Fang Yan had Gengar take off the shoulder bag and put it on Shauna.
"Is it heavy?"
Fang Yan crouched down, put the little yellow hat specially made for her on her head, and asked softly.
Shauna shook her head. "No."
"Would you like me to have..."
Seeing her sincere gaze fixed on him, Fang Yan swallowed his words.
He took out the herbal tea list and told her that after delivering the tea, she could give them a copy. He had written notes on it, with detailed explanations of each tea's effects, so Shauna only needed to hand it to them.
Then he took the map Gengar had drawn by hand, taught her how to read it, threaded a cord through it, and hung it around her neck.
He also put a watch communicator on her wrist so she could contact him promptly if anything happened.
Once these preparations were finished, Fang Yan thought about whether he had overlooked anything. Finding nothing else, he carefully reminded her of a few things.
"If you really can't do it, that's all right. Come back first. Gengar, the others, and I will be waiting at the Pokémon Day Care for you to start afternoon tea."
"Okay."
Shauna nodded, then turned and walked toward the door.
"Little Jingle, let's go."
Shauna called out, holding the map hanging around her neck in one hand and clenching her other hand tightly into a fist.
"Ching-ching~"
Chingling followed with light bounces.
"Gengar?"
Was it really all right to let her go?
Gengar watched her and Chingling leave, worried.
The other Pokémon did the same.
Fang Yan looked at the bag on her small frame.
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have taken so many orders. Just two or three bottles would've been enough. At least it wouldn't be so heavy."
Fang Yan gritted his teeth as he spoke.
"She has to take this step sooner or later. Now that she wants to do it, all we can do is encourage and support her. Hurry and follow her."
Watching her figure grow smaller in the distance, Fang Yan patted Gengar's shoulder, signaling for Gengar to follow.
"Be careful not to get spotted."
He called after Gengar.
"Gengar-"
Looking away, Fang Yan took out his phone and called the Fujinos, explained the situation, and asked them to go ahead and wait, without letting themselves be discovered.
After hanging up, Fang Yan comforted Petilil and the others, who were still worried, indicating that Gengar had followed her and everything was fine.
Then he found some wooden blocks and cord, sat at the counter, and began working.
Seeing this, Petilil and the others returned to the backyard to attend to their own activities.
Meanwhile, Shauna and Chingling were walking along an open road. Rustling came from the surrounding grass from time to time, but listening to the sounds from Chingling, she wasn't afraid at all.
"Little Jingle, did you know? I really like everyone at the Pokémon Day Care, especially Uncle Manager, and Gengar and the others. They play with me when I'm sad..."
Shauna talked to Chingling as they walked.
Hiding in the grass, Gengar had just caught a Wurmple that was about to play a prank. Hearing her words, Gengar was deeply touched. Then, seeing Shauna switch the bag to her other shoulder because it was too heavy, Gengar couldn't help wanting to use psychic power to lighten her load.
But Gengar firmly held back.
After putting every Pokémon with bad intentions along the way to sleep and tossing them away, Gengar followed Shauna into Twinleaf Town.
Shauna wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her bangs beneath her little yellow hat were becoming thoroughly disheveled.
She set the bag on the ground, picked up the map, and studied it carefully. Finally, she bent down, lifted the shoulder bag with both hands, and headed toward the first house.
Gengar floated behind a couple hiding in an alley, furtively watching Shauna, and tapped their shoulders.
"Gengar-"
"Oh, it's you, Gengar. You startled me."
Mrs. Fujino turned and saw Gengar, breathed a sigh of relief, then turned back to watch Shauna.
After that, Shauna and Chingling walked ahead, followed by a furtive couple and a Gengar.
Their behavior was so conspicuous and puzzling that it attracted the attention of passersby, who eventually called the police and notified Officer Jenny.
Officer Jenny recognized them from behind at a distance, but she was still curious about what they were doing. She walked up and tapped their shoulders.
"Gengar?"
Gengar jumped in fright, then turned around and saw Officer Jenny before patting its chest.
It was only a false alarm.
"What are you doing?"
Officer Jenny asked in confusion.
They pointed nearby. Officer Jenny looked over and saw Shauna pacing in front of a house, with a Chingling beside her.
Mr. Fujino explained everything to her, and the group following Shauna became three people, a ghost, and a dog.
Shauna was pacing outside the house. Looking at it, and feeling that many people had been watching her along the way, she began to grow afraid.
One moment she stopped and looked at the house, the next she paced back and forth, and then she crouched down, hugging her knees and trembling nonstop.
The three people and two Pokémon behind her were heartbroken at the sight.
Seeing Shauna crouch down and sit hugging her knees, trembling all over, Gengar couldn't help floating out, only to be pulled back by the Fujinos.
"Gengar-"
Gengar pointed at Shauna nearby, somewhat anxious.
"We have to believe in her, Gengar."
Mrs. Fujino's eyes were already filled with tears, but she restrained the urge to go help as she spoke to Gengar.
Watching Shauna tremble all over, Gengar couldn't worry about all that and was just about to float over again.
"Gengar, look."
At Officer Jenny's words, Gengar looked over. Shauna had already stood up and was walking toward the front door with her bag.
Sitting on the ground, Shauna noticed more and more passersby looking at her. She grew increasingly afraid, and just as she was about to abandon the bag and run home-
"Ching-ching~"
Chingling's voice rang out.
Shauna looked over. Chingling lightly hopped onto her knees and looked at her. Although it didn't know what had happened, it sensed that its Trainer was upset, so it comforted her with the lovely music from its body.
Seeing Chingling's worried expression, Shauna stopped crying for a moment. Then images of her parents appeared in her mind, followed by Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, and finally Fang Yan at the Pokémon Day Care, along with Gengar and the others.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
Fang Yan's voice rang out in her heart.
She wiped her tears away, picked up Chingling, and pressed it against her cheek. Then she stood, put the bag back on, and walked toward the door.
She knocked. The person who answered happened to be the elderly lady who had visited Fang Yan's Pokémon Day Care and recommended that her parents take her there.
"Oh, little Shauna, it's you."
The elderly lady covered her mouth and said in surprise, "Have you come because you need my help with something?"
Seeing the elderly lady before her, fear swept over Shauna again.
"I, I..."
Shauna lowered her head, stammering and not daring to speak.
"It's all right, it's all right. Take your time. Or we can go inside and talk."
The elderly lady reassured Shauna that it was all right and that she needn't be nervous, then invited her inside to talk.
Shauna raised her head and saw the elderly lady's kindly smile. At the same time, Chingling rang out again on her shoulder.
"Ching-ching~"
"Oh, is this your little friend?"
The elderly lady noticed Chingling on her shoulder and praised it. "How adorable, just like our little Shauna."
Hearing the elderly lady's words and Chingling's voice, Shauna bit her lip, then said, "Yes its name is Little Jingle we just became good friends today and I'm here to deliver herbal tea for Uncle Manager today because I want to help Uncle Manager and Gengar so they won't have to work so hard anymore."
Having said it all in one breath, Shauna sighed in relief and looked at the elderly lady.
The elderly lady didn't register it at first. Then she saw Shauna take a bottle of herbal tea from her little bag, noticed the Pokémon Day Care's Gengar logo and the logo on her hat, and finally understood.
"Oh~ you're here to deliver our herbal tea? Oh my, this is really... How are you so wonderful, my little Shauna? Oh, goodness."
The elderly lady exclaimed in surprise, then couldn't hold back her tears of emotion.
She knew what had happened to Shauna, yet now Shauna had personally brought her herbal tea.
She quickly took the tea, hurried back inside, and brought out money and some snacks to give to Shauna.
Shauna carefully counted the money, then handed her a herbal tea list.
"Uncle Manager asked me to give you this."
Shauna's clear voice rang out. Once she had taken the first step, the rest would get better, so she no longer spoke with as much nervousness and fear as before.
After handing her the list, Shauna headed for the next house with Chingling.
Behind her, the three people and two Pokémon were already sobbing too hard to speak.
Click~
The shutter sounded. Gengar turned and discovered Fang Yan nearby, taking a photo of Shauna's first step.
"Gengar?"
What are you doing here?
Time went back to half an hour after Shauna had set off.
Fang Yan put down his tools, went to the entrance and carried the wooden board inside, then hung up the "Temporarily closed" sign. After giving Dali and the others a few instructions, he shut the door, grabbed his camera, and headed straight for Twinleaf Town.
"Hehe."
Seeing that they had spotted him, Fang Yan grinned, then walked to the elderly lady's door with his camera. After thanking her, he continued following Shauna.
Soon, Shauna had delivered all the herbal tea. The process hadn't gone entirely smoothly, but the households that needed tea were all quite nice and encouraged her.
Finally, Shauna handed out the herbal tea lists one by one.
"Okay, that's done. I'm heading back to the Pokémon Day Care first. I'll leave the rest to you."
With that, he grabbed his camera and sprinted back toward the Pokémon Day Care.
"Gengar-"
Wait for me!
The Fujinos and Officer Jenny arranged a perfect chance encounter, and eventually they all drove back to Fang Yan's Pokémon Day Care together.
Fang Yan had just put the wooden board back outside and hung up the "Open" sign again.
Before he could catch his breath, Shauna and the others returned to the Pokémon Day Care.
Fang Yan wiped away his sweat, steadied his wildly pounding heart, then praised Shauna a few times before starting to prepare that day's afternoon tea.
A very lavish afternoon tea.
During afternoon tea, Shauna gradually began talking more, telling everyone about what she had encountered along the way.
The people and Pokémon exchanged smiles. Everything went without saying.
In Shauna's room, the Fujinos sat beside the bed, listening to Shauna introduce her little friend.
"Dad, Mom, this is Little Jingle. Little Jingle, these are my dad and mom."
The Fujinos were all smiles.
"Hello, Little Jingle."
"Ching-ching~"
"By the way, Shauna, shall we go back to your grandpa's house tomorrow?"
Mr. Fujino asked Shauna.
Shauna thought for a while, then nodded.
"Don't worry. I'll go talk to your Uncle Manager," Mrs. Fujino said, gently stroking her forehead.
"Okay."
"Then you and Little Jingle get some rest. Your dad and I will head out."
"Good night, Dad and Mom."
Mrs. Fujino exchanged a glance with her husband.
"Good night, sweetheart."
Before you continue