The next day, the first Akala Island Berry Juice-Making Competition officially began.
Contestants:
- Red Team Representative: Slowking
- Blue Team Representative: Oranguru
Rules:
- Ingredients: 10 types of berries (unlimited quantity).
- Winning Condition: The competitor with the most votes from custors by sunset wins.
---
The custors at Oranguru’s tavern were usually the local Pokémon nearby.
Most wild Pokémon had their own fixed activity territories, and unless necessary, they rarely left their own turf.
So the Pokémon who ca to the tavern were all familiar with Oranguru. If Oranguru tried to win this competition just by relying on its regulars…
Then Julian wouldn’t be polite either.
The preparations they made last night could be put to use directly.
Because of the competition, news had spread, and there were many more Pokémon at the tavern than usual, even forming a long line outside.
Julian had to ask Lucario to maintain order.
At the sa ti, he let tagross scout the surroundings. After all, there were still quite a few human trainers in this secret realm.
If they discovered this place, the competition might not be able to proceed properly.
So they had to intercept them early, or simply eliminate them.
Inside the tavern, the custor Incineroar sipped Slowking’s juice, nodded in satisfaction, and cast its vote for the red team.
Lycanroc Midnight Form also voted for Slowking.
Salazzle, however, preferred Oranguru’s brew.
One by one, the custors tasted the juices made by Slowking and Oranguru, and voted for the one they thought tasted better.
In terms of votes, Slowking was leading, and Oranguru was trailing, though not by much.
After all, Oranguru could open a tavern, so it definitely had so skills.
"Gen~"
Gengar materialized in front of Julian.
"How is it? Who has more votes now?" Julian quickly asked.
He had Gengar go invisible to check the votes for both sides. Under Gengar’s perfect invisibility, Slowking wouldn’t notice, let alone the weakling Oranguru.
Gengar: "Slowking’s winning."
Julian sighed in relief, steady advantage secured.
Looks like these Pokémon custors were actually playing fair—no shady favoritism here.
Pokémon custors: 'Maybe you’re just the one with a dirty mind.'
At this rate, the preparations he had made might not even be necessary.
anwhile, twenty kiloters away from the tavern, hundreds of wild Pokémon were trembling as they stared at the mountain-sized Pokémon in front of them.
Aggron gave them a small smile.
As a result, dozens of Pokémon fainted directly from fright, they were convinced that Aggron was about to eat them.
In front was Aggron, and behind was Steelix, blocking any escape.
These Pokémon didn’t dare move a muscle. Several of their groups had been forcibly gathered here today.
From sunrise to almost sunset now.
But to their surprise, the wild Pokémon found themselves being fed—sothing they hadn’t expected.
Julian had given them what he considered low-tier Pokéblocks, basically junk food to him. But to these wild Pokémon? It was gourt compared to plain berries.
This temporary loss of freedom didn’t seem so hard to accept.
If they could eat this kind of food every day, even if they had to stay like this daily, they would gladly cooperate.
---
At sunset, the tavern closed.
“Slow~”
Slowking: "I won" (proud).
Final Vote Count:
- Red Team (Slowking): 300 votes
- Blue Team (Oranguru): 215 votes
"Guru..."
Oranguru: "I lost" (dejected).
It wasn’t the type to be a sore loser. A loss was a loss.
Slowking looked at Oranguru appreciatively and said: "Do you want to join us?"
"I refuse," Julian cut in imdiately.
Damn, was this trying to kill him?
Slowking already managed him tightly enough. If another Oranguru with a similar level of intelligence joined, wouldn’t he even have his phone usage ti limited in the future?
"Slowking, you’re all I need," Julian said earnestly.
At this mont, Slowking was moved. At the sa ti, it thought again: 'if Oranguru joins, it might threaten my position as the steward.'
One head steward was enough, no need for two, and certainly no need for a deputy steward.
In fact, Oranguru didn’t agree either.
Oranguru: "How about YOU join instead? You can run the tavern, and I’ll assist you. Why follow such a foolish human?"
Julian: (╬ಠ益ಠ)
'THIS BASTARD’S TRYING TO POACH MY POKÉMON?!'
"Slow~"
Slowking shook its head, then took out a piece of paper: "This is a juice recipe I developed. Seeing your natural talent, I’ll give it to you."
Leaving Julian? Impossible.
Without it, Julian would starve, live in filth, and probably die in a week.
In Slowking’s eyes, Julian was a trainer without any self-care ability.
Julian: 'My lack of self-care ability is because of you!'
—
After the competition ended, Slowking followed Julian away from the tavern. Since the sun had set, they chose to camp again by the sa lake for the night.
They would start their treasure-hunting journey again tomorrow.
However, as they approached the water, Arcanine’s nose twitched a few tis and it then barked.
"Arf~"
Arcanine: "Soone was here."
The sll of a Pokémon and that of a human were different. And the scent it caught now was clearly that of a human, not a passing Pokémon.
"Can you track them?" Julian asked.
tagross imdiately unleashed its Psychic waves, scanning the area for the intruder.
However, the human was already out of its detection range, so tagross shook its head.
Arcanine: "I can track them."
The scent was still there, and it could easily follow the trail to find the person.
The fact that the stranger hadn't lingered nearby-despite Julian's tent being left out in the open, because he was too lazy to pack it—suggested one of two things:
Either they weren't confident in their strength to ambush Julian's team.
Or they wanted to avoid trouble entirely, opting to "lay low and play it safe."
Arcanine only detected one person's scent, aning this was likely a trainer from a small country, the kind with only one entry slot into the secret realm.
And for trainers from small nations, playing it safe was the smartest choice.
"ta~"
tagross: "Should we pursue?"
Since Arcanine could track the scent, they could easily catch up with their speed.
Julian shook his head: "No, it’s already dark."
Why waste ti? The stranger hadn’t set a trap, so hunting them down was pointless.
Spending ti searching for them would be better spent sleeping.
As for killing them for loot, Julian could find treasures with his Dowsing Machine in an hour that others might need months for.
The ti spent chasing this guy could be better used unearthing several more treasures.
Today he was already pretty tired because of Slowking's situation — mostly from the stress of Slowking’s near-ltdown. Thankfully, Slowking had won.
After Julian crawled into the tent, Steelix ford a circle to protect the tent inside it.
Gengar lted into Julian’s shadow, and tagross rested nearby.
The rest of the team slept outside, scattered around the campsite.
*****
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