"So, Maura, where are you headed off to now?" Davin asked as they walked through Route 117; he had decided to follow her back to Verdanturf Town.
"Well... to the north of Mauville City, there's a place called Fallarbor Town, where there's a contest, but near there is Lavaridge Town, which has a gym." She sighed. "I don't know which one to go to first."
Davin grinned. "Well, just choose what you feel you need to do most. In gym battles, you're going to have to do more training since you're holding back Blaziken for contests. As for contests, you only have one ribbon. You're gonna need more than that to enter the Grand Festival."
Maura thought for a moment and nodded. "You're right! I'll head to Fallarbor Town first!"
"Good." Davin nodded.
"But... there's something else I'm trying to decide..."
"What is it?"
Maura took out her ribbon case and opened it to see her ribbon. "Since I only have one ribbon, I'm thinking of maybe skipping gym battles for a while and focus on my contests. After all, I've got three badges and, if necessary, I can use Blaziken to get me out of tough spots. I wonder..."
"Follow your heart." Davin stated, making her look at him. "You're the one who's on this journey, so it's up to you to decide whether to do something or not. It doesn't matter which one you choose because you'll always succeed if you work hard." His smile lessened. "At least, that's what I learned while I was in Varex."
Maura stared at her ribbon and announced, "Then it's settled! I'm going to concentrate on contests and skip the next few gyms!"
"That's great!" He nodded.
When they arrived in Verdanturf Town, Maura suddenly shouted, "Oh no! I forgot!"
"Forgot what?" Davin tilted his head.
She turned to him. "You see, at my last contest, I used up all of my Pokeblock, so I have to make more."
"Pokeblock?" Davin asked in confusion.
"What? You've never heard of Pokeblock?!" She said, stunned.
"Well, it's not exactly known where I come from."
Maura suddenly grinned. "Well, in that case..." She grabbed Davin's arm and led him to a big red building.
"Hey! Where are you taking me?"
"To the contest hall, dummy." She said jokingly.
"That's a contest hall? It looks different from the ones in Varex." Davin noticed.
"They're different in all regions. You get used to it." She said.
When they entered, Maura led Davin to a table with a machine that had four red diamond-shaped buttons surrounding a round dome-circle.
"This is a Berry Blender." she explained. "These are what people use to make Pokeblock, which is an edible treat for Pokemon. Most trainers use Pokeblock to make their appearance more presentable in contests while others just use it for a snack to give their Pokemon."
"Interesting." Davin noted. "So how are they made?"
"You put in different kinds of berries and the machine will automatically blend them, depending on which button you press." Maura said.
She went into her handbag and pulled out a box case, which was revealed to have berries when she opened them. "The flavor of the Pokeblock depends on what berries you use." She took out a piece of paper. "This list states which of my Pokemon prefer what kind of Pokeblock, so I won't forget."
"Sounds like fun! Can you show me how it works?"
She nodded. She took out a red berry that was round and had tiny spike-like things on it and began cutting it up with a knife, which she pulled out from her bag. "You have to cut the berries, so that they'll be blendable." Next, she took a small blue berry and began cutting. "The berry that I'm cutting is called an Oran berry; the other one's called a Tamato berry." Then, she opened the container, placed the berries in and pressed the diamond button that was northeast, which made the dome-circle rotate. "And that's it. Now, we just wait."
"That's awesome! I didn't know you could do something like that!" Davin was getting more and more excited as he watched.
Suddenly, the dome-circle stopped and three purple cubes popped out from the bottom. Maura gathered them in her hand and showed them to Davin. "And that's how you make Pokeblock!"
"So, what kind of Pokeblock did you make?" Davin asked.
"They're spicy. Both Tamato and Oran berries have spice in their powder, so I use them both when I need to make spicy Pokeblock."
Maura took out a Poke ball. "Blaziken, come on out!" The Blaze Pokemon appeared in a flash of light. She handed it one of the Pokeblock. "Look. Here's some Pokeblock for you."
"Blaz!" It excitedly took the cube and plopped it into its mouth, causing it to grin from the fabulous taste.
"Being a Fire-type Pokemon, Blaziken loves the spicy kind." She explained. "Once I started feeding these to it, it constantly begged for more."
"Cool..." Davin said.
Maura turned to him. "You probably don't have a Pokeblock case, do you?"
"Pokeblock case?"
She took out something that looked like a pez dispenser with a Poke ball on it. "Like the name suggests, you use these to carry the Pokeblock that you make." She put the remaining spicy Pokeblock she had into the case.
"Like I said, they're not known in Varex, so obviously I wouldn't have one." He said.
"Well, today's your lucky day!" She took out another one from her bag. "I was going to use this extra one to store more Pokeblock when my first one was full, but you can have it if you want."
"Really? Thanks!" He took it from her and looked at it with awe. "Hey, Maura? If it's alright with you, can I use some of your berries to make my own Pokeblock?"
She nodded. "Sure. I've got plenty to spare, not to mention I can always pick some from the trees nearby."
After hearing a lecture from Maura about the flavors of Pokeblock, what berries contain which flavor, and how a Pokemon's nature depends on its taste, Davin borrowed a few Cheri, Pecha, Rawst, Chesto, Persim, Bluck, Mago and Lum berries to create four kinds of Pokeblock with the colors blue, green, red, and pink.
He let out all of his Pokemon. Judging from instinct, he gave Ros the blue ones, Halo the pink ones, Luck the red ones and Ferro the green ones.
"Everyone, these are Pokeblock. Try them and see if they're good."
Each of them took a bite, which resulted in Ros sticking his tounge out in disgust, Halo fluttering her wings happily, Luck rapidly brushing his tongue off to get rid of the taste, and Ferro making a face like he just sucked on a lemon.
"That bad, huh?" Davin sheepishly grinned.
Maura laughed at their reactions. "Looks like your Beautifly is the only one that's enjoying it."
"Really?" Davin was so focused on his male Pokemon disliking it that he forgot to see that his only female one was eating with a happy expression.
"So is it good, Halo?"
"Beau, Beautifly!" She chirped a 'Yes'.
Davin pondered. "Let's see... from what you told me, Maura, the pink ones represent the sweet flavor, the red ones represent spicy, the blue ones dry, and the green one's bitter, which means that Halo prefers sweet flavored Pokeblock because of its Jolly nature, right?"
"That's right! You're getting it, Davin!" Maura cheered.
Davin took out his Pokedex and looked up the data on his Pokemon. "Okay. According to the Pokedex, Ros has an Adamant nature while Luck has a Calm nature and Ferro has a Naive nature. So..."
Davin gave the spicy Pokeblock to Ros, the bitter Pokeblock to Luck, and the extra sweet Pokeblock to Ferro. "Try them now."
The guys were a bit hesitant, but they each took a bite, resulting in Ros's eyes widening in amazement, Ferro humming to himself as he ate, and Luck licking the green Pokeblock like it was an ice cream cone.
"Problem solved!" Davin rejoiced. "Now I know what kind of Pokeblock to make for you all!"
They all rejoiced as they kept eating their new treat with happy faces.
