The day after Celebi left, the Breeding House returned to its busy routine.
Victor, with the help of Gengar, Mime Jr., and Gothita, cleaned the entire house.
Looking at the spotless Breeding House, Victor let out a contented sigh and sat down in the rocking chair he had bought a few days ago, gently swaying back and forth.
"Goth~" Gothita brought him a freshly brewed cup of tea.
"Thank you, Gothita."
Slowly sipping the tea, Victor closed his eyes in comfort.
This life was truly wonderful.
The weather today wasn't hot, rather overcast. Gengar and the others were playing with Shana in the backyard, along with the forest Pokémon who came over during the day and returned home at night.
The Petilil sat on the counter, continuing its role as the Breeding House's receptionist.
After a short nap, Victor picked up his Breeding House development plan. Business wasn't particularly busy today, so he decided to take this opportunity to expand the planting area in the backyard.
He stood up, went to the backyard, explained the situation to Shana and the others, told them to stay within the Breeding House grounds, and asked the Staravia to keep an eye on them.
Shana nodded obediently. Victor then took Gengar, held the Petilil in his arms, and headed towards Twinleaf Town.
Arriving at the grandmother's seed shop and finishing his purchase, the grandmother held Victor's hand and asked when the herbal tea would be available for sale again.
Victor slapped his forehead. He had been so busy he had completely forgotten. He had stopped selling the tea temporarily to avoid any unforeseen accidents.
He immediately told her that the herbal tea sales would resume tomorrow morning.
The grandmother nodded in satisfaction and gave him a 10% discount on all the seeds he bought.
Back in the yard, Victor took out several hoes, gave them to Dali and the others, and kept one for himself.
He walked around the planting area, measured it out, and then had Dali and the others remove the surrounding fence. He then used his hoe to expand the planting area to more than three times its original size.
Berries and vegetables took up most of the space. After all, with a large household, including big eaters like Gengar and the three Machoke, food supplies dwindled quickly.
He then had Dali lead Erli and Sanli to bring back the fence posts and pound them into the ground one by one with their fists.
During this process, many of the forest Pokémon gathered around, watching curiously and whispering amongst themselves.
Once the fence was up, Victor took out the purchased seeds, walked onto the newly tilled land, allocated the space, and planted the seeds one by one.
Just as he and Gengar were about to water them with their watering cans, a few Aipom called out to him.
"What is it?" Victor asked curiously.
One of the Aipom pointed at the watering can in Victor's hand, and the hand on its long tail mimicked the motion of watering.
"You mean, you want to do the watering?"
The Aipom nodded, its eyes full of hope as it looked at Victor.
Victor thought for a moment, then handed it the watering can.
It took the can, clapped its front hands happily, then carefully walked into the planting area and began watering the seeds one by one.
Seeing this, Gengar also handed its watering can to another Aipom.
The two Aipom began watering the planting area.
"This feels pretty nice," Victor said, watching the Aipom water for him. Seeing the envious looks from the other Aipom nearby, he smiled.
He decided he would buy a few more watering cans later and give them all to the Aipom, letting them handle the watering.
Although he could ask the Golduck and Azumarill from the lake area to use Rain Dance, seeing how much the Aipom enjoyed watering, he might as well let them do it.
After guiding the Aipom through the watering process, Victor returned to the front lounge area, lay back down, and quietly waited for customers.
"Uncle! Uncle!"
Victor opened his eyes and saw Shana's small head peering at him over the armrest of the chair.
"What's wrong?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and stretching.
This rocking chair, combined with this lifestyle, really made it easy to get drowsy. He could fall asleep without even realizing it.
"Uncle, can we hold a competition now?" Shana asked, staring intently at him.
Victor thought for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. How about we hold a tournament in a couple of days?" he said, smiling and patting her bun hairstyle.
Ever since Shana had started staying at the Breeding House, her hair was always either in buns or pigtails.
Seeing her still staring at him intently, Victor chuckled. "Alright, alright. I'll go make the arrangements now."
Only then did Shana nod in satisfaction.
Victor gently pinched her small nose, stood up, and took out his phone to ask Officer Jenny about the related matters.
The League Conference had ended yesterday. Now it was time for his own Breeding House tournament.
Shana watched Victor discussing things with Jenny, her eyes darting around. She then looked at the Pokémon beside her and whispered something to them.
Meanwhile, on the road from Sandgem Town to Twinleaf Town, a boy with reddish-brown spiky hair, a pendant around his neck, and casual clothes was walking along.
An Umbreon trotted faithfully by his side.
He tossed a Poké Ball in his hand. He had originally planned to just visit Professor Rowan and then head back to the Kanto region, but the Professor had mentioned a Breeding House between Sandgem and Twinleaf Town.
Perhaps he might find something interesting if he went there.
"A Breeding House, huh?" the boy murmured to himself.
After walking for some time, the outline of a house appeared in the distance. He quickened his pace until he arrived at the entrance.
[Gengar's Happy Paradise (Breeding House)]
After reading the sign, he led his Umbreon inside.
The moment he entered, a Pokémon sitting on the counter greeted him.
"This is—"
Seeing a Pokémon he had never encountered before, the boy took out his Pokédex and scanned the Petilil.
Seeing no data recorded, the boy fell into thought.
"Not a Pokémon from the Sinnoh region?"
As he muttered this, he heard the Petilil's voice.
"Lili~"
"Hello. Is the owner of the Breeding House not here?" he asked politely.
The Petilil indicated that the owner was in the backyard and called out loudly.
"Lili~"
Footsteps came from the backyard.
During this time, he carefully examined the photos displayed in the Breeding House.
Group photos, photos with a little girl, photos with Officer Jenny and the others, and many individual photos of Pokémon.
His eyes landed on one particular photo, and he was completely stunned.
Looking at the blonde woman holding an ice cream in the picture, he couldn't help but say aloud:
"Is that—the Sinnoh Champion?"
"Hello, can I help you with anything?"
Victor pushed open the door behind the counter and walked out, his words preceding him.
He then looked up at the visitor.
Well, well. A familiar face.
...
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