Gengar took off the satchel and put it on Shauna's back.
"Is it heavy?"
Lucas crouched down, putting a small yellow hat custom-made for her on her head, and asked softly.
Shauna shook her head, "It's not heavy."
"Do you want me to let…"
Looking at her sincere gaze, Lucas swallowed his words.
He took out the herbal tea list, instructing her that after delivering the herbal tea, she could give them a herbal tea list with his handwritten notes on it, detailing what kind of herbal tea had what effect. Shauna only needed to hand it to them.
Then, he took the map personally drawn by Gengar, taught her how to read it, and then threaded the map through her body, hanging it around her neck.
He also put a watch communicator on her so she could contact him in time if anything happened.
After all these preparations were done, Lucas was still thinking if there was anything he missed, but finally found there wasn't, and then carefully reminded her a few more times.
"If you really can't do it, it's okay. Just come back first. Gengar and I will be waiting for you at the Breeding House to start afternoon tea."
"Okay."
Shauna nodded, then turned and walked towards the door.
"Chingling, let's go."
Shauna called out, one hand holding the map hanging around her neck, the other tightly clenched into a fist.
"Ching-ling~"
Chingling followed by lightly bouncing.
"Gengar?"
Is it really okay? Letting her go.
Gengar looked worriedly at her and Chingling's retreating figures.
The other Pokémon were the same.
Lucas, however, looked at the bag on her small body.
"I should have known not to take so many orders. Two or three bottles would have been enough; at least it wouldn't be so heavy."
Lucas gritted his teeth and said.
"She has to take this step sooner or later. Now that she wants to do this, we can only encourage and support her. You go catch up."
Lucas watched her figure get smaller and smaller, patting Gengar's shoulder, signaling him to follow.
"Be careful not to be discovered."
He shouted to Gengar's retreating figure.
"Gengar——"
Withdrawing his gaze, Lucas took out his phone and called Mr. Fujino and his wife, explaining the situation and asking them to go ahead and wait, but not to be discovered.
After hanging up the phone, Lucas comforted the still-worried Petilil and the others, indicating that Gengar had followed and everything was fine.
Then he found some wooden blocks and ropes, sat at the counter, and started working.
Seeing this, Petilil and the others also returned to the backyard to attend to their own tasks.
On Shauna's side, she and Chingling were walking on an open road. Rustling sounds occasionally came from the surrounding bushes, but listening to the sounds from Chingling, she felt no fear at all at this moment.
"Chingling, do you know, I really like everyone at the Breeding House, especially Uncle Shopkeeper and Gengar. They play with me when I'm sad…"
Shauna walked along, talking to Chingling.
Meanwhile, Gengar, who was hiding in the bushes and had just caught a Wurmple that was about to play a prank, was deeply moved by these words. Then he saw Shauna switch shoulders because the backpack was too heavy, and he couldn't help but want to use his psychic power to lighten it for her.
But he forcibly held back.
Along the way, Gengar hypnotized and threw away all the ill-intentioned Pokémon, following Shauna to Twinleaf Town.
Shauna wiped the sweat from her forehead; her bangs under the small yellow hat were starting to get messy.
She placed the bag on the ground, then picked up the map, looked at it carefully, and finally bent down, picked up the satchel with both hands, and walked towards the first house.
Gengar floated behind a couple who were lurking suspiciously in an alley, staring at Shauna, and patted their shoulders.
"Gengar——"
"Oh, it's Gengar, you startled me."
Mrs. Fujino turned around, saw it was Gengar, and breathed a sigh of relief, then turned back to continue watching Shauna's retreating figure.
Subsequently, Shauna and Chingling walked ahead, followed by a suspicious couple and a Gengar.
Their behavior was too conspicuous and confusing, attracting the attention of passersby, who eventually called the police to notify Jenny.
Jenny saw their retreating figures from a distance and knew who they were, but she was still curious about what they were doing, so she walked forward and patted their shoulders.
"Gengar?"
Gengar jumped in fright, turned around, saw it was Jenny, and then reached out to pat his chest.
A false alarm.
"What are you doing?"
Jenny asked, puzzled.
She pointed to a spot not far away. Jenny looked and saw Shauna, accompanied by a Chingling, pacing back and forth in front of a house.
Mr. Fujino explained to her, and so, the number of followers became three people, one ghost, and one dog.
Shauna was pacing back and forth outside the house at this moment. She looked at the house, and combined with the feeling that many people were watching her along the way, she started to feel scared.
One moment she stopped to look at the house, the next she paced back and forth, and then she squatted down, hugging her knees, trembling non-stop.
The three people and two Pokémon behind her were heartbroken at the sight.
Gengar saw Shauna squat down, hugging her knees and trembling, and couldn't help but float out, only to be pulled back by Mr. Fujino and his wife.
"Gengar——"
Gengar pointed at Shauna not far away, looking anxious.
"We have to believe in her, Gengar."
Mrs. Fujino's eyes were already filled with tears, but she held back the urge to go help and said to Gengar.
Gengar looked at the trembling Shauna. He couldn't care less and was about to float over again.
"Gengar, look."
Jenny's voice rang out. Gengar looked and saw Shauna had already stood up, carrying her bag, and walking towards the house door.
Shauna, sitting on the ground, noticed more and more passersby's eyes falling on her. She grew increasingly scared, just as she was about to drop her bag and run home.
"Ching-ling~"
Chingling's voice rang out.
Shauna looked over. Chingling was lightly jumping on her knee, looking at her. Although it didn't know what was happening, it sensed its owner was upset, so it used its melodious music to comfort her.
Looking at Chingling's worried expression, Shauna stopped crying for a moment, and then the figures of her parents appeared in her mind, followed by Joy, Jenny, and finally Lucas from the Breeding House, and Gengar.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
Lucas's voice echoed in her heart.
She wiped away her tears, picked up Chingling with her hands, held it against her cheek, then stood up, re-shouldered her bag, and walked towards the door.
She knocked on the door, and the person who opened it happened to be the grandmother who had visited Lucas's Breeding House and recommended her parents take her there.
"Oh, little Shauna, it's you."
The grandmother covered her mouth, saying in surprise, "Did you come because you need my help with something?"
Seeing the grandmother in front of her, Shauna's fear swept over her again.
"I, I…"
Shauna lowered her head, stammering and not daring to speak.
"It's okay, it's okay, you can speak slowly. Or we can come inside and talk."
The grandmother said it was fine, telling Shauna not to be nervous, then invited Shauna into the house to talk.
Shauna looked up and saw the grandmother's kind smile, while Chingling on her shoulder rang out again.
"Ching-ling~"
"Oh, is this your little friend?"
The grandmother noticed Chingling on her shoulder, praised it, "So cute, just like our little Shauna."
Shauna heard the grandmother's words and Chingling's sound, then bit her lip and said, "Yes, it's called Chingling. We just became good friends today. Also, I'm here today to deliver herbal tea on behalf of Uncle Shopkeeper because I want to help Uncle Shopkeeper and Gengar and don't want them to work so hard anymore."
Having said it all in one breath, Shauna let out a sigh of relief, then looked at the grandmother.
The grandmother didn't react for a moment, then she saw Shauna pull out a bottle of herbal tea from her small bag, she saw the Gengar logo of the Breeding House, and the logo on the hat, and only then did she realize.
"Oh~ Are you here to deliver herbal tea to us? Oh my, this is truly… you're so wonderful, my little Shauna, oh dear."
The grandmother said in surprise, then tears of emotion couldn't help but stream down her face.
She knew what had happened to Shauna, and now Shauna herself had brought her herbal tea.
She quickly took the herbal tea, then hurried back into the house, took out money and some snacks, and handed them to Shauna.
Shauna carefully counted the money, then handed her a herbal tea list.
"Uncle Shopkeeper asked me to give you this."
Shauna's clear voice rang out. Once the first step was taken, the rest would get better, so Shauna was not as nervous or scared now as she had been before.
After handing her the list, Shauna took Chingling and walked towards the next house.
Behind her, the three people and two Pokémon were already crying uncontrollably.
Click~
The sound of a shutter clicked. Gengar looked back and saw Lucas not far away, taking a photo of Shauna taking her first step.
"Gengar?"
Why are you here?
Time rewound to half an hour after Shauna set off.
Lucas put down his tools, walked to the door, carried the wooden board back inside, hung up the "Temporarily Closed" sign, instructed the powerful ones a few words, then closed the door, picked up his camera, and rushed to Twinleaf Town.
"Hehe."
Lucas saw that they had discovered him, then grinned, walked with his camera to the grandmother's door, thanked the grandmother, and then continued to follow Shauna.
Soon, Shauna delivered all the herbal tea. The process wasn't entirely smooth, but the few households that needed herbal tea were all very kind and encouraged Shauna.
Finally, Shauna distributed the herbal tea lists one by one.
"Okay, the matter is concluded. I'm heading back to the Breeding House now; I'll leave the rest to you."
After speaking, he picked up his camera and rushed back towards the Breeding House.
"Gengar——"
Wait for me!
Mr. Fujino, his wife, and Jenny created a perfect chance encounter, and finally drove back to Lucas's Breeding House together.
Lucas had just put the wooden board out and re-hung the "Now Open" sign.
Before he could catch his breath, Shauna and the others returned to the Breeding House.
Lucas wiped his sweat, calmed his wildly beating heart, then praised Shauna a few times, and began preparing for today's afternoon tea.
A very rich afternoon tea.
During afternoon tea, Shauna gradually started talking more, recounting the things she had encountered on her journey.
Everyone and all the Pokémon exchanged smiles; everything was understood without words… In Shauna's room, Mr. Fujino and his wife were sitting by the bed, listening to Shauna introduce her little friend.
"Dad, Mom, this is Chingling. Chingling, these are my dad and mom."
Mr. Fujino and his wife were all smiles.
"Hello, Chingling."
"Ching-ling~"
"Oh, by the way, Shauna, shall we go back to your grandpa's house tomorrow?"
Mr. Fujino asked Shauna.
Shauna thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Don't worry, your mom will talk to your Uncle Shopkeeper about it," Mrs. Fujino said, gently stroking her forehead.
"Okay."
"Then you and Chingling rest first. Your dad and I are going out."
"Good night, Mom and Dad."
Mrs. Fujino and her husband exchanged glances.
"Good night, darling."