"What's wrong?" Lin Hao stopped and turned around.
"Just now..." May swallowed. "Are you really an ordinary person?"
"Obviously." Lin Hao rolled his eyes. "I've told you eight hundred times. I'm just an ordinary Trainer."
"An ordinary person's Pikachu can burn straight through Raichu's Volt Absorb?!" May was losing her mind.
"Pikachu likes eating batteries. Bigger electricity reserves," Lin Hao said, making something up offhand.
May steadied herself and decided to change the subject. "You just collected two hundred thousand in prize money, right?" She pointed at Lin Hao's pocket.
"Yep." Lin Hao patted his pocket, looking thoroughly satisfied.
"Then shouldn't you treat me to a decent meal?" May sneered. "I spent the whole day worrying myself sick with you!"
"Treat you?" Lin Hao looked at her as though she were an alien.
"Why not?!"
"That money's for paying the old man back for his cabbages," Lin Hao said, utterly unapologetic. "Five hundred thousand for the cabbages, and I'm still three hundred thousand short. Where would I get the money to treat you?"
"You!" May choked with anger.
"And another thing." Lin Hao rubbed his stomach. "It's lunchtime. You need to buy me lunch."
"Why should I pay?!" May snapped.
"Because you're an Investigator on a mission." Lin Hao spread his hands, his face a picture of innocence. "Didn't Champion Lance tell you to cover my food and lodging? You can't just watch your mission target starve to death, can you?"
"I... you... shameless!" May stamped her feet in fury, but finally gave in. She had accepted this money-sink of a mission, after all!
Half an hour later, inside Vermilion City's finest ocean-view restaurant, May stared at the mountain of empty plates on the table. Her heart was bleeding.
"Slow down! Nobody's going to steal your food!" May said through gritted teeth.
Lin Hao didn't even raise his head, shoveling expensive bluefin tuna sashimi into his mouth.
"Pika!" Pikachu sat on the table, clutching an Australian rock lobster bigger than Pikachu's own face and gnawing away, sauce smeared everywhere.
Lin Hao set down his chopsticks and grabbed a napkin. Turning toward Pikachu, he gently wiped away the sauce.
"Take it slow. Don't let the shell cut your mouth." As he wiped, Lin Hao pushed the shelled lobster meat in front of Pikachu. "Eat up. Lifting that huge rat must've burned a lot of calories."
"Pika pika!" Pikachu affectionately nuzzled his fingertips.
May sat opposite them, quietly watching. Her expression shifted slightly at the sight of his tender care.
Such casual attentiveness-he truly treated his Pokémon like family. May began to waver.
Was he really the extremely dangerous individual Champion Lance described? May murmured to herself.
He had a Legendary Pokémon and unfathomable strength, yet he spent all day saying he wanted to take it easy.
Rather than cause trouble, he had willingly endured Lt. Surge's mockery, and he was fiercely protective of his own Pokémon.
How could someone like that endanger the world? May lowered her eyes, her thoughts churning.
At ten that evening, in a five-star hotel in Vermilion City (paid for with May's card again).
After showering, May sat on the bed in her pajamas. Hesitantly, she took out her encrypted Communicator, drew a deep breath, and pressed the call button.
A few seconds later, Lance's voice came through. "May, how's it going? Did Lin Hao visit the Vermilion Gym?"
"He did," May replied.
"And the result?"
May fell silent for two seconds. The image of Lin Hao wiping Pikachu's mouth flashed through her mind.
"He won," May said evasively. "Lt. Surge underestimated him, and he got lucky."
"Lucky?" Lance immediately sensed something was wrong. "Did he use that freakishly powerful Charizard?"
"No, he used Pikachu." May lied, concealing the outrageous fact that Raichu had been taken out in a single hit.
On the other end, Lance seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Looks like he's still trying to hide his strength."
Lance snorted. "May, don't let him fool you. People like him are the most dangerous! The more they hide, the bigger their schemes!"
"But... I think he's pretty gentle. He treats his Pokémon really well," May argued quietly.
"Gentle?" Lance's voice instantly rose. "That's an act! A devil's sugar-coated bait! Take him to Cinnabar Island immediately! We cannot let him out of our sight!"
"Beep... beep..." The call ended. Irritated, May tossed aside the Communicator and buried her head in her pillow.
Just then, bang, bang, bang! Someone pounded hard on her door.
"Who is it?!" May shouted irritably.
"Me." Lin Hao's listless voice came from outside.
May angrily yanked open the door. "What the hell are you doing at this hour?!"
Lin Hao already had his backpack on, with Pikachu perched on his shoulder. "Hurry up and pack. Get up. We're leaving."
"Where are we going?" May froze.
"To the harbor." Lin Hao looked at her with utter seriousness. "The free buffet voucher Old Man Oak gave me for the Cinnabar Island Hot Spring Hotel expires tomorrow at noon."
"What?"
"An ordinary person must never let a single free voucher go to waste." Lin Hao grabbed May's arm. "Come on. We're heading to the docks tonight to steal a boat-no, find a boat."
Half an hour later, the two stood at Vermilion City's harbor at midnight, chilled by the breeze.
The docks were deserted, lit only by a few dim yellow streetlights. Several dilapidated fishing boats floated on the water.
"Are you insane?! There aren't any passenger boats to Cinnabar Island in the middle of the night!" May shivered with cold.
Just then, a strange engine noise approached from the distant darkness over the sea.
An unmarked, pitch-black speedboat quietly pulled up to shore.
Two mysterious figures in black stealth outfits jumped off the speedboat. They scanned their surroundings warily, their eyes immediately fixing on Lin Hao and May beneath the streetlight.
"We've been spotted," one of the black-clad figures whispered.
"Kill them!" The other reached behind toward their waist.
"See?" Lin Hao looked at May. "I told you there'd be a boat."
Before you continue