launched into a long rant:
"My shop is just a small personal shop, while those shops are run by big companies. They not only have a wide variety of products, but the prices are also ridiculously low!"

He understands market conditions. For example, he already sells these farm seeds at extremely low prices, and he only earns money from the average order value.

However, the price is lower on the other side—

They're doing business at a complete loss.

This is tantamount to letting your grocery store have no business at all, forcing it to go bankrupt and close down!
There was nothing they could do. Hiso Corporation was the largest company in the Galar region, second only to Chairman Loz's Marocmon Group. They had plenty of time and money to keep going.

Uncle Pierre sighed deeply. Although the Marocomón Group almost monopolized all the markets in Galler, it mainly operated in high-tech fields.

They didn't venture into places like general stores, prop shops, dessert shops, or clothing stores.

This Xisuo company started in construction and has substantial financial resources. Now it has begun to spend money everywhere in an attempt to completely seize the low-end market.

"For example, the dessert shop at the street corner only sells Creamy Fairy cream cakes, with 10 flavors, which is already a lot, right? But the newly opened Xisuo Dessert Shop across the street has 50 different kinds of Creamy Fairy cakes, and the price is cheaper."

"There were even desserts from other places, such as Fuyu Senbei, Feiyun Ice Cream, and Miare Macarons. Now that dessert shop has been forced to close down."

Each type of Creamy Fairy produces a different cream texture, and collecting 50 of them must have cost a fortune!

"Oh, is it closed?"

Xiao Zhi frowned, looking regretful.

When he first came to the Galar region, he would always go to that dessert shop in Motostoke to buy some small cakes to bring back to cheer up his Pokémon.

"The handmade sweater you gave me before, Xiaozhi, was really well received and has become one of our store's star products."

But handmade sweaters are not exactly a special skill.

As long as you can find a handcrafted level 3 Pokémon, plus a Wooloo of sufficient quality, it's entirely possible to recreate it.

When the people across the street also started selling handmade sweaters at lower prices, his customer traffic completely disappeared.

Pierre rubbed his Crescent Moon Bird, his face pale.

If the business closes down, I'll only be able to take my Crescent Moon Bird to the river to catch barracuda and eat Pikachu.

Just then, a tall, middle-aged man walked across the street. He was wearing an expensive suit, had a small mustache, and had an arrogant expression on his face.

Beside her was an octopus-like martial artist whose tentacles were like flexible hands, knitting a sweater as she walked.

The Octopus Warrior has eight tentacles: three serve as legs for support, one as a belt around the waist, two on the left as the "left hand," and two on the right as the "right hand."

Boo hoo hoo-!
However, at this moment, the eight-clawed martial artist was knitting two sweaters simultaneously with both hands, as if performing acrobatics.

Moreover, his movements were exceptionally skilled, and the items he wove were not cheap.

The manager of the Sisso department store stroked the bald head of the Octopus Warrior and looked at Pierre with a smug expression:
"How about it? The sweaters knitted by our company's handcrafted level 3 Octopus Warrior are just as good as yours, aren't they?"

"And we have five more of these eight-clawed martial artists!" (End of Chapter)