As soon as Edward stepped out of the hospital, it didn't take long before a man dressed in the uniform of the League Postal Service approached him and handed over a package.
"Mr. Edward, these are the 999 Gimmighoul Coins Mr. Steven ordered for you. Please sign here."
Looking at the courier in front of him, Edward took the pen and scribbled his signature on the slip.
The package was rather heavy—after all, 999 Gimmighoul Coins did have some considerable weight to them.
"So, this is the world of the rich, huh? I'm so envious." Zoroark commented dryly, his face devoid of expression.
"If your expression could look even slightly more sincere, maybe I'd actually believe you." Edward squinted at him. This guy really had the nerve to play the straight man role in a joke skit right in front of him, huh?
Nevertheless, Edward opened the package in his arms to take a look. Inside, the coins were densely packed, glinting faintly under the light. Edward pulled out the Luxury Ball from his coat, and the moment he released it, the Gimmighoul appeared before him, clinging to its treasure chest with a dazed look in its eyes.
Gimmighoul looked up at Edward, but its attention was quickly diverted to the package in his arms.
"These are for you, Gimmighoul." Edward set the package down gently. At the same time, Q popped out from its Poké Ball and perched curiously atop Edward's head, watching the situation unfold.
Gimmighoul beamed with joy at the sight of the coin pile. In the next moment, it leapt out of its chest and dove into the coins.
In the following second, a blinding white light sliced through the night. Edward squinted his eyes against the flash, and when the brilliance finally faded, a completely golden Pokémon stood before him—its waist adorned with a small treasure chest. It was Gholdengo.
"Zoroark," Edward called calmly.
Zoroark immediately pulled out a Geiger counter from within his coat and pointed it at Gholdengo, scanning its body carefully.
"Nothing. It's perfectly safe," Zoroark confirmed, prompting Edward to finally let out a sigh of relief. The golden Gholdengo was now looking at its own hands, lost in thought—its entire presence carrying a hint of melancholy.
"Gholdengo, what's wrong?" Edward asked, eyeing the Pokémon before him. This little one had evolved right after joining his team, skipping over any kind of childhood stage and jumping straight to the adult form. In a way, it was a rather abrupt start.
Gholdengo looked up, raising its golden fingers and gesturing in the air, but Edward couldn't make sense of what it was trying to say.
This seemed to make Gholdengo anxious. It began chattering away in a string of incomprehensible noises.
"Gholdengo says it wants its coin back," Zoroark stepped in as an interpreter. That instantly made Edward think of the radioactive Radium Nitride coin that Nurse Joy had confiscated.
"Well…" Edward instinctively wanted to refuse, but the sight of Gholdengo pressing its hands together pitifully, eyes filled with longing, made him swallow the words before they came out.
In the end, Edward decided to speak to Nurse Joy about it. Even though he had the wealth to back him up, this was a matter involving a radioactive item, so it took quite a bit of effort before he was finally able to retrieve the coin.
The price for getting it back was a custom-made casing: a specialized lead-alloy encasement designed to block radiation. Effective, but certainly not cheap.
Seeing Gholdengo joyfully receive its coin, a gentle smile curved Edward's lips. The process had been a little complicated, but ultimately, it meant he had officially captured his second Pokémon.
The only issue now was that Gholdengo seemingly couldn't Mega Evolve.
"Ghol!"
Just as Edward was thinking about what kind of Mega-Evolvable Pokémon to catch next, he heard Gholdengo shout. In the next moment, the Pokémon threw itself at Edward, making his scalp tingle from anxiety. Still, he braced himself and lifted the golden Pokémon into his arms.
"@#￥~"
Gholdengo's voice was strange and garbled, but Edward could clearly hear the overwhelming gratitude in its tone. Smiling, Edward gently patted its head before casually setting it back on the ground and stretching his back.
"Kyu!"
Q, clearly displeased, jumped in front of Gholdengo. Only then did the excited Gholdengo settle down a bit. It cheerfully held out its precious coin toward Q and began to babble enthusiastically.
Q flicked its tail dismissively and retreated into Edward's arms.
Returning to the hotel with both Gholdengo and Q, Edward headed back to his own room. Zoroark's room was just next door.
Edward pulled out a Fear Sustenance Creator from his suitcase. He then poured in 2,000 Fear Points and produced two pieces of Fear Candy.
"Q, this one's for you." Edward handed a piece to Q, who happily accepted it and tucked it under its cloak, nibbling at it in small bites.
Meanwhile, Gholdengo stood nearby, curiously watching the candy. It could feel an irresistibly alluring power emanating from it, but when it glanced at Q and then back at Edward, it hesitated, unsure whether it was allowed to approach.
"Gholdengo, this one's yours," Edward said as he offered the other candy to it.
Gholdengo paused for a moment. Then, cautiously, it reached out with its golden hand to take the candy. Afterward, it pointed at itself with its glowing fingers as if to ask:
'Can I really eat this?'
Edward nodded, and only then did Gholdengo joyfully start munching on the candy.
The moment it did, a tremor rippled through its entire body, and its golden glow intensified, shining even brighter.
"Looks like Fear Candy works great for this little guy too." Edward smiled as he watched the gleeful Gholdengo. He started pondering what kind of name would be fitting for this new teammate.
Just as Edward was enjoying the heartwarming scene of his two Pokémon, his phone buzzed. He picked it up to check—it was a message from his father.
[Edward, your brother Steven told me that you've captured a Gimmighoul and successfully evolved it into a Gholdengo? I asked Director Clavell for a Gholdengo training guide.]
The message was brief, but as soon as Edward saw it, his inbox lit up with a new email. It was, as expected, the training manual. He didn't expect his father to have such connections.
Edward quickly fired off a few thank-you messages to his father and older brother, then opened the email.
Training Gholdengo, it turned out, wasn't all that difficult—but it was expensive.
The manual had a heavy focus on one particular move: Make It Rain.
"In the games, Make It Rain is an attack where the user throws a massive amount of coins at the opponent, and you even earn money afterward. But in real life…" Edward read the guide and felt a headache coming on.
While Gholdengo could use Make It Rain on its own, the move's power could be greatly enhanced if the trainer equipped it with a box filled to the brim with real gold coins.
That, literally, was throwing money to hurt people.
"So… does this count as a new form of 'death by money'?" Edward thought to himself, an odd feeling creeping into his mind.
(End of Chapter)
(TN: Fck Man, Translating the academy names are f-ing confusing. 葡萄学院 or 萄学院的 or 葡萄學院 or 学院的院 all these means Grape Academy btw each chapter Grape Academy (Uva) was mentioned has different characters or has different name in google. And there is only one academy in game too, they only change name depending on the version yet author mentioned both here.)