After spending some time relaxing under the sun on the beach, Ash accompanied the two girls for several rounds of beach volleyball.
The afternoon passed amidst the blue ocean, golden sands, warm sunshine, and refreshing sea breeze.
Only when the sun began sinking toward the horizon, painting the sea in brilliant shades of orange and crimson beneath the evening glow, did the exhausted group finally leave the beach.
They climbed onto the seawall promenade overlooking the coast and took a leisurely walk before heading toward one of Cerulean City's most famous attractions near the harbor—
The Sail Market.
Although it was called the Sail Market, the name was somewhat misleading.
It wasn't a market that exclusively sold sailboats.
Rather, it was an enormous, bustling marketplace containing just about everything related to the sea.
Freshly caught fish and seafood.
Swimming, diving, and surfing equipment.
Countless handicrafts inspired by the ocean.
Entire ships and boats.
Ship parts.
Repair equipment.
And, of course, sailboats themselves.
Ash and his companions had no interest in the damp, fishy-smelling seafood market.
Nor were they particularly interested in browsing ship components.
As a result, everyone headed directly toward the handicraft district.
It was also the busiest area of the entire Sail Market.
Tourists from all over loved wandering through the colorful streets, purchasing souvenirs to commemorate their travels or gifts for friends and family back home.
Ash and the others had already spent four days in Cerulean City.
The Water Pokémon Beauty Contest had ended.
Most of the city's attractions had been explored.
It was finally time for Ash to start thinking about departure.
Since they were already here, he decided to pick up gifts for the important people in his life.
For his mother, Delia, he selected a beautiful pearl necklace.
Since he was buying one anyway, he also chose another pearl necklace for Gary's mother, Mihoko.
For Professor Oak and several researchers at Oak Laboratory whom he was particularly close to, Ash purchased carefully preserved seaside shell specimens.
For his friends in the Kalos region, Trevor and Tierno, he bought each of them a Super Rod.
Naturally, he also purchased one for Gary—and one for himself.
After all, fishing rods were essential equipment for any traveling trainer.
For Shauna, Green, and Gary's older sister Daisy Oak, Ash selected bracelets crafted from naturally shed coral branches from Corsola.
For Clemont in Lumiose City, Ash found something particularly unique.
It was a cyberpunk-style mechanical lobster ornament built around the shell of a giant Crawdaunt.
Technically speaking, it was a very simple gadget.
For a genius inventor like Clemont, it possessed virtually no technological value whatsoever.
But as a decorative display piece for a bedroom or workbench, it was undeniably cool.
Based on what he knew about Clemont, Ash was certain he would love it.
As for Clemont's energetic little sister Bonnie, Ash picked out a small golden shell-shaped shoulder bag.
During their journey in the anime timeline, Bonnie had always carried a similar bag.
Ash felt confident she would adore the gift.
As for Misty's three sisters—
Over the past few days they had treated him exceptionally well.
More importantly, they were the older sisters of his girlfriend.
In the future, they would all be family.
Naturally, Ash couldn't possibly forget them while buying gifts for everyone else.
Inside a luxury jewelry boutique, he carefully selected a brooch for each of them.
For Daisy, he chose an elegant yellow sapphire brooch.
For Violet, a pure blue sapphire brooch.
And for Lily, a beautiful pink pearl brooch.
When Ash personally presented the gifts, the three sisters were delighted.
First, the brooches were gorgeous.
Second, they were far from cheap.
Third, each one perfectly matched the recipient's personality and tastes.
But most importantly—
These were the very first gifts their future brother-in-law had ever given them.
Of course, after buying gifts for family and friends, there was no way Ash would forget his three girlfriends:
Serena.
Clarissa.
And Misty.
In fact, he spent more time selecting their gifts than anyone else's.
After an extremely careful search, he eventually found the perfect choice at a high-end jewelry store.
Three necklaces made from Heart Scales.
Each featured a pink heart-shaped pendant crafted from the rare item.
To make the gifts even more meaningful, Ash commissioned a craftsman to customize each finished necklace.
Different gemstones were embedded into each Heart Scale.
And special engravings were added to the back.
For Serena's necklace, he chose a light-brown Imperial Topaz.
On the reverse side, the words:
Ash & Serena
were engraved.
For Clarissa's necklace, he selected a pink diamond that perfectly matched her hair color.
The back read:
Ash & Clarissa
For Misty's necklace, he chose an orange diamond whose deep color resembled a sunset glowing across the horizon.
The engraving read:
Ash & Misty
Heart Scales were already valuable items due to their ability to help Pokémon relearn forgotten moves.
A normal Heart Scale necklace alone cost around fifty thousand Pokédollars.
After adding the rare gemstones, custom engravings, and extensive handcrafting work, the price skyrocketed.
The Imperial Topaz.
The pink diamond.
The orange diamond.
None of them were small stones.
Combined with the jeweler's labor fees, the final bill exceeded two million Pokédollars.
Initially, the craftsman had outright refused Ash's customization requests.
His reasoning was simple.
The necklaces were already completed masterpieces.
He had no intention of altering them.
Unfortunately for the craftsman—
Ash possessed the ultimate negotiation technique.
Money.
After a substantial increase in payment, the jeweler happily agreed.
The final products turned out even better than Ash had imagined.
Serena's reaction remained unknown since her gift had not yet been delivered.
But Clarissa and Misty were another story entirely.
The moment they received their necklaces, both girls were overwhelmed with emotion.
The shimmering Heart Scales.
The precious gemstones.
The personalized engravings that resembled eternal vows of love.
Every detail struck directly at their hearts.
The gifts delivered an absolutely devastating critical hit to the two girls' emotions.
However, Ash still had one final gift to purchase.
And this gift was for someone extremely important.
His rather unconventional mentor—
Giovanni.
Although Ash's relationship with Team Rocket was complicated, and although one of his long-term goals was ultimately to destroy Team Rocket after growing strong enough, his current relationship with the organization remained ambiguous.
Moreover, Giovanni genuinely treated him as a disciple and taught him sincerely.
Because of that, Ash decided to prepare a gift for him as well.
The gift he chose was a gleaming silver feather.
More specifically—
A replica of Lugia's legendary Silver Wing.
For someone as obsessed with power and Legendary Pokémon as Giovanni, it was an interesting and meaningful keepsake.
At the same time, Giovanni's long-lost son, Silver—shared the same name as the feather.
The Silver Wing would naturally remind Giovanni of his son.
And that connection would prove useful for some of Ash's future plans.
In short—
It was a thoughtful gift.
A meaningful gift.
And one that Giovanni would almost certainly appreciate.