You help me work, I'll play with you

Early the next morning.

Fang Yan opened his eyes to find Gengar holding his phone and staring blankly at him.

He nearly scared Fang Yan to death, a pair of scarlet eyes greeting him the moment he woke up.

"What's wrong?"

Fang Yan recovered, yawned, and asked.

"Gengar..."

Gengar handed him the phone, indicating that it would no longer turn on.

Thinking he had broken it, Gengar hung his head.

Even without the status panel, Fang Yan could tell that Gengar genuinely felt guilty this time. He checked the phone and found that it had simply run out of battery and shut down.

"And here I thought something was wrong. The battery just ran out, that's all. It isn't broken."

Fang Yan reached out and tugged up the corners of his mouth into a smile as he said with a smile.

"Gengar?"

With the corners of his mouth being pulled up, Gengar made a puzzled sound.

Fang Yan plugged in the charging cable and motioned for Gengar to look.

Seeing that the phone could turn on again, Gengar smiled happily.

"All right, go play."

Fang Yan tugged at the corners of his mouth again, then went into the bathroom to wash up.

Leaving the bedroom, Fang Yan looked at the enormous house and sighed.

He planned to clean the house himself today, then see what other household supplies he needed to buy and how best to arrange the vacant land out back, so he could find a company to renovate it.

There were also the facilities needed for the Pokémon Day Care, Pokémon Egg incubators, and perhaps even Pokémon Eggs to buy.

After all that, he probably wouldn't have much money left in his pockets.

"It's a long, hard road ahead."

Fang Yan shook his head, then went around inspecting the rooms. He decided to turn them all into guest rooms. Perhaps he would make some friends in the future, and they would have somewhere to stay when they visited him.

Then he would arrange the first floor as a place to receive guests and modify the walls a little so he could display some items on them later. He wouldn't change too much, though, keeping it space-saving and attractive.

After walking around like this, Fang Yan had a rough plan. He picked up a broom and began cleaning the rooms.

Yesterday, Machamp and the others had only cleared out some damaged furniture. Fang Yan planned to get rid of some pieces that were still good but currently of no use, too, and he would have to do that himself.

"If only someone could help."

It took Fang Yan quite a while to finish cleaning a single room, and he was already panting with exhaustion.

Looking at the three remaining rooms, Fang Yan shook his head and prepared to get back to work.

Just then, Gengar emerged through the floor.

"Gengar~"

He grinned at Fang Yan, then handed him a few Berries.

Fang Yan took a look. They were ordinary, commonly found Oran Berries; he still had some in his backpack that he hadn't taken out.

"Did you go find these for me?"

Fang Yan accepted the Berries and asked Gengar.

Gengar nodded, then motioned for Fang Yan to hurry up and eat.

Fang Yan looked at Gengar before him, then glanced at his status panel.

[Gengar]

[Type: Ghost, Poison]

[Gender: Male]

[Ability: Cursed Body]

[Known moves: Mean Look, Shadow Punch, Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray, Psychic, Lick, Will-O-Wisp, Hypnosis, Hex, Destiny Bond, Phantom Force.]

[Mood: Happy, cheerful]

[Status: Slightly content, mischievous]

[Friendship: 80 (I really want to play with him)]

[Description: Why didn't he eat this morning? Oh well, I'll go find him something to eat. I really want to play with him. I'll scare him again later.]

Seeing that Gengar had gone to find Berries for him because he hadn't eaten breakfast, Fang Yan felt warmth in his heart.

He wasn't really in the habit of eating breakfast, but he would have to consider it from now on. After all, Gengar was here, too.

But seeing that Gengar still wanted to play tricks on him, Fang Yan took a bite of a Berry and said, "Ah, I really wish I could play with Gengar."

"Gengar!! (*ﾟﾛﾟ)!!"

Seeing Gengar's shocked expression, Fang Yan laughed inwardly, then continued, "Unfortunately, I still have so much work to do."

"Gengar..."

Looking at Gengar, who had hung his head again, he said, "But if Gengar would help me with some work, I could finish sooner and play with Gengar sooner. I just don't know whether Gengar would be willing to help me. Sigh."

Fang Yan lowered his head and sighed.

Hearing Fang Yan's words, Gengar flew over and snatched the broom from his hand.

"Gengar!"

Gengar patted his chest at Fang Yan, indicating that he should leave it to him.

Seeing Gengar's leave-it-to-me manner, a glint of slyness flashed in Fang Yan's eyes, and he began directing Gengar's work.

For heavy objects, Gengar used Psychic to clear them out of the house, then cleaned the rooms and finally went over them with a mop.

Watching Gengar work himself into a frenzy, Fang Yan munched on an Oran Berry and said, "If only Gengar knew Double Team. Then he could make lots of Gengar, and lots of Gengar would get the work done really quickly."

Hearing this, Gengar turned and fixed his scarlet eyes on Fang Yan.

Then Gengar fell into thought.

"Gengar-•᷄ࡇ•᷅"

Seeing Gengar's constipated expression, Fang Yan was just about to comfort him when he noticed another Gengar beside him.

"Poof~"

Another Gengar appeared.

"Poof~"

Yet another Gengar appeared.

Having conjured three duplicates, Gengar wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and fanned himself with his stubby little hands.

Fang Yan watched the scene before him, then glanced at the newly added Double Team on Gengar's status panel.

He even forgot to chew his Oran Berry...

"Is... is that right?"

Fang Yan muttered to himself.

After fanning himself for a while, Gengar looked at the three extra versions of himself around him and floated up happily. Then he directed the three Gengar duplicates to their respective tasks.

Their pace shot up in an instant.

Fang Yan stood nearby offering encouragement, too.

By the end of the morning, almost the entire house had been cleaned. Exhausted, Gengar dismissed his duplicates and sat on the floor, the little tail behind his bottom swaying back and forth.

Fang Yan took out two bottles of Moomoo Milk, walked over to Gengar, and handed them to him.

"Here, drink up."

"Gengar~ (´▽｀)-"

Gengar happily accepted the Moomoo Milk and gulped it all down in one go.

Then Fang Yan directed Gengar to take down the chandelier overhead before taking him out to inspect the vacant land behind the house.

He took out a pen and noted down the things he needed to buy, one by one.

Pushing away the cheek pressing close to him, Fang Yan took out another bottle of Moomoo Milk and handed it to Gengar. Then he took out the stethoscope and hung it around Gengar's neck, letting him play with it for now.

"Let's go, Gengar. We'll get something to eat, then buy some food to bring back. Next time, we can cook for ourselves."

Pushing the stethoscope away from his head, Fang Yan capped his pen and said to Gengar.

"Gengar. (*＾￢＾*)"

Then Gengar followed behind Fang Yan, locked the door, and headed toward Twinleaf Town.

The sounds of their antics continued all along the way.

"Stop listening to my head with the stethoscope! My butt is off-limits, too!"

"Keep that up and I'll take it back!"

"Gengar-"

"No! Let me trade you something else for it."

"Gengar!!!"

"Hey, don't lick me!"