Leon's Pokémon

"Morning. How did you sleep last night?"

Early the next morning, Blake, who was making breakfast, asked Leon and Charmeleon, who were yawning. They had arrived too late yesterday; the Pokémon Center had already been packed to capacity. Forget proper rooms—even the storage rooms had been cleared out and turned into temporary dormitories. Peak tourist season was truly terrifying. Leon and Sonia could only stay over at Blake's place, and both of them had been stunned by Blake's villa.

The house itself was not particularly large, but including the yard, it was rather astonishing. There was a full-sized Pokémon battle field, an enormous warehouse, and all sorts of strange little buildings clearly prepared for Pokémon. Leon's home was not small either, but it paled in comparison to Blake's.

"Very well. Thank you for taking us in."

Leon said with a smile.

"It's nothing. When you're away from home, you help each other out. Besides, Sonia and Lulina are friends too. I don't mind making friends."

Blake slid the fried eggs onto a plate, and Leon casually helped carry it to the table.

"Aha, I like making friends too. Charmeleon does as well."

"Roar—"

After Leon spoke, Charmeleon gave an agreeing roar and raised a thumb.

"Gengar! Hehehehe!"

Haunter floated over in front of Charmeleon, raised a thumb as well, and began laughing.

"Rrrumble—"

Dhelmise floated out of the aquarium, greeted Leon and the others, then casually wrapped up its own breakfast and drifted away. It liked to hide away and eat alone.

"That's a Dhelmise, right? It's really huge!"

Leon had not seen Dhelmise yesterday, because it was such a homebody. Other than training, it simply did not like going outside and stayed in its aquarium. By the time they returned last night, it had already been asleep.

Now, seeing Dhelmise float past, Leon quickly took out his Pokédex to scan it. Since the Rotom Phone had not yet appeared, it could not replace an ordinary Pokédex for the time being. Looking at the entry on Dhelmise, he said excitedly. Leon was simply that kind of person: a Pokémon fanatic and battle maniac through and through.

"Yeah, this guy probably isn't even awake yet. Otherwise, he'd definitely be surprised to see you all."

Blake watched Dhelmise float back into the aquarium room and spoke helplessly. Every time, it would smell breakfast, float out as if sleepwalking, take its food and fly away, then somehow eat breakfast without knowing whether it was asleep or awake. Only after staying in the aquarium for another two or three hours would it fully wake up.

"Roar?"

Charmeleon was very curious about Blake's words.

"Gengar—hehehehehe."

Haunter floated over and explained. Charmeleon's eyes immediately widened. It could sleep and still not get lost? If only its Trainer had such amazing navigation skills. Maybe it should ask for some advice later? Then perhaps it would not have to get lost together with its Trainer anymore.

"Gengar—"

Hearing Charmeleon's muttering, Haunter gave an uncertain cry, not knowing what to say. He had already discovered yesterday that it was not just Leon who had no sense of direction—Charmeleon was also a Pokémon with no sense of direction! They were both hopelessly directionless, but Charmeleon had not noticed this flaw at all.

"That's amazing. It's my first time seeing a Dhelmise. I heard they all live in the deep sea."

Leon kept reading the Pokédex entry as he spoke.

"I was lucky too. This Dhelmise settled down in an abandoned ship for some special reason and disrupted the lives of the Pokémon nearby, so I caught it."

Blake said.

"Ah—what great luck. I want to catch a Ghost-type Pokémon too."

Leon sighed.

"What Pokémon do you have right now? Yesterday, I saw you take out four Poké Balls at the Pokémon Center, but Charmeleon was the only one I saw released."

Blake remembered that Leon had two Ghost-type Pokémon: Dragapult and Aegislash. But from the looks of it, he apparently had not caught those two yet.

"Oh, Charmeleon doesn't like staying in its ball, so it's usually outside. Other than that, everyone, come out!"

Leon threw the three Poké Balls at his waist.

"Thwackey?"

"Mogu?"

"Axew!"

A Thwackey, one of Galar's three starter Pokémon, a Galarian Mr. Mime, and an Axew appeared in the room. There had always been differing opinions about Leon's lineup, but Haxorus, Mr. Rime, and the Galar starters were Pokémon he definitely possessed. The Pokémon that appeared now did not surprise Blake.

Having suddenly been released, the three Pokémon were clearly still a little groggy. Axew even yawned.

"They've been raised very well. Although I specialize in Ghost-type Pokémon, I can still tell that you've put a lot of care into training them. They're no worse than Charmeleon."

After observing the three Pokémon, Blake spoke. Axew should have been caught not long ago. It showed some signs of training, but not much, while the other two had clearly undergone training.

"Of course! I'm going to become Champion! How could I not take Pokémon training seriously?"

Leon said proudly, giving a thumbs-up.

"That's quite the spirit. This Thwackey was your main Pokémon when you challenged Ms. Haisewai, right?"

Blake asked, looking at Thwackey, which was curiously looking around and tapping here and there with the stick in its hand.

"That's right. It evolved from the Grookey the Chairman gave me when I first started traveling. To be honest, it could evolve again already, but evolving too quickly wouldn't be suitable for it. It hasn't trained long enough, so I had it hold an Everstone. Charmeleon's the same. My master once told me that if Pokémon evolve too quickly, their foundations become unstable. Especially in their second stage, they must take time to build themselves up. Otherwise, after evolving into their third stage, many problems will emerge that are difficult to remedy."

Leon said without holding anything back.

"I agree with that completely. Gastly has been with me for several years too, and it only evolved into Haunter last month."

Blake nodded in agreement.

"Ha! Looks like we think alike."

Leon was happy that Blake agreed with him. After all, many people wanted their Pokémon to evolve as quickly as possible. Some Eevee Trainers would use an Evolution Stone on Eevee not long after it was born, without caring which evolution path best suited Eevee's talent.

"Of course. And I need your help too, to let a certain little one calm down."

Blake smiled. He could already sense that a certain little one had caught the scent of breakfast.

"Dreepy—!"

With a shrill cry, Dreepy shot down like a missile. In the blink of an eye, it flew onto the table, grabbed a fried egg, and was about to take a bite.

Smack!

Blake quickly flicked Dreepy on the forehead, stopping it.