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Luther managed to keep his composure. Although he wasn't sure what exactly Cynthia had discovered, he absolutely couldn't let his rhythm get disrupted.
He went to work step by step and trained his Pokémon methodically as well.
It seemed Marill hadn't picked up any of the good luck from Ralts' evolution. Her progress with Ice Punch had stalled, and the situation was a bit delicate.
After Focus Punch came Superpower, and while working on Ice Punch, Marill had somehow ended up learning those two moves by accident, but she used them quite naturally.
According to Gardenia, moves that are just learned are usually rough and awkward in execution, often missing the mark. But Marill's form was perfect, and she could use them properly even during training.
That was quite puzzling. Marill kept touching her head, and even Abomasnow looked confused. He believed his demonstrations were perfectly fine.
The strength was spot-on, her posture was correct, and Marill already had a pretty solid foundation in Ice-type moves. Channeling ice-type energy should've been easy for her, so why did it feel like her progress bar had suddenly been cut off?
Luther, munching on an orange, tilted his head and circled around Marill to inspect her.
Marill stared at the half-eaten orange in Luther's hand, drooling.
Unfortunately, that was the last one. Luther really wanted to say, 'Don't move, I'll go buy some more oranges right now', but after thinking for a moment, he decided they might as well head out together.
It wouldn't hurt to get a change of pace after all that practice.
Chansey had Espurr and Marill hanging from her head, while Jumpluff sat on top of the Pokémon egg. She glanced at Kirlia, who insisted on walking on her own. Luther picked up the egg and decided to take a little detour to check out Mai's daily work routine.
Mai's Day Care was located on the outskirts of Hearthome City. There weren't many people in the city who had the ability and resources to run a large daycare, and that's true no matter the world, prime locations often require more than just money. Connections and relationships matter, too.
Being in the suburbs had its perks. Close to the forest, beautiful environment, and low rent meant the Day Care wasn't under much pressure.
Luther stood outside the Day Care holding a bag of oranges. It wasn't closing time yet, and there weren't many Trainers visiting to check on their fostered Pokémon, which made Luther stand out quite a bit.
It looked like people often came with gifts to check on their Pokémon, so seeing Luther with a bag of fruit, the staff naturally assumed he was a visiting Trainer. It wasn't until he explained that they smiled and led him to the Day Care's break room.
"I'll go get Mai. Could you wait a moment?"
"No need," Luther replied. "I've heard her talk about it before, she should be pretty busy right now. I just came because I was curious about what a Day Care's daily life is like. I'll just take a look around on my own."
Hearing that, the staff poured Luther a glass of water and then left.
The Lily of the Valley Conference was about to begin, and every Pokémon Trainer was trying to make a last-minute push, hoping to train a talented Pokémon to enter the tournament. That was always the case whenever a tournament was around the corner.
While sipping his water, Luther suddenly felt something poking at his foot. The Pokémon munching on oranges also looked down.
A small Sentret was sitting on the ground, smacking Luther with its big tail.
'A freshly hatched baby? Then why was she staring at him so intently?'
Jumpluff hopped off the couch and rolled an orange toward the little Sentret. The orange hit Sentret's tail, startling her into standing up. When she saw the orange next to her, she grabbed it and instantly hid under Luther's couch.
Luther bent down. Sentret, quite skillfully, was peeling the orange and munching on it happily.
A short-haired female breeder in a work uniform walked over while calling out Sentret's name.
"She's under the sofa," Luther said. The runaway Sentret instantly stood up straight, smacking her head directly against the underside of the couch.
Luther didn't even have to look to know that had to hurt, Sentret's wailing soon came from under the sofa.
"Sorry about that. Sentret is way too energetic and loves to run around all over the place."
The female breeder crouched down and reached out, trying to get hold of the crying Sentret hiding underneath. But as soon as Sentret saw the hand coming in, she immediately stopped crying, nimbly dodged it, and zipped away to hide under another couch.
Watching this from the side, Luther finally understood why Mai was always exhausted. These newly hatched Pokémon babies were extremely curious about the world. Everything was new and fascinating to them.
The quiet and well-behaved ones would obediently stay by the breeder's side and gradually come to understand basic concepts according to their guidance.
But the active, curious ones found the Day Care boring. They would keep trying to explore anything they thought was interesting, even if those things were strictly off-limits…
Just like now, this breeder had clearly said the wrong thing.
The moment she said, "Don't scratch the sofa," Sentret happily began sharpening her claws on the bottom of the couch.
Even though her claws weren't sharp yet, the sensation was fun enough to keep her going.
When it came to baby Pokémon, it was best not to scold them loudly unless absolutely necessary. After all, they were still unfamiliar with the world, and negative emotions could have a serious impact on them.
Watching the breeder tirelessly coax Sentret, Luther felt it was unnecessary.
Kids should be taught what's right and wrong, what they can and can't do.
Scratching the sofa was clearly wrong, it should be corrected. You don't give a reward for not scratching it and say, "Don't scratch and I'll give you something."
This breeder's tolerance and method of training… weren't right. If you bring out a reward now, wouldn't that reinforce the idea in Sentret's mind: "If I scratch the sofa, the breeder will give me something nice"?
"Marill, lift the sofa," Luther said, deciding to do something.
Marill stuffed the remaining orange into her mouth in a few quick bites, walked over to the sofa where Sentret was scratching, did a little warm-up stretch, placed her hands on one end of the couch, and with one powerful motion, lifted it.
Sentret suddenly found her shelter rising into the air. A round little figure, Marill, was holding up a sofa many times larger than herself, and she looked down at Sentret with a mischievous grin.
Sentret nervously backed up against the wall, only to realize Marill was actually approaching her while still holding the couch. She instantly understood the situation she was in and dove into the breeder's arms, trembling.
The breeder quickly began comforting the frightened Sentret, while Luther had Marill put the sofa down farther away. Espurr even fished a coin out from where the sofa had been and handed it to Luther.
"You'll scare them doing stuff like that! They're still little, they need guidance. Don't you know that?" the short-haired breeder scolded Luther, clearly displeased with what he had done.
Luther had intended to hand over the coin to the breeder, but after hearing that, he just slipped it into his pocket.
He knew the breeder wasn't completely wrong, but the tone she used really rubbed him the wrong way.
Was this the so-called "She's still a child" excuse in a different form?
(End of Chapter)