Cradling Vulpix, Victor slept until he woke up naturally.
Vulpix poked its head out of the covers, seeing the light again.
Then it was covered by the blanket again.
"Yip?"
Vulpix tried poking its head out in a different direction.
Covered again.
After playing with Vulpix like this for a while, Victor finally woke up, twisting his waist with a loud crack.
Gothita's herbal tea, combined with a full night's rest, made Victor feel like he was back at full health.
He went into the bathroom, grabbed the Vulpix that was trying to run downstairs, and gave it a good face-washing before letting it go.
After brushing his teeth and washing his face, Victor went out onto the balcony and looked at the vibrant, lively backyard.
He spread his arms and took a deep breath.
Today is going to be a beautiful day.
Gengar had already gone downstairs. Victor stood on the balcony for a while, watching Cynthia and Shana, one big and one small, playing on a seesaw in the yard. He went back to his desk, grabbed his camera, and took a picture from afar.
He waved a greeting to Lilligant and the others below.
Gengar phased its head through the ceiling, wondering why Victor hadn't come down yet. Its mouth was already smacking as it chewed on something.
Victor pushed Gengar's head back down, then turned and left the room.
Breakfast was a congee with preserved egg and pork, meticulously prepared by Gothita.
Victor put a spoonful into his mouth.
It was piping hot.
He closed his eyes in bliss.
Having a Gothita... only those who have one can understand.
He downed three large bowls in one go.
Full and satisfied, Victor took Gengar and Gothita to the backyard.
As always, he left the front counter to Lilligant and Roselia.
Victor thought back to the Breeding House when he first arrived, and what it was now.
In the beginning, it was just him and Gengar.
Now, he had Dali and the others patrolling the backyard, Mime Jr. and Gothita cooking and cleaning, and Lilligant and Roselia (and Mime Jr.?) handling the reception.
He had everything he needed.
He no longer had to worry about cooking or greeting guests.
Victor nodded to himself, pleased.
He went to the backyard, played with Shana for a while, and chatted with Cynthia. He then checked the time and went back to the kitchen to prepare the herbal tea.
As soon as he entered the kitchen, he saw three Pokémon acting suspiciously.
"Gengar—"
This one's delicious, seriously.
"Grawr—"
Not bad. Super crunchy.
"?"
This one is spicy and numbing... why is it so good?
Victor snuck up behind them.
"What do you three think you're doing?!"
Gengar jumped, nearly dropping its snacks.
Garchomp spun around at light speed and placed its scythe-like claw on Victor's neck.
Lucario gathered Aura in its paw.
Victor froze.
Gengar, seeing it was Victor, quickly got between him and Garchomp.
It gently pushed the scythe off Victor's neck with its finger.
"Gengar—"
Don't get excited, don't get excited! He's one of us!
Garchomp and Lucario, realizing it was Victor, swallowed their snacks and lowered their "weapons."
"Grawr."
That's what you get for scaring me.
Garchomp pretended to press its claw down forcefully, but Victor remained motionless.
Don't move, don't move.
When the scythe was finally off his neck, Victor let out a sigh of relief.
Garchomp and Lucario then turned their backs and went back to eating snacks.
Gengar glanced at Victor, then happily trotted over to join them.
Watching them take over his spot, Victor told them to take their snacks and eat outside.
The three "hooligans" then proceeded to take more than half of his snack stash with them.
One of them, a certain chubby Pokémon, was taking advantage of the situation, using Garchomp's and Lucario's reputations as cover to swipe extra.
As Gengar left the kitchen, it was happily humming a little tune.
As it passed Victor, he gave its tail a sudden, unexpected tug.
He let it deflate for a bit, then began to prepare the day's herbal tea.
After the tea was ready, Victor called Gothita over and asked it how it had brewed the herbal medicine for him yesterday.
Gothita demonstrated the entire process for him, from selecting the herbs to brewing them.
Looking at the finished product, Gothita was a bit confused.
"Goth?"
Why does it seem a little different?
Seeing Gothita's expression, a bad thought popped into Victor's head.
"You didn't just... throw things in randomly yesterday, did you?"
Hearing his words, Gothita pursed its lips and tried to look calm.
"Go... Goth."
Of course not!
"It's so obvious you did! You're really something else."
Victor was exasperated.
However, the herbs Gothita had chosen were actually very suitable; it hadn't been a completely random selection.
So Victor decided to tinker with it himself, to see if he could create a proper recipe based on Gothita's choices. He could send it to Nurse Joy for testing later.
After all, for treating a cold, herbal medicine had fewer side effects, and yesterday's brew had worked quite well.
Gothita, watching Victor sink into thought over the herbs, slowly and carefully edged towards the kitchen door, and then bolted.
Victor looked up and saw Gothita was already gone.
He sighed helplessly.
He bottled the day's herbal tea, then brewed a batch of Gothita's concoction according to his own ratios and bottled that as well.
He called Shana over.
He instructed her to deliver the regular tea, and then to go to the Pokémon Center to find Nurse Joy and give her this bottle of herbal medicine. He explained that it was a brew he had formulated to be suitable for Pokémon, and that she could test it to see if it had any effect on Pokémon with colds or fevers.
Shana carefully memorized his words, cautiously packed the bottle, and put on a serious face.
She mounted the Rapidash and set off for Twinleaf Town.
Watching her disappear, Victor took out his phone and sent a few messages to Nurse Joy, explaining the situation.
He returned to the Breeding House. Cynthia had, at some point, sat down in the lounge area. Vulpix was lying on her long legs, and she was watching cartoons with Gengar.
Garchomp wasn't interested in cartoons and had taken Lucario to the backyard to train Dali and the others.
Victor glanced at them, then went back to the kitchen to prepare lunch with Gothita and Mime Jr.
Shana returned just as Victor was finishing lunch. He was bringing the food out when he saw her dismount from the Rapidash, holding a fish half her size. The fish was still flapping in her arms, trying to escape, but Shana's grip was so strong that it couldn't move an inch.
Victor took the fish from her. He needed two hands to lift it, yet Shana had been holding it with ease.
Shana grinned.
"Grandpa Yuba and Teddiursa sent this for me! They said I should bring it back for you to make soup!"
Victor smiled and handed the fish to Gengar.
SLAP!
Gengar got slapped in the face by the tail.
It froze for a second, then used its psychic powers to levitate the fish and gave it a few good slaps in return.
You dare slap me?! I'll eat you later!
After venting its anger, Gengar carried the fish back to the kitchen.
Shana, meanwhile, took a large pile of snacks out of her bag.
Victor patted her small head and looked at Cynthia. "Time to eat. Shana, go wash your hands, too."
...
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