"Gah-gah Gah-gah-gwa"
Carrying a small basket of fresh fruit that belonged to it, a rather sneaky Corviknight looked left and right, gripped the fruit basket with its sharp claws, then flapped its heavy steel wings and flew into the distance.
Hehehe, time to head home and give my little wife and kids an extra meal~
"Alright, that's the last Corviknight. Today's delivery work is complete."
"Dragonite, you worked hard too~"
"Bo-woo~"
The Dragonite leader responded with a gentle smile.
Lucas let out a sigh of relief as he stretched. From the corner of his eye, he observed the Dragonite leader, who was helping tidy up the aftermath at the scene.
How to put it… It felt like the label "reliable" had become visibly attached to it.
In the past, the Dragonite leader had always been a bit slow and wooden, so whenever Lucas assigned it delivery duties, he would ask Moltres and the others to keep an eye on it, afraid it might accidentally get lost.
But after it resolved its heart knot, the decades of experience accompanying Ria and working alone were fully released.
The level of peace of mind it provided was on a cliff-like lead!
…
Three days had already passed since the day Tapu Fini unleashed the mist.
After recovering, the Dragonite leader first spent some warm time with Dragonite and the Dragonair, then swiftly took on many tasks around the farm.
Delivery work was more like a daily "morning jog." Where the Dragonite leader truly showcased its abilities was in handling many small, detailed matters.
Perhaps because it had once cared for the elderly Ria alone, even Oranguru admitted that in some areas it was inferior to the Dragonite leader.
In just three short days, the Dragonite leader had become the farm's "Grandma Steward."
Although it only had one child—its own Dragonite—and was still a prime adult by Dragonite standards, it carried an aura that made calling it "Dragonite Grandma" feel completely natural.
After Lucas and the Dragonite leader finished cleaning up the mess left from preparing "rewards" for the returning Corviknight, they naturally returned to the living room.
The moment they entered, several shadows pounced over.
This time, however, the one enjoying this treatment was no longer Lucas, but the Dragonite leader beside him.
Larvesta, Victini, Snover, and Gimmighoul.
The four of them clung to the Dragonite leader's soft belly with intoxicated expressions, faces showing looks of "about to melt."
No need to look—they had already fallen completely to the Dragonite leader's gentleness.
In the past, the one being pounced on would have been him.
Lucas felt a tiny bit jealous. Just a tiny bit, really.
But something else quickly caught his attention. Wearing brand-new slippers, he entered the living room and sniffed the faint sweet aroma in the air.
"This smell is…"
The Dragonite leader, carrying the four Pokémon with a kind and gentle face, also sniffed and showed a nostalgic expression.
If its sense of smell wasn't wrong, the air was filled with the rich fragrance of butter, wheat, and sugar.
It remembered that Ria used to personally bake small cookies and biscuits with these ingredients. Whenever there was a break from work, the greedy Dragonite and she would look around to make sure no one was watching, then sneakily grab a few and pop them into their mouths.
Following the scent, Lucas walked over and sure enough found Alcremie standing in front of the oven, carefully monitoring the heat.
Although it could set the timer and temperature and leave everything to the oven, Alcremie trusted its own senses and experience as a pastry chef more. It also had strict standards for its creations, so it had to ensure the perfect timing and heat.
Recently, it had even learned a few exclusive recipes from Dolliv that couldn't be found elsewhere. Its skills had improved greatly through self-training.
Lucas was considering contacting Miss Akane one of these days to ask about Alcremie taking the "Pastry Chef Grade Certificate" exam.
Even if he had no plans to open a dessert shop, it should be quite important to Alcremie and one of its goals.
After all, even the chocolate cake it had tasted in the Kalos region—Alcremie had perfectly recreated it one-to-one after repeatedly recalling the flavor of the chocolate cream cake it had shared with Siebold.
Lucas believed Alcremie's talent in desserts was completely worthy of its species.
Seeing that Alcremie was still busy, Lucas did not disturb it. Instead, he mentally calculated the time, wondering how long until he could enjoy the hot, fresh cookies and biscuits.
At the same time, Lucas made his way to the second-floor balcony and asked the Whimsicott, who were leisurely absorbing nutrients from the soil in the flowerpots and enjoying photosynthesis, about a few things.
After getting the answers he wanted, Lucas returned to the first floor, said goodbye to the Dragonite leader, and headed toward the front door.
As he left, his gaze lingered for a moment on the Dragonite leader's belly.
To be honest, Lucas was quite curious what kind of magic the Dragonite leader's belly possessed.
Dragonite often hugged them before, but Victini and the others had never reacted this strongly?
Although he felt a little tempted to try, Lucas wasn't about to compete with Larvesta—a baby Pokémon—for the spot.
He could only think that maybe one day he would quietly call the Dragonite leader to his room to test it out. Then he changed into outdoor shoes and walked straight out the door.
From the Whimsicott earlier, Lucas had learned the whereabouts of Ogerpon and the others.
They were currently at the artisan forge near the back mountain.
Lucas headed straight there. The moment he opened the door, he was greeted by a scene of bustling activity.
Flames from Moltres blazed fiercely in the furnace, mercilessly melting the metal thrown inside.
On the other side, Tinkatuff—wearing a full set of fireproof forging gear—gripped its hammer tightly and repeatedly struck a still-unformed embryo.
Calyrex stood nearby, occasionally offering a few suggestions.
Tinkatuff adjusted its work according to those suggestions.
This humble attitude of accepting guidance was far easier to communicate with than the stubborn blacksmiths Calyrex remembered from the kingdoms it once ruled.
While Tinkatuff was busy hammering away, several other figures were also hard at work.
Ogerpon, wearing its hearth mask, along with the group of six Falinks, were either tossing materials into the furnace or carrying things around.
Lucas even personally witnessed the rearmost Falinks unhesitatingly throw its two round shields into the furnace.
It was still some time before mealtime and not yet work hours, so it wasn't strange for the Falinks to be anywhere.
But why were they at the artisan forge, and why were they personally melting their own shields?
There was actually a rather complicated reason behind it.
To summarize briefly: because the Falinks had been diligently practicing their cooking skills, what they usually held in their hands were iron pots or large ladles instead of their innate battle shields.
Those round shields—born with them for combat—had been left gathering dust under their beds.
They only discovered this when they were packing their belongings before moving from Alola to work at Lucas's farm.
——Because they hadn't been properly maintained, the shields were either rusted or had become brittle.
Forget using them in battle; even holding them normally required care not to get cut, or there was a risk of tetanus from the rust.
After thinking it over, the Falinks simply asked Lucas for help.
——And it just so happened to be perfect timing.
To hone Tinkatuff's forging skills in preparation for future sword-and-shield repair work, Tinkatuff had already been trying to forge more sword- and shield-related items. Reforging the twelve round shields of the six-in-one Falinks group would definitely yield a lot of valuable experience!
Tinkatuff accepted the task without hesitation. With Calyrex overseeing, it began reforging the Falinks's round shields.
Calyrex had already used its psychic powers to create the corresponding molds, ensuring the size and details matched their original shields exactly.
For each shield melted in the furnace, Tinkatuff would also mix in some special metals to further improve the shields' various stats.
Everyone was busy in the heat of the moment. Only Calyrex noticed Lucas's arrival.
"You're here?"
Calyrex waved at Lucas, motioning for him to come over.
"I'm here." Lucas nodded and walked to Calyrex's side, casually asking, "What about Cosmog? Did you leave it with Ogerpon?"
"Yeah, Ogerpon is very careful. I feel at ease leaving it with her."
"Anyway, take a look at this shield."
Calyrex used psychic power to wrap a finished shield and floated it directly in front of Lucas.
There was a small notch in the upper left corner of this round shield—not a forging error, but simply how the lead Falinks's original shield had always looked.
The notch also made it easier to visually distinguish the leader from the followers.
Holding the round shield—which felt more like a "hat" to him—Lucas examined it carefully under the light of the furnace for a while before concluding.
"It should be a good shield."
Lucas didn't know much about weapons or armor.
But through the shield's hardness, luster, and—most importantly—the hand feel when holding it, he could vaguely tell that this round shield would be very comfortable to use.
The Falinks would definitely be able to bring out its excellent performance.
Unlike the "upgrade" method of training oneself to grow stronger, for Pokémon like Tinkatuff and Falinks, another path to increasing strength was refining their own weapons and armor to obtain even more powerful performance.
Lucas handed the round shield to the lead Falinks, who had noticed the commotion and was now gazing at it with longing eyes.
Seeing how reluctant the Falinks was to put it down, Lucas also smiled.
After all, they were companion items. Even if they weren't used often in battle, they would still smile with satisfaction upon seeing their round shields restored to their former glory.
By the time Lucas arrived, the forging was already nearing its end.
When the last two cooled round shields were placed on the nearby rack by Tinkatuff, the forging session was finally declared complete.
Tinkatuff plopped down on the ground, refusing to move another inch.
Even with help, reforging twelve round shields in a short time had exhausted it given its stamina.
Ogerpon simply switched to its wellspring mask and helped its good friend dissipate the furnace heat and the sweat from blacksmithing.
Every single Falinks follower, just like the leader earlier, was lovingly examining their new shields.
"Remember to maintain them regularly from now on."
Lucas smiled and reminded them.
"Eeta!" (Understood, Boss!)
The Falinks responded neatly in unison.
"Huh?"
At that moment, Calyrex suddenly let out a soft sound, as if it had sensed something.
Lucas looked over and found that Calyrex was staring at him with deep meaning.
A bad premonition immediately swept over him.
The next instant, the premonition came true.
The energetic voice of the battle maniac who always did things her own way rang out.
"Teacher Lucas I've come to battle with you!"
Lucas inside the room: "…"
I really want to escape, but I just can't get away.
After Calyrex mercilessly rejected his plea of "Please, I'm begging you—use Distortion World to take me away," Lucas could only put on a tragic expression like someone heading to the execution ground and opened the door.
What surprised him, however, was that outside were not only Nemona and Pawmot. In Nemona's arms was also a small dog with light brown fur and blue eyes.
"Woof woof!"
When it saw Lucas come out, the little dog excitedly barked twice and wagged its big tail.
"This is… Rockruff?"
Recognizing the Pokémon's species at a glance, Lucas turned his puzzled gaze to Nemona.
What's going on?
Nemona immediately replied, "Yeah yeah! I caught this kid last night on my way home!"
"It's really strong! It was being attacked by several Houndour and still held its own!"
It doesn't look like it…
Lucas hesitantly looked at the silly, adorable-faced Rockruff. He hadn't expected it to be able to fight a pack of dogs alone. You really can't judge a dog by its appearance.
The story behind it was probably quite complicated. To save time, he decided to skip asking and move on.
This time, before Nemona could issue her challenge, Lucas took the initiative.
"Perfect timing—the Falinks just reforged new shields. Want to let your Rockruff spar with them to practice?"
Nemona, who never refused a battle that came to her door, agreed without hesitation.
The two of them headed to the nearby open area with practiced ease.
Calyrex silently followed along to watch the show.
On one side was a newly caught Rockruff. On the other were Falinks who focused mainly on cooking and rarely battled.
It should be a fairly even match, right?
Based on Nemona's understanding of the Falinks, that was what she initially thought.
——Until the moment Lucas gave his first command to the perfectly synchronized Falinks.
Looking at the spirited Rockruff ahead, Lucas blinked and issued the order.
"Falinks, Coaching!"
"Eeta!"
The lead Falinks raised its round shield and let out a battle roar like a military drill instructor.
"Eeta!" ×5
Immediately after came the followers' perfectly synchronized, overwhelming shouts that completely drowned out Rockruff's momentum.
The next instant, something magical happened.
As the six Falinks roared, red waves of light representing stat boosts lit up on their bodies six times in succession!
This meant the Attack and Defense boosts from the "Coaching" move were stacked to the maximum!
"Is this even legal…"
Even the one giving the command, Lucas, subconsciously complained.
As for Nemona—
"Wow, that's so cool!"
Accompanied by an excited shout, the girl's eyes were sparkling as she watched the scene.
...
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