"I say, Lucas, aren't you making a bit of a mountain out of a molehill?"
Lance leaned against the kitchen door, watching as Lucas stuffed food into Little Shauna's backpack with great effort, and couldn't help but speak up.
"She's only going for two days, isn't this enough food for two weeks? This is the first time in my life I've seen someone do this."
"You're a big, burly man, you wouldn't understand. You haven't raised a daughter. Once you reach my age, you'll understand."
Lucas didn't even look up, continuing to stuff food into the backpack as he spoke.
"Aren't you a big, burly man? You have a daughter?" Lance widened his eyes.
"Little Shauna, of course. To me, Little Shauna is like a daughter I gained for free."
Lucas looked up and raised an eyebrow at Lance. "You don't have one, do you?"
Lance: "I—" Lance walked over and gave Lucas a punch, then turned and walked toward the backyard. "Whatever you say. I'm going to the backyard first. Come over and have some tea with me later."
"Got it, stop nagging."
"Alright already, Uncle, it won't fit anymore!" A crisp voice rang out from the doorway. Lucas looked up and saw that Little Shauna had already changed into her school uniform, wearing the yellow baseball cap that Mrs. Fujino had bought for her. She was standing at the entrance, calling out to him.
"Don't worry, there's still room."
"I can't eat that much! There's food there!" Little Shauna ran in, stopping Lucas from continuing to stuff food into the backpack.
"Alright then. By the way, are you sure you don't want Gengar and the others to go with you?" Lucas pinched Little Shauna's cheeks and said.
"No need. Gengar and the others have their own things to do. Having Rapidash and Chimecho with me is enough. They will protect me and Little Tomoyo."
"Alright. If anything happens, you must call me, understand?"
"If you get bullied by wild Pokémon, you must call me too. I'll have Gengar go over and vent your anger for you."
"Mhm, I will." Little Shauna nodded solemnly.
Rhyperior, who was passing by the kitchen, was speechless when it heard this. Wild Pokémon bullying her? It would be a mercy if she didn't go and bully the wild Pokémon herself.
Little Shauna had already become the little tyrant of the Breeding House's backyard. She spent all day running around the backyard with a few lackeys, with an expression that said, "If you don't listen to me, I'll beat you up."
Seeing Little Shauna turn her head to look at it, Rhyperior felt a chill down its back and quickly walked out of the Breeding House, taking the order for Twinleaf Town to deliver it outside.
After sending the prepared Little Shauna to the door and watching her ride away on Rapidash toward Twinleaf Town, the worry in Lucas's heart still wouldn't dissipate.
After all, the wilderness in this world is very dangerous. Originally, Lucas wanted to ride Ninetales to take her to Twinleaf Town, but she refused.
Lucas turned back and looked at the eaves. Staraptor nodded at him. "Rest assured." Then, it flapped its wings and flew high into the sky, following far behind Shauna.
Behind it were Gliscor and Honchkrow. Seeing the three Pokémon leave, Lucas's worry lessened a little.
Even Little Shauna's biological parents were somewhat helpless about Lucas's worry. Clearly, in this world, one can officially go on a journey at ten years old. Little Shauna is already nine this year, and she's just going on an outing, not a journey. Why is Lucas so worried?
Sometimes, one really cannot understand what Lucas is thinking. As guests entered the Breeding House, Lucas began to immerse himself in his work, and the Breeding House faintly felt like it was getting busy.
On the other side, Little Shauna was currently riding a Shiny Rapidash, holding Chimecho in her arms. All the luggage and food that Lucas and Mrs. Fujino had prepared for her were hung on Rapidash's back as she galloped along.
Arriving at the school gate, Rapidash performed a cool drift. Little Shauna sat on Rapidash's back, looking for her class.
Many parents at the gate smiled and greeted Little Shauna when they saw her. Everyone knew that there was a cute little girl at Lucas's Breeding House.
After Little Shauna politely greeted everyone, she heard the sound of Little Tomoyo calling her.
After hearing Little Tomoyo's voice, Rapidash walked over slowly and carefully. Little Tomoyo was wearing a little red hat today, creating a red-and-yellow color scheme with Little Shauna.
Little Tomoyo's parents, the Minamoto couple, smiled and greeted Shauna after seeing her, then left together.
Little Tomoyo was still holding the Dratini egg in her arms. Little Shauna had checked the Dratini egg for her and discovered that it would still be a long time before it hatched.
When the teacher saw that Shauna had arrived at the scene, they did a quick headcount and found that everyone was present. So, they began to call everyone to line up and get on the bus. For this outing, each class was equipped with two teachers, and the school had also chartered a small bus for each class.
Little Shauna was chatting with Little Tomoyo when the teacher walked over. "Student Shauna, would you like to ride on the bus with us? Or would you prefer to ride Rapidash and follow behind us?"
"Can I ride Rapidash?" Little Shauna's eyes lit up.
The teacher smiled slightly. "Of course you can. After all, the Pokémon from the Breeding House are all very obedient, aren't they?"
"Mhm, Rapidash is very obedient." Little Shauna proudly hummed in agreement, then noticed Little Tomoyo's gaze from the side. She rolled her eyes, then asked the teacher, "Teacher, can I invite Little Tomoyo to join me?"
The teacher was stunned for a moment. "Huh? This... we agree, but we don't know if Student Tomoyo is willing?"
"I'm willing." Before the teacher could finish speaking, Little Tomoyo spoke up and said she was willing.
Seeing this, the teacher didn't say anything else, just urged the two to make sure to follow closely behind the bus and not get lost. Shauna nodded heavily.
After Shauna and Tomoyo got on Rapidash, the driver uncle honked the horn lightly to remind Shauna and Tomoyo that he was about to start driving.
Without needing Shauna to say anything, Rapidash started running, following the bus on its own.
The spring sunshine in the Sinnoh region was very warm. The warm sunlight shone on Tomoyo and Shauna on Rapidash's back, making them involuntarily squint their eyes, but the wind from Rapidash running was also very comfortable blowing on them.
Feeling the spring breeze stroking her face, Shauna sat behind Tomoyo, wrapping her arms around Tomoyo's waist, and said proudly, "Look, I wasn't wrong to choose Rapidash, right? Riding a horse in this kind of weather is the most comfortable. The wind is cool, and it feels very comfortable blowing on your face."
Tomoyo comfortably enjoyed the feeling of the spring breeze blowing on her face, just humming in agreement.
Just as Rapidash was following behind the bus, Gliscor glided down from the sky, landed on top of the bus, and clung tightly to it. "So tired... I don't want to fly anymore..."
Staraptor: "..." Honchkrow: "..." Rapidash wasn't surprised to see Gliscor. Given Lucas's personality, it would be the strangest thing if Staraptor and the others weren't following behind.
Shauna gently patted Rapidash's back, and Rapidash suddenly accelerated, riding side-by-side with the bus.
Other classmates in the class looked through the glass windows at Shauna and Tomoyo riding the cool Shiny Rapidash outside. The grayish-white flames of Rapidash fluttered in the wind, and its sturdy body rose and fell; in their eyes, it looked so cool.
"Wow! Rapidash is really so cool!" "Yeah." "I really want a Rapidash too." "When I can go on a journey, I will definitely capture a Rapidash!"
Little Shauna didn't know that she had planted the seed of wanting to capture a Rapidash in all the children in her class.
An hour later, Rapidash saw the bus stop in front of a forest, and it also slowly came to a stop.
Shauna and Tomoyo got down from Rapidash's back, looked at the forest in front of them, and looked around curiously.
"Teacher, are we staying here to play?" Shauna had always thought that an outing was just to go out and play, but actually, that wasn't wrong.
"That's right." The teacher answered Shauna's question.
After the two teachers and the driver took a headcount, they led Shauna and the others into the forest.
The place they chose was the very outskirts of the forest. This forest was divided into two parts, the outskirts and the deep interior. The outskirts were often passed through, and because the environment was beautiful, it was often chosen as a place for children's outings.
The deep interior was a place open only to Trainers. One could enter to train their own Pokémon or capture more powerful Pokémon, but they had to bear the consequences themselves.
Shauna looked at the small stream in front of her. It was crystal clear, and occasionally a few small fish would swim by slowly. She grinned happily, then looked at the teacher expectantly.
It took a lot of effort for the teachers to gather everyone back. After telling them about the things they needed to pay attention to, they started letting them set up their own tents.
The tents were shared by two people, so naturally, Shauna stayed with Tomoyo.
Watching the teacher teaching other students how to set up tents, Shauna turned her head and looked at Rapidash.
"It's a pity that Rapidash doesn't have hands." Little Shauna sighed regretfully, then took out a sausage from her bag, broke it in half, gave half to Tomoyo, and happily gnawed on the other half herself.
Rapidash: "..." Do you actually want a horse to set up the tent for you?
Since they started in the afternoon, after the tents were set up, the teachers started to set up a place for cooking and began to prepare a meal.
At this time, another class also arrived at the destination. Including Shauna's class, there were a total of two classes that had chosen this place as their destination for the outing.
Since it was spring, it could also be called a spring outing.
Shauna took the dinner the teacher handed her and sensibly said thank you. She took a bite, then secretly looked at Tomoyo beside her, and found that Tomoyo was also looking at her.
"It's not tasty." Tomoyo was simple and direct.
Teacher: (°°) (Crying.) I know the food I made isn't tasty, but you can't just say it out loud like that, right?!
The other teacher hurriedly comforted her colleague. "Alright, alright, children don't know how to talk very well. Whoever said this food is bad-tasting, I think this food is very... delicious."
She took a bite, chewed it, and it was a bit undercooked. She swallowed it with difficulty, then comforted her colleague.
"Mmm... You'd be better off not comforting me..."
Seeing this, Shauna hurriedly took out the "mini supermarket" that Lucas had prepared for her. She took out a large pile of sausages, as well as flatbreads and small cakes, pulled Tomoyo along, and distributed a little to the teacher and every classmate.
"Hehe, Teacher, try this. My uncle made it for me, it's very delicious." Shauna said with a giggle to the teacher, whose eyes were red.
"Thank you..." The teacher took it. Shauna took the opportunity to lean close to the teacher's ear. "Hehe, Teacher, don't be angry. Little Tomoyo is just a bit slow and doesn't know how to talk. Uncle says that getting angry causes wrinkles, so in order not to get wrinkles, you can't be angry, okay?"
After she finished speaking, Shauna also stretched out her little hand to rub the teacher's brow, then continued to whisper: "Teacher, I'll give you a little more food, don't let others see it. I only have this much left."
Watching the back of Shauna running away, the teacher looked at the large flatbread and three large meat sausages in her arms.
"Wuwuwu... Little Shauna... My angel... How can you be so cute..."
After speaking, the teacher took a bite of the sausage and chewed it. The tears she had been holding back finally fell. "Why... is the sausage her uncle made so delicious... Wuwuwu... Why is the difference between people so big..."
The teacher swallowed the sausage in her mouth, then wiped away her tears, and took the opportunity to put the flatbread in her hand into her mouth and take a bite. The tears fell even more.
The teacher cried while using the flatbread to sandwich the sausage, then dipped it in the sauce Shauna had shared with her, eating it in big bites, filling her cheeks until they were bulging.
"Why is it... so de- *hic*- licious... *hic*... Wuwu *hic*... wu."
While the students in the other class were still busy making dinner, everyone in Shauna's class was happily gnawing on half a sausage.
After Shauna finished distributing the sausages, she returned to Tomoyo's side with an empty backpack, took out the last sausage, and started gnawing on it.
"Share with you." Tomoyo shared her flatbread with Shauna. Shauna rolled her eyes, took it without hesitation, tore it in half, and they each ate half.
At night, the teachers urged the children to stay in their tents and sleep properly, and if they needed to go to the bathroom, they should come and find the teachers.
Watching Shauna and Tomoyo walk into the tent, Staraptor landed on the tree trunk above Shauna's tent, with Honchkrow standing beside it. Gliscor hung upside down on another tree.
The night was deep and quiet. Tomoyo looked at Shauna, who was constantly tinkering with something in the corner of the tent, and felt a little curious. She crawled over, patted Shauna on the shoulder, and asked, "Little Shauna, what are you doing..."
"Ahhh!" Shauna turned her head abruptly, holding the funny flashlight Gengar had given her. The light shone on her delicate little face, presenting a ghostly face. It scared Tomoyo so much that she couldn't help but swing her little fist.
Little Shauna held her eyes. "Little Tomoyo, you hit me."
"You were the one who scared me first." Little Tomoyo crossed her arms, looked at Shauna, and said.
Shauna pouted. "I said I couldn't scare you, Gengar didn't believe me, hmph."
"Then we're even." Shauna let go of her eyes; they had already become panda eyes. Tomoyo pursed her lips.
"Why aren't you talking? Hurry and say we're even." Seeing that Tomoyo didn't speak, Shauna felt a bit uncomfortable.
"I'm afraid I'll laugh..." Tomoyo's mouth was pursed tightly, speaking through her nose.
"Then just laugh, Little Shauna doesn't mind that."
Hearing Shauna say this, Tomoyo took a few deep breaths before calming down. "What were you doing just now? You weren't just thinking about scaring me, right?"
"That was only part of it. Little Tomoyo, are you still hungry?" Tomoyo shook her head.
"Alright then, I'll eat it myself." Tomoyo looked at the sausage that suddenly appeared in Shauna's hand and fell into silence.
"Didn't you say you finished distributing them?" Shauna blinked.
"That's right, but that was the bag Uncle prepared for me. Now this one is the bag Gengar prepared for me."
Tomoyo looked at the second bag Shauna took out and was speechless. How afraid are they that you'll go hungry?
"Little Tomoyo, let's go." Shauna picked up her bag, took Tomoyo's hand, and walked out of the tent.
The teacher was urging other children to sleep. Seeing Shauna and Tomoyo come out of the tent, she hurriedly walked over. "Student Shauna, Student Tomoyo, what's wrong? Do you need to go to the bathroom?"
Tomoyo looked at Shauna. Shauna shook her head. "No, we came out to sit for a while and feed the Pokémon."
"Feed... Pokémon?" As soon as she finished speaking, she saw a mighty Staraptor descend from the sky. Shauna took out a sausage and fed it.
"I knew Uncle would have you follow us, hmph."
Staraptor didn't speak, concentrating on eating its sausage. Immediately after, Honchkrow and Gliscor also flew over.
The teacher watched as, adding Rapidash, a total of four Pokémon surrounded Shauna and Tomoyo.
"It's fine, Teacher. We'll just sit for a while and then go back to sleep." Shauna said thoughtfully in a low voice to the teacher.
The teacher shook her head, then went to other tents to urge the children to go to sleep.
Shauna put down her small stool and sat with Tomoyo by the stream. Beside them was the lying-down Rapidash, the floating Chimecho, as well as Staraptor, Gliscor, and Honchkrow. The two girls and four Pokémon were soaking their feet and eating sausages under the moonlight.
Shauna really liked this. She gently dabbled her little feet in the stream water, eating the sausage bite by bite, and from time to time, she would break off a piece and feed it to Staraptor and the others.
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Thoughts on where the plot is heading? Let me know in the comments! If you're enjoying the ride, please leave a quick review and toss a few Power Stones my way. Every bit of support means the world! 🙌