If Aiden remembered correctly, more than two hours had passed since he entered the ruins.
And when he raised the binoculars for a closer look, something became even stranger.
The Pokémon being chased were still the same group of Maractus, but the Trainers pursuing them were completely different from the ones he had seen earlier.
Something was definitely going on.
Aiden patted Golurk’s arm.
“Take us down to that town.”
“Gooo—”
Golurk answered with a low hum before accelerating.
It didn’t take long for them to reach the airspace above the settlement.
From above, Aiden was surprised by how lively the place looked.
At first glance, it seemed like the kind of ordinary little town you could find anywhere, yet there were far more people around than he would have expected.
Golurk landed near the entrance.
Maractus were everywhere, wandering casually through the streets, and then—
Sniff, sniff.
A delicious aroma drifted through the air.
“Meow~”
Sprigatito smelled it too and immediately started acting spoiled.
She was hungry.
She wanted food.
Aiden was more than happy to oblige.
After all, he had spent the day sprinting through the desert, falling into a ruin, exploring underground passages, and repeatedly diving, rolling, and throwing himself out of the way of Golurk’s attacks.
All of that had burned through a ridiculous amount of energy.
Following the smell, Aiden soon found himself at a small street lined with food stalls.
And standing behind the very first stall—
“…Huh?”
It was the bus driver from earlier.
Still wearing his sunglasses, the man was furiously working a wok and tossing fried rice over the flames.
Aiden glanced around and noticed several nearby Trainers wearing complicated expressions as they ate.
“This is seriously delicious…
but I’m still so pissed.”
“Damn it.
I can’t believe I fell for the bait too…”
Listening to their complaints, Aiden finally pieced together what had happened.
The Maractus herd belonged to residents of this town.
More importantly, the Shiny Maractus was none other than the bus driver’s own partner.
As the Desert Resort had grown more famous, however, fewer and fewer Trainers and tourists had bothered coming to this small settlement.
With business drying up, residents gradually began moving away, and the town had slowly approached the point of disappearing altogether.
The bus driver was apparently the village chief’s son.
He had ended his own travels and returned home, determined to revitalize the place where he had grown up.
“I see…”
Aiden nodded.
It was a pretty straightforward scheme.
Use a Shiny Pokémon to lure curious Trainers into chasing the Maractus herd, guide them all the way back to town, and by the time everyone arrived overheated, exhausted, and starving, the food stalls would practically sell themselves.
The town’s reputation probably wasn’t going to improve because of it, though.
Still, Aiden couldn’t bring himself to care too much.
If he hadn’t taken the bait, he never would have discovered those ruins in the first place.
He walked up to the driver’s stall, looked over the menu, and made his decision immediately.
“Boss, four orders of your special fried rice and four drinks!”
“Thank you!
Coming right up!”
Aiden found a seat, then glanced around the dining area, paying particular attention to the height of the ceiling.
After a moment, he called toward the stall.
“Boss, I’m eating outside.
Mind if I borrow a table?”
The driver paused.
He looked up at the blazing sun hanging overhead, then at the air-conditioned interior of the shop.
Whatever conclusion he reached made his expression turn increasingly strange.
“Uh…
sure.”
Aiden was absolutely certain the man was up to something.
Still, this was going to be his team’s first proper meal together, so he decided not to worry about it.
He carried a table and several stools outside and set them up in a more open area before releasing Golurk and Snivy.
“Food’s coming!”
“Sni!”
“Gooo!”
Snivy’s bright cry and Golurk’s deep rumble sounded together.
Around the small square table, Sprigatito and Snivy sat neatly on stools while Golurk simply lowered itself onto the ground behind them.
Its enormous body immediately blocked the sunlight, casting a huge patch of shade over Aiden and the two smaller Pokémon.
People nearby quickly began staring.
“Holy crap, it’s huge!”
“Is that a Golurk?!”
“That thing is massive!”
“Wait…
a Golurk?”
One Trainer heard the commotion and immediately spotted the giant Pokémon sitting beside Aiden.
Without hesitation, he released his own Golurk for comparison.
The result was devastating.
Even while sitting down, Aiden’s Golurk was taller than the other Trainer’s fully upright Golurk.
The difference was basically like putting Yao Ming next to someone half his size.
The Trainer stared for several seconds before slowly dropping to his knees beside his equally demoralized Golurk.
“We lost…
His is way too damn big…”
Leaving the spiritually defeated pair to mourn their inadequacy, Aiden raised his phone and resumed filming.
“We’ve arrived at Maractus Town, and your host is stopping here for lunch before continuing the journey…”
Aiden was busy gathering footage and failed to notice the bus driver staring at him from behind the stall.
The moment the man realized Aiden was recording a video, his eyes lit up.
He immediately abandoned his spatula and hurried over.
“Hey!
Are you making a video?
Do you take sponsorships?”
Before Aiden could even answer, the man had already launched into his story.
“You see, years ago this town used to be incredibly prosperous—”
“Hold it!”
Aiden raised a hand.
He didn’t mind listening to the man’s tragic hometown story while waiting for lunch.
What he did mind was the cook abandoning the stove to tell it.
“If you stand here telling me the whole story, when exactly am I supposed to get my food?
At least finish what I ordered first!
And if you want me to promote the place, shouldn’t you show a little sincerity?
The more dishes you bring out, the more footage I’ll have to work with, right?”
Aiden was shamelessly attempting to eat for free and squeeze out a few extras at the same time.
There was another reason for it too.
His account currently had a follower count in the single digits.
There was a very real possibility that once this guy discovered that tiny little detail, he would turn around and walk away without another word.
Better to get as much free food as possible before the truth came out.
Even if the man discovered Aiden’s actual follower count afterward, it wasn’t as though he could demand that Aiden spit the food back up.
Fortunately, the weathered-looking man had clearly spent enough time out in the world to understand exactly how these things worked.
“My apologies.
That was rude of me.
To make up for it, this meal is on the house!”
The man might have been willing to use his own Pokémon as bait to lure people into town and trick them into spending money, but when it came to dealing with people, he certainly knew how to play the game.
At least, that was Aiden’s assessment.