Chapter 417:
Thirty-two Flabébé, three Floette.
Looked like they were born this spring.
Come to think of it, how are Flabébé born?
Since Florges Pokémon are all female, their reproduction must be asexual, like Metagross or Blissey.
These Flabébé, upon seeing Kaede enter the garden, didn't panic. Instead, they curiously peeked out at him.
"Hello there~"
Kaede smiled warmly.
The Flabébé looked at each other. Finally, one Floette flew over first. "Floette?"
"Please take good care of the flowers in the garden for me, okay?"
Kaede gently stroked the Floette and spoke softly.
"Floette? Floette~"
The Floette immediately broke into a smile. Then, it called out softly to the others. Soon, large groups of Flabébé all flew over, swirling around Kaede.
They all chirped happily.
"Flabébé~ Flabébé~"
They'd been here for several days now.
They already knew from the Indeedee siblings that these flowers had an owner—the human before them.
They had been a bit worried about whether this owner would accept them.
Now, hearing his words, their impression of Kaede naturally improved.
"Alright, alright..."
Seeing this scene, Kaede couldn't help but smile too...
Seemed like things at home were slowly getting better these days...
"Woof! Woof!"
But a sudden bark startled the Flabébé surrounding him. They scattered, looking towards the source of the sound. Seeing it was Arcanine, they relaxed a bit.
Kaede also turned towards the sound. Soon, he saw a handsome, tiger-striped large dog emerge from the barn, panting with its tongue out, looking at him with pure excitement.
"Arcanine?! Hey, hey, hey..."
He'd barely greeted it when Arcanine charged over like a whirlwind.
It stopped right in front of him.
It looked like it was about to pounce on him just like Alolan Ninetales had.
Fortunately, Kaede managed to make a stop gesture in time. "Don't pounce! No pouncing!"
"Woof! Woof!"
So, at that critical moment, Arcanine forcefully halted its forward momentum, stopped right before him, and sat down obediently.
"Oh?"
Kaede was taken aback, then his expression brightened. Arcanine hadn't been born long, and with so many Pokémon at the Breeding House recently, he hadn't had time to teach Arcanine various commands or what to be careful about.
Before, at times like this, even if he said "don't pounce," a Growlithe's nature would still make it paw at his pant legs.
That was fine before it evolved.
But now that it had evolved, that wouldn't do.
An evolved Arcanine weighed nearly 200 kilograms.
Standing two meters tall, it wasn't like Alolan Ninetales, which he could easily pick up if it pounced.
This one he'd have to... hug? Lift?
*Did Officer Jenny train it?*
"Woof! Woof!"
Arcanine barked excitedly.
"Hmm?" Kaede's face lit up even more. "You've been chatting with Officer Jenny's Arcanine? Come on, tell me about it..."
"Woof... Woof..."
Arcanine cautiously glanced around.
It was afraid other Pokémon might hear if it talked here.
"Let's go, let's go, we'll change locations..." Kaede's gossip interest was piqued. He led Arcanine into the barn, planning to ask all about it there.
"Woof~"
....
Evening...
"Let's just make wine, make wine."
Looking at the Berry reserves, which had only decreased by about one-tenth despite working until now, Kaede could only sigh helplessly besides feeling a headache.
By only making Energy Cubes, he would never be able to finish using the berries.
Moreover, lately, because he'd been troubling Giratina quite a bit, the consumption of Grepa Berry Wine was getting higher and higher.
Now there were only about 120 barrels left.
While this Berry wine probably tasted different from Grepa Berry Wine, for Giratina to drink, it should be roughly the same.
Currently, the Berries produced most in Kaede's plantation were Oran Berries, Pecha Berries, Sitrus Berries, Lum Berries... and a few other special Berries.
Among them, Oran and Sitrus Berries restored stamina and had healing properties.
Pecha Berries cured poisoning, Lum Berries cured paralysis.
Of these, Oran and Pecha Berries were the most plentiful.
But making wine from these two Berries took much longer compared to Grepa Berry Wine.
Pecha Berry wine required aging, often for 1 to 3 months.
Oran Berry wine needed even more time.
But the Berries were just sitting there anyway, might as well use them to make wine. Better than waiting until the Grepa Berry Wine ran out and Giratina had nothing to drink—it would probably be very sad.
"Ah, work, work..."
His thoughts drifted, but Kaede continued working.
For the next two days, he, Gardevoir, Latias, and the sister Indeedee stayed in the kitchen. On one hand, they produced Energy Cubes.
Even Mewtwo was roped into a day of hard labor before it managed to leave by challenging Giratina to a battle.
Of course, the battle result was naturally Giratina's victory.
No way around it.
Giratina couldn't come to the real world to battle, so Mewtwo had to go to the Distortion World.
Inside the Distortion World, even though Mewtwo followed Kaede's advice and stacked several Calm Mind boosts before fighting, it still couldn't beat Giratina.
But according to Giratina, this Mewtwo was indeed much stronger than the last time.
It just didn't know when Mewtwo would find the trigger for its Mega Evolution.
Kaede couldn't say either.
On the other hand, they were making wine.
It wasn't until March 27th that these tasks were mostly completed.
…
March 27th.
Early morning.
When the Breeding House opened its doors again, the outside was already in an uproar.
Over a dozen people who had arrived early were already waiting at the entrance. As soon as the door opened, they streamed in one after another, orderly but eager.
"Whoa, whoa, finally open! Kaede, you're finally back!"
"Hahaha, my Grovyle is saved!"
"Say, where did the Kaede go? Haven't seen a trace of you for over ten days. Heard something big happened in the Kanto region recently, most of Team Rocket's members were arrested. Could it have been the owner Kaede's doing?"
"That's possible! It just so happens Kaede was away these days, and our League has also stopped accepting any products related to Team Rocket."
Several customers walked in, saw Kaede standing behind the counter, and couldn't help but excitedly discuss. The content of their discussion, however, made his heart skip a beat.
"Hahaha, how could that be? Who would go to the Kanto region for no reason... right, Kaede?"
Someone looked at Kaede, joking.
But at that moment, Kaede only had one thought in his mind:
*'Stop guessing wildly!'*