Pallet Town.
By the time Li Wei returned from the Morning Market with Lucario and Metagross, having bought plenty of ingredients,
Blue still hadn't returned.
Li Wei could tell from Charizard.
Li Wei wasn't concerned. Nothing would happen to Blue; he was just curious about what Blue had gone off to do so secretively.
The variety of ingredients at Pallet Town's Morning Market exceeded Li Wei's expectations, and he had bought quite a lot.
Although Professor Oak wasn't a good cook, his kitchen was fully equipped, complete with a stove and oven.
Li Wei had already used it before leaving for the Morning Market that morning, even making a few sandwiches for Professor Oak and the others.
"Thanks for your help, Metagross." Li Wei had used Metagross as a cart, letting it carry the huge pile of ingredients home.
"Kang Jin!"
"I'm back!"
No one answered. Professor Oak's house was empty. "They're probably all at the laboratory."
Given how obsessed Professor Oak, Daisy, and the others were with research, that wasn't hard to imagine.
None of Li Wei's Pokémon were in Professor Oak's house. Li Wei turned to Lucario. "Help me put these in the fridge."
"Luca!"
After spending so long with Li Wei, Lucario knew exactly where each ingredient belonged.
"All done!"
Once all the ingredients were put away, Li Wei washed his hands.
"Come on, let's take a look around the Backyard first."
They planned to keep lunch simple. The evening gathering would be the main event.
Li Wei also needed someone to help him prepare the ingredients. Doing everything alone would take far too long.
Li Wei wasn't going for a stroll just for the sake of it.
He also wanted to observe the environment in Professor Oak's Backyard and see which Pokémon were more comfortable in