"So, a typhoon is heading your way?"
Cynthia asked through the video call on the rotom phone.
"According to the notifications I received, it seems so."
Lucas replied, lying exhausted in the armchair in the lounge.
The workload at the Breeding House had surged over the past two days; in just forty-eight hours, 58 pokémon eggs had been sold, and over a dozen forest Pokémon had been adopted.
Lucas shared these figures with Cynthia.
"That's normal. Many novice Trainers choose to purchase pokémon eggs during the Lily of the Valley Conference, hatch them, and then embark on their journeys once the conference concludes."
Cynthia sat in her office chair with the rotom phone floating beside her, while she watched the screen on her computer.
"Why choose to buy pokémon eggs during the Lily of the Valley Conference?" Lucas was a bit confused.
"Because Gym Leaders take time off during the conference. They only resume Gym challenges after the conference ends."
Cynthia looked up at the man's tired face on the screen, smiled gently, and continued, "Gym Leaders need time to rest, and the Gyms themselves need to undergo maintenance and renovations during this period."
"Our League's Gym Leaders and Elite members are much better off than those in other leagues. After all, our Elite members and Gym Leaders actually work hard during their working hours, unlike some others—"
Cynthia thought of her best friend and shook her head helplessly.
Daily Kalos-bashing, I see.
"That's true."
Lucas nodded in agreement.
It was hard not to agree, especially since the Sinnoh Region had an Elite who was known for working overtime.
Their ability to handle League affairs was top-notch.
Aside from that one man in the Paldea Region who was both a Gym Leader and an Elite, the overtime-working Elite of Sinnoh was already working very hard.
It seemed that aside from that one person, no one could compare to the "overtime" Elite, Lucian.
When Lucas played Scarlet and Violet, he actually felt a bit sorry for that guy in Paldea.
"Is the Breeding House unaffected?"
Hearing Cynthia's concern, Lucas looked out the window. It was midday, but outside, the sky was already pitch black.
"I'm afraid this typhoon is coming on strong."
"That's just how the weather is by the sea. Typhoons are common in spring and summer. But as long as you stay safe inside the Breeding House, there shouldn't be any problems."
Lucas nodded. "The Lily of the Valley Conference opens tomorrow, right?"
"Mm."
"Who is the exhibition match between?"
"Flint and me. I originally wanted to invite you, but your popularity isn't high enough, and you're busy with the Breeding House, so I scrapped that idea. As for other Champions, Steven won't take these commissions, Wallace is busy hosting the Wallace Cup, Diantha is filming, Lance said he's busy, Leon rarely leaves the Galar Region, Geeta is supposedly dealing with issues in the Great Crater of Paldea, and Alder's condition has declined significantly due to the passing of his Pokémon."
Cynthia sighed. "Overall, they aren't very available right now. After thinking about it, I decided it was best just to have Flint participate."
"By the way, is Lance still with you?"
Cynthia tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and asked.
Lucas shook his head, gritting his teeth. "That guy—the moment I mentioned a couple of days ago that the Breeding House was about to get busy, he rode his Dragonite back to the Kanto Region overnight, terrified I'd make him stay and help."
Thinking of the image of Lance riding his Dragonite and leaving in the middle of the night, Lucas felt miserable.
If only he'd known, he wouldn't have said that. He might have been able to keep him around to do some work.
Having the Champion of the Kanto Region working at his small Breeding House—how prestigious would that be?
What made Lucas even more upset was that before leaving, Lance shamelessly stole all the desserts and snacks that the Alcremie in the kitchen had made, leaving the Alcremie crying all day long.
Dodo-bird, next time I catch you, you're dead!
Cynthia listened to Lucas's rant and shook her head, amused.
"It's a pity I can't go to watch the opening ceremony tomorrow."
Lucas said regretfully.
Even if there weren't a typhoon, given how busy the Breeding House was, he couldn't just abandon it to go watch the Lily of the Valley Conference.
"I wanted to see Ash and the others battle in person. After all, I did teach them quite a lot."
"It's okay."
Cynthia's voice was gentle as she comforted Lucas. "Given their strength, as long as they don't encounter each other too early, they should be able to make it to the later stages. There's still plenty of time from start to finish. You can still make it if you come over after finishing up your business at the Breeding House."
Lucas said in a low voice, "I suppose that's the only way."
"Do you want me to rig the bracket? So they won't run into each other early on?"
Cynthia raised an eyebrow at Lucas.
"You can do that? Aren't you the organizer? Shouldn't things be fair and just?"
"It's just rigging the bracket so they don't meet early; how is that unfair? In any case, the final Champion will only be the strongest one. No matter how the matches are arranged, the strong will always advance to the next round, so rigging it doesn't affect the outcome."
Cynthia leaned back in her chair, shrugged towards the screen, and wore an expression of nonchalance on her exquisite face.
Now that she puts it that way... it actually makes sense.
I have no words.
"Oh right, there's a Trainer who brought a Heatran to participate in the conference this time."
Cynthia recalled the report Lucian had given her, which mentioned that a Trainer had come to register with the legendary volcanic disaster beast, "Heatran." She remembered what Lucas had mentioned to her before and brought it up.
"Heatran? Is there really a Trainer who would bring it to participate in the Lily of the Valley Conference?"
Lucas said, surprised.
He had originally thought that what he saw on screen before was just the developers having a flash of inspiration to spice things up, but he hadn't expected it to actually happen.
"It's just a Heatran."
Cynthia was unimpressed.
Last time she went back to the past in Michina, that guy named Marcus also had a Heatran, and Garchomp took care of it in a few moves.
Nothing to worry about.
"Are there any other legendary Pokémon participating?"
Cynthia pursed her lips, pressed her slender fingers against her temples, thought for a moment, and then shook her head. "I haven't seen any so far."
Seeing this, Lucas didn't ask any more, but he was still very curious about one thing. "Doesn't the League ban these legendary Pokémon from competing?"
Cynthia shook her head. "Legendary Pokémon are strong, but being able to capture a legendary Pokémon shows that the Trainer has their own unique strengths. Besides, legendary Pokémon are still Pokémon, and as long as they are Pokémon, they can compete."
"Furthermore, a truly powerful Trainer isn't defined solely by the strength of their Pokémon."
"Sometimes, commanding these legendary Pokémon is even more exhausting than commanding ordinary Pokémon."
At this point, Cynthia suddenly clenched her fist. "Besides, even if it is a so-called legendary Pokémon, I won't lose."
Cynthia said with a smile.
As expected of Lady Cynthia, so imposing.
After chatting about other topics with Cynthia for a while, she hung up the phone and set off for the Lily of the Valley Conference venue.
Back at the Breeding House, Mrs. Fujino walked in, riding her Gogoat.
"How's the situation?"
Lucas stood up and walked over to help take the things Mrs. Fujino was carrying.
"The supermarket has been completely cleared out."
Mrs. Fujino dismounted from the Gogoat and said.
The Gogoat walked back to the backyard on its own.
"Officer Jenny and her team have already arranged for personnel to take precautions in advance. Twinleaf Town should be fine."
Mrs. Fujino continued, "Don't worry, Manager. Typhoons in Twinleaf Town are quite normal; it's just that this one is a bit larger."
"I went to check with the Pokémon Center, and Nurse Joy said the typhoon should pass by tomorrow."
Lucas nodded. The weather forecasts in this world were even worse than those in his previous life.
They only started issuing notifications that a typhoon was coming when it was almost at Twinleaf Town.
"The forest Pokémon have also returned to the forest."
Mr. Fujino walked out from behind the counter and said, "I followed your instructions and went to the Cave to discuss things with Steelix. We let some of the Pokémon in poor condition hide inside the Cave and left them some food. They should be fine until the typhoon passes tomorrow."
"As for the other Pokémon, they are relatively experienced in dealing with typhoon weather."
Lucas nodded. "Thank you for your hard work. Now, let's start reinforcing our Breeding House."
"Alright." "Alright."
Lucas led the two of them and the Gengar and the others to the backyard to reinforce some of the facilities that were easily damaged.
Lucas looked at the flowers in the flowerbed, which had been flattened by the wind, and sighed. "I wonder how many will be left after this typhoon passes."
After finishing, Lucas also went to the beehive. Watching the Combee scrambling to move the sweet honey back into the hive, Lucas hurriedly went over to help.
When everything was taken care of, Lucas caught his breath and looked at Vespiquen. "Vespiquen, do you want to come back to the Breeding House with me? Or would you rather stay in the hive?"
Vespiquen didn't hesitate at all and chose to stay in the hive.
Vespiquen would only stay in her own hive.
Lucas nodded. "Alright, I'll have Gengar bring you some food later. You can just stay in the hive with the Combee. I'll have Dash and the others reinforce the hive's entrance so it doesn't get blown away by the typhoon."
Vespiquen nodded.
Lucas walked out of the hive, finished making arrangements, and returned to the Breeding House.
"It's going to be busy again after the typhoon passes."
Lucas sighed.
"We can't do anything about natural disasters."
Mrs. Fujino was tidying up the Breeding House, making space so that some Pokémon could come in to take shelter from the wind and rain.
"I'm back."
Shauna ran in from outside, followed by Tomoyo and the Gothitelle and the others.
"Gothitelle."
the Cottage had already been arranged.
"Thank you for your hard work."
He looked at Tomoyo behind Shauna. "Little Tomoyo, why did you come over today too?"
Tomoyo, clutching a Dratini egg, said crisply, "Uncle, my mom and dad aren't home today. Can I stay here? I'm scared."
"Mom and dad aren't home?"
Lucas was stunned. The Minamoto couple wasn't home today?
"Of course you can. Why don't you sleep with Little Shauna tonight?"
"Okay, thank you, Uncle."
Tomoyo grinned.
After all the Pokémon at the Breeding House had returned, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, and rain began to pour down.
Then came the howling wind, whooshing and wailing.
Lucas walked to the door and took a look. The dark sky was full of an oppressive feeling.
He glanced at Gengar, which had floated next to him and was almost blown away by the wind. Lucas reached out and pulled it back, then closed the door of the Breeding House.
"The typhoon is here."
For the rest of the time, Lucas, everyone else, and all the Pokémon sat in the lounge watching TV, while Shauna and Tomoyo sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking outside.
Chimecho was perched on Shauna's head, and Tomoyo was holding the Dratini egg in her arms.
The two of them were watching outside with rapt attention, watching the rainwater begin to gather into small streams, flowing south from the direction of Sandgem Town toward Twinleaf Town, turning a golden color as it mixed with the sandy soil of the Breeding Road.
A large amount of debris and tree branches flew through the air, occasionally slamming into the eaves of the Breeding House, making a thumping sound.
There were also many Staravia that hadn't been able to dodge in time and were carried away by the strong winds.
There were also Wurmple that had firmly tied themselves to trees with String Shot, only to be blown away into the distance along with the uprooted trees.
In the sky, besides rain, branches, and stones, there were also the silhouettes of many Pokémon.
In this kind of weather, everyone and all the Pokémon were helpless.
Lucas turned his head and saw that Shauna and Tomoyo had pressed their faces tightly against the glass, flattening them like large pancakes.
Little Shauna really seems to like the rain.
Lucas thought to himself.
Every time it rained, she would sit in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking outside.
At this moment, the TV began to flicker.
The lights inside the Breeding House also began to flicker.
Shauna and Tomoyo turned around, looking confused.
Immediately after, the Breeding House was plunged into darkness.
"As expected, the power is out."
Lucas looked at the darkened Breeding House and said, then asked Gengar to use Will-O-Wisp to provide some light.
Poof.
The Will-O-Wisp flared up.
The Breeding House was instantly illuminated by the eerie glow of the flames.
A Wurmple that had struggled over to seek help was so scared when it saw the eerie glow coming from the Breeding House that it forgot to use String Shot and was blown away by the wind.
Wurmple: "There's a ghost!!!"
Everyone inside the Breeding House was already used to Will-O-Wisp. Gothitelle took the opportunity to take out the candles it had bought in Twinleaf Town and lit them.
Other people's candles had golden flames.
The Breeding House's candles had blue-purple or grayish-white flames.
The former were Gengar's Will-O-Wisp, and the latter were Rapidash's flames.
The entire Breeding House was shrouded in an indescribable glow.
Smelling the somewhat pungent odor of the burning candles, Lucas felt a sense of nostalgia.
It seemed he hadn't burned candles in a long time. He remembered that when he was a child, after a typhoon caused a power outage, they would burn candles, and during the New Year, they would light oil lamps.
It was a pity that after growing up, he rarely had the chance to burn candles.
Lucas called Shauna and Tomoyo over, then placed his hands next to the candle, casting the shadows onto the wall to form a puppy.
"Hello, my name is Gengar-Puppy, and I'm very happy to meet you."
Then, he changed his hand gestures to form a rabbit.
"Hello, my name is Little Rabbit-Group, and I'm also very happy to meet you~"
Next was a bird.
"I am Gothitelle-Bird, and I'm very happy to meet you~"
Shauna and Tomoyo's eyes shone as they looked at the shadows on the wall.
Accompanied by Lucas's narration, even Gengar and the others were attracted.
"Do you want to try?"
"Yes!" "I want to!" "Gengar!" "Lilli~" "Gothitelle."
Seeing that everyone present and all the Pokémon wanted to try, Lucas was a bit surprised. He hadn't expected them all to want to play.
Lucas smiled and began to teach them.
In the time that followed, until dinner, the walls of the Breeding House turned into an animal world, full of hunting and Play Rough—
"Little Tomoyo, I am a big tiger, and I am going to eat you."
"You can't, I am a little rabbit, and I am fast."
"Lilli~"
"Gengar, I am a big bad wolf, and I am coming for you."
"Gengar!"
"Don't—come over here!!!"
Lucas watched this scene and laughed silently.
As expected, children should play with things that children are supposed to play with.
Lucas took out his camera and took a picture.
Outside the Breeding House.
The strong wind was recklessly destroying everything around it. However, whenever it approached the Breeding House, a force would always make it gentle, and then it would blow away to other places.
There was only rain at the Breeding House, no wind.
Oh, and laughter.
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