It was only that, seen from anyone else's side of things, Gary was a small boy himself. Following Professor Oak about had given him a great deal of experience, but he was still a child.
"Soon, soon." Professor Oak smiled kindly and answered Ash.
That was how the boy was — open, straightforward, with not a scheming bone in him. The way a child ought to be.
His own grandson, on the other hand, had grown up out of all proportion. Rather too much so.
He could not help himself, and put a word to Gary.
"Gary, you ought to learn from Ash. You're still young. Go and find the happiness that belongs to your age. Everything else — you needn't think about it, or do it. Your grandfather is here for all of that."
"Grandpa... I understand."
So he said; but from the look of him there was no telling whether a word of it had gone in.
"This child of mine... never mind."
Seeing him like that, Professor Oak did not know what more to say, and let him be.
"Gary, listen to this. I went to watch a Dodrio giving birth just now, and it chased me — heh heh, luckily I'm fast, he couldn't catch me."
Ash said it with his head up and his chest out, very proud of himself.
"Is that so. Then what's that hole in the seat of your trousers?"
Gary said it darkly.
"Eh, really? There's a hole? I thought something was odd — it's been feeling cold. Gary, have a look for me."
And with that Ash turned round and stuck his backside up for him to look at.
"Get off."
Gary said it with disgust. His friend had left him with nothing to say.
"Just have a look."
"Get off, will you. Wait till you get home and see what Aunt Delia does to you."
Gary was still disgusted; but looking at his friend's backside stuck up in the air, a nasty little impulse took him, and he raised his hand and brought it down.
"Smack—"
"Ah — you dare smack my bottom, I'll fight you for that."
"Hahaha."
The two of them scuffled off in the direction of the house.
His mind had grown up a little, but he had not lost the child in him.
"You must excuse them."
Professor Oak said it with a chuckle, watching the two of them go.
"It's good to see."
Vance nodded and smiled.
"Grandpa, Vance, dinner's ready."
From the house some way off, Daisy Oak was calling.
"Come along, let's go and eat. Just a plain family meal at my place today."
"Then I'll trouble you."
The two of them came to the house. Daisy Oak was already waiting at the door, and not far away Ash and Gary were still scuffling.
Inside, the table was already laid with steaming dishes, good to look at and good to smell. Plainly she could cook.
"While I was away you can't have cooked once, Grandpa. You've been living on instant noodles, haven't you. I've cleared out a great pile of them. Honestly, I tell you and you never listen."
Daisy Oak scolded him. Since coming home she had already cleared away a great many instant-noodle packets, which meant her grandfather had been eating them constantly.
She had told him many times and he never listened. He would not have a housekeeper in to cook, either. He simply loved instant noodles.
"Hahaha, all right, all right, your grandfather will be more careful next time. And I never let Gary go hungry — when I was busy he went and ate at Ash's house. You know perfectly well what Aunt Delia's cooking is like."
Professor Oak said it with a laugh and came and sat down at the table.
Children were forever dropping in on the neighbours for a meal; it was a common enough thing in Pallet Town, so he saw no need for a housekeeper. When he was hungry and did not feel like cooking, he went out and cadged a meal himself.
Ash and Gary already had their bowls and chopsticks in hand, ready to start.
It was only out of regard for Vance, today's guest, that they had not begun. Otherwise the two of them would have been at it already.
The moment Vance sat down at the table, they started.
"Mm... Daisy's cooking really is good."
Ash said it flatteringly after a few mouthfuls.
"Hee hee. Your mother was the one who taught me this, you know."
"Hahaha, was she? No wonder — I was wondering why it tasted like my mum's cooking."
Ash scratched his head and laughed.
"Honestly. You were there yourself when my sister was learning it at your house. Your memory really is bad."
"Hahaha, that doesn't matter. Right, I'm starting."
Ash ate fast, and with great gusto.
"I really can't cope with you."
Gary shook his head — and joined in all the same, fighting Ash for the food.
"Hee hee. Grandpa, Vance, you two eat as well."
Daisy Oak laughed quietly beside them and urged the two of them on.
"Right."
Vance took a few casual mouthfuls. Mm, it tasted very good — only a little short of his own.
And so, with no difficulty at all, Vance sat down to dinner in Professor Oak's own house.
To anyone else, a chance like that was one you could hardly beg for.
There was no telling how many people dreamed of coming to Professor Oak's house and sharing a meal with him, and Vance had come by it entirely by accident.
Vance himself made little of it, and that was simply how it was.
"Vance, you're a Breeder as well?"
Daisy Oak said it in surprise. It had come out in the talk over the table.
And as it happened, she was a Breeder too.
"Yes, as it turns out. Though I only call myself one — I've never gone in to be certified."
Vance said it with a smile of his own.
Some Breeders, for their work or to prove what they could do, went to the proper department and sat an examination, and were given a breeding certificate accordingly.
"From the way you see things, I'd say Intermediate at the very least. Advanced wouldn't surprise me either."
Daisy Oak answered. From their talk just now she could make a rough estimate of his level as a Breeder.
And at the same time she was shaken by how frightening his gifts were.
She was a Breeder herself, and young as she was, she was already an Advanced Breeder.
But that rested on the advantages she had had: born into the Oak family, taught by famous names from childhood, and with no small talent of her own.
It had taken hard work on top of all that to reach it.