Chapter 171:
October 4th.
After breakfast.
Hayashi Kaede moved a chair and sat at the very front of the Berry Plantation.
The sounds of road construction and building work outside continued to rise and fall. Judging by the progress, the road would clearly be finished before the building.
Originally estimated at fifteen days, it now looked like it would be done in twelve or thirteen days.
The house, on the other hand, would probably take one or two months.
After all, the number of Pokémon and workers assigned wasn't on the same level.
What made Hayashi Kaede curious was that these past few days, he hadn't seen the two students who had challenged him before, nor any other students coming to challenge him?
Logically, the challenge should have had a good effect.
But these past few days, Hayashi Kaede hadn't seen those two high school kids come back, nor had he seen anyone else come to challenge him.
He hadn't deliberately promoted it—he hadn't mentioned it on his video channel or at the Breeding House.
But after so many days, not even a peep—did those two kids just not tell their classmates?
Or maybe it was because the area around the Breeding House had been so noisy lately?
Hayashi Kaede's thoughts wandered.
He'd had a new idea these past few days, based on the Dream Cake he'd given Ryō Fū.
But the chances of success were probably low.
After all, the Dream Cake was made by adding Dream Spinach and Dream Spinach was a mutated vegetable.
What he was thinking was, if only he could alter the dream itself.
He would be able to successfully create a corresponding dish that could become a special, commemorative challenge—one Hayashi Kaede called the Psychic-type Nostalgia kill!
That would allow for more variety in the challenges.
"Eevee~"
An Eevee suddenly darted past in front of him, interrupting his train of thought.
Then another Eevee chased after it. Clearly, the one behind was pursuing the one in front. Just as the leading Eevee was about to hide in the Berry Plantation, the trailing Eevee—wearing a bell—clamped its jaws, and its body glowed white. Before the first Eevee could enter the plantation, it pounced, knocking it to the ground.
The two Eevees tumbled together, their fate being that both of them ended up rolling around, tumbling over each other in front of Hayashi Kaede—one moment he saw brown fur, the next a white, fluffy belly.
"..."
Hayashi Kaede didn't speak, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help turning upward.
Just as he was about to tell the two little ones to be careful not to fall into the muddy area,
A butler-like little Pokémon flew over. Seeing the two still roughhousing Eevees about to fall into the plantation area, it immediately used Psychic to separate them.
"Indeedee, Indeedee!" (You can't play here!)
"Indeedee, Indeedee!" (The soil was just watered this morning; it's still sticky and will get all over you!)
It was, of course, Indeedee (little sister).
It had been picking today's Berries, planning to take them back later for Gardevoir to make into Energy Cubes, when it saw this scene.
"Eevee... Eevee..." (Okay...)
Little nine quickly broke free from the Psychic grip, lowered its head, and muttered something, then said a few things to the other Eevee. The two Eevees' eyes lit up, and they ran off toward the outside of the Breeding House.
They planned to go to Bluestone Trail, take little five and Alolan Vulpix, and play "Pikachu Hero" over there!
Seeing the two Eevees leave, Indeedee (little sister) breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Hayashi Kaede. "Indeedee~"
It was greeting Hayashi Kaede.
This was something its mother had taught it.
Although Hayashi Kaede had never insisted on such formalities, he respected Indeedee's "customs" and returned the greeting.
After a moment's thought, he couldn't help adding, "Indeedee, those Eevees are playing some game. Do you think you could take Goodra along to play too? It needs to get some activity eventually."
"Indeedee?"
Indeedee (little sister) sounded surprised, then seemed to think it made sense, but remembering Mewtwo, it couldn't help looking at Hayashi Kaede.
Faced with such powerful Pokémon, it still felt too weak.
"It's fine, I'll go with you."
Hayashi Kaede was just about to go check on Salamence anyway, so he stood up, took Indeedee (little sister) with him, and headed out of the Breeding House.
...
"Salamence"
In the sky, Salamence shook its body irritably. Watching the busy crowd below, it was starting to feel bored. It wanted to fly, to unleash attacks, to eat...
Hm?
Wrong train of thought...
Salamence quickly shook its head, trying to dispel the ideas from its mind.
But the presence of Mewtwo standing beside it left it without any desire to act.
Mewtwo's strength was something it understood clearly.
The moment it even thought about moving, it would be restrained instantly.
It remembered that Mewtwo used to not have a favorable view of humans either—why had its perspective changed so much now?
Salamence didn't understand.
But just then, a swift orange figure zoomed past below—it was Dragonite, just finished with breakfast.
The workers around it greeted Dragonite familiarly, then briefed it on today's task: adding cement to the fixed molds.
Dragonite needed to fly in the air, holding a Storage Ball, and slowly pour the pre-mixed cement downward.
The task was simple; the main thing was to avoid going beyond the fixed molds and spilling the mixed cement.
Dragonite took the Storage Ball and got to work.
This made Salamence even more confused.
It recognized this Dragonite—it was from the latest batch of Pokémon Team Rocket had captured, later imprisoned next to its own cell. Clearly, Team Rocket had caused it significant harm too.
But now, it was actually helping humans with work.
Mewtwo, beside it, also watched this scene quietly.
Pokémon... Trainers—they were all peacefully busy with their own tasks, working in coordination. The Machoke mixed the cement, the Trainers continuously transported cement and water from outside, and Water-type Pokémon constantly created water.
Some Pokémon, clearly not belonging to a particular Trainer, would still proactively come to help when asked.
Similarly, if a Pokémon carried something and called out to a human, that human could immediately understand the Pokémon's meaning.
Even though they didn't share a language, there were no barriers in communication between them at all.
This was utterly astonishing to Mewtwo.
During its travels, what it usually saw was only smooth communication between Trainers and their own Pokémon.
It was uncommon to see people who could communicate so harmoniously within a group of pokemon and human.
Was this also a way humans and Pokémon coexisted?
Lost in thought, it suddenly turned its head, looking toward the Breeding House. From a distance, it sensed Hayashi Kaede calling it.