Chapter 49: Planting Cuisine

The direction Kodora was heading surprised Baimu quite a bit.

"Lush greenery… seedlings?"

He looked at the signboard of the shop before him, then lowered his gaze to the interior, which was so verdant it felt wrapped in a green forest—an instant déjà vu of wandering into a flower-and-bird market.

Kodora was visibly excited, standing at the shop door peering inside, then turning to peer at Baimu.

"…You really want to raise flowers and plants, huh."

He asked hesitantly, never expecting that the casual chat from earlier had actually been taken to heart by it. Honestly, what was a Rock-type Pokémon doing raising greenery?

Kodora, seeing its trainer's expression stay neutral, hurriedly nodded.

"Fine then."

Baimu led Kodora inside.

Shops selling flowers, plants, and trees were actually quite common in Iron Town; their main clientele was basically the wealthy. Whether for cultivating the spirit or improving the natural environment around one's home, they were a fine choice.

But in a place like Iron Town, keeping a plant alive was genuinely difficult—rainfall was scarce, and the soil had almost no nutrients, so everything had to be carefully cultivated by hand.

Baimu liked places shaded by green trees too, but he really didn't have the confidence to keep even one alive.

However.

Since Kodora was interested, there was no harm in giving it a try.

Under the clerk's introduction, Baimu kept asking Kodora which variety it liked, only to discover it had already been spoiled for choice—nodding at everything, the very picture of "I want them all."

That put him in a bind, so he took charge and picked out a small sapling that was supposedly able to grow quite large and could survive Iron Town's soil, plus a potted plant said to bear fruit.

"Just these two this time. Once we've kept them alive, we'll come back and pick more. How does that sound?"

Baimu looked down to ask Kodora.

But the little guy had already locked eyes on the purchased sapling and the potted plant across the way, stars beginning to sparkle in its eyes. "Gudo~"

"Just how much do you like plants, seriously!"

He couldn't help but laugh, and gave the clerk the address of his surface residence. The shipping fee was a bit steep, and delivery wasn't until tomorrow, but it was still better than lugging something that big himself.

Besides, he didn't even know how to transplant the things!

Out of the shop.

He asked Kodora again if there was anything it wanted. Kodora listlessly shook its head, caring only about its sapling and potted plant.

Baimu recalled it into its Poké Ball and sent out the pink Chansey.

"Sorry for the wait. What do you want?"

"Lucky…"

Chansey glanced around, shuffled forward, tugged at its trainer's trouser leg, and shook its head—indicating there wasn't really anything it wanted.

The Underground was not a very pleasant place for it; the malice of the people around was plain as day, and it often felt suffocated. So right now, it just wanted to leave.

Seeing Chansey's mood was low, Baimu prepared to recall it into its ball, but on second thought he put the Poké Ball away instead, bent down, and pressed both hands against its cheeks, squishing them toward the middle.

Chansey's mouth instantly puckered into an O, its little claws flailing in a panic.

"Rulu! La! Lucky!"

It didn't quite understand what its trainer was about to do.

"Don't panic. I'm right here beside you, it's okay. No one here can hurt you…" Baimu met Chansey's gaze very seriously. "We're just out shopping, picking up a few things we can't normally get. No one is going to do you any harm."

Word by word, gently coaxing.

Chansey's mood gradually settled, and its demeanor returned to normal.

Only then did Baimu release its cheeks with satisfaction. "So, have you thought it through? As for what to buy—part of this money came from your effort too, so no matter what it is, I'll buy it for you!"

"Lucky…"

Chansey hesitated, glanced around, then thought hard for a moment before starting to gesture animatedly.

The motions were hard to make out at first, but once they turned into stir-frying and tossing a ladle, Baimu asked carefully several times and finally figured out what it was yearning for—

It wanted to learn how to cook.

Because it wanted to see once more the soul-binding, lingering, reluctant-to-part expression on Baimu and Kodora's faces when they ate fried eggs.

Good food could lift a person's spirits.

And seeing the people and Pokémon it cared about break into smiles—that was what Chansey most hoped for. So whether it was healing or cooking, it wanted to master them both.

Its dream: to become a Pokémon that could make its companions truly happy!

"…You little thing."

Baimu was silent for a moment, then with a mix of helplessness and tenderness, patted Chansey. If one had to sum up what it had just said in a single term, "selfless personality" would be the perfect, spot-on fit.

Are most Chanseys like this?

Regardless, the heart it possessed was something worth being moved by.

"Lucky~" Chansey gave an embarrassed little smile.

"Fine then. Cooking it is."

Baimu looked left and right, then decided to take it to the largest department store in this Underground—sure to have cookbooks brought in from the outside, raw ingredients, and all sorts of professional kitchenware.

——

Back from shopping.

Seeing the sky had already grown somewhat dim.

Baimu gave up on the idea of moving in today and sorted through the items he'd bought.

This trip down had cost him close to two million.

Why so much?

Setting aside the miscellaneous bits, the most expensive by far was Devon Corporation's latest release, the "Carefree Travel Backpack"—it looked tiny on the outside, yet could hold far more than its apparent capacity, a truly wondrous item.

Seeing this thing, Baimu finally understood why Brock could always pull out benches, pots, pans, and the like at lunch and dinnertime.

So it's black technology after all!

Rumor has it the principle of the travel backpack comes from Pokémon, though which Pokémon exactly isn't clear.

Too bad good stuff is just expensive—All Baimu spent one and a half million to take it, and that shop owner wore a look that said "you got a great deal."

The internal space is about ten cubic meters; he figured that should be enough.

By the way.

He took in Ken's three Pokémon for safekeeping.

Because they'd been given special drugs, and a physical exam could still detect it, selling them would inevitably knock a big chunk off the price. Of course he had no intention of selling them—he planned to handle it internally.

As squad leader, if possible, he felt it necessary to raise the strength of his squad's members.

After all, he hadn't slipped out of Iron Town that fast yet; defecting right after being promoted to squad leader would be too dangerous.

Find a few reliable guys who won't randomly sell Pokémon, and seek out a good future for these three poor Pokémon.

All Baimu leaned against a soft pillow; on his left was a Chansey with a good baby's sleeping posture and gentle breathing, and at his feet was a Roggenrola whose snoring was so heavy it nearly pressed a dent into the bed.

Once Roggenrola evolves into Boldore, this bed will most likely be completely unable to handle it.

Treasure the present…

He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

——

The next day.

Bang bang bang.

Someone was knocking at the door.

All Baimu, who had just finished washing up, opened the door, expecting it to be Narihiro and the others who'd gotten the news—but instead it was Floobo, whom he'd just met yesterday.

"Morning, did I disturb your sleep?"

"No, I'm already awake. What is it?"

He asked curiously; the person in front of him shouldn't be that free.

"I'm just here on someone's behalf to ask—Ken's three Pokémon, do you have any thought of selling?" Floobo stated his business directly, his straightforwardness moving.

All Baimu fell silent, then stepped aside to make room. "Come in and talk?"

"Sure."

Floobo nodded.

As for someone showing up to ask about Pokémon, he actually wasn't surprised—the place where he'd entrusted the Houndoom and the others wasn't some airtight organization; that shameless bunch had probably already sold off all his information.

That's perfectly normal in Iron Town.