Chapter 95: Eviolite

The battle tournament ended with Mountain Rambutan taking the championship.

The television broadcast the scene of this young fellow personally receiving a medal from the Silver Ape, radiant glory, ribbons adorning him.

That afternoon.

Baimu's reward as a quarterfinal contestant was also delivered to his lodging.

The item was a key piece he had specifically picked out, even willing to pay extra to obtain, yet the asking price turned out to be quite cheap.

"Hm?"

Looking at the two small boxes and the envelope on top handed over by the arena staff, he was slightly surprised. "Why are there two?"

"The person who told me to deliver this said you'd understand once you opened it."

The staff tipped up the brim of his cap, considered that a greeting, then turned and left.

A top-tier faction is truly something else.

Baimu watched his retreating back, clicking his tongue. Perhaps only the arena and the Mayor's faction dared to face an Extreme Dao faction with such an attitude.

They had the backing, not afraid of them at all.

Carrying the boxes back to the living room, the Loudred watching TV immediately shifted its gaze over. "Jikoo?"

"Yes indeed, it's finally here."

Baimu waved the boxes at it, and the latter hurriedly scampered over, eager to help open them.

"Hold on, let me read this letter first. We'll deal with the rest later."

He stopped Loudred's action.

In the past, even if he said something like that, Loudred would still tear it open ahead of time, then look at him with a clueless, pitifully cute expression.

But recently, this situation had greatly improved.

After evolving into Exploud, it was like now — if told not to open, it wouldn't open.

Even its occasional spoiled behavior had become rather cute.

The letter had no signature on the outside.

After Baimu tore it open and saw the sign-off, he realized it was a letter from Mountain Rambutan, containing only one line — "Perhaps you need this more than I do."

Hm?

He nodded toward Loudred beside him. The latter, who had been waiting, excitedly opened the package at once.

On each side lay a pale purple, teardrop-shaped stone; the other held a small bell, silvery and gleaming, connected by a red silk ribbon.

2k novel

"Jikoo?"

Loudred looked at them curiously.

Baimu, however, raised an eyebrow slightly. "Soothe Bell?"

He truly hadn't expected that Mountain Rambutan, whom he'd only just met not long ago, would simply give him such a grand gift — this little bell's effect was to help Pokémon and trainers bond faster, clearly meant for Chansey.

After all, the only one here who needed to raise Affection to evolve into Blissey was Chansey.

However.

"I just got the Eviolite." Baimu picked up the pale purple stone, feeling somewhat conflicted.

The quarterfinal reward was originally a set of three evolution stones — Water, Fire, and Grass. But he had already done his homework through Forobbo, learning that the Iron Arena had many strange and unusually effective stones, so he asked the arena's person in charge if they had any, could he swap them for an 【Eviolite】.

The person in charge initially said it couldn't be exchanged, but upon hearing Baimu was willing to pay extra, simply ran off to ask his superiors.

Not long after, he returned and told him that paying an extra hundred thousand would let him take it.

Baimu understood at once that someone in the arena had done him a personal favor, and the Eviolite was obtained smoothly.

This thing's effect was to boost the Defense and Special Defense of Pokémon that could still evolve, perfectly suited for Chansey with its lower defenses. In the games, it could even be tankier than a Blissey of the same level and same Effort Values.

If he normally let Chansey wear the Soothe Bell and only gave it the Eviolite during battle, it might evolve before long.

It would be a shame to let a god-tier item sit unused after only two uses.

Setting aside the Soothe Bell would be just as much a pity…

For a moment.

Baimu found it very hard to make a choice.

Meanwhile, Loudred beside him, upon learning that the Soothe Bell could boost the Affection between Pokémon and trainer, had its eyes light up.

It hadn't given up on its grand ideal of taming the trainer. Although currently it seemed more likely that it was the one being tamed, upon hearing the Soothe Bell's effect, it really couldn't sit still.

So.

Loudred glanced up at Baimu and gently tugged at the hem of his clothes.

"What's wrong?"

He lowered his head and was startled to see Loudred had tied the Soothe Bell at the joint between its head and jaws, perched on top like a hairpin, seemingly seeking praise.

"…You like this thing?" Baimu asked in surprise.

Loudred hurriedly nodded. The Soothe Bell swayed gently, its sound soft and pleasant, unlike ordinary bells that were noisy.

Both of them unconsciously relaxed.

Now Loudred was even more fond of the Soothe Bell.

"Wait a moment.

After thinking, Baimu said: "Because the Soothe Bell can speed up Chansey's evolution, and I can't buy a second one for now. I need to ask Chansey about its views on evolution first… You can wear it for now, but when I need to use it, you'll have to give it back."

"Jikoo~"

Loudred replied casually, fully immersed in the Soothe Bell's pleasant chime.

Seeing it like this, who knew whether it had truly taken his words to heart — probably wouldn't be two days before it tossed them to the winds.

Baimu patted this fellow's head, then took the Eviolite and went to the kitchen.

At this moment.

Champion Rongrong was holding a kitchen knife, attempting to cook on her own.

The little pink egg had no particular hobby — she didn't like planting trees and forests like Shiftry, nor did she like hugging a rag doll and watching TV all day like Mawile.

Making a good dish to ease All Baimu's burden and bring a smile to her companions' faces was her current goal.

Today was her first time cooking alone, yet her movements were quite practiced—

That is, as long as All Baimu didn't come.

"Champion Rongrong."

"Lucky!"

Champion Rongrong was startled by his voice, nearly cutting her hand with the knife, and her expression quickly turned flustered.

All Baimu was a little helpless. "Don't be nervous, I'm not here to inspect your cooking results. Put the knife aside first, there's something else."

He was genuinely worried that if he got any closer, Champion Rongrong would get so nervous she'd start flinging the kitchen knife around.

This child worried too much about not living up to others' expectations, piling all sorts of pressure on herself.

"Lucky…"

Champion Rongrong set down the kitchen knife in her hand and followed All Baimu to the dining table outside.

All Baimu asked her, "Do you want to evolve as quickly as possible, like Shiftry? Or do you think you can take it slow and use the Evolution Stone to immediately boost your strength?"

A pale purple stone was placed in front of Champion Rongrong.

Ever since discovering the Evolution Stone, he had told her about its effects, so for the past two days she had been quietly looking forward to it.

But hearing her trainer say all this out of nowhere, Champion Rongrong found she couldn't understand.

Evolve?

Evolution Stone?

She stared at the purple raw stone, thought it over for two seconds, then decided to give up. "Lucky!"

"Let me choose?"

"Lucky!"

All Baimu saw Champion Rongrong nod firmly, and in his heart was not at all surprised by her response.

After all, the little pink egg had the least opinions of all, habitually handing the decision-making over to him, her trainer, while maintaining absolute trust and never complaining.

But even if he already knew the answer, he still had to ask.

"…Then the Evolution Stone is yours. Remember to keep it on your person." All Baimu nodded at the stone on the table.

Compared to Shiftry, Champion Rongrong actually wasn't in a rush to evolve; what she should really work on was overcoming her psychological weaknesses and learning more varied moves.

And of course, boosting her defensive abilities.

"Lucky!"

Champion Rongrong beamed, stuffed the Evolution Stone into the little pouch on her belly, alongside the Nutrition Egg.

From the outside, you really couldn't tell she had an extra stone tucked into her belly.

"Then I won't disturb you any longer — keep at it with the cooking."

All Baimu stood up, gave Champion Rongrong's fuzzy little head a pat, and went off to find Shiftry in the back yard.