Chapter 386:
The Silver Feather contained vast amounts of Flying-type energy.
Even a fragmentary one could grant twenty Pidgeot such remarkable wind control abilities.
Let alone this complete Silver Feather.
Moreover, Hayashi Kaede only planned to process it into corresponding dishes for Dragonite and Salamence.
Both of them were Dragon and Flying-type Pokémon.
Now it was just a matter of when Salamence would bring it up.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...*
The sound of gusting wind swept by.
It was Salamence and Dragonite, adjusting their direction as they slowly landed on the ground.
Actually, they were in their shrunken states, so landing randomly wouldn't damage the flowers in the garden.
The carefree Dragonite waddled on its short legs to the reservoir, lay down, and took a drink.
With Milotic managing the water in the pond, the water flowing through the channels was very clean. Initially, Hayashi Kaede had prepared specific drinking spots for each Pokémon.
But later, he found that some of the lazier Pokémon wouldn't bother going to those specific spots.
They preferred the convenience of drinking directly from the water channels or the reservoir.
Over time, Hayashi Kaede stopped worrying about it.
Especially for Alolan Ninetales and the Eevees.
Salamence looked somewhat dejected, its expression gloomy. It glanced at Hayashi Kaede, its mouth opening slightly, but ultimately, it didn't speak. It just held its breath, looking worried, and went to the reservoir for a drink.
They had just finished battling, so they were thirsty.
Not long after they returned, a cheerfully bouncing Alolan Ninetales, followed by the Eevees, came running back from the direction of the Berry Plantation.
Probably due to the battle, Alolan Ninetales had gotten mud stains from somewhere. It was clear it had already washed in the water before returning and then used its ice energy to freeze and shake off the water, leaving its fur messy and not at all fluffy.
Furthermore, some black substance—whether it was soot or something else—was smeared on it. Washing hadn't removed it; instead, it had spread more evenly.
"Ninetales ~"
"Eevee ~"
As soon as these guys entered the garden and saw Hayashi Kaede, they excitedly ran over on all fours.
But before they could even greet him, they were startled by his words.
"Alright, all four of you need baths today."
Σ(っ °Д °;)っ: "Eevee?" (Huh?)
Little Nine's steps halted immediately.
It was the one most afraid of baths in this group.
But it also knew that once Hayashi Kaede made a decision, there was basically no escaping it.
If it didn't bathe today, it wouldn't be allowed on his bed tonight.
"Ninetales!" (I already washed!)
Alolan Ninetales waved its nine tails, covering the dirty spots, putting on a brave front.
"Not clean enough. And look, you're still dirty here. To make sure it gets clean, you're washing right now!"
Hayashi Kaede mercilessly rejected Alolan Ninetales and walked straight up to it.
"Ninetales..."
He even took out a Transformative Energy Cube and held it to its mouth. "Here, eat this."
Since it was bath time, of course, it couldn't be done at full size. Shrinking would make bathing much more convenient.
Alolan Ninetales still wanted to resist.
But Hayashi Kaede delivered the final blow: "If you run, I'll have Gardevoir catch you."
Even though his psychic abilities might not be enough to hold Alolan Ninetales, Gardevoir's psychic power could catch anyone.
And so, Alolan Ninetales could only reluctantly let Hayashi Kaede drag it off for a bath.
Following behind were the Eevees, their ears drooping.
As for Goodra, it happily followed at the end.
Salamence, hearing their commotion, looked up.
It hesitated, then glanced at Dragonite.
Dragonite had just finished drinking and was about to go back to sleep, but halfway there, it was stopped by Salamence, who was also shrunk.
"Salamence!"
"Dragonite?" Dragonite paused mid-flight towards the villa, curiously looking back at Salamence.
"Salamence..." Salamence seemed somewhat embarrassed.
This instead confused Dragonite.
"Dragonite?"
"Salamence!" Salamence flew to Dragonite's side, patted it with its wing, and put on an expression like an older brother giving advice.
The young Dragonite didn't quite understand. "Dragonite?"
Then it had a sudden realization. "Dragonite!?" (Really!?)
"Salamence!" Salamence shook its head, pointed at Dragonite, and flew with it high above the entire garden, chattering on and on.
This time, Dragonite finally felt it understood.
But it raised a new doubt: "Dragonite?" (But there's Gardevoir... and... Mewtwo.)
Salamence continued its patient persuasion: "Salamence!" (Mewtwo isn't here now, and Gardevoir might not be able to beat that big black dragon either! So it's up to you! And also, those bad guys... they might come looking for us again since they know we escaped.)
"Salamence!" (They might even come here to capture us!)
"Dragonite..." Dragonite felt something wasn't quite right.
But looking at Salamence, its simple nature couldn't pinpoint what was wrong.
"Dragonite?" (So we need to get stronger?)
"Salamence, Salamence!" (Yes, yes!)
Salamence wore a "that's my boy" expression.
"Dragonite?" (Ask the Trainer?)
"Salamence!" (Yes, yes!)
Salamence nodded even more naturally.
"Dragonite..." (Oh...)
....
Over here,
Hayashi Kaede, busy bathing Alolan Ninetales and the others, had no idea Salamence was trying to persuade Dragonite.
At the moment, he had just finished washing Alolan Ninetales's fur.
Looking at the now clean, albeit damp, slender-tailed fox, he nodded with satisfaction. "Go wait over there."
Alolan Ninetales padded away, feeling the steam rising from its body, clearly disgruntled. It was about to shake itself dry.
But it was met with Hayashi Kaede's command: "No shaking water off!"
Alolan Ninetales could only helplessly freeze the water on its body into ice flakes and gently shake them off.
After finishing with Alolan Ninetales, it was the three little Eevees' turn.
To be honest, they couldn't really be called 'little' Eevees anymore.
Whether in terms of strength or size among their species, they were already top-tier.
The three Eevees were all basically above level 30.
The first was Little Nine. The other two Eevees huddled in the basin of warm water, their fur floating, boredly blowing bubbles.
Feeling the warm bubbles and the Trainer's hands, Little Nine couldn't help but ask: "Eevee?" (When can I evolve?)