Taste of the Sea Restaurant

Just then, a message popped up on Ye Lan's wristband: Servine's treatment was complete.

Ye Lan got out of bed and went to pick up Servine. After that, he planned to take her out for a good meal as a reward.

After all, they had won thanks to Snivy's sheer determination.

When Ye Lan had seen Snivy covered in wounds, he had regretted pushing her to evolve this way and had wanted to concede.

Weavile was an experienced battle arena competitor, and there was a gap in strength between them. Losing would have been perfectly understandable.

But Snivy had refused to dodge so she could get the most out of her moves, attacking again and again in what was practically an exchange of wounds.

Ye Lan understood then that a trainer needed to answer his Pokémon's resolve.

As they walked down Jindu's bustling streets, they occasionally saw an Officer Jenny in her Huaxia Regional Form keeping traffic in order.

Ye Lan studied the Officer Jennys' beautiful, identical faces and marveled. He had no idea how Brock told them apart.

He stared for so long that one Officer Jenny blushed and shot him an indignant glare. Ye Lan gave her an awkward smile and looked away.

No Officer Jenny was an ordinary police officer. Few in the world could rival the power backing them, and Ye Lan certainly couldn't afford to offend them.

The Officer Jenny Family oversaw law and order across almost the entire world. Officer Jennys could be found in every region.

The only difference was that their uniforms followed local customs—what players jokingly called their different "Regional Forms."

Pokémon could have different appearances and types in different regions too. Alola's Ninetales, for example, was Ice-type rather than the usual Fire-type.

What amazed people was that Officer Jennys looked identical everywhere and were all women. The strength of their genes was astonishing.

Anyone who wanted to marry an Officer Jenny had only one option: marry into the Officer Jenny Family.

The Nurse Joy Family was much the same.

One controlled the police, the other the medical system. Both were giants of the Pokémon world.

After crossing a shopping street, Ye Lan and Servine stopped outside a restaurant called Taste of the Sea.

Its head chef had supposedly worked as an assistant to Siebold, Kalos's Water-type Elite Four member, before returning to the Huaxia Region to open the restaurant.

Seafood was Siebold's specialty.

Ye Lan pushed open the door. The decor was understated yet luxurious, and diners enjoyed their meals in silence. Even those who spoke kept their voices low.

Piano and violin music complemented the elegant atmosphere, lending the restaurant another touch of class.

Ye Lan took a deep breath, grateful he had prepared himself. Otherwise, he would already have turned around and fled with Servine!

He knew nothing about fine dining, but he did know this meal might bankrupt him.

He certainly wasn't going to make the terrible trade of exchanging points for cash. He still had over fifty thousand yuan in his account, which should be enough to give Servine a hearty meal.

Once seated at his reserved table, Ye Lan tossed out a red-and-white Poké Ball. Servine appeared in the seat across from him reserved for Pokémon.

Her injuries had healed, but she still looked a little tired and kept yawning.

"Ser?"

She seemed annoyed that Ye Lan had called her out and interrupted her sweet dreams, but the menu a server handed her quickly caught her attention.

"Ser?!"

Servine pointed at the menu with her tail, her face full of shock, then pointed at herself.

Pokémon had intelligence nearly on par with humans. Servine could understand human speech, but she had been born so recently that reading was still difficult for her.

Even so, she knew her numbers!

The string of zeros after every price on the menu was enough to make her tremble.

"I can eat all of this?"

Catching the meaning in Servine's cry, Ye Lan smiled. "Of course. First, we're celebrating your evolution. Second, we made quite a bit from today's battle. Don't worry about the prices!"

"Eat! Have as much as you want!"

Seeing Ye Lan pat his chest in assurance, Servine finally relaxed. She excitedly hissed away at the young waitress beside them.

Servine: "Ser, ser, ser!"

Waitress: "?"

Servine: "Ser, ser?"

Waitress: "???"

"She wants this page, except for anything with Dragonfire Fruit. Not the one in the upper left on this page, either. And this one, this one..."

At last, under the waitress's pleading gaze, Ye Lan ordered for Servine. He also picked out a few Pokémon-free dishes and desserts for himself.

They didn't wait long before the food arrived.

Judging by its presentation alone, Ye Lan felt the money was well spent. If the chef improved a little more, he might even be able to make the kind of Pokémon Food from the Pokémon world that came with special effects.

Ye Lan watched Servine wolf down her food, feeling pleased.

Ye Lan had set his sights high from the start. Servine spent every day training or battling and rarely got to enjoy life.

But for both Servine and Ye Lan, this was only a brief chance to relax along the way. Reaching the summit would bring its own extraordinary joy!

"Burp~"

After eating their fill, the two of them strolled through Jindu's streets.

It was late at night, but Jindu was still brightly lit. Crowded sidewalks and the din of the streets made it even livelier than it had been that morning.

Perhaps Jindu only truly woke up at night.

"Servine, I told you to eat as much as you wanted, but I didn't mean that much!"

"Ser?!"

Servine was stunned. He had eaten nearly as much as she had toward the end, and now he was blaming her?!

Servine's eyes narrowed. Seeing that she was about to use Bind and execute him on the spot, Ye Lan hurriedly put some distance between them.

"Ahem. Fine, I did eat a lot toward the end, but only because you made everything look so delicious!"

The memory of the cashier's devilish whisper at checkout still made Ye Lan's right eyelid twitch. "That'll be yuan. Card or cash?"

"Ser!"

"I know, I know. I'll work hard in tomorrow's battles too. Stop nagging!"

Servine had turned on him as soon as she finished eating, slipping right back into her usual "I'm number one, and my trainer comes in..." attitude. It made Ye Lan's blood boil.

"I've decided. Next time, I'm catching a super clingy Pokémon. Then you'll understand how painful it is to lose your trainer's affection!"

"Ser!"

"W-wait, isn't Iron Tail going too far?!"

(My brain was mush by the time I wrote this chapter. I can't help feeling it's not quite right~)