"Hm?" Ash sniffed too. "Yeah, a little."
"Wait a second..." Ash suddenly noticed something horrifying. "What is this? Swirlix, Milcery, Bounsweet... damn, even Appletun? Why are they all Pokémon with such strong scents? What happened to Jiangnan?"
Ash had no idea what was going on. He had only let his attention wander for a moment.
Right then, a girl walked past him with a Swirlix, and his sharp eyes spotted a cup of what looked like sugar in her hand. She was feeding it to the Swirlix one spoonful at a time.
"Bel?" Beldum looked puzzled by Ash's intense, even somewhat resistant reaction.
Ash patted Beldum with a wry smile, remembering the ordinary Earth-Jiangnan had been called the capital of sugar, where even the air was sweet. Walk down the street holding a bamboo skewer, and in a few seconds, you would have cotton candy... but what had only been a joke in his previous life was now... going to become reality, wasn't it?!
You, that Alcremie over there! Please stop acting so Jiangnan! Don't stick bamboo skewers into your body!
Oh, you're making a cake. Alcremie's cream really is rich and fragrant...
"Hm? Jiangnan has always been like this." A nostalgic look entered Ash's eyes.
"Speaking of which, we went to Jiangnan's Gym together before. I'd like to find time to go again."
Ash blinked, recalling what he had read online... Jiangnan did indeed have a particularly powerful Fairy-type Gym with a long history. Its challenges were famously difficult, not just nationwide but worldwide, ranking among the toughest.
Apparently, its legacy dated back to the Dutch Rule Period.
Since this was his hometown, Ash had made a point of looking into it.
Wait... so...
*Was that Gym what made the people of Jiangnan admire and love sweet-type... pfft, I