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The next two days passed without incident.
Lance and Clair's Paldea journey continued, still wandering around Casseroya Lake, wanting to see more "interesting" dragon Pokémon.
As for Aiden, due to his duties as a gym leader, he no longer traveled with them.
Time quickly came to Friday evening.
Finally finishing a week of gym work, not only did Aiden breathe a sigh of relief, but Mewtwo and the cloned Pokémon it was raising, as well as the Pokémon long-term rented to the gym, were all exhausted.
With the establishment of Team Star, the number of students coming to the gym had grown larger and larger. Plus, since Sunshine Gym was the closest gym to Mesagoza, it naturally bore the brunt of most students' challenges.
Aiden was also grateful that he had the foresight to subdivide the gym's challenge modes, allowing Mewtwo and the rental Pokémon capable of autonomous battles to help share most of the workload—otherwise he might have collapsed from exhaustion...
Students were happy to challenge, Mewtwo steadily improved its trainer skills in the process, and the rented Pokémon gradually understood various tactics through battles, greatly enhancing their strength.
In short, everyone felt like they had won big.
Of course, since the Pokémon had put in so much effort, he naturally couldn't slack off either.
So, on this leisurely night before the weekend, Aiden considerately prepared a "sumptuous" feast for them.
"Graaow!"
The moment dinner time arrived, Miraidon outside sensed it, suddenly standing up. It glanced at the setting sun's fading glow, then without hesitation, rushed into the gym.
Good for nothing at everything, first in eating—this phrase described Miraidon perfectly.
However, when Miraidon reached the kitchen, it immediately stopped in its tracks.
Something was wrong—extremely wrong...
Why was there such a murderous aura in this kitchen!
Miraidon instinctively frowned, then cautiously peeked its head inside.
In the kitchen, only Aiden was leisurely humming a tune, pan-frying ingredients while glancing at the stove beside him with his peripheral vision.
Though it seemed like normal behavior, it made Miraidon's soul leave its body, its entire being feeling like it had fallen into an ice cellar.
Damn it—who made him so happy again?
Aiden's cooking talent, after this period of living together, who in Sunshine Gym didn't know about it?
Except for foods that required no skill like sandwiches and miso soup, any ingredients touched by Aiden—no matter how delicious they started—would end up strange in the final dish.
It wasn't that they were inedible, just that the taste was a bit...
Well, they were inedible!
Even Miraidon, who loved eating so much that it willingly served as transportation just for a meal, couldn't accept Aiden's cooking.
This showed just how terrifying his power was.
With Miraidon's appearance, Ogerpon quickly followed.
"Oger?"
Noticing it suspiciously hiding outside the kitchen door, peeking but not entering, Ogerpon immediately made a confused sound.
Wasn't Miraidon always the most enthusiastic about eating, arriving at the kitchen on time every day to steal sandwiches? Why was it acting so abnormally today?
However, Ogerpon didn't think much of it—perhaps today's sandwiches didn't suit its taste.
Maybe it smelled the Spicy Herba Mystica? It had also faintly smelled something just now.
Miraidon was indeed quite afraid of spicy flavors, but Ogerpon was exactly the opposite.
So Ogerpon took the lead, walking confidently into the kitchen.
"Hmm? Are you the first to arrive today?"
Aiden turned his head at the sound, instinctively raising an eyebrow as he sighed.
The sun must be rising from the west today—Miraidon still hadn't shown up...
"Oger~"
Ogerpon also greeted Aiden cheerfully.
However, when it noticed the finished dishes beside Aiden, Ogerpon immediately had the same complex expression as Miraidon just now.
No wonder Miraidon was dead set on not entering today—it was because of this...
"Today I tried some very interesting dishes—would you like to taste them first?"
Just at this moment, Aiden suddenly spoke, asking in a gentle tone.
"..."
Ogerpon's expression suddenly became awkward, its body curling up guiltily.
What to do—should I directly hint that I don't want to test poison...
But wouldn't that hurt the trainer's feelings?
After all, these were dishes made with the trainer's heart—if he got sad because of this, that wouldn't be good either!
But eating Aiden's various strange dishes would probably make me lose energy for the next few days...
Just as Ogerpon was having this internal struggle, Aiden's voice suddenly came to its ears again.
"Open wide, ah—"
Hearing Aiden's voice, Ogerpon subconsciously followed the instruction.
By the time it realized what was happening, chopsticks were already in its mouth, the aroma of glutinous rice and seaweed moisturizing its taste buds, bringing pleasure to its brain.
???
Ogerpon froze for a moment, then suddenly understood.
Those dishes just now—were they really made by Aiden himself?
The trainer's dark cooking syndrome—had it finally been cured?
Noticing Ogerpon's clearly disbelieving expression, Aiden couldn't help but show a helpless smile.
This little one—was it looking down on my cooking skills!
"If you think the taste is good, there are several mustard rice balls on the table. You can have them as a snack before the main meal."
As Aiden spoke, he reached out to pick up the Treasure Eatery secret manual standing on the dining table.
It had to be said—this "Cooking Guide Anyone With Hands Can Follow" really had something to it. After flipping through it these past two days, Aiden quickly grasped Treasure Eatery's ultimate secret—
The greatest truths are the simplest—the more basic the ingredients, the more acceptable they are to customers!
Treasure Eatery had never sold any high-difficulty dishes—just ordinary foods like grilled rice balls, mustard rice balls, and red bean soup.
In a way, it wasn't much different from sandwiches.
Treasure Eatery cared more about a subtle feeling than the taste imparted by ingredients, dedicated to giving diners a "home-like taste."
Thus, coincidentally, it had good compatibility with Aiden who didn't play high-level matches.
Though it still couldn't be said to be delicious, at least it wasn't dark cooking anymore.
Going from negative to 1 was still a huge improvement.
With more practice, someday he would definitely make perfect dishes that made his own Pokémon unable to resist, and even legendary Pokémon would drool!
Outside the door, Miraidon quickly noticed the change in Ogerpon's expression, its eyes becoming even more confused—
Could it be that the trainer could really make normally edible food now?
Though still confused in its heart, Miraidon's body honestly walked in. At Aiden's meaningful glance, it took a small bite of a rice ball.
Then, it suddenly shed tears of emotion.
Thank goodness—this was real food!
What kind of hard life had it been living before—nothing but sandwiches, sandwiches, sandwiches. No matter how delicious, you couldn't eat the same thing every day!
Even ordinary, somewhat dry rice balls made Miraidon quickly smelt a different scent—
The good days of different meals every day were finally coming!
"Is it really that exaggerated..."
Aiden was speechless, feeling like he had been indirectly roasted by Miraidon.
Were the things I made before really that inedible, to the point that Miraidon would be moved to tears by just eating ordinary food?
The interaction in the kitchen was completely seen by Shelgon outside the door, its expression complex.
Staring at the seaweed rice balls on the table that had moved Miraidon to tears, its face—completely covered by shell except for its eyes—quickly flashed with envy.
Damn it—I can see it, smell it, but can't eat it!
Why couldn't I eat after evolving, only watching other Pokémon eat...
I should have eaten more before evolving!
...
Two days of rest quickly passed.
Time soon came to Sunday.
Because his cooking skills had improved, plus Bagon had completed its evolution and various other factors, Aiden had been in a relatively good mood these past few days.
Compared to wandering outside, enjoying daily life at Sunshine Gym and happily interacting with Pokémon felt more interesting to him.
However, happy times were always short-lived.
After solving dinner at Sunshine Gym as usual and receiving unanimous praise from all his Pokémon, it was once again time for his scheduled live stream.
In last week's stream, he had thoroughly introduced the main playstyle of rain teams—from weather setters to attackers and defensive Pokémon—he had explained everything, practically pulling out even his secret techniques for newcomers to learn.
According to plan, he should continue introducing rain systems in doubles this week.
However...
Aiden thought about it—Rain teams in doubles didn't seem that "Rainy."
Compared to relying on Water-type Pokémon for explosive damage, using weather effects to avoid some Pokémon's weaknesses seemed more important in doubles.
After all, Rain's only "big brother" Kyogre definitely couldn't enter the game. Without Kyogre's suppressive power, and temporarily lacking new-era Rain teammates like Archaludon, among the remaining Rain brothers, there didn't seem to be many who could be entrusted with important tasks.
Having already introduced Mega Swampert, Aiden didn't plan to use it for two consecutive weeks.
Speaking of rain teams, Paldea did have a very distinctive Water-type Pokémon.
Palafin!
Compared to the much-discussed "Cricket Hero" (Kricketune), this one was the truly capable hero—not some fake imposter.
And if he wanted to use Palafin, the team's defensive capabilities would need to be correspondingly improved.
Therefore...
In doubles, who was the most reliable back?
Of course it was Amoonguss~
Regarding the main Pokémon for defensive teams, Aiden had introduced quite a few before, but had uniquely missed this mushroom Pokémon with a reliable back and evil front.
The reason was simple.
Amoonguss wasn't very suitable for singles, so Aiden hadn't chosen it for previous defensive teams.
But this time was different.
In doubles, Amoonguss could even be said to be the most reliable wall.
Aiden quickly had an idea in his heart.
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