Chapter 215: Playing the Provocation Game?

"Big brother, you're so amazing — you must have gotten quite a few Badges, right?"

The kid in shorts crouched on the ground and asked curiously.

"No, I don't have a single Badge yet. Right now I'm planning to head to Orange City to get my first one."

Baimu shook his head, pinched Poochyena's paw and shook it, then rubbed its head, and finally flipped it over entirely to scratch its belly.

The shorts-wearing kid was a little surprised, then said enviously, "Then with big brother's strength, you must be able to defeat the Gym Leader really easily."

He laughed and said, "That's not necessarily true."

"It has to be like that!"

The envious shorts-wearing kid didn't notice Poochyena's pleading look at all, completely immersed in his thick envy.

"Whine whine whine whine…"

Poochyena let out pitiful whimpers, wanting to resist and give someone a good bite, but when the corner of its eye caught sight of Chansey it immediately didn't dare, and could only stick out its tongue and act pitiful.

Baimu saw its little tongue trembling like that and found it rather amusing, and reached out to pinch it—

"Lucky!"

"Ahem ahem, Poochyena really is a cute Pokémon."

He withdrew his hand in time at Chansey's reminder, knowing he couldn't push it too far — a cornered dog really will jump over a wall.

The shorts-wearing kid glanced over, belatedly realizing Poochyena's predicament, and hurriedly picked up its limp body. "Of course! If you're interested, that direction has—"

"Ah! Speaking of which, if it's big brother, you'd definitely be able to catch that guy!"

"Huh?"

Baimu saw him looking all worked up as if he'd just remembered something, and felt a little puzzled.

"There's a really big Marill in the nearby forest. It usually lives in a pond, and sometimes comes out to look for berries. It's really strong! Tons of Trainers have been chased off by it!"

The shorts-wearing kid put Poochyena down and gestured back and forth, somehow describing a Marill about as tall as himself — roughly one and a half meters.

A boss Pokémon?

Baimu exchanged a glance with Chansey.

"I'll pass on that. I don't really have any interest in Marill."

He decisively shook his head and refused.

A water bunny is cute enough, but unfortunately it's also a low-speed Pokémon that can only get fast through priority moves. At this stage, though, he only wanted to get one that was naturally fast.

He really had no interest in chasing a Marill through the forest for a whole day.

"I see… well, okay then."

The shorts-wearing kid looked disappointed — he quite enjoyed watching other people catch Pokémon.

"Rather than having me catch it, why not go catch it yourself someday? Using an Electric-type Pokémon should make it a lot easier," Baimu said.

But the kid flatly refused. "I don't really have any interest in Marill either. I prefer Dark-type Pokémon."

Then why were you egging me on?

Baimu gave him a speechless look.

——

He parted ways with the shorts-wearing kid.

He picked plenty of fresh berries in the forest again, and had lunch together with Chansey and the others.

He wanted to feed the wild Pokémon, to repay the kindness of the berries, but unfortunately Boulderos and the others looked far too fierce — the timid ones all ran far away, and the bold ones didn't dare come near and risk bad luck either, leaving Baimu holding Pokémon blocks meant for feeding with nowhere to use them.

Two in the afternoon.

He arrived at Orange City smoothly, and standing on high ground looking out over the entire city, one would find that the exaggerated amount of vegetation made it seem as if it were built within a lush green forest.

"A city where people and nature communicate…"

He felt the gentle sea breeze, and the restless excitement of his first Gym lying right before him gradually settled into calm.

Most of Hoenn's cities are by the sea, and Orange City is no exception. At the end of the river bend that runs through the west side of the city lies a boundless expanse of open sea, which doesn't bring much of a salty, fishy smell — only a kind of indescribable warmth.