Serena entered from outside, looking prettily at the two who were playing around, and asked cheerfully.
"Nothing, nothing! Everyone's here now, right? Let's go quickly or the food will get cold."
Jace hurriedly stood up and ushered everyone toward the private room.
"Hot pot can get cold? If you're going to make an excuse, at least make it a better one."
Behind Serena, Lena said with a smile, arm in arm with Simon.
"Quick, quick, food is important!"
After giving a perfunctory response, Jace whispered to Auron, "Don't say anything more—I believe you're really Auron now."
Auron looked at Jace with a smile and also whispered, "Fine, but you're paying for this meal."
"Fine, fine, I'll pay! You're such a cheapskate."
Jace rolled his eyes helplessly and signed this unequal treaty.
The six of them hadn't seen each other in a long time. Laughing and chatting, they arrived at the large private room and each released their Pokémon.
The first one out was Snorlax—after all, how could you eat hot pot without inviting Snorlax?
Then came Crobat, Corphish, Charmeleon, and Elekid. As for Dratini, she'd been at Auron's side the whole time and hadn't entered her Poké Ball once.
"Wow, she's so cute!"
The moment Dratini appeared from behind Auron, the two girls present couldn't help but cry out in excitement, their eyes shining as they prepared to get their hands all over Dratini.
Earlier outside, because Jace had blocked everyone's view of Auron, they hadn't spotted Dratini right away.
Later when entering the room, Jace and Auron were walking at the back due to signing their unequal treaty, and with Dratini following behind Auron, they hadn't seen her either—they'd assumed she was in her Poké Ball the whole time.
Just as the two lunged forward, Dratini nimbly twisted her body and dodged their attack, giggling as she hid behind Auron.
"Dratini, let us pet you, okay~?"
Seeing that the direct approach wouldn't work, Serena immediately deployed her secret weapon—acting cute. This time, even Dratini couldn't resist.
Even Dratini couldn't refuse a pretty girl's coquettish charm. She slowly flew to Serena, who scooped her up in her arms.
"Haha, Dratini, you're so adorable!!"
"Quick, let me hold her too! How can she be this beautiful?!"
While Serena and Lena were getting their hands all over Dratini, Simon, Tim, and Jace also released their Pokémon.
Among Simon's Pokémon was a new, energetic Dreepy, who along with Lena's Dreepy, darted back and forth among the gathered Pokémon, having the time of their lives.
Simon's Haunter had also evolved into Gengar. The evolved Gengar didn't look as mischievous as during his Haunter days—he was now quietly crouching in Simon's shadow.
Although Gengar looked quite calm, if you looked carefully at Simon's shadow, you could see Gengar's crimson eyes still rotating, as if plotting something.
Duskull, still looking like a little old man, floated quietly in the air alongside Shuppet.
"Pseudo-legendaries... I'm so jealous."
Jace admitted it—he was eating lemons. There was no way not to be jealous about this.
The pink Dratini was still being doted on by the two girls. The aloof Dragonair, while maintaining her cool image, kept glancing toward Dratini from time to time.
Not to mention the two Dreepy flying wildly through the air.
However, Tim's newly caught Deino seemed rather shy, staying by Tim's feet the whole time. Whenever Tim moved, he moved too, sticking close and never leaving his side.
"Let's order first."
Seeing Jace staring at the pseudo-legendaries with longing eyes, Auron patted his shoulder with some amusement.
At this suggestion, Snorlax immediately perked up. He quickly grabbed the menu and held it up to Auron, pointing at this and that, having him place orders.
Auron nodded with a smile. Whatever Snorlax pointed at, he ordered, while also ordering some things for himself and the other Pokémon.
He ordered some meat dishes for Charmeleon and small fish and shellfish for Corphish.
After ordering, the food arrived quickly. Everyone had two hot pots each, with Snorlax having his own dedicated pot. Everyone ate happily.
In this short time, Dratini had successfully used her cuteness to become the group's darling.
Whatever she wanted to eat, she would just fly over to whoever had it cooked in their pot. And as long as she went over, she could one hundred percent get what she wanted.
But after eating each time, she would return to Auron's side. This made everyone laugh and say she couldn't be won over—always thinking of Auron and not wanting to be close with them.
"School starts in a couple days. What departments did you all apply to?"
"Battle Department, obviously. What else?"
Jace stuffed a meatball in his mouth and said to Auron unclearly.
"Yeah, us too."
"Mm-hmm."
Lena and Tim also chimed in. The four of them had filled out their applications for the Battle Department.
After all, in current Pokémon universities, the Battle Department was the most popular major and the one most people applied to.
"As for me, I applied to the Coordination Department. What about you?"
Serena looked at Auron with bright, sparkling eyes. They hadn't seen each other in a month—no matter how much she looked at him now, it didn't feel like enough.
"So the four of you are in the same department. As for me, I'm like Serena—we each have our own departments. I applied to the Breeding Department."
Initially, when Serena heard the first half, she was pretty happy, thinking maybe Auron had secretly given her a surprise by applying to the same department.
But after hearing the rest, she realized she'd been overthinking it.
Serena quietly pouted and stuffed a piece of meat in her mouth with displeasure.
"Breeding Department?!"
Everyone was somewhat surprised. They'd thought Auron would apply to the Battle Department like them.
Auron smiled slightly. "What, is there a problem with the Breeding Department?"
"Big problem! You're someone who can beat all of us in battle, but you're not choosing the Battle Department? You chose Breeding?"
Tim said to Auron with dissatisfaction. Where was the justice in this? The strongest in combat chose a non-combat major?
Auron spread his hands. "But my goal has always been to become a Breeder."
Everyone sighed helplessly. "As long as you're happy."
The meal lasted over two hours. Finally, with Snorlax patting his belly contentedly, everyone ended the battle.
"By the way, you just arrived in the capital today—want to have a battle?"
After walking out of the hot pot restaurant, Auron asked everyone cheerfully.
Over this past month, he'd barely had any proper battles. His hands were itching.
"Heh, thanks but no thanks. We just arrived today and want to rest. We're outta here!"
Tim raised his hand, palm facing Auron, expressing his refusal.
"Yeah, same here. Bye~"
Lena nodded, then pulled Simon away and ran off—running very fast, with very happy laughter.