Delphox... the beauty salon...
Strictly speaking, the Alolan Vulpix wasn't entirely wild—it often lingered near towns in Alola.
It especially loved human desserts and was somewhat familiar with beauty pageants on TV.
It remembered, back when it was just a month old, lying outside a house window, watching television. On screen, a Delphox was radiant—elegant, graceful, its fur silky smooth.
Back then, it had wished it could have such sleek fur of its own.
But after all, it was just a little Pokémon living in some backwater of Alola—how could it ever dream of reaching a big city like Lumiose?
So it kept that dream buried deep inside.
Now, the opportunity was right in front of it, and of course it didn't want to pass it up.
But when it realized the price was getting shaved into a bald little fox, Vulpix hesitated again.
How could it show its face like that?!
In the end, under the pressure of time, it caved to its own desire.
"Euwu~"
Vulpix let out a soft call, and Caleb instantly understood. He crouched down and brought his ear close.
Was the little one trying to tell him something in secret?
"Euwu~ euwu~"
Thanks to Viridian Force's translation, Caleb got the message. Roughly, it meant:
You can shave me—but for the next three days, you're not allowed to go anywhere. You have to stay with me the entire time.
???
What kind of deal is this?
But oh well, this was probably the biggest compromise the little one could offer. He couldn't bear to let it down.
That's just the kind of guy Caleb was.
The one most shocked by Vulpix agreeing to the shave had to be Fiona Joy.
She'd tried everything she could think of, and Vulpix wouldn't budge. Then Caleb said just two sentences, and suddenly it agreed?
Fiona: Spill it. What kind of brainwashing did you pull on it?
That's what she thought, but in the end, she was still happy that Vulpix was willing to get treatment.
Beep~ Vulpix (Alola Form), Ice type, Fox Pokémon.
Ability: Snow Warning
Moves: Tail Whip, Disable, Powder Snow, Ice Shard, Grudge, Icy Wind, Confuse Ray, Aurora Beam, Psyshock, Ice Beam, Imprison, Mist, Aurora Veil, Nasty Plot, Encore.
Egg moves: Hypnosis, Captivate.
Entry: Lives atop Alola's perpetually snow-covered mountains. Its environment has given it the power of ice.
Seeing Caleb scan it with his Pokédex, Fiona Joy smiled. "What? Planning to catch it?"
Caleb shook his head. "Nah, it was poached and brought here. I'll take it back to Alola in a while."
"But Alola's sealed off right now—no outsiders allowed in or out," Fiona said as she pulled up a news article on her phone and handed it to him.
???
Did an Ultra Beast show up? Or did the Radiant One get resurrected?
Alola sure had its share of drama for such a tiny place.
Well, if there's no way back for now, guess I'll have to take care of little Vulpix for a while.
...
Day One.
Caleb used clippers to shave all of Vulpix's fur—not just its body, but all six of its tails too.
As expected, the little one burst into tears. Real tears. Big, sad sobs.
When Caleb tried to comfort it, he got blasted with an Ice Beam.
And it triggered the 30% freeze chance.
He didn't start thawing until almost noon.
In the afternoon, Caleb applied Sinnoh's most expensive fur regrowth serum—the kind they claimed could even grow hair on a Steelix.
Bit of an exaggeration, but by evening, a bit of fuzz had already sprouted on Vulpix's bare tail.
Day Two.
Because he'd stayed in the room all day yesterday, the gym was left completely unattended. Caleb felt itchy, like ants were crawling all over his heart.
He tried to distract himself with games. As soon as he opened his phone, he saw Green's status: "Currently Playing..."
Oh really? Sneaking off to game while I'm stuck here? Can't find something useful to do at the gym?
That's it—300 deducted from her pay!
As for Vulpix, it was much calmer today. It slept most of the time, probably trusting Caleb's claim that sleep makes fur grow faster. So cute.
Snuck a photo of it.
Day Three.
So bored! Vulpix slept the whole day, and Caleb kept checking its breathing now and then, afraid it might suddenly kick the bucket.
No battles to do. Green had been offline ever since he scolded her yesterday.
No one to play with, so he played with himself.
It was then that Caleb remembered—he had a system.
Since Old Man's warehouse had everything, the system wasn't usually that useful. Other than the lottery, he barely touched it.
He pulled it up, and to his surprise, he'd amassed over 100,000 emotion points.
!
Over 100K?!
What did I even do to rack up that much emotion?
As everyone knows, the two most emotionally unstable groups are students and salarymen.
And his challengers were often one or the other—so yeah, the massive emotional gain made sense.
He opened the system store, only to be totally let down.
No updates. Same boring stuff as always.
Still not as comprehensive as Old Man's warehouse. Gotta rely on that lottery.
If he could score some special abilities, it'd be worth it. So far, all he had was Viridian Force at level 2.
And leveling that up was a nightmare. He got [Fishing] from level 3 to level 5 with just 9,800 points. But Viridian Force? It took 10,000 to go from level 1 to 2, and a whopping 100,000 to reach level 3!
Looking at his hard-earned 100K+, Caleb gritted his teeth.
"Level up!"
In an instant, warmth surged through every fiber of his being—as if he'd truly been blessed by the forest of Viridian.
Viridian Force LV3: All Pokémon will naturally feel close to you. You can faintly perceive their emotions.
???
So what, I'm some kind of walking charm now?
Actually... that sounds kinda nice.
He checked how many points he had left.
Emotion Points: 9999
Enough for six 10-pulls.
Pull!
Blew through it all! Let's land something golden!
He slammed the button. In the infinite blue-white space, shooting stars streaked by.
White... white... white... white... white...
White... white... white...
White...
"Damn it!"
Fifty-seven pulls, all white trash. System, are you punishing me for ignoring your quests?
Suddenly, a flash of purple cut through the sky.
[Purple]
"Master Chef LV3": Greatly improves your cooking skills—knife work, fire control, plating, etc. (Equivalent to a five-star chef).
[Purple]
"Radiant Cuisine LV3": When you unveil your dish, it shines with golden light like a flashbang.
[Purple]
"Delicious by Default LV3": No matter how undercooked or overcooked your food is, anyone who eats it will say it's delicious.
Three purple beams shot straight into Caleb's brain.
In an instant, all the cooking techniques and kitchen know-how that used to baffle him now felt etched into his bones.
Like how he could now tell salt from sugar just by sight.
The only downside? No recipes.
Caleb never watched many cooking shows. He'd catch a food anime like Cooking Master Boy or Food Wars! once, then forget it the next day.
The only thing that left a strong impression was a variety show clip he'd seen a while back...