"This island is vast, and there are many powerful Pokémon here. Even though I've been here for some time, I haven't ventured too deep inside."
Maki recalled Mohn's warning in his mind. So far, he had only explored the surrounding areas, but going further in might be dangerous. That was exactly why Mohn had cautioned him to be careful.
"I wonder how things are going in Kanto~"
As Maki handed some Poké Beans to Charmeleon and the others, he sighed with emotion.
His disappearance had been so sudden that Giovanni and Sabrina were surely worried sick. Yet, he had no way to contact the outside world.
Giovanni would likely be fine—he would certainly be searching for him, but given his composed nature, he wouldn't cause any unnecessary trouble.
Sabrina, on the other hand... If she found out he had vanished, who knew what kind of chaos she might cause? He could only hope Giovanni could keep her in check. While he was at it, he prayed that no one challenged the Saffron City Gym while he was missing—otherwise, flying around the city a few times wouldn't be enough to solve the problem.
And then there was Silver. But that guy had gone off on his own adventures, and Giovanni probably wouldn't tell him about Maki's disappearance anytime soon.
Even though Maki still had his backpack, all of his communication devices were broken… Not that it would matter—this damn island probably didn't have any signal anyway.
Perhaps because he had passed through an Ultra Wormhole, many of his advanced electronic devices had malfunctioned. Not just the communication tools—his Poké Balls were affected as well.
All of his empty Poké Balls were completely useless, and even the ones containing Charmeleon and the others were unreliable. Most of the time, pressing the center button wouldn't do anything, which made Maki hesitant to return them to their Poké Balls.
The only one still functioning properly was Dragonite's Poké Ball. After all, it was developed by Team Rocket, meaning its quality far surpassed the standard ones.
Since Dragonite wasn't with him right now, Maki figured he could keep the ball as a backup. If worst came to worst, he could just "release" Dragonite. Otherwise, keeping the ball would be a waste.
This wasn't some fantasy novel—Dragonite wasn't going to magically find him just because of a Poké Ball.
Luckily, Maki's Pokéblock Maker was purely mechanical… In other words, a cheap model. If he had bought a more expensive one, it might have broken too.
While the island had Poké Beans that could somewhat replace Pokéblocks, the problem was that the ordinary ones, despite their abundance, weren't up to Maki's standards. They were fine for an occasional treat, but they couldn't compare to Pokéblocks in quality.
As for the high-quality Poké Beans, like the patterned ones, their quality was excellent—but they were in short supply. The tree producing them only had so many, and it wouldn't be fair for Maki's Pokémon to hog them all.
Fortunately, since his Pokéblock Maker was still functional, he could continue making Pokéblocks for his Pokémon. However, since he was new to this island, he figured he'd let them try something different first—hence the Poké Beans.
"Cotton!"
[It's not as good as Maki's Pokéblocks, but it's still pretty tasty!]
Cottonee struggled to hold a large Poké Bean with just her two leaf-like arms but was happily munching away.
"Maw!"
Mawile nodded in agreement.
"How do you like the taste? Are you getting used to it?"
Mohn seemed to have finished his work in the Berry orchard and walked over with a smile.
"Yeah, the Poké Beans taste pretty good… But do you eat these all the time?"
Maki nodded. While Poké Beans were decent, eating them every day would surely drive him crazy.
"You can catch fish near the shore, but remember—Magikarp is off-limits," Mohn reminded him.
"Fish, huh?"
A vivid memory flashed through Maki's mind.
Eight years! I've eaten nothing but fish for eight whole years!
The last thing he wanted was to reach a point where just seeing fish made him sick.
"There are also some wild rabbits and other small animals in the mountains. If you're lucky, you might come across a few," Mohn added, noticing Maki's expression.
"Got it!" Maki nodded. Rice was probably out of the question for now, but at least there were regular animals in this world. Otherwise, he wouldn't know what to eat.
Although some Pokémon were technically edible, Maki found the idea unsettling.
"By the way, are there Onix or Dugtrio around here?"
"If I remember correctly, there are Onix up in the mountains. I ran into one before—thankfully, I was fast enough to escape. Why do you ask?"
"I was thinking about catching a couple to help with farming."
Maki clapped his hands and got up from his seat. He couldn't live off handouts forever, and he wasn't about to start farming himself—so he'd just capture a few Pokémon that could do the job for him.
And when he said "farming," he meant it quite literally. The move "Rototiller" boosted the Attack and Special Attack of Grass-type Pokémon, but studies had shown that Pokémon who knew the move were also naturally good at actual farming.
Both Onix and Dugtrio were capable of learning Rototiller.
"Oh? Well, I'd appreciate the help," Mohn nodded.
He wasn't the type to stubbornly refuse Pokémon assistance—he simply lacked the Poké Balls and Pokémon to do it himself.
"Leave it to me."
"Cotton!"
Maki's response was quickly echoed by Cottonee, who had finally finished her Poké Bean and was eager to contribute.
That said, Cottonee had taken the longest to finish eating. Charmeleon and Mawile had long since finished their Poké Beans and were now waiting for her.
After a good meal, Maki and his Pokémon set out toward the mountains. Cottonee, however, was sluggish, flopping onto Maki's head with little energy.
"Why did you eat so much at once?" Maki sighed.
That's right—Cottonee had overeaten. A single Poké Bean was about half her size, so it wasn't surprising she was stuffed. She wasn't a Snorlax with a bottomless stomach.
"Cotton~" [Because it was delicious~]
Cottonee felt frustrated. Watching Mawile and Charmeleon devour their Poké Beans so quickly, she didn't want to seem weak by comparison.
If Maki knew what she was thinking, he'd probably flick her on the forehead. "You? Compete with Charmeleon and Mawile? Mawile even has two mouths—you seriously think you can keep up?"
Ever since joining Maki, Mawile had only used her second mouth in battle. With Maki's cooking skills, the food was too good to waste on a mouth that couldn't taste anything.
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