[CH-69: A Great Harvest!]
The following morning, the moment Naoki opened his eyes, he saw his account balance had jumped by another sixty million.
He sat up immediately and focused on the screen. All six Jaw Fossils from last night had sold out completely.
These players genuinely had money to burn.
This single trip had basically paid for itself many times over. The entire haul of Mega Stones and Evolution Stones from Ambrette Town had only cost him ten million to commission. Seven fossils had just returned sixty million on top of that.
Information asymmetry really was the most efficient way to make money in this world.
The brief rush of excitement passed quickly and Naoki settled back into his usual calm.
This was capital to be saved and deployed at the right moment. When the timing was right, he could use it to make a move that actually changed things.
The first light of morning pushed through the inn window.
As Naoki woke fully, Zorua, Pawmi, and Magikarp stirred in sequence and opened their eyes.
Zorua arched her back in a long, satisfied stretch, looking remarkably energetic for this hour.
"Wuu?"
Naoki could not understand the words, but he found himself understanding her meaning with surprising ease regardless.
"No training today," he said with a smile. "I'm taking you all out to browse the market street."
He had remembered that Geosenge Town had a dedicated stone market, a whole street of stalls selling mineral specimens of every kind. Worth a walk-through to see if anything interesting turned up.
"Wuu!" Perfect.
They finished breakfast quickly and headed out.
Geosenge Town was not large, so it did not take long to find the place.
It was a long, winding street lined on both sides with market stalls, each one displaying a collection of stones in every conceivable shape and size.
In the anime, Ash and his friends had visited places like this during their time traveling through the Kalos region.
"Come and take a look, freshly dug Fire Stone, can evolve your Fire-type Pokémon into something stronger!"
"Hey, young man, are you a Trainer? Come see if there's anything here you can use!"
The vendor behind one stall, a heavyset man with a full beard, grinned at Naoki as he approached.
"Let me tell you, everything here is locally sourced from around the Kalos region!"
Naoki stepped up to the stall and swept his eyes across the pile of stones. Almost immediately he spotted something sitting among them.
??? Stone: A stone that shares some unexplained resonance with Charizard. Effect unknown.
The vendor followed his gaze and picked it up, grinning wider.
"Now that's a quality piece. This kind of stone is a Kalos specialty. A lot of serious stone collectors make the trip here just to pick these up."
"A collector's item?" Naoki raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Exactly. Look at those grain patterns, the texture, the detail. Beautiful, isn't it? Even if collecting isn't your thing, you could take it home as a toy for your Pokémon, or give it to a kid to play marbles with. Either way it's not bad. So, what do you say? Want one? I'll give you a good price. Just fifty thousand League Credits."
"Fifty thousand?" Naoki blinked.
The vendor assumed he was balking at the cost. "Can't go lower than that. The Evolution Stones that can actually make Pokémon stronger, those we barely make anything on. Something like this, we need to earn at least a little."
Naoki said nothing.
As he had suspected. This street was exactly the kind of place where you could pick up something valuable for next to nothing.
"Zorua," he said, glancing up at her on his shoulder with deliberate casualness. "Do you like that stone?"
"Wuu?" Zorua was briefly confused. She had been under the impression Naoki was the one who wanted it.
But she caught his look, and something clicked.
"Wuu!" She nodded enthusiastically.
"Ha, looks like your Pokémon has good taste!" The vendor laughed.
"I'll take this one." Naoki pulled out his coin pouch, paid, and pocketed the Charizardite without ceremony.
"Nice work, Zorua." He gave her head a gentle pat.
The two of them were getting better and better at reading each other without a word.
"Wuu~" Zorua rubbed her cheek against his palm, pleased with herself.
"Alright, let's keep going. See what else is hiding on this street."
Naoki moved on and worked his way through every stall from one end of the market to the other.
By the time they finished, the haul included one Heracronite, one Swampertite, and one Blastoisinite, all purchased as unidentified "collector's stones" for a fraction of their actual value.
Another strong day.
The Swampertite he had no use for himself. If Moon eventually caught a Swampert for her rain team, he could pass it along as a guild contribution reward.
As for the rest of the ordinary Evolution Stones and mineral specimens on offer throughout the stalls, Naoki did not spend much time on those. He had no particular need for them, and they were not worth the effort.
Fire Stones, Leaf Stones, Thunder Stones, all of those were renewable resources in the Pokémon world. They would always be available again somewhere.
Ordinary stones, given enough time, would absorb the natural energy of their surroundings and gradually transform into Evolution Stones matching the dominant type of that environment.
After leaving the stone market street, Naoki let Zorua lead him on a slow walk through Geosenge Town.
This place had been the seat of the Kalos kingdom thousands of years ago.
It was here that King AZ, in his grief over the death of his beloved Floette, had built the ultimate weapon, and the terrible energy it released had destroyed every living thing in the surrounding area.
Naoki stopped in front of a stretch of worn, skeletal stone pillars.
Not far away stood a marker, recording the catastrophe that had occurred here several thousand years past.
The quiet stones said more than words could.
"Wuu?" Zorua looked at the strange arrangement of rocks and ancient ruins without understanding them.
"It's nothing. I just find myself thinking about it, that there would come a day when I could actually stand here in front of something like this." Naoki said quietly.
King AZ and the Eternal Flower.
Just then, a pained cry cut through the quiet from not far away.
Naoki and Zorua turned toward the sound. An elderly woman with completely white hair and thick glasses had fallen heavily to the ground, her breathing labored and weak.
Her glasses had been knocked off and lay beside her. She was grimacing through the pain with one hand while the other groped across the ground searching for them.
Naoki hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward, picked up the glasses, and held them out to her.
"Oh! Thank you so much!"
The old woman took them and put them on. The world came back into focus, and the first thing she saw was a very young face looking down at her.
"Thank you, young man." She said, genuinely moved.
"Don't mention it. Can you stand?" Naoki glanced at her legs.
She tried to push herself up, but the fall had taken what little strength she had.
She rose partway, swayed, and sat back down on the ground, looking embarrassed. "I'm fine, really. I just need to rest here for a moment."
Naoki thought briefly about whether this was a situation one needed to be cautious about in this world, then decided it was not.
He sighed quietly and moved to help her up. "Can you walk?"
She tried. She nearly fell again.
She looked thoroughly apologetic. "Please don't trouble yourself, young man. I'll be alright if I just sit here a while."
"Do you have a way to contact your family?" Naoki asked. He had his communication device on him.
"No." The old woman's expression dimmed. "My relatives have all passed on long ago."
Naoki said nothing for a moment.
He made a decision.
"I'll take you home," he said. He had nothing pressing right now anyway.
"What a bother I'm causing you." She said, her gratitude obvious. "My home is just in that direction."
Naoki supported her and walked slowly in the direction she indicated. Before long they arrived at a small house.
He helped her inside and eased her down onto the sofa.
Her eyes were full of warmth as she gestured toward something on the table.
"There's nothing special in the house, only some Pokémon food. Please don't take offense..."
"We're not hungry, please don't worry." Naoki looked around the living room.
The room was small but kept with obvious care, everything clean and in its place. On the table was a vase of flowers that had nearly dried out. Beside it stood a framed photograph.
In the photo, a young woman was laughing and playing with a Shuppet, her smile bright and her cheeks showing dimples. The Shuppet beside her wore an expression of exaggerated displeasure.
The old woman followed his gaze, and something clouded over in her eyes. Her voice softened.
"That was me, when I was young. A long time ago now. Come, sit down and rest a moment. I've already caused you enough trouble today."
Naoki settled into the sofa with Zorua. "You live here alone?"
"Not alone. I have Gengar." A smile crossed the old woman's face.
Her parents had died when she was ten. Her husband had died when she was thirty. Her children had left home years ago to chase their dreams of becoming great Trainers, and had never come back.
In this small room, it had been just her and Gengar ever since.
Naoki and Zorua both felt something complicated settle over them at those words.
"I don't have long left," the old woman continued, her voice gentle. "Gengar, that little one, has been running outside every day since she realized. It won't say it out loud, but I can guess what she's doing. She's trying to find a good doctor to come and look after me."
She smiled again, faint and warm, the way she might have when she was young and Gengar was still a Gastly with a face full of exaggerated displeasure.
"She's been out since yesterday morning and hasn't come back. I don't know where she went. I was going to go out and look for her, but it turns out my body had other ideas."
"Wuu..." Zorua's eyes filled with quiet sympathy. She looked up at Naoki, the faintest shimmer in her gaze.
This person was so sad.
Naoki rested a hand on Zorua's head, then looked back at the old woman.
"Where does Gengar usually go? We'll find her and bring her back for you."
"You would really do that?" The old woman looked startled.
"We still have things to take care of in Geosenge Town anyway," Naoki said. "It's no trouble."
"Then I'm asking you, please. Please bring Gengar home." The old woman clasped her hands together, her voice full of quiet desperation.
The moment the words left her mouth, text appeared on Naoki's screen.
Accept quest: Grandma Keiko's Request?
Quest details: Find Gengar and bring her back to Grandma Keiko.
Reward: ???
...
[CH-70: Heartfelt Wish]
Geosenge Town. Pokémon Center.
Naoki and Zorua stood outside the building's distinctive red-roofed facade.
Grandma Keiko had given him a few places where Gengar might have gone. One of them was this Pokémon Center.
The automatic doors slid open as he walked in.
The moment he stepped into the lobby he spotted a short, dark-purple figure across the room.
Gengar was tugging relentlessly at Nurse Joy's sleeve from behind the counter, apparently trying to pull her outside.
"Please stop that, Gengar." Nurse Joy looked thoroughly exasperated.
"Gengar!"
Gengar refused to let go.
At that moment Nurse Joy noticed Naoki in the doorway and immediately perked up.
"Welcome! Gengar, a visitor's here."
"Gengar..."
Gengar released Nurse Joy's sleeve and drifted off to one side, floating there with its head drooping.
"Hello, what can I help you with today?" Nurse Joy turned to Naoki with her practiced professional smile.
"Grandma Keiko is very worried about Gengar. She sent me to find her and bring her home." Naoki glanced over at Gengar and explained to Nurse Joy.
"Grandma Keiko? Oh, I see." Nurse Joy looked mildly curious. "Are you a relative of hers?"
"No." Naoki gave her a brief summary of how they had met.
Nurse Joy's expression was composed as she listened, but across the room Gengar suddenly looked confused.
"Gengar?!"
Gengar stopped fixating on Nurse Joy and immediately spun toward the exit, disappearing from the Pokémon Center in the space of a breath.
"Nurse Joy." Naoki could not help asking. "What exactly has been going on here?"
"Oh, are you a Trainer visiting from somewhere else?" Nurse Joy asked.
Naoki nodded.
"Grandma Keiko and Gengar have lived in this town for a very long time. After Grandma Keiko's husband passed away, her children left home to pursue their dreams of becoming Trainers, and that was the last anyone heard from them."
"Ever since then, it's just been Grandma Keiko and Gengar looking after each other."
"But as time has passed, Grandma Keiko has grown older. She doesn't have long left. Gengar, though, seems to believe she's simply very ill. It comes here every day trying to drag one of us back to treat her."
"We've visited many times before and done what we could for Grandma Keiko..."
Nurse Joy paused. Something quietly sorrowful moved through her expression.
Human medicine could not stop the natural course of life.
"From Gengar's perspective, Pokémon Centers can bring Pokémon back from the brink. So it must believe we can cure Grandma Keiko's illness too. It probably thinks this is the way to save her."
"Wuu..."
Naoki's feelings were complicated. The problem of lifespan.
As a Ghost-type Pokémon, Gengar had an extraordinarily long natural lifespan, long enough to outlive a Trainer many times over across many generations.
"I understand. Thank you, Nurse Joy."
"Of course."
Naoki left the Pokémon Center with Zorua and walked straight back to Grandma Keiko's house.
When he arrived, he could already hear Grandma Keiko's voice from inside.
"Gengar, you haven't forgotten our promise, have you?"
"When the time comes... you have to be the one to carry my soul away yourself."
"Gengar!"
Gengar was furious on the other side of the room. It crossed its arms and turned away, refusing to look at her.
"Oh, you're back." Grandma Keiko looked genuinely relieved. "What a bother I've put you through. I don't have anything proper to give you, but I had this sitting around from when I had some time on my hands. For Zorua."
She reached beside her and held out a soft, cream-colored silk scarf.
Quest "Grandma Keiko's Request" complete.
Congratulations. You have received: Silk Scarf.
Silk Scarf: A well-made scarf with a warm, pleasant texture. While worn, Normal-type moves receive a small increase in power. A small token of kindness from an old woman.
Naoki blinked, then accepted it without protest.
With the quest finished, Naoki said his goodbyes to Grandma Keiko and Gengar, turned, and left with a quiet sigh.
Some things were beyond anyone's power to change.
He was almost at the door when Gengar suddenly flew after him and blocked his path.
Naoki paused.
Gengar looked up at him with an expression of pure desperation.
"Gengar! Gengar!"
Naoki stared at it. He could not understand a word.
At that moment more text appeared on his screen.
Accept quest: Gengar's Wish?
Quest details: Help Gengar cure Grandma Keiko's "illness."
Reward: ???
"Gengar..."
Gengar pressed its small hands together, pleading.
Naoki said nothing for a long moment.
Grandma Keiko's body was failing. What she needed most, in whatever time she had left, was probably for Gengar to be beside her every day rather than running all over town searching for a solution that did not exist.
With that in mind, he chose a gentle lie.
"I'll try to think of something. I can't make any promises."
"For now, stop running around. Stay home and keep Grandma Keiko company. Can you do that?"
"Gengar?!" Gengar lit up immediately. "Gengar!"
Gengar turned and flew back inside.
Zorua looked up at Naoki with a worried expression. "Wuu?"
Naoki rested a hand on her head without speaking.
He walked back to the inn, his feelings tangled into something he could not easily name.
This world was so full of warmth. So why did something like this have to exist in it too?
He shook his head slowly, let the thought settle, and turned his attention back to training. He threw himself and Zorua and Pawmi into a new round of drills for the remaining days.
Six days passed quickly.
On the seventh day, the miners contacted him through his communication device.
He ended the call and headed straight to the agreed meeting point.
The haul this time: 21 Moon Stones, 18 Key Stone ore pieces, 5 Hard Stones, 2 Everstones, 1 Absolite, 2 Lucarionite, 1 Mawilite, 2 Scizorite.
"Fifty-two pieces in total, plus the fossils and the meteorite fragments. That comes to seven million eight hundred thousand League Credits." Naoki counted through the stones, confirmed the number, and paid.
The miners watched Naoki pocket what to them looked like ordinary Kalos-region specialty marbles with obvious interest, and something clicked in their heads.
"Boss, you really like these particular stones?"
Naoki nodded. "If you come across more in the future, contact me."
"No problem!"
Their eyes lit up. These stones were practically worthless in Kalos and sold for almost nothing locally. But this client would pay a hundred thousand per piece. If they went around buying up stock from other miners at low prices and reselling to him, the margin alone would make them rich.
"We'll definitely be in touch!"
The miners were practically vibrating with excitement as they said their goodbyes.
Naoki nodded, smiled, and turned to leave.
The sky outside had begun to darken.
His work in this town was finished. The next stop in Kalos was Lumiose City, the last location on his list.
After that, he could move on to the next region.
Before leaving though, he wanted to check in on Grandma Keiko and Gengar.
He looked up at the sky. The hour was already late. He would visit first thing tomorrow morning.
At that same moment, inside Grandma Keiko's house.
Perhaps because of her fall earlier, Grandma Keiko had been feeling low on energy for the past few days. But today, all of a sudden, she felt something different. A warmth spreading through her entire body, a lightness that reminded her of how she had felt when she was young.
With that unexpected brightness in her step, Grandma Keiko took Gengar to the market, the way she used to, and bought everything Gengar liked to eat.
When they got home, she went straight to the kitchen.
Tonight, she was going to cook Gengar a proper, full dinner.
She worked through the ingredients with a smile on her face, glancing over at Gengar every now and then.
"Do you remember the day we first met? You were still just a little Gastly back then, so small, following me around all day causing trouble."
"Gengar..." Gengar was not entirely sure what she was saying, but seeing her this happy made it happy too.
"My, how time flies. All those years, gone in the blink of an eye."
"Gengar~"
A soft, warm smile settled on Grandma Keiko's face.
Some time later, she carried the food to the table.
"Come on, eat up, Gengar!"
"Gengar!" Gengar dug in with obvious delight.
Grandma Keiko ate a little, just a token amount. She rested her chin in her hand and watched Gengar the whole time, her eyes never leaving it.
She understood perfectly well what was happening to her body. This surge of warmth and energy was a last flicker, the kind that came right before the end.
But being able to keep Gengar company for this last stretch, even just this much, was more than she could have asked for.
"Gengar."
"Gengar?" Gengar looked up.
"From now on, I want you to live just like today. Comfortable and full, eating well every day. Promise me."
"Gengar!"
Gengar nodded repeatedly, thinking to itself: so this was what it felt like when a Trainer got better. This was making it so happy. As long as its Trainer could stay like this, it would be on its best behavior forever.
Grandma Keiko went on talking, quietly and carefully, covering everything she wanted to say. Time passed without either of them noticing, and eventually the clock reached eight in the evening.
After a full day, Grandma Keiko felt a gentle wave of tiredness settle over her.
But she pushed through it long enough to wash the dishes, then brought out the small hat she had been knitting for Gengar.
"Try it on. With this, you won't have to worry about the cold in winter."
Gengar put on the hat. It was exactly as warm as she had said it would be.
"Gengar!"
"Haa... Gengar..."
Grandma Keiko's movements slowed.
She reached out and touched Gengar gently.
"Gengar?"
The smile on Grandma Keiko's face was quiet and full of peace.
"Meeting you, in this life of mine, was truly the greatest thing that ever happened to me."
"Gengar~!" Gengar felt exactly the same, though outwardly it kept its usual air of aloof dignity.
"Alright. I'm a little tired." Grandma Keiko rested her hand on Gengar's head. "Sleep with me for a while?"
Gengar settled in beside her without a word.
The two of them lay down together.
If time could have gone back seventy years, they would have been lying on this same bed, in this same way.
Grandma Keiko's thoughts drifted back to that first night, when Gengar had just come to her home as a small Gastly, the two of them tugging at opposite ends of the blanket before they finally fell asleep.
What good memories.
Grandma Keiko's awareness grew soft and slow. A smile was still on her face when she left the world, peacefully and without struggle.
Beside her, Gengar suddenly went still.
"Gengar?"
No answer.
"Gengar..."
Gengar looked at the scene before it, not fully understanding, and then something enormous and wordless rose up from somewhere deep inside it.
"Gengar!!!"
Late that night, Naoki was jolted awake by a sharp notification sound.
He opened his eyes. Text was already filling the screen.
Warning! Target NPC Grandma Keiko has died. Quest "Gengar's Wish" has failed.
Special condition detected. Quest content is being updated... Please make a selection immediately.
New quest option 1: Help Gengar defeat the enemy arriving from the Spirit Realm and protect Grandma Keiko's soul on its behalf.
New quest option 2: Help the Spirit Realm's guide bring the lost soul safely back to the Spirit Realm.
Please make your selection or abandon the quest within three minutes. The final quest reward will change depending on your choice.