Lily of the Valley Island, in town.
After arriving in town, Li Wei happened to meet up with Ash and his friends, who were looking for food after their special training.
Li Wei nodded. "Come buy ingredients with me. We can all have dinner together tonight."
Ash and Dawn excitedly raised their arms for a high five.
"Awesome!"
"Pika~chu!" Pikachu excitedly jumped onto Li Wei's other shoulder.
Well, that balanced out Meloetta.
Brock smiled. "I'll help."
Li Wei nodded. "Sorry for the trouble, Brock."
As long as there were no pretty older girls around, Brock was the most reliable person there.
Li Wei took Ash and the others to the Lily of the Valley Tower and headed straight for the fresh food section. "You still have to compete in the preliminaries tomorrow, right?"
Ash nodded vigorously. "Yeah! The preliminaries only last one day. We've been training hard since this morning!"
"Make sure you balance training with rest. Let your Pokémon take more breaks. At this point, more training won't make much difference."
"Yeah, I know!"
As they chatted, Li Wei led them around to pick out ingredients. "Anything you want to eat? Just grab it."
Li Wei couldn't claim he knew how to make every dish, but he knew enough to keep Ash and Dawn happy.
"Are you staying in the Athletes' Village?"
Brock nodded. "That's right. It's pretty nice there. Ash and I share a room, and Dawn has one to herself."
"Want to come stay with us?"
After thinking it over, Ash declined.
The Athletes' Village was closer to the competition venue, and he could practice battling with other people there.
Dawn decided to stay in the Athletes' Village too.
Dawn said earnestly, "Ash and Brock stayed with me when I competed in the grand festival. I can't