Lin Feng didn't believe for a second that this mischievous girl had called him simply because she missed him.
If she really wanted to see him, she wouldn't have called him while she was in the middle of such a dangerous wilderness area.
"Fine. Send me your location. I'll have Pidgeot make a delivery."
"Hehe, thanks, Big Bro~"
Qin Shu
Ignoring her thanks, Lin Feng continued asking, "Anything else?"
"Nope."
"Then I'll hang up?"
"Okay."
"...Take good care of that Gible. And don't get too careless with it at the beginning."
"Got it, got it..."
And then Qin Shu actually hung up first.
That alone left Lin Feng feeling strangely unaccustomed to the situation.
He couldn't help muttering, "Damn, why does it feel like she became ridiculously sly after going out on her own?"
He shook his head afterward.
Still, this was probably a good thing.
After all, she was traveling outside.
She couldn't afford to remain too naive.
Meanwhile, in the Earth God Mountain Range.
The "Qin Shu" on the other end of the call had just put away her phone.
The smile on her lips disappeared as she let out a long breath.
"What an incredible human. Even through a screen, he somehow made me feel like I was about to be exposed."
Then the scenery around her began to change.
The Meowscarada, Blastoise, Noivern, Gible, and Farfetch'd that had been there moments ago all dissolved like ink spreading through water.
What remained in their place was a girl lying unconscious on the ground.
Beside her stood a Pokémon covered in wildly flowing fur, its crimson and white hair fluttering like the hair of a vengeful spirit.
Its eyes were blood red.
It looked terrifying enough to make a crying child fall silent.
The girl's appearance was exactly the same as the Qin Shu who had just spoken to Lin Feng over the phone.
Zoroark stared down at the sleeping girl.
Then it thought back to the human who had just been on the other end of the call.
Despite itself, a lingering sense of unease rose in its heart.
It was certain that the human hadn't noticed anything unusual.
That was because they had been separated by a screen, and Lin Feng had never realized there was anything wrong.
Furthermore, after obtaining this girl's memories, Zoroark had already developed a strong sense of caution toward the human on the other end of the phone.
Everything it had shown during the call had actually happened in reality.
That way, there would be no inconsistencies for him to notice.
And yet, even after taking all those precautions, Zoroark still felt an intense sense of danger.
That was why it had ended the call so quickly.
If they had been standing face-to-face in reality...
That would have been a completely different story.
But even so, Zoroark still wanted to try.
It wanted to return.
It did not belong to this era...
Meanwhile.
After putting away his phone, Lin Feng continued toward the cattle shed.
He walked straight to the wine barrels.
He pulled out the stopper.
A refreshing fruity aroma mixed with the fragrance of alcohol immediately rushed into his nose.
Lin Feng's eyes lit up.
"Done~"
He didn't inspect it right away.
Instead, he checked another barrel beside it, the one containing Dragonfire Fruit Wine infused with Rayquaza's scales.
When he opened that one, it also carried a fruity aroma, but it wasn't particularly strong.
According to the description provided by his Insightful Eye, it was still fermenting.
So he turned his attention back to the first barrel.
Sure enough, its description had already changed.
[Legendary Cuisine: Passionfruit Antler Wine]
[A fruit wine made using dozens of different Berries and Xerneas's antlers. It possesses various exclusive culinary effects for Fairy-type Pokémon.]
[Culinary Effect 1: Fairy Aura]
[Exclusive to Fairy-type Pokémon. The first Fairy-type Pokémon to consume this cuisine will gain the Fairy Aura Ability.]
[Culinary Effect 2: Fountain of Life]
[This cuisine contains an extremely rich life force. Long-term consumption can extend one's lifespan.]
[Culinary Effect 3: Strike]
[When facing an opponent whose type is weak against Fairy-type attacks, the critical-hit rate is increased by 30%.]
[Culinary Effect 4: Fairy Affinity]
[After consumption, a Fairy-type Pokémon's affinity increases by 30%.]
[Culinary Effect 5: Poison Resistance]
[...]
[Culinary Effect 6: ...]
[.....]
Perhaps because he had added so many different types of Berries, the wine had gained an astonishing number of culinary effects.
Lin Feng glanced through the list.
There were a full ten effects.
Most of them were somewhat repetitive, so he didn't pay much attention to those.
However, even the repeated effects varied in strength.
Take Poison Resistance, for example.
Wine brewed with ordinary Pecha Berries could only increase poison resistance by 10%.
But wine made using Pecha Berries from the central tree could raise that 10% all the way to 25%.
That was already an incredibly powerful effect.
What surprised Lin Feng the most, however, were Culinary Effects 1 and 2.
Fairy Aura.
That was Xerneas's signature Ability.
It could effectively increase the power of Fairy-type moves.
And when combined with Strike...
Lin Feng didn't even dare imagine how painful a Fairy-type attack would be against a Dragon-type Pokémon.
These two culinary effects gave Lin Feng a strange feeling.
Why did it seem like...
Everything was somehow designed to deal with Rayquaza?
Could it be that, somewhere in the future, Rayquaza was actually going to suffer at their hands?
The thought made Lin Feng snort with laughter.
He quickly shook his head and pushed the ridiculous idea out of his mind.
Now he needed to decide who would get the first drink of this wine.
The description of the first culinary effect was extremely clear.
Only the very first Fairy-type Pokémon to drink it would obtain the Fairy Aura Ability.
And there were quite a few Fairy-type Pokémon in his Breeding House.
Gardevoir.
Alolan Ninetales.
Sylveon.
Even the Flabébé family counted.
But Flabébé could obviously be ruled out.
That left Gardevoir, Alolan Ninetales, and Sylveon.
Giving it to Gardevoir would technically be the best choice, since its level was the highest.
But Gardevoir didn't exactly have some grand ambition of defeating Rayquaza.
So the real candidates were Alolan Ninetales and Sylveon.
As for Alolan Ninetales, it already possessed the ability to manipulate the weather.
Unfortunately, Rayquaza completely countered that advantage.
Forget it.
There was no point overthinking it.
Sylveon was a true Fairy-type, while Alolan Ninetales should focus properly on Ice-type abilities.
There was no point eating everything at once and ending up mastering nothing.
After making his decision, Lin Feng headed back to the kitchen.
He was going to be busy today.
Not only did he need to prepare special cuisine for the four little ones, but he also had to make Energy Cubes for Qin Shu's Pokémon, who were thousands of kilometers away.
The work continued through lunch.
It wasn't until around three in the afternoon that everything was finally finished.
"Phew..."
Looking at the storage balls packed to the brim, Lin Feng let out a long sigh of relief.
Because Qin Shu had gained another Pokémon, he had prepared one additional batch of supplies for her.
Still, he was actually rather curious to see what that Gible would become after evolving into Garchomp.
If it could eventually learn Dragon Dance and then shine in various competitions...
That would be quite a sight.
Lin Feng had originally planned to simply have one of his Pidgeot deliver everything.
But after thinking about it, the distance was rather far, and Pidgeot had never traveled to that region before.
Dragonite, on the other hand, had just returned from the Alola region.
So the glorious mission was handed to it.
"Uuuugh..."
Dragonite had barely returned when it was sent out again.
Its expression immediately became miserable.
Lin Feng hugged its big belly and comforted it.
"All right, all right. I know you've been working hard."
"But you're really good at recognizing locations, so I'll have to trouble you this time."
Only then did Dragonite fly into the sky with the storage balls.
------------------------------
Love the story? Show your support and unlock early access to new chapters by joining me on Patreon! and if we hit every 250 Power Stones, a bonus chapter drops!
[email protected]/_tey
Change @ to a.