Soon, it was the eve of the festival, and the Breeding House was brightly lit.
Breeding Road outside the Breeding House was also decorated with various lighting fixtures.
The section of Breeding Road from Twinleaf Town to Sandgem Town was already lined with the stalls and trucks of small vendors. They only needed to wait until dawn for the owners to come and start their business.
Inside the Breeding House, Victor was watching Shana, who kept changing clothes and presenting herself in front of him.
"Mm, this little dress is nice."
Victor said, looking at Shana wearing a red princess gown.
Lucian pushed up his glasses and nodded in agreement.
Gengar, fiddling with his prayer beads and adjusting his black glasses, also nodded with feigned depth.
It wasn't until Shana's last dress that Victor and Lucian sat up straight simultaneously.
A green princess gown, topped with a small orange tilted hat, with silver hair, and a delicate, cute little face revealing a smile.
Lilligant · Human Version?!
Victor, Lucian, and Gengar exchanged glances.
Actually, Gengar's gaze couldn't be seen.
Then they all nodded with immense satisfaction.
Victor had Lilligant stand next to Shana.
He nodded again with incomparable satisfaction.
"You look like two sisters."
Victor said with a smile.
Shana and Lilligant looked at each other. Lilligant looked at the cute Shana in front of her, opened her arms, and hugged her.
"Lil~"
Shana narrowed her eyes happily and laughed joyfully.
"Then how about wearing this set tomorrow?"
Hearing Victor's words, Shana nodded.
"Mm."
"Gengar, isn't Shana cute?"
Victor suddenly asked.
No response.
Victor walked over and waved his hand in front of Gengar.
Still no reaction.
Victor reached out and took off Gengar's glasses, only to find that Gengar had fallen asleep with his eyes closed.
But the beads in his hand were still being fiddled with.
This guy.
Victor laughed helplessly.
"Hmph! Gengar is a big baddie."
Shana puffed up her cheeks and said angrily.
She also stomped her foot.
Gengar suddenly opened his eyes and hurriedly floated in front of Shana.
"Geng~"
Hehe, I was just kidding.
"Hmph!"
Shana turned her head to the other side.
"Geng~"
"Hmph!"
Finally, Gengar hung upside down, displaying his big face in front of Shana while making a funny face.
Shana paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.
She pulled at the corners of his mouth with her small hands, just like Victor did.
"Gengar is the best."
Seeing this, Gengar was moved and stuck out his tongue, wanting to lick Shana's cheek.
You big dummy, what are you doing?!
Victor quickly grabbed Gengar.
"Geng~"
Let me go.
"Don't even think about it!"
Lucian watched Gengar desperately paddling the air in front, trying to move forward, and Victor behind him, dragging Gengar's two feet with both hands, desperately braking.
He shook his head and laughed.
In the end, Shana gave Gengar a kiss on the cheek.
"Geng—mu-mu-mu-mu-mu—"
Gengar grinned foolishly with happiness.
Afterward, Shana dragged Lilligant and Gothita, carrying Chingling on her shoulder, and ran back clack-clack-clack to her room on the second floor.
Gengar recovered and saw Victor, who had lost his color.
He floated towards Victor smugly, pointing at his own cheek.
He was incredibly smug in front of Victor.
"Geng—"
Won't happen that someone didn't get a kiss from little Shana, right? So pitiful~ Unlike me~ Who just—
Before he could finish, the shape of his mouth kept changing in Victor's hands.
Let you be smug, let you be smug!
Victor thought viciously.
The next day, early in the morning.
After breakfast, Victor took Shana and the others out of the Breeding House.
Many stall owners had already arrived at their stalls and were setting up the goods they needed to sell.
Seeing Victor, they all greeted him warmly.
"Good morning, Shopkeeper Victor."
"Good morning, Shopkeeper Victor."
"Had breakfast yet? Shopkeeper, want to eat a little here? It's free."
"Little Shana is so cute today."
Victor greeted them one by one.
After a simple stroll, Shana, Gengar, and Mime Jr. all had their hands full of snacks.
Shana nibbled on cotton candy.
Following behind Victor, she looked left and right.
So many delicious things.
Shana's eyes blinked.
If I opened a shop too, would I also make a lot of money?
But Uncle said today is a festival, just need to focus on having fun.
Shana sighed in her heart.
Uncle just doesn't know how to make money. What's so good about playing? Isn't making more money better?
He's even more playful than me, a child. Can't help it, who asked him to be my uncle?
Thinking of this, Shana sighed.
Victor, who was chatting with Mayor Qiyi, heard Shana sigh and looked down at her.
Why is the little one acting like an adult?
"Then I'll leave it to you later, Shopkeeper Victor."
Mayor Qiyi patted the back of his head and said.
Victor nodded.
He had looked over the arrangement Mayor Qiyi handed him. He and the Breeding House would announce the official start of the festival after the performance.
When enough people had arrived, Mayor Qiyi took the microphone, while Rotom hovered in the air.
Mayor Qiyi's voice came out of Rotom.
"We are very fortunate that we have overcome the difficulties. We also understand that difficulties cannot defeat the people of our Twinleaf Town. Therefore, we hold this festival themed 'Breeding Road' to celebrate our victory over difficulties, and also to thank the doctors, nurses, and many Trainers who came to support and help us. At the same time, we must also thank our Sinnoh Region's Elite Four Lucian."
As soon as the voice fell, cheers rang out around.
Lucian pushed his glasses and greeted everyone appropriately.
"Last but not least, let us thank the owner of the Breeding House, Shopkeeper Victor, once again! If he hadn't made the decision in time, if he hadn't decisively let us come to the Breeding House, if not for his cold medicine, the consequences would have been unimaginable! So, let us offer him our sincerest thanks!"
"Shopkeeper Victor!"
"Shopkeeper!"
"Shopkeeper, I want to have your babies!"
Victor, who was originally a bit shy, had his face turn dark.
Grandpa Yongchang, where did you learn these words—
Ignoring the gazes of the people around him, Grandpa Yongchang laughed heartily with Teddiursa sitting on his shoulder.
"Shopkeeper Victor heard that we were holding a festival and seems to have prepared a grand performance for us. Now, let us hand the stage over to him and the Breeding House Pokémon."
As soon as he finished speaking, thundering applause erupted in the venue.
Victor walked up and looked at the people and Pokémon below who had recovered their health, with excited and happy smiles on their faces.
It's really great that everyone is okay.
Victor smiled, then suddenly spoke.
"Staravia!"
Staravia suddenly appeared from the horizon, followed by several Staraptor, Staravia, and Starly.
Their whole bodies emitted white light as they streaked across the sky in formation, then dove down towards the crowd.
Just as they were about to approach the crowd, they pulled up, skimming over the heads of the crowd, and finally soared high again, heading towards the horizon.
Many people's hair was blown by the strong airflow. Hearing the whistling sound passing by their ears, they felt incredibly thrilled inside.
"Woohoo~"
Someone couldn't help but shout, and instantly the atmosphere was fully ignited.
Immediately after, they discovered many water gates appearing in the sky, and below the water gates were rings of fire, one after another, burning with grayish-purple flames.
Staravia flew back-first under the water gates. When passing through the rings of fire, it flipped its body, flying through one ring of fire after another in a fluid posture.
Listening to the cheers of the people below, feeling the emotions of the people and Pokémon below, it recalled the scenes of itself, Victor, and the Breeding House Pokémon working together to protect them.
It felt that it had become stronger. It seemed to understand what it took to become stronger.
Protecting the people and Pokémon that needed protecting, it would eventually welcome a transformation.
Without using Brave Bird, its body also began to be covered in white light.
While passing through one ring of fire after another, the body within the white light began to grow larger and larger.
Until the last ring of fire.
It flapped its wings violently, dissipating the ring of fire and the white light together.
With the posture of an eagle striking the vast sky, it let out a loud cry.
Cool, hot-blooded, and proud, it instantly ignited the hot blood of the Trainers present.
Cheers rose and fell continuously.
Immediately after, the water gates were all frozen. Someone noticed several Pokémon sliding down the channels on the frozen water gates.
Seeing that they were about to reach the ground, a blue Pokémon suddenly sprayed a Water Gun, which then froze into ice. Just like that, a channel made of ice appeared above everyone's heads.
Several Pokémon slid over along this channel.
Mime Jr., holding a flower basket in his hands, slid along the channel to above the people's heads. His body involuntarily danced the Teeter Dance. The swaying dance made the people below uncontrollably dance along. At the same time, his small hands kept giving the flowers in the basket to some of the people.
Vulpix sat on her six tails, arrived above a Trainer's head, and then jumped down. A female Trainer caught her. She gently rubbed her forehead against the Trainer's forehead, then jumped back into the channel from the female Trainer's arms.
The female Trainer touched her forehead; something seemed to have been added. Tearing it off to look, she found it was a Vulpix sticker, then happily stuck it back on.
Following behind was Marill. She kept using Water Gun towards the sky. Under the sunlight, the water mist created rounds of rainbows.
Finally—
A purple figure sliding with difficulty in the channel, getting stuck from time to time, then moving itself with its butt—
Let's skip that.
The crowd, who were enthusiastically greeting Gengar who couldn't slide, suddenly heard a striking sound.
Looking towards the source of the sound, Heracross and Pinsir were wrestling using the powerful horns on their heads.
The simplest action.
The atmosphere below the stage reached a new climax again.
The stalemated battle situation began to shift slowly with the shouts of the people below.
Heracross pushed Pinsir, moving slowly.
A group of grandpas and uncles were cheering constantly.
Just as the battle was about to be decided, a rather strong Machamp appeared. She reached out and forcibly pried apart Heracross and Pinsir. One Pokémon began to take on two Pokémon.
Then Machamp grabbed the horns of both Bug-type Pokémon at the same time, lifted them up forcibly, spun a few times, and threw them out directly.
Pinsir, in mid-air, originally intended to change posture to land safely, but found many people below with open arms, seemingly waiting for it to come over. So it changed to a safe posture and landed safely in their embrace.
Machamp on the stage thumped her chest, her four arms clenched tight suddenly, muscles expanding.
At this moment, she was hugged around the waist by hands extending from behind—a suplex.
She was lifted up by the Machamp that appeared behind her. She rotated her body in the air and landed in a safe posture.
Upon landing, she found two Machamp looking at her covetously.
She gave an excited cry, and her arms wrapped in black belts expanded again.
She faced the two Machamp.
Machamp took on Machoke and Machop alone.
Breeding House traditional program: Machamp Wrestling, officially begins.
The purest contest of strength, no superfluous tricks, only the collision of muscle against muscle.
It was exactly this most primitive way that made the atmosphere and shouts below the stage the most explosive.
Young or old, male or female, everyone was cheering hysterically for the Machamp on stage.
Especially the Trainers.
They felt their blood boiling, wishing they could go up and wrestle with Machamp themselves.
Victor, who was directing, almost lost it when he heard wolf-whistles coming from somewhere.
Bro, that's a female Machamp! You can even wolf-whistle at that!
Machamp, with her own strength, forcibly lifted Machoke and Machop, then lay back and stood up. Her right hand was pulled up by Gengar floating up, signaling to the audience below: the winner, Machamp!
She exerted force with her arm, lifting Gengar directly, and then, amidst Gengar's fearful gaze, threw Gengar out.
The thrown Gengar fell into flower petals. He stood up, found himself among flower petals, gathered them up, ran over, and gave them to Lilligant.
Lilligant covered her mouth and laughed, opening her hands.
"Lil~"
Petal Blizzard · Tornado Version appeared in the center of the venue.
Gothita's eyes emitted a strange light, and the petal tornado was held in place. Then Luxray struck a Thunderbolt into it, and all the petals were charged with electric light.
Suddenly, many Gengar appeared on the field, throwing Shadow Balls into it.
The tornado was dispersed, and petals drifted in the air.
Rapidash and Luxray, covered in flames and lightning respectively, ran towards both sides of the crowd, trailing petals behind them.
The petals carrying flames and lightning formed a huge heart shape, surrounding them tightly.
And the remaining petals fell into the crowd.
Someone reached out and caught one; it felt a bit numbing, a strange sensation.
"Lil~"
Lilligant fired a beam from the flower on her head towards the sky, and instantly the sky was cloudless.
Sunny Day.
Lilligant took Gothita's hand and slowly danced an elegant dance under the sunlight.
Petals appeared around them constantly until they surrounded her and Gothita's bodies.
Staraptor flapped its wings, blowing the petals into the crowd. Lilligant and Gothita disappeared from within the petals.
The people were still puzzled when, the next second, Lilligant emerged from the center of the petals on the ground, dancing with Gothita. The dance ended.
Lilligant grabbed the petals on the ground and threw them forcefully.
Many words formed by Combee appeared in the sky.
FES! TI! VAL! BE! GINS!
Without needing Victor to speak, the crowd cheered again.
Lucian watched this performance. Magnificence, cuteness, power, confidence—all elements were gathered. Especially the final Lilligant, her posture was elegant.
Could it be that Victor is also an extremely excellent Coordinator?
And Victor, watching from the stage, was equally surprised.
It was this beautiful?!
It would be great if the surrounding flowers bloomed right now.
Victor smiled and shook his head. It's almost late autumn now; how could cherry blossoms still bloom?
That's right, what Victor planted back then were cherry trees.
Under the Breeding House's blessing, the cherry trees grew quite fast, but as for blooming, it would probably take a long time.
The crowd began to disperse gradually, looking for places they were interested in.
Many people paired up, still discussing the opening performance just now.
People from Sandgem Town also began to arrive one after another. Learning from the people watching live that they had missed the performance, they immediately regretted it endlessly.
Shana had long disappeared with Mime Jr. and the others, but Victor wasn't worried.
After all, almost everyone knew Shana.
He was looking at the Staravia in front of him—no, it should be Staraptor.
[Staraptor]
[Type: Normal, Flying]
[Gender: Male]
[Ability: Reckless]
[Moves Learned: Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Double Team, Take Down, Brave Bird, Air Cutter, Whirlwind, Endeavor, Final Gambit, Acrobatics, Feather Dance, U-turn.]
[Mood: Happy]
[Status: Confident]
[Friendship: 100 (Old Employee of the Breeding House)]
[Introduction: From initially pursuing a Trainer to become stronger, to now understanding what truly strengthens oneself. Striking the vast sky with its most vigorous posture, it welcomed evolution.]
"Congratulations, Staraptor, you've become even stronger."
Staraptor nodded, its gaze gentle.
Victor reached out and patted its head.
A different feeling to the touch.
Just as Victor was about to leave.
He suddenly felt a warmth in his chest.
Immediately after, a gust of wind blew past, and a flower petal was blown onto Victor's face.
Victor took it off and looked at it, then froze in place.
Then he looked up abruptly. All along the road, cherry blossoms were in full bloom.
Not just Victor, everyone present was stunned.
What's happening? Autumn, and cherry blossoms are in full bloom?!
And in an instant?!
[A long time ago, a Celebi traveling alone accidentally came here. It recalled certain things and buried its gift here.]
Seeing this, Victor felt a warmth in his heart.
Thank you, Celebi.
This feeling was transmitted to Celebi's side through the wooden tag.
Celebi, who was accompanying a little boy, looked up at the small wooden tag around its neck.
"Bi~"
It spun around happily a few times.
The young boy named Sammy Oak watched the happy Celebi and asked curiously if this was given to it by the person Celebi cherished the most.
Celebi nodded happily.
After recovering its power, Celebi bid farewell to this boy and sent him back to his original time.
As for itself, it continued to travel with the wooden tag.
Sensing the emotion transmitted back by the wooden tag, Victor smiled happily, then took out his phone.
Victor: Can I call you?
Cynthia: ?
Victor, who was typing, suddenly received a video call from Cynthia.
...
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