"Are you and Ron very close?"
Thinking of Ron, Clint couldn't help but compare him to himself. After a long while, Clint continued to ask cautiously: "What is your relationship with him... right now?"
"Friends?" Emily thought about it. "Probably my best friend in Pelican Town."
"——" Clint paused. His mind suddenly recalled the day Ron came to him to custom-order a machine. Remembering his conversation with Ron, his heart skipped a beat. Clinging to his last shred of hope, he asked in a low voice: "On the day of the Flower Dance... did you dance with Shane?"
"Shane?" Emily shook her head. "That little chicken mask he wore was too stupid; of course I didn't dance with him."
"So... you were alone?" Clint asked naturally.
"Of course not, I was with Ron." Emily remembered what happened that day and immediately started laughing, sharing the story of their bet with Clint.
"——I-is that so." Clint stammered. At this moment, the conversation he had with Ron that day began playing in his head on an endless loop.
He must think I'm an idiot, a fool...
Clint thought with a sense of shame.
Right now, he was like a peacock that had been displaying its feathers to the air for a long time, boasting to another magnificently feathered peacock about how he was about to win the favor of a female bird he had long desired...
"It wouldn't be wrong to say I look like a clown..." Clint left in despair.
Emily watched Clint's back in confusion, then turned back to the group and started talking about the clever little design ideas she had added to her outfit this time.
Meanwhile, the Wizard's plane landed in Jubilife City in the Sinnoh region. Because he hated staying in the city, he entered the nearby forest as soon as he landed and headed all the way toward Floaroma Town.
Having stayed in the forest for the past few days, the Wizard had gained a slight understanding of the Pokémon here.
However, he hadn't encountered a single Beldum, which was the one he needed.
As usual, at night, the Wizard took out his campfire, lit it, and set his pot on it.
After chopping the vegetables and fruits he brought into tiny pieces and throwing them into the pot to boil as always, the Wizard went back to his research on arcane energy.
Listening to the bubbling sound in the pot, Caterpie lay despairingly on the ground, mentally preparing itself for what it was about to face.
Of course, based on its current observations, the Wizard was definitely not a bad person.
——And he possessed a mysterious power absolutely unimaginable for a Caterpie, and used this mysterious power to grant it, a Caterpie wandering in the forests, abilities beyond imagination.
But—his cooking was terrible.
And because of the language barrier, he completely failed to realize that as a Caterpie, it actually didn't need to eat those bizarre-tasting but nutrient-rich things; just picking two leaves from a nearby tree would be enough.
But no.
Every day, he thoughtfully made two servings of an unnamed mush, and forced Caterpie to eat it all without leaving a single scrap.
Caterpie had never regretted not having hands, or even agile claws, as much as it did at this moment.
If there was even the slightest possibility, Caterpie would willingly unlock the cooking skill itself.
"Pi..." Listening to the bubbling sound in the pot, Caterpie repeatedly braced itself.
Not far away, in the jungle, the two Team Rocket executives exchanged a glance.
"We've been tailing him for days now. Apart from making some—" One of them caught a whiff of the nauseating smell drifting over, gagged, and then continued, "Dark cuisine, plus—eurgh—wandering around the jungle, he hasn't shown anything special at all. Should we make a move?"
If he smelled it any longer, he felt his nose would rot off.
In a way, being able to eat this stuff emitting an unidentifiable stench with a straight face made this old man some kind of god.
"Let's do it. You go first, I need to vomit first." Covering his mouth, he said to his teammate, "It's just a Caterpie, you shouldn't need me, right?"
"——Fine." The equally intolerant Team Rocket member tossed his Poké Ball. "I choose you! Go, Murkrow!"
As soon as Murkrow flew out of the Poké Ball, it spun around and tried to flee into the distance.
"Come back, use Ominous Wind first!" the man commanded.
So Murkrow used Ominous Wind toward the continuously spreading stench.
Meanwhile, Caterpie, which had just mentally prepared itself by the pot, was hit by a fierce gust of wind that blew the smell from the pot right into its face.
"Pii!"
Surrounded by this terrifying smell, Caterpie instantly stiffened.
"What was that?" The Wizard turned his head, realizing this wind wasn't natural. Immediately, he pointed toward the source of the wind and said, "Caterpie, use Dragon Pulse!"
Because it was frozen stiff, Caterpie didn't respond to the Wizard's command right away.
"Dragon Pulse?" Hearing this, the Team Rocket members over there—the one who was gagging straightened up and laughed: "A Caterpie, using Dragon Pulse?!"
The two burst into laughter, even forgetting that their current goal was to capture the Wizard. One of them lay on the ground, clutching his aching stomach as he curled up in laughter: "Hahaha, a Caterpie, using Dragon Pulse... Dragon Pulse... hahahahahaha!"
Just then, Caterpie finally snapped out of its stiffened state. It reared up and unleashed a powerful Dragon Pulse toward the source of the wind.
The incredibly powerful energy instantly hit Murkrow and the cracking-up Team Rocket members beneath it.
Only the man lying on the ground laughing was left. At this moment, he stared blankly at the bushes that had been completely obliterated, and at the Wizard not far away looking at him.
Based on the principle of being kind to others, and since Murkrow hadn't caused them any real harm, the Wizard naturally didn't treat him as a bad person.
Seeing him kneeling on the ground, clutching his stomach with a blank expression, the Wizard hesitated for a while, then stood up.
"You—"
"Ahhhhh! Please spare me, I didn't do anyth—"
"Are you hungry? Couldn't find any food?" the Wizard asked, then frowned. "What did you just say?"
"N-nothing, yes, I'm hungry, I'm just hungry, haha, I'll go find food right now." Saying this, as he prepared to crawl away, the Wizard handed him a bowl of strange green mush.
"Then have this, we happen to have a lot left."
The Wizard tried his best to squeeze out a kindly smile.
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