When Cole returned home, Alfred had already prepared dinner with the children.
He sent Captain Talonflame to fetch Meili from the orphanage, and everyone enjoyed a pleasant meal together.
After dinner, Cole gathered all the Pokémon from the orchard to meet Purrloin, Gastly, Misdreavus, and Litwick. Everyone welcomed the four new employees warmly, offering to help them adjust to their future work and life in the orchard.
Though naturally guarded, Purrloin displayed an outgoing personality and knew how to charm others. It quickly bonded with Diggersby and the other veteran employees.
Gastly, Misdreavus, and Litwick, however, were shy and wary in their unfamiliar surroundings, hesitant around Cole and the other Pokémon.
According to Blaziken Mask's description, these three Ghost-type Pokémon had once been quite lively and active, but their past experiences seemed to have deeply affected them.
Noticing their difficulty mixing with the others, Cole quietly asked the other Pokémon to give them special attention.
He then led them to the staff dormitory to arrange accommodations for all four newcomers.
The three Ghost-type Pokémon opted to share a house, choosing a corner room. Purrloin selected a room on the top floor of the staff building, preferring the high vantage point. Cole furnished their spaces with necessities — beds, blankets, and food bowls.
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In the evening, Meili took Alfred and Charlie back to the orphanage, while Lily remained on the mountain overnight with some of the little ones. The four new employees also spent their first night on Mt. Ascendant.
Purrloin, having grown comfortable with Cole and developed some trust, slept soundly that night.
The three Ghost-type Pokémon, however, lay awake at first, feeling scared and lost, until a Fletchinder and a small Fletchling passed by on night patrol.
Noticing they were still awake, the birds perched on the windowsill and said:
"Fletch~ Fletch~" — Sleep well, we're patrolling at night, so you'll be safe.
Perhaps reassured by Fletchinder's words, the three Ghost-type Pokémon finally drifted off to sleep.
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The next morning, when Cole got up to wash, he heard movement in the kitchen. After quickly finishing his routine, he went to investigate and found Lily already preparing breakfast.
He rushed to help, "I could have done this when I got up — you should sleep in a bit more."
Lily shook her head, "I'm used to getting up early every day. I wake up on schedule and can't sleep any longer."
Cole sighed helplessly, "You don't even know how to enjoy yourself when you're finally on holiday at home."
She giggled at his words.
After breakfast was ready, Cole went to wake up the sleepyheads — Daisy, Brionne, Helioptile, Larvitar, and several children — for breakfast.
He had planned to check on Mt. Olympus after breakfast, but seeing Brionne and Helioptile arguing as usual gave him a sudden idea.
He waved to the two little ones, "Stop fighting, you two. Come here, I need you for something."
Helioptile, not wanting to deal with the scolding sea lion, quickly ran to his side. Brionne followed reluctantly, not forgetting to glare at the gecko, though it wouldn't even look back.
Just then, Larvitar walked past them with its hands behind its back, its round belly sticking out like a little old man, so Cole called it over too.
"You come along too."
Larvitar: (ಠ_ಠ?) Me? What do their fight have to do with me?
Thinking he had called it because of Brionne and Helioptile's argument, followed along with a confused expression.
Cole took the three Pokémon to his treatment room and had them lie down on the bed.
Time for treatment?
Brionne and Helioptile got excited immediately, not expecting to enjoy a treatment so early in the morning — life was truly wonderful.
Cole was indeed going to give them treatments.
Yesterday, he had used his Psychic Powers to control his Special Energy and organize the tree-shaped energy of the Ganlon tree, greatly improving work efficiency. Today, he wanted to try using the same method to organize energy circuits for multiple Pokémon simultaneously.
After the three Pokémon lay down, instead of touching them as usual, Cole extended his Psychic Power and used it to guide his Special Energy outside his body — a new attempt.
His brows furrowed and his face contorted, as if he was in a tug of war with something. Then, a pure white beam wrapped in light blue light emerged from his palm. The light blue was Cole's Psychic Power, while the pure white beam was his Special Energy.
According to Caitlin, Psychics' mental power appears light blue when weak. As they practice and their mental power gradually strengthens, the light blue transforms to purple, becoming deeper purple the stronger the mental power gets.
For example, Daisy's Psychic Power was light purple, while his was only light blue, and Caitlin's was deep blue.
After the first white beam appeared, a second, third, fourth, and fifth quickly followed.
He discovered that without physical contact, he could only split his Psychic Power into five streams and control five Special Energy beams simultaneously — fewer than the eight he could manage with the Ganlon tree, or twelve when his mom helped.
Since he only needed to treat three Pokémon now, and understanding his limits, he merged two of the beams into the remaining three.
The three Pokémon lay with their eyes closed, waiting for Cole to begin. After a while with no movement from him, they couldn't help but peek, only to see three white beams wrapped in blue light moving toward their bodies.
Startled, they instinctively wanted to struggle, but Cole immediately shouted, "Don't move!"
The three Pokémon froze in place.
"Oh~" "Mm~" "Ah~"
The moment the beams entered their bodies, that familiar treatment sensation returned — it felt wonderful!
Thanks to his experience with the Berry Tree, Cole's process of organizing and purifying the Pokémon's Source Energy went much more smoothly this time. His skill at controlling Special Energy with his Psychic Power was clearly improving.
Cole thought that next time he could try using this method to help Pokémon activate their hidden energy circuits.
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