When the other assistants learned that Chen Yan would be cooking that evening, they all scrambled to go grocery shopping.
None of them knew how to cook, so they ate cafeteria meals almost every day.
With the grocery shopping snapped up by the others, Chen Yan could only sit in the lab, drinking tea and chatting with Professor Rowan.
"Young people should eat more walnuts," Professor Rowan said, taking out a bag of walnuts and setting it on the table.
"Thank you, Professor." Chen Yan grabbed a handful and passed them to Gengar beside him.
Chen Yan squeezed two walnuts together in his hand, only to discover that he couldn't crack them at all. Across from him, Professor Rowan crushed a walnut with a single squeeze of his broad palm.
Chen Yan: ...
Good lord... a super Sinnoh man...
As Chen Yan pondered how to crack his walnuts, a small, chubby hand reached toward him, several pieces of walnut meat resting on its palm.
Chen Yan turned to find Gengar looking at him while chewing on some walnuts.
"Geng-"
These are mine. You can have them.
Warmth filled Chen Yan's heart. He took the pieces, tossed them into his mouth, and chewed, wondering how Gengar had cracked the walnuts.
"By the way, Gengar, how did you crack these? I couldn't get them open."
At Chen Yan's question, Gengar swallowed the walnuts, picked up three more, and arranged them on the nearby table. Then Gengar raised an eyebrow at him, signaling for him to watch.
Under Chen Yan and Professor Rowan's gazes, Gengar lifted Kakuna and slammed Kakuna down on the walnuts.
The walnuts shattered on the spot.
Chen Yan: ...
Gengar set Kakuna aside, picked out the walnut meat, and handed half to Chen Yan and half to Professor Rowan.
"Oh? Some for me, too? Thank you, Gengar." Professor Rowan was a little surprised, but he accepted the walnuts and thanked Gengar.
Watching Gengar continue cracking walnuts with Kakuna, Chen Yan finally gave up resisting.
Gengar really had found every imaginable use for Kakuna.
Back when Kakuna had still been a Weedle, Gengar had swung the poor Pokémon around like a flail and used Weedle as a knife. Now that Weedle had evolved into Kakuna, Gengar was using Kakuna as a brick.
To make sure Gengar wasn't going to break Kakuna, Chen Yan opened Kakuna's status panel for a look.
[Kakuna] [...] [Description: Improves physical fitness through training with Gengar. There is every reason to believe this Pokémon will have a strong physique after evolving.]
How could that physique not be strong? Kakuna was being used as a brick...
Soon, the other assistants returned with the ingredients. The sight of all their bulging bags gave Chen Yan a fright.
"Did you guys... empty out the supermarket?"
"Hehe, we didn't know what you were going to make, so we bought a little extra."
"Thanks for the effort. Leave the rest to me and Gengar!"
In the backyard of Professor Rowan's lab, Gengar stuck that big rear end out while washing vegetables, rattling off a list of desired dishes to Chen Yan as he prepared the ingredients.
"Geng-"
I want cola chicken wings, garlic ribs, braised pork belly, steamed eggs, shredded chicken...
"Got it. Stop distracting me and wash the vegetables. If we have the ingredients, I'll make everything you want."
"Geng-"
I knew Chen Yan was the best.
"Snivy?"
Snivy's voice rang out. Standing in a tree, Snivy looked at Chen Yan and Gengar and asked whether they needed help.
"Really? Thank you so much, Snivy. Could you help Gengar wash the vegetables?"
Snivy nodded.
With the help of his level 3 cooking skill, Chen Yan soon prepared an entire table of delicious food.
There were Gengar's favorites-cola chicken wings, garlic ribs, and braised pork belly-as well as the tempura, oden, and ramen the other assistants had requested, plus the soup Professor Rowan wanted.
Chen Yan set the final dish, the Perfect Ten Tonic Soup, on the table. Looking at everyone eagerly waiting, he smiled. "Let's eat."
"Geng-"
Digging in!
"Mmm... this is delicious... Chen Yan, you're such a good cook!"
"Wow! This ramen, this... are you sure you're not casting magic?"
"Geng!"
Sho good!
Listening to the endless stream of praise, Chen Yan felt immensely satisfied.
"Thank you all for looking after me lately. I hope you enjoy the meal."
Honestly, as someone who could cook, seeing others enjoy the food he made brought an incomparable sense of satisfaction.
After dinner, several assistants snapped up the task of clearing the dishes, so Chen Yan could only take Gengar and Kakuna over to the nearby lawn and sit down.
He looked at Snivy sitting in the tree, still gazing into the distance, and asked with a smile:
"Was dinner good tonight?"
Snivy gave a sweet little cry.
"Snivy~"
"I'll sing you a song."
At Chen Yan's sudden offer, Snivy lowered that gaze to him.
"Ahem." Chen Yan cleared his throat twice and glanced around. Then he took Kakuna from Gengar's arms, placed Kakuna on his lap, and tapped the shell with his fingers.
Clang, clang~
Not bad. That'll do.
And so, tapping Kakuna's shell with his fingers, Chen Yan began singing a song that perfectly suited the place where Snivy had been born.
"The evening breeze gently brushes Hippo Bay (where Snivy was born)~ white waves chase the sandy shore~"
As his singing rang out, backed by his level 3 performance skill, the noisy surroundings gradually fell quiet.
Chen Yan gently tapped Kakuna's shell while Gengar kept the beat with those palms.
Everyone, human and Pokémon alike, stopped what they were doing and gathered beside Chen Yan, listening closely to his song.
"...so many memories of my childhood, sunshine, beaches, the ocean, cacti, and an old captain~"
Chen Yan watched Snivy in the tree as he sang.
Snivy stared at Chen Yan, listening to the song, and seemed to return to that beach once more, living with Grandmother, helping carry her things, listening to her stories...
"Snivy..." Chen Yan called.
Snivy looked at Chen Yan, tilted that little head, and blinked those beautiful, large eyes.
"I'm leaving tomorrow."
A smile appeared on Chen Yan's face. "When I come back, how about I take you to Twinleaf Town to see the sea? The sea there is beautiful, too. Grandmother rescued me by the shore."
Snivy froze for a moment, then smiled gently.
"Snivy~"
Okay~
Applause rose around them. Chen Yan looked over to see Professor Rowan approaching, then sitting down beside him.
"Chen Yan, will you keep filming other Pokémon after this? Things like Pokémon Grand World?"
"I will."
"Where are you heading next?"
"I'm not sure yet. Toward Jubilife City, I suppose."
"I have a rumor you might want to look into."
Chen Yan's eyes widened as he turned to Professor Rowan. "What rumor?"
"They say that in the forest north of Sandgem Town, not far from Lake Verity, a large number of Pokémon evolve together on the same night once every ten years."
"The people here call that night the 'Night of Evolution.'"
"!" Chen Yan's breathing quickened.
A whole bunch of Pokémon evolving together on the same night?
What a beautiful sight that would be...
"Interested?"
Chen Yan nodded silently.
"This year happens to be the tenth year, and it should be happening around this time." Professor Rowan seemed to understand Chen Yan's concern and answered with a smile.
Chen Yan: !!!
"Professor, you..."
"How do I know so much about it?"
Chen Yan nodded.
"Because I happened to witness it myself ten years ago."
"So it's not a rumor?!"
"I don't know. Perhaps it was just an ordinary instance of Pokémon evolution. If you're planning to go, you should be prepared to come back empty-handed."
Chen Yan grinned. "For a photographer, the word 'rumor' alone is enough to make a trip worthwhile."
"Even if there's no Night of Evolution, I wouldn't lose out if I happened to get a photo of Mesprit."
"You know about Mesprit?" Professor Rowan asked, looking at Chen Yan.
"Mm... a little."
"How much is 'a little'?"
"Mesprit lives in Lake Verity, Azelf lives in Lake Valor, and Uxie lives in Lake Acuity. In mythology, they symbolize emotion, willpower, and knowledge respectively."
After listening to Chen Yan's explanation, Professor Rowan shook his head.
He had known that Chen Yan's "a little" wouldn't be a little at all.
"You... you're always so modest."
Chen Yan scratched the back of his head.
"I'll see you off tomorrow."
"Okay."
After spending a little more time at Professor Rowan's lab, Chen Yan picked up the food he had packed earlier and headed toward the Pokémon Center.
"Nurse Joy, I made this myself. It's a late-night snack for you and Chansey."
Chen Yan set the food on the counter as he spoke to Nurse Joy.
"You've been here for a week, and Chansey and I have already gained so much weight. No more. We'll get huge if we keep eating." Nurse Joy refused.
Chansey shook her head in refusal beside her, too.
"Tomorrow, once Glameow is discharged, Gengar, Kakuna, and I will be leaving Sandgem Town to continue our journey, so tonight should be the last time," Chen Yan said with a smile.
"Besides, it's all cold, so there are no calories."
"You're leaving?"
Chen Yan nodded.
"Really no calories?"
Chen Yan nodded again.
"All right, then. I'll just have a little."
Chen Yan nodded and walked away. He went to Glameow's ward and looked inside through the glass in the door.
Glameow, who had been sleeping curled up, suddenly opened those eyes and looked toward the door, meeting Chen Yan's gaze.
Seeing the wariness in those eyes, Chen Yan smiled, mouthed "Good night," and left.
As he passed the front desk, Nurse Joy and Chansey were happily eating. Chen Yan said goodbye to them and left the Pokémon Center.
Before you continue