With the daycare's food supply issue resolved, Kawaki was in a great mood.
That evening, with no guests to tend to, he prepared a grand dinner for the Pokémon.
Tomato scrambled eggs, pork stew with glass noodles, berry salad, fried rice with eggs, sweet and sour fish, braised ribs…
The Pokémon devoured the meal with enthusiasm, their mouths slick with grease, all visibly content.
After dinner, they all gathered on the couch to watch TV.
Having worked all afternoon, many of the Pokémon were exhausted.
The Clefairy huddled together, nodding off. Growlithe lay sprawled on the floor, its head resting on its paws, already fast asleep. Chingling and Castform leaned against each other, hanging from the eaves, snoring softly.
Even the normally nocturnal Oddish was fighting back yawns.
It was a warm and lively scene.
Kawaki stood off to the side with Bewear, watching it all unfold.
At some point, the daycare had really started to fill up with Pokémon.
Just then, the phone rang inside the daycare.
Kawaki blinked in surprise—who would be calling at this hour?
He walked over and answered it, only to be greeted on the screen by a familiar handsome face.
"Steven?" Kawaki was a little taken aback.
Steven nodded slightly, then asked, "Have you eaten yet?"
"…I have," Kawaki replied, inwardly snorting. Since when did Steven start using such casual greetings?
But after a moment's thought, Kawaki quickly guessed Steven's real purpose.
This call was probably to ask about progress on the Mega Evolution research.
So he asked, "How's your trip going? Has Metang evolved into Metagross yet?"
"All's going smoothly. I've arrived in Lavaridge Town and plan to challenge the Gym here next. But… no signs of evolution from Metang yet," Steven answered honestly.
On-screen, Metang appeared beside Steven, visibly downcast.
Kawaki chuckled. "Don't worry, Metang. Your evolution is just a matter of time. I believe you and Steven will absolutely dominate the Hoenn region and become its strongest duo."
After all, this guy was the future Champion—the strongest in Hoenn.
Unaware of future developments, Steven and Metang took Kawaki's words very differently.
Did Kawaki really believe in them that much?
Metang was visibly moved. Could they really be the strongest pair in Hoenn?
Steven was always confident in his strength, but even so, Kawaki's words struck a chord.
He looked at Kawaki and smiled confidently. "We won't let you down."
Kawaki was about 90% certain Steven and Metang would achieve Mega Evolution—but that was based on Metang actually evolving into Metagross first.
And right now, that still seemed a little ways off.
"By the way, how's the research coming?" Steven asked again. "Do you need funding or a research team?"
Hearing this, Kawaki acted surprised. "Funding?"
Steven blinked. He had forgotten—Kawaki didn't know who he really was.
The heir to Devon Corporation. Successor to the Stone family.
Those identities made Steven far from ordinary.
He recalled how, in the past, once people learned his identity, their attitudes changed—they'd become overly respectful or downright worshipful.
Steven always felt a strange barrier grow between him and others once that happened.
But… he didn't want things between him and Kawaki to be tainted by that.
After a quick mental debate, the Stone family heir told the first lie of his life.
"It's just my travel savings. You know, you can earn money from winning battles. I also have some friends who are Pokémon researchers—if you'd like, I can introduce them."
"I see…" Kawaki smirked inwardly but played along. "In that case, you'd better save that money to take care of Metang. Traveling can get expensive."
Steven felt genuinely touched.
"I understand. But if you ever need help, just let me know," he said.
Kawaki smiled and made some small talk before ending the call.
The next morning, the daycare reopened for business.
But since it was still early, there weren't any guests yet. With time to spare, Kawaki was considering heading to Meteor Falls to check out the Bagon he had intel on.
Why was it just one Bagon and not a group like with the Clefairy?
Because Bagon are solitary by nature.
In the wild, young Bagon leave their parents and start living alone shortly after maturing.
That meant no Salamence elders around to protect them.
In terms of capture difficulty, Bagon was much easier than another pseudo-legendary like Dragonite.
But just as Kawaki was about to set off, the sound of a siren echoed from outside the daycare.
When he stepped outside, he saw Officer Jenny arriving on her police motorcycle.
"Officer Jenny?" Kawaki was surprised.
Jenny got straight to the point. "The Officer Jenny in Rustboro City successfully rescued the Pokémon that had been locked up. Some of them have already been reunited with their trainers. But others had nowhere to go—and a few of them are badly traumatized. I don't think it's possible to release them back into the wild."
Kawaki was momentarily stunned. "Where are they now?"
Jenny pulled a white case from the back of her motorcycle. When she opened it, inside were six standard Poké Balls.
"We found a total of ten Pokémon there. Four have trainers. These six are wild," she explained.
These Pokémon had suffered abuse—some were so traumatized they froze up at the mere sight of a human.
"Let's talk inside," Kawaki said, stepping aside to let her in.
Jenny nodded, and the two made their way to the main room. There, she released the Pokémon one by one.
As white flashes lit up the room, Kawaki finally got a look at them:
Ralts, Bulbasaur, Gastly, Chansey, Ditto, and Abra.
The moment they emerged, Ralts, Bulbasaur, Gastly, Ditto, and Abra instinctively hid behind Chansey.
And though Chansey looked frightened too, it bravely stood in front of the others to protect them, eyeing the two humans with deep suspicion.
Seeing Pokémon that clearly didn't belong to Hoenn, Kawaki was taken aback.
Jenny explained, "Bulbasaur, Chansey, and Ditto were smuggled in from other regions by those poachers."
"They were using Hoenn as a transit point, preparing to ship them off to Sinnoh and sell them at a high price."