“Munchlax, do you want a feast?”
Jiang Fan squatted down, a smile on his face.
Munchlax looked up.
Its tired demeanor instantly vanished.
It rubbed its chin with one paw, looking at Jiang Fan expectantly.
“Car~” --- Yes.
Jiang Fan pointed his right hand towards a tree about twenty meters away.
“If you can reach that tree within ten seconds, I’ll treat you to a feast. You can eat whatever you want, and I’ll buy it for you until you’re full.”
Upon hearing this, the expectation in Munchlax’s eyes instantly disappeared, replaced by deep suspicion.
“Car~” --- Jiang Fan, you’re not trying to trick me, are you?
Jiang Fan said again, “Believe it or not, there’s only one chance. I’ll count down from ten. Ten...nine...eight...”
When he counted to eight,
Munchlax still couldn’t resist its craving for food.
In a state of half-belief, it rushed towards the tree.
It reached the tree by the time Jiang Fan counted to three.
Jiang Fan smiled.
He understood now. Since Munchlax had lost trust in Trainers because its previous Trainer had gone back on their word, using food to motivate it for battles but then not fulfilling the promise afterward.
Therefore, what he needed to do was prove to it that he was a man of his word. No matter how absurd the promise, as long as it came from his mouth, he would do his best to fulfill it.
Soon after, Jiang Fan arrived at the tree.
Munchlax still looked at him with suspicion, wanting to see if he would really follow through.
Jiang Fan smiled and said, “Congratulations, Munchlax, you completed the challenge I gave you. Let’s go, whatever you want to eat now, I’ll pay for it.”
“Car~”
The excitement on Munchlax’s face instantly reappeared.
It immediately rushed towards a barbecue stall.
“Jiang Fan? Are you really going to treat it to an all-you-can-eat meal here? Old Man Fuji definitely won’t be willing to reimburse everything.” Karen came up to Jiang Fan.
“Don’t worry, I have my plans.” Jiang Fan said with a smile, following Munchlax towards the barbecue stall.
Establishing the Gym these past few days had also brought in a lot of alliance coins. Paying for the excess tonight shouldn’t be a problem.
Two hours later.
Munchlax was full.
It had eaten all the food from an entire food street.
It cost Jiang Fan over forty thousand alliance coins.
Old Man Fuji could reimburse twenty thousand of it, and he had to cover the remaining twenty thousand himself.
Therefore, when Jiang Fan calculated the clear amount, he still felt a bit heartbroken.
The only thing that made him feel a little better was that moment when Munchlax was enjoying its food.
He finally saw the prompt he wanted.
【Munchlax’s Affection increased】
【Affection: -18 (-21 to -18)】
.....
The next day.
Jiang Fan and Karen continued their journey, bringing Munchlax and Charmeleon.
Along the way, Jiang Fan sat in the back of the truck and began to consciously train Munchlax.
For example, for every certain number of times Munchlax practiced the Defense Curl skill, he would give it a Snorlax Energy Block.
He had bought these late last night at Silph Co.
Of course, he also took care of Charmeleon’s feelings, buying many things for it to prevent it from feeling neglected.
By cultivating Munchlax’s trust in him this way, its affection for him reached -14 by the time they arrived at Pewter City.
“Karen, are you going to talk to Nurse Joy first about receiving those three Pokémon, or watch me challenge the Gym?”
Upon arriving in Pewter City, Jiang Fan discussed with his companion Karen.
Karen declined both options: “Me? I want to explore Pewter City by myself first. I heard there’s a museum here exhibiting historical relics, and I want to go see it. Just contact me after your challenge is over.”
“That works too.”
Jiang Fan said no more upon hearing this. He parted ways with Karen in the car and headed towards the Pewter City Gym.
Trailing behind him were Charmeleon and a curious-looking Munchlax.
Munchlax looked left and right along the way, wanting to see if there was anything good to eat that Jiang Fan could buy for it.
Before long, it spotted something good and immediately waddled its little butt to Jiang Fan’s front.
“Car~” -- I want to eat that.
It reached one paw into its fur and pointed the other paw towards a shop.
Jiang Fan followed its gaze, then raised an eyebrow.
Munchlax was pointing at a shop specializing in Pewter City’s local delicacy, Pewter Crunchies.
Their effect was that eating one bag could cure a Pokémon of all status conditions.
“You sure know how to pick your food.” Jiang Fan teased.
Then he saw Munchlax pull out a gleaming golden orb from its fur.
Jiang Fan’s eyes lit up.
“Munchlax, you found another Golden Orb!”
“Car~”
Munchlax tossed the Golden Orb into Jiang Fan’s hand, then gestured for him to quickly buy the Pewter Crunchies.
“Don’t worry, I’ll buy them for you. I’m a man of my word.”
Jiang Fan put away the Golden Orb and happily walked towards the shop.
To encourage Munchlax to make good use of its Pickup ability, he set a rule for it: if it wanted to eat something from a shop, it had to trade him a good item it had picked up.
Thanks to this rule, his expenses for it these past few days weren’t too bad; occasionally, he even made a small profit.
He had also gotten items like Ultra Balls, ancient copper coins, and Thunder Stones.
Ten minutes later, all the Pewter Crunchies in this shop were devoured by Munchlax.
It then contentedly continued to follow behind Jiang Fan.
However, its eyes kept darting towards the unfinished bag of Pewter Crunchies in Charmeleon’s paw, and a few clear drops of saliva ungracefully dripped from its mouth.
It wanted to snatch them, but then it remembered that this guy was no longer the Charmander that used to huddle in a corner looking half-dead, so it could only hold back.
After a few minutes of side-eyeing, Charmeleon couldn’t take it anymore.
It directly threw the remaining Pewter Crunchies in its paw to Munchlax.
This starving look, it really couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Car~” -- Thanks, bro.
Munchlax, upon receiving the Pewter Crunchies, immediately grinned and threw the entire bag into its mouth.
When passing a trash can, it spit the plastic bag into the trash can.
Afterward, it was like a Japanese soldier entering a village, its eyes scanning around to see if there were any other delicacies.
It took over an hour of walking like this before Jiang Fan arrived at the Pewter Gym.
Unfortunately, the Gym door was tightly shut.
Someone claiming to be the Gym Leader Brock’s younger brother came up to Jiang Fan.
“I’m sorry, Team Rockets attacked Pewter City a month ago. My brother is currently investigating the truth with the League, so he’s temporarily unavailable for Gym battles.”
