Chapter 62: Haven't Even Tried Yet

Lying sprawled on the soft princess bed, Munchlax propped its chin on both little paws, unable to sleep.

Honestly, before lying down it had been quite excited.

But once it actually lay down, its enthusiasm suddenly cooled considerably; layer after layer of illusion was stripped away, and the original ten-point joy quickly dropped to seven.

And when it lay spread-eagled staring at the lace-trimmed bed canopy, its mind drifting back to the matter of battle, those seven points dropped again to five.

Munchlax was now completely unable to sleep.

When would it be called upon to fight?

—Probably not long from now.

Munchlax understood that once the trainer called for it again and again without it moving, the patience would run out and that would be the moment it was forced onto the field.

How about just running away?

The thought flashed through Munchlax's mind, but was immediately rejected—after all, it had nowhere to go, and besides, this place seemed quite dangerous.

When it had been wandering around with the trainer, it had felt that everyone here looked exactly like a villain.

In that case, rather than passively defending, better to take the initiative!

Die early, die late, either way it's death.

Thinking this, Munchlax couldn't help but get out of bed, and tiptoed out of the room to peek at the trainer next door.

Unlike it, which had a room to itself, Aron and Chansey both seemed to live together with the trainer, so it tried to make its steps as light as possible, not wanting to draw their attention.

However.

The instant it stepped into the next room, before it could even get a good look at anyone's sleeping face, two gazes locked onto it like searchlights.

"Gudo…"

Aron rose from beneath the bed, looking at Munchlax in confusion.

Chansey at the foot of the bed also poked its head out drowsily, rubbing its eyes with its little claws, a sleepy, half-awake look on its face.

"Chido!"

Munchlax startled, quickly clapping a paw over its mouth.

Seeing All Baimu on the bed slowly turn over as if about to wake, it hurried back to its own room, lay down on the bed, and played dead-still asleep.

A few seconds later.

A figure appeared outside the room.

"What's wrong? Thirsty? Hungry?"

A calm voice drew near, flowing clearly into Munchlax's ears, "Or just can't sleep?"

It didn't move a muscle, as if nothing had happened at all.

So.

The sound of footsteps receding reached its ears.

It cracked open a slit of an eye, saw the corridor outside brightly lit, and heard Aron and Chansey's cries again.

The trainer laughed and said something, but it couldn't hear clearly.

Not long after.

The figure appeared once more; it hurriedly kept up its playing-dead posture, and heard a clacking sound from not far away.

"I warmed a cup of Moo Moo Milk for you, added a bit of sugar—you should like it."

The voice didn't pause, "If you really can't sleep, feel free to wander around the house, but don't go outside. The temperature swings a lot at night, and it's easy to catch a cold if you're not careful."

Having said that.

The sound of footsteps drew from near to far, along with a click of the light being switched off.

The world sank once more into total darkness.

Munchlax only flipped over and sat up two minutes later, its eyes glinting in the hazy moonlight filtering through the window.

It looked at the small cup of milk on the nightstand, reached out and scooped it up, and the warm touch immediately traveled from its paw all the way through its body.

"Chido~"

It took a small sip.

So sweet~

Guess it should give it a try after all—the trainer didn't really seem like the type to fly into a rage just because it lacked strength.

What it had heard before wasn't necessarily all true.

Like that completely unappetizing hamburger, for instance.

——

The next day.

All Baimu finished washing up, saw Chansey using a brush to sweep dust from the joints of Aron's metal carapace, and decided to go wake Munchlax up.

But the moment he stepped out of the bathroom, he found it already sitting by the dining table waiting for breakfast.

He couldn't help but smile and beckon to it, "Keeping up good hygiene habits is a must—come on."

"Chido?"

Munchlax didn't understand, but still hopped down from its seat and followed him into the bathroom.

When it saw All Baimu take out the set of washing implements it had used before, it very cooperatively twisted its body around, letting the big mouth on the back of its head stretch open.

Its front side took the cup of water Chansey handed over, opened its mouth, and let the latter brush its teeth with a little toothbrush.

Unexpectedly cooperative.

All Baimu raised an eyebrow slightly; he had expected to have to do more persuading, but hadn't expected Munchlax to be this proactive.

Was it thanks to that cup of Moo Moo Milk last night?

He mulled it over, felt it was quite possible, and thought—judging by this momentum, getting it onto the battlefield wasn't far off, was it?

If it really were like this, that would be great.

All Baimu showed a faint smile and quickly helped Mawile with a personal hygiene issue.

Breakfast.

Every person and Pokémon has a fixed standard ration.

Since funds weren't particularly abundant, some of the things Mawile normally ate had to be specially ordered at extra cost, so the quality of its three meals now had dropped quite a bit compared to before.

All Baimu had been worried it wouldn't be used to it, might even smash the plates in a fit of rage.

But neither last night nor this morning did it happen.

He couldn't help but find it strange.

Although yesterday's Mawile wasn't exactly hard to talk to, it just behaved very coldly and distantly, as if walling itself off, but how did it become so "normal" today?

Not normal!

His expression was a bit odd.

And when morning training began, something even stranger happened. Before he could even issue an invitation, Mawile very naturally took its place beside Roggenrola and Chansey.

Only its eyes flickered slightly, no telling what it was thinking.

All Baimu and the two Pokémon were all surprised, exchanging glances with one another.

"Mm… looks like our morning drill has a new member, but considering we're not all that familiar with each other, my suggestion is a friendly match. What do you think?"

As he spoke he mainly looked at Mawile—after all, Roggenrola certainly wouldn't refuse.

Mawile tilted its head up, seeming to understand that All Baimu was asking its opinion, and without much hesitation nodded in agreement.

"…Thanks for cooperating."

The latter turned around, surprise plain on his face.

He naturally had no way of knowing that a certain Pokémon, in order to get past this mental hurdle, had stubbornly stayed up the whole night without sleeping, and by now had reached a state where it didn't care how things went.

—

A simple battle arena.

The two Pokémon stood about five meters apart, gazing at each other, nervousness and wariness on their faces.

All Baimu wouldn't give either of them any commands, so this match would mainly be up to them to decide what to do.

Chansey stood beside the trainer, wanting to cheer but not knowing who to cheer for—

In the end it simply cheered for both.

"Lucky~ lucky~"

"Take your positions."

All Baimu stuck the whistle he'd bought a couple days ago in his mouth. "Beee!"

The whistle sounded.

Roggenrola moved first, tilting its head back and taking a deep breath; dust from the air and ground quickly gathered into clusters, and in the blink of an eye became sharp rocks.

Swish swish swish—

Driven by a faint yellowish-brown glow, the many sharp rocks flew out!

Don't be fooled by how similar they looked on the outside to Rock Tomb—in reality the rock structures of the two were extremely different. One condensed dust and gravel into shape, shattering on impact to maximize damage.

The other was made up of underground rock chunks, sturdier, and focused on hindering the opponent's movement.

Just as now—Mawile decisively swung its head to put its huge jaws in front; a silver light shimmered across their surface, and the incoming rocks smashed into the jaws and instantly crumbled to powder, one after another.

If it had been Rock Tomb, even if the rocks were blocked they would still obstruct the path forward.

And after this probing attack, Roggenrola had a rough idea of its foe's defensive ability, and slowly retreated, determined to play the long game.

Only it hadn't noticed the blank look on Mawile's face.

That's it… that's all there was?

Was it going especially easy on me? The rocks flew so slowly, and the force was so weak.

How polite.

Mawile watched Roggenrola retreating, and a sidelong glance flicked toward All Baimu. It figured it shouldn't hold back, in case the trainer thought that was all it had.

Mm.

Going all out!

Mawile clenched its small fists, a pale yellow electric light flared around its body, then its feet slammed hard into the ground—bang! —and it suddenly shot forward!

That's right—literally flew!

All Baimu's eyes went wide as he watched Mawile streak over Roggenrola's head like a dark streak of light, flip itself around on the wall at the far end of the field, and kick off again!

Bang!

In the dull thud, a ring of dust billowed off the wall, and Mawile had already arrived behind Roggenrola. The instant it realized an attack was coming from behind, it threw a punch!

A brownish-red light exploded on Roggenrola!

Crash!

The latter's body flew straight out, tumbling over and over and kicking up a huge cloud of dust before finally stopping, staggering to its feet.

All Baimu and Chansey watched all this in silence, saying nothing.

And no need to.

They watched Mawile land, its expression growing even more puzzled as it glanced at its small fist from time to time, its heart pounding fast.