LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 11: Shopping tour
Narrator-POV:
The rest of Wednesday's Nutrition class is spent by Swole trying to remember recipes his mother showed him, and adjusting the ingredients for Buneary's dietary requirements.
Once the class ends, the group decides what to do together today.
Swole resolves himself to go train Buneary if another day of sightseeing is decided upon.
However, Dawn suggests something else, possibly because she was thinking about food for the last four hours.
"Hey, let's go cook something together, as a group. The students are allowed to use the kitchen here."
The kitchen equipment is free to use but the food is not. So the students spent much of their evening buying food and pokemon berries for a few months of travel.
"How can we possibly store that much fresh food? It will go bad long before we eat it all. We should get preserved foods instead." Complains Akari when she sees the amount of perishables in their shopping carts.
"The backpacks keep everything inside in a stasis." Barry answers her, "It's some kind of space-time magic. Nobody knows how it works."
Lucas gives Barry a light slap over the back of his head. "What the fuck do you mean 'nobody knows'. Idiot. Then how does Silph Co. build them if nobody knows?"
"Ouch. Huh. That's a good question."
While Zoey laughs and makes a scene in the supermarket over Lucas and Barry's antics, Akari starts replacing the contents of her shopping cart with fresh vegetables and meats.
When questioned on her lack of pokemon berries in her cart she proudly responds that she already has a lot in her bag.
And then she stutters out that people in Celestic Town gather their own berries in the wild. "It is very normal behavior there."
Since the group of friends is already out on the main street to buy affordable food, they also went together into the nearby outdoors store.
A shop specialized in selling equipment for camping and traveling.
They pooled money together to buy themselves a portable field kitchen and Swole and Akari each bought a set of woodland camouflage coveralls and face paint for wilderness related emergencies.
Back in the dormitory kitchen, they sit together to decide on a recipe from Dawn's cookbook.
A recipe that must work well for everyone with only a few minor changes in the sauces for the water and fire pokemon, as well as more salad for Turtwig.
Once they find a recipe, they then cook it like it is described in the cook book.
The first step is to heat up a large frying pan to searing temperatures. The olive oil in the pan starts steaming a little and then heavily salted chicken fillets are added.
The oil splashes and pops, while the fillets are getting a nice caramelized sear.
After turning the fillets over and revealing their brown, fried underside, pepper is added in generous quantities.
While the meat is frying, cherry tomatoes are chopped into quarters and spinach leaves are chopped into sizable pieces and placed together in a bowl.
Salt, balsamic vinegar, pepper and a spritz of lime juice are used to refine the tomato salad.
Two packets of mozzarella cheese are opened and their contents cut into slices while the savory smells of the searing chicken waft through the kitchen.
In a smaller pan, Barry fries pine nuts.
Once cooked through, the chicken is removed from the pan and a few shots of cooking-sake are poured into the hot pan to deglaze it and to make a base for the sauce, with a little bit of mustard to bind the fat.
Swole turns half a Tamato Berry and a quarter Oran Berry into a thick paste and removes a portion of the sauce base for himself and Buneary.
He places two chicken fillets on two plates and drizzles the sauce mixed with the berry paste over Buneary's plate. For himself, he uses just the base sauce.
On top of the fillets come slices of mozzarella cheese. Over the cheese comes the spinach-tomato salad and the fried pine nuts. And finally, a little more balsamic vinegar is drizzled over the salad to finish it off.
Pesto Chicken Bruschetta. A little heavier on the spinach than the original recipe, for their pokemon's health.
A mouth watering smell enters the nostrils of the trainers and their pokemon and they dig in with gusto.
Most humans are serving themselves second plates while most pokemon were filled up to the brim from the fulfilling meal.
Most pokemon, not including Buneary.
Buneary received another chicken fillet before being satisfied. Another extra 500 calories to Swole's shock.
Satisfied and full, the group heads back to the dorm rooms for their night activities and then for bed.
But just before Zoey could retreat into their dormitory, Swole catches her attention and stops her from leaving with her roommates.
Instead, they wait until they are the only ones remaining in the hallway.
"Hey Zoey..." Swole starts and Zoey's face blushes when she thinks about the possible topics he could want to address in private, like this.
"The guys and I have a present for you. Since you are one of us now."
"One of you? What do you mean?" She says, perplexed and fully caught off guard.
Swole pulls out the extra copy of swimsuit-edition Pokemon Pals and hands it to Zoey. Suspiciously. As if trading restricted substances.
Zoey immediately realizes what Swole means when she sees the cover page and rushes to place the magazine into her own infinite shoulder bag.
Her face flushes even more and she mumbles out a thanks before hurrying to the door to her dorm room.
At the last moment, she turns around and tells Swole, "Just so you know... Uhm... I'm... You know... I'm into girls and guys!"
And with an incredible blush she opens the door, rushes through it and slams it shut.
Buneary is confused over the transaction that took place but has no time to ponder over it because Swole heads out to the large training field outside the school to begin training Buneary's Jump Kick.
Swole is also a little confused but he pushes the confusion down in order to focus on Buneary's training.
Neither Swole, nor Zoey have wasted a second thinking over the implications of returning to their room with a heavy blush, in case of Zoey.
Or not returning to their room at all after asking a girl to stay behind.
---
Swole-POV:
Something is weird today.
It's Thursday now, which means we have the day off. But the guys are giving me these looks.
I know I'm awesome but it's not normal for them to look at me with such blatant jealousy...
I like it.
The girls have also been looking at me weirdly this morning. Dawn and Akari were giving me thumbs up and have given Zoey pats on the back.
Zoey would then start blushing profusely.
Something weird is definitely up today.
But no matter, breakfast was a quick affair.
A large serving of kimchi and a boiled egg for Buneary and me.
Beside a meaty dinner, her other meals should be mostly filled with low calorie vegetables and sometimes some cheese or protein.
"So, you're coming with us today?" Dawn asks me after she finished chewing her breakfast sandwich.
Shit... "Yes, I am."
Today, I am going to join the girls on their clothes shopping tour.
Also known as, trying on a billion different clothes until they have had enough.
And not cheap clothes either. We are going to Arezu Anthe, the most expensive designer store in the world.
Maybe.
It's probably not THAT expensive compared to what exists out there.
...
...
...
'Not that expensive'? It's 500₽ for a low range suit in this store.
Akari looks like she is about to cry from the pricing too. These prices are just brutal.
"I will be going outside for a moment." Akari says with tears barely held back. "Swole, do not make your outfit choice before I am back."
Damn. I don't know what to say to her, so I just nod and promise to wait for her.
Should I console her?
... No, if I didn't have much money I wouldn't want pity either.
I could just try to invite her out to eat more often? Or is that insulting too?
While I was wondering about the moral dilemma of interacting with poor people, Zoey and Dawn have already brought the first... costume.
"Here, try this!" Zoey seems excited and pushes me into a changing room.
I'm considering not wearing it.
Because it has to be a joke.
But then they might stop helping me.
... Give me a break.
I'm also considering making Buneary wait outside but I'm not removing my underwear anyway, so she gets to stay.
"Really? A cowboy outfit?" I say as I pull apart the curtain.
I present my glorious self, in tall, leather boots, cow-patterned leather pants with dangles attached to the sides of the pant-legs, a leather jacket that is too small for me to close and a cowboy hat.
"Without a shirt? Am I a trainer or a stripper?"
Zoey chuckles at my question but replies seriously. "Hmmm. You will need a little bit more muscle before that style works."
Seriously?
I'm not going to my gym battles dressed like a stripper.
Wait, "You think female gym leaders get distracted if I dress like a stripper?"
Is that why Gardenia shows so much stomach in her gym uniform?
They don't deign me with a response.
They just hand me the next costume and push me back into the cubicle.
This time, I got a shirt at least...
It's an Alolan button-up shirt and swimming trunks. Sandals for shoes and a pair of sunglasses as accessories.
The style fits well with my natural surfer hair.
Too well to just ignore. "How does it look?" I ask Buneary and she shakes her head. Damn.
The girls must have heard me asking and pulled open the curtains before frowning at me. "You're not supposed to close the buttons."
... So this set doesn't come with a shirt after all.
Sigh. I open up the buttons and with the girls watching this.
This is making me very self conscious...
Why is opening a shirt more embarrassing than going out without one?
"Hum... You're missing muscles for that outfit too. Damn." Says Dawn.
Are they just going to bash my lack of muscles the whole time?
I get it already! I'm going to start working out... No need to rub it in...
"What in the name of Sinnoh are you wearing?" Oh, Akari is back.
And she doesn't seem very convinced of my new style. "Put some clothes on Swole! Y-- You cannot walk around like that! Here."
She blushes hard as she pushes her choice for my clothes into my arms, before turning around to stare into the distance.
I close the curtains again and change clothes... at least I try to.
Where the fuck do my arms go in there? Did she give me a kimono?
That's a long skirt. What the hell, Akari?
Buneary is laughing at my struggles.
I step back through the curtains again and I'm wearing a white and black striped skirt.
It goes down to my feet, which are covered in these weird, traditional looking sandals. No idea what they are called.
And instead of a simple shirt, I'm wearing something like a kimono with a jacket over it?
My confusion is evident as Akari fawns over my looks. "You look amazing! The montsuki fits you perfectly!"
"Nope. He looks like the paintings of my great great great great grandfather." Comments Dawn to Akari's visible disappointment.
Damn. I started to like that outfit after Akari said that I look amazing.
"That's too ancient Swole. You need something more modern."
"Girls, how about we just use the set from the magazine? You know, the suit without a jacket?"
"Swole. Shush. This isn't about you getting a suit for your gym challenge."
It's not? And why is Dawn suddenly so cold and dismissive?
"We already know what you will be wearing but for now you will continue to act out your role as our dress up doll."
What the fuck? Even Buneary is slightly scared at Dawn's change.
Did she get possessed?
Anyway, I stop complaining and have to wear one weird outfit after another.
Around two thirds of them were suspiciously shirtless. The other third, suspiciously old-timey.
Eventually they start to run out of outfits to give me... except, "Hey girls, I have one more good idea." Starts Zoey.
"He doesn't have enough muscles for shirtless and Akari doesn't think shirtless in public is a style. But what about a tank top? Let's try a tank top with dress-pants and dress-shoes. It's the same style he will get later but just far more rebellious than a rolled up dress-shirt sleeves."
The other girls fawn over the idea and put one last (hopefully last) outfit into my hands.
And I have to say, "It looks pretty cool."
"That is going to be so hot when you fill out the tank top." Says Zoey.
Akari blushes but Dawn shakes her head in disagreement.
"That's called a wife-beater outfit. He can't wear that."
So, the whole dress-up tour was for nothing.
They finally hand me the clothes I'm actually supposed to be wearing.
Very similar to the magazine. A very dark gray instead of black dress pants. Although, I don't see the difference between that and actual black, but they say it matches my hair-color better.
They also remove the waistcoat and tell me to keep the upper buttons unclasped.
However, this means I'm not allowed to wear a necktie either. And they tell me to get a necklace instead at some point.
With my battle clothes finally selected, I pay a whooping 700₽ for the outfit and the tank top.
"Now you need to leave." What?
---
"What?"
Do they want to get rid of me now? After everything they have done to me?!
Zoey answers this time, "Unless you want to look at us shopping for underwear and bikinis, then you should leave."
"What the hell Zoey! Don't tell him!" A blushing and angry Dawn reprimands our friend.
"What is a bikini?" Asks Akari who starts blushing as well after having Zoey whisper something into her ear.
She also whispers something back that I managed to understand from here. "You seriously show off so much skin at the beach? Have you no shame?"
"You know," I start. "I myself, do love shopping for clothes very much. It's the best way to spend my time. You wouldn't mind me tagging along, right?" I say to the background noise of Zoey's laughter.
But Dawn and Akari are too embarrassed by the concept and shoo me away.
...
"Well... it's just you and me now." I say to Buneary who still seems to be confused about the previous exchange.
"Let's get your cosmetics while we're here, alright?"
"Bun..." She doesn't seem too excited about cosmetics.
"You know, cosmetics include mom's bath oil, that you liked"
This seems to get her interested. "Bun!"
On the way to the cosmetics section, we happen to pass through the swimwear section.
Pure coincidence.
I can see the girls a few rows of clothes over to my left, pointing at some bikini?
But my temptation to sneakily check them out is cut short, when Buneary taps my arm and points at something to my right, in the men's section.
It's a row of baggy swimming trunks with differently themed pokemon designs on them.
And the one that has caught Buneary's attention is a Lopunny themed swimwear...
No... "Bun. Buneary Bunny." Fuck me.
Don't tell me she wants me to buy that?
I need a new pair of swimming trunks but it's because the old design is just too childish and embarrassing.
I can't replace that with something worse!
So I try to focus her attention on a black and white patterned baggy swim trunks instead.
They don't have a pokemon design on them at all.
"Bunnie. Buneary Bunny." She remains adamant in what I have to buy.
"Please?" She does not relent.
"Good grief. But you owe me one."
Now I'm one of those people, who design their whole life around their starter pokemon.
Arceus, please forgive me, for I am cringe.
After paying for the embarrassment and ignoring the disapproving looks of the cashier, we continue over to the beauty products department.
The smell of this department is powerful but not unpleasant. They must be airing out the room often enough.
Probably because pokemon noses are so much more sensitive, and they are deciding what to buy here.
The first stop is the bathing supplies shelf.
There is a sign explaining that everything is already tested for pokemon fur and skin and even daily use has no detrimental health effect.
"Bun!" Buneary recognizes some of the bottles from home and runs over to check them out.
Meanwhile I rush after her to stop her from just tossing away the bottles that she doesn't like.
She opens the caps of every single bottle and smells the contents before dismissing it.
"You're very picky, aren't you?"
"Bun."
In the end only 3 bottles remain. Caramel, Hazelnut and Caramel&Hazelnut. But only because she found Caramel&Hazelnut last.
The other two flavors are dismissed as well and I put them back into the shelf before grabbing a few more bottles of C&H.
Caramel and hazelnut... If I remember correctly, that was the same we had at home. "You like that flavor the most?"
"Bun!"
Alright, in that case we can speed up picking her massage oil, fur treatment oil and her fur conditioner. Oh and I see that they sell pokemon toothpaste too?
I crouch down to get to Buneary's level. "Hey Buneary, I need to smell your breath."
"Bune?" She takes a step back.
Right... That was a weird thing to say...
"They sell toothpaste for pokemon and I was wondering if you even need it. Does your breath smell bad?"
With a rational explanation given, Buneary slowly inches closer to my face.
She is clearly embarrassed... her ears are laid back but keep twitching closer to her head and her eyes keep darting around.
But whenever her eyes meet mine, the tension in her ears falls and her eyes dart around less erratically.
She trusts me.
And eventually, we are face to face and she breathes into my face.
It does not smell bad.
I can smell the kimchi from this morning but there is no bad breath.
Do pokemon not have bacteria in their mouth?
Her eyes are now locked into mine as we stare at each other for a little bit too long.
I stand back up and give her my verdict, "Your breath doesn't smell bad. It's not good either. Do you want to try out toothpaste? I don't think you will need it, but trying out can't hurt."
She nods self-consciously and I put the toothpaste in the shopping cart too.
With all the pastes and oils and whatnot in the shopping car, I move over to the brushes.
First in the cart is a basic pokemon sized toothbrush. They are like regular versions but with a thicker handle for the less dexterous pokemon-paws.
As for fur brushes, apparently Arezu Anthe is used to handle trainers, who don't know a lot about beauty products.
Because they sell sets for specific pokemon.
The Lopunny set also has some other fluffy pokemon on its cover: Like Flareon, Arcanine, Mareep, Wooloo and ... Some kind of cotton candy Ponyta? Is that one made up?
Anyway, that set contains a wide brush with multiple rows of metal bristles...
A pet brush... Well. If it works, it works.
The other brush is a stainless steel hair pick: A single row of very long metal spikes. According to the package, it helps to keep fluff voluminous... Somehow.
And last but not least, an ear cleaning kit. Although Buneary will probably punch me seriously (more seriously), if I start poking around inside of her ear...
That's another 300₽ for cosmetics and brushes. But for Buneary, it will be worth it--
Ouch!
I have apparently started to pet the Buneary in my arms while I was distracted and paid the price for my absentmindedness.
---
...
When we made our way outside the store, it was around midday, a very sunny midday with nice, warm 15°C early summer weather.
It's so warm today, you could almost mistake it with an Alolan winter.
Floaro Street is usually supposed to be very busy but, thanks to most people being at work on a Thursday, the street is almost empty right now.
The smells of restaurants preparing for the lunch rush is wafting into my nose and I receive another punch for absentmindedly petting Buneary again.
"Sorry... Buneary, you get to choose first on what we do together. Where do you want to go?"
"Bune?"
She sniffs the air a few times and then points to a nearby restaurant. "Bun!"
"Alright, let's go eat lunch there."
"The Wallflower." I read the store sign of the wooden building out loud and go inside with Buneary in my arms.
It's a cramped little restaurant with a second floor that is clearly newer than the first floor.
The first floor is historic... or rustic at best. Possibly ancient or prehistoric.
"Good morning," An extremely old service lady greets us. "A table for two dearies? Or does your pokemon eat separately?"
"A table for two, please." What kind of trainer would force his pokemon to eat separately?
The woman seats us at a small table with two stools and hands us a menu each. "Thank you."
The old lady leaves us alone and I check out the menu before realizing a fatal flaw.
Buneary can't read.
So I pick up my seat and place it down right next to Buneary's... Only to find out that her menu is filled with pictures.
... Actually, the picture version is a lot better than mine, because what the hell are 'Bangers and Mash'?
Apparently it's sausage with mashed potatoes and peas.
"You can pick whatever you want. I will fix your dinner to complement whatever you eat now."
"Bun!" She says with much enthusiasm as she starts scanning the picture menu.
The restaurant offers an extremely large selection of dishes. From Galarian '''foods''' to Alolan Malasada and even traditional Sinnoh cuisine.
But Buneary picks none of these exotic things.
Instead she picks the largest steak she could find in the menu.
A massive Solaceon tomahawk steak. A whole kilogram of meat. Comes with a side-dish of fried potato mochi.
This completely kills her diet plan... whatever. She is underweight anyway.
I get the same dish but with a much smaller steak.
As we wait for the food to arrive, we make casual, mostly one-sided conversations about yesterday's training and about other foods on the menu.
As I managed to translate, Buneary only chose steak because everything else looked too differently from what she is used to in the wild.
Next time we go somewhere, I will make sure that she gets something she hasn't eaten before.
When the steak arrives, I'm impressed at what a massive steak it turned out to be.
Buneary's entire plate is filled with 1 enormous, juicy and expensive steak and her side dish had to be delivered on a second plate.
A large, golden brown, fried potato mochi. Crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.
Buneary is about to dig in using her paws - gross - and I stop her from dirtying her paws.
"Use your fork and knife, please. Do you need help with that?" I ask, knowing she isn't very proficient with utensils yet and she nods.
But I don't want her to rely on me forever.
Therefore, instead of simply cutting the steak for her, I wrap one arm around her and grab her little paws in my hands instead.
With her paws in my control, I cut about a quarter of the steak into bite sized pieces and move a few pieces with the fork to her mouth.
She does not look like she enjoys the special treatment very much.
Her ears keep twitching and she squirms a little in my hug. But the steak seems to calm her in the end.
The taste must be incredible by the looks of it.
She dropped her utensils in shock after the first bite and held her cheeks like some kind of cartoon character, while making weird, pleased noises.
"Wow. So good?" I ask and she turns her head, swallows her bite of steak and she answers.
~"Thank you."
Her eyes are locked into mine and her face is so close again. And for a moment I could have sworn that she said 'thank you' in human language.
But that must have been my imagination.
I'm probably just starting to learn what her short phrases mean.
"No problem. As long as you don't gain too much weight and get enough nutrients, we can get steak more often."
I tell her and her joy is apparent, and it fills my own heart with nice feelings.
Now I'm really looking forward to more steak too!
I cut off a piece of my own steak and, Arceus be damned, it's dripping. The meat is so juicy and tender.
It has a dark sear on the outside for just a millimeter but the inside is perfectly rosy. Not raw. But slowly cooked to perfection.
I take a bite and the flavors are almost overwhelming me.
There is a thick layer of salt and pepper on the outside but with the thickness of the meat, this ends up with a perfect balance.
"Wow." I can't help but say and Buneary can't help but agree. "Bun."
Buneary and I enjoy one bite after another of absolute bliss.
I love my pokemon journey already.
At first I feared that Buneary couldn't eat the entire steak. But somehow, she keeps eating at a steady pace, an amount of food that is roughly 10% of her own body weight.
The only time she interrupts eating the stake is to try to use the fork and knife to cut into her potato mochi.
"Wait, you can actually eat that with your paws. You see the seaweed wrap? You can hold it to take a bite out of it."
That must be very confusing. For some foods, like rice-balls, corn on the cob and similar; The polite thing is to eat with your hands.
I demonstrate dipping the potato mochi into a dark brown sauce and then offering it Buneary to take a bite out of it.
For some reason her ears start twitching again as she takes a cautious bite.
I eat the rest of my potato mochi myself.
It's so crunchy and chewy at the same time. And the sweet and a little salty sauce it comes with makes it just so much better.
But eventually I finish my side dish as well as my steak and I'm left waiting as Buneary finishes her impossibly large meal.
With pity clearly visible and twitching ears, she grabs hold of her half eaten potato mochi and reaches her paw out for me to take a bite of her food.
I bend down to take a bite... I think I understand the real reason why her ears are twitching so much.
This is the same stuff that couples do in these weird TV shows that mom likes to watch...
And after reading the book about pokemon marriage, this whole thing hits even more awkwardly.
I take a bite out of the mochi with my own blush clear to see, and quickly retreat back into a normal position.
The rest of the time, until Buneary finishes her steak, is spent in awkward silence.
---
I try my best to forget about the cringe that just happened, and after Buneary finished her meal, I paid for it.
Another cool 80₽ down the drain.
Today is a really expensive day and the day is not even over yet.
"Now that we went to the restaurant you chose, it's time for me to pick something out again. And I know exactly what goes well with one of the hottest days in Sinnoh: Ice cream."
Both the joke and the term 'ice cream' went right over Buneary's head and ears too.
"Difficult audience... One day, I will take you to a vacation in Alola. Then you can finally understand how bad Sinnoh really is."
Luckily, Floaro Street offers everything a tourist would ever need. From hotels, to sightseeing monuments, like the old Galaxy Hall and food and snack vendors.
Floaro Street has everything but everything is very expensive.
The nearest ice cream vendor advertises to sell traditionally harvested ice cream.
... 'Harvested'?
When we go up to the counter, the vendor greets us slowly. "Good day, sir. What can I get you? We serve a special deal for trainers with pokemon, if you want?"
The guy is pretty old with creased skin, and age-spots on his bald head. And he wears one of these weird headbands that really sells the traditional chique.
"What is that special deal?"
"You will get an extra large cup with an extra scoop of whatever your pokemon wants."
Huh, free ice? I'll take that deal.
"Awesome, in that case I will take 3 scoops, 2 times caramel and 1 time hazelnut."
"Buneary, Bun!"
"And I'm pretty sure Buneary wants the extra scoop to be hazelnut too." She nods in confirmation.
"Haha... Alright. It's always nice to see young trainers who know their pokemon." The man says with a slow pace before heading off to prepare our ice cream.
He goes further into the back where a sleeping Snover has his legs rooted into a large pot of dirt and the guy scrapes ice flakes from Snover's head.
Huh. The harvesting is literally.
He then mixes the ice flakes with Moomoo milk and adds flavor syrup while mixing.
Buneary looks very suspiciously at the stiff mix.
"You're going to love it, I promise." I reassure her as the guy fills a biodegradable paper cup with the ice cream.
The guy takes my money and pushes the large cup into my free hand.
My other arm is occupied carrying Buneary, so I instruct her to grab 2 plastic spoons for us before I sit down with Buneary on a nearby bench.
I scoop up a spoon full of ice cream and enjoy the taste and the coolness on this hot-ish day.
Buneary repeats my actions and her eyes go wide and her ears stand up straight.
"Amazing, isn't it?" No verbal response. Just a head nod with a tear slowly falling down her cheek.
Civilization sure is nice.
And then she starts digging in. "Woah, slow down or you will get brain freeze." I say but it's too late already.
After just a few spoons she starts clutching her head in pain.
"Haha, try to enjoy the ice a little more slowly." With a napkin, I wipe some of the ice cream that landed all over her face, away.
She can be a really messy eater.
Then, to demonstrate the proper way, I scoop up some hazelnut and some caramel ice cream on the spoon and hold it out for Buneary to eat. "Slowly this time."
She takes the spoonful of ice into her mouth and eats it slowly this time.
Her eyes are locked into mine. As she eats, my hand freezes in place. The sunlight is framing her face perfectly right now.
Her eyes are sparkling and her beady nose is being accentuated.
If this was Dawn, it would be so romantic.
It's no wonder that people used to marry pokemon. Buneary is just so cute and if she--
... Fuck! I'm doing it again! Good grief! I just need to forget about that damn book.
There is nothing wrong with feeding your pokemon. It's not like I enjoy watching her react cutely like this...
But sweet Mew, why is she so damn cute? I should just stop thinking about it.
"We're going to train for the rest of the day, alright?"
---
Narrator-POV:
And train, they did.
After the two finished their shared ice cream, they headed back to school and went to the sports field behind it.
There, they trained for the whole day.
Buneary kept charging as much fighting type energy as she could into her legs before jumping with both legs ahead into a training dummy.
In the meantime, Swole did his own training. The girls called him out on his missing muscles and he took it personally.
Lifting small weights and running in circles is what he does to mitigate his shortcomings.
A task that Buneary could do for hours but Swole is quickly out of breath already.
But, as it turns out, overusing type energy is similarly draining to a pokemon as physical activities are to humans.
And it is especially draining if a pokemon tries to use an attack move, that it is not yet proficient in.
And so after only an hour of intense training, both the trainer and the pokemon have to take their first break and eat Berries.
Swole takes a bite out of an Oran Berry to continue training and Buneary a bite out of a Leppa Berry to recharge her type energy faster.
But even the magical, doping effects of berries are not enough to stave off fatigue forever.
Around 3PM Swole and Buneary eat a second lunch consisting of quickly prepared scrambled egg and cheese and have a longer break before their training can resume.
Buneary is eating a staggering amount compared to the average of her species.
At this point, Buneary's diet plan is much closer to a guideline than a plan.
But as professor Hedera said, what a pokemon wants, is very close to what a pokemon needs. And Buneary wants to eat a lot of protein.
Around 4PM, Buneary and Swole resume their training. Compared to other trainers, they were pushing themselves. A lot.
Lucas and Barry, the girls and ... Asshole have visited the training grounds too but aside from Asshole, none of the trainers did any physical activities themselves.
And their pokemon only trained intensely for an hour, before they left again to view more sights in Jubilife City.
At the end of the day, all the food and berries are simply an investment that goes straight into their training efforts.
And the investment already pays dividends: Buneary is able to effectively use Jump Kick on command.
Buneary can now use the move in battle, even though charging the attack still takes a little too much time, and Buneary quickly gets exhausted from using the attack too often.
But that is nothing that a little more training cannot fix.
For that result they only went through another 150₽ worth of berries to optimize their training time.
By the time Swole and Buneary have finished their training for the day and the sun starts moving over the horizon, the other students have already finished preparing dinner for the group.
The two ate the leftovers together in exhausted silence.
On the way back to their room, Swole attempts to carry Buneary as usual but cannot do it anymore.
He is just too exhausted from the day and so Buneary hops slightly ahead of him, only a little slower than usual, but a spectator could not tell whether it is out of exhaustion or because she does not want to hop too fast for her trainer.
Despite being as exhausted as they are, they still manage to drag their way back to their dorm room to a round of impressed stares.
"You two seriously trained the entire day?" Asks Lucas.
"No... just since... a little bit after lunch... We were shopping with the girls."
"Really? How was your date?" Interrogates Barry causing Buneary and Swole to look at each other with a slight blush.
Barry has tried to tease Swole about his shopping with the girls.
But the trainer and his pokemon are obviously thinking of something else.
"It wasn't a date. Don't be ridiculous. Shut up. What did you two do today anyway?"
"I made a couple of phone calls and then went out sightseeing with Barry." Lucas and Barry continue their story.
"Well, you saw us training for a bit, otherwise we visited the Jubilife TV station. It was pretty boring because there were no famous trainer visitors today. They are all too busy with this year's league conference."
"Yea, it was boring, but get this!" Lucas pulls a newspaper magazine out of his backpack and hands it over to Swole.
The picture under the headline is a colored, grainy picture of a red Gyarados.
---
Another Red Gyarados has been spotted!
Just months after the Red Gyarados in Johto has been calmed and captured by Indigo Champion Lance Ryushu, another Red Gyarados has been spotted here, in Sinnoh.
For the readers who are unaware of the now coined 'Lake of Rage incident': In October, last year, the criminal organization Team Rocket ran an experiment using radio waves to force pokemon to evolve.
This painful experiment caused a single Magikarp to evolve too early and the resulting Gyarados had an unusual red color and a much greater rage than the species is usually known for.
With the help of Mahogany Town's gym leader Pryce and a passing trainer on his gym challenge, Lance managed to defeat both Team Rocket and the rampaging Red Gyarados before he captured it.
A total catastrophe was prevented but the Red Gyarados still managed to kill 24 people on his rampage through the outskirts of Mahogany Town.
People thought this situation was finally over and done with.
Until now: An eyewitness report and a picture taken with a Poketch of yet another Red Gyarados, shows that the coastline of Sinnoh is in great danger.
The Red Gyarados has been spotted in the gulf between Canalave City and Jubilife City and the citizens who make a living in and around the gulf are terrified but the platinum league is refusing to make a public statement on the situation.
Professor Rowan has this to say on the matter: "The worst we could do right now is to overreact. Canalave City relies too heavily on trade from Jubilife City, to shut down the sea route, for what might just as well be a fabrication."
Currently it is unknown whether this is directly related to the Lake of Rage incident or if it is a second incident that has started here in Sinnoh.
It is also unknown if this Gyarados will stay in the gulf or move to a different coastal area or move up some river towards inland locations.
We here at Jubilife News urge travelers to consider paying for trainer escorts if you need to cross any body of water.
On a side-note, journalists have spotted Lance training up his newest member of his main team and we suspect that we can look forward to seeing Red Gyarados' performance during this year's Indigo League.
---
"Seriously? But that's where I'm going to be heading!" Complains Swole.
"That's not all dude." Says Lucas. "Read the last page too."
---
The universe is falling apart!
---
"Bull. Shit. Shut the fuck up. Who let THOSE people write an article for the news?"
"Dude. It's probably not the end of the world, but read it. It's pretty funny."
"Good grief... Alright."
---
The universe is falling apart!
Seismometers all over the world are telling us that the world is about to end.
Starting since the 17th March the seismometers in every discovered region of the world have picked up earthquakes at the same time, after adjusting for differences in time zones.
These earthquakes are very weak in power, but have been steadily increasing. And if the growth rates of the earthquakes continue at their current pace, then in a year they will topple our buildings and in 10 years, they will shatter our entire region into pieces.
But that is not all.
The pokemon rangers have received increasingly more and more reports of pokemon breaking out of the wilderness and into our routes and outskirts of villages.
All this coincides with a suddenly increasing number of missing persons reports all over the world, as well as sudden appearances of unregistered people.
Since the 17th March to today, worldwide, 10 people have gone missing with no traces left - compared to the previous year's 0.3 people missing in the same time span.
You read that right.
Globally, a person goes missing every 3 months. But all of a sudden, 10 people have disappeared with no trace in a single month. A 3300% increase.
As for people appearing out of nowhere: In that time span, an unconscious young woman has appeared out of nowhere in the Meteor Falls cave of Hoenn.
She adamantly claims that the world is in great danger of a 'catastrophe that will be hailing from the skies'.
And another unregistered person appeared in Kanto, claiming to be a time traveler from the future.
In summary, the world is ending.
---
"Yo, what the fuck?" Swole is flabbergasted. "Is this real? Like, is all that stuff really going on? Or is someone pulling a prank on the news?"
"I think it's just bullshit."
"Yea, the world is ending every few years according to the news." Barry and Lucas are not convinced.
"That would explain why it isn't on the front page." Reasons Swole. "If the 3300% increase was real, it would be on the front of every single newspaper."
"Totally."
Barry agrees and Lucas shares his opinion on the matter. "Yea. We should worry more about the red Gyarados. If it needs someone like Lance to defeat the one in Johto, then the one here should be equally strong."
"Whatever. By the time we finish school, the platinum league will have solved it. Buneary and I need to take a shower." Swole says and Buneary sniffs herself before retching.
Yes, they do need a shower.