The ability to make associations was a very abstract thing. The same object could suggest countless possibilities to different people.
But in a foodie's eyes, most things brought food to mind. Even the clouds in the sky could remind them of cotton candy.
Corviknight, who had been taking a sand bath, suddenly raised his head and met Squirtle's eyes. Squirtle's gaze brought back a feeling from his childhood.
Back then, he had been just a Rookidee, living with others of his kind in the mountains of Paldea.
The Tinkaton he occasionally encountered had looked at Corviknight with exactly that sort of gaze.
However, Tinkaton were after Corviknight's feathers. In their eyes, those iron feathers were excellent forging materials, useful for strengthening their hammers-or simply eating.
This was a trait shared by many Steel-type Pokémon: a particular fondness for metal objects.
Squirtle's food-related associations happened to remind Corviknight of that gaze.
"Squirtle. (What's for dinner? Any volcanic barbecue or something like that?)"
"Go ahead if you're not afraid of poisoning yourself. Do you think you're like the Pokémon living inside volcanoes, already adapted to the toxic gases in magma?
"There are some hot spring eggs here, though. Have those to tide you over."
Picking up a small wooden basin nearby, Xin Mu pushed two hot spring eggs toward Squirtle. They were essentially ordinary boiled eggs, only about seventy percent cooked because of the spring's temperature, but that did nothing to dampen Squirtle's enjoyment.
The next day, before the morning mist over Lavaridge Town had fully dispersed, Xin Mu and his group were already packed and ready to go. They arrived at the Lavaridge Gym.
"Here's the extraction equipment, a portable mineral analyzer, and some Friend Balls. They can help Pokémon warm up to their Trainers a little more easily."
Flannery, the