Regarding Julian's punishment of not letting them eat dinner, the ten of them didn't care at all. Never mind dinner—they could even go without food or water for an entire day.
As exceptional trainers, they had experienced going without food or water for several days. Skipping a single meal was nothing more than a trivial matter.
Julian clearly didn't trust them enough and even had Ella supervise them.
Somehow, Julian seemed to have sensed their thoughts.
Upon careful consideration, he realized the punishment was indeed no challenge for them. But since he had already announced it, he couldn't just change the punishment on a whim.
After a moment of thought, Julian came up with an idea.
He took the ten of them to his villa.
All ten of them had Flying-type Pokémon and valid flying licenses, so they arrived in about half an hour.
After landing, the ten looked around the villa curiously. Coming from prominent families, they weren't particularly impressed by the villa itself. They were only paying extra attention because it was where Julian lived.
Moreover, they wondered why Julian had brought them there.
Could it be that he wanted to show them his home?
A villa—nestled against mountains, water, and the sea—nothing particularly remarkable beyond those three features.
"Slow~"
Slowking opened the door and was stunned to see not only Julian but also ten people behind him.
Slowking: "So many guests..."
How much food would it have to prepare for dinner? It seemed the groceries it had just bought wouldn't be enough. Looks like it would have to go shopping again.
Why didn't Julian tell it in advance that he was bringing so many guests?
Slowking looked at Julian with a hint of reproach.
It hadn't expected so many guests, and among them, it even noticed Ember and the other three.
"Slowking, they aren't guests. They won't be eating dinner here. You only need to prepare food for me and Ella."
Upon hearing that they wouldn't be eating dinner, Slowking felt a little disappointed. What a shame—it couldn't show off its cooking skills to them.
"Slow~"
Slowking nodded, then took out packs of walnuts from the small backpack on its back and handed them to the group.
Iconic moment: Slowking handing out walnuts.
It was already widely known that Julian's Slowking liked to give a pack of walnuts to everyone it met for the first time. Since walnuts were believed to boost brain function, the public interpreted this gesture not merely as offering a snack but as implying, "You're not too bright—have some walnuts to sharpen your mind."
Not just them—even Julian, Celebi, and Jirachi all received a packet of walnuts from it.
"Go ahead and eat them. Since these are from Slowking, they don't count as dinner."
Julian opened the pack and finished the walnuts in one go. The walnuts were carefully selected and prepared by Slowking itself, so they tasted delicious.
After eating Slowking's walnuts, the ten of them suddenly felt that they really were quite stupid.
"Oh no, after eating the walnuts, my stomach feels even emptier now," Sky clutched his stomach, wearing an expression that suggested he was far from satisfied.
"Pierce, you four know Champion Walker. Do you have any idea why he brought us to his house?" Adrian nudged Pierce beside him with his elbow.
At this moment, the expressions of Pierce and the other three looked somewhat ugly.
Because they had guessed a possibility.
As night fell, a long table was set up in the backyard of the villa, laden with various cooked seafood, some barbecue, and in the center, ten steaming hot pots.
The aroma drifted across the entire backyard.
Julian, Ella, Celebi, and Jirachi were seated at the table, enjoying the barbecue, seafood, and hot pot.
Less than three meters away from them, ten people sat on the ground, each holding a cup of water. At this moment, their eyes were fixed intently on the dining table, swallowing hard repeatedly, while their stomachs growled loudly.
The food prepared by Slowking could be described as a feast for the senses—color, aroma, and taste all perfectly combined. No one could smell the delicious aroma and not feel tempted or hungry.
The smell of the food, the bubbling sound of the boiling hot pot, the sizzling of oil meeting charcoal during grilling—at this moment, the ten people's senses became unusually sharp.
Their stomach acids churned, constantly reminding their brains: "I'm hungry, I need to eat, I need food."
Gulp, gulp—the sound of swallowing saliva echoed repeatedly.
Sky chugged the water in his cup in one go, and in the next second, Magearna picked up the water pitcher to refill his cup.
As the cup of water entered his stomach—great, he was even hungrier now.
"Don't be angry, don't be angry. Champion Walker is my idol, my idol," Sky took a deep breath, silently reciting his "no anger" sutra. But the more he repeated it, the redder his eyes became as he stared at the dining table.
At this moment, all ten of them felt that Julian was truly a malicious person—to torment them in such a way. Wasn't this going too far?
And why did the food prepared by Slowking have to smell so incredible?
Ember and the other three wore an expression that said, "as expected."
"I knew it would be like this," Rowan glared at Julian, who was eating and drinking heartily, wishing he could kick him flying.
"That bast**d, I really want to fight him," Asher clenched his fists and punched one hand against the other.
"My cousin here has been training in martial arts—he can smash a human skull with one palm," Ember said.
That startled Asher, who asked curiously, "Really? Is that true?"
"I saw it with my own eyes, what do you think, real or fake?"
"Damn, he's practically a monster," Asher muttered under his breath.
"Mage~"
Just then, Magearna happened to hear his remark.
Magearna: "Master, he is scolding you!"
Although Asher didn't understand exactly what Magearna was saying, he knew what he had just muttered. Seeing Magearna standing right in front of him, raising its hand as if to tattle, he realized what was happening.
"I didn't!" Asher hurriedly denied.
'The trainer is no good, and his Pokémon are no good either.'
Magearna, who looked like such a well-behaved child, turned out to be a snitch.
"Hmph," Julian snorted. "Celebi go and eat your skewers near Asher."
'Cursing me, huh?'
Right now all ten of them were cursing him in their hearts, but only Asher had dared to say it out loud.
Celebi let out a mischievous smile, picked up several skewers of meat and flew over to where Asher was sitting. It deliberately waved the skewers right near Asher's face, then gobbled one down in single bite, making loud, exaggerated chewing sounds.
Asher had never felt so humiliated before. Just as he was about to snatch the skewers from Celebi's hand, his good friend Rowan grabbed him and held him back.
"What are you doing? Don't you know Julian is waiting for you to do exactly that?"
"Damn it!" Asher cursed under his breath.
"Don't give me a chance. If my strength surpasses his one day, I'll hang him up and beat him black and blue!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than he suddenly noticed Ember and the other two had moved a little farther away from him.
The three of them: 'This guy must have lost his mind.'
The next second, Asher's face turned pale as he saw Celebi grinning at him. He quickly put on a flattering smile and said, "I was just kidding right now, really! Besides, I'd never have the ability to do something like that anyway."
But Celebi had already shouted out, "Julian! This guy said he's going to strip you naked, hang you up, and beat you for three days and three nights—and even record a video of it!"
When it came to exaggerating and stirring the pot, Celebi was an absolute expert.
*****
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