At six in the evening, Silas rode Cyclizar and brought his Pokémon along as they arrived at Shalour City's Golden Beach.
The venue had already been fully decorated several days earlier, and a festive atmosphere filled the air everywhere.
The long stretch of beach was hung with colorful streamers, and lights of various hues flickered on and off, enticing Minccino to stretch out its little paws.
Cyclizar was no exception, nor were the Mudbray trio carrying the dishes on their backs.
For all of them, this was their first time participating in such a grand celebration.
One by one, they craned their necks and looked around curiously, unconsciously slowing their pace.
During his travels, Silas had taken part in quite a few local festivals, and no matter the type, they were always lively and bustling.
The Beach Festival in Shalour City was no exception—there were even tourists who had come from other regions specifically to attend.
Such popularity was thanks to one of the festival's traditions.
At the very end of the celebration, all participants would get to taste a special soup jointly prepared by all the chefs.
The flavor was different every year, and even the chefs themselves found it difficult to recreate afterward.
It was said that after Pokémon consumed it, they would receive a blessing and grow stronger.
Because of this, the Beach Festival wasn't only loved by ordinary people—trainers eagerly took part as well.
The further they went inside, the denser the crowd became, forcing Silas to remind everyone repeatedly.
He jumped down from Cyclizar's back and grabbed the rope tied to the Mudbray, preventing them from being scattered by the crowd.
Even though there was still more than an hour before the festival officially began, the entrance was already packed to the brim.
As they were about to reach the festival area, waves of excited noise and startled exclamations rolled over them.
The crowd suddenly surged, gathering in one direction.
This gave Silas quite a scare, and he quickly led Cyclizar and the Mudbray to retreat to the side.
Listening to the voices coming from the crowd, Silas quickly understood what had happened.
So a celebrity had arrived!
Unlike some other regions, Kalos had a highly developed film and entertainment industry, and it was perfectly normal for local festivals to invite famous actors or stars to boost popularity.
The crowd only gathered briefly before dispersing under the guidance of staff.
Taking advantage of the moment, Silas smoothly entered the festival area and immediately spotted Siebold, who was looking around as if searching for something.
"Teacher Silas, I thought you weren't coming," Siebold said warmly as he stepped forward. "I've already prepared a stall for you. There are quite a few top chefs here today—let's head inside quickly."
To Siebold, who loved culinary arts, today was an incredibly important day.
Not only were the best chefs from Shalour City present, but chefs from several nearby cities had gathered here as well.
"I promised you, so of course I'd come," Silas replied.
After exchanging a few brief words, the two headed straight into the festival grounds.
On both sides of the open area, stalls already had their signboards hung up, and chefs were actively making preparations.
For them, today was also a golden opportunity to promote their own shops.
Everyone was determined to show off their very best skills.
Siebold led Silas directly to the front-most area, beside a massive bronze cauldron at the center—an absolute core location that every visitor would pass through.
The enormous cauldron before them was the tool used to make the final special soup. Several Fire-type Pokémon were heating it, and a basic broth had already been prepared inside.
All that remained was for the chefs to add their secret recipes, which would only happen at the very end.
"Teacher Silas, this is your stall," Siebold said briefly before hurrying off. With the festival about to start, he had many things to arrange as one of the organizers.
Moreover, he had his own stall to prepare and simply couldn't afford to linger.
The fact that he had managed to wait for Silas earlier was already quite rare.
After circling the stall once and seeing that there was plenty of space both in front and behind, Silas nodded in satisfaction.
He first unloaded the ingredients from one of the Mudbray's backs, taking some out to display on the stall.
Once everything was ready, Silas removed all the Poké Balls from his waist and threw them forward with force. "Everyone, come out!"
Accompanied by bursts of white light landing on the ground, Kangaskhan, Minccino, and the others appeared behind the stall.
Three Noibat circled once before hanging upside down above, acting as living cameras.
Smoliv looked around, then had Kangaskhan place it on the counter, where it transformed into a small potted plant.
Cyclizar, like a dog, sniffed around with its nose, propped its forelegs on the counter, and opened its mouth to bite at a Green Grass Dumpling.
"Smack!"
A hand came down sharply, and Silas grabbed Cyclizar by the ear.
"You little rascal, you really want to taste everything, don't you?"
Silas had already realized that his Cyclizar had a bit of a dog-like personality.
That mouth of its wanted to eat absolutely anything—earlier in the morning, it had even fought the Mudbrays over mud cake.
He instructed the Mudbray trio to keep an eye on Cyclizar and not let it cause trouble. The Mudbrays immediately formed a circle around Cyclizar, boxing it in.
Kangaskhan and Minccino took their places—one standing at the counter, the other by Silas's side—helping together with cooking.
This time, Silas hadn't only prepared mud biscuits and Green Grass Dumplings; there were other dishes as well.
However, those all needed to be cooked and eaten fresh, which was much more troublesome, so Silas had brought the necessary ingredients.
There were large meat skewers with varying levels of spiciness suitable for Fire-type Pokémon, fruit milk that restored stamina and relieved spiciness, soft and sweet glutinous rice cakes, and simple yet flavorful white-cut chicken made with nothing but the original taste.
For a moment, Silas wished he could use Shadow Clone, splitting himself into multiple bodies to cook at the same time.
He priced these dishes according to their level, with the most expensive being the white-cut chicken at 500 League Coins per portion.
Mainly because the portions weren't large, Silas worried that if he priced them too high, no one would buy them.
After having Minccino help hang up the handwritten price list, Silas's initial preparations were complete.
Now everything was ready—only the customers were missing.
He didn't have to wait long. When he entered earlier, it had already been close to opening time.
Combined with the time spent handling ingredients and cooking, just as he finished the early preparations and hadn't even warmed his seat, the festival entrance welcomed its first customer.
Silas's stall faced the entrance directly, and the newcomer, full of curiosity, walked briskly over with his Pokémon.
"Wow! So many unfamiliar Pokémon," the young man exclaimed in surprise. There were several Pokémon at this stall that he had only ever seen in books.
"Are all of these your Pokémon? They look really well-behaved."
Silas gently patted Minccino and smiled as he introduced them. "Yes. We're all family."
At the word "family," the Pokémon all looked toward Silas at once, warmth spreading through their hearts.
Minccino's little face flushed slightly, but it didn't forget its duty, enthusiastically promoting the stall's dishes.
"Min~"
The Aipom hanging on the young man's shoulder met Minccino's gaze.
Aipom shyly lowered its head, thinking to itself, 'So cute!'
Understanding Minccino's meaning, Aipom tapped its trainer with its tail and pointed at the menu with its small hand.
"Aipom wants to eat something, right?" the young man said knowingly, then turned to Silas and asked him to recommend a suitable dish.
In the end, the young man spent 600 League Coins to buy a portion of glutinous rice cake and fruit milk, leaving with a satisfied smile on his face.
Both dishes tasted excellent and were more than worth the price, filling him with even greater anticipation for the rest of the festival's food.
He hadn't expected to make a sale so quickly—bringing Minccino along really had been the right decision.
Silas scratched her chin lightly in encouragement.
Now it was time to receive more visitors, and gradually the crowd began to surround the stall.
A large number of the pre-made dishes were sold, forcing Silas and Kangaskhan to start cooking again.
No one noticed that Cyclizar's little paws weren't very clean—reaching toward the white-cut chicken, it would occasionally sneak a bite whenever it got the chance.
(End of Chapter)