Returning to the lakeside campsite with the berry juices from the treehouse tavern, Julian found his Pokémon had already finished dinner.
"I brought you guys some drinks this time."
Julian raised the berry juice in his hand.
The Pokémon happily gathered around.
Slowking, puzzled, asked: "Where did you get that?"
'Could there actually be delivery service in the secret realm?'
Julian: "There's an Oranguru who really knows how to have fun—it opened a little bar. These were made by it."
Actually, there really was alcohol being sold there too, but it wasn't suitable for humans to drink.
"Slowking, this juice tastes just as good as the ones you make," Julian added without thinking.
"Meta~"
Metagross: You should stop talking now.
Julian stiffened for a moment, mentally slapping himself hard, and sure enough, when he glanced at Slowking, its gaze had already turned unfriendly.
Normally, Slowking's eyes were clear, carrying a mix of foolishness and hidden wisdom.
But now—those eyes had turned downright petty.
Especially after it gently took a sip of Oranguru's juice, its expression darkened instantly
Julian hurried to patch things up: "Slowking, this juice is way worse than yours! Totally not on the same level!"
Unfortunately, Slowking had no interest in listening to him. It firmly placed the barely-touched cup of juice back into Julian's hands.
'It's over, it's over.'
Julian looked absolutely hopeless. Slowking was 'really' mad this time.
"Metagross..."
He shot a pleading look at Metagross.
Metagross slightly turned its head away, pretending not to see anything.
'Every man for himself.'
'You brought this on yourself with your big mouth. I can't help, even if I wanted to.'
Dragonite, meanwhile, took a sip of the juice, and its eyes lit up—'Hey, this is pretty good!'
Then a voice whispered in its ear:
Slowking: "How's the taste compared to mine?"
Dragonite: "About the same."
The moment the words left its mouth, Dragonite froze—that voice just now seemed to be Slowking's.
It turned its head stiffly—just in time to see Slowking already standing behind Melmetal.
Slowking: "How's the taste compared to mine?"
Melmetal: "Feels about the same."
Immediately, Melmetal also froze stiff, just like Dragonite.
'Very good.' Slowking clenched its fists. No need to ask anyone else—its eyes were now blazing with competitive fury.
"Gen~"
Gengar floated over, happily sipping on the juice. Its blissful expression radiating pure joy, seeing that Slowking turned his gaze directly to Julian.
Meanwhile, Julian was still rejoicing that the idiots Dragonite and Melmetal had also gotten themselves into trouble—at least he wouldn't suffer alone.
But then Slowking's gaze suddenly locked onto him again.
Julian swore—even facing the first-class legendary Kyogre in Haidian City, he hadn't panicked this much.
But right now—
'What do I do? Should I summon Mewtwo for backup?!'
Metagross supported Julian to stop him from collapsing from weak knees.
Watching Slowking march toward him step by step, that damn oppressive feeling grew stronger and stronger.
"Lucario, save me!"
Julian shouted toward Lucario who was closest to him, since he couldn't count on the Metagross behind him at all.
Lucario's perked-up ears twitched slightly, then suddenly both ears folded down, covering its earholes.
Lucario: 'I have temporarily lost my hearing.'
Julian's face turned dark immediately, and he quickly turned to Arcanine, "Doggo!"
Arcanine sat cheerfully wagging its tail, clearly with no intention of coming over. If anything, it looked like it was thoroughly enjoying the show.
"You Bas***d!"
Julian was utterly desperate, when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Kartana.
'Right—Kartana just joined the team, and it's a proud swordsman! Surely it wouldn't be afraid of Slowking!'
"Kartana!"
To his surprise, Kartana really did start flying in his direction.
For a moment, Julian felt like he was seeing a hero descending on rainbow clouds.
However, the next second, the said "hero" stopped right in front of Slowking.
Kartana: "This juice is way worse than what you make."
After saying that, it even tossed the coconut shell that held the juice right in front of Slowking—but no juice spilled out, obviously it had finished drinking it all.
Slowking gave Kartana a brief glance, unmoved.
Julian was utterly hopeless now, even the light of hope in his eyes dimmed.
Muttering under his breath: "Bootlicker… absolute bootlicker…"
'Where's that unyielding swordsman's pride? That "break before bending" spirit?'
'Since when did you turn into this?!'
Even Arcanine, watching from the side, felt this behavior was impressively skilled.
Arcanine: 'Is this guy… one of my kind?'
By now, Slowking had already walked up to Julian. It didn't say anything, just stared at him.
Julian kept swallowing nervously.
Slowking: "Where's that bar? Take me there."
"Arf!"
Arcanine: "I know where it is."
Slowking: "Lead the way."
Before leaving, Arcanine even shot a smug look at Kartana, as if saying, 'If you're going to suck up, at least learn from me.'
Kartana nodded thoughtfully.
Watching Slowking leave, Julian felt his legs regain their strength.
Dragonite and Melmetal exchanged a glance, seeing the same relief in each other's eyes—luckily compared to the big fish (Julian), they were just small fry.
Julian turned around and smacked Metagross's forehead, fuming: "You traitor!"
'Damn it, that really hurt my hand.'
"And you, Lucario—don't think I didn't see you fold your ears!"
Looking at this group of Pokémon who all abandoned him at the critical moment, Julian trembled with anger, especially Kartana.
Turns out, all that so-called swordsman's pride Kartana talked about, it was all just spineless nonsense.
"Let's go, hurry to the bar!"
Slowking had gone to find Oranguru, and Arcanine went along too.
---
Julian wasn't worried about Slowking 'doing' anything to Oranguru—he was more afraid that Arcanine, trying to suck up to Slowking, might burn down the treehouse bar in one big fire.
Not bothering to pack anything, Julian hurried off toward the bar with his Pokémon.
The Pokémon were also curious—what kind of guy could make juice that rivaled Slowking's?
When Julian arrived, he was relieved to see the bar still standing.
Arcanine was lying under the tree by the bar.
The moment it spotted Julian, it trotted over cheerfully.
'This damn dog, acting like it doesn't remember what it just did, huh?!'
Julian angrily ruffled the dog's head hard a few times before asking, "Where's Slowking?"
Arcanine glanced up at the bar nestled in the tree.
After listening carefully for a while, Julian didn't hear any sounds of a fight going on inside. He finally took a deep breath to steady himself, and climbed up the ladder into the bar.
Inside, Oranguru was sitting at the counter, while Slowking was using its tools to make berry juice for it.
Taking a sip, Oranguru's eyes widened in shock.
'This juice… is incredible-even better than mine!'
The reason Julian's Pokémon felt that Oranguru's juice was on par with Slowking's was mainly because the berries Oranguru used were ones they had never tasted before. The freshness factor added a lot to the experience.
Of course, Oranguru really was skilled at making juice—that was undeniable.
Standing at the entrance of the bar, Julian hesitated to go in.
All he could think about was how to make things right with Slowking.
*****
Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-
patreon.com/ReduxMagister