The benefit of a five-star hotel was how well it handled Pokémon services.
Among them, the Mimicry Training Room was often one of the key criteria in determining whether a hotel could be rated five stars.
"Mr. Haruki, we happen to have one Sandstorm Training Room left. The rental is 500 Pokédollars per hour, are you sure you want to reserve it for three days?"
The hotel staff couldn't help but double-check.
500 Pokédollars per hour for three days, that meant 72 hours, totaling 36,000 Pokédollars. That was nearly 80% of Haruki's total funds.
"Yes. Though I may have a friend who'll use it in the evenings. Is that okay?"
"As long as there are no more than two people in the room at once, it's fine."
"Great, charge the card."
The staff swiped his card and handed over the keycard for the training room.
"Thank you for trusting our hotel. If you have any questions during use, please don't hesitate to contact us."
"Alright."
Once the staff had left, Haruki released Marowak and Skiploom.
"Skiploom, I've got something to ask of you."
"Skip~"
"In a bit, do this and this... then that and that…"
"Skip!"
After giving Skiploom its instructions, and handing over a few prepared notes, Haruki took Marowak and entered the Sandstorm Training Room to begin focused training.
An hour later, Skiploom, waiting dutifully by the door, saw a hotel staff member leading a teenage boy toward the room.
"I'm really sorry, sir. As you can see, all our Sandstorm Training Rooms are currently in use and rented out through the end of the Oreburgh Festival. Would you like to use the Rocky Terrain Room as a substitute?"
"How would that help? The Sandstorm Showdown takes place in a sandstorm environment, the rocky terrain is useless!"
"My deepest apologies…"
Though the staff member kept a polite posture, his tone had grown a bit impatient.
After more back-and-forth, the two finally left.
Skiploom watched the whole thing, blinking its small eyes, but didn't step forward.
A little while later, another staff member came with a girl this time.
The girl was clearly disappointed, but didn't lash out. Instead, she politely asked the staff to let her know if any slots became available.
This time, the staff smiled more sincerely and nodded in agreement.
Skiploom's eyes lit up and it quickly followed them.
After the girl and the staff parted ways, Skiploom floated up and stopped in front of the girl.
[Do you want to use the Sandstorm Training Room?]
A note popped open and was pressed right to the girl's face.
Startled, the girl looked at the cute Skiploom, then nodded.
Skiploom cheered internally, then took out a second note and opened it.
[If you don't mind training at night, come to Sandstorm Room #004 - Trainer of Skiploom]
The girl read it out loud, and her expression slowly turned curious.
But seeing Skiploom's eager little face, she figured: why not give it a try?
She was a total internet addict anyway, used to staying up late playing games. Training at night might be a new experience, but not impossible.
After she nodded again, Skiploom happily stored the note and floated ahead to lead the way.
Before long, Skiploom and the girl returned to the training room door.
Skiploom knocked lightly, and Haruki soon stepped out.
When he saw the girl, he gave Skiploom a silent thumbs-up.
"Hello, I'm Haruki."
"Hi, I'm Rora."
After exchanging names, Haruki got right to the point.
"I've rented this Sandstorm Room through the end of the Oreburgh Festival. I'll be training in the daytime, but if you don't mind, I can sublet it to you at night. 700 Pokédollars per hour."
Rora's eyes widened. She'd just started thinking he looked kind of handsome, then he immediately brought up money.
And it was even 200 Pokédollars more than the regular rate… at night, no less!
"But the listed price is-"
"Different times, different prices. This hotel's got Elite Four Bertha staying in it, what if she just decides to wander over here?" Haruki cut her off.
He had already thought of this when renting the room. An Elite Four member's pull was incredible.
With all rooms booked out, the training rooms would be the next hot commodity.
"But at night…"
"Older folks don't sleep much. That makes the odds even better. Plus, in another hour, I'm raising the rate to 800 Pokédollars per hour. Demand will only go up."
Haruki interrupted again.
Rora stared wide-eyed at Haruki. She had never met anyone so shameless.
"But-"
"If you're not interested, that's fine. Sorry Skiploom bothered you. I'm just broke, that's all."
With that, Haruki signaled to Skiploom.
The next second, Aromatherapy swept out, instantly calming Rora's agitated emotions.
"I… I'll rent it!"
Though her mood had stabilized, Rora's face was still flushed.
She glanced at the adorable, well-behaved Skiploom, then at the guy who could admit he was broke so bluntly and suddenly felt like the pair made a good team.
But the very next moment, Rora snapped out of it, horrified by her own thought.
They had just met today!
'Ugh! What does that have to do with it being the first meeting?! You shameless girl…'
Haruki looked at the dazed Rora and wondered if he should say something.
Marowak was still waiting for him in the training room.
Luckily, Rora came to her senses quickly.
She handed Haruki the first night's rental fee in a daze, then took off running.
Haruki reached out, then let his hand fall.
Forget it. He'd train until six and wait for her to come.
"Skiploom, you did amazing just now. We're adding an extra meal tonight!"
Skiploom's eyes lit up, stretching out a stubby little paw.
"Alright, one jar of Honey."
"Skip!"
It had clearly asked for two!
Then Skiploom looked at its paw.
'…Fine. One jar it is.'
Next time, both hands up!
----
Time rolled back to one hour earlier…
Haruki had entered the Sandstorm Training Room with Marowak.
In the wild, sandstorm weather wasn't common.
But for Ground-, Rock-, and Steel-types, learning to adapt to such harsh conditions could offer major boosts.
That's why sandstorm tactics were so popular in high-level matches.
When Haruki activated the mechanism, the sealed training room was instantly swept up in howling sand.
Marowak watched curiously. This was the first time it had experienced a sandstorm in its life.
"Wanna give it a try?"
Haruki pulled on a leather jacket, put on a mask, and invited it in.
Marowak nodded, gripped its bone club tightly, and stepped into the sandstorm.
In an instant, the overwhelming winds forced Marowak to squint. But soon, Marowak relaxed, it was adapting better than it thought.
"Marowak~"
"Alright, now let's test your moves."
Standing nearby, Haruki gave the cue, his voice muffled. Marowak nodded and swung hard at a target dummy.
Bone Club!
Boom!
The special dummy was left with a dent, the power was consistent with past results.
"Now try Smack Down."
As Haruki spoke, he pressed the button to activate the flying dummy.