“Morning.
How did you sleep last night?”
Early the next morning, Blake, who was making breakfast, asked Leon and Charmeleon as they came in yawning.
Yesterday, they had indeed arrived too late.
The Pokémon Center had already been completely full.
Forget proper rooms—even the storage rooms had been cleared out and turned into temporary dormitories.
Tourist season was honestly terrifying.
In the end, Leon and Sonia had no choice but to stay at Blake’s house, where they were immediately shocked by the size of the place.
The main building itself was not actually that large, but once the yard was included, it became rather astonishing.
There was a full-sized Pokémon battle court, an enormous warehouse, and all kinds of strange little buildings that were clearly prepared for Pokémon.
Leon’s own house was not small either, but compared to Blake’s place, it was still far behind.
“It was great!
Thanks for letting us stay.”
Leon smiled as he spoke.
“It’s nothing.
When you’re out traveling, people should help each other.
Besides, Sonia and Nessa are friends, and I don’t mind making friends either.”
Blake slid the fried eggs onto a plate, and Leon naturally helped carry them to the table.
“Aha, I like making friends too.
So does Charmeleon.”
“Char!”
After Leon said that, Charmeleon also cried out in agreement and gave a thumbs-up.
“Haunter!
Heeheeheehee!”
Haunter flew over to Charmeleon and also raised a thumb, laughing.
“Dheeeelmise—”
Dhelmise floated out from the aquarium, greeted Leon and the others, then casually rolled up its own portion of breakfast and carried it away.
When it ate, it preferred hiding somewhere by itself.
“That’s Dhelmise, right?
It’s huge!”
Leon had not seen Dhelmise yesterday, because Dhelmise was too much of a homebody.
Aside from training, it basically did not like going out and simply stayed in its aquarium.
By the time they returned last night, it was already late, and Dhelmise had long since gone to sleep.
Now that Leon saw Dhelmise floating past, he hurriedly took out his Pokédex and scanned it.
Since Rotom Phones had not appeared yet, ordinary Pokédexes had not been replaced.
Looking at Dhelmise’s entry on the screen, Leon spoke with an excited expression.
Leon was exactly that kind of person—a full-blown Pokémon fanatic and battle fanatic through and through.
“Yeah.
This guy probably isn’t fully awake yet.
Otherwise, seeing all of you would definitely surprise him.”
Blake looked helplessly at Dhelmise as it floated back toward the aquarium room.
Every morning, this guy smelled breakfast and drifted out like it was sleepwalking, took its food away, ate it while it was hard to tell whether it was awake or asleep, and then stayed in the aquarium for another two or three hours before fully waking up. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
“Char?”
Charmeleon was very curious about Blake’s words.
“Haunter—heeheeheehee.”
Haunter flew over and explained the situation, immediately making Charmeleon’s eyes widen.
It could find its way even while asleep?
If only its Trainer had navigation skills that powerful.
Maybe Charmeleon should ask Dhelmise for advice later.
That way, perhaps it would not get lost together with its Trainer anymore.
“Haunter—”
Hearing Charmeleon mutter to itself, Haunter let out a cry, not knowing what to say.
Because yesterday, he had already discovered something.
Leon was not the only directionally challenged one.
Charmeleon was also directionally challenged!
The two of them were both bad with directions, but Charmeleon had not realized this problem about itself at all.
“Amazing.
This is my first time seeing a Dhelmise.
I heard they all live in the deep sea.”
Leon continued reading the information on the Pokédex as he spoke.
“I was lucky.
This Dhelmise settled in a wreck for certain special reasons, and it ended up affecting the lives of the Pokémon around it, so I caught it.”
Blake explained.
“Ah, that’s really lucky.
I want to catch a Ghost-type Pokémon too.”
Leon sighed with some envy.
“What Pokémon do you have right now?
I remember seeing you carry four Poké Balls at the Pokémon Center yesterday, but I only saw Charmeleon outside.”
Blake remembered that Leon had two Ghost-type Pokémon in the future: Dragapult and Aegislash.
But judging from the situation now, he probably had not caught either of them yet.
“Oh, because Charmeleon doesn’t like staying in its ball, it’s usually outside.
As for the others, everyone, come on out!”
Leon threw the three Poké Balls from his waist.
“Thwackey?”
“Mime?”
“Axew!”
A Thwackey from the Grookey line, a Galarian Mr.
Mime, and an Axew appeared in the room.
There were many different opinions about Leon’s team, but it was certain that he owned Haxorus, Mr.
Rime, and one of Galar’s first partner Pokémon lines.
Seeing these three Pokémon now was not outside Blake’s expectations.
The three Pokémon had been released suddenly, so they were clearly not fully awake yet.
Axew even yawned.
“They’ve been raised very well.
They’re not any worse than Charmeleon.”
After observing the three Pokémon, Blake gave his assessment.
Axew had probably only been caught recently.
There were some signs of training on it, but not many.
The other two had clearly been trained properly.
“Of course!
I’m going to become Champion!
How could I not take my Pokémon’s training seriously?”
Leon proudly gave a thumbs-up.
“That’s a great attitude.
This Thwackey is going to be your main force when you challenge Ms.
Hathaway, right?”
Blake looked at Thwackey, who was curiously examining the surroundings and tapping here and there with the sticks in its hands.
“That’s right.
It evolved from the Grookey Chairman Rose gave me when I first started my journey.
Actually, strictly speaking, it’s already able to evolve again, but evolving too quickly isn’t suitable for it.
Its training time is still too short, so I gave it an Everstone.
Charmeleon is the same.
My master told me before that if Pokémon evolve too quickly, their foundation can become unstable.
The second stage is especially important.
They need time to settle properly.
Otherwise, after evolving into their final stage, many problems can appear that are difficult to make up for.”
Leon spoke without holding anything back.
“I agree with that.
Gastly was with me for several years too, and it only evolved into Haunter last month.”
Blake nodded in agreement.
“Hah!
Looks like our ideas are very similar.”
Leon was very happy to have Blake’s agreement.
After all, many people wished their Pokémon would evolve as quickly as possible.
Some Eevee Trainers even used Evolution stones on Eevee not long after they were born, without caring at all which evolutionary path best suited that Eevee’s talent.
“Of course.
And I also need your help with something.
I want a certain little guy to learn how to stay calm.” Blake smiled.
He had already sensed that a certain little one had smelled the food.
“Syaa—!”
With a sharp cry, Dreepy shot down like a missile.
In the blink of an eye, it flew onto the table, grabbed a fried egg, and tried to take a bite.
Snap!
Blake, quick-eyed and quick-handed, flicked Dreepy on the forehead and stopped it!