A shopping spree and a bewildered Officer Jenny

Large supermarkets could usually be found near colleges. More precisely, a decent school could boost the economy of an entire neighborhood.

Xin Mu was pushing a shopping cart through the supermarket, picking out what he needed.

As for Meownei, she was sitting in the cart.

That wasn't against the rules. This supermarket allowed Pokémon in shopping carts, though there was a weight limit.

"Sitrus Berries, Pecha Berries, Hondew Berries, and some Pinap Berries... Meownei, can you check whether these are fresh?"

Xin Mu picked out some Berries to make into Pokéblocks back home for Meownei to snack on. He could have some himself from time to time, too.

He wasn't very good at judging whether Berries were fresh, but Meownei was.

Grass-type Pokémon could sense the condition of fruit in a special way. Having Meownei pick out Berries was like having X-ray vision, making their quality almost guaranteed.

He could probably find cheaper ones at a market, but Xin Mu really wasn't good at haggling, so he had opted for somewhere more convenient.

"Meow~ (The Berries over there aren't good. That batch of watermelons is pretty good, though.)"

After buying a batch of Berries, Xin Mu picked up some ordinary fruit as well, then continued leisurely browsing the supermarket.

The brands in the supermarket had undergone a complete overhaul. Aside from the fresh produce, Xin Mu barely saw any brands he recognized.

"Miltank milk... imported from Goldenrod City, Johto..."

The products in the dairy section brought back some unpleasant memories for Xin Mu. Miltank were the finest dairy cows in the Pokémon world, and the milk they produced was of the highest quality.

Like Tauros, Miltank were a single-gender species of Pokémon.

However, Tauros were exclusively male, while Miltank were exclusively female. They were also male and female counterparts, so ranches usually raised both species together to make breeding purebred Pokémon offspring easier.

Miltank produced milk regularly even when they weren't nursing, yielding around twenty liters a day. Not being milked left them very uncomfortable.

Counting from the age of magical beasts, Miltank were among the earliest Pokémon to live alongside humans.

The better the pasture, the better the milk, which was why Miltank milk from Goldenrod City sold so well. Xin Mu wasn't even sure whether the milk here was being sold under a borrowed label.

What brought back those unpleasant memories, though, was the advertisement on the packaging.

It featured Whitney, the Gym Leader of the Goldenrod Gym. Her ace was a Miltank, whose Rollout had given challengers no end of trouble in the original game version.

"Beedrill honey? How is that even a thing?"

"Meow? (What's wrong?)"

"I remember Beedrill don't make honey. I'm starting to wonder where all this stuff actually comes from."

If Xin Mu had only suspected that the milk was being sold under a borrowed label before, he was nearly certain now. After all, they had even come up with Beedrill honey.

Just as honeybees in nature made honey while wasps didn't, Beedrill were like wasps: Pokémon that couldn't make honey.

"Sir, there's been a misunderstanding. This is our new product. 'Beedrill honey' is just a marketing gimmick. It's actually a fruit honey made by mixing Beedrill pollen with fruit juice, inspired by Teddiursa's habits."

A nearby sales assistant overheard Xin Mu and came over to explain quietly.

Pokémon-related products generally cost more, and most people who brought Pokémon shopping had greater spending power, so the sales assistants in this section needed to be more knowledgeable.

Otherwise, failing to explain a situation like this clearly could damage their reputation.

"Inspired by Teddiursa..."

Teddiursa were very cute Pokémon that looked like little teddy bears. They spent most of their time searching for honey and soaking their paws in it.

They also sought out fruit and pollen collected by Beedrill, mixing them into a special honey.

As a result, the honey on each Teddiursa's paws had its own unique flavor. That explanation did make sense.

"Yes, our products have been registered and certified by the League. We guarantee they aren't counterfeit.

"We're currently doing a trial launch, with a buy-one-get-one-free offer. If you're unhappy with them, you can return them at any time. Would you like to try some?"

Persuaded by the sales assistant, Xin Mu took a jar of green grape honey and a jar of pomelo honey, planning to try them back home.

He then bought some other products unique to the Pokémon world, such as invigorating soda, before pushing his cart toward the self-checkout.

"All this spending... it's much more expensive than ordinary goods. Professional trainers probably spend even more."

Looking at the long receipt and the total at the bottom, Xin Mu muttered to himself.

Still, professional trainers earned more as well. Overall, it was a healthy cycle. The hardest part was the stage when someone was trying to become a professional trainer.

The investment required at that point was considerable. Without a sufficient financial foundation, they had to give up more in other ways.

Once that first step was taken, everything else became easier. For instance, the prize money from beating the Blue Sky Technical Academy Gym was enough for Xin Mu to do a great many things.

Looking at the four bulging shopping bags, Xin Mu tested their weight. Before strengthening himself with the training device, carrying all four at once would probably have been quite a struggle. Now it was much easier.

Without that machine, though, he wouldn't have bought so much in the first place. Training with it had made his appetite much bigger than before.

"Meow, meow~ (Give me the bags. They're pretty heavy.)"

Meownei took two shopping bags and motioned for Xin Mu to give her the others as well.

"Do you think you're a Machamp? There are exactly four bags. If you want to carry some, take two."

Although Meownei kept insisting that she was stronger, she still couldn't get the other two shopping bags away from Xin Mu.

When they left the supermarket, they ran into Officer Jenny, who was leading a team conducting checks.

"Hello. Routine inspection. Please show me your ID."

Seeing Xin Mu carrying far more supplies than one person would need, Officer Jenny came over to check his identity.

"Sorry for the trouble."

"What are you checking for?"

"Members of an evil organization from another region have been active here recently. If you see a logo with the letter R, please report it immediately, provided you can do so safely."

Hearing that, Xin Mu understood what they were looking for. That logo undoubtedly belonged to Team Rocket.

It seemed Jessie and James still hadn't been caught over the past couple of days.

That was indeed the case. After the attack on the Pokémon Center, they had gone quiet. The Officer Jennys of Donghuang had spent ages analyzing the situation without figuring anything out.

Ultimately, based on the giant robot that had appeared, they concluded that Team Rocket had already established a branch in Donghuang.

But they couldn't uncover any leads, and in the end, they hadn't even found how those materials had been transported. They simply began this new round of widespread inspections instead.

As for Jessie and James...

They were currently in disguise, tightening screws in an electronics factory, completely unfazed by the inspections outside. Just as Officer Jenny didn't believe they only wanted to catch Pikachu.

She hadn't imagined that Team Rocket members would be working in a factory, either.

James and the others didn't believe that Officer Jenny's massive operation was meant to catch them, which instead resulted in a peculiar kind of peaceful coexistence.