Chapter 59: Outwardly Spoiled, Inwardly Panicked

The Pokémon in the animation often possess extraordinarily high intelligence.

And some of their lively expressions and behaviors — rather than being anthropomorphized, it's more accurate to say they possess these emotions to begin with. The notion of anthropomorphism is nothing more than humans putting a flattering gloss on things.

Judging by how Mr. Mime ignores people, this one really isn't easy to get along with.

Most likely it hasn't figured out its own major predicament either.

But Baimu wouldn't blame it — after all, Mr. Mime left the environment it had always lived in because of his choice, so a bit of temper is perfectly normal.

Inside the house.

Mr. Mime looked at the various pieces of furniture inside with obvious disdain. After examining them several times, it ran to the sofa, sat down with a cushion under its behind, and rested its two small hands on its knees.

"Chido~"

It lowered its eyes and slightly opened its small mouth.

"... What does that mean?" Baimu looked at Aron and Chansey in bewilderment.

The former had a somewhat odd expression; the latter trotted happily off to the kitchen, brought out a glass of iced water, and smilingly handed it to Mr. Mime.

Mr. Mime glanced at it, looking not entirely satisfied, but still nodded and took it, drinking in small sips.

"Alright, so it was thirsty and wanted water."

Baimu dragged a chair over from the side and sat down at a spot that wasn't particularly close to Mr. Mime, nor too far away. "It really is a bit hot outside — let's just chat inside."

Mr. Mime slightly raised its eyelids, still not responding, and simply reached out to hand the water glass back.

Chansey took it cheerfully, slipping very naturally into the role of a servant.

Baimu helplessly rubbed its head, and said to Mr. Mime: "You can keep ignoring me, but friendly communication can help our cooperation going forward... Maybe you think that as long as you keep your mouth shut, I'll send you back.

"But I'm sorry to tell you, that's not going to happen."

He pointed at a map hanging in the living room. "This is Iron Town. It's however many kilometers away from where you used to live — in between there's no trees, no water, only rocks and yellow sand.

"And your trainer has already entrusted you to me, and told me some details about you. In other words, there's no place for you with him anymore — if you don't understand, I can repeat it a few more times."

"Chido!"

Mr. Mime suddenly opened its eyes, violently shook its head, and that pitch-black large jaw instantly sprang open and flew toward Baimu!

"Gudo!"

Aron shouted and tried to leap up to ram it, but Baimu blocked it with one hand in advance.

And that large jaw didn't actually bite the latter's head — it merely expanded to its maximum in front of him, revealing the crimson structure inside along with its huge, evenly spaced fangs.

"You're not a Intimidate-ability Pokémon, you know."

Baimu smiled calmly. He wasn't timid to begin with, and after receiving the fighting memories from Floette last night, his nerve had grown even stronger.

Mr. Mime's little trick couldn't scare him.

Seeing that its usually foolproof little move had failed, Mr. Mime turned its head back, lowered its head, and puffed up its cheeks in anger.

"Chido!"

"Alright, back to the main topic — let's talk about the matter of compensation. You can't possibly not care about what you'll eat from now on, or where you'll live."

Baimu didn't rashly reach out to pat the other's head.

Mr. Mime's experience was very different from Aron's and Chansey's, so there was no way to use a similar method to bring them closer. Expecting it to get chummy with you on the very first day is unrealistic.

In fact, he could tell that beneath Mr. Mime's feigned composure, there was actually some hidden panic and fear.

That was easy enough to understand.

A spoiled child suddenly leaves a familiar environment, arrives in a strange place, meets strange people, and even has to fight for a strange trainer.

Let alone a not-fully-grown Pokémon — even an adult probably couldn't get used to it that quickly.

Therefore, some of the thorns it's showing now are partly to protect itself.

Of course, whether the approach is foolish or not is another matter.

No matter who it is, one acts based on one's existing understanding — it's impossible to behave beyond one's own knowledge.

Mr. Mime's resistance looked a bit laughable to Baimu, but it might well be serious, and think this is the best way.

"Is there anything you want?"

Baimu kept his peaceful smile. "For example... a princess bed? Cute little pillows? Oh right, this is your doll, isn't it?"

He pulled a cloth doll out of a box Floette had brought over. Mr. Mime immediately jumped off the sofa upon seeing it, snatched it away, and hugged it to its chest.

With the doll in hand, Mr. Mime's demeanor visibly relaxed a great deal, and it no longer avoided Baimu's gaze.

When their eyes met.

He then confirmed that earlier this fellow had been too flustered to look him in the eye, which was why it had seemed a bit rude. Now the tension had faded from its gaze, and a hint of tentative probing had appeared.

"So what do you want? Can you tell me?"

Baimu asked once more with great patience.

——

Noon.

Mr. Mime returned to its Luxury Ball.

Baimu looked at the shopping list in his hand, exchanged glances with Aron and Chansey, and said, "Is there anything you want? Let's just buy them all together later."

Both shook their heads.

Times had changed. Back then he had urgently needed Chansey's help, which led him to somewhat impatiently make demands of the former.

Fortunately, Chansey was understanding and agreed to help him out.

If Mr. Mime had been the one to appear in that spot that day, negotiating would definitely not have been so easy — it might have taken the whole week just to persuade Mr. Mime to do anything.

No rushing — take it one thing at a time.

A little while longer won't make a difference.

Baimu recalled the two Pokémon into their balls, preparing to head out and purchase the various items on the list.

Some things could be bought from shops on the surface, but for others one had to go to the underground city.

Once the shopping was done, naturally it was off to the literacy class.

He glanced once more at the physical examination report, which recorded in detail all sorts of information about Mawile.

【Pokémon: Mawile】

【Type: Steel + Fairy】

【Gender: Female】

【Height: 71cm / Weight: 15kg】

【Ability: Huge Power】

【Level: 45】

【Moves: Fairy Wind / Bite / Scary Face / Assurance】

【Crunch / Iron Defense / Sucker Punch / Power-Up Punch / Electroweb】

【Iron Head / Stockpile / Swallow / Ice Punch / Thunder Punch】

A base of level 45 plus fourteen moves — in the underground city, it could already fetch a decent price.

The only flaw might be its too-low base stats, but under the anime's background, low base stats actually didn't count for much; raise it with care and it could hold its own in any fight.

Of course, for All Baimu, one big reason for choosing Mawile — apart from its peculiarity in terms of strength — was that it could Mega Evolve.

Perhaps in the Oure region, Mega Evolution was something no one had even heard of.

In the outside world, Mega Evolution was not so precious that champions and Elite Four members coveted it; in XY there were plenty of walk-on trainers who already possessed Mega Stones and a Key Stone.

By the Sun-Moon era, even the gym trainers of every region had one each, and even Team Rocket's grunts could possess one.

Therefore, although it was still a bit distant, All Baimu believed he would sooner or later obtain a Key Stone and a Mawilite, as well as an Aggronite and the like.

If worse came to worst, he'd find a way to run off to the Mega Island in the XY region and obtain a Mega Stone there.

Free of charge, to boot.