Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and everything at the Breeding House was developing in an orderly fashion.
During this time, the Breeding House's Petilil Herbal Tea became a big hit among the town's elderly, and Victor also sold two more Pokémon Eggs.
On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Victor woke up bright and early to start preparing for that evening's dinner.
He reached up and took Shana down from the shoulder of one of the Machoke—he wasn't sure if it was Erli or Sanli—and made her a cup of honey water as usual.
Ever since that first day, Victor had arranged for the Machoke to take turns picking Shana up in the morning and taking her home before dinner to ensure she was safe on the road.
Sometimes her father or mother would accompany her, and sometimes they would both come. If they weren't coming, they would always message him in advance.
Today, Shana had come by herself, so she sat on the Machoke's shoulder, holding her egg, all the way to the Breeding House.
After a few days of care, Shana had started to talk a little more at the Breeding House. Although she was still the same around strangers, Victor and her parents believed she would continue to get better.
Victor didn't hang the "Open for Business" sign today. He patted her small head and then took her to the backyard to pick vegetables from the garden.
In the world of Pokémon, plants grew very quickly. Just like berries, which could bear fruit in a few days, the vegetables, with the help of the Petilil, had sprouted rapidly.
He then had Gengar take Shana to continue watering the plants while he returned to the kitchen.
First, he prepared breakfast for everyone. After the meal, he began the prep work for the evening's feast.
He started by making a Gengar-themed cake and putting it in the refrigerator. Then, he asked Gengar to go "borrow" some more Sweet Honey from the Vespiquen.
Afterward, he went back to the yard and began to carve the molds for the mooncakes.
Gengar arrived at the hive and gave the Vespiquen a wide grin.
Hehe.
"..."
The Vespiquen really couldn't stand being robbed of its Sweet Honey every day. However, life here was indeed very peaceful, so it decided to have Gengar bring a container over. It would fill it up one time, and Gengar could come back when it was empty.
Gengar nodded, then went back to the kitchen. It looked around and then brought back an empty water tank.
Victor, who had been focused on carving the molds, looked up and saw Gengar staggering towards the forest with a water tank bigger than itself.
"..."
What is that big doofus doing?
At the hive.
The Vespiquen and its few Combee stared at the massive water tank.
"..."
It turned around and prepared to move its colony away from here.
Seeing the Vespiquen's resolute departure, Gengar cried out in a panic and then pulled a much smaller porcelain jar from its mouth.
"..."
The Vespiquen stared silently at Gengar.
"Gengar—"
Hehe.
The Vespiquen couldn't be bothered with Gengar anymore. It flew over, took the porcelain jar, and flew off.
Watching the Vespiquen leave, Gengar sighed and looked at the large water tank on the ground, shaking its head in regret.
A little while later, Victor saw Gengar staggering back with the large water tank, a small porcelain jar floating along beside it.
He laughed at Gengar without hesitation. Gengar, in a huff, turned its back on him and took its things back to the kitchen.
After lunch, Victor had the Machoke take Shana inside to watch some TV and avoid the midday sun.
He, meanwhile, holed up in the kitchen, making mooncakes.
He had prepared three types of filling: red bean paste, osmanthus, and lotus seed paste.
There was only half as much red bean paste as the other two because a certain little fatty was "helping" by eating it.
He smacked the little chubby hand that was sneakily reaching for the spoon again and stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Gengar.
Just as Victor was about to scold it, the sound of a motorcycle came from outside. Gengar made a funny face at him and then phased through the wall towards the front door.
Shaking his head helplessly, Victor continued his work.
Jenny came into the kitchen, drank a glass of Honey Fizz soda, and looked around, ready to help. Then, she picked up a few more glasses of the soda and went back out to watch TV with Shana.
As the first batch of mooncakes went into the oven, Laura also arrived at the Breeding House.
She came into the kitchen and chatted with Victor for a while, complaining about her client in her latest case while munching on the osmanthus filling.
At first, Victor tried to comfort her, but when he saw the osmanthus filling rapidly disappearing, he kicked her out too.
"Hmph~ Stingy. Gengar, he's so stingy."
"Gengar!"
Hearing the conversation outside, Victor rolled his eyes and shook his head.
When the first batch of mooncakes was done, Victor called out, "Gengar!"
"Gengar—"
"Whaddaya want?"
Half of Gengar's body phased through the wall as it looked at Victor, still pretending to be angry.
Seeing its sulking expression, Victor sighed.
"Sigh, I was planning on letting a certain Pokémon try a freshly baked mooncake, but it's still sulking. I guess it probably doesn't want any. What a shame. I'll just have to find another Pokémon. I'm sure Dali and the others would be happy to have some, right?"
"Gengar!"
No way!
Gengar appeared in front of Victor, crossing its two chubby hands in an "X" in front of its chest, its expression deadly serious.
Seeing Gengar's serious display, Victor burst out laughing. "Here, eat up," he said, handing it a freshly baked mooncake.
"Gengar?"
Gengar looked at the Gengar-shaped mooncake in its hands, then looked up at Victor questioningly.
"Go on, eat. Where I'm from, we always let the children have the first taste of freshly cooked food," Victor said, gently pulling at the corners of its mouth.
Hearing this, Gengar opened its mouth wide and devoured the Gengar mooncake in one bite.
Chew, chew, chew~
"Gengar! ⁂((✪⥎✪))⁂"
So yummy~
Victor gave Gengar a flick on the forehead and told it to go wait outside.
When Victor wasn't looking, Gengar snatched a few more mooncakes and ran.
"Not even afraid of getting burned," Victor laughed.
After finishing all the mooncakes, he began to prepare the main dinner.
Dongpo Pork, braised pork trotters, salt and pepper prawns, savory mushroom chicken soup, a vegetable stir-fry, a berry platter, sweet and sour pork ribs, and cola chicken wings.
For the Pokémon, there were various Poffins.
For drinks, there was handmade Honey Fizz soda (Sweet Honey edition) and berry juice.
Tonight's dinner was so lavish that Victor couldn't manage it all on his own. It was only when Joy arrived with her Blissey to help that they were able to get everything done.
Victor walked out of the kitchen. The resting area in front of the counter was full of people and Pokémon.
Among them was a penguin Pokémon he had never seen before. A single glance was enough to tell it had an extraordinary presence.
That Empoleon must be Laura's Pokémon, Victor thought to himself.
He then looked at Shana. "Shana, how about I call your parents and tell them you're having dinner here tonight?"
"Okay," she replied with a crisp, clear voice.
Victor nodded, then looked at Gengar and the others.
"It's time to eat. Stop watching TV," he said, slightly exasperated. Gengar launched itself off the chair and floated towards the kitchen.
"Gengar—"
Yummy food, here I come~
The other Pokémon also headed towards the backyard. Those who were supposed to move chairs moved chairs, those who were supposed to move the table moved the table, and those who were supposed to bring out the dishes brought out the dishes.
Each had their own task, and everything was orderly.
Seeing this, Victor nodded in satisfaction and took out his phone to inform Shana's parents.
Just then, Laura and the others handed their gifts to Victor.
"Next time you all come for dinner, if you bring gifts, you're not getting in the door."
"Hahahaha, next time for sure."
"Let's eat, let's eat."
"It's just a little something."
Victor put the gifts away, shook his head helplessly, and followed them into the backyard.
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