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"See you next time."
Lucas looked at Leon, Mustard, and the others in front of him and said,
"Next time we meet, we must have a battle."
Leon extended his fist.
Lucas looked at Leon, smiled, and bumped fists with him. "Definitely next time."
Gothitelle floated out from the backyard, carrying a few gracidea flowers and their seeds, as well as some ordinary flower seeds and some gracidea flower tea. She packed them all up and handed them to Honey.
"Thank you, Gothitelle."
Honey reached out to take them and thanked her.
"Mistress Honey, you just need to find some relatively fertile soil, plant the gracidea flower seeds, and then water them once at six in the morning and once at six in the evening. As for the ordinary flower seeds, just follow your usual routine."
Lucas explained the precautions for taking care of the gracidea flowers to Honey, and then looked at Mustard. "Master Mustard, as soon as the tea is ready, I'll mail it to you right away."
"No rush, no rush. We'll head back then. Remember to come visit the Galar region next time you're free."
1
Mustard waved his hand.
Lucas nodded. "Okay."
Leon and Sonia sat on Charizard, while Mustard and Honey sat on Corviknight. The two Pokémon took off at the same time. Lucas stood at the entrance of the Breeding House, waving goodbye to them.
"Goodbye, Grandpa Mustard, Aunt Honey, Uncle Leon, and Sister Sonia! Come visit again next time."
Shauna bid them a warm farewell like a little host.
Tomoyo followed closely behind.
After seeing Leon and the others off, Lucas stretched. "This first Martial Arts Tournament is finally over—I'm so tired..."
Lucas felt completely burned out.
Slacking off at the Breeding House is still the most comfortable; every day is just eating and sleeping.
Lucian stood to the side. Hearing Lucas's complaints, he hesitated to speak. In the end, he glanced at Cynthia beside Lucas and chose to swallow his words.
So just handling this little bit of work is already tiring?
Lucian silently thought to himself.
Then he looked at Lucas. "I'll go over and handle the remaining matters first."
Lucas nodded, and Lucian nimbly leapt onto Bronzong and left the Breeding House.
"Uncle, Uncle, will there be a trophy for first place?"
Shauna looked up with her double-bun hair, staring straight at Lucas. Lucas reached out and pinched her little cheek. "Of course. We're getting ready to go over and collect the trophy right now."
The Mayor Qinn scheduled the award ceremony for after lunch. After all, since the matches had run until noon, everyone was hungry. He might as well let them go out for lunch and come back for the ceremony. At the same time, he had also negotiated with the shops near the venue to offer half-price lunches today.
"Yay! Can Little Shauna and Little Tomoyo go collect the award?"
Shauna grinned, and Lucas noticed she was missing another tooth.
"Hmm... you'll have to ask Dash about that. After all, she was the one who worked hard to win the championship."
Hearing this, Shauna took Tomoyo's hand and ran over to Dash, looking up at her and telling her what she wanted.
Dash smiled and gave a thumbs-up.
"Niko."
No problem.
"Hehe, thank you, Sister Dash! Sister Dash is the best."
Shauna hugged Dash's leg, climbed up, and sat on her neck.
Dash happily let Shauna sit on her neck and picked up Tomoyo too, letting her sit on her bent arm.
Easy-peasy.
"You actually prepared a trophy? Someone who didn't even prepare prize money at the start actually prepared a trophy?"
Cynthia looked at Lucas curiously, voicing her doubts.
"What do you mean? Do I look like the kind of person who doesn't prepare anything?"
Lucas was a bit displeased and questioned Cynthia.
Cynthia and Garchomp looked at each other, then nodded in unison.
"Hey, I—that's prejudice!"
Lucas accused Cynthia and Garchomp. Seeing him speak so righteously, Cynthia actually began to wonder if she really did have too much prejudice against him.
Just as she was about to apologize to Lucas, Latias's clear voice rang in her mind: "Don't be fooled by him. He only thought of making a trophy after the first day of the tournament. He hid in the bathroom at night to discuss the plan with Gengar, and then rushed to finish the trophy and send it over just yesterday."
Cynthia: "..."
Listening to Lucas's accusations, Cynthia flashed a sweet smile.
"Tell me, how long did you hide in the bathroom with Gengar to come up with the trophy?"
"Three ho— No, it was decided long ago."
Cynthia nodded. "So that's how it is. It seems I've wronged you then."
"More than just wronging me, you even wronged Gengar along with me!"
Garchomp, watching the extremely expressive faces of Lucas and Gengar from the side, couldn't help but rub her scythes together.
Don't you two know what your reputation is like in the hearts of your close friends and Pokémon?
"Then it seems I really ought to apologize to you and Gengar."
"Hehe, actually there's no need. Well, how should I put it, if you really want to apologize, it's not like I can't—"
"What time did you hide in the bathroom to discuss it that night?"
"After you fell asleep—"
Before Lucas could finish speaking, Gengar covered his mouth.
Lucas: !
Oh no!
She tricked me!
Cynthia took a deep breath and spoke with a calm expression. "Since you like doing other things so much while I'm asleep, starting today, you can go back to your own room to sleep."
Lucas: !!!
Yamero!
"Sister Cynthia, please don't!"
Lucas wept bitterly.
Cynthia ignored Lucas's pleas, simply reaching out to brush her blonde hair behind her ear. "Garchomp, let's go. Little Shauna, Little Tomoyo, let's go to the venue together to collect the awards."
"Okay~"
"Mm."
Watching Cynthia's departing back, Lucas and Gengar exchanged a glance, and then he spoke, "Gothitelle~"
Gothitelle brushed past him.
"—Lilligant~"
"Lilli~"
Bye-bye, Uncle Lucas~
"—Latias, my little red plane, my Plane Sister, I know you won't abandon me."
There was no response for a long while.
Lucas: "..."
Finally, Lucas turned to look at Ninetales.
"Nine—"
"Xiu?"
Why am I put last?
Ninetales's charming eyes were icy cold at this moment, and she stared intently at Lucas.
Lucas: "..." Cold sweat dripped down.
Can anyone tell me how to break this deadlock?
Ninetales walked over to Lucas, raised her tail, and whipped him mercilessly.
Hiss—
After whipping Lucas, Ninetales used Confusion to lift him into the air, letting him sit steadily on her back, before stepping forward toward Twinleaf Town.
"Woohoo, off to collect the trophy~"
Latias's voice rang out.
Lucas turned his head, staring at Latias who had intentionally revealed herself. "Why did you ignore me when I called you just now?"
"Ah? Did you call me? I didn't hear you. My hearing has been a bit off lately..."
Latias spoke in feigned surprise.
Lucas: "..."
Heading to the venue in Twinleaf Town, Lucas had Shauna and Tomoyo stand with him on the Champion's podium during the award ceremony. Shauna and Tomoyo held the fist-shaped trophy together, grinning widely as they took a photo.
Looking at the trophy held by Shauna and Tomoyo, and then at the five million that had returned to his pocket, Lucas was overjoyed.
He hadn't expected that winning the championship would actually come with prize money, and the amount was exactly what he had donated.
What was this called? What is mine will always be mine!
Bruno took the second-place prize money and, with a wave of his hand, prepared to treat Chuck, Brawly, and Marshal to a good meal.
Meanwhile, our competitor Maylene watched the third-place prize money arrive in her account, tears of excitement streaming down her face.
This is great! After days of anxiety, she had finally passed the Gym inspection and even received a hefty sum of prize money. Now she could add some extra food to her meals again, sob sob X_X.
After bidding everyone farewell, Lucas took Cynthia and the others for a good stroll around Twinleaf Town. Usually, because Cynthia didn't wear a disguise, showing her face like that would easily cause traffic congestion, so they hadn't really explored Twinleaf Town during the Martial Arts Tournament. Today, Cynthia had specially dressed up just to wander around Twinleaf Town.
Lucas looked at Cynthia walking beside him, wearing only a black baseball cap and a face mask patterned with Garchomp, and realized that not a single person around recognized her.
Is the disguise really that good?
The doubt in Lucas's heart was incredibly immense.
He had originally wondered why no one could recognize James and the others' disguises, but after seeing Cynthia's disguise today, it turned out that most people in this world are just face-blind!
Seeing that no one recognized Cynthia, Lucas simply stopped overthinking it. Instead, he took Cynthia's hand and wove through the various vendors.
Mrs. Fujino and Mr. Fujino had long since gone off to enjoy their time as a couple, and Shauna and Tomoyo had also taken the group of cuties to go around freeloading food and drinks, so currently, only Lucas and Cynthia were left.
"Lucas, do you want to buy a bouquet of flowers for this big sister?"
A little girl ran over, cradling a bunch of wild flowers picked from the roadside. Although they were of different varieties, they were all very beautiful.
"I'll take them all."
Lucas was very generous, buying them all with a wave of his hand. Then, under Cynthia's expectant gaze, he gave these flowers to Garchomp, Gothitelle, Lilligant, Ninetales, Dash, and Latias.
Feeling Cynthia's death glare from behind, Lucas naturally turned around and walked up to her. "Do you know? You deserve the most beautiful flowers in the world."
"Oh?"
Cynthia tilted her head, narrowing her eyes.
"Want to know what it is?"
Cynthia remained silent, just staring straight at Lucas.
Lucas felt a chill run from his heels straight to the top of his head. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to shift his attention away from the scythes hovering near his neck. Looking at Cynthia, he grinned and said, "How about this? I'll perform a magic trick for you and conjure up the most beautiful flower in this world."
Cynthia was very curious, so she signaled to Garchomp, and only then did Garchomp retract the scythe from Lucas's shoulder.
"Look, I don't have anything in my hands right now, right? I'll count to three, and the most beautiful flower in the world will appear in my hand."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
Cynthia held her breath, focusing intently.
Lucas held Cynthia's hand, his other hand empty.
"?"
Lucas raised the hand he was holding with Cynthia's, "Look, the most beautiful flower in the world is right here."
Gothitelle behind them: ————
It chose to close its eyes.
Sitting on Ninetales's back, Lilligant covered her mouth, unable to stop laughing.
Cynthia took a deep breath, then looked at Lucas with a smile: "Although what you said is very correct, you still cannot escape a ————"
"Ta-da~"
Lucas's other hand suddenly reached out, and an extremely beautiful gracidea flower appeared before Cynthia's eyes.
"How about it? Were you startled? Is it pretty? This is the most beautiful gracidea flower in the Breeding House."
Lucas grinned and laughed.
Cynthia looked at the golden gracidea flower before her, her eyes gentle.
"I picked it specially. It's the only one in the whole backyard that is golden, just like your hair, charming and beautiful."
Lucas said.
Cynthia pretended she hadn't seen the scene from just a moment ago: a small, chubby hand reaching out from the shadow behind Lucas, then placing the flower into Lucas's hand.
"Thank you."
Cynthia took the gracidea flower and held it to her nose. Although there was a mask in the way, the unique fragrance of the gracidea flower still permeated through the mask.
"Do you know what the flower language of the gracidea flower is?"
Lucas asked.
Cynthia was stunned for a moment, "What is it? Gratitude?"
Lucas nodded, then reached out to tidy the hair on her face, and said softly: "That's right, gratitude that you appeared in my life."
Cynthia looked at Lucas, her beautiful eyes slowly widening, filled with mist, and immediately after, her ears turned incredibly red.
"————Tha————Thank you————"
Cynthia lowered her head, "I————I am too————"
After saying this, Cynthia held the gracidea flower and walked forward with her head down.
Lucas looked at Cynthia's somewhat flustered appearance and was a bit shocked.
It seems cheesy pickup lines can still conquer everything in this world!
Garchomp watched from behind, gnashing its teeth.
Gengar was on the side constantly comforting it, bribing it with all kinds of delicious snacks and food.
Lucas caught up to Cynthia, and the two strolled along, then encountered Bruno and the other two who had just walked out of the noodle shop.
"It looks like you all really like the ramen at this shop?"
Lucas said as he watched them walk out of the noodle shop.
These past few days, except for that night when they were invited to have dinner at the Breeding House, they had eaten at this noodle shop the rest of the time.
"It's delicious, we all quite like it."
Bruno nodded, still wanting more.
"Right? We still have a lot of food in Twinleaf Town. If you're not in a rush, you can stay and play for a few more days."
"No, we're preparing to head back."
Bruno shook his head and refused. He looked at Lucas and said: "When will the next Martial Arts Tournament be held? Remember to invite me."
Hearing Bruno's inquiry, Lucas thought about it for a moment, "If there are no accidents, it should be once a year, or it could be once every three years. After all, hosting this kind of competition is really tiring."
Bruno nodded. A competition with such high prestige is indeed hard to host, the main thing being that it's difficult to find strong participants.
"Then remember to invite me when you host it next time."
"Rest assured, I will definitely invite you all. However, let's agree on this beforehand: the competitions I host don't have appearance fees,"
"No need."
Bruno shook his head, indicating he didn't need an appearance fee, "Next time, if you need me to appear in an exhibition match, you can also find me. It's free, but you must host the Martial Arts Tournament."
Lucas looked at Bruno before him; he was truly a man who loved fighting.
"It's a deal."
Lucas extended his fist and bumped it with Bruno's.
He quite liked Bruno; after all, Fighting-type people don't have so many twists and turns, and are the easiest to understand.
After saying goodbye to Bruno and the others, Bea also ran over to bid farewell.
"Master, I'm returning to the Galar region to continue my training. Next time we meet, I will definitely be stronger."
"Good luck."
Watching Bea's departing figure, Cynthia said: "She is quite competitive."
Lucas nodded, "Just like me."
Unexpectedly, Cynthia did not refute this time, but instead completely agreed.
The two walked all the way to the beach and discovered that the Mayor Qinn and Officer Jenny were both at the beach, maintaining order in the surroundings, and Lucian was there too.
Lucas and Cynthia walked over to the resting Mayor Qinn and Officer Jenny and greeted them.
"Sister Reese, remember to clean up the leftover trash in time, so as not to Attract Muk and Weezing over again."
Lucas reminded.
"Rest assured."
Officer Jenny yawned, "I gave instructions a long time ago."
Lucas looked at the Mayor Qinn, who was full of joy, and asked: "Mayor, how is the town's income these past few days?"
The Mayor Qinn answered with a smile: "Not bad. Mainly, the residents' income has increased. Excluding the portion they voluntarily donated to build the venue, it's estimated that every resident with a stall earned quite a bit. After all, several tens of thousands of people came over these past few days."
"Actually, it doesn't matter if the money earned these past few days is more or less. The most important thing is that our Twinleaf Town has also started to be noticed by people from various regions. This way, if we want to host large-scale events next time, more people will come to participate, and the residents will have one more new path for income."
Speaking of this, the Mayor Qinn shook his head with regret, "It's just a pity that our Twinleaf Town doesn't have good scenery like Spirit Town, otherwise we could have developed the tourism industry too."
"And it's not like Sandgem Town, which has a Pokémon Professor stationed there."
Cynthia glanced at Lucas, and Lucas shook his head.
Even if he became a Pokémon Professor, it would be useless. He is not from Twinleaf Town, and the Breeding House isn't located within Twinleaf Town either.
"Doesn't our Twinleaf Town border the sea? We could develop fishing services, hold more large-scale fishing competitions, or water marathons. And aren't there quite a few small islands nearby? We could develop them and build them into a resort; wouldn't that be nice? Just like the Alola region."
Lucas suggested.
"That is indeed a good method. We'll try it when the time comes; anyway, we won't lose anything. However, we probably can't develop the surrounding islands. The ownership of those islands is in the hands of the League. Renting them should be possible, but we have no way to contact people from the League."
The Mayor Qinn answered.
"Mr. Lucian."
Lucas called out to Lucian, who was turning around to leave.
Hearing Lucas call his name, Lucian's body stiffened, he hesitated for a moment, and then walked over as if resigned to his fate.
Just now, when he walked over and heard the Mayor Qinn say they couldn't contact anyone from the League, he had already sensed something amiss and turned to leave, only to be called back by Lucas.
"Do me a favor."
Lucian looked at Cynthia, "big sis is the Champion, I am just an Elite."
Cynthia immediately picked up on Lucian's words, "You know, I am very busy with work."
Lucian: ???
You? Busy with work?? Huh???
Hearing Cynthia's words, Lucian sighed with mental exhaustion.
The purpose of his direct superior saying this was that she didn't want to do it herself.
After all, handling this matter is really troublesome and requires a lot of procedures.
But what other choice is there? He is just a worker and has to be responsible for his direct superior.
"This matter is actually very troublesome, not as simple as you imagine."
Lucian explained. As the man most familiar with all kinds of affairs in the Sinnoh League, he knew the twists and turns inside too well.
"That's why I need you to help me."
Lucas said with a smile.
"It's not that I don't————"
"The herbal tea is almost ready. When it's processed, I'll give you a year's supply. Whenever you finish drinking it, I'll mail more to you."
"This isn't about the herbal tea————"
"Gothitelle recently researched an herbal tea that can effectively improve eye fatigue, and at the same time, also researched an herbal tea that can make hair smoother, improve the scalp, and promote hair Growth."
"Additionally, Vespiquen has brewed a type of sweet honey that can help with sleep."
"I can help————"
"Next time you want to eat any snacks, I'll have the Pokémon at the Breeding House send them to you that very night. Desserts are fine too, guaranteed to arrive the same day."
"Finally, I'll send you a small jar of each quality of sweet honey."
"Hello, this is Lucian. I have something I want to discuss with you————"
Watching Lucian walk to the side to make a phone call, Lucas raised his eyebrows at Cynthia beside him.
As if saying: Look, getting him to agree to work overtime is such an easy thing.
Cynthia: ————
Anyway, I can make him work overtime even without these things.
In fact, Lucian was already prepared to agree to him when Lucas took out the herbal tea that promotes hair Growth, but Lucas kept adding more stakes afterward; Lucian had no choice but to handle this matter on the spot.
No choice, the offer was just too generous.
Whoever has consumed food from the Breeding House knows, especially the sweet honey.
Even with money, you might not be able to buy it.
Lucian: Today? You're asking me why I'm working overtime again today? Today I am working overtime voluntarily.
Lucian: Aoki? What does he have to compare with me? When I work overtime, I get extra pay, plus all kinds of delicious food, and all sorts of tea to drink.
Lucian: More importantly, I'm not afraid of losing all my hair, unlike him, whose forehead is shining.
Lucian: Plus, I'm not afraid of ruining my health; the Breeding House has a ton of things that can help me recuperate my body. How can he compare to me? Not only is his work ability inferior to mine, but his benefits aren't as good as mine either. This round, this round I completely win.