Nagging West

Although the Ruins of Alph lay in the western suburbs of Violet City, there was still quite a long way to go. Sato might not have wanted to start a conversation, but that did not mean West was the same.

"Sato, did you see any Unown in the Ruins of Alph?"

Sato thought to himself that he had never even been to the Ruins of Alph in his life, so how could he possibly have seen Unown? Still, he glanced at West, whose curiosity was practically overflowing.

"No."

"That's such a shame. I heard Unown are even more mysterious than Legendary Pokémon. By the way, Sato, have you ever seen a Legendary Pokémon?"

"No."

"Then what's the strongest Pokémon you've ever seen? Have you seen Dragonite? Or the Desert Tyrant, Tyranitar?"

"..." Sato pursed his lips, finding it hard to believe that the wealthy West was actually such a chatterbox. "I saw a Dragonite once. At the last Alliance Tournament, the trainer who defeated me had one!"

"..."

"Sato, why aren't you saying anything?"

"Say my name again."

"Sato?"

"Do you get it now?"

"...Oh."

Three minutes later, West could not resist asking Sato another question. "Sato, do you think Dragonite is stronger, or Tyranitar?"

Sato turned to stare at West. You were still thinking about that after all this time? "I think Tyranitar should be stronger..." West did not seem to care whether Sato answered him, happily continuing to talk to himself.

Looking away, Sato suddenly thought of something. Had West not gotten enough talking done when they spoke at the café earlier?

What followed was extremely strange. Sato walked straight ahead without looking aside, while West beside him kept moving his mouth, talking nonstop without a moment's pause.

Sato did not stop West's monologue. He merely quickened his pace slightly, but with noon approaching, they still had quite a long distance left to cover.

"Although Tyranitar has quite a few type weaknesses, but... Huh, why did you stop?" West suddenly realized that Sato had disappeared from beside him. Turning around, he saw the other man walking toward a large tree.

"It's noon. Aren't you going to eat?"

"Right! I got so carried away talking that I forgot about lunch!" West grinned, his hands never stopping as he Put Down his backpack.

"I brought lots of things that are handy for camping. This, this, and this..." West pulled one large item after another from his tiny backpack.

A dining table, food bowls, a stove, an iron pot, a large iron ladle... Why was there even a bottle of flowers? And that square thing should be an oven, right? That rectangular thing should be a refrigerator, right? So were you moving house or something?! Sato thought about the lonely sandwich in his own bag, then looked at West, who had already taken out a prepared steak and was about to fry it. He decisively Put Down his backpack and pretended to watch casually.

"Wait a moment, it'll be ready soon!" West, wearing a chef's apron, stared intently at the steak in the frying pan. Catching sight of Sato from the corner of his eye, he gave him a thoughtful reminder.

Half an hour later, Sato and West sat across from each other. Looking at the table full of dishes, Sato was somewhat stunned.

"When you traveled before, did you eat like this for every meal?" Sato looked over West's thirty-minute accomplishment, not knowing what to say.

"Yes. Let your Pokémon out. We can all have lunch together," West said, pouring red wine as he extended the invitation as though it were only natural.

After thinking it over, Sato let out Zorua and Haunter. Larvitar was too rare to bring out conveniently, and besides, it liked eating rocks best, especially those rich in energy.

"Kuso!"

Zorua jumped onto Sato's shoulder and affectionately rubbed against him. Only then did it notice the delicious food on the dining table, and saliva immediately began to pour from its mouth uncontrollably.

"This is a Zorua that can only be found in the Unova Region, right? It just so happens that I prepared food for Dark-type Pokémon. Come try it!"

West's eyes lit up as he warmly took out a beautifully packaged can of Pokémon food. One look was enough to tell it was high-end stuff.

"Kuso?"

Zorua slurped its drool and looked at Sato, the expectation in its eyes unmistakable.

"Go ahead."

"Woo!"

Zorua instantly flashed in front of the can. It gave West a light nod, then hugged the can and ran back to Sato's side. Sitting upright, it accurately opened the can with its claws and began eating with great satisfaction.

"Jiejie jiejie~"

Haunter poked its head over and gave it a sniff, then curled its mouth in disdain. It did not like food rich in dense Dark-type Energy.

"I prepared food for Haunter too. Try this!" West handed the already prepared second can to Haunter.

"Jiejie!"

Haunter was not as well-behaved as Zorua. It directly formed a Shadow Claw and snatched the can over.

When the can opened, a clump of condensed purple mist lay quietly inside. Haunter cried out excitedly twice, then stuck out its tongue and swallowed the mist in one mouthful.

"Jiejie~"

Haunter dropped onto the grass and hummed comfortably, clearly receiving immense satisfaction from the purple mist just now.

"Sato, take a look at my partners too!" West said as he threw out three Poké Balls.

The red light faded, and Feraligatr, Houndoom, and Skarmory appeared on the grass. Every one of them had been raised to be exceptionally robust.

Sato recalled the three Pokémon's previous records. Skarmory Should Be at Elite Beginner like Houndoom. As for Feraligatr, he could not tell for the time being, but it would only be stronger.

After lunch, Sato was no longer surprised when he saw West pull out a dishwasher. Leaning on the tree, he gently wiped Spinarak's Pokemon Egg. He could feel it—Spinarak would hatch before long.

After taking a short lunch break, the two continued on their journey. Sato did not recall Haunter or Zorua, and as they gradually moved away from the city, the number of Pokémon around them increased as well. They needed to be more careful.

West kept Houndoom by his side too, but he was still as talkative as ever—only now, his targets had changed to Haunter and Zorua.

Before long, Zorua slipped away to scout the surrounding area, refusing to listen to West's rambling. Like Sato, it preferred peace and quiet.

As for Houndoom, it had long since chosen another direction and run far away. It knew its Trainer very well.

Haunter seemed to have found a kindred spirit, letting out all sorts of eerie laughter along the way. It was a wonder West could stand it. For most people, hearing it a few times would be like Demonic Sound Ear Infusion, leaving their minds filled with "Jiejiejie" laughter.

After Sato suppressed the urge to recall Haunter into its Poké Ball for who knew how many times, the two finally spotted the crumbling Rock Wall of the Ruins of Alph in the distance.

"Let's camp a little farther away for the night. We'll go in first thing tomorrow morning."

"Ah, okay." Having stopped his effortless conversation with Haunter, West dumbfoundedly followed instructions.

Then, as if he had activated some kind of mechanism, he directly "threw" an entire house out of his compact backpack.

Sato tightened the backpack he had not opened all day and walked into the room.

If he did not eat the sandwiches soon, they would go bad.

Thank you for the support! Thank You, everyone!