[Ash's Move Mastery Room · Fan Group Chat]
Early-Bird Dodrio:
"Everyone, hurry to the shop! The third and final trial order was completed successfully today!"
Rampaging Tauros:
"Insane!!! So does that mean—based on current results—the success rate for teaching Tackle to Magikarp is 100%?!"
Hardworking Caterpie:
"Eh… the sample size is only three. Calling it 100% is a bit unrigorous. But an 85% success rate should be a safe estimate."
Soaring Butterfree:
"That's already incredible. What I'm really waiting for is Ash opening new orders—I can't wait to get my Magikarp to learn Tackle!"
Lonely Arbok:
"Eh?! The price changed?! The trial price was 50,000 Poké Dollars—now it's 250,000?! That's a fivefold increase!!"
Spiky Sandslash:
"250k is expensive? You clearly don't understand the value of Magikarp learning Tackle. And if you don't have money, why are you even raising Magikarp—why be a Trainer at all?"
"Didn't you hear? The Tsuchihara Family once offered Ash 500,000 Poké Dollars per Magikarp as a baseline. Setting the price at 250k is already more than fair."
Mischievous Clefable:
"Don't mind him. He's just complaining to trick others into canceling their reservations so his queue position moves up."
Laid-back Snorlax:
"Whoa—what a schemer. I almost fell for that."
…
After the final trial order was completed and the Magikarp + Tackle service price was officially raised to 250,000 Poké Dollars, scenes like this played out across Kanto's cities.
Some Trainers were thrilled, eagerly waiting for Ash to open new orders.
Others complained loudly about the steep price hike.
But a very strange phenomenon appeared.
Despite the shop announcing that existing reservations could be canceled, and despite the wave of complaints claiming the price was "too high"—
The number of canceled orders was shockingly low.
In fact, the total number of reservations surged again.
Over this period, reservations for Magikarp + Tackle had been rising steadily. The last noticeable spike had occurred after Ash completed the first trial order.
That Trainer's LV.16 Magikarp, after a few days of training, had successfully evolved into Gyarados. Two days ago, the Trainer posted a long, five-star review—complete with a video of the evolution.
That single post ignited the crowd.
Trainers who had been hesitating were tempted beyond endurance and rushed to place orders.
Steady growth… with occasional explosions.
By now, reservations for Magikarp + Tackle had surpassed one hundred.
…
"Ash, should we start accepting new orders now—Rotom?"
After completing the trial orders, adjusting prices, and posting announcements, Rotom asked.
Rotom handled backend operations and customer inquiries, but all strategic decisions were Ash's.
"We'll officially start taking orders today," Ash replied calmly.
"The queue is already pretty long. Just like on August 8 when we opened, let's accept 20 orders for now."
"Teaching Tackle to Magikarp is far more difficult than ordinary skill training."
"Extend the learning period from 5 days to 10 days."
Having run the shop for some time, Ash now had a clear sense of what to do—and what not to do.
"Understood—Rotom!!"
With Ash's instructions confirmed, Rotom executed efficiently without hesitation.
-----
Once ordinary Trainer orders were handled, Ash and Rotom moved on to negotiations with Kanto's major families and power blocs.
Takahashi Family.
Fujiwara Family.
Joy Family.
Silph Family.
Erika's Family.
James's Family.
Jenny Family…
In addition to the major families, Ash also gave the Pokémon League a direct response.
Contracts with these large powers followed mostly standardized templates. The main points for negotiation were price, quantity, and time limits.
Because Ash had deliberately kept them waiting earlier, these factions were now far more willing to accept his terms.
Of course, Ash didn't inflate prices outrageously.
He still needed these upper-tier Kanto powers as a protective buffer before confronting Team Rocket—he had no intention of souring relations.
Using 250,000 Poké Dollars for ordinary Trainers and the 500,000 offered by the nouveau-riche Fujiwara Family as reference points:
Kanto League:200,000 Poké Dollars per Magikarp
(In consideration of their protection efforts, Professor Oak, and Ash's status as a League citizen)
Other major families and power blocs:
Prices ranged from 250,000 to 500,000 Poké Dollars, scaling upward with order volume.
In a conventional business model, larger orders mean lower unit prices.
But Ash wasn't a factory.
He was a handcrafted workshop—a one-man operation. His time, energy, and output were all strictly limited.
In effect, Ash was providing a form of strategic resource.
If one party took more, others would inevitably get less.
Those who wanted greater quantities had to pay higher prices—simple as that.
The major families understood this perfectly, and negotiations proceeded smoothly.
Because these families shared information among themselves, they soon realized that—aside from the League receiving a slight discount—everyone else's effective prices were roughly the same once order volumes were factored in.
Ash's impartial fairness earned him tremendous goodwill.
Moreover, all negotiations were conducted via video calls.
Seeing a six-year-old boy, born to an ordinary civilian family, display such composure, clarity, and maturity—
The heads of Kanto's great families grew even more attentive and respectful.
Combined with the League's evaluation of Ash's Trainer aptitude, their attitude toward him became noticeably warmer. After contracts were finalized, many warmly invited Ash to visit their estates as a guest.
Knowing that Ash had previously been targeted by Team Rocket, several families personally assured him:
If he visited their homes, his safety would be absolute.
No one would dare harm him—
Not even Team Rocket.
The web was tightening.
And Ash Ketchum stood calmly at its center.
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