Misty and Serena shared Ash's excitement. Even without scanning abilities, they could see this Snorlax was something special.
If Ash trained it well, this Snorlax had the ceiling to stand alongside Charizard and Gardevoir as a core team member. Luck like this didn't have a rational explanation. It just kept happening to Ash.
The staff thanked him with genuine warmth. One of them, an older man with weathered hands, approached and clasped Ash's hand.
"We owe you. If that Snorlax had kept going, the work our grandparents started would have been wiped out today. What's your name, son?"
"Ash. From Pallet Town. I came to buy Berries and happened to be in the right place."
Outside Nana, nobody on the Fruit Seven Islands followed competitive battling news. The staff smiled and thanked him as they would any helpful stranger. The Indigo Plateau Conference Champion was standing in their orchard, and they had no idea.
Ash felt a twinge of disappointment. Then a twinge of relief. For the duration of their stay, he could just be a customer.
Nana led them to the central island where the premium Berries grew. The Fruit Seven Islands' economy ran on Sitrus Berries, but the inner orchards cultivated dozens of other varieties in smaller quantities.
"Smaller" turned out to be relative. Compared to the Sitrus fields, the other Berry groves were modest. Compared to any other source in the world, they were abundant.
Every variety Ash had hoped to find was here. Occa Berries for fire resistance. Cheri Berries for paralysis cures. And the ones he'd come for specifically: Ganlon Berries and Liechi Berries, the stat-boosting varieties that could permanently increase a Pokémon's defensive and offensive capabilities.
The permanent increase from eating a single Ganlon Berry was tiny. Barely noticeable. Eating them like meals to stack the effect would bankrupt a small nation.
At twenty thousand per Berry, forty times the price of a Sitrus Berry, even daily consumption was a luxury most trainers couldn't sustain.
That wasn't how the Berries were meant to be used. Their real value came from combination: mixed with medicines, supplements, and specialised cooking techniques to amplify the effect far beyond what raw consumption achieved.
A well-formulated Ganlon Berry preparation could double defence training effectiveness for days. A Liechi Berry equivalent could do the same for attack.
The formulas for those preparations were closely guarded. The versions available on the open market were functional but mediocre: a minor one-time stat boost plus a twenty percent training bonus lasting two days. Better than eating the Berry raw. Nowhere near the ceiling of what was possible.
Family-exclusive secret formulas performed better, but they carried a hidden flaw: long-term use built resistance. The first dose hit hardest. Each subsequent application weakened until the formula lost its edge entirely.
Ash had a better source.
Before leaving Pallet Town, he'd consulted the Chat Group. Among the parallel-world Ashes, one carried the handle "Orchard Ash," a specialist in Berry cultivation and formulation who had devoted his career to the science. His exclusive formula was the best any version of Ash had ever developed.
Fifty percent boost to the Berry's effect instead of the market standard's twenty. Four days of enhanced training effectiveness instead of two. Double the instantaneous stat increase on first application.
This kind of effect is likely unattainable even by the exclusive secret formulas of various families. Moreover, those other secret formulas used for mixing Berries will produce resistance after long-term use, and slowly they won't have such a powerful effect; the initial use effect is the best.
Ash moved through the Berry groves like a man with a shopping list and no budget. Ten Ganlon Berries. Ten Liechi Berries. Ten of each stat-boosting variety. A million right there. Then Sitrus Berries in bulk, Rawst Berries, Cheri Berries, and assorted supplementary varieties for cooking.
Final total: three million.
Serena watched the transaction happen in slow motion. When the Berry count passed a hundred, her mouth opened. When the running total crossed one million, her eyes widened. When three million left Ash's account without him blinking, she felt something fundamental shift in her understanding of the world she'd entered.
Three million was ten years of living expenses for a normal family. Her monthly pocket money was twenty thousand, and that was the increased amount her mother had set for her journey. Before she'd left home, it had been three thousand. Her entire monthly allowance could buy exactly one Ganlon Berry. One.
And Ash had just bought several hundred Berries the way someone else might buy groceries.
The crystals. The ones from the cave, the ones Ash had divided into thirds and told them to sell. They'd fetched a few hundred thousand. At the time, Serena had thought it was generous. Now she understood. Those crystals were less than a third of a single shopping trip for Ash. He'd given them away because the amount was too small to matter to him.
The gap between where she stood and where Ash operated wasn't a step. It was a canyon.
Something in Serena's expression dimmed.
Misty noticed. She drifted to Serena's side, leaned close, and spoke in a voice meant only for her.
"Don't let the numbers get to you. Ash's family is average. Everything he has now, he built himself. Talent, effort, and the right opportunities at the right time."
Serena looked up, startled.
"I know what you're thinking," Misty continued. "You see the gap and it feels impossible. But as long as you're travelling with Ash, you'll grow faster than you would anywhere else.
It doesn't matter if you're far behind right now. Just watch his back and keep moving. One day you'll stand beside him instead of behind him. A temporary gap isn't the problem. Losing confidence in yourself is."
Serena stared at Misty as if she'd been addressed in a language she hadn't expected Misty to speak. Not the words themselves, but the intent behind them. This was Ash's girlfriend. Talking to her. Encouraging her. Openly.
"You're wondering why I'd say this to you." Misty read her expression with the accuracy of someone who'd been doing emotional calculus since the moment Serena appeared. "I know what you are. A potential rival. You spent time with Ash as a child. You crossed two regions to find him. If I hadn't confessed first, maybe you'd be the one standing where I am."
Serena's breath caught.
"You're gentle and brave and you think like Ash does. I can't bring myself to watch someone like you make that defeated face." Misty's expression softened, then sharpened with a grin. "But I'm not handing him over. If you want him, you'll have to earn it yourself."
"I'm not trying to compete!" Serena's hands flew up, face blazing. Her voice pitched higher than she wanted. "I never thought about... I'm just happy to be here. To travel with you and Ash. That's enough for me."
The words were sincere. Mostly. In the deepest corner of her heart, a tiny, quiet feeling stirred, one she didn't dare examine too closely. The faintest hope that staying by his side, working hard, growing stronger, might lead somewhere she couldn't name yet.
Even if it didn't, even if she remained a companion and nothing more, that would be enough.
Probably.
Misty watched the flustered girl and felt the last traces of hostility dissolve. Serena was transparent. Every emotion crossed her face in real time, unfiltered and unguarded. Getting along with someone that honest was effortless.
Misty wouldn't push Serena toward Ash. She wouldn't advocate for a rival. No woman alive was that generous. But she wouldn't block the path either. If she'd wanted Serena gone, she would have vetoed the team invitation. She hadn't. That said everything it needed to say.
Her stance was simple: let it unfold on its own.
"Relax. Even if you decided to make a move, Ash's skull is so thick you'd need to spell it out in capital letters. I'll tell you a secret." Misty leaned closer, voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "I agonised for a whole week before I confessed. And even then, I just blurted it out on our first date because I couldn't hold it in anymore. I was so nervous I thought I'd faint."
"Wait." Serena's eyes went round. "You confessed first?"