The next day, early in the morning.
Minccino and Morpeko were clamoring to go outside and play. With no other choice, Silas could only get up first and open the door for them. Just as he was about to crawl back into bed for a bit more sleep, he felt a tickle on the tip of his nose. Still half-asleep, he groggily opened his eyes and saw Minccino grinning mischievously at him.
"Min!"
Seeing that he was awake, Minccino lifted the Berry in its hands high and held it right in front of his face.
"This is… a Custap Berry?"
Rubbing his eyes hard, Silas thought he still hadn't woken up yet. Taking the Berry and placing it in his palm, he examined it closely as the information panel automatically popped up.
[Custap Berry: A rare Berry. Its exterior is wrapped in an extremely hard shell, yet the inside is as sweet and soft as cream. It is one of the best Berries for making sweet Poké Poffins.]
It really was a Custap Berry. Silas looked at Minccino with completely different eyes now. Had this little guy's luck really reached such an absurd level? Just stepping outside and it could pick up a Berry of this caliber?
"Minccino, where did you pick this Berry up?" Silas asked.
Hearing the question, Minccino started gesturing with both hands and feet.
"Min~"
(Right at the doorway! Morpeko even tripped over it! Hehe.)
By the end of its explanation, Minccino couldn't help but giggle to itself. Silas searched around the room, then lifted up Morpeko, who was hiding in the corner.
"Let me take a look, did you hurt yourself anywhere?"
"Morpe!"
Morpeko looked aggrieved and pitiful. Its little nose was bright red, and even its front teeth had been knocked crooked.
"How did you fall so badly?" Silas said with distress, gently comforting it and having Morpeko open its mouth for him to check.
After giving it a light shake, Silas suddenly felt that there was still another loose tooth inside.
"Is it time to change teeth?" He flipped Morpeko over to examine its fur, which had become somewhat dull in color. "Still okay, still okay. We'll just treat this tooth as having fallen out a bit early. You can't eat too much or too hard for the next few weeks."
"Morpe~!"
Hearing this explanation, Morpeko cried out in terror. Not being allowed to eat to its heart's content—how was that any different from killing it?!
"Be good! It just means you can't eat hard foods," Silas soothed.
As he spoke, one hand quietly crept toward Morpeko's teeth. Catching it off guard, he gave a firm tug. The front tooth, already extremely loose, came out immediately.
"Morpe?? O.O"
Before Morpeko could even react, before the tears in its eyes had time to fall, Silas handed it a cup of mouthwash and urged it on.
"Don't just stand there—rinse your mouth first."
"Morpe!"
Only while rinsing did Morpeko fully realize what had happened. Tears poured down its face as it spat out blood-tinged water, crying all the while. "Morpe… Morpe-ko!"
"After you're done rinsing, you have to throw the tooth under the bed, or the new one won't grow," Silas reminded it, patting its head.
"Morpe~"
"Nope," Silas shook his head. "Give the tooth to me. I'll wrap it up for you, and when we get back, you can throw it under the bed."
With tears still clinging to its eye corners, Morpeko happily agreed and handed the tooth over to Silas. Silas helped wash the tooth clean, dried it with a tissue, then wrapped it in a piece of cloth and placed it into the small pouch on Morpeko's chest. Since it couldn't eat hard food right now anyway, there was no worry about contaminating it with food.
After finishing all this, Silas got dressed and crouched down by the doorway to investigate. Before long, he discovered a clump of special fur—blackened as if scorched by fire, sticky to the touch, and extremely oily. It was the same Pokémon he had encountered on his very first day here. Truly worthy of being a cat-type Pokémon: aloof and difficult to get close to.
Now that he was sure the Berry had been left by that fire-scorched Litten, Silas carefully put the Custap Berry away, planning to use it to try making a new kind of sweet Poké Poffin.
After having breakfast with his mom and Serena, he learned that they planned to take a rest day today and just enjoy themselves around the resort. Silas then asked his mom to help look after the troublesome bunch of Pokémon. As for Serena, her job was simply to play.
For example, right now she was teasing Morpeko and feeding it tasty treats. Under normal circumstances, Morpeko would have opened its mouth obediently and waited to be fed. Today, however, things were different. Morpeko held a bowl of porridge and slurped it down in small mouthfuls. When Serena tried to feed it something else, it wriggled its body and turned away, choosing out of sight, out of mind.
"Serena, don't tease it. Morpeko's front tooth just fell out, so for now it can only eat liquids and soft food," Silas explained to his family. Morpeko was really unlucky this time.
"Morpeko, you can have my little cake," Serena immediately said, placing her sweet cake in front of Morpeko. The greedy little fellow still slowly scooted its body back into place.
"Morpe~"
(Let's eat together!)
"Okay, okay!"
…
After breakfast, Silas took all the Pokémon out for a walk and fed them. He then went over to Kangaskhan's side to check on the Pokémon Egg. There was about a day left until hatching—most likely tomorrow. As the hatching time drew near, the egg became increasingly active, and several more cracks had appeared on the surface of the shell.
"Thanks for your hard work, Kangaskhan," Silas said.
After confirming that everything was fine, he returned the egg to Kangaskhan. "Kang!" Kangaskhan shook its head—it was only doing what it should. It carefully placed the egg back into its pouch, one hand protectively resting on top.
Calling over Noivern, Silas prepared to set off. Before leaving, he checked on Smoliv's condition. Perhaps because the Alolan sun was especially strong, Smoliv's photosynthesis had sped up significantly. The energy it had accumulated had already reached a critical point—now it only lacked a trigger to evolve.
In the normal world, Pokémon didn't immediately evolve just because their energy level had reached the threshold. More often than not, they needed a catalyst to guide that energy out, such as evolving in the midst of an intense battle or using a special item. There was no need to rush. Silas explained the same to Smoliv, telling it to take things step by step and let everything happen naturally.
After settling all the Pokémon and giving them one thousand League Coins to buy snacks, Silas mounted Noivern and headed for the dessert shop. Today, he would be learning advanced Poké Poffin crafting—only by completing it independently would he truly graduate. After that, it was simply a matter of practicing more and accumulating experience.
The Alolan chef had no intention of holding anything back, generously passing on all the experience and techniques he had summarized over the years. "Teacher Silas, this is all I can teach you. Next, you'll make a complete Poké Poffin on your own."
"Alright!" Silas nodded, taking out the Custap Berry and an Oran Berry he had purchased from a roadside Berry shop. This was a common Berry, but its sweetness far exceeded the norm. Combined with the Custap Berry, it could produce an extremely sweet Poké Poffin. The flavor was rich and mellow, like a gift from nature itself, and it could grow very large.
With the main ingredients prepared, Silas tossed them into a pot of cold water and slowly heated it. Before long, a rich, almost viscous sweetness wafted out. Silas poured in the batter mixed with MooMoo Milk. With a focused expression, he stirred bit by bit. The flame and batter needed to go through three distinct stages.
First came the red flame. At this point, the batter was very thin and shouldn't be stirred too forcefully; it needed slow, even mixing. Then came the yellow flame. The batter began to turn slightly yellow, and he could apply a bit more strength to prevent it from sticking to the pot. Finally came the blue flame to finish. At this stage, the batter turned brown and required vigorous stirring—if he paused even slightly, it would stick.
Just as Silas was in the middle of the process, a Pokémon arrived outside the dessert shop, drawn in by the sweet, enticing aroma.
(End of Chapter)