Walking out of the Terrarium, Axel suddenly had a feeling of like it had been a lifetime.
Hard to believe that today he actually encountered the Glastrier so easily, and even let it go.
Before, Axel had also thought about the scene when he would encounter it in the future, and had considered whether he would forcibly capture it or trick it into following him.
But when he really encountered it today, Axel found that he still couldn't bring himself to do those kinds of things.
"Now that I think about it, I really am a good guy."
"No, you're totally not a good guy!", Suddenly a familiar voice came from behind Axel.
At the same time, the corner of Axel's eye caught a glimpse of a yellow hem of clothing.
Axel turned around and smiled cheerfully at Iono, who was returning from shopping with Gardevoir and the others.
"Why are you only coming back now? There shouldn't be much to shop at in Blueberry Academy's store, right?", Seeing that Axel wasn't bickering with her, Iono looked a little disappointed.
"Who says there's nothing to shop for? I bought them all gifts."
"If you don't believe me, take a look!"
Hearing Iono's words, Axel's gaze swept over Gardevoir, Pheromosa, and Nihilego, and the corner of his eye couldn't help but twitch.
'Damn it, this giro looks like a thick-browed, innocent type.'
'Didn't expect she actually knows the tactic of winning hearts through indirect means!'
All three of Gardevoir and the others wore a silver-white shimmering scale on their necks.
Heart Scale: A scale with a beautiful heart-shaped appearance, and extremely rare. Pokémon are very happy to receive it.
In addition, all three had blue silk ribbons tied on their arms, making them look much more beautiful than before.
Blue Head Ribbon: Pokémon that carry it appear more beautiful than usual.
He had just thought that Iono would take Gardevoir and the others out to maybe buy some little dresses or something, and had naively given Gardevoir five million, thinking it would be plenty.
But now it seemed, five million wasn't worth a damn…
'Buying so many things at once, just how long did Iono plan to live off of me?'
'No, no, this money must be repaid!'
"How much did all this cost?", Axel smiled while looking at Iono.
"You probably covered a bit for Gardevoir and them just now, right? I'll transfer it to you now."
Guessing Axel's thoughts, Iono slightly lifted her chin, her eyes slanting toward Axel with a half-smile on her lips.
"Not much, no need to pay me back, okay?"
Axel shook his head resolutely, "No way, I have to pay. I'm a man, how can I spend your money?"
'Hah! Trying to use money to tie me down?'
'If this were a few months ago, maybe I really couldn't do anything about you.'
'But now… your big bro here is not what he used to be!'
'Money?'
'Just a number!'
"Well, okay then." Iono parted her lips, revealing cute shark teeth, and pulled out her Rotom phone from her pocket.
"Treasure-grade Heart Scale, one for ten million… Treasure-grade Blue Head Ribbon, one for fifteen million."
"Oh dear, why are these numbers so hard to calculate, Axel, how about you help me calculate them?"
Iono looked at Axel with a sweet smile, revealing a small bit of her tongue as she lightly licked the corner of her lips, her eyes filled with mischief.
Axel: "..."
'Damn it, you're just rich, huh?'
Normal people buy accessories made of synthetic materials. Only when equipping power-type Pokémon with battle gear do they scrape money together for a treasure-grade item.
And yet you're using treasure-grade gear just to enhance beauty and intimacy?
What's worse is, since those who care about Pokémon beauty are usually very rich, these items are even more expensive than some battle equipment.
Axel knew livestreaming made money, but he didn't expect it made this much money.
A total of seventy-five million. Even if Axel took out all his remaining money, even if Gholdengo sold off all the gold coins and hustled for two months, it still might not be enough.
Seeing Axel's expression, Iono showed a victorious smile at the corner of her mouth, took a step closer to Gardevoir, and linked arms with Gardevoir and Pheromosa.
"What's wrong, Axel, can't afford to repay, and now you want to use mind control on me again?"
"Don't worry, when I'm mind controlled, I'm super obedient. As long as I've got something to eat, I'm fine."
The Luxray on the side nodded frantically.
'Yes, yes! I'm super obedient when I'm mind-controlled!'
Seeing Iono and Luxray acting in perfect sync, Axel helplessly shifted his gaze and looked toward Gardevoir and the others.
Gardevoir blinked, bit her finger with one hand, and looked innocent.
They shopped too happily today, and Axel wasn't by their side.
Gardevoir had completely forgotten that she wasn't yet the Fairy Queen, and that Axel wasn't yet the super-rich top-tier Champion...
Now seeing Axel again, she suddenly remembered that they still had a tiny little financial issue.
["How about… I take you to catch a pseudo-legendary for Iono?"]
Axel: "???"
'Don't do it, sis!'
'I know you have the power to repay favors, but you really can't go about it like this!'
'If you catch a pseudo-legendary today, tomorrow I'll be surrounded by sugar mommies.'
'Tens of millions for a pseudo-legendary? Who wouldn't want that deal?'
"Forget it, forget it. Anyway, Iono just wants to mooch food, let her."
Seeing that Axel didn't continue talking about the money, and that Gardevoir and the others didn't look angry either, Iono let out a long breath.
She patted her chest lightly and pulled Gardevoir and Pheromosa toward the academy gate.
"Let's go, time to watch the match!"
"Heard from Gardevoir that your Gyarados and the others went to beat up some kids. Let's see how they're doing."
"Wait!", Axel called out to Iono.
"What is it?"
Looking at Iono's confused expression, Axel took a deep breath, "I'll walk in front."
Though Iono was clinging to him now, Axel had his pride.
It's okay to live off a woman for now, but it absolutely must not look like he's living off a woman.
At the very least...
At the very least, he had to eat soft rice in a hard way.
As long as he always ate it hard, and paid it back later, it would be like he never ate soft rice at all.
Thinking of this, Axel's resistance to mooching softened a little.
He used to resist mooching because he couldn't pay it back.
'But now with Boss Ghold...'
'Is there any money under the sky that I, Axel, can't repay?'
'What a joke!'
Sensing Axel's thoughts, Gardevoir grinned.
'This guy… is really getting more and more confident.'
———
At the ranking plaza, Axel and Iono casually found a bench to sit on, with their Pokémon sitting on either side.
Carmine was currently standing on the stage, looking at the Dragonair on one side of the arena with a strange expression.
"Your challenge match for today is already over. Now you can accept challenges from others, but your ranking won't increase."
"Also, since it's your first day in the ranked battles, you can refuse other people's challenges."
"So… do you still want to accept?"
Dragonair lifted its neck and nodded vigorously.
Back then, it was robbed of its trainer identity by Duraludon. It hadn't had enough fun yet.
Now that the human's not around and there's a chance to go wild for real, of course it's going to enjoy the fight and hand Gyarados back to Duraludon later.
Seeing Dragonair nod, Duraludon looked up at the sky helplessly.
'Sigh, sis~ That green-haired guy over there is seriously dangerous.'
'You're really asking to crash if you go on like this!'
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