Indeed, the Beauty Berry made Nicole completely forget about Lily's existence. She happily nibbled on it in small bites—the fruit didn't need any processing and was best consumed raw, as any treatment would damage its active compounds and diminish its effects.
After finishing the berry, Nicole even pulled out a small mirror she always carried and started inspecting her reflection, gently stroking her smooth, flawless face.
"Stop looking—it's not going to work that fast," Julian couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.
Nicole, who was usually indifferent to most things, rarely showed such expressions. It just went to show that no woman could resist the allure of preserving her beauty.
No wonder any cosmetic product with anti-aging effects on the market was outrageously expensive—yet people still threw money at them.
Since Nicole was still young, the effects of the Beauty Berry wouldn't be immediately obvious. But if an elderly woman in her seventies or eighties ate one, she could easily look thirty or forty years younger.
Thanks to the berry, Nicole's appearance would remain largely unchanged until she was eighty.
That's why—the earlier you ate a Beauty Berry, the better the results.
Dragonite flew at a leisurely pace as Julian and Nicole chatted. Most of the conversation revolved around Julian's adventures in the secret realms of Wyvernia—though, of course, he left out the part about the Dowsing Machine.
About half an hour later, Dragonite landed in the backyard of Julian's villa.
It had been more than eight months since Julian had been here, but the backyard wasn't very dirty—there weren't even many fallen leaves on the ground.
The few Magikarp living in the pond still looked very healthy. When they saw Julian, they even spat bubbles toward him in greeting.
While Julian was gone, Nicole had been coming by regularly to maintain the villa, so both the yard and the interior were exactly as he'd left them.
"They've gotten a bit chubby."
The Magikarp blowing bubbles at him were noticeably rounder than when he'd left—clearly, Nicole had been feeding them well.
All five Magikarp were male. Since Magikarp were extremely prolific breeders, even one female would've filled the small pond with offspring in just a year.
Julian then released all of his Pokémon.
"Pupitar and Gabite evolved!"
Seeing the towering, intimidating Tyranitar and the fierce-looking Garchomp, Nicole immediately recognized the evolved forms of the two Pokémon from before.
"Yeah, they evolved in the secret realm," Julian nodded.
His Pokémon all greeted Nicole when they saw her.
Each of them had been studied by her at some point, so they were all quite familiar with her.
Even Magearna, who was usually wary of strangers, shyly nodded at Nicole with elegant grace, like a princess from ancient times.
The moment Nicole saw Magearna, her eyes lit up with excitement.
"Magearna, are you finally willing to let me study you?" she asked eagerly.
In her mind, the fact that Magearna was willing to greet her meant that some level of trust had finally been established.
But—
"Magee!"
Magearna flinched under Nicole's intense gaze and immediately hid behind Julian.
'I only greeted you because everyone else did—it would've been rude not to! Slowking-sensei taught me to be a polite Pokémon!'
'I was being polite, and yet you still won't give up on me?!'
"Alright, leave Magearna alone," Julian said, gently patting Magearna's head before shooting Nicole a disapproving look. 'Look how scared you've made her.'
Aside from Julian, her own trainer, Magearna was instinctively wary of everyone—even his parents.
"Go study Tyranitar for now."
"Fine."
Nicole sighed in resignation.
She'd have to settle for quenching her thirst by staring at plums.
Previously, she had studied the Totem-class Pupitar. Now that it had evolved into a Totem-class Tyranitar, it was worth researching all over again.
---
"Arf!"
Arcanine barked loudly, glaring warily at Tyranitar, who was eyeing his dog bed with a greedy expression.
Arcanine: "You're not thinking of stealing my bed, are you?"
Tyranitar: "Can I eat those Fire Stones inside?"
Tyranitar pointed at the dozen or so premium-grade Fire Stones lining Arcanine's cozy bed. Arcanine usually slept on them, slowly absorbing their energy.
However, given Arcanine's current strength, these stones barely had any effect—it just found them comfortable to sleep on.
After evolving from Pupitar, Tyranitar's diet had expanded even further.
Not only could it eat all kinds of ores, but it could also digest Evolution Stones. Consuming them increased its resistance to the corresponding elemental energy—
For example, eating Fire Stones could reduce damage from Fire-type moves.
Of course, it wasn't a matter of eating just one—it would need to consume a lot over time to see noticeable effects.
So now, Tyranitar had its sights set on the premium-grade Fire Stones in Arcanine's bed.
"ARF!"
Arcanine was furious: "No! These were given to me by our trainer! If you try to take them, I'll burn you to a crisp!"
Arcanine even had flames flickering in its mouth—it was genuinely pissed.
"Tyranitar, dinner's coming soon. Stop eyeing Arcanine's stuff," Julian called out.
The ores Julian fed Tyranitar were far superior to premium-grade Fire Stones—it was just being greedy, treating them like pre-dinner snacks.
Tyranitar was quite obedient to Julian's words, reluctantly tearing its gaze away from the premium-grade Fire Stones.
Arcanine: 'Is this guy going to sneak a bite of my stones when I'm not looking…?'
"Arf!"
Arcanine: "The bird's nest up there has Fire Stones too!"
In the backyard stood a large tree with an enormous nest Julian had built for Moltres, which also contained over a dozen premium-grade Fire Stones.
'Divert the trouble elsewhere—brilliant move, as expected of me.' Arcanine felt quite pleased with its own scheming.
Sure enough, Tyranitar's attention shifted to the nest in the tree.
Moltres: "You damn mutt, you wanna get pecked to death? And you, big guy—good luck reaching my nest."
The nest was dozens of meters high, while Tyranitar stood only seven meters tall. Unless it knocked the tree down, those Fire Stones were out of reach.
Arcanine: "You think I'm scared of you, featherbrain?"
As sworn rivals, Arcanine had long held a grudge against Moltres. Back in the day, all the best Fire-type treasures belonged to it. But ever since Moltres arrived, it had to share half its goodies.
Watching the two start bickering again, Julian could only place his hand on his forehead with a sigh.
Pokémon were just like people—they all had distinct personalities. And now, with the number of Pokémon under his care growing, it wasn't unusual for some conflicts and frictions to arise between them.
Situations like this between Moltres and Arcanine had become a semi-regular occurrence.
Kartana: "The weak only bark. The strong act."
"Shut up, Kartana."
Julian snapped.
This little troublemaker was clearly trying to stir things up even more.
*****
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