Chapter 405

Tetsuya and Baimu parted ways.

They agreed to have dinner at Tetsuya's home the next day and exchanged contact information.

"So enthusiastic—I'd think I lost if I didn't know better."

He watched Tetsuya's retreating figure with a sigh.

Win without arrogance, lose without discouragement—though this guy isn't particularly strong, his bearing is truly extraordinary. I hope I get a chance to fight Tetsuya's Shiny Meowth someday.

Baimu has always been fascinated by these "abnormal" Pokémon.

Of course, only physical abnormalities—personality quirks are out of the question.

For instance, this nuisance still clinging to him—

Aerial Rotom.

"Isn't Rotom awesome! Isn't Rotom never a bother!"

It circled Baimu like an annoying mosquito, occasionally drawing glances from passersby.

But most of their stares landed on the other side—on the Polywhirl frantically chasing Aerial Rotom, for they'd never seen anything so bizarre.

"Pari! Pari!"

The furious Polywhirl tried to drive Aerial Rotom away—it had long disliked this Pokémon, and after repeated harassment, it finally ignited the anger of this usually mild-mannered creature.

When the inspection ended, it kept shaking its Poké Ball incessantly; Baimu had no choice but to release it.

Then came a performance worthy of Qin Wang circling the pillar.

Given their size difference, the scene resembled a "puppy" barking after a "bird"—or perhaps a "duck" chasing a "fly"?

Baimu ignored Aerial Rotom's cries and faintly caught snippets of bystanders' chatter.

"Mommy! So cute! A block duck! So big! And it moves!"

"Yeah, so amazing~ What kind of machinery is inside~?"

"I want one!"

"Huh? We already have so many toys—we can't buy more!"

"I want it! I want it! Wah—!"

Suddenly, the toddler lying on the ground pretending to be a clock startled Aerial Rotom and Polywhirl; Baimu, silently thinking Polywhirl wasn't a toy, seized both in one swift motion.

He didn't want to be a pillar again.

"W-what are you doing? Violent opposition, Rotom! This isn't a battle arena, Rotom!"

Aerial Rotom thought it was about to be beaten, its gourd-shaped head thrashing wildly to escape his grip.

Baimu said: "Stop pestering me, and I'll let you go."

"That won't work, Rotom!"

"Huh!? "Pari!?"

Polywhirl lunged as if to collide.

"Yi!"

Aerial Rotom glanced nervously at Baimu's hostile expression and Polywhirl's glare, then replied: "... Then you can't let it chase me anymore, Rotom."

"If you just behaved, why would it chase you? What do you think my Polywhirl is?"

"Pari!"

One human, one Pokémon, spoke in perfect tandem.

Aerial Rotom looked away. "Fine, I promise you, Rotom."

And so it was freed.

But clearly, this thing intended to break its word—its four small propellers spun, pulling away, and it began to shout again.

"Didn't I say already a dozen times that Rotom is awesome? Why are you still clinging to me?"

Baimu cut it off, gazing instead at the distant battle arena, where several unmanned engineering machines were operating, hauling sand and filling the massive crater dug by Steelix.

From their orange paint and the comical faces on their sides, these machines were clearly being operated by Rotom.

To use Rotom this effectively—Tetsu Sen is truly the top-tier all-around engineer who created New Zi Jin, Li Zi Jin, and entire legions of mechanical divine beasts.

He's truly impressive.

Aerial Rotom protested: "Insincere! Not heartfelt, Rotom!"

What the hell is insincere.

This thing... didn't it just get bored and come here to bother him on purpose?

He squinted, suspecting Rotom was the kind of Pokémon that got bored to the point of madness—once even attacked Roz's Tower's computer system, only to be crushed by another god-tier human with computer skills.

Suddenly.

The bell rang.

Baimu looked toward the bell tower and asked: "It's almost six in the evening—don't you Rotom clock out?"

"Clock out?"

Aerial Rotom froze, then turned to the distant clock and shrieked: "Ah! Six o'clock! Six o'clock! I'll miss dinner! Six o'clock—!"

It screamed as it spun around and flew off—just moments ago so persistent, now it vanished on a dime.

Clearly, his suspicion was spot-on.

Must file a complaint!

Tomorrow, I'll go straight to Tetsu Sen, my supervisor, and complain!

Baimu silently resolved this, but his peripheral vision suddenly caught the engineering machines repairing the arena jerking violently—then their work speed visibly accelerated.

Their movements seemed to confirm one phrase—

【If you're not eager to eat, your mindset is flawed!】

"Let's go eat too."

All Baimu turned his head and said to Porygon.

"Pory~"

Porygon nodded, its eyes curving into crescents; as long as Rotom wasn't around, its mood was much better.

Two Pokémon naturally at odds with each other...

He couldn't help but sigh — clearly their typings were different, yet because they possessed similar special abilities they were fated to clash, truly the Pokémon version of "Since Zhou Yu was born, why was Zhuge Liang born too?"

Although from his own perspective he rather hoped Porygon wouldn't mind such things, how could it possibly not mind?

The thing you're good at, someone else does better — and it's already been accepted by the public.

And the position the other occupies is exactly the one your creator hoped you would reach...

Any mentally sound adult couldn't stand that, right?

There would definitely be a sense of落差.

Let alone a Pokémon like Porygon — so dopey and blank, so honest and mild-mannered, a little building-block duck.

All Baimu thought that in the future almost every trainer would be using Rotom Phones, and couldn't help feeling a bit of sorrow for Porygon, thinking perhaps he ought to come up with a Porygon Phone.

How could Rotom be allowed to monopolize everything?

Smash the Pokémon monopoly!

He thought with full confidence, while Porygon walking alongside its trainer was considering whether it had a chance tonight to slip into a computer and have a go at those damned Rotom.

Not sure why, but the more he watched them, the more an unholy fire rose in him!

——

New Zi Jin Food Court.

In the games, one could obtain physical rewards here through battles, from Gold Leaves to Berry fruits and so on.

But in reality, there was clearly no surplus space here for people to battle — there were only food shops one after another, hung with signs.

【Welcome to New Zi Jin Food Court, which features specialty cuisine from over nine regions! Please enjoy the pleasure that food brings!】

All Baimu had barely stepped inside when a voice broadcast came from overhead.

Over nine regions?

He froze for a moment, walked to the navigation board beside the entrance and studied it carefully for several seconds, and among the densely packed list of shop locations discovered a Chinese-style restaurant called 【Come Come Come Pavilion】, which indicated it was from the Paldea region.

The Paldea region...

So this world actually has Chinese food?

Before transmigrating, All Baimu had never played Zhu Zi, and his knowledge of Paldea-region Pokémon was only recently crammed in over the past few months — not particularly deep, and he knew even less about the local customs and culture of that land.

He had always assumed the chef's iron wok stir-fry was his own invention.

But thinking carefully, the iron wok seemed to be something the chef inherited from the chef's grandfather — so where did the chef's grandfather get his iron wok and spatula?

The mystery was solved.

The chef's family had most likely migrated from the Paldea region to the Kalos region, and had all sorts of ties with this Come Come Come Pavilion.

All Baimu looked at the familiar names on it and couldn't help wearing a nostalgic expression. "Mapo tofu... almond tofu... ramen... vinegar-pickled Wiglett with cucumber!? What the heck is that? Cold jellyfish head? Eating Pokémon?"

"Actually, the part of Wiglett that's eaten is the thin slivers that naturally shed from their bodies. It's a Grass-type Pokémon, so in essence it's no different from Tropius fruit."

A voice sounded from behind him.

"I see, thanks for the explanation—" All Baimu turned around gratefully, only to find standing behind him Queen Boni in a long purple dress.

His hand trembled slightly. "Uh! Queen Boni?"

"I've heard so much about you, All Baimu-kun. These past few months I've often heard Champion Dawu mention your name — I didn't expect to run into you here." Queen Boni folded her arms, a faint, barely perceptible smile on her face.

Up close, she was simply like a person who radiated cold air all over — just being near her made one feel chilly and cool...

He recalled Queen Boni wasn't from the Hoenn region.

Could she be from Snowpoint City in Sinnoh?

All Baimu greeted her, then couldn't help asking, puzzled: "May I ask how you recognized me? Did Champion Dawu show you my photo?"

"Not at all."

Queen Boni said frankly: "When I was eating just now, the TV in the shop happened to be broadcasting the Contest you entered — it was quite nice to watch. Your Mawile handled Ice-type moves very well."

"You're too kind..." All Baimu was momentarily at a loss for words.

Then Queen Boni proactively offered to exchange LINE contacts with him, and told him her own address.

"Room B113, New Zi Jin Mountain Hotel. I came to New Zi Jin City on holiday this week — if you run into any problems, you can come find me."

The lovely, elegant noblewoman said: "I won't disturb your meal. Oh, if you're going to Come Come Come Pavilion, I personally highly recommend the ramen inside."

Having said that,

she gave a slight nod and turned to leave.

New Zi Jin Mountain Hotel was located on the second layer of Inner New Zi Jin — a super-luxurious hotel; in the games it was a residential area, and it was also where All Baimu would be staying tonight.

The room was quite hard to book; he was lucky to bump into someone checking out and squeeze in.

"Didn't expect to be approached again..."

All Baimu looked at the two new contacts on his phone, his expression turning oddly complicated. "Whatever, let's go eat! If it's good, we'll steal the recipe!"

He said to Porygon.

Porygon happily wiggled its blocky legs.

The one person and one Pokémon arrived at their destination — the 【Golduck's Smile】 branch, the dopey Golduck logo on the sign coming into view.

【Come Come Come Pavilion】 and the like — they'd patronize it tomorrow.

Conveniently, the scheduled Gym Challenge was in the afternoon, so coming over for a meal at noon counted as giving himself a hometown buff.

He entered the shop.

The hall's layout was just as it appeared online—packed with the standard Western restaurant two-seater round tables, business seemed booming, though it restricted the movement of larger-bodied Pokémon.

Porygon's size was still within the allowable range.

All Baimu ordered six or seven dishes, waiting for the food to arrive with eager anticipation, his gaze sweeping the surroundings without leaving a trace—

Hm? No glow?

The chef's signature was supposed to be glowing dishes, and All Baimu had personally confirmed this wasn't a simulator effect—glowing dishes really did exist, and the finished products Lokoko made that he'd seen online also glowed.

But from what he could see so far, the dishes at this branch didn't seem to glow at all…

Why?

Could it be that the dishes were cooked by the shop's apprentices, who hadn't mastered the secret seasoning technique?

All Baimu furrowed his brow slightly, and just as he'd observed, every dish that came out was without exception non-glowing—color, aroma, and taste were all passable, but they just didn't glow.

So he called over the serving waiter, "Excuse me, why aren't the dishes glowing?"

"Glowing?"

The waiter paused briefly, then smiled, "Ah~ you mean 'Gastronomic Blessing.' Sorry, that's a special technique only Master Lokoko can perform."

"Only Master Lokoko can master it?" All Baimu repeated, then asked somewhat disbelievingly, "But I've watched videos of other Lokofaction chefs' dishes, and they seem to glow too?"

The waiter's smile didn't waver, "You've misunderstood—that's just a special effect, a special effect used as the Lokofaction cuisine's trademark."

Special effect!

All Baimu spurted.

He silently nodded and let the waiter go. Looking at the table full of dishes, his appetite vanished in an instant.

After all, he'd come specifically for the authentic glowing dishes, only to be told that in this world only Lokoko could produce glowing dishes, and everyone generally called it "Gastronomic Blessing."

Looking back at the reviews, there indeed seemed to be people spamming about it, but he hadn't paid any attention and had just swiped past.

Who would have thought…

Then why was he able to replicate glowing dishes so easily? Was it because of the simulator?

"Pory?"

Porygon had been a little excited seeing so much delicious food—its first time eating alone with its trainer, it could barely contain itself—but seeing the trainer looking a bit sad, its excitement faded along with it.

"It's fine, it's fine, sorry for affecting you, let's eat!" All Baimu rubbed his face and smiled at it, "Even if they don't glow, there must be something worthwhile about them—we can still learn from them!"

He scooped up a big spoonful of fried rice and put it on the plate in front of Porygon, "Eat! Don't stop until you're stuffed!"

"Pory!"

Porygon nodded vigorously and buried its head in the food.

One person and one Pokémon ate until their bellies were round, and there was still quite a bit left over. Not worried about waste—they could take it back for Hydreigon and the others to eat.

An illiterate young lady like Mawile might turn her nose up at it, but Hydreigon had no demands on food whatsoever. Leftover rice and dishes aside, back when it didn't have eyes it would dare to take a bite of poisonous mushrooms on the road—its digestive system just didn't support that.

Walking out of the restaurant.

All Baimu took Porygon to buy Mawile a phone.

And regarding being the "Pokémon Intelligence" smart device for its companion, Porygon had no objections—in fact, it was very happy to be able to help Mawile out.

After all, Mawile had always been the most distinguished presence in the team.