Rhydon didn't dare to go further deep into the sea. Although it had overcome its natural fear of water to find enough food. It was still a Ground/Rock-type Pokemon, after all. Fishing in the shallow water was already its limit.
Rhydon also didn't know how to swim. If it was accidentally carried away by the water current, it would immediately drown in the ocean with its heavyweight.
After staring at the sea for a few minutes, the Rhydon, who had failed to find any food, could only return to the beach in frustration.
Boom!
Rhydon plopped itself on the sand, causing the ground to shake slightly. Then, it looked at the endless blue sky as it pondered where it could find more food.
Rhydon liked to eat something with flesh, such as fish or fruits. It didn't want to eat those hard rocks back in its cave.
The Rhydon species was an omnivore Pokemon. Although they can also feed on rocks, it was only usually done to better digest the food in their stomach. They were not Pokemon like Graver or Onix, who mainly grow by eating rocks.
Unless they were starving. Only then the Rhydon would go look around the cave for some rocks rich in mineral content to sate its hunger.
Rhydon wasn't a Pokemon like Tyranitar or Aggron. The former preferred to eat soil with high mineral content. While the latter liked to eat all sorts of metals.
It is said that if Larvitar, which is a Tyranitar pre-evolution, wants to evolve, it must eat an entire mountain's worth of earth first. While this may be an exaggeration, you can just imagine how large the appetites of these giant Pokemon are.
Growl!
'Fuck it,' Rhydon thought while rubbing its belly lightly.
Then, it got up and quickly ran toward the coconut tree several meters away. This time, instead of just shaking it back and forth, it uprooted the several meters high coconut tree with brute force.
Since the last coconut was already eaten by Rhydon a few hours ago, there were only a few small, green coconuts left. After that, the giant proceeded to swallow the whole tree down its stomach. Whether it was the trunk or the fruit or the leaves, it was all finished in just several bites.
...
( ●__●)
"Hey, it's not my fault, okay," Hisoka said after seeing Kirlia's eyes staring at him.
"..."
"Okay, I'll think of something, alright?" he raised his hands in surrender.
Kirlia nodded in reply as she turned her head back to the Rhydon.
Hisoka sighed in relief after Kirlia had removed her scary eyes away from him. He knew that it was totally his fault that Rhydon turned out this way.
He also felt a little guilty after seeing the poor Pokemon. Although Pokemon had a high IQ far beyond that of ordinary animals, their emotion was still like a simple seven or eight years old child. For all that great power they had, they didn't have any other ambitions besides living in peace.
It was only due to certain actions like Hisoka or Team Rocket that made some of them hate humans a lot.
Hisoka decided to give some food to the big Pokemon as compensation for stealing its orb.
Unfortunately, their food rations were only enough to last for a month. It was probably not even enough for this Rhydon with its big appetite.
'Let me see,' Hisoka thought as he took the bag off his shoulders.
The only way he could think of right now was to make a particular recipe of Pokeblock that can take in the full nutrition of naturally filling berries into one single block.
It was devised by a man living in Cerulean City that bred Snorlax and Munchlax. Thanks to this man, many trainers started to train Snorlax as their main Pokemon. Mind you, the trainer still had to train them to suppress their appetites. It was still hard for Snorlax and Munchlax to ignore their love for food even though they were already full.
Otherwise, do you think everyone can stand carrying tons of food every day just to feed a big eater Pokemon like Snorlax? Not to mention the high cost? Although there is a space folding bag to cram all of that food, every space bag has a weight limit. Once the bag goes past its weight limit, it is easy for the bag to be damaged due to the unstable space.
Thanks to his foresight, Hisoka had learned this recipe back when he was studying at the orphanage. It was a relatively simple Pokeblock to make. Everyone with a bit of knowledge in Pokeblock making can even make one from scratch.
Hisoka remembered that the main material for making this Nutrition Pokeblock was a Salac Berry. He quickly rummaged through his berry pouch, finding only two Salac Berry left in his stock.
Salac Berry mainly grew in a desert under the long hours of sunlight. Since there was no desert in the Kanto region, they mainly had to import them from the neighboring region, Johto. The price of Salac Berry had always remained high in the market.
"This is not enough," Hisoka murmured.
He could only combine these Salac berries with other berries such as Bluk berry and Sitrus berry. Anyway, this Rhydon can even eat a whole tree. A Pokeblock with a lower quality would definitely be able to satisfy its hunger.
With the help of a portable berry mixer, Hisoka only needs to control the critical heating time during the making of this Pokeblock. After dicing the berries, he poured all of them into the mixer and slowly ground them down.
About fifteen minutes later, a fruity aroma wafted out from the berry blender. Hisoka leaned forward and waved his hand on the blender to smell the nice fruity Pokeblock.
"It's done," Hisoka smiled as he nodded in satisfaction.
Nutrition Pokeblock didn't have the added benefits of other regular types of Pokeblock. Its only function was to provide nutrition to the Pokemon. Take Tauros, for example. It only needed to eat three of these candy blocks to get its daily nutrition.
There were twenty-five Pokeblocks that came out from the berry blender, which was enough to satisfy the hunger of this giant Pokemon.
Besides that, Hisoka also made a special meal for the rhinoceros-like Pokemon. He took a few beef steaks from his fridge and started frying them in the pan.
...
Thud!
A red apple fell from the sky and hit the sleeping Rhydon's head.
???
Rhydon let out a small whine and opened its red eyes while scratching its head. It quickly looked around to find what had hit it just now. Then, its eyes suddenly lit up. A red fruit was lying on the ground near its feet.
It didn't even care how the fruit suddenly appeared next to him as it immediately grabbed the food from the ground and shoved it into its mouth.
"Yum!" It cried joyfully.
It was Rhydon's first time eating this kind of fruit on this island since apple wasn't a tropical fruit.
'It's still not enough!' Rhydon thought while shaking its head in sadness.
Thud!
???
Another apple fell from the sky, but this time it slowly rolled toward the forest under Rhydon's shocked eyes.
'Food!'
Rhydon roared in happiness as it started to run toward the forest to pick up the tasty fruit. Imagine its surprise when it saw a trail of food leading toward the depth of the forest.
Then, it began to follow the trail as it slowly picked the fruits from the ground one by one.
...
Under a big tree, there was a large filled with various fruits. Rhydon, who had just walked out of the forest, saw the plate and quickly walked toward it.
Raising the large-sized plate with both arms, it then poured the fruits into its mouth. The food that was enough to last a person for a week was finished by the giant in just three seconds.
"Rhydon!"
It munched the fruits joyfully. Well, it seemed that it had already forgotten its previously missing orb. Typical Rhydon. Despite their well-developed brain, they can be forgetful.
"How is it, Weavile? Is the steak delicious?"
"Weavile!"
At this moment, something suddenly caught Rhydon's attention. It was his first time hearing this kind of language. After that, a delightful scent drifted gently through the air.
Rhydon put down the plate in its hand and sniffed the air into his nose. Then, it stood up and closed its eyes as it carefully followed the scent, heading toward the trees several meters away.
It slowly pushed the undergrowth away and stuck its head out. It peeked to the other side, only to see three strange creatures sitting together on the ground, eating some kind of food.
Hisoka happily ate the steak on his plate, but in reality, his heart was already racing at this time. He could feel that the giant Rhydon was hiding in the bushes behind them, staring at their back with its red eyes.
'Kirlia, if that Rhydon shows any hostile behavior, take us away from this place quickly,' Hisoka said through his telepathic link to Kirlia.
'Yeah,' Kirlia nodded quietly.
As for Weavile, since the Dark-type energy in her body would hinder the use of Kirlia's Teleport, Kirlia couldn't take Weavile away with her. However, there was no problem for Weavile to escape Rhydon's attack with her speed.
Fortunately, Rhydon didn't show any intention to attack them. Its simple-mindedness didn't think that Hisoka and the others were the ones who had stolen its gem. If it was someone else, say a human or an intelligent Pokemon, they would definitely think that these strange guys who suddenly appeared were probably the ones that had stolen its treasure.
Rhydon secretly hid behind the trees and observed everything in front of him carefully. After a while, it drooled as it stared at the mouth-watering food on the frying pan.
It finally decided to come out of its hiding place. Rhydon quickly pushed the undergrowth away and walked toward them slowly. Then, it stopped several meters away from them and sat on the ground.
"Rhydon!"
Its eyes were staring at the steaks frying in the pan as it let out a yearning cry.
Hisoka breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that Rhydon didn't attack them. However, he still hadn't let go of his vigilance toward the dinosaur Pokemon. He still wasn't sure whether it would suddenly become crazy like yesterday. It was quite hard for him to grasp the wild Pokemon's erratic behavior.
"What is he talking about?" Hisoka asked curiously.
"He said he wanted to join us," Kirlia replied after translating what Rhydon had said just now.
"Huh!"
After hearing Kirlia's reply, Hisoka finally let go of his tension. Luckily this guy didn't have any bad thoughts. He just wanted to eat some of the food that Hisoka was cooking.
If Rhydon decided to attack them just now, Hisoka would immediately run away from this place with his Pokemon. Their meeting would end there, and he would never bother the giant Pokemon ever again.
"Tell him that he is welcome to join us, but he isn't allowed to attack anyone else," Hisoka whispered.
Kirlia nodded and used her psychic power to fly toward Rhydon. While she might look calm while hovering in front of the giant, she was actually quite nervous at this moment. Although she could Teleport away instantly, it was difficult for her to ignore Rhydon's deterrent brought about by his large size.
Kirlia waved her hand and said, "Yo, big guy. Hisoka allowed you to join us."
"But if you try to do anything else, you'll regret it," she warned.
Kirlia's ethereal voice appeared in Rhydon's mind. At first, he was confused by the strange voice he heard, then he realized that it was the voice of the little green Pokemon in front of him.
"Rhydon!"
He patted his chest confidently.
"Rhydon is a good boy," he said, nodding his head repeatedly.
After listening to Rhydon's promise, Kirlia conveyed his answer to Hisoka.
"Haha!" Hisoka burst out laughing after hearing that.
'What a cute and stupid Pokemon,' he thought while holding his laughter.
Then, Hisoka took a couple of steaks that had been resting on a large plate and handed them to Rhydon, who was sitting next to them.
"How long have you lived in this place?" Hisoka asked.
With the help of Kirlia's telepathic link, Hisoka was able to communicate with Rhydon without any problems.
"I've been here since I was a kid," replied Rhydon while swallowing a steak in a single bite.
"Do you have any friends?" Hisoka asked while placing a few more steaks on Rhydon's plate.
"Friend? What's that?" Rhydon scratched his head.
"Uh, a friend is like a partner. You play together with your partner, go to other places, or hang out with them," Hisoka explained.
"I never had any friends. I always lived by myself," Rhydon replied quietly.
"Would you like to be my partner? I can take you out of here and see the outside world," Hisoka offered sincerely.
"Outside world?" Rhydon suddenly stopped eating the food on his plate.
He then turned toward Hisoka and asked with a longing expression, "Is it fun out there?"
"Yeah, it's fun," Hisoka said with a smile.
"You can also meet a lot of Pokemon that look exactly like you, except they are a bit smaller," he continued.
"No!"
Rhydon shook his head vehemently.
"I can't join you right now. I have to find my missing orb first," he said sadly.
"Uh!"
Hisoka's cheeks reddened in embarrassment. He wondered how this guy would react if he knew that they were the ones who stole its treasure.
He was ashamed to steal the orb from this friendly but gullible Pokemon.
Still, he wasn't simply going to return the orb back. Who knows how he would react? Also, Hisoka liked this Pokemon a lot. He is strong, powerful, and has a strong defense.
It looked like he had to do some trick to help this Rhydon untie the knot in his heart due to the orb's disappearance.
...