Emboar lay motionless on the ground.
Lilligant's first Gym battle ended with a three-Pokémon sweep, even though she was defending the Gym.
The flamboyant man returned Emboar to its Poké Ball.
"You worked hard, Emboar. I was too overconfident."
Gardenia walked over with Lilligant, then took a badge from her assistant's hand.
"This is your certification for challenging the Gym."
Gardenia held the badge in her hand and handed it to the flamboyant man.
"This is the Forest badge. I hope that in your upcoming journey, you won't be so careless again. Pay more attention to other factors in battle. Battling isn't just about using moves."
Listening to Gardenia's words, Lucas looked at the smile on her face—bright, sunny, and full of confidence.
It seemed that Gardenia, having returned to being a Gym Leader, had become much more confident.
Lucas smiled. The strength of a Gym Leader was, after all, stronger than most trainers. Gym Leaders below the Elite Four were definitely not as weak as they appeared in the games.
Lucas looked at Lilligant and saw that she was looking at him, as if asking how she did and wanting praise.
Although it might not be very friendly to Emboar and the others, what could he do when his Lilligant was so beautiful?
Mimicking Machamp, he gave her a thumbs-up and grinned.
"gengar sound——"
As expected of you, Lilligant!
After glancing at Gengar, who was doing the same gesture beside him, Lucas secretly tugged on its tail.
Whoosh~
After receiving the Forest badge, the flamboyant man bowed solemnly.
Once the flamboyant man left, Lucas also stepped forward to bid farewell to Gardenia.
Gardenia reluctantly said goodbye to Lilligant.
Seeing her reluctance, Lucas was a bit speechless and finally just said, "If you have time, you can come to the Breeding House for tea and a chat. It's not far, anyway."
Hearing this, Gardenia nodded quickly.
She quickly promised that she would be there soon.
Then Lucas left the Gym with Gengar and the others.
Gardenia originally wanted to see Lucas off at the train station, but another trainer arrived, wanting to challenge the Gym.
Lucas looked from a distance.
Recognizing the familiar dead fish eyes, Lucas dismissed the idea of staying to watch the battle, then opened the taxi door and got in.
Given Paul's strength, he should be able to win the challenge.
The train continued to move. Gengar and Vulpix pressed their cheeks against the train window, carefully watching the scenery outside.
Seeing Gengar's body, which was blocking the entire view of the window, Lucas frowned.
Should he perhaps control their diet a bit?!
He patted Gengar's backside; it seemed a bit big. And Vulpix, it felt heavier than usual when held.
As Lucas was thinking about this, Gengar and Vulpix's bodies suddenly shivered.
Gengar quickly turned around.
Who? Who tried to ambush me?!
After looking around and finding no one, it exchanged glances with Vulpix, confirming that someone had indeed tried to ambush them just now.
Finally, it looked at Lucas, who was deep in thought.
I can tell you're not a good person just by looking at you.
With that, Gengar directly licked him.
Lucas:? !
Why does my body feel tingly?!
Walking out of the train station, pulling Gengar's ear, Lucas was furious.
Gengar's ear was held in Lucas's hand, its entire body floating in the air, moving with Lucas. From a distance, it looked as if Lucas was dragging it along.
At the same time, its index fingers were touching each other in front of its chest, looking utterly wronged.
What kind of Pokémon uses Lick on its trainer when he's deep in thought?!
He fiercely tugged at the corner of its mouth, then mounted Rapidash, who had come to pick him up, and galloped towards the Breeding House.
Back at the Breeding House, Lucas found Mr. and Mrs. Fujino pruning the flower bushes at the entrance of the Breeding House, as well as the branches of some berry trees that were blocking the view.
"Oh, Lucas is back?"
Mrs. Fujino saw Lucas dismount Rapidash and exclaimed in surprise, covering her mouth.
Lucas nodded, looking at the berry trees at the entrance of the Breeding House.
"They've already borne fruit so quickly?"
"Yes, maybe it's because they're growing at the Breeding House's entrance, so they grew faster."
Mr. Fujino made a joke.
Lucas laughed, then he looked around. The other berry trees on the Breeding Road had also started to bear fruit.
Should it be attributed to the wonders of the Pokémon world, or to the influence of his Breeding House?
They had only been planted a little over a month ago, and they had already grown and borne fruit.
Truly amazing.
Although they were just the most common and ordinary berries, it was already good enough if they could quench the thirst of passing trainers or other people.
"Where's Shauna?"
"She's playing with Mime Jr. and the others in the backyard."
Lucas nodded, then walked into the Breeding House.
Lilligant and the others ran out of their Poké Balls on their own. Lilligant returned behind the counter, continuing to act as the face of the Breeding House with Roselia.
Meanwhile, Vulpix and the others had already run off to the backyard.
Da da da da.
"Uncle!"
A sound of small shoes tapping on the floor rang out, and the next second, a small figure pounced into his arms.
Lucas bent down and picked her up, "Did you miss Uncle?"
"Mm."
Shauna still held a small sand shovel in her hand. She had been shoveling sand to build a sandcastle. When she saw Vulpix run over, she knew Lucas was back and ran over without even having time to put down her shovel.
"Then how about we eat something delicious tonight?"
"Mm!"
Lucas playfully tweaked her small nose, put her down, took the water Mrs. Fujino handed him, and drank it all in one gulp.
Then he asked about the situation at the Breeding House for the past two days.
Mrs. Fujino told Lucas about the rare items sold in the last two days, and about a trainer who came to board a Pokémon and hoped to get guidance to teach his Machamp Dynamic Punch. She and Mr. Fujino had recorded all of this and left his phone number.
Lucas took the notebook and read it, nodding.
Well-organized and clear at a glance.
Lucas realized that whether it was Gary, James, or Mr. and Mrs. Fujino, their statistics seemed much better than his own.
Mrs. Fujino also mentioned that Miss Jenny had delivered some pokémon eggs early this morning.
After hearing this, Lucas walked towards the hatching room and called out to Gengar. Gengar phased through the wall and, seeing Lucas extend his hand towards it, shrugged its shoulders.
Mrs. Fujino placed the stethoscope in Lucas's hand. Only then did Lucas remember that he had left the stethoscope in the Breeding House before going out.
Lucas gave Gengar a sheepish smile.
Then he began to examine this batch of pokémon eggs.
There were thirty-five in total, and they included some relatively rare Pokémon.
It seemed to be a subsidy from the Alliance.
He did a quick check; all of them were very healthy.
Among them were a few with good aptitudes.
For example, the one Lucas held in his hand now.
[Shinx's Egg] [Hatching Progress: 3/30]
[It seems to have inherited a certain move from its parents.]
Looking at the description, Lucas's heart bloomed with joy. Perhaps it could fetch a slightly higher price than an ordinary Shinx egg.
He glanced at the hatching room again; it seemed he needed to buy more incubators.
Taking the notebook from Gengar's hand, Lucas wrote down the items he needed to buy and decided to go to Twinleaf Town to purchase them all when he had time another day.
Just as Lucas was checking what else the Breeding House needed to buy, Shauna came running over again, pattering.
"Uncle."
Lucas lowered his head, "What's wrong?"
"Can we go to the Lake tomorrow?"
The Lake? The Lake area? Why not? The Lake area had the Azumarill and Golduck tribes, so Lucas didn't have to worry about Shauna falling into the water or anything.
Mrs. Fujino, who was nearby, explained, "The trainer who came to board his Pokémon this morning said Shauna was very beautiful, just like Lake Verity, so Shauna probably became interested in Lake Verity because of that."
Lucas suddenly understood, so it was Lake Verity.
He remembered that Mesprit, one of the three Lake Guardians, the God of Emotion who governs human feelings, resided in Lake Verity.
Lucas looked at Shauna blinking her big, sparkling eyes and smiled.
He checked the time; it wasn't very late.
"How about we have dinner at Lake Verity tonight?"
Lake Verity was conveniently located between Twinleaf Town and Sandgem Town, so it wasn't too far from his Breeding House.
"Just consider it a picnic? Even if it's just one meal and not far away.
As soon as he finished speaking, Shauna jumped for joy.
Everyone else and the Pokémon also had no objections.
No sooner said than done; long-planned was far inferior to spontaneous.
Tonight's meal was hotpot. Gothitelle took Mime Jr. back to the kitchen to prepare ingredients. Gengar carried the large pot on its back. Tonight, they decided to use this pot for a super large hotpot feast.
Soon, the ingredients were ready. After entrusting the Azumarill and Golduck tribes to watch over the Breeding House, Lucas led them towards Lake Verity.
Mime Jr. was overjoyed to see its sister evolve. It held Gothitelle's little hand all the way, while Gothitelle smiled and used Confusion to control the ingredients floating in the air.
Shauna was held by Mr. and Mrs. Fujino, talking non-stop along the way. Chingling on her shoulder also responded continuously, and pleasant sounds kept coming along the way.
Lucas, meanwhile, held his precious daughter's hand and used one hand to push away the large pot in front of him.
"You're blocking my way."
Gengar, thinking of the delicious food it would have soon, didn't argue with Lucas. It floated to the very front of the group, carrying the large pot on its back.
It picked up a stick from the road and, while recounting the story of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that Lucas had told it, continuously struck the wild grass on both sides of the road with the stick.
This caused the Bug Pokémon inside to constantly flee.
In the end, Gengar simply chose to Pound the bushes where Wurmple and other Pokémon were hiding.
Demons, take this, my Ninja Ghost Turtle's Haphazard Staff Style!
They soon arrived at Lake Verity and found a relatively open spot. Gothitelle began to get busy. Gengar put down the large pot from its back, placed it on the stand Gothitelle had set up, then happily ran off to find firewood.
Lucas, with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Fujino, Gothitelle, and Mime Jr., began to prepare the ingredients.
Soon, Gengar returned with a large pile of firewood. Watching Lucas put down the Breeding House's special hotpot base, and with Lucas's command, "Gengar, light the fire," an eerie flame instantly shot out from its hand, igniting the firewood.
Water was added, and when the heat was just right, Lucas put a large amount of prepared ingredients into the pot.
Before long, a fragrance instantly permeated the entire Lake Verity.
It also attracted many wild Pokémon.
They dared not approach rashly because Gengar and the others' aura was too powerful.
Lucas and his group were not afraid. Earlier, Gothitelle had already spread its psychic power, monitoring every movement around them.
If there was a threat, it would be the first to discover it.
Everyone and every Pokémon stared intently at the food in the large pot.
A gurgling sound rose.
Seeing the meatballs float, Lucas extended his chopsticks.
"I'll try if it's cooked."
Then, under the gaze of everyone and every Pokémon, he tossed a meatball into his mouth.
He bit into it, and the juice inside was so hot it made him gasp.
He swallowed it whole. The spiciness was just right. Looking at the expectant expressions around him.
He remained expressionless, "I'll try again. It was too hot just now."
Following suit, Lucas ate five or six meatballs in a row.
Just as he was about to reach for another one with his chopsticks, his chopsticks were caught by another pair of chopsticks.
He looked up and saw Gothitelle staring intently at him.
It turned to Gengar, motioning for Gengar to try.
Gengar nodded, then picked up a meatball and, without fear of the heat, threw it directly into its mouth.
"gengar sound——"
So hot—— so delicious——
I knew he was tricking us.
Immediately, everyone and every Pokémon turned to stare at Lucas.
Lucas felt the murderous gaze, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and swallowed.
A thought flashed through his mind.
"Hurry and eat, Gengar's almost done!"
Gengar was secretly eating its second meatball.
"gengar sound?! ∑(A|II)"
I've only eaten one!!
As soon as Lucas finished speaking, the other Pokémon and Shauna instantly joined the battlefield.
A great battle was about to erupt.
After taking out a portion for Luxray, Rapidash, and the others, Lucas also joined the battle.
Even Mr. and Mrs. Fujino were unavoidable.
The sky gradually darkened, but by Lake Verity, laughter—or perhaps shouts of scolding—still filled the air!
"Gengar, if you take anything from my bowl again, I swear I'll beat you!"
"gengar sound—
—"
Nyah nyah nyah, who cares about you.
Gengar, in front of Lucas, abruptly threw a piece of meat into its mouth.
It chewed happily.
The stronger their affection normally, the fiercer their battle at the dinner table.
There was one Pokémon that no one could outcompete.
Finally, Lucas couldn't take it anymore and got it a small pot to eat by itself.
Looking at Machamp, who was overjoyed and took half of the food, Lucas felt a bit exhausted.
Who could compete with it? It simply snapped your chopsticks with its own, then enjoyed the delicious food itself.
Looking at the broken chopsticks scattered on the ground, Lucas's heart ached.
Hotpot, it's only fun when you're fighting for food.
Lucas sat on the grass by Lake Verity, reaching out to pinch Gengar, who was sitting nearby eating snacks, and thought.
The cleanup work was left to Gothitelle and Mime Jr. This time, Mr. and Mrs. Fujino also helped. Lucas, meanwhile, sat by the Lake with Shauna.
Lucas took off his jacket and draped it over Shauna to prevent her from catching a cold.
He wondered if he would be able to see the legendary God of Emotion, Mesprit.
After chatting with Shauna for a while, and once everything was tidied up, Lucas and the others took their trash, used soil to bury the ashes from their fire, and then headed home.
The next second, Shauna turned her head. In the center of the Lake.
A transparent Pokémon was quietly watching them on the water's surface.
"What's wrong? Shauna——"
Lucas also noticed the situation on the Lake.
He smiled.
Is that so? Did his and his Pokémon's emotions attract it?
Smiling, Lucas took Shauna's small hand.
"Let's go home."
....
Power Stones PLZZZZZ
[Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "PokeFicLord"]