The next day, early morning.
(Time to get up and train.)
Li Wei's personal alarm clock, Lucario, woke him up promptly at seven.
Li Wei stretched lazily, then rubbed Arcanine's head, waking him up.
"Woof woof woof!" (Remember this, you'll get yours tonight!)
Metagross had already gotten up and was by the bay window, reading the "metagross breeding manual" that Steven had given him.
Metagross had read this booklet countless times; this was a version Li Wei had reprinted for him.
Drakloak, lying in his cotton nest, opened his sleepy eyes, "Drooloo..."
This was Drakloak's first night in his new home.
With a cotton nest and heating, it was much better than the cold wooden house on the mountaintop.
It wasn't that the old place was bad, it was just too cold in winter.
Fortunately, Drakloak was born in spring, which allowed him to withstand the cold winter later and grow and evolve into Drakloak.
Dragapult did not sleep in Li Wei's room; Li Wei had specially arranged a room for him to store letters.
After catching Drakloak, Li Wei had a total of four Pokémon.
Lucario, who was Gym-level Advanced,
Arcanine, who was just Gym-level Intermediate,
Metagross, who was Professional-level Intermediate,
Drakloak, who was Veteran-level Intermediate.
If Dragapult, who was Gym-level Advanced, was also counted, Li Wei could even go challenge the League.
Even with only five Pokémon, his Pokémon's individual strength was high.
But that was just a thought; Li Wei had not won a single badge yet.
Just like when he first caught Metang, Li Wei also needed to formulate a training plan for Drakloak.
The Identification Eye provided Drakloak's information.
[Name]: Drakloak
[Attribute] Dragon, Ghost
[Gender]: Male
[Ability]: Infiltrator (Can attack through barriers or Substitute.)
[Skills]: Infestation, Pursuit, Hex, Agility, U-turn, Double Hit, Dragon Dance, Phantom Force...
[Strength Rating]: Veteran (Intermediate)
Drakloak's strength was indeed a bit higher than Metang's at the start.
Drakloak already possessed combat capability, making him much simpler to train than starting from scratch with Dreepy.
Drakloak seemed to really like the top of Li Wei's head, resting his triangular head there.
"You can absorb this Dragon Scale."
"Drooloo!"
Seeing the black Dragon Scale, Drakloak's eyes lit up, and he quickly took it.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Drakloak swallowed the Dragon Scale, which belonged to Black Rayquaza, at a visible speed.
The Dragon power contained within the Dragon Scale would help Drakloak slowly grow.
As for how much stronger he would become? Li Wei didn't know either.
This was his first time seriously raising a Dragon-type Pokémon.
Especially since this Dragon Scale belonged to Black Rayquaza, Li Wei was even less sure.
On the other side, inside the room.
Dragapult was deep in slumber.
In his dream, Meria opened her arms and embraced him, her slender fingers gently stroking his scales, feeling his body temperature.
"Dragapult, are you alright?"
"Grumble!"
"Do you miss me a lot? I miss you too!"
Meria held Dragapult tightly, feeling both their heartbeats.
...
"Time's up, I have to go now."
Meria gently kissed Dragapult's head.
"Grumble!"
(Don't go!)
Dragapult suddenly woke up.
He seemed to have had a dream.
For a moment, Dragapult couldn't distinguish between reality and dream.
Although the ending wasn't great, it was a beautiful dream for him.
"Drakloak, Phantom Force!"
The sound from outside the window caught Dragapult's attention.
Through the window screen, he could see Drakloak training.
Phantom Force collided with Arcanine's Flare Blitz.
"Kohkin!"
"Lucario!"
Lucario and Metagross, as seniors, mostly praised Drakloak.
"You did very well."
Li Wei gently stroked Drakloak's head and handed him a few Energy Cubes.
"Drooloo!"
Drakloak narrowed his eyes and nudged with his large head.
Dragapult understood that Meria had already left him, and he had to continue carrying Meria's part with him.
Leaving the room, Dragapult was suddenly called.
"Dragapult, want to join us?"
Dragapult recognized the woman in front of him, Li Wei's mother, Comrade Wenhui.
"Grumble?"
Comrade Wenhui smiled: "To drink tea."
Comrade Wenhui always brewed herself a pot of tea before the Breeding Center opened in the morning.
Meria also happened to love drinking tea.
"Grumble!"
Somehow, Dragapult chose to accept.
"Please."
The amber-like tea reflected Dragapult's squinted eyes, and the rich tea aroma filled the living room.
Dragapult sniffed the tea, lowered his head, and began to sip the fragrant tea, savoring it carefully, as if recalling the past from the tea.
Comrade Wenhui did not converse with Dragapult, merely silently brewing tea, drinking six small cups by herself.
Because she knew that Dragapult was not drinking tea, but reminiscing about the person he drank tea with.
Li Wei had already explained Dragapult's story to his parents last night.
Hearing that Dragapult had waited for Meria for twenty years gave them a deeper understanding of the emotions of Pokémon.
Comrade Wenhui's age was actually similar to Dragapult's.
"Grumble."
Comrade Wenhui smiled: "You're welcome. All right, I should go to work now."
...
The second phase of the main quest was to have 1000 customers (including Pokémon) believe that his family's Breeding Center was the best Breeding Center in Jubilife City.
Quest Progress (58 / 1000)
Li Wei's family's Breeding Center was gradually gaining a foothold in Jubilife City, with quite a few repeat customers.
But it was strange today that the customer traffic was much lower than usual.
Most people who came here were for Pokémon bathing or fur care; there were no big orders like learning skills or breeding for evolution at all.
Comrade Leon was so idle he started yawning.
"That's really strange, how can there be none?"
With no Pokémon to train skills, Comrade Leon had nowhere to display his martial arts.
As for Pokémon care, Comrade Leon was far behind Li Wei now.
Comrade Wenhui, calculating accounts nearby, clacked her calculator.
"It's alright, we've been so busy lately, consider this a day or two of rest, and we can also plan for Pokémon breeding."
This Breeding Center's route from the beginning was "small but excellent," providing high-quality service.
The advantage of this was that it wouldn't completely squeeze out the survival space of other Breeding Houses, allowing them to make a living.
The significant benefit was that it could build the Breeding Center's reputation and establish it as the benchmark for Breeding Houses in Jubilife City.
These were the Zhuqing City Mayor's original words.
PokémonTrainers in Jubilife City have long suffered from a lack of quality Breeding Houses!
Just then...
"B-b-bad news!"