"No worries, it's fine as long as you get your business done."
The person in charge still had a big smile on his face, "Are you free now? How about finding a place to chat?"
"Sure."
The two of them then went to a café.
Seeing that Mr. Baimu wasn't really interested in talking, and his attention wasn't on the supposed compensation, the person in charge got straight to the point.
"Our boss, Yashida, really admires you and wanted me to pass this on to you."
A letter was pushed over.
Picking it up, Baimu realized it was an invitation—a letter inviting him to participate in the Hoenn Battlefront Zone's head honcho selection convention.
It was also a permit to challenge the Kanto Battlefront Zone.
"The head of the Battlefront, huh..."
He murmured softly.
In the anime, the Battlefront Zone originally belonged to the Hoenn Region but was established in the Kanto Region. The seven heads of the Battlefront changed from Hoenn people to Kanto people, and the Hoenn Battlefront Zone only went online during the journey in the anime.
Yashida's invitation confirms his intention to establish the Battlefront Zone in the Hoenn Region.
After Kanto and Sinnoh, he is about to target Hoenn.
Even though becoming a head of the Battlefront wasn't part of Baimu's plan, he still accepted the invitation. If he gets bored later, going to check out the scene might be interesting.
The person in charge waited so patiently just to hand over the invitation in person.
The so-called compensation, besides the invitation, also included a membership card indicating a discount on anything sold by Yashida's companies.
Baimu happily accepted.
He then bid farewell to the relieved person in charge.
He first headed to the Pokémon Center for a thorough health check-up on Feebas, ensuring it was in excellent condition before quickly returning to the lodge.
The receptionist, Mann Chong, seeing him return, hurriedly asked:
"Did you get the Pokémon Egg?"
"There was a slight change, hard to explain in a few words... I'm heading to the backyard pond, if you have time, come by and you'll see," Baimu replied, quickly heading towards the pond specifically provided for tenants to feed fish-like Pokémon.
He opened the Pokeball.
Bang!
A flash of white light.
The fish that instantly looked toxic—Shiny Feebas—dropped into the pond.
"Hello."
Baimu crouched by the pond, holding a Poké Block and smilingly handed it over.
Feebas, who had been a bit dazed just now, seemed to finally come to its senses, looking at the completely unfamiliar person in front of it, hesitantly not daring to approach.
"This reaction speed is a bit puzzling, and its personality is rather timid..."
He wasn't impatient, crumbled the Poké Block into powder and sprinkled it in the pond, then took out the second one, placing it on the water's surface.
The scent of high-quality Poké Blocks was irresistible, Feebas could not resist as well, opening its thick fish lips to suck in the scattered Poké Block powder.
With it down its stomach, its mental state rapidly refreshed, daring to slowly sneak over to the Poké Block handed by Baimu and gobbled it up in small bites.
Evidently, its feeding method was the same as normal fish—purely by mouth suction.
After consuming five Poké Blocks, Feebas quickly forgot its previous displeasure, swayed its tail, allowing Baimu to stroke its smooth scales.
"Hmm... it's kind of cute in an ugly way."
Baimu had to admit that Feebas became unexpectedly adorable once animated.
He took out the Illustrated Guide.
[Pokémon: Feebas]
[Attribute: Water]
[Gender: Female]
[Height: 65cm/8kg]
[Trait: Slow]
[Level: 34]
[Moves: Tackle/Frenzy/Black Mist/White Mist]
[Charm/Frozen Beam/Awakened Power]
It turns out it has the Slow trait, no wonder the reaction was so slow earlier.
Looking at Feebas's skill set, Baimu wasn't too surprised. Before evolving, Feebas was basically like Magikarp, unable to learn other moves.
Apart from Tackle and Frenzy, the latter two are Egg Moves; the last three were probably learned with the help of the boy's breeder.
"Should I let it evolve now?"
He thought of the Beautiful Scale in his pocket, feeling somewhat indecisive.
This item is single-use. If applied to Feebas to evolve it into Altered-color Milotic, the Beautiful Scale would cease to exist.
Then, would Altered-color Milotic still bring him luck as it currently does?
If he kept the Lucky Scale, maybe he'd have the chance to encounter Lugia in the future and complete the task given by Shanren...
Baimu couldn't help but hesitate.
Before acquiring Shiny Feebas, he could imagine using the Beautiful Scale to evolve it upon encountering one, but now holding it in his hand, he started to feel reluctant.
Perhaps obtain a normal Beautiful Scale? Although people say it's precious, it's not exceptionally rare.
Even if it's not available at the department store, he could acquire it through other means.
In his hesitation.
Mann Chong quickly walked over and got surprised upon seeing the Shiny Feebas in the pond, "Shiny Pokémon! Was it hatched from a Pokémon Egg?"
"Actually, it was obtained through an exchange."
Baimu summarized the earlier events briefly.
"I see, really wanted the Altered-color Beautifly, huh... I understand that feeling—when I was pursuing Gible, I insisted on catching it, chased it across three mountains just to capture it!"
Mann Chong nodded understandingly, then looked at the Shiny Feebas in the pond, "Shiny Feebas... I wonder how Mr. Baimu plans to evolve it?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"There are two ways for Feebas to evolve, naturally evolving when it becomes beautiful enough or evolving through the connection and exchange of the Beautiful Scale..."
"I know, I'm asking what the difference between these two evolutions is."
"Uh."
Seeing Mr. Baimu's serious expression caused Mann Chong's bubbling excitement to slightly dwindle, hesitating, he whispered, "I'm just saying—I can't guarantee it's entirely correct—many people think the first kind of evolution results in a Milotic that is far more charming than the second kind!"
No kidding, the first kind is beauty-evolved, it has to be more beautiful... uh.
Mr. Baimu was about to counter it but suddenly realized that the concept of beauty might have been diluted in the anime world, "Is that the case?"
After all, the Gorgeous Competition had become different.
Beauty transitioned from explicit values to "fuzzy", just like Pokémon that evolve by friendship, evidenced through outer or inner manifestations.
Perhaps let Shiny Feebas evolve through beauty?
During this time, he could also foster friendly relations between him and the Shiny Feebas, boosting its confidence, so it doesn't remain timid like just now.
These thoughts rapidly took root and sprouted in Baimu's mind.
The team had many members needing growth, and even at Feebas's current level, evolving it might still not make it significantly useful.
Level remains a crucial element even in the anime.
Maybe it could be used for a bit in the Gorgeous Competition.
But its current "move" scarcity hints at limited variation.
Moreover, most Gorgeous Competitions in the Hoenn Region are single-entry formats; the energetic Mawile might give way in performance for a newcomer Pokémon?
Giving way to Chansey or Aggron is possibly plausible.
If it's a "fair" competition, even Altered-color Milotic might struggle to secure performance rights.
Take things slow.
Baimu knew many things couldn't be rushed and everything had its order; old team members still had plenty of issues and tasks needing his attention first.
Furthermore, getting the Shiny Feebas familiar with other Pokémon in the team was equally important.