Once the dust of the Gym battle settled, Xin Mu received what every victorious challenger earned.
Xin Mu studied the White Cloud Badge in his hand. The metal badge shone with a soft white glow under the lights, its edges inlaid with pale blue cloud patterns that symbolized the style of this Gym, famed for its "strength and endurance."
"Congratulations, young man."
Gym Leader Leilu patted Xin Mu on the shoulder. His broad palm felt rather heavy, which made sense-in terms of sheer tonnage, he was a human Snorlax.
After handing over the badge, Leilu passed him a gold-embossed card.
"This is our Gym's special buffet voucher. It gives you unlimited access to the food at the Cloudsea Restaurant and covers both you and six Pokémon. As long as you can fit it in, you can eat as much as you like."
The Gym itself was built aboard a riverboat. More precisely, the vessel was called the Cloudsea Ship, and the Cloudsea Restaurant was its main attraction. Upon hearing this, Squirtle, who had exhausted himself and planned to take a perfectly reasonable ten-day-to-half-month break, suddenly perked up.
He dashed out of his Poké Ball and tugged at Xin Mu's trouser leg, pointing a little claw toward the restaurant and urging him on with cries of "Squirtle, Squirtle!"
Squirtle couldn't read, but he recognized the knife-and-fork symbol and the arrows, so he could tell where the restaurant was.
"Looks like your Pokémon is even more excited than you are."
Leilu roared with laughter. "Go on, help yourselves. Our Snorlax is a regular there. Even all your Pokémon put together probably can't eat as much as Snorlax."
Anyone running a buffet couldn't be afraid of big eaters. After all, they didn't give refunds to customers with small appetites, and that was even