Lu Chen scratched his head awkwardly and gave a dry laugh.
"It's fine. That house was about to collapse anyway, so don't worry about it. The house I'll be living in will be ready in no time."
"In no time?" Delia tilted her head in confusion.
Lu Chen offered no further explanation. Instead, he turned toward Lapras and patted its head.
"Lapras, use Secret Power."
Lapras nodded, and a soft glow began to shine around its body.
Although the move wasn't very powerful, it had a special effect: it could create a room to live in out in the wild.
Under Lapras's power, the light kept gathering and taking shape. As though alive, dirt and stones stacked themselves together, reinforced one another, and formed into shape.
Before long, a reasonably well-crafted earthen house stood on the spot.
It wasn't luxurious, but compared to the old, dilapidated wooden house, it was leagues better.
At the sight, Delia and the Mr. Mime beside her widened their eyes in surprise.
"That's amazing..." Delia couldn't help murmuring.
After entering the room, Lu Chen snapped his fingers.
Snap!
Gengar then emerged from Lu Chen's shadow, opening its wide mouth in its signature wicked grin.
Gengar opened its mouth wide, then spent quite a while rummaging around inside its belly as though it were a four-dimensional pocket.
A bed, a table, chairs, pots, bowls, and pans...
It pulled the furnishings out of its mouth one by one and arranged them neatly inside the earthen house.
Delia was stunned once again. Pointing at Gengar's wide-open mouth, she asked:
"Is this Pokémon's belly really that big?"
Lu Chen explained with a smile:
"It's not actually that big. This is my Gengar's special ability. It can connect to a small pocket of another dimension and use it to store things."
"Taking everything out through its mouth is just this fellow's twisted sense of fun."
"Hee hee hee hee-"
Gengar gave a few more strange laughs and made a face at Delia, then shrank back down and slipped into Lu Chen's shadow again.
Looking at Lu Chen, who had built a little house in just a few minutes, and the clearly unusual Pokémon around him, Delia asked curiously:
"Mr. Lu Chen, what kind of work did you do before?"
"Well..." Lu Chen hesitated before answering.
"I used to be a Trainer who traveled around having adventures."
"But I don't really like living without a fixed home, either, so for now, I plan to settle in Pallet Town. I'll probably start a farm in the future."
"A traveling Trainer? You really are impressive, Mr. Lu Chen."
Delia sighed, her voice carrying a tender note of helplessness.
"Unlike that hopeless child of mine. He took weeks just to get from Viridian Forest to Viridian City. I was worried sick."
Hearing her words, Lu Chen merely smiled without saying anything more.
But inwardly, he recalled that name.
Ash, the protagonist of the Pokémon anime world...
Still, it had been over a decade since Lu Chen had last watched the Pokémon anime, and he couldn't remember the exact plot very clearly.
He only remembered that Ash's partner was a Pikachu.
Then Delia suddenly remembered something and clapped her hands.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Lu Chen. I've still got laundry washing at home, so I need to head back."
With that, she went home with the Mr. Mime that had been trembling the entire time.
Meanwhile, Lu Chen looked at the apple pie before him, fragrant with apples and butter, and couldn't help swallowing.
He took out a somewhat crude iron knife, cut into the apple pie, and tasted a bite.
He was instantly blown away.
This apple pie was far beyond merely delicious.
The crisp crust crumbled between his teeth. The apple filling inside was still slightly warm, its sweet-tart flavor mingling with the aroma of butter and cinnamon as it blossomed in his mouth.
For Lu Chen, who had spent over a decade eating dry rations and roasted wild game on an ancient battlefield, its impact rivaled the descent of a Legendary Pokémon.
"This is absolutely delicious."
Lu Chen looked at Aerodactyl and pushed the plate toward it.
"Want to come try some?"
Aerodactyl raised its head haughtily.
As an overlord of the skies, Aerodactyl only liked bloody flesh. It had no interest in human food.
It snorted and turned its head away.
Seeing Lu Chen's reaction, Gengar emerged from his shadow and stared longingly at the apple pie on the plate.
Lu Chen broke off a piece for it.
After one bite, a look of shock instantly appeared on Gengar's perpetually grinning face.
Without another word, it reached out with both stubby hands to grab a second piece.
Lapras came over next and gently nudged Lu Chen's arm with its nose.
Lu Chen broke off a piece and offered it to Lapras.
Lapras swallowed it in one bite, and its eyes immediately lit up.
Then came Gouging Fire.
As a Legendary Pokémon, it had originally had no interest in human food.
But seeing Gengar and Lapras acting as though they'd never experienced anything like this piqued Gouging Fire's curiosity.
It lowered its head, picked up a small piece with the tip of a tooth, and tasted it.
Then.
With a whoosh, the flames on Gouging Fire's tail shot a little higher.
It silently extended its head toward him again.
Finally, even the disdainful Aerodactyl began to waver.
It glanced over out of the corner of its eye. Seeing that nearly all the apple pie had been divided up, its throat bobbed involuntarily.
But when it finally swallowed its pride and slowly edged over to try a bite, it discovered...
The plate was already empty.
Lu Chen looked at Gengar and scolded it irritably:
"You ate more than half of it yourself! Are you Zhu Bajie? Don't you know how to slow down?"
Beside him, Gouging Fire and Lapras nodded along, expressing their strong disapproval.
By then, Gengar had already slipped back into Lu Chen's shadow. There wasn't a trace of distress at being scolded on its face, only the satisfaction of having enjoyed more than half an apple pie all to itself.
Seeing their reactions, Aerodactyl was filled with regret.
Why didn't I try some earlier?
Just then, Aerodactyl suddenly spotted a small crumb of apple pie on the ground.
It hesitated for a moment, then glanced furtively from side to side, making sure no one was paying attention.
Then it lowered its head.
And swallowed the crumb of apple pie in one bite.
The crisp crust, the sweet-tart apple filling, the rich aroma of butter...
A shocked expression appeared on Aerodactyl's face.
This apple pie really was delicious!
Just as Aerodactyl was regretting not joining them earlier, it raised its head and met Lu Chen's teasing gaze.
Aerodactyl was his starter Pokémon. How could Lu Chen not know what was going through its mind?
Seeing Aerodactyl's old face flush red, Lu Chen chuckled and teased:
"Well? Tastes pretty good, doesn't it?"
At that moment, even the battle-hardened Aerodactyl couldn't keep its composure.
It gave a fierce beat of its wings, whipping up a gale as it fled into the sky.
Aerodactyl declared that it was heading out on patrol to keep watch!
Watching Aerodactyl beat a hasty retreat, Lu Chen smiled.
This fellow could actually get embarrassed.
Perhaps this was a good beginning for Aerodactyl.
Leaving the battlefield behind and learning to live again was never something that could happen in a day or two.
Watching Aerodactyl flee in embarrassment, Lu Chen said with a smile:
"All right, there's no need to patrol. I'm planning to visit a nearby city next, and I'll need you for that."