Luther silently turned off his phone, deciding it was best to pretend he wasn't there.
However, Candice was clearly not one to give up easily. Just fifteen minutes later, he found her standing outside his door. He realized he'd truly lost this battle.
"Is your phone dead? My calls kept going straight to voicemail, so I had the Pokémon League check your location." Candice greeted Mai while simultaneously grilling Luther.
"Aren't you supposed to be running your gym? What are you doing all the way out here on Lily of the Valley Island?" Luther asked, rubbing his temples.
"It's the gym's off-season right now. The next round of gym challenges won't start for another six months. Since I didn't have anything else to do, I thought I'd come cheer you on!" Candice replied, hugging Marill, who was munching on an apple, and playfully squeezing her cheeks.
Marill had always sensed a strange tension between Candice and Luther, so she silently let Candice fuss over her.
The atmosphere in the room was eerie. Luther couldn't shake the feeling that, even while tending to the Pokémon Egg, Mai's gaze never left Candice.
A knock at the door startled Luther. He hesitated, then opened the door to find Ash and Etorre standing outside.
"Wanna hit the buffet? It's rare for Snorlax to get out and stretch his legs, so I want him to really enjoy it."
Taking Snorlax to a buffet was downright devilish.
Luther had initially planned to stay behind and keep an eye on things, but Marill climbed onto him, her gaze burning with intensity. He could even hear her gulp.
"Let's go then."
Before leaving, Luther checked with Mai, who said she had plans to eat with Mao later.
Luther couldn't shake the feeling that something might happen between Mai and Candice.
Throughout the journey, Ash and Etorre bombarded Luther with questions about Candice's presence by his side. Faced with their gossip-hungry inquiries, Luther remained silent.
The more he stonewalled, the more Etorre felt he was closing in on the truth.
"Where's Dakota?"
Recognizing Luther's attempt to change the subject, Etorre didn't press further. Luther replied, "He went to the Pokémon Center to retrieve the other Pokémon that were teleported over. He said he's used to eating later and told us not to wait for him."
Though it was still a while before dinner, the restaurant wasn't crowded, and the food was already prepared and laid out on the tables.
Fruits, desserts, and main dishes were arranged in separate sections.
Ash released his Pokémon, letting them forage for themselves.
The moment Snorlax appeared, the restaurant staff realized something was wrong.
Snorlax lumbered over to the fruit-laden buffet table and slowly sat down. It picked up a fruit basket, tilted it into its mouth, chewed briefly, and spat out a rapid-fire series of fruit pits like a Bullet Seed attack.
The fruit baskets on the buffet table visibly dwindled at an alarming rate.
Ash's Pokémon clearly understood Snorlax's feeding rhythm. Once he settled in an area, he wouldn't budge until he had devoured everything.
No other Pokémon dared to share with Snorlax. Even Pokémon belonging to other trainers opted for nearby buffet tables rather than risk competing with the gluttonous giant.
The restaurant staff reacted swiftly, rushing out with carts overflowing with fruit to replenish Snorlax's table.
Seeing that the replenishment rate nearly balanced Snorlax's consumption speed, the manager in charge of coordination breathed a sigh of relief.
But then he noticed that the dessert table nearest Snorlax was completely empty. Frowning, he summoned a nearby server.
"Why hasn't the food been replenished even though it's all gone?" the manager demanded.
The waiter who was summoned pointed to Marill, who was passing by. "She's eating too fast! We can't keep up!"
The manager stared in disbelief. "A Marill? We can keep up with a Snorlax! Are you blaming a Marill for this? Isn't that ridiculous?"
The waiter had stopped listening. He stared in disbelief at the Marill devouring the desserts on the manager's table.
"Devouring like a whirlwind," he thought. "If she didn't have to chew, she'd be eating even faster."
The dessert table looked like it had been ravaged by a hurricane. Marill lowered her head, opened her mouth, and another cake vanished.
Despite having eaten so much, she still had the audacity to casually grab a glass of juice from the next table and drink it.
The manager had never witnessed such a scene before. He had seen Snorlaxes feast many times before, but a Marill eating faster than a Snorlax?
"Could this Marill be a Munchlax in disguise?" he wondered.
As the Pokémon Trainers entered the restaurant, they were greeted by an astonishing sight: a Snorlax and a Marill, each occupying a table and devouring food as if in a big eater competition. Restaurant staff stood by, on high alert.
Although Etorre and Ash had already seen Marill's prodigious appetite at the restaurant, they realized they had underestimated her.
Luther also felt he had underestimated Marill. In his opinion, her eating style suggested that she must have starved to death in her previous life and was now desperately trying to make up for lost meals.
The restaurant staff had clearly taken up the challenge against Marill. Several employees were dedicated to feeding her, simply opening her mouth and allowing her to eat.
They refused to be intimidated.
They intended to monitor her eating personally and wanted to fill her up as quickly as possible to avoid a single Pokémon hogging an entire table.
Marill was enjoying the VIP treatment thoroughly. She didn't have to lift a finger—the food just kept coming right to her.
"This is paradise," she thought.
Ash's Snorlax remained as unhurried as ever. Though it moved slowly, its appetite was anything but. Another food-laden cart lay empty in its wake.
"Is this crashing the Pokémon League's party?" one stunned spectator murmured. Several others had already begun snapping photos.
The crowd erupted into a frenzy of hushed, feverish cheers as a trainer and their Pokémon approached Marill from behind.
Having eaten her fill—the most satisfying meal she'd had in ages—Marill burped heartily and reached for a glass of juice to rinse her mouth.
She held out the cup to the side, signaling to a waiter for assistance.
Garchomp glanced down at the cup, poised to smash it, when Cynthia's hand intercepted it.
"Still as voracious as ever, I see. Did you finally get your fill?"
Cynthia's words startled Marill. She whirled around to meet Garchomp's complex gaze.
Cradling Marill, Cynthia approached Luther's table.
Marill didn't budge; she felt so stuffed that even slight movement threatened to make her vomit.
Seeing Snorlax still battling his way through the food, Marill envied his boundless appetite.
Luther and his companions had already noticed Cynthia's approach and were about to stand up, but she gestured for them to remain seated.
"Etorre, you should catch a Snorlax, too," Cynthia teased. "Then you can block off the restaurant and eat all day, from morning till night, taking turns in a never-ending food battle!"
Hearing this, Ash and Luther scratched their heads and grinned sheepishly.
"Sitting so openly with us like this, it feels like we're being roasted on a spit," Luther muttered.
Etorre munched on a fruit platter, casually tossing a grape to Nidoking.
Luther's gaze drifted past Cynthia to the line of Pokémon Trainers behind her, all staring intently at their table and whispering among themselves.
(End of Chapter)
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