When Caleb entered the house, Grandma was sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper with her reading glasses on...
"Caleb-chan, you're back? Hmm? Where are the groceries you bought? Didn't Cynthia say you went out to buy groceries?" Grandma asked, puzzled.
Hearing this, Caleb turned to look at Cynthia sitting on another sofa.
Cynthia coughed lightly.
Caleb immediately understood and said, "I had Mimikyu deliver them to the kitchen first."
He secretly flashed Cynthia a thumbs-up.
Cynthia quickly added, "I'll go cook!"
Caleb: "I'll help!"
Once they reached the kitchen, Cynthia explained, "Grandma still thinks of you as a child. If she found out I let you go out alone to do something so 'dangerous', both of us would get scolded later."
Caleb nodded...
Even though this task wasn't dangerous to him in the slightest, he still didn't want Grandma to worry over something like this.
"So… did you buy groceries?" Caleb asked.
"Of course." Cynthia opened the fridge, revealing fresh vegetables emitting a chilly white mist.
But…
"Why did you buy so much at once?" Caleb asked speechlessly, staring at the fridge packed full of eggs, milk, meat, and vegetables.
"I didn't know which ones to pick, so I just bought a bit of everything."
The Champion of the Sinnoh League was not short on money.
Caleb: "…"
He sighed helplessly and said, "Never mind. I'll handle lunch. Can you take Dragonite and the others out to the yard to play?"
Cynthia nodded, taking the Poké Balls from Caleb. After a brief hesitation, she asked, "You know how to cook?"
Caleb opened the fridge and began pulling out ingredients as he replied, "I didn't originally, but during the time I lived with Lily, I picked up a few dishes in my free time."
That wasn't actually true. He had learned these dishes from Gardevoir while idling in the Infinite World. The reason he said this was because he really didn't want to go through another punishment Instance.
Punishment Instances were full of horrors. Not only were they deadly, but they also tested the player's mental fortitude to the extreme. If someone's mental resilience was even slightly weak, they might completely break down upon seeing what was inside.
"Oh!" Cynthia imagined the scene for a moment before leaving the kitchen with Caleb's Poké Balls.
The weather today was a bit hot, and the sunlight outside was blindingly bright.
Just as Caleb rolled up his sleeves, the glare from the sun flashed into his eyes a few times. He walked to the window to close it but spotted Celebi flying over from the yard.
"Bii!" Celebi squeezed through the narrow window gap and perched on the counter, letting out a long sigh of relief.
As expected, staying near this human was the most comfortable.
"Too hot for you?" Caleb gave up on closing the window and returned to the counter to wash the ingredients under the faucet.
"Bii." Celebi shook its little head.
It wasn't afraid of the heat. It just found this human's scent pleasant.
"Do I smell?" Caleb sniffed himself, but only detected the faint fragrance of laundry detergent.
"Bii!" Celebi nodded its tiny head, leisurely floating over to sit on Caleb's shoulder, its face displaying a blissfully relaxed expression.
Caleb found this both amusing and exasperating.
He never expected that after all the times he had affectionately 'sniffed' Dragonite, today he was the one being sniffed by Celebi.
Truly, the tables had turned...
Just then, Cynthia walked in. She glanced at Celebi perched on Caleb's shoulder and asked, "Need any help?"
"Not for now." Caleb peeked outside.
From his angle, he could clearly see Dragonite and the others.
Dragonite was wrestling with Cynthia's Garchomp for practice.
Mimikyu and Glaceon sat on a nearby rock, watching and clapping.
Lucario had taken on the role of a 'parent', specifically looking after Deino to prevent it from bumping into things and hurting itself.
Caleb withdrew his gaze and made two cuts on the chicken wings to help the sauce soak in later. Though his knife skills weren't flawless, they were still quite pleasing to the eye.
Cynthia watched for a while before saying, "I might be pretty busy over the next few days."
She had been traveling in other regions for a while, leaving a backlog of work in Sinnoh.
On top of that, dealing with the remnants of Team Galactic had stretched their manpower even thinner.
Caleb asked, "Do you need my help?"
"Not for now." Cynthia shook her head.
Caleb thought about the two times Cynthia had seen him in dangerous situations. He hesitated before saying, "I'm actually pretty capable. That incident with Regigigas was an accident, and so was what happened the other day."
As he spoke, he looked at Cynthia.
Cynthia froze for a second before realizing what he meant and chuckled softly, "I know!"
She had always known that her little brother was a very skilled trainer.
"When I say I don't need your help, I really mean it," Cynthia explained seriously after a moment of thought, "Team Galactic's commanders and leader have already been captured. The remaining grunts are scattered and weak, Officer Jenny's team can handle them easily. Besides, doesn't Johto have business with you?"
Caleb scratched his head sheepishly, "I just wanted to do something for you."
After all, he had been freeloading here for so long.
Hearing this, Cynthia's heart softened: 'He really is still that sweet, simple-minded little brother of mine!'
Lately, because of Caleb's change in appearance, she had felt a bit strange around him.
But now she was certain, no matter how his appearance changed, the soul deep inside him was still that kind, adorable boy who loved Pokémon.
After thinking for a moment, Cynthia carefully chose her words and said gently, "If you really want to help, then come compete in the League and challenge me! Become the next Champion of Sinnoh."
She added, "Once that happens, I'll be able to step down from my duties and focus on researching the myths and histories of each region."
"I will," Caleb said.
....
After lunch, Cynthia left for Veilstone City to handle official business.
Meanwhile, Caleb used the Warp Beacon to return to the Johto region...
...
~Azalea Town~
The area was now filled with ambulances from all over, there to aid the injured Pokémon.
Wild Pokémon, gravely wounded to the point of unconsciousness, were constantly being carried into the ambulances. The air was heavy with a somber atmosphere.
With limited manpower, aside from the critically injured Pokémon, many others had already lost their vital signs by the time they were found, now forever gone from this world.
Caleb glanced back, noticing that Lorelei hadn't arrived yet, so he slipped into one of the ambulances and began healing the Pokémon with his Viridian Power.
By the time Lorelei arrived, Caleb's Viridian energy had been completely drained.
Exhausted, he sat on the ground, sipping an energy drink handed to him by a medic.
"Give me a moment." Once he felt slightly recovered, he threw himself back into the task of healing Pokémon.
Lorelei watched this scene with a complicated expression. Unlike usual, she didn't crack any jokes, she simply followed quietly behind Caleb, wiping his sweat and fetching him water...