"Has the number of people coming and going from the road to the Breeding House increased lately?" Lucas asked, sitting in the resting area and cracking sunflower seeds.
"I heard someone in Twinleaf Town say that the League Conference in other regions seems to have already ended, so many Trainers are choosing to come here to watch our Sinnoh League Conference. They can even challenge the Gyms after the League Conference ends," Mrs. Fujino said, also grabbing a handful of sunflower seeds and cracking them skillfully.
"It's almost time. Cynthia said the League Conference starts next week."
Lucas brought the sunflower seed to his mouth, clamped it with his teeth, and gave it a sharp twist. The shell cracked open, and the kernel slid right into his mouth.
Compared to Lucas, Shauna, who was sitting next to him, was much simpler. She grabbed a handful of seeds, stuffed them into her mouth, chewed them up, and once the flavor was gone, spat them all out in one go.
"That's not how you eat sunflower seeds." Lucas couldn't stand her spitting the shells onto him and spoke up.
"But it tastes better this way! Eating them that other way is too slow and doesn't have much flavor." Shauna grabbed another handful and stuffed them into her mouth, chewing away.
Lucas was speechless.
"Papa~" The Pachirisu next to him passed over a small bowl. Lucas looked inside and saw it was full of shelled sunflower seeds. It was handing them to him.
"Papa~" Here, have some.
Lucas looked at the adorably dazed Pachirisu and felt an attack of ten thousand points of critical damage to his heart.
Who could refuse such a cute, snow-white little devil with a big, long tail?
Lucas carefully took a few, put them in his mouth, and pushed the bowl back. "I can crack them myself. You should eat the seeds you worked so hard to shell."
After saying that, Lucas glanced at Gengar, whose cheeks were bulging. "Be careful not to let some little fatty snatch them."
Gengar, who was watching anime, heard Lucas gossiping about it and turned its head in dissatisfaction.
"Gen gengar!" I can crack them myself!
"Oh." Lucas said, looking suffocated.
Gengar pursed its lips and took a deep breath.
Doduo Doduo Doduo—
The sunflower seed shells were spat out from its mouth one after another, hitting Lucas in the face.
Lucas: ——
After spitting out all the shells in its mouth, Gengar opened its mouth wide to let Lucas see that it was full of white sunflower kernels.
As expected of Gengar; whenever it came to food, it could always find all sorts of simple and happy methods.
Gengar turned its head, chewing on the kernels while watching the cartoon.
Looking at the pile of shells Shauna and Gengar had spat all over the floor, Lucas sighed. "Gengar, those are all shells you spat out. Remember to clean them up later."
Gengar turned back and looked at the mountain of shells at Lucas's feet.
Are you really going to say I spat all of these out?!
"Otherwise, if Gothitelle comes back and sees that you and Shauna have made such a mess of the Breeding House, you'll be hung up and denied dinner again."
"Huh? Uncle is so despicable! Clearly, Uncle spat out the most!"
"Nonsense."
—
"Gen gengar!" You're lying to a kid!
"You're not a kid; you're a big, chubby boy."
Shauna: ?
Gengar: ??
Pachirisu: ??? (Why are you looking at me? Tilts head)
Signaling to Pachirisu that it was nothing, Lucas shelled some seeds, put the kernels in his palm, and held them out to Ninetales, who was lying down with its eyes squinted. Ninetales yawned, stuck out its tongue, rolled all the kernels into its mouth, and chewed them with peace of mind.
It seemed everyone at the Breeding House liked the newly made sunflower seeds.
Lucas looked at the freshly made seeds in his hand. While they didn't taste as good as other snacks, they were better for passing the time.
[Breeding House Sunflower Seeds: A snack made by Lucas to pass the time. Although the effect isn't as good as other snacks and the taste is slightly lacking, it's great for killing time. Pokémon that eat these for a long time will slowly improve their patience.]
[Cracking sunflower seeds is a task that requires extreme patience — Lucas]
The effect is also quite mediocre. Lucas thought as he looked at the text before him.
Next time, I should try adding some sweet honey to see what happens. An upgraded version of caramel seeds? sweet honey seeds?
That should taste pretty good, right?
Lucas let his imagination run wild until he finished all the seeds and reached out to find nothing, snapping him back to reality.
He clapped his hands and looked at Gengar. "Eat quickly, then clean up the shells. Come with me to the Cave in the forest later. I haven't checked on Steelix in a while. Or do you want to stay at the Breeding House and crack seeds?"
Gengar poured all the seeds from the bowl into its mouth, moved its cheeks irregularly for a few moments, then opened its mouth and pew-pew-pewed at Lucas.
Lucas looked helpless.
Only after spitting out all the shells did Gengar speak.
"Gen gengar—" I'll go with you.
"Gen gengar." My Bullet Seed is impressive, right? Hehe.
Lucas pulled the shells sticking to his face off, expressionless. "First of all, that's called Bullet Seed. Secondly, you can't learn it."
Gengar made a face at Lucas.
Bleh.
Then it floated behind the door, took out a broom and dustpan, and started cleaning up the shells.
Seeing this, Shauna stopped eating, stuffed all the seeds into her pocket, jumped off the chair, and asked, "Can I go too?"
"Yeah."
When Gengar swept to the counter, it noticed Meowstic (female) sitting behind it smiling at it, then moved its tail aside, and Gengar discovered a mountain of shells.
(°△°)
How can you crack more seeds than me?
Meowstic (female) blushed and lowered her head in embarrassment.
After Gengar finished cleaning up all the trash, it looked at Lucas, who stood up and stretched.
"I'll leave the front to you, Madam."
Mrs. Fujino nodded and gave an OK hand gesture.
Passing the counter, Lucas patted Meowstic (female)'s little head for a while; it was fluffy and felt great.
"I'll leave it to you too, Meowstic (female)."
Meowstic (female) squinted her eyes, enjoying Lucas's petting, and let out a sweet sound.
"Meow~"
Okay~
Lucas was too lazy to walk, so he simply held Shauna and sat on Ninetales' back. Pachirisu followed out of the Breeding House and nimbly climbed onto Lucas's shoulder to stand.
"Papa~" I'm going too.
Ninetales walked leisurely toward the forest.
Along the way, the Pokémon at the Breeding House were all performing their duties.
Machamp was drilling Machoke, Vex, as well as Gogoat, Miltank, and Rhyperior.
Aipom and Ambipom were holding spray bottles, watering the berries and medicinal herbs.
The Combee were working hard collecting honey in the flower garden.
Rapidash was lying in the sand area, chatting with Gliscor in the rock area and Staraptor standing in the tree.
Lilligant was napping in the planting area.
In the Lake area, the Lapras Siblings were swimming happily in the Lake, while Psyduck and Marill were lining up to practice diving from the platform.
Zoroark sat by the Lake, soaking its feet in the water while chatting with Azumarill and Golduck. Zorua was lying on Lapras (brother)'s back, letting Lapras (brother) carry it as it swam freely in the Lake.
Pokémon were visible everywhere in the backyard, filled with the sounds of Pokémon playing and arguing.
Now his Breeding House was finally taking shape.
Twinleaf Town.
Officer Jenny was sitting on a chair, her face full of anger.
"They're fighting again!"
Listening to the report from the person beside her, Officer Jenny, who had finally managed to sit down and rest, was very angry.
It's been days! Her break time was gone!
They're still fighting!
Officer Joy nearby was also somewhat helpless.
It was hard to get a break today, so she had gone out with her best friend to drink milk tea and go shopping. Not long after they sat down, the Pokémon Center sent her a message asking her to go back and work overtime.
—
"If I had known, I would have gone to work as an Officer Joy at the Breeding House."
Officer Joy took a big sip of the milk tea in front of her and said indignantly.
"I really envy Lucas's job now — rest when you want to rest, eat when you want to eat, and the key is that there are a bunch of Pokémon to cuddle."
Officer Jenny slumped in her chair, picking up where Officer Joy left off.
"That... should we go over there... and stop them?"
The person who came to report nearby saw Officer Jenny and Officer Joy getting off-topic and suggested.
"Sigh, got it. Wait until I finish drinking. Forget it, I'll drink while walking."
Officer Jenny stood up, walked out of the milk tea shop, mounted Arcanine, and reached out to pull her best friend up, only to find her best friend standing still.
"What's wrong?" Officer Jenny asked worriedly.
Joy flashed a mischievous smile. "Tell me—what do you think Lucas is doing right now?"
Jenny caught on in a second. "You mean—"
Joy raised an eyebrow, took Jenny's hand, mounted her Arcanine, and after stopping by the Pokémon Center to change her clothes, they both rushed to the scene.
Looking at the restrained crowd, along with several injured Pokémon and people, Jenny dismounted from her Arcanine.
"I think he's the perfect person to handle this situation."
"I agree."
The two exchanged a smile, then Joy pulled out her phone, skillfully found Lucas's contact information, and dialed.
"Officer, shouldn't we go in and calm them down? It looks like they're about to start fighting again."
Jenny looked at the restrained crowd. They were all Trainers who had been sparring here, but things had gotten out of hand in the heat of the moment, escalating into a massive brawl.
If she took them in, they hadn't actually committed a crime. If she didn't, they would probably just rest for a bit and start fighting again, causing a public nuisance.
"No need. Someone is coming to handle it, and he has much more experience with this kind of thing than we do."
Jenny pulled her unfinished milk tea from the Arcanine's mane and continued drinking.
Subordinate: "Can I ask where you fished that out from?"
The subordinate also realized who Jenny was talking about. "If it's him, then he definitely has more experience than us. I'll go take a break for a bit, then."
He had also been dragged in to work overtime while on his day off.
"Go ahead. After all, nobody likes working overtime."
Jenny sighed.
"So, you two decided to make me work overtime, huh?"
Lucas stood in front of Jenny and Joy, questioning them.
He had just come out of the Cave with Gengar and the others when he received Joy's call and rushed over immediately. After hearing the gist of the situation, Lucas understood that they just didn't want him to have an easy time at the Breeding House and had dragged him here to work for free.
Joy felt a bit embarrassed, but Jenny retorted directly.
"Are you snapping at us?"
Lucas: "..."
"Huh?!"
"I—"
"Forget it."
Lucas turned his head helplessly, looking at the Trainers who had already started a massive brawl.
He walked over.
When the subordinate from earlier saw it was Lucas, he immediately pulled back the police tape and let him inside.
"Word is they're preparing for the next League Conference, but since the Gyms aren't open for challenges yet, they're stuck here. They agreed to spar and practice battling, which eventually spiraled into a massive brawl."
Lucas watched the brawling Trainers, who were currently fighting in a frenzy.
"Let them keep fighting for a bit. It doesn't look like there's any real danger."
Jenny's subordinate nodded and lowered the police tape. Lucas walked over to Jenny, pulled out some sunflower seeds, and asked, "Want some?"
"Oh? You have these?"
Jenny didn't stand on ceremony, grabbed a handful, and started cracking them while watching the battle.
Joy, who was busy treating the injuries of the Pokémon and Trainers, was speechless to see the two of them cracking seeds and watching the show.
Seeing Joy's look, Jenny thought for a moment, turned around, and pretended not to notice.
After finishing the seeds in his hand, Lucas saw a purple and white figure floating over, and he clapped his hands.
"Gothitelle, let them really experience the soil of the new spring, let them feel the fragrance of the earth."
Gothitelle nodded and drifted into the air.
Lucas watched Gothitelle's silhouette. Behind him was Ninetales, Gengar was floating right beside him, and Lilligant was sitting on Ninetales' back, reaching out to ruffle Ninetales' head. "Speaking of which, why does it feel like Gothitelle is becoming a workaholic?"
Gengar nodded in agreement from the side.
"Lilli~"
After all, she is very well-suited for this kind of work.
That was true. The real world isn't like the games; Psychic-types aren't very strong in the games, but in reality, it's a different story.
The psychic power used by Psychic-types in reality is just too overpowered. Confusion can immobilize both people and Pokémon, and things like Gravity also fall under the category of psychic power.
They can even control avalanches—it's terrifying.
Once used in a wild battle, no one makes a sound.
As expected of Mama Gothitelle, the overpowered mama.
When Jenny's colleagues saw Gothitelle floating into the air, they spontaneously retreated.
After everyone had cleared out, Gothitelle's cold, clear voice rang out.
"Gothitelle!"
"Kneel!"
A bewitching purple light poured from her eyes, and immediately, a terrifying psychic force swept across the entire area.
Thud.
All the Trainers and Pokémon present were pinned to the ground by the terrifying gravity, the scent of earth filling their nostrils.
Lucas looked at Gengar, who was kneeling in mid-air beside him.
Gengar: "..."
Gengar stood up and grinned.
"Gen gengar—"
"Just a habit, just a habit, hehe."
Lucas: "..."
"How embarrassing, Gengar. You are truly embarrassing—"
Pretending not to know Gengar, Lucas walked to the edge of the gravity field and waved at Gothitelle in the air. Gothitelle withdrew her hands, and the gravity field vanished.
The Trainers and Pokémon present all silently took two steps back.
Lucas turned back to glare at Gengar, who was holding a massive Dark Void, and made it cancel the Dark Void before turning his attention back to the group of Trainers.
"I'll recommend a place for you. North of Twinleaf Town, there's a Breeding House where the Pokémon are about as strong as this Gothitelle. If you want to become stronger, you can choose to challenge the Breeding House."
"..."
Lucas paused, then continued, "But you are not allowed to hold multi-person battles in towns or on the roads anymore. If there's a next time—"
"Gothitelle!"
Gothitelle's voice came from the sky, her gaze sharp.
The Trainers and Pokémon present all shook their heads frantically.
Seeing this, Lucas was very satisfied. "By the way, discuss among yourselves how to compensate for the damaged area. Jenny will have someone hand you a list of damages later, and I expect to hear that the compensation has been paid by tomorrow."
"This—"
The Trainers looked at the completely destroyed area around them. How much money would that cost to pay for—
"Hmm?"
The Trainer saw a remarkably muscular Machamp suddenly appear behind Lucas, rubbing its hands and looking eager for a fight. There was also a Ninetales with an icy gaze, and Gengar to the side, grinning while a massive Dark Void appeared in its hands again. The only one that seemed somewhat normal was that Lilligant.
But with the sun behind her, why did it feel like Lilligant's smile was like nectar laced with poison—
The Trainer was shrouded by the shadows of Gengar and the others, trembling.
"Wh—where did this Pokémon gang come from—"
"Sumimasen, we will definitely pay for the damages!"
"Sumimasen!"
"Don't kill me, I was wrong—"
"We are very sorry, we'll pay, we'll pay whatever it costs—"
Watching the pile of Trainers and Pokémon crying and wailing, Lucas looked puzzled. Was he really that scary? Could it be Gengar and the others?
He looked back.
Gengar was baring its teeth—so silly, so cute.
And Machamp, so strong, so reassuring.
Ninetales was so elegant and beautiful.
And Lilligant, look, so sensible, so cute~
Gothitelle was practically synonymous with reliability.
A bunch of City bumpkins, they didn't understand their beauty at all.
Lucas snorted disdainfully, then turned and walked over to Jenny, clapping his hands. "Easy peasy, done."
Jenny: "As expected, I knew calling you for this kind of thing would yield the best results."
"How about you put me on the payroll? I'll work for you, and you can leave all these matters to me from now on."
"No problem, how much do you want?"
"Forget it, forget it, spare me."
Lucas shook his head, got on Ninetales, and prepared to head back to the Breeding House.
A pair of hands suddenly appeared in front of Lucas, and he looked at Joy in Confusion.
Joy pushed her hands forward. "Hm?"
Lucas was full of Confusion.
Gengar placed a jar into Joy's hands.
"One jar?"
Gengar pulled out a second jar of sunflower seeds. Joy accepted them all, tossed one jar to Jenny, and without turning back, waved her hand. "Alright, that's it, you can go."
Such a realistic woman.
Lucas rode Ninetales, swaying leisurely as he headed back to the Breeding House.
***************************
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