Ceruledge's Little Happiness

Poliwag looked at the marks on Luo Mu's arm, its expression curious.

"Roo-roo-roo?" (Did Charcadet cause those?)

Luo Mu couldn't understand what Poliwag was saying, but from experience, he could make a pretty good guess. He sighed. "Yeah. This is a scar I got back then while trying to win Charcadet over. A mark that bears witness to our story. At the time, I couldn't afford the kind of high-end Burn Heal I can buy now, so the scar stayed."

"But you don't need to worry about being left with a scar from Growlithe's Ember. I can provide better care for you all now."

"Roo-roo!"

Poliwag wanted to say that wasn't the shallow sort of thing it was worried about, but Luo Mu shook the little bottle of Burn Heal in his hand and patted Poliwag's head. "Time for a pop quiz! Any idea how much this Burn Heal costs?"

"Roo-roo?"

Poliwag tilted its head. It was just a Poliwag—how could it possibly know the price of something like that?

"Only 600 League currency. It works a lot better than regular Burn Heals, but it costs twice as much." Luo Mu spread his hands and spoke casually. "The four of you don't even eat a hundred yuan's worth of food in a day. I could keep you all fed with room to spare, even if you freeloaded and did nothing."

Of course, that was just the cost of meals with enough nutrition to keep them going. Once they started training, he'd need to spend a lot more to increase their nutritional intake.

Poliwag's gaze went a little blank. It realized that Luo Mu seemed to have seen right through its little worries.

"Of course, I caught you and brought you to the farm because I need your abilities. Even if you're not much help right now, I'm more interested in what you can do in the long run."

Seeing Poliwag's expression and reaction, Luo Mu knew his guess had been right. "You don't need to be so afraid or anxious. I told you what Ceruledge went through because I wanted you to know that I won't abandon a Pokémon I've caught for some ridiculous reason or another."

"Look, I haven't even kicked out Moltres, who eats the most and freeloads here."

Luo Mu pointed at Moltres, who was lying belly-up in the distance, looking a bit like a roast chicken as it napped without a care in the world. He casually placed the sleeping Growlithe on its belly.

Poliwag: "..."

That topic had taken a sharp turn.

But a sense of sudden clarity washed over Poliwag, and it immediately felt a little silly for worrying.

That's right. Just like the Whimsicott said, this place was home.

Night fell.

It was a belated celebration for the farm's first earnings. Luo Mu and Dragonite had bought a generous amount of ingredients at the market, both meat and vegetables.

With Ceruledge directing, they happily spent the whole afternoon skewering them.

Luo Mu's heart-to-heart had completely eased Poliwag's worries. It had volunteered to help, but without hands, it couldn't do anything so precise, so it went out to gather firewood with Luxray and the others instead.

Looking at the two large platters of marinated meat and vegetables, Ceruledge silently brought out its family's old grill. It deftly used its Flame Blade to start a fire, then began grilling, controlling the heat through a process that looked simple but required precise timing to cook each ingredient just right.

At last able to take a break, Luo Mu plopped down on the ground without a care for appearances and played around with the Pokémon.

When his gaze passed over Ceruledge, he seemed to remember something. He quickly got up and went into the house, where he found a bright yellow apron.

The apron looked as though it had seen plenty of "battlefields," but it was still folded neatly. It was clear that its owner treasured it.

Luo Mu smiled helplessly and carried the apron over to Ceruledge. His tone held a hint of reproach. "Look, you've splattered oil on your armor again. It's such a pain to clean!"

Ceruledge stopped moving, a little flustered. Its purple eyes darted away guiltily.

Luo Mu first carefully wiped the fresh oil stains off Ceruledge's armor. He couldn't help sighing at how being a Trainer meant being both father and mother, constantly keeping an eye on his Pokémon's mental well-being.

He tied the bright yellow duck-patterned apron around Ceruledge and couldn't help thinking the contrast between the cool swordsman and the cute apron was just too good.

He hadn't been around to watch Ceruledge grill the last few times, what with one thing or another keeping him busy. He hadn't expected the old habit to rear its head again.

He'd given Ceruledge the little duck apron as a gift on the day it evolved. Ceruledge would rather let its handsome armor get stained than wear it.

The various marks on the apron were from when he'd forced Ceruledge to put it on.

Luo Mu felt that an apron was meant to be worn. Even if this one had sentimental value, Ceruledge would receive plenty more aprons from him in the decades they still had together.

Being too careful with it went against the very reason he'd given it in the first place.

"Ceru."

Unable to refuse Luo Mu's request, Ceruledge had no choice but to put on the apron and continue grilling.

This time, though, it moved a hundred times more carefully.

Ceruledge had always regretted the things it did when it was young. Even the burn scar on Luo Mu's arm had been caused by Ceruledge.

And yet Luo Mu had still accepted it, a prickly little hedgehog covered in spikes after being abandoned.

It had learned to cook in hopes of making up for its past mistakes as much as possible. Unfortunately, its arms weren't suited to doing those kinds of things, and grilling was the only task it could manage with any ease.

Luo Mu had no idea what Ceruledge was thinking. He only saw it carefully turning the skewers and sprinkling on seasonings, and couldn't help feeling wistful.

The Charcadet who had once been prickly and withdrawn had grown into what it was now. It was still reserved and taciturn, and even Luo Mu couldn't quite read it.

But Ceruledge had completely become part of the group. To him, that was enough.

When Poliwag returned from gathering firewood and saw the interaction between Luo Mu and Ceruledge, a thoughtful glimmer flashed in its bright eyes.

Late at night, Luo Mu and the Pokémon returned to their little nests to rest, full and satisfied. Everyone had already cleaned up the aftermath of the feast.

Ceruledge sat down wherever it could find a spot, carefully holding the apron, which had inevitably picked up a few spots of grease. It sighed softly.

Looks like it would have to ask Swampert to carefully wash it with a stream of water again.

Last time, they'd been so anxious trying to control the water pressure and keep the apron from getting damaged that they'd been sweating buckets, even though they never got nervous when fighting the Elite Four.

Just then, Poliwag, who should already have returned to Thunderclap Lake, suddenly popped up nearby and cheerfully greeted Ceruledge. "Roo-roo!"