Elf: Chosen Ranger

Chapter 5 Decline of Towns

"grow rapidly!"

The saplings in the open space in front of Xia Ye grew rapidly, and a thick melon fruit tree appeared in his sight.

The fruit branches were covered with blue fruits. Xia Ye planned to reach out to pick two and taste them with the knocking monkey, but he remembered something and his outstretched hand was hanging in the air.

"I remember the taste of the ridged melon fruit is bitter and astringent, so I'd better give up."

"roar~"

The knocking monkey made a sound, and it seemed that it wanted to try the taste of the melon fruit.

"Really? This tree fruit doesn't taste very good."

The tone-tapping monkey nodded, with a firm attitude. There was no other way, so Xia Ye had to pick one and handed it to it. The tone-tapping monkey bit it down, but the melon fruit did not move at all.

"Ah, its skin is very hard."

After hearing Xia Ye's words, the monkey didn't give up. He rubbed his teeth back and forth and finally broke a hole. Blue juice spurted out from the hole, and the bitter taste filled the monkey's mouth.

Its little face twisted into a ball, and it took the melon fruit far away and stuck out its tongue in disgust. The originally pink tongue was now dyed blue.

"I've warned you, this fruit should be given to Pokémon who can enjoy it."

Xia Ye showed a helpless expression. The melon fruit actually has another function, which is as a natural dye.

It is rich in blue pigment, and the dyed cloth looks like the blue sky. This kind of fabric is very high-end and very popular in any region.

"That means it's very valuable. Well, let's forget it for now. It's more important to solve the ecological problems of the forest."

The knocking monkey still didn't recover, and kept scraping his tongue with his little hands, trying to eliminate the bitter taste.

"Eat a prickly pear, the sour taste is better than the bitter taste."

Xia Ye took out a piercing fruit like a magic trick, and the tone-tapping monkey took it gratefully, and then started to enjoy it.

"But it's not good to just eat the fruit all the time. After all, I still have to go to a nearby town."

I have used up all my skill points today, and I don’t have the tools to make a bird’s nest. Alas, I hope there is still balance in that bank card, otherwise I will have to sell tree fruits.

Xia Ye made up his mind to go to a nearby town. He and the knocking monkey returned to the wooden house to pick up bank cards and old mobile phones, put on their backpacks and walked on the only path.

He had seen the three-dimensional view of Sunset Forest, and the northern exit of this path was Spike Town.

In Xia Ye's memory, Spike Town cannot Dynamax because it is far away from the energy point, so there is no need to build an arena specifically for Dynamax battles.

Due to its remote location and the lack of an arena, the town is declining day by day. You must know that all industries in Galar are linked to battles. If it cannot provide a highly enjoyable Max Battle, it will not be able to attract audiences.

Without an audience, there is no investment value. Spike Town has become an abandoned child of Galar's development. If it does not show itself in the future, the gym's qualifications will probably be deprived by the alliance.

"This is Spike Town."

The town only has one slender main road, and at first glance there are stores built close to each other, but most of them have been closed long ago, and there is no prosperity in the past, only a sense of dilapidation.

Xia Ye stepped into the gate of the town. There was a road in the middle of every house in this street for only one person to pass. He could not see the end at a glance. He tried to walk in and found that there were three different forked roads at the end, like a maze. generally.

Feeling that he would get lost if he continued walking, Xia Ye chose to return to the original street. As soon as he walked out of the alley, he encountered three guys dressed strangely.

The metal hangings, punk outfits, and the portrait of Mary held high are unmistakable, they are the cheering team.

"An outsider? Why did you come out sneakily?"

The leader of the shouting team looked at Xia Ye with hostile eyes, and then asked.

"It's simple. It's my first time here so I'm very curious."

"Well, you are such a strange person. It's good that you haven't done anything bad." His eyes became strange, and then the female shouting team member behind him urged.

"Hey, come on, Nie Zi's concert is about to start."

The three of them turned around and prepared to leave. The concert was more important now. "Sorry, I have another question, where can I withdraw money with my bank card?" Xia Ye stopped the three of them.

"Ah, let's go to the Pokémon Center. You can do anything there." Team Scream replied impatiently, and then ran away quickly.

"Pokémon Center" Xia Ye looked at the familiar building in front of him, "Isn't this right in front of me?"

Xia Ye walked into the Pokémon Center and had a different feeling the moment she opened the door. The bright interior, the smiling face of Miss Joy, and the Spike Town outside were completely different worlds.

"Hello, what service do you need?" Miss Joy showed a professional smile.

"Well, please help me check the balance of this card."

Xia Ye handed over the bank card to Miss Joy. After taking it, she inserted it into the machine behind her, looked at the numbers on the screen and read out:

"Well, the total is [-] alliance coins. Do you want to transfer it to your mobile account?"

"Can it be exchanged for cash?" Xia Ye asked

"Of course, please wait."

Miss Joy typed a few times on the keyboard, and then the machine spit out ten banknotes. She sorted the banknotes and handed them into Xia Ye's hands together with her bank card.

Fortunately, there was money in it. Xia Ye took the banknotes, but now he didn't know the prices in this world, so he had to practice it.

With this idea in mind, he walked to the friendly store nearby and asked:

"How much are the elf balls and wound medicine?"

The person who received Xia Ye was a fat cashier with a very kind face.

"The elf ball is 300 points, and the wound potion is 700 points."

"Then please bring me ten elf balls and ten bottles of medicine."

"Understood." The cashier walked to the container and took out the props Xia Ye needed, put them in a blue bag and handed them to him, "These are the props you need, and I will give you an extra souvenir ball."

How can one live in the Pokémon world without elf balls, and wound medicine is also very important. They usually live in the wild, and it would be troublesome if they take care of their wounds.

Xia Ye handed over two banknotes, took the bag, and walked out of the Pokémon Center with Knocker Monkey.

"Monkey, are you feeling hungry? How about we finish lunch first?"

The knocking monkey raised his hands in agreement, and Xia Ye walked along the street looking for restaurants selling food, but these stores were either locked or blocked by rolling shutter doors, and the advertisements posted on the walls had long since turned yellow.

"The feeling of urban decay is really not good." Xia Ye sighed and continued to move forward. Finally, he found a restaurant that was open.

The owner of the restaurant is an old man, and the menu is very simple, only curry and fish and chips.

Xia Ye ordered a large portion of curry to enjoy with the knocking monkey. This curry only costs 300 alliance points and a poke ball for a meal. As expected, the trainer's expenses are very high. Fortunately, I am a ranger.

He put the ladle full of curry into his mouth. First, there was a unique rich aroma, and then the faint sweetness neutralized the spicy taste. The taste of the ingredients also exploded in the mouth like a perfect performance, making people unable to help themselves. Have a great time.

After a while, Xia Ye and the Sound Monkey finished off a large plate of curry, showing expressions of satisfaction.

"Boss, your curry is so delicious." Xia Ye praised sincerely.

"Well, thank you for the compliment. This was the most popular curry in Spike Town back then. The queue could fill a whole street!" The boss showed a proud expression and suddenly became lonely.

"My children inherited my skills and went to the big city. They are living a good life now. I am the only one guarding this small shop. Hum, I will not go anywhere. Spike Town is my hometown. How can I abandon it just because of its decline? It!" The boss's voice was very angry.

"Sorry, I shouldn't say such depressing words to my guests, but this declining town also has treasures. Do you know Nie Zi? I grew up watching him."

"That boy's singing goes straight to the soul. He is definitely a singing genius, so old man, I recommend you to give it a listen." The boss took away the plate and smiled at Xia Ye.

Xia Ye left the shop after saying thank you for your suggestion and "I'll take a look."

The old man looked at the declining streets, held the plate tightly and whispered to himself:
"Geniuses like this are trying their best to revitalize Spike Town, so of course I want to stay!"

(End of this chapter)