"So, you made all of this for Gengar to eat?"
Officer Jenny lay on the sofa in the lounge area, watching Gengar continuously pull out all kinds of food to stuff into its mouth while watching cartoons on the TV, and asked in confusion.
Lucas sat in his armchair, glanced at Gengar, whose cheeks were bulging, and sighed as he recalled how he had spent the entire night coaxing it before it finally calmed down. "I had no choice. It was my fault yesterday, after all. To make it up to Gengar, I'll make more food during this time so it can enjoy itself."
Nurse Joy said nothing, simply sitting beside Gengar and enjoying the desserts Gengar shared with her.
Gengar was actually quite generous with certain guests, willing to share even when there weren't many snacks normally, let alone these days when snacks were in endless supply.
In truth, while it seemed like there weren't many snacks normally, they had actually all been hidden away by Gengar. That was why Lucas rarely made new snacks; otherwise, given Gengar's personality, it would eat one portion and hide three, calling it "food for business trips."
"I say, Linnea, you eat so many desserts all day, aren't you afraid of gaining weight?"
Officer Jenny couldn't help but ask as she watched Nurse Joy pick up another egg tart.
"Ah? Will I get fat? I don't think so. I just weighed myself last night and actually lost two pounds."
Nurse Joy replied in between bites.
Officer Jenny: "..."
"You don't need to worry about that. The desserts at the Breeding House use cream produced by Alcremie, and the sweetness is replaced by sweet honey produced by Vespiquen, so they won't increase your body weight. In other words, you don't have to worry about gaining weight."
Lucas offered a friendly reminder.
Officer Jenny: "?!!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier? I was restraining myself so much!"
Officer Jenny rolled her eyes and stretched her hand out to Gengar. "Gui Gui, I want some too."
"Gen gengar hee-hee!"
Gengar generously shared the desserts with Officer Jenny.
Seeing Officer Jenny join Gengar's group, Lucas shook his head. He looked at the sofa Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy were sitting on. It was bought by Madam Fujino. Because some of the chairs in the lounge area happened to be broken when Shauna and the others were fooling around, they could use a more comfortable seat, so Madam Fujino chose a sofa.
It was a custom-made Gengar-shaped sofa. Lucas had tried it last night, and it was quite comfortable.
"Did you find out why there was so much garbage in Spirit Town?"
With his hands behind his head and Ninetales lying beside him, Lucas gently rocked his armchair and asked.
"Yeah." Officer Jenny swallowed the egg tart in her mouth and continued, "It's a problem the people of Spirit Town brought upon themselves."
Organizing the events in her mind, Officer Jenny said, "Spirit Town's geographical environment is quite favorable, and their main income relies on tourism. Some time ago, they happened to hold a Pokémon and Trainer relay marathon, which attracted a lot of people from other places. Because they didn't control the crowd size, those few streets in Spirit Town became packed to the brim. This led to a massive increase in garbage production. However, after a week of hosting, they were exhausted, so they thought about gathering the garbage in one place first and dealing with it together after resting for a few days. They didn't expect that before they could even handle it, it would attract Muk and Weezing."
"Pokémon like Muk are very sensitive to the smell of garbage. If it isn't disposed of in time, they'll be attracted to it very quickly."
Hearing Lucas's words, Officer Jenny nodded. "Actually, our Jenny Family is also partly to blame for this. After all, Spirit Town didn't have an Officer Jenny stationed there for a whole month."
Hearing this, Lucas couldn't help but marvel at how truly powerful the Jenny Family in the Pokémon world was—and the Joy Family as well. It was one thing that they all looked almost identical, but more importantly, every region and town in every league would be equipped with an Officer Jenny and a Nurse Joy—
Such terrifying genetics—
"But the League also penalized them. I heard the fine was quite hefty, cutting their revenue from that period directly in half."
"That really is a harsh punishment."
"It has to be harsh. Without making an example of them, it would be hard to prevent this kind of thing from happening again. Right now, the streets of Spirit Town are covered in toxic trails left behind by crawling Muk, which we will need a long time to clean up, and then we'll have to wait for nature to slowly heal itself. The wild areas are even worse; because of Muk passing through, the environment they are world-famous for has had its trees corroded, and even the soil is piled with toxins that are difficult to degrade. Recovering from this will take even longer than in the town. For the next few years, Spirit Town's tourism industry will probably be heavily affected."
Officer Jenny thought of her younger cousin who had just taken up office in Spirit Town a few days ago, feeling a bit of pity for her. But maybe this was for the best; the workload wouldn't be as intense, though the downside was obvious: her salary would also be greatly reduced.
"A corroded environment?"
Lucas remembered that according to the Pokédex, wherever Muk passed, they would leave deep trails, their toxins would seep into the soil, and any vegetation they touched would wither away.
"I actually have an idea, though I don't know if it's feasible."
Lucas suddenly spoke up at this moment. Officer Jenny turned her head to look at him. "What is it? Let's hear it."
"We could have Lilligant go over and see if she can use her power to restore vitality to the wild areas."
Lucas said.
After all, Lilligant had been blessed by the "Voice of the Forest," Celebi, and Shaymin. Especially Celebi—having been blessed by two Celebi at the same time, Lilligant's abilities were not much different from Celebi's, except for the ability to travel through time.
Since Celebi possessed the ability to make forests flourish again, then reasonably speaking, Lilligant should also have the ability to heal trees.
"Lilligant?"
Officer Jenny asked in confusion.
Lucas nodded. "We can let Lilligant go with you to try it. Reasonably speaking, it should work."
"Alright, should we go now?"
Lucas was startled to see Officer Jenny suddenly stand up. "Are you in such a hurry?"
"Of course. The sooner it's resolved, the sooner I can rest. Otherwise, if they drag me back to work tomorrow when I'm supposed to be off, it'll be terrible."
"Ah? You're not off until tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Yesterday was originally my day off, but I was dragged back to work overtime, and the same goes for Linnea. So tomorrow is make-up time off for us."
"Then what about today? You've been here at the Breeding House all morning; I thought you were off today."
Hearing this, Officer Jenny waved her hand. "Oh, you know, dropping by here to have a cup of tea and rest a bit is perfectly fine. Otherwise, we'd be worked to death."
"A cup of tea" that lasts all morning, huh—
"Are you still coming back for lunch then?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I? Linnea is still here."
Lucas looked at Nurse Joy, who turned her head to look at Lucas and giggled.
"We encountered some Pokémon in need of help on the way, which delayed us a bit."
Nurse Joy said honestly, "Mainly, we're technically supposed to still be in Spirit Town right now. But Gothitelle and I already cured the people of Spirit Town yesterday, getting them out of their poisoned and high-fever states. The rest can just be left to the Nurse Joys of other towns. Reese and I have already solved the most difficult part, so the remaining cleanup can be left to the other Officer Jennys and Nurse Joys."
Lucas was somewhat puzzled upon hearing this. "Won't the Officer Jennys and Nurse Joys who came from other places to support you have any complaints about that?"
Nurse Joy shook her head. "You don't understand. We're all like this. Generally, when supporting other places, as long as someone has resolved the most difficult or important issues, the remaining tasks are left to others. As long as it doesn't delay our own primary duties, we can go rest."
"You can think of it as an unwritten rule we all follow. Of course, if something comes up, we still have to go back."
Lucas nodded. "That's quite reasonable."
After Lucas finished speaking, he saw Officer Jenny waiting on the side and heard her say, "Hurry up, the sooner we get it done, the sooner we can come back for lunch. When I went back to Twinleaf Town yesterday, I couldn't eat a single thing. The nausea almost killed me."
"Gengar, go help me—actually, forget it, you keep watching. I'll go myself."
He had originally planned to have Gengar go call Lilligant back to the Breeding House. In such beautiful spring weather, except for Lucas who needed to tend the front shop and Gengar who wanted to watch TV, everyone else and the Pokémon preferred to stay in the backyard, sunbathing, playing, and fooling around.
Except for Ninetales, under normal circumstances, wherever Lucas was, Ninetales would be there too.
Such a clingy thing.
Lucas had just stood up, preparing to go out and call Lilligant in, when he saw Gengar passing through the wall. A moment later, it returned to the resting area, followed by Lilligant.
"Lilli?"
What's wrong?
Lucas told Lilligant about his idea, and Lilligant nodded after listening.
"Lilli~"
No problem. "Then I'll leave it to you for this trip. Give it a try, and if it doesn't work, just come back."
Lilligant nodded, then walked over to Jenny, who was standing at the entrance. She let Jenny pick her up, then they both sat on Arcanine's back and headed toward Spirit Town.
Jenny held Lilligant in her arms, looking completely satisfied.
No one at the Breeding House disliked Lilligant, but ever since Petilil evolved into Lilligant, it rarely let anyone else hold it except for Lucas.
Arriving at Spirit Town, Jenny carried Lilligant down and went to a plot of land with obvious signs of corrosion. Jenny opened the caution tape, greeted her cousin, and then looked at Lilligant. "How is it? Can you do it?"
Lilligant didn't speak; she just extended her leaf-like little hands toward the corroded land and closed her eyes.
A bright emerald green light shone from the flower on top of Lilligant's head, then converged onto her little hands, turning into particles of light that emerged from them and scattered sparsely over the surrounding land.
Sizzle—sizzle—a sizzling sound rang out, and a disgusting stench wafted up. Jenny couldn't help but cover her nose. Looking at the ground, she discovered that the signs of corrosion had disappeared, though the ground was still bare.
Seeing that no new plants had grown on the ground, Lilligant felt a bit discouraged.
Seeing this, Jenny guessed what Lilligant was thinking and quickly lowered her head to comfort her. "It's okay, Lilligant. They will grow back later; this is all thanks to you."
Hearing this, Lilligant smiled sweetly. "Lilli~"
Afterward, Jenny took Lilligant around the wild to clean up land corroded by toxins.
At the same time, the flower on her head emitted a sweet floral fragrance, dispelling all the unpleasant odors.
"What an amazing Lilligant—I've never even heard of a Lilligant being able to purify land."
The Jenny from Spirit Town found a chance to approach her cousin and said this.
"Don't even talk about yourself; I haven't seen it either. But since it's a Pokémon raised by Lucas, it's normal."
The Jenny from Twinleaf Town sighed with emotion, "After all, it is the Champion's Pokémon, so it's normal for it to be a bit special."
"Champion?!" The Jenny from Spirit Town opened her mouth wide in shock.
The Jenny from Twinleaf Town gave a brief explanation.
The Jenny from Spirit Town was even more surprised. "The Champion actually came to open a Breeding House? My god—"
"According to what he said, Champions can host Pokémon Contests, make movies, and dig for stones, so why can't they open a Breeding House?"
In the clear, blue sky, a flock of Pidove were flying leisurely when suddenly a loud roar came from the distance, scaring them into scattering and fleeing in all directions.
A bold Pidove hid in the distance, watching the direction the sound came from, and saw a huge bird made of steel emerging from the clouds.
"Pidove!"
Holy moly! What a huge bird!
After saying that, it flapped its wings frantically and left the spot.
Ash pressed himself against the airplane window glass. "Wow! Is that the Unova region?"
"Pika!"
"Still as impatient as ever." Delia, sitting beside him, couldn't help but say.
"That's because I haven't been on a trip with Mom in a long time." Ash sat back in his seat and said happily.
"I haven't been to the Unova region in a long time either." Professor Oak, sitting in another seat, spoke up at this moment.
"Professor Oak, are you here this time because of work?"
Professor Oak nodded. "But that's okay, I can also enjoy this long-awaited vacation."
The plane landed, and Ash rushed out of the plane with Pikachu. They arrived at the seaside, and just then, an Alomomola jumped out of the water.
Its pink scales appeared exceptionally beautiful under the sunlight.
"Wow—" Ash couldn't help but exclaim. "A Pokémon I've never seen before—"
Ash ran forward happily, with Pikachu following closely behind.
A large cloud drifted overhead at some point, and immediately after, blue lightning flashed, striking Pikachu directly.
"Pika—" Pikachu cried out in pain.
"Pikachu!" Ash rushed into the lightning and scooped Pikachu, who was covered in blue lightning, into his arms. "Are you okay?"
After a while, Pikachu recovered and lay in Ash's arms, revealing a cute smile.
"Pika."
The Alomomola on the sea surface saw Ash rush into the lightning and act as if nothing had happened. It couldn't help but shudder, then dove into the sea and swam away into the distance.
Damn, ran into a monster first thing in the morning.
"So this is the Unova region—I have to tell Lucas."
After saying that, Ash took out his phone and dialed Lucas's video call.
After the call connected, Lucas's voice came through. "Strange, why is Ash calling me? Did something happen?"
"Manager Lucas." Ash called out, and only then did Lucas's face appear on the screen. "Oh, Gengar, don't push, it's just a call from Ash and Pikachu."
Immediately after, Ash saw a large purple face squeeze in.
"Hello, Gengar, long time no see."
"Gen gengar, long time no see, Ash, Pikachu."
"Pika." Pikachu also greeted them.
After finally pushing Gengar away, Lucas looked at the screen. "What's wrong? Ash, is there something you encountered that made you call me?"
Ash was just about to speak when he heard his mother's voice from behind. "Oh my, you really are something, why run so fast!"
Delia came to Ash's side, grabbed his ear, and twisted it.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch." Ash wailed continuously.
"Auntie Delia?"
Delia only then realized that Ash was on a call. She let go, looked at the screen, and discovered it was Lucas. She quickly greeted him. "Oh, Lucas, long time no see."
"Long time no see, Auntie Delia." Lucas greeted her with a smile.
"Ash told me when he got home, thank you for taking care of him in the Sinnoh region." Delia bowed politely to express her gratitude.
"You're too kind, Auntie Delia. After all, Ash is a younger generation that I think very highly of."
"Yo, Lucas, long time no see."
Hearing the familiar voice, Lucas searched carefully, and it wasn't until the screen shook that he saw Professor Oak appear on the screen.
"Professor Oak? Long time no see!"
How could Professor Oak be together with Delia and Ash?
"You guy, you silently defeated Cynthia and became the Champion!"
"Just a stroke of luck."
Professor Oak heard Lucas's words and laughed heartily. "I knew back then that your achievements wouldn't be low, but I didn't expect you to defeat Cynthia, a standout among Champions, in less than a year. I heard you two are together?"
Lucas nodded. "Yeah, I had no choice. If I didn't defeat her, she wouldn't accept my confession."
"That's quite romantic, hahahaha."
Listening to Professor Oak's laughter, Lucas asked his question. "Professor Oak, are you, Ash, and Auntie Delia out somewhere?"
"That's right, we are currently in the Unova region. They are here for a vacation, and I just happened to come over to handle some business."
After Professor Oak finished speaking, a woman's voice sounded from behind him.
"Professor Oak."
Professor Oak turned around and saw it was Professor Juniper from the Unova region. He quickly handed the phone back to Ash. "Professor Juniper, long time no see."
Ash took the phone, looked at Lucas on the screen, and grinned. "Manager Lucas, look, Pikachu and I have arrived in the Unova region."
"Decided to travel in the Unova region?"
"Not yet. Before that, I plan to enjoy a long-awaited vacation with Mom first."
"That's good too. Then I wish you a happy vacation, Ash, and Pikachu."
"Thank you, Manager Lucas."
"Pika!"
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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! 🙌