Chapter 95:
Kaede finished placing all the energy cubes, then finally turned his attention to Popplio.
"Popplio?"
Popplio swallowed the cube and felt a warm current wash through its body. Where it had once felt heavy and dull from its innate shortcomings, strength and steadiness began to return under that warmth.
It looked up at Kaede in surprise.
"I told you — this will fix your aptitude problem. I'll make sure you can evolve," Kaede crouched and patted Popplio's head gently.
"Popplio…."
Feeling the warm current and seeing the trainer's gentle face, tears immediately welled up. Popplio flung itself into Kaede's arms and began to sob uncontrollably.
"Popplio…!" (waaah…)
"All right, all right, it's okay," Kaede said, a little choked up, hugging the little sea seal.
It made sense why Popplio would be upset — it had been discarded for poor aptitude, picked up by Gardevoir, then brought to Kaede; watching Combusken and the others grow and evolve would naturally make it feel down.
"It'll be fine. It'll get better, slowly."
After comforting Popplio, Kaede checked its status.
[Pokémon: Popplio]
[Gender: Female]
[Ability: Torrent]
[Tier: Green]
[IVs: HP (14) ATK (8) SpA (17) DEF (19) SpD (19) SPD (4)]
[Level: 12–14]
[Moves: Pound, Growl, Water Gun, Icy Wind]
[Friendship: 90 (really likes you!)]
[Happiness: 90 (intense emotion)]
Compared with before, its IVs had clearly improved and its tier had been raised from white to green.
One Petaya berry plus other berries could produce roughly one energy cube (worth ~50 credits). Given the restorative nature of this recipe, the cost made sense.
"Take your time. With this, Popplio will evolve sooner or later."
Telling Popplio to enjoy whatever it liked, Kaede returned to the grill.
Behind him, Servine was enjoying the new drink — alternating bites of yakitori with sips of rice wine kept it satisfied. But soon it started to feel odd: its head went fuzzy and it found itself staring at Kaede. Without thinking it picked up another cup of rice wine and shuffled over.
Vulpix slurped a little rice wine and glanced at Servine with concern. It felt that Servine was off, but didn't know what exactly.
Up above, Gardevoir watched Servine through telepathy and looked thoughtfully at the cup in her hands. Would the rice wine's truth-effect change how hearts were spoken?
Servine tugged at Kaede's clothes. Kaede glanced down, ready to ask, "What's up?" — and froze.
Servine's walk was unsteady, its body wobbling. Its eyes were half-closed and its cheeks flushed pink. The cool aloofness it normally carried had melted into a sticky, clingy manner.
Swigging the cup to the bottom, Servine set it down, looked at Kaede with a slightly plaintive expression, then spread its small forelimbs as if to beg: "Servine… (hug me — you haven't hugged me in ages…)" and curled its tail around Kaede's leg like a koala.
Kaede glanced at the half-empty water bottle of rice wine left on the table. If the bottle was 500 ml, Servine had drunk about 250 ml — essentially half a beer's worth. And it was already tipsy.
"Servine… (Is it because I got big after evolving? You don't like hugging me anymore?)" it sniffed.
Clinging and purring like a spoiled child, Servine made Kaede sigh. He handed the grill duties back to Gardevoir and picked up Servine like a big kid.
"All right, all right — come here, come here. Hugs." He was amused and secretly tempted to record this to show Servine later; it would be entertaining to see how embarrassed it'd be when it woke up.
Half a bottle of rice wine and out cold — even Vulpix and the Spritzee-type friends hadn't been that beaten. Lightweight, indeed.
"Servine…?" (Are you being a good Vulpix?)
"You are the best…"
"Servine… (Gardevoir helps a lot. I want to help you too.)"
"When you evolve, you'll be even stronger…"
"Servine… (Then I'll evolve quickly…)"
"Servine? (You must be the one to hug me first, okay, Trainer?)"
"I know…"
"Servine… (I love the Trainer the most…)"
…
[SYSTEM] Congratulations — Servine's affection reached 100. Reward: SSS-grade Leaf Stone (a pure stone condensed from supreme Grass energy; for some Pokémon it can elevate genes and reverse aptitude limits).
Kaede couldn't stop smiling as he watched Servine still curled around him in sleep — the tsundere had far more inner drama than he'd expected. He'd need to talk to it more.
Carrying the sleeping Servine back to the hut, Kaede glanced at the others; they looked over, then lowered their heads and quietly resumed eating. He privately mourned the embarrassment Servine would feel when it woke.
The contrast was funny: the "big-sister" Servine who normally acted aloof and commanding had a surprisingly soft, childish side.
"I'll put it to bed" Kaede said, handing Servine into Gardevoir's care and tucking it in the wooden hut.
Watching Servine's flushed, sleeping face, Kaede remembered the first time he'd met the little Snivy — shy, blushing, peeking from behind the fruit tree. The memory made him laugh.
"Servine had always been cute after all" he murmured. He suspected that once the rice wine's truth-effect wore off, Servine's true cool nature would return — but for tonight, the "truth-telling" drink had shown another side.
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