When it was time to leave the ancient capital city, David chose to travel by private jet.
The winter break was already short, and between his stay in the ancient capital and the two Gym challenges he had completed before arriving, nearly ten days of his holiday had quietly slipped by. If he wanted to meet the goals he had set for himself, he needed to move efficiently — and he still had two days set aside to visit his grandfather's home.
Lying on the sofa on the plane, David spread out a national Gym Challenger's map across his lap and stared at it.
He had already cleared the two Class-A Gyms in Sol Province without much difficulty. As for the Mega Stone lead that had turned up earlier, his father had already dispatched people to look into it — David just needed to wait on the results. There was no reason to go back there himself.
The Netherworld Gym in the ancient capital city was a different matter. It was not on his list. Not right now.
The Netherworld Gym, like his own family's Ascending Dragon Gym, was one of the Eight Great Special-Class Gyms of the Cloudspire region — the Alliance's anchor in the southwest. Its strength was in a category entirely beyond what he could realistically challenge at this stage.
"Special-Class Gyms are off the table for now. Time to pick a new target."
His finger drifted across the map and came to rest on a city in a province neighbouring Sol Province.
Spring City, in Efo Province. It was a well-known tourist destination, and it was also home to the Hundred Flowers Gym — a Class-A Gym specialising in Grass-type Pokémon. Both its recommendation index and difficulty rating on the Trainer Map sat at four stars, putting it firmly in the top tier of Class-A Gyms, just below Special-Class.
That would do.
David gave the instruction, and the jet adjusted its heading toward Spring City. In the Pokémon world, private air travel was refreshingly uncomplicated — no flight plan approvals required, just a notification to the destination airport.
With the decision made, David set the map aside, stretched out on the sofa, and let himself rest.
After the Hundred Flowers Gym, I'll stop by Grandfather's place. The last Gym can wait until after New Year.
Several hours later, the jet touched down in Spring City, Efo Province.
It was still early afternoon. His online reservation for the Gym challenge was not until later, so after dropping his bags at the hotel, David headed out on foot with no particular schedule.
He was a cook and a dedicated one at that. When arriving somewhere new, tourist attractions were never his first priority.
In the Pokémon world, the natural environment of most cities was genuinely beautiful — wild and shaped in ways the old world rarely managed, especially in areas where Secret Realm energy had filtered into the landscape over generations. But scenery, as impressive as it often was, was rarely what pulled David's attention when he first arrived somewhere.
Food was.
In Efo Province, the dish that could not be missed was wild mushroom hot pot. The variety of mushrooms in the Pokémon world far surpassed anything the old world had ever produced, and so did their intensity — in both flavour and toxicity. Trained chefs who knew how to prepare them properly were essential; the wrong mushroom handled carelessly could ruin far more than a meal.
But prepared correctly? The flavour was extraordinary.
Come to think of it — the biggest hot pot chain back in Sol Province is connected to the Blazing Sun Gym. I wonder if something similar is going on here...
He shook the thought off. It did not really matter. He opened his map app and followed the directions.
He found it without trouble — a restaurant fronted by a large Breloom statue mounted above the entrance, arms spread wide as if welcoming guests. According to reviews, it was the most well-regarded wild mushroom hot pot restaurant in all of Spring City.
David walked straight to the front desk.
"Hello, I have an online reservation — VIP room three."
"Of course, Mr. David. Right this way."
A waiter led him to the private room and returned shortly with the menu.
David did not look at it for long. He handed it back and asked for one of everything.
The waiter received this without any visible reaction and headed off to place the order.
The VIP room was large — over a hundred square metres of floor space, with a ceiling tall enough to belong to a two-storey building. David looked around and nodded to himself, satisfied. He set down his bag and released all of his Pokémon.
This was precisely why he had chosen this restaurant. Not every establishment could accommodate a Trainer dining with a full team — and fewer still could handle a Shelgon. Even an Onix or a Gyarados would feel out of place in most dining rooms. Only a private room built to this scale gave them enough space to eat comfortably together.
The dishes arrived faster than David had expected for the volume he had ordered. When the waitress returned pushing a large loaded cart and rounded the corner into the room, she stopped short at the sight of Shelgon. It took her a visible moment to collect herself before she continued setting everything out.
She served David and his Pokémon with careful, slightly trembling hands.
The hot pot spread was genuinely impressive. Wild mushrooms in the Pokémon world grew in enormous variety, far more than anything David had encountered before coming here, and their flavours ranged from delicate to overwhelmingly rich depending on the species. The broth they produced was dense and deeply savoury — the kind that lingered.
Even Shelgon, who typically preferred meat-heavy food, was drawn in by the smell almost immediately. He started eating with quiet enthusiasm, and once he started, he did not stop easily. By the time the meal was winding down, something close to eighty percent of what David had ordered had disappeared into Shelgon's stomach.
David watched him eat and sipped a local speciality drink — a lightly sweetened blend made with Bounsweet nectar, perfectly suited to the Zorua and Kirlia's tastes.
He had already looked into what Shelgon's evolutionary stage actually required, nutritionally speaking. After Bagon evolved into Shelgon, the Pokémon entered a period similar in nature to what Pupitar went through in the Larvitar line, or what cocooning Bug-type Pokémon experienced — a long phase of internal accumulation before the final transformation. During this time, large amounts of nutrition needed to be taken in steadily. The more thoroughly that foundation was built up, the stronger the eventual evolution would be.
For Shelgon, the goal was Salamence. And to grow the wings capable of carrying it there — to truly break free from that armoured shell and take to the sky — it needed to absorb everything it could now.
The meal today was only an appetiser by those standards. It barely scratched the surface of what Shelgon actually needed.
David sighed inwardly, and then felt genuine gratitude for the existence of Energy Cubes. His grandfather had once mentioned, almost in passing, that the Moore family's Guardian Deity — back in the era before modern Pokémon nutrition science — would consume nearly a small mountain of Berries in a single meal. Transporting the food alone had required hundreds of Mudsdale.
Now, a large box of concentrated Energy Cubes covered the same nutritional requirement. The convenience was difficult to overstate.
After everyone had eaten their fill, David settled the bill and left. He caught a brief glimpse, on his way out, of the waitresses who had been grilling meat and blanching vegetables for the better part of two hours. They looked exhausted.
He flagged down a Corviknight taxi outside and climbed in, resting Shelgon's Poké Ball lightly in his hand.
"Shelgon — give it everything you've got today. I'm genuinely looking forward to the day we're flying together."
The Poké Ball shifted slightly in his palm.
That was enough of an answer.