When the first ray of morning sunlight slipped into the room, Silas instinctively pulled the blanket tighter around himself to keep out the cold.
Winter was getting closer and closer, and getting out of bed had become something that required tremendous willpower.
Lifting a corner of the blanket, Silas lowered his head and saw Cinccino curled up in his arms.
Not only was the little one's sleeping posture well behaved, it was also unbelievably adorable.
Its tiny paws hugged its own fluffy, voluminous tail, while the long fur behind it draped over Silas and Jigglypuff like a soft blanket.
Quietly, Silas stretched out a hand and placed it on Cinccino's soft little belly. The evenly breathing little one seemed to sense it, hugging his hand and pressing its face against him, a blissful expression appearing on its face.
With his hand captured, Silas did not dare move recklessly, so he used his other hand to start bothering Jigglypuff instead.
Jigglypuff felt completely different compared to Cinccino. Silas especially liked flicking the little tuft of hair on its head.
Before long, Jigglypuff could not take it anymore.
"Jigglypuff…" it mumbled, as if saying, "Big sister Cinccino… don't make noise…"
After muttering that, the disturbance stopped, and it grumbled a bit more before rolling over, sticking its little rear up in the air and falling back asleep.
Silas waited for a while, making sure Jigglypuff was truly asleep.
Then he could not resist and extended his mischievous hand again.
After repeating this a few times, Jigglypuff suddenly sat up, eyes still closed, and cried out loudly, "Jigglypuff! Jigglypuff!" (There's a ghost! It keeps bothering me!)
Silas froze mid motion, his hand still raised, and hurriedly pulled Jigglypuff into his arms to comfort it.
"There's no ghost. It's just me playing with you. Don't cry, don't cry."
With teary eyes, Jigglypuff looked at Silas.
At that moment, Silas felt a wave of regret. He had actually made such a cute Pokémon cry.
"Jigglypuff!" (Silas is bad! Jigglypuff is angry!)
With that, its round pink body puffed up, and its cat like ears stood straight up.
Only after Silas promised to cook its favorite dishes did it finally forgive him.
Thanks to Jigglypuff's earlier shout, everyone else woke up as well.
The lazy morning in bed was officially over. After struggling to change into clean clothes and washing the little ones' faces, Silas led the still sleepy group downstairs, all of them yawning endlessly.
The cats had already woken up early. Persseker was in the backyard chopping firewood, while the Alolan Meowth and the regular Meowth assisted nearby.
Persseker's sharp claws were far more effective than any axe. With just a light swipe, the logs on the chopping block split cleanly along the grain into several pieces.
Alolan Meowth quickly stacked the firewood neatly, already forming a tidy pile beside it.
Regular Meowth, however, was still half asleep, clearly dragged out of bed by force. It yawned repeatedly as it positioned the logs.
Noticing Silas's gaze, the three of them stopped and greeted him with cheerful meows.
"Morning!"
The three cats resumed chopping wood. Silas crouched nearby to brush his teeth. After rinsing his mouth, he called out, "Once you finish that batch, stop and come eat breakfast."
"Meow~" x3
They agreed, yet their hands did not slow down at all.
Ever since the three came to the ranch, they had never lacked firewood.
Silas could not even imagine life without them.
They handled most of the workload. After breakfast and a short rest, under Persseker's leadership, they carried their hoes and prepared to head to the fields to till the soil.
Silas did not feel comfortable just enjoying himself either. He picked up the baby Kangaskhan, mounted Cyclizar, and began the routine morning patrol of the ranch.
The Mudsdale brothers had arrived at the farmland and were using the move Rototiller.
Appletun and Butterfree were harvesting fresh, ripe berries, while Flapple and Applin were pollinating newly blossomed flowers.
Meganium and the Tropius couple were leading the young Chikorita in morning training.
Compared to when they were just born, the five Chikorita had changed significantly.
First was their size. On average, all five had reached normal size.
Yes, on average.
Among them, there was one large Chikorita over one meter tall, and another small one only about 0.7 meters.
The large Chikorita walked with steady steps, imitating Meganium's movements with great seriousness.
It was the eldest among the siblings, and currently the most talented.
At such a young age, it had already learned several moves: Earth Power, Dazzling Gleam, and Vine Whip.
With the combination of the first two moves, it had no blind spots offensively.
It could even counter many popular types such as Dragon, Fire, and Steel, making it suitable to be trained as a core member of a second team.
In contrast, the smaller Chikorita leaned more toward support. Its personality resembled Meganium the most, and it did not like battling.
The moves it had learned were Vine Whip, Heal Pulse, and Charm.
Aside from Vine Whip providing some offense, the other two focused on healing and weakening opponents.
When it saw Silas, the little Chikorita ran toward him with its short legs moving as fast as they could.
Silas bent down and picked it up, placing it together with the baby Kangaskhan in his arms. It immediately snuggled in, acting spoiled and asking for affection.
"Don't move too much, you might fall."
"Chiko!"
It expressed its affection for Silas, adorably asking to be held.
After playing with it for a while, Silas signaled Cyclizar to move on.
The two Pokémon and one trainer headed to the garden.
The garden was changing every single day.
Everything started from the day Shaymin moved in. Thanks to Shaymin's special ability, the flowers grew exceptionally well.
Naturally, this attracted many wild Pokémon to stop by, mostly butterfly and insect types.
Butterfree with different wing patterns, Venomoth that shed powder of various colors, and even Scyther and the familiar Pinsir appeared from time to time.
The garden had become a paradise for Bug type Pokémon, and when winter arrived, even more would likely gather.
After playing with Shaymin for a while, Silas tossed two Oran Berries to the two Psyduck. After confirming with the Florges that no help was needed, he left.
He then headed straight to the cave with Cyclizar.
In the outermost dragon cave, three massive Noivern were fast asleep.
After yesterday's battles on Dragon Island, they had expended a great deal of energy. Now they did not want to move at all, sleeping deeply to recover for the next challenge.
Their improvement was visible to the naked eye.
Their tempered state granted them nearly limitless growth potential.
However, the higher they climbed, the harder it became.
Sometimes, even hundreds of battles would not trigger another breakthrough.
Gesturing for the baby Kangaskhan and Cyclizar to stay quiet, they tiptoed past the Noivern and entered the narrow passage deeper inside.
A Carbink led the way ahead, while the baby Kangaskhan kept asking endless questions. The unfamiliar environment filled it with curiosity. It was truly a little question machine.
The reason Silas came to the Diamond Domain today was for something important that he needed to witness.
Under the diligent work of the Carbink, Diancie's palace and the Diamond Town had been completed.
The Carbink led him to the center of Diamond Town, in front of Diancie's palace. A large group of Pokémon had gathered there, most of them Carbink.
They were eagerly hoping to hear praise from their princess. That would fill them with motivation.
Squeezing his way to the front, Silas saw Diancie just stepping out of the palace.
Diancie also noticed him and ran over.
"Silas, Silas, how do I become a good mayor?"
(End of Chapter)