Harvest (Please Bookmark, Please vote)

Eichi busily gathered Berries while Weedle stood guard over Pidgey.

Whenever Pidgey was about to break free, Weedle would patch the bindings with more String Shot. In the end, Pidgey completely gave up resisting.

It lay there, playing dead.

Eichi quickly filled his entire backpack. There were some Berries he did not recognize, so just in case, he picked a few of every kind.

When he saw that his backpack truly could not hold any more, Eichi turned back and called out to Weedle.

Then they hurriedly ran. Halfway through—

He suddenly heard Fearow's cry. Eichi immediately realized something was wrong. Fearow and the others had returned, so he sped up at once.

Eichi did not know how long he had run. Filled with unease, he did not feel tired at all.

Only after he finally left Viridian Forest did Eichi stop to rest.

He was utterly exhausted, gasping for breath and drenched in sweat.

Though he was tired, he was also thrilled. If he had left even a step later, he would definitely have died without a burial place.

He had been wildly testing the edge of death. It was damn exhilarating!

Once he had calmed down, Eichi felt a little scared in retrospect. Doing something like this once was enough.

Doing it again would be asking for death. Fearow would probably explode with rage once it discovered its Berries had been stolen—no, not stolen, but looted during a crisis.

It was finally time to take stock of his gains. Once he got home—

Eichi eagerly set down his backpack and took out the box containing the Berries.

He was very glad that he had brought several extra boxes when he went out that day.

The moment he opened the box, a mixed fragrance of all kinds of Berries wafted out. Eichi took a deep breath.

"It smells so good."

Then he sorted them one by one, putting the Berries he recognized to one side and the ones he did not recognize to the other.

Next, he dug out a thick book from his desk. The cover read Berry Encyclopedia.

This Berry Encyclopedia recorded every Berry currently known. Eichi had borrowed it from Teacher Arno.

So far, Eichi had only finished half of it. There was still half left unread.

The Berries he did not recognize should be in that other half.

Following the pictures in the book, Eichi found them one by one.

After counting all the Berries, there were 223 in total.

There were Oran Berries, Pecha Berries, Mango Berries, Sitrus Berries...

Quite a few of them were valuable. More than half were especially precious.

For example, Spelon Berries could be used to make Pokéblocks, with the effect of enhancing cuteness.

Berries that could be used to make Pokéblocks were especially valuable.

Especially for people participating in Pokémon Contests, money was never an issue.

Eichi felt that he had struck it rich. Though he did not know the exact price of each kind of Berry—

Someone did! That was Aunt Keiko.

The Breeding House where Aunt Keiko worked purchased Berries every day, and it also had a Pokéblock maker.

So Aunt Keiko definitely knew the exact prices.

Eichi released Weedle and let it choose its favorite kind of Berry.

Weedle picked through them for a while before finally choosing a Cheri Berry.

Eichi kept all fifteen Cheri Berries for it, packed the rest into boxes and put them back in his backpack, then hurried to Tokiwa City.

Back in Tokiwa City, Eichi easily found Aunt Keiko's Breeding House.

At this time of day, the Breeding House did not have much business. Eichi saw Aunt Keiko chatting with someone.

When she saw Eichi arrive, her eyes lit up and she immediately stood. "Eichi, what brings you here today?

Let me have a look at your Weedle."

At that, Eichi released Weedle. When it came out, it looked completely bewildered.

But when it saw Aunt Keiko, it recognized her as the woman who had been beside Eichi when it had just hatched.

Since she was so close to Eichi, she definitely was not a bad person.

Weedle then swayed its body and greeted everyone.

Keiko carefully examined Weedle and said in surprise, "This Weedle has been raised very well!

Eichi, you're amazing!"

Eichi felt a little proud when he heard Aunt Keiko's praise.

Weedle was also very happy. It could tell that the woman was praising it.

After the praise, Eichi told Aunt Keiko why he had come.

After listening, Aunt Keiko said, "Take out the Berries, and I'll help you have a look."

Eichi swiftly set down his backpack and took out the box of Berries.

He handed the box to Aunt Keiko, and Keiko accepted it.

She opened it and inspected the contents carefully, deeply surprised. Where had these Berries come from?

Some of these Berries were quite scarce. Aunt Keiko roughly estimated that they were worth at least over a hundred thousand.

Eichi did not tell Aunt Keiko how he had obtained the Berries, and Keiko did not ask.

After looking them over, she said, "These should be worth over a hundred thousand or so."

Then she told Eichi the market price of each kind of Berry.

These Berries could sell for at least one hundred each.

Scarce Berries like Spelon Berries had a market price of five hundred, but when someone was buying in bulk, they could sometimes sell for seven or eight hundred each.

Just as Keiko finished speaking to Eichi, someone said, "Why not sell them to our Breeding House?"

Eichi looked up at the voice and saw a very young, beautiful woman.

She looked to be in her twenties, with long azure hair, delicate features, glasses, and an intellectual air about her.

Eichi looked at Aunt Keiko in confusion.

Aunt Keiko immediately introduced him to the woman. "Manager, this is my nephew, Eichi."

Then she turned to Eichi and said, "Eichi, this is our manager, Amelie."

Eichi honestly greeted Manager Amelie. "Hello, Manager."

Amelie smiled. "Little Eichi, you haven't answered my question yet."

Amelie had done this because, while standing nearby earlier, she had noticed that Eichi's Weedle had been raised exceptionally well.

As an Intermediate Breeder, Amelie asked herself—

If it had been her, she might have needed to spend a great deal of money to raise a Weedle like this.

Of course, Amelie would never spend that much money raising a Weedle. The cost simply was not worth it.

With that money, she could raise a Pokémon of another type to be much stronger.

Amelie had heard Keiko talk about Eichi's family background: it was ordinary, yet he had managed to raise such a Weedle.

To be honest, she was rather curious about Eichi and wanted to use this opportunity to get closer to him.

Eichi was a little flattered. "Of course, no problem!"

Amelie smiled. "Don't call me Manager. I have a name. Call me Sister Amelie."

Eichi hurriedly replied, "Okay, Sister Amelie."

After chatting for a while, Manager Amelie said a few words to Keiko, then calculated the price of the Berries.

While Aunt Keiko was doing the calculations, Amelie chatted with Eichi now and then.

At first, Eichi was a little nervous, but he gradually relaxed.

After Aunt Keiko finished verifying everything, she brought over a card.

Amelie took the card and handed it to Eichi. "This is an unregistered League Card. It can be used at any Pokémon Center, and it contains the payment for all the Berries this time.

I'll pay you 120% of the market price. The total is 156,780."

Eichi accepted the League Card and quickly thanked Amelie.