The direction Lairon was moving in took Baimu by surprise.
"Verdanturf... Seedlings?"
He glanced at the sign of the shop in front of them and then looked down at the lush interior that seemed to be surrounded by a green forest, giving the feeling of being at a flower and bird market.
Lairon seemed very excited, standing at the store's entrance peering inside, then turning to look at Baimu.
"... You really want to care for plants, huh."
He asked hesitantly, not expecting the casual chat earlier to have been taken to heart by it. What's the idea behind a Rock Attribute Pokémon caring for plants?
Seeing his Trainer's normal expression, Lairon nodded quickly.
"Alright then."
Baimu led Lairon inside.
In Pyrite Town, there were quite a number of shops selling flowers and trees, mainly targeting wealthy people, whether for cultivating interests or improving the natural environment around residences, they were quite popular.
But in a place like Pyrite Town, keeping plants alive is a bit challenging, not to mention the scarcity of rain, the soil around here is low in nutrients, requiring artificial effort to cultivate them.
Baimu also likes areas lush with trees yet indeed lacks the confidence to keep a tree alive.
However.
Since Lairon is interested, it's worthwhile to give it a try.
Under the introduction of the staff, Baimu kept asking which species Lairon liked, only to find it dazzled, showing a state of wanting them all and nodding to whatever was asked.
Faced with this dilemma, he had to choose a small sapling said to grow very large and could live even in Pyrite Town's soil, as well as a bonsai that reputedly could bear Tree Fruit.
"Let's choose two for this time, and pick more once they are thriving, how does that sound?"
Baimu inquired looking down at Lairon.
However, the fellow was already fixated on the sapling they bought and the bonsai on the other side, its eyes sparkling, "Gudo~"
"How much do you really like plants!"
He couldn't help but laugh, and gave the residential address to the staff. Although the delivery fee is slightly costly, and it would arrive tomorrow, it's better than carrying such large items himself.
Moreover, he doesn't even know how to transplant!
Exiting the shop.
He queried Lairon again if there's anything it wanted, Lairon shook its head with little interest, only concerned with its sapling and bonsai.
Baimu returned it to Pokeball and released the pink Chansey.
"Thanks for waiting, what do you want?"
"Lucky..."
Chansey glanced around, approached tugging at the Trainer's pant leg and shook its head, indicating it didn't want anything.
The Underground City was not a pleasant place for it, the people's malice was quite evident, often making it feel suffocated. For now, it just wanted to leave this place.
Seeing Chansey's mood was down, Baimu planned to return it to the ball, but rethought and instead put the Pokeball away, bending down to press Chansey's cheeks inward with both hands.
Chansey's mouth instantly formed an 'O', its tiny paws flailing in panic.
"Lu! La! Lucky!"
It didn't quite understand what the Trainer was trying to do.
"Don't worry, I'm right here beside you, it's alright. Nobody here can hurt you..." Baimu very earnestly made eye contact with Chansey, "We're just out shopping, buying things we normally can't get, nobody will do you harm."
Word by word, he guided gently.
Chansey's mood gradually calmed down, its expression back to normal.
Only then was Baimu satisfied to let go of its cheeks, "So have you thought it over now? To buy something, there is your share of the money in this, whatever it may be, I will buy it for you!"
"Lucky..."
Chansey hesitated and glanced around, tried recalling, and started gesturing energetically.
Initially, the gestures were hard to understand, but when they transformed into actions of stir-frying and spoon flipping, Baimu asked repeatedly and finally understood what it wanted—
It wanted to learn cooking.
Because it craved to see once more the fond, cherishing expressions of Baimu and Lairon when they ate the omelette.
Good food can bring joy.
And seeing the people and Pokémon it cares about smile is what Chansey wishes to see the most, so whether healing or cooking, it wants to master them.
The dream is, to be a Pokémon that genuinely brings happiness to companions!
"... You little creature."
Baimu was silent for a while, somewhat helpless yet affectionate as he petted Chansey. If he were to describe what it said with a term, [altruistic personality] would be absolutely perfect and fitting.
Are Chanseys mostly like this?
No matter what, the heart it possesses is truly deserving of his admiration.
"Lucky~" Chansey smiled shyly.
"Alright, cooking it is."
Baimu glanced left and right, decided to take it to the largest department store in this Underground City, where there's bound to be cooking books, ingredients, and various professional kitchen tools from outside.
——
Upon returning from shopping.
Noticed the sky was already somewhat dim.
Baimu abandoned the idea of moving today, tidying up the items he purchased.
This trip cost him nearly two million.
Why so much?
Setting aside some miscellaneous things, the most expensive was De Wen Company's latest [Wuyou Travel Backpack], which appeared small outside yet could store items far beyond its exterior capacity.
Seeing this thing, Baimu understood why Xiaogang could always bring out all sorts of benches, pots, and pans at lunch and dinner.
So it was Black Technology!
It's said the backpack's principle originated from Pokémon, though exactly which Pokémon wasn't clear.
Unfortunately, good items are pricey, it cost Baimu one and a half million to acquire, with the shop owner having a face full of expressions saying he made a fortune.
It contains an area of about ten cubic meters, he thought it ought to suffice.
Incidentally.
He entrusted Jian's three Pokémon.
Having been administered special medication, which can also be detected by physical examination, their selling price would inevitably be greatly reduced. Of course, he doesn't intend to sell them but rather plans internal digestion.
As Squad Leader, if possible, he feels there's a necessity to enhance the strength of his squad members a bit.
After all, he hasn't slip out of Pyrite Town that quickly yet, defecting right after promotion to Squad Leader is way too risky.
Find a few dependable fellows who wouldn't randomly sell Pokémon, and provide these three poor Pokémon a promising future.
Baimu leaned against a soft pillow, with Chansey breathing softly in a well-behaved sleeping posture on the left, and at his feet was Lairon almost pressing the bed into a pit, its snoring muffled.
When Lairon evolves into Aggron, the bed would probably fail to support it altogether.
Cherish the present...
He closed his eyes, drifting slowly into a dream.
——
The next day.
Knock knock knock.
Someone came knocking.
While Baimu just finished washing up, he opened the door thinking it might be Cheng Hong and the others with news, but unexpectedly it was Flop whom he just met yesterday.
"Morning, did I disrupt your sleep?"
"No, I'm already up, is there something up?"
He curiously asked, realizing the person before him likely wasn't someone with spare time.
"I'm just here asking for someone, whether you had thoughts about letting go of Jian's three Pokémon?" Flop directly stated his intention, his frankness was moving.
Baimu was silent, then stepped aside to make space, "Come in to chat?"
"Alright."
Flop nodded.
Regarding someone coming to seek Pokémon wasn't a surprise to him, the place where Mightyena and others were entrusted wasn't any thorough organization, those unscrupulous folks probably sold off his info clean.
Such is normal in Pyrite Town.