Chapter 218:
Goodness, trying to earn its own living expenses… This girl's luck is neither especially good nor especially bad, huh.
To actually pull a Larvitar from a gacha egg…
But clearly, the situation has left her a bit unprepared.
After all—Raising a Larvitar is something most people need to mentally prepare themselves for.
Because it's very expensive.
This is the Larvitar famed for being able to eat through an entire mountain.
But this girl got it from a gacha egg. Presumably, after winning the egg, she couldn't bear to give it up. Back and forth, that reluctance turned into attachment, and before long a bond formed, leading to the current situation.
[Pokémon: Larvitar]
[Gender: Male]
[Ability: Guts]
[Potential: Red]
[IVs: HP (27) Attack (28) Defense (28) Sp. Def (26) Sp. Atk (27) Speed (19)]
[Level: 18–19]
[Moves: Tackle, Sandstorm, Bite, Leer, Payback, Stomping Tantrum]
[Description: A Larvitar that is always hungry.]
Hmm, a very good Larvitar.
But this "always hungry" description… really does remind one of his Blaziken.
"Blaziken?"
Blaziken crouched down, staring at the small Larvitar before it, eyes full of puzzlement.
Can this little guy really eat that much?
As the undisputed representative of "big eaters," Blaziken was the most qualified to judge. Especially since the opposing Trainer had come to Hayashi Kaede asking for help precisely because her Pokémon ate too much, Blaziken immediately felt sensitive about it.
After all, it had once been abandoned for eating too much.
"This is different. No matter how much you eat, it's still just regular food. But this one… it not only eats a lot, it eats expensive minerals too…"
Hayashi Kaede patted Blaziken's head, then looked at the girl. "What does your family do?"
Although this Larvitar came from a gacha egg, raising it to Level 18–19 without signs of malnutrition meant her family background couldn't be ordinary.
Rosalie said sheepishly, "We run a food processing factory… but the liquid funds in my dad's factory…"
She trailed off, glanced down at the Larvitar, then gave Hayashi Kaede an awkward smile.
Clearly, she didn't want to speak of such difficulties in front of Larvitar, lest it develop an inferiority complex.
In fact, when she first got the Larvitar egg from the gacha, she had hesitated about whether to sell it to a store or keep it. After discussing with her parents, they decided to keep it.
But clearly, the whole family had underestimated Larvitar's money-burning capacity.
Nearby, Blaziken was teasing Larvitar.
It hooked a claw around Larvitar's horn, provoking it to flail its short arms angrily. But the height difference was too great, and Blaziken easily held it back by the body, leaving Larvitar unable to reach. In the end, Larvitar could only vent its futile rage with a roar.
Blaziken burst out laughing.
But then it turned to look at Hayashi Kaede.
Its gaze was clear.
In a way, it saw its own past self reflected in this Larvitar.
Hayashi Kaede chuckled.
At first glance, this request did seem a little unreasonable. After all, Goodra technically met the tournament rules, being under one year old.
Then again, sending an Elite-level Goodra into a Junior Cup really was a bit much of a bully.
And besides—Goodra's strength hadn't even been cultivated by him. He only let Goodra participate to help it overcome its timid nature. Even if the girl hadn't come asking, Hayashi Kaede wouldn't have allowed Goodra to keep bullying others.
After seeing this Larvitar, he suddenly got an idea.
"How about this. Forget about Goodra. You need the prize money for its living expenses, right? Then let's not use other Pokémon either. You let it battle—let it earn its own living expenses. Wouldn't that be more meaningful?"
"And I…" Hayashi Kaede called over "Little Nine," who was playing tail-tag with the Alolan Vulpix nearby. "…will use this Eevee. How about that?"
Little Nine was also at Level 18–19.
"Eevee?"
The summoned Little Nine blinked, not knowing what was happening yet.
"Let's see if we can find you an opponent." Hayashi Kaede pointed at Larvitar.
"Larvitar?"
Larvitar, running away from Blaziken, toddled over on its stubby legs and clung to its Trainer's leg.
"Okay!"
Seeing this, Rosalie nodded quickly in agreement. Relief washed through her.
She had mustered a lot of courage to come and make this request—all for her Pokémon. Hayashi Kaede's agreement made her feel her effort wasn't wasted. Although the outcome was still unknown, at least she had tried. She bowed once more, thanked him, and then took Larvitar back to her seat.
"Eevee~" (Am I going to battle?)
Little Nine's eyes sparkled with excitement.
As the captain of the "hero squad," even though it was weak, it still carried that pride.
And Hayashi Kaede had told it before: one reason it couldn't evolve yet was its insufficient level.
"So, little captain, do you want to win this battle?"
Seeing Little Nine's eagerness, Hayashi Kaede couldn't help but ask.
"Eevee?"
Little Nine tilted its head, puzzled.
"It's like this… That Larvitar and its Trainer…"
Hayashi Kaede recounted what the girl had told him.
"Eevee?" (So… she needs money to buy food for her partner?)
Little Nine fell into thought.
But its focus was strange: How could there be no money to buy food?
It had never felt such a thing—the Breeding House had such a large Berry Plantation, you could eat as much as you wanted. No matter how much food was eaten every day, the supply never ran out.
Hayashi Kaede nodded. "Mm."
"Eevee~" (Well then, alright~)
It patted the ground with its front paws, then leapt into Hayashi Kaede's arms, eyes turning thoughtful, though who knew what exactly it was thinking.
Hayashi Kaede smiled. "It's up to you. If you want to win, then win…"
Down on the field, the third match of the Top 8 was underway, and it seemed to be nearing its end.
This match featured a Swampert against that same Breloom. The outcome was much like the earlier Wartortle vs. Breloom battle.
With a type disadvantage, plus the Breloom's Trainer being very crafty—making full use of Poison Heal— they opened with Poison Powder, then kept trading blows while sowing Leech Seed and using draining moves like Mega Drain… all sorts of irritating tactics are used.
Hayashi Kaede thought this Trainer's style was really dirty.
The main thing was, they weren't greedy. They didn't rely on high-power, super-effective moves like Seed Bomb, which could've dealt 4x damage to Swampert. Instead, they chipped away with poison, Leech Seed, Bullet Seed, and steady attrition.
Against an opponent of the same level, if you couldn't finish Breloom quickly, you risked being whittled down.
The Swampert's Trainer clearly realized this too. But he had no solution.
The only option was to wait for the inevitable.
After all, Swamort was 4x restraint against Breloom.