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David packed away the portable water purifier in his backpack while Ursaring stood nearby, its attention caught by the mass-produced energy cubes.
The bear stared at the bag containing the energy cubes with obvious curiosity.
Noticing this, David picked up a pack of energy cubes, carefully tore open one corner, poured out a few, and offered them to Ursaring.
"Curious about these? They're food made for Pokemon. If you're interested, go ahead and try some."
Ursaring took the energy cubes David offered and held them in its large paw. It sniffed them cautiously. The transparent, crystal-like cubes gave off an appealing scent.
Then it tossed them into its mouth.
"Roar! (Delicious!)"
After chewing, Ursaring made a satisfied sound. These energy cubes seemed to suit its taste perfectly.
Watching the happy Ursaring, David thought for a moment. There was a good reason why these energy cubes appealed so much to the bear.
Since participants had Pokemon with different types, all the energy cubes in Alliance supply drops were general-purpose ones.
General-purpose energy cubes contained Normal-type energy, which was also the main feature of the Normal type—it had no type advantage over any other type.
Therefore, Pokemon food containing Normal-type energy could be used by any type of Pokemon. There wouldn't be problems like a Fire-type Pokemon eating Water-type energy cubes, which would not only fail to restore energy but could cause harmful side effects.
And Ursaring happened to be a pure Normal-type Pokemon with only the Normal attribute.
So it wasn't surprising that these general-purpose energy cubes were so much to its liking.
Seeing how much Ursaring enjoyed the energy cubes, David poured out another large handful and gave them to it.
However, this time Ursaring didn't eat them itself. Instead, it turned around and brought over the two Teddiursa.
It divided the energy cubes David had given into two portions and fed them to the young bears.
The wounds on both Teddiursa had already healed thanks to Ralts's care, but the exhaustion of their stamina still left them somewhat tired.
Now, after eating these energy cubes that could restore their stamina, they quickly returned to their usual energetic selves.
"Roar..."
Ursaring let out a soft call, and David understood it was expressing gratitude to him.
Then Ursaring walked to a corner deep within the tree hollow and carefully peeled back a layer of bark, revealing a hidden small space.
It reached inside, and soon pulled out a stone bowl with smooth, polished marks—clearly used for holding things.
Ursaring first pointed at the stone bowl in front of it, then pointed at David and his Pokemon, before making gestures with both paws.
"You want me to try what's inside?"
Ursaring nodded.
David didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, scooped a bit from the bowl with his finger, and tasted it.
Instantly, a smooth, silky texture accompanied by sweet flavor filled his mouth.
"This is... wild Combee honey!"
The moment it touched his tongue, David recognized the familiar taste. Looking at Ursaring, he immediately identified what it was.
Then Ursaring placed the stone bowl directly in front of David.
"All of this is for me?"
Ursaring nodded. This was a gift for a friend.
For simple-minded Pokemon, even if there had been conflict before, sharing food as they were doing now meant friendship in the wild.
David picked up the stone bowl, turned around, and shared it with Zorua and his other Pokemon.
Among David's Pokemon, Zorua had the most flexible palate—it could handle spicy food, enjoyed savory flavors, but loved sweet things most of all. Riolu's taste, however, leaned toward plain food.
As for Ralts, the last one he'd caught, she was an absolute sweet tooth. (It seemed she had a type disadvantage with someone... or some Pokemon, didn't she?)
David's Ralts even had a habit of drinking afternoon tea. Although she was still in her first evolutionary stage, she already showed hints of the elegant, queenly demeanor of a future Gardevoir.
And in the future, David's Gardevoir would wear a black dress after Mega Evolution!
A cool and elegant queen in black—how striking would that be!
But that's getting off topic. Ralts's afternoon tea was indeed quite special. What kind of person's afternoon tea, besides adding naturally sweet Moomoo Milk, also required at least three spoonfuls of honey and seven or eight sugar cubes in one cup?
And it needed various desserts like donuts, maple croissants, cream puffs, and custard tarts to go with the tea.
Heaven knows what David felt the first time Ralts made afternoon tea and proudly presented the black tea she'd personally prepared.
He drank it with a look of appreciation, but when he realized the taste was off, he had no choice but to gulp it all down under Ralts's expectant gaze.
One could only say that David never drank afternoon tea again after that day.
Not long after everyone finished sharing the honey, David thought for a moment and then placed an entire bag of energy cubes in front of Ursaring.
"Ursaring, these are all for you and the Teddiursa. And over there—those two bags also contain these energy cubes. They're all yours too, but I'd like to ask you for a favor."
The assessment only lasted seven days, and David's three Pokemon simply didn't need that many energy cubes.
And just now, David had thought of a good plan. Since the Alliance had placed all these resources near Pokemon nests, instead of searching for them one by one himself, it would be better to simply make a deal.
"Could you ask the Pokemon in this forest to search their nests for packages like this one?"
"Please help me find them, and the energy cubes inside will be their reward."
Having the Pokemon find these packages themselves was the method David came up with. After all, David only needed the points that came with the packages, and he didn't have that much time—he had other important matters to attend to.
Furthermore, instead of letting these energy cubes go to waste gathering dust with him, it would be better to give them all to Ursaring and its family.
A win-win situation! The Pokemon got novel food, and David got points.
These energy cubes could also serve as payment for these Pokemon finding the packages.
After all, if no one opened the packages for them, with the special materials coating them, these Pokemon probably wouldn't discover what was inside even if they waited until the packages expired.
"Roar!"
Hearing David's words, Ursaring thumped its chest, assuring him it would take care of everything.
The Level 39 Ursaring was undoubtedly the strongest Pokemon in this forest.
Don't let its loss to Zorua fool you—that was because Zorua was exceptionally strong, not because Ursaring was weak.
As the lord of this forest, Ursaring's status in the area was unquestionable.
So letting it handle this matter was definitely the right choice.
"Then I'll leave this to you. When the time comes, Ursaring, you can keep a tenth of the energy cubes brought by the other Pokemon! Consider it your commission for helping."
After speaking, David set off to attend to his other important matters.
He left Ursaring behind, still counting on its claws trying to figure out exactly how much a tenth actually was.