In Lake City, a café named "Slow House" quietly opened its doors today. There were no celebratory cannons, no flower baskets, and no promotional videos on TikTok.
It was as if it were just like the neighboring shops, opening in the morning and closing in the evening.
"Slow~"
Inside the café, a Slowking was teaching another. The former was slightly larger than the latter, who listened with a serious expression.
The entire café had a quaint, antique vibe, with various shelves placed around the room holding an assortment of small items.
There were photographs, toys, medals, and figurines.
All of these items were related to Julian and his Pokémon.
The photographs mostly featured Julian posing with his Pokémon, though there were also solo shots of the Pokémon themselves.
The toys were ones that Love had bought for Julian when he was young. However, as Julian was a transmigrator with an adult's consciousness, he found these toys far too childish. Still, to make Love happy, he had pretended to like them back then.
The medals were ones he had won from various competitions during his school days.
The figurines were mostly bought by Celebi and Jirachi. Julian had forcibly brought them here, much to the distress of the two little ones.
Besides these items, near the left-side window on the first floor, a road bike was parked.
Yes, it was the very bike that had been stolen from Julian last time.
Thanks to the full-force efforts of the Cloud City authorities, this road bike, which had captured the internet's attention, was smoothly recovered without any damage.
Subsequently, Julian placed the bike here, with a Boar-Head mask resting on its seat.
Aside from the Slowking, Julian was naturally present in the shop as well.
In addition, there were other Pokémon in the shop.
There were over a dozen Slowpoke. The café itself was opened by Slowking to provide a home for Slowpoke, so it was only natural to have quite a few of them.
These Slowpoke also served as the café's waitstaff. Although they moved slowly, they were steady. Using Psychic to carry the coffee cups, there was no worry about spills.
Furthermore, there were three Skitties. They were lazily lounging on chairs, with the morning sunlight streaming through the window and warming their fur.
These three were also stray Pokémon taken in by Slowking.
Julian was currently sitting across from them, playing on his phone.
Suddenly, he felt something tugging at his pant leg.
Looking down, Julian saw a little Poochyena tugging at his pant, trying to pull him somewhere.
This Poochyena had collapsed at the shop's entrance, covered in wounds, while the store was being renovated. Naturally, it also became a member of the café.
After a period of care and recovery, the Poochyena's physical condition had returned to normal, and its spirits were high. Though it was still somewhat thin, that would disappear with a little more time.
"What's wrong?"
Julian picked up the little dog and placed it on his lap.
A Poké Ball at his waist immediately began to shake violently.
Arcanine: 'You can't hold it! You only need me, your one and only doggo!'
Faced with the fiercely jealous Arcanine, Julian silently placed the Poochyena back on the ground.
Otherwise Arcanine would probably burst out.
Its size wasn't suited for this café—it would likely knock over tables and chairs.
Then Julian would have to discipline Arcanine, and Slowking would discipline him.
So for now he could only go along with the dog.
Besides, Julian had never even considered catching this Poochyena.
Having one home-wrecking dog was enough. With two, would there even be a home left?
Poochyena looked at Julian, slightly confused. Julian smiled and said, "Go tell Slowking to bring me a cup of coffee."
Poochyena nodded excitedly, wagging its tail as it quickly ran to Slowking.
In the shop, it played the role of a runner. The Skitties were responsible for being cute, the Slowpoke were the waitstaff, and Slowking naturally served as both the barista and pastry chef.
"Woof woof woof!"
Poochyena barked at Slowking.
"Slow~"
Slowking nodded, then looked at the other Slowking and said, "You make this cup."
"Slow~"
The Slowking nodded, feeling a bit nervous. Although it had been learning from Slowking for a while—and with a Slowking's intelligence, learning to brew coffee came quickly—mastering it required hard work.
Soon, a fragrant cup of coffee was brought over by a Slowpoke, with the Slowking following behind.
Watching Julian taste the coffee, the Slowking felt both tense and hopeful.
"Not bad. It's not as good as Slowking's, but it's certainly acceptable."
Julian nodded.
When it came to coffee, he really hadn't tasted any better than what his Slowking made.
This cup had about half the flavor of Slowking's brew. Even at just fifty percent, among the nearly hundred coffee shops in the area, this flavor was already quite impressive.
After all, the barista was a Slowking. While a few other coffee shops also had Pokémon serving as baristas, none could match a Slowking in intelligence or capability.
Having a Slowking work as a barista was actually a very extravagant thing. The market value of a single Slowking was at least at the Elite-level.
Not using it as a battle Pokémon or a research assistant, but instead having it be a barista with no real prospects—wasn't that a waste?
"Wasn't this place a shop that specialized in selling Pokéblocks before? How did it turn into a café?"
Nina, a sophomore at Lake University, was shopping with her boyfriend when she noticed that a store she used to frequent had changed.
"Slow House…"
"It looks like a café themed around Slowpoke," her boyfriend, Leo, remarked.
Cafés themed around specific Pokémon were quite common on the market, so it wasn't particularly surprising.
Some cafés even featured Pokémon like Caterpie or Weedle as their main theme, going for the whole 'I'm different from everyone else, I want to stand out, I want my own style' angle—then they went bankrupt.
"Wow, it smells amazing! Let's go check it out."
Through the crack of the door, the rich aroma of coffee drifted out.
Nina was a little tempted. Leo nodded and pulled her inside as they pushed the door open.
"Woof~"
The runner boy, Poochyena, appeared in front of them, gesturing for them to take any seat they liked.
The first floor was quite spacious. The couple's attention was immediately drawn to the café's decor. Julian had just gone upstairs earlier, so they naturally didn't see him.
"These photos have Champion Walker in them, and they're all of his Pokémon! Could this café be opened by Champion Walker?"
Nina exclaimed with a mix of surprise and delight as she looked at the various photos displayed on the shelves.
"It must be! Look, there are trophies here from Champion Walker's high school and university days," Leo replied excitedly.
Pointing at the trophies, he was then drawn to the road bike parked nearby.
Seeing it, he said with great certainty, "No doubt about it—this café is definitely opened by Champion Walker! The road bike that was stolen a while back is right here. So it's been recovered already. And there's even the boar-head mask from when Champion Walker cosplayed!"
*****
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