With the breeding house's food problem resolved, Carver's mood improved greatly.
That evening, taking advantage of having no customers, he prepared a sumptuous dinner for the Pokémon.
Scrambled eggs with tomatoes, braised pork with vermicelli, berry salad, fried rice, sweet and sour fish, braised pork ribs...
The Pokémon ate with oil dripping from their mouths, extremely happy.
After dinner, everyone sat together on the sofa watching television.
After being busy all afternoon, many Pokémon were somewhat tired.
The Clefairy huddled together dozing off, Growlithe lay on the floor with its head pillowed on its paws, having fallen asleep at some point, and Chingling and Castform were also leaning against each other, hanging from the eaves fast asleep.
Even the nocturnal Oddish couldn't help but doze off at this moment.
This scene was so warm and lively.
Carver and Bewear stood to the side watching it all.
So without realizing it, the breeding house had gained so many Pokémon!
Just then, the phone in the breeding house suddenly rang.
Carver was slightly stunned. Who would call the breeding house this late?
He went forward to answer, and the next second saw Steven's handsome face on the other end of the video phone.
"Steven?" Carver was somewhat surprised.
Steven on the other end nodded slightly, then asked: "Have you had dinner?"
"...Yes, I have," Carver couldn't help but complain internally. Did Steven also use this kind of greeting?
After thinking briefly, Carver quickly guessed Steven's intention.
This call was very likely to inquire about the progress of his mega evolution research!
Thinking this, Carver asked: "Is your journey going smoothly? How about it, has Metang evolved into Metagross?"
"Everything's going smoothly. I've successfully arrived in Lavaridge Town and am preparing to challenge the gym here next. However, Metang currently shows no signs of evolution." Steven answered honestly.
On the other end of the phone, Carver saw Metang show a somewhat disappointed expression.
Carver smiled: "Don't worry, Metang. Your evolution is just a matter of time. I believe you and Steven will definitely dominate the entire Hoenn region and become the strongest combination."
After all, this was a genuine Champion, the number one person in Hoenn!
However, to Steven and Metang who didn't know the future plot, these words had a different meaning.
Did Carver really believe in them this much?
Metang was moved inside. Were it and its trainer really the strongest combination in the entire Hoenn region?
Steven had always been very confident in his strength, but even so, when he heard Carver's words, his heart was similarly stirred.
He looked at Carver across from him, showing a confident smile on his face, and nodded:
"Yes, we absolutely won't let down your trust!"
Regarding making Steven and Metang complete mega evolution, Carver was ninety percent confident, but all of this was built on the premise that Metang evolved into Metagross.
Currently, it seemed there was still some time before its evolution.
"By the way, how is the research going?" Steven asked again: "Do you need me to provide research funding and some researchers?"
Hearing this, Carver pretended not to know Steven's identity and asked with a fake surprised expression: "Research funding?"
Steven was slightly stunned, only then suddenly remembering that Carver didn't seem to know his true identity.
The young master of Devon Corporation, heir to the Stone family.
These two identities destined Steven to be no ordinary person.
Steven recalled how people he knew would change their attitude toward him when his identity was exposed before, becoming respectful and very admiring.
At that time, Steven had quite the feeling of "there's already a sad thick barrier between us."
But... Steven didn't want his relationship with Carver to be mixed with other things.
After a brainstorm, young master Stone told the first lie of his life.
"It's travel expenses I've saved up. You know, Pokémon battles can also provide monetary rewards. Besides that, I've also met several friends who research Pokémon. If you want, I can introduce them to you."
"I see!" Carver secretly pulled at the corner of his mouth and shook his head: "Forget about that then. You should keep that money to take care of Metang and the others! There are plenty of places that require money during travel."
Steven was quite moved inside.
"I understand. If you need anything, you can tell me," he said.
Carver smiled, then chatted with Steven for a few more sentences before hanging up the phone.
Early the next morning, the breeding house officially resumed business.
However, there weren't many customers early in the morning. With nothing to do, Carver began wondering whether he should take this opportunity to go to Meteor Falls to meet that Bagon.
As for why this intelligence mentioned "one" rather than using "a group" like with the Clefairy...
That was because Bagon didn't travel in groups—they preferred to live alone.
In the wild, young Bagon would leave their parents shortly after growing up and begin living independently.
This meant there were no elders like Salamence from the clan protecting them.
In terms of capture difficulty, Bagon was much lower than Dragonite, which was also a pseudo-legendary.
However, just as Carver was preparing to set out, police sirens suddenly sounded outside the breeding house.
Looking outside, it turned out to be Jenny riding that police motorcycle.
"Jenny?" Carver was somewhat surprised.
Jenny said: "Officer Jenny from Rustboro City has successfully rescued those imprisoned Pokémon. Some of them have found their trainers, while others have nowhere to go. Several of them have suffered considerable psychological trauma, and I think there's no way to release them back into the wild."
Hearing this, Carver was slightly stunned: "Where are those Pokémon now?"
Jenny took out a white box from behind her police motorcycle. Opening the box revealed six red and white Poké Balls inside.
"We found ten Pokémon there in total. Four of them already had trainers, and these remaining six are wild Pokémon," Jenny explained.
These six Pokémon had different degrees of psychological trauma from being abused. Some Pokémon would even become too afraid to move when they saw humans.
"Let's go inside the breeding house first!" Carver turned and welcomed her inside.
Jenny nodded. The two came to the main hall, and Jenny picked up the Poké Balls in her hand, releasing the Pokémon inside one by one.
As flashes of white light passed, Carver finally saw clearly what these Pokémon looked like.
Ralts, Bulbasaur, Gastly, Chansey, Ditto, and an Abra.
As soon as they left their Poké Balls, Ralts, Bulbasaur, Gastly, Ditto, and Abra instinctively hid behind Chansey.
Although Chansey was also very afraid, it still tried hard to protect the several Pokémon behind it while looking at the two humans in front of it with full vigilance.
Looking at several Pokémon that clearly didn't belong to the Hoenn region, Carver was stunned in place.
Jenny explained: "Bulbasaur, Chansey, and Ditto are Pokémon that those Pokémon hunters smuggled from other regions."
"They used Hoenn as a transit station, planning to transport them to Sinnoh region and then sell them to buyers at high prices."