"That's genuinely incredible." Basil glanced down at the bottle, tilting it to watch the liquid shift in its glass container. "I wonder if I could put a good word for you in..." He muttered to himself. Wait, did the boy something about side effects? Nah, maybe he misheard. It was hard to understand what he said with his mouth covered by his hand.

The boy quickly introduced himself and offered his hand. The young noble smiled and grasped his hand with his gauntleted hand. "Basil, my name is Basil. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said with sincerity because he was genuinely impressed with Earl's skill and dedication in his journey to create concoction. "I'm taking the league on too. Actually, I am one of Professor Kalmia's assistants. I've only been a trainer a bit, but I can say that it's been... interesting."

Basil had this thousand-yard stare as he thought about his entire journey. Interesting was an apt word considering how much happened.

He took a deep breath and then proceeded to unload an unholy amount of information as if he needed to get it off his chest. With each point he brought up, he lifted a finger as if he listed it off. "Nearly got jumped, solved an ancient mystery with the person who nearly jumped me, unleashed a legendary Pokemon and was given a gift by it, played a game of chicken with my life with a mother Hydreigon to convince it to get the chance to recruit one of her kids which worked, planted the gift from the legendary Pokemon in the berry garden and suddenly caused every plant to bear fruit while the gift itself turned into a wooden effigy, and it turns out I may have stumbled upon a conspiracy."

All of that was said in one breath. He was slightly out of breath as he left Early to process what he said. "Oh, and I have a gym badge already." He quickly brought up with a weary chuckle before his shoulders slouched forward and heaved a heavy sigh. "It's been a week."

@Remram

‘Professor’s assistant, huh? Got any good boons out of that?’ Earl asked back after having shook hands, er, hand and gauntlet. Then Basil started going through what had happened to him during his trip. Earl took a moment to raise his eyebrows a bit as the speech grew longer. Finally, Basil finished, and Earl gave a little ‘Huh,’ sound.

‘I guess they’re supposed to be adventures. I did catch a
Pokémon only to suddenly be pursued by his overly protective mother. Now I travel with both of them, but the higher-level mother is unusable by me because all she does is demand to see her son… But, like, he actively hates and avoids her, so I’m somehow carrying a whole family drama in my pockets. But I guess that’s how far I can compare. Other than a couple mishaps when trying to develop new potions…’ Earl said, something about Basil unloading all that made him share some, too.

‘I got a gym badge, too. Pretty sure Lorette held back, though. More than she needed to, at least,’ he said, and then looked aside for a bit… ‘I’ve lost against Archie thrice already. He doesn’t hold back at all. … Would you like a tip?’ Earl asked.

What does Basil say?







Connected areas:
Route 4. Forest route at the base of Mt. Strength leading west to Rainrock City.
Route 5. A grassy incline connecting mountains, forests, plains, Stillwood and Lakewatch.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.
Mountain Valley. A passage between Mt. Strength and Mt. Chill, a shortcut to Worldedge City.

They were supposed to be adventures? Basil's brow furrowed as he stewed over the thought for a second before a quick breath of air escaped. He chuckled and said, "You know, I didn't really think of it that way, but I suppose we're both having an adventure." They were called journeys for a reason and they certainly were on one. It was nice to hear about how other trainers' journeys though there was also a point where he did not wish to use their experience for his own gain, such as Earl's offer to divulge information on the gym leader.

"I appreciate the offer I'd rather figure it out myself. It doesn't feel fair otherwise, but thanks though." As much as he understood that any intel could be used to help him on his journey, this was one of those moments where he had to refuse. Perhaps it was a poorly placed sense of pride or some other reason, but when it came to challenges like this then he wanted to conquer them through his own effort and ingenuity, not because he had information prior.

However,there was something they could do together; Basil's eyes glanced back at the shopkeeper and then turned back to Earl with a smile. "How about we do a good deed?" He said before he turned his attention back to the shopkeeper. In an attempt to snap her back to reality, Basil waved his hand and said,"Hello, miss?"

Once Basil got her attention, he said, "You see, I have a lot of berries to spare, more than I know what to do with, if you want to experiment to get some better tasting concoctions. If you can whip something up, we can advertise to get you more customers."

@Remram

‘Fair enough,’ Earl responded to Basil saying that he wished to figure it out himself. Then, he raised an eyebrow at Basil suggesting to do a good deed.

The clerk flinched back to reality when Basil suddenly addressed her, like her whole being suddenly regained color again, looking at the hand he waved with startled eyes.

‘Wh-what?’ she first asked, looking almost afraid that he’d come with another reality-changing statement. And… maybe he did. She looked confused at the offered kindness. ‘You’d… you’d do that?’ she asked, not sounding like she entirely believed him.

‘I can help make them,’ Earl supplied, walking to stand next to Basil in offering aid. ‘I know something about how to concoct flavors out of berries. Crafting mixtures based on plant-life is my speciality, after all,’ he said, a certain amount of pride in his tone.

‘I-’ The clerk stared at them in disbelief. ‘Yes! Thank you! In that case…’

So, with Basil’s berries (which ones do you offer? or, just like, all of them?), the clerk’s knowledge of herbal medicine and Earl’s skills at making concoctions, they were able to craft some items. Any combination of sweet, sour and salt can help reduce bitterness. Berries could provide sweet and sour, while the clerk could dash off and grab salt from elsewhere. Earl also provided some honey, because he had some available.

In the end, they produced…!

Berry Smoothie! - You’d never believe there’s Heal Powder inside it!
Berry Gummy! - Chewy little treat that has Energy Powder inside it!
Berry Bar! - A crunchy bar with sweet insides disguising the Energy Root!
Berry Poké Puff! - It looks just like a Poké Puff! If you didn’t know there was a Revival Herb inside it, you’d never have guessed!

‘Wow…’ the clerk made a bit of an amazed noise. While she might have known how to use the herbs, these creations were mostly Earl. He sighed out in content and stood up. Stella, who’d previously just been hiding behind Basil’s leg, peeked out slightly curiously!

‘Like… like this?’ the clerk offered some of the creations, perhaps to let Basil and Earl advertise with them.



Basil also lost an unspecified amount of berries.

Now, then. How was he going to advertise these?



What does Basil say?





Connected areas:
Route 4. Forest route at the base of Mt. Strength leading west to Rainrock City.
Route 5. A grassy incline connecting mountains, forests, plains, Stillwood and Lakewatch.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.
Mountain Valley. A passage between Mt. Strength and Mt. Chill, a shortcut to Worldedge City.

Why was he doing this? Frankly speaking, this shop was in such a sad state of affairs that he felt compelled to help out. Everyone needed a helping hand; he did when Professor Kalmia gave him Cecil so he should put out that same energy into the world. "Don't think too hard about it." He said as he watched Earl walk beside him and offered his expertise. It was lucky that he was generous with his time and knowledge or else this would have been all for naught.

Basil fished around his almost bottomless bag and pulled out the bountiful wealth that he had received from the nice lady from the berry garden. He handed her ten razz berries, ten nanab berries, and ten oran berries to work with. However, that was all he could do before he stood by on the sidelines and watched Earl help the shopkeeper develop recipes, twiddling his thumbs since he really had no idea how to cook let alone perform whatever alchemy needed to make those herbs into something palatable. However, the results were beyond expectation!

"Yeah, exactly like that! If you've got the recipes down you can no doubt sell a lot of these." He accepted the goodies full heartily, but he suddenly wore a stern expression on his face. "Patent these as soon as you can. Once word gets out, the Mercia family will try to release their own product and your efforts will go up in smoke," he said with great urgency.

"You've done your part. Now it's time for an effective advertisement campaign and I know exactly where to do it." Basil had a soft, yet knowing smile. To the Treehouse Arena!