Chapter 231: Champion Dawu's Gift

A hamburger restaurant.

Baimu was eating a hamburger that Mawile had taken two bites of and then rejected, watching through the window as pedestrians came and went with Pokémon of all colors, his thoughts still lingering on half an hour ago.

"If you ever discover any rare stones again in the future, you can send them all over here."

Liza had taken him to the sample storage room next door, which not only held all sorts of rare gems and evolution stones, but also various Mega Stones capable of triggering Pokémon Mega Evolution.

There were even two Key Stones.

Liza explained to him the functions of Key Stones and Mega Stones, and said that if he came across multiple Key Stones, he could also send them to the Devon Corporation.

ahzww.

Multiple Key Stones…

He was already finding it difficult to obtain a single Key Stone right now, let alone multiple ones.

"The People of the Meteors… what on earth are they planning, and they didn't even bother to contact me." Baimu sighed, toying with a round bead of grey and black in his hand.

【Aggronite】.

Without a doubt, this was the gift Champion Dawu had given him. Although it wasn't the Iron Ball and Key Stone he had imagined, this gift was still quite precious, and saved him the trouble of searching all over Tiannandibei for one.

One had to know that more than one Pokémon in his team could Mega Evolve; a single Mega Stone couldn't satisfy his needs.

"Forget it, no point thinking about it so much."

Baimu finished the hamburger in a few bites. The Mawile beside him was still slurping its milkshake — slurp slurp slurp. "Fries, chocolate pie, egg tarts, plus a whole milkshake — you won't need dinner tonight."

"Chion~"

Mawile looked completely indifferent. Not only did it have no appetite right now, but even if it really got hungry later, it could just go ask Chansey for some.

"No dessert after dinner either."

The sudden addition made Mawile's eyes go wide. "Chion!"

"I'm serious."

"Chion~" Mawile tugged at Baimu's sleeve, tilting its head up at him in displeasure. Seeing his resolute and unchallengeable attitude, it clamped its mouth around the straw, drinking its milkshake while puffing out its cheeks in a sulk.

No cake again, so annoying.

Baimu observed this and said without changing expression: "Eating too much makes you fat. It's not like you haven't seen those Pokémon that stuff themselves into round little lumps — ugly and unhealthy.

"And you can't have dessert, but you can still drink black tea. How about we go buy some good black tea this time? We'll browse the mall along the way and pick up whatever you like."

Although he couldn't tell the difference himself, for Mawile the quality of black tea was obvious the moment it touched its lips. The black tea Champion Dawu had brought earlier was undoubtedly top-grade; the two cans Baimu had bought afterwards had both been scorned for being insufficiently priced.

Having just made a windfall and arrived in a major city, he might as well buy something expensive.

Mawile, hearing that it could browse the mall again, immediately stopped being angry, its expression turning expectant and excited.

——

As the foremost major city in the western Hoenn region.

Mauville City was terrifyingly large.

Especially the big department stores here — a good twenty-plus floors, each one selling all sorts of different things, a dazzling array that left Mawile dazzled.

It had come in high spirits and dragged Baimu around until it was pitch black outside, only stopping when everyone's stomachs were growling unbearably.

"You really can shop."

Baimu was amazed by Mawile's energy.

But he himself hadn't bought nothing — as the place where Devon Corporation's headquarters was situated, the cutting-edge tech products here were new, good, and cheap.

For example, a new backpack with twice the internal space of his current one, obtainable for only half the price.

An ultra-compressed large tent — just press one button and the problem of pitching a tent is solved; all the user has to do is fix the four corners with pegs to keep it from blowing away;

Devon diving gear — allows free movement underwater without carrying an oxygen tank; a great help for trainers who like Water-type Pokémon.

Running shoes — can improve a trainer's escape ability; when being chased by Pokémon like Beedrill or Ursaring, they let you run away at maximum speed; a must-have for trainers who like to court death.

After buying a huge pile of things, Baimu suddenly realized he had casually spent over two million.

"Earn slowly, spend fast — what a miserable feeling."

He sighed and went to a hotel to get a room.

Pokémon Center accommodation was undoubtedly free, but it had a big problem: in major cities, the number of single rooms was always insufficient. If he wanted to keep staying, the only option was to figure out how to share a double room with someone else.

Baimu didn't have that kind of habit; he'd rather spend some money on a hotel. The various services and facilities they offered to attract trainers to stay were much better than the Pokémon Center's — otherwise they simply couldn't compete with Young Lady Joy.

In the room.

He released all his Pokémon. Steelix was unquestionably sent back to Iron Town — he had originally wanted to keep it for dinner, but hearing it say there was still a thirty-meter-long tunnel unfinished and that it wanted to go back and keep digging, he had no choice but to let it leave.

This fellow was truly full of "wildness."

Baimu took out the Mega Stone and walked toward Aggron. "This thing belongs to you from now on."

"Rooar?"

Aggron blinked, took it and examined it for a while, and only understood what a fine thing it was after the trainer explained it to it.

Baimu looked over its body, quickly considering where to place the Mega Stone so that it wouldn't affect battle and wouldn't easily fall off — make a claw ring? Find a way to set it into the tail.

He lowered his head in thought, and when he looked up again he found the Mega Stone gone from Aggron's claw.

"Eh? Where did you stuff it?"

He froze, checked both claws thoroughly but still couldn't find where the Mega Stone was, and his expression couldn't help but change. "You didn't eat it, did you? This thing might not be digestible… ah, ugh! This thing is very precious, you can't eat it!"

"Guroar~"

Aggron, seeing the trainer in such a panic, smiled and flipped its claw over, producing the Mega Stone again.

"Where exactly did you stuff it!?"

Baimu grabbed the longest horn on its forehead and asked in displeasure: "If you don't tell me, I'll secretly grind down your badge!"

"Guroar guroar."

Aggron raised both claws as if begging for mercy, and stuffed the Mega Stone into a Kong Dong on the side of its head.

"... Stuffed into the 'brain' works fine."

He tugged the corner of his mouth speechlessly, climbed up to look at the hole on its head, and clearly saw the Mega Stone wedged tightly inside.

Actually, he'd observed it long ago and hadn't found any flesh or brain tissue — it looked more like some kind of miniature mountain tunnel.

"With it like this, will it still be convenient for you to use Sandstorm later?"

Baimu couldn't help feeling worried.

Upon hearing this, Aggron smiled, pointed at its own mouth, and indicated that the main force for Sandstorm was its mouth — the Kong Dong on its forehead only played a supporting role, just speeding up the volume of the sandstorm.

No big problem.

Besides, it actually quite liked the feeling of having something blocking the hole.

"What kind of weird taste is that..." Baimu looked at it speechlessly, "But we still have to test it. You're going to use your head a lot, and I don't want the Mega Stone to suddenly fly out mid-battle."

"Roar~"

Aggron smiled and agreed.