Uncle Sam and Aunt Anna

"My precious daughter!"

A middle-aged man, even darker than Lulina's naturally wheat-colored skin—practically the color of soy sauce—jumped off the boat and charged toward her. It was hard to imagine that such a burly man, around six foot one with knotted muscles, could shout something so mushy. Yes, this was Lulina's father, the captain of Hulbury Third Fishing Fleet—Uncle Sam.

"Dad, could you not be so cheesy?"

Lulina helplessly covered her forehead, but she did not embarrass her father and silently endured his hug.

"Uncle Sam, welcome back."

After Sam finally finished hugging her, Blake greeted him as well.

"Good lad, you've grown taller again. You're almost as tall as me! Keep this up and you might even end up taller than your dad! Hahahahaha!"

Uncle Sam laughed as he looked at Blake. Standing at six foot one, he was not much taller than Blake now. He grinned and slapped Blake on the shoulder, nearly knocking him to the ground with the sheer force.

"Haha, maybe."

Blake casually rubbed his shoulder. He was indeed tall; at fourteen, he was already nearly six feet, and reaching six foot three as an adult was not impossible. Still, he was not built like Uncle Sam, someone whose body seemed forged for combat. He was more of the lean, tall type. Although he worked out a little, perhaps due to his constitution, he had some muscle but simply could not bulk up. All he could say was that his father's genes were truly powerful. His mother's genes had already done their best by changing his extremely pale skin into something closer to bronze.

"Good lad, come over for dinner tonight! I caught a real monster this time! Hahahahaha!"

Uncle Sam said excitedly.

"Sure, sure. Definitely."

Blake nodded. He only hoped Uncle Sam would still be in such a good mood after learning that Lulina was going to stay at his house tomorrow.

"All right, you two go have fun. I still have to unload the catch. If it stays on the boat too long, the fish and shrimp won't be fresh anymore."

Sam smiled, greeted the two of them again, then turned and leaped back onto the boat. Using all sorts of words that would need censoring, he directed everyone to work. It could not be helped—fishermen were like that. If his words were too refined, they would not be used to hearing them.

"Honestly, Dad always pulls this routine every time. Forget it. Considering how hard he works at sea, I won't hold it against him."

Lulina said, shaking out the hair her father had thoroughly ruffled.

"True. Uncle Sam is busy, and it must be exhausting for him too."

Blake said with a smile as he watched catches of every size being carried off the ship.

When he had first arrived in this world, Blake had worried that he would not get to eat meat. After all, he could not really accept the idea of eating Pokémon. But he later learned that ordinary animals still existed in this world. The varieties and numbers of Pokémon were not enough to keep the entire ecosystem functioning normally, so regular flora and fauna remained. In fact, because Pokémon were such powerful predators, ordinary animals had extraordinarily high reproduction rates. It was precisely thanks to that powerful fertility that ordinary animals had managed to carve out a place in this world.

However, in recent years, the number of wild animals had been decreasing year by year. Meat in ordinary diets now mostly came from livestock raised on farms. As for certain wild animals, there were dedicated protected areas for ordinary wildlife, far from human society and Pokémon, where they lived their own lives.

"Yeah. Come on, stop standing around here. Let's head back to the shop first and tidy up. I think the TV's still on."

Lulina grabbed Blake and ran toward the tourist area.

That evening, Blake arrived at Lulina's house with a bundle of charms. They were for Uncle Sam and his crew. In fact, their family's charms were sold almost entirely to sailors. Many crew members wished they could hang themselves from head to toe in charms before setting out to sea, and they would pile them on their ships and beside their beds as well. Their charms really did have special effects, but even Blake felt that this was a little excessive.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Coming! Oh! Blake, you silly boy. You came over, and you even brought something?"

The door was opened by Lulina's mother, Anna. She was wearing an apron and holding a spatula, clearly in the middle of cooking.

"It's nothing, just some charms. Uncle Sam should be able to use them. Besides, who comes over to mooch a meal empty-handed?"

Blake scratched his head and smiled.

"Kehehe, kehehe. (ﾉ∀｀)"

Gastly floated nearby, nodding with his eyes closed in a very serious manner, as though Blake's good manners were entirely his own teaching.

"Hahaha, Gastly is as funny as ever. Come in. Your Uncle Sam caught a big fish this time. If you didn't come, you wouldn't get to eat any."

Aunt Anna laughed at the banter between the boy and the Ghost-type Pokémon. Since she knew them so well, Anna had none of the fear of Ghost-type Pokémon that ordinary people had. She had long since become desensitized.

Blake changed his shoes and entered the house. He then saw Lulina lying on the sofa with headphones on, playing with her phone, while Uncle Sam watched TV.

"Yo! You're here! Sit, sit! Hahahahaha! Tonight, the two of us are having a drink!"

Uncle Sam immediately stood up when he saw Blake enter.

"Um, Uncle Sam, I'm not old enough to drink yet."

Blake helplessly scratched his head. This uncle always wanted him to drink, but while Galar Region was fairly relaxed about most things, it was extremely strict about alcohol. Drinking under eighteen was strictly forbidden, and getting caught meant severe punishment.

"Seriously, why care so much? Fine, just sit down first."

Uncle Sam curled his lip in boredom. Fishermen like them had drunk since they were young, so who cared about laws like that? Still, since Blake had said so, he could not insist on forcing alcohol on him. Otherwise, not only would his daughter probably ignore him, but his wife definitely would not let him into bed either. That would be far too much of a loss.

"What are you looking at?"

Blake chuckled and sat down beside Lulina.

"An online friend. She said she's participating in the Gym Challenge this year with her childhood friend, though she's only accompanying him."

As Lulina spoke, she showed Blake her phone. The two were chatting enthusiastically, and two or three new messages appeared in just the few seconds she held it up.

"That online friend called Little Yamper?"

Blake had not managed to see the screen clearly in that brief glimpse, but he did know that Lulina had an online best friend—Little Yamper.

"That's her. But apparently, her childhood friend has no sense of direction. They've gotten lost without realizing it several times already. They barely made it to Motostoke before the tournament began."

As Lulina spoke, she could not help laughing at the thought of the two of them running around the Wild Area like headless flies.

But Blake's mind suddenly sparked. Yamper, childhood friend, getting lost, and Lulina's best friend—wasn't this person's identity obvious?

Wasn't this Professor Magnolia's granddaughter, Sophia, the future Pokémon Professor? That fit perfectly. With Leon's legendary lack of direction, if he had set out on his own, a year probably would not have been enough for him to clear all eight Gyms.

"All right! Stop talking! Dinner's ready!"

Just as the two were about to continue chatting, Aunt Anna's call came from the kitchen along with the fragrant smell of food.

"Coming!"

The three answered and headed toward the dining room. The table was covered with all kinds of seafood specialties—fried, deep-fried, stir-fried, braised, and stewed. A smaller table beside it was also piled with food, prepared for the Pokémon.

"Dinner time, dinner time! Wash your hands properly, all of you!"

Aunt Anna, the head of the household, stood at the bathroom door with her hands on her hips and gave the order.