The next morning.
Swellow flew from the depths of the forest to Carver's breeding house as usual.
Over these days, it had spent eighty percent of its time freeloading food at this small breeding house to fill its stomach.
From far away, Swellow could see that building standing at the forest's edge.
And Carver standing in front of the door, seemingly waiting for its arrival.
Carver was holding a plate of Pokéblocks in his hands.
The white porcelain plate contained a full serving of crystal-clear cubes that looked very eye-catching just from appearance. Recalling the taste of those small cubes in its mind, Swellow's mouth began unconsciously secreting saliva.
It could hardly wait to start enjoying this delicacy!
"Swellow!"
Swellow landed on the ground. After evolving, its size had grown from 0.3 meters to nearly one meter, almost as big as Growlithe.
Correspondingly, its appetite had also increased considerably.
Carver had anticipated this, so today's prepared Pokéblocks were much more than before.
Swellow greeted Carver, then began lowering its head to enjoy the delicious food.
It ate heartily with a pleased expression, completely absorbed in eating.
Carver patiently stood nearby waiting until Swellow had eaten all the Pokéblocks clean and looked up satisfied, then he produced an apple pie.
"Swellow, this is new food I've developed. Would you like to try it?" Carver asked with a smile.
Hearing this, Swellow looked up.
The next second, it saw a very familiar food in this human's hands and smelled that familiar aroma wafting from it.
"Swellow?"
Seeing this apple pie, Swellow instantly remembered something.
Wasn't this the food that Pokémon liked to eat? it thought.
When it was still a Taillow, it had lived in the cold north. To escape the cold, it had specifically migrated south, freeloading food all the way to near Autumn Leaf Town.
Back then, it had encountered those two Pokémon. While it was freeloading at people's places, those two Pokémon were also secretly eating other people's apple pies.
However, they were very cautious, not letting others discover them, and flew away directly after eating the apple pies.
The apple pie Carver made looked quite delicious too.
Carver was also particularly nice, not only letting it freeload every day for free, but also specially developing more delicious food for it.
Swellow felt that if those two Pokémon came to freeload, Carver would definitely prepare delicious apple pies for them like this too.
This way, they wouldn't need to sneak around anymore. If they were discovered by humans someday, they might get scolded and chased away, which wouldn't be good.
Next time it encountered them, it would invite them to come eat here! Swellow thought.
After finishing the Pokéblocks, Swellow said goodbye to Carver, turned around and flew into the sky to take a stroll.
Carver stared blankly at Swellow's departing figure.
He couldn't help thinking: Was that it?
Would Swellow really invite the Latias and Latios siblings to come to the breeding house?
As far as he knew, through the gifts provided by his ability, whether intelligence or moves, the Pokémon were unaware of them—they were gifts formed purely from their grateful hearts and joyful moods.
From this, it could be inferred that from Swellow's perspective, it didn't know that Carver already knew about Latias and Latios's intelligence.
Understanding this point, Carver couldn't help but doubt the information provided by that intelligence. Just now Swellow hadn't shown any particular behavior—could it really call those siblings over?
Carver didn't know.
All he could do now was wait.
Carver returned to the breeding house and began a new day of business.
Early in the morning, the breeding house was already bustling.
Castform using Rain Dance for watering, Oddish and Bulbasaur cooperating to tend crops, Growlithe running training in the backyard, Clefairy playing on the grass, and little Gastly secretly poking its head out from under the counter, deliberately startling Carver.
"Gastly!"
Gastly made scary faces.
Carver: "..."
Carver didn't feel afraid because he knew this was Gastly's way of playing with people.
Just as Carver was about to say something, Chingling's sound came from outside the door.
A young man carrying a backpack walked in from outside.
A customer had arrived!
"Alright, Gastly, wait for me a moment. I'll play with you later, okay?" Carver said.
"Gastly..." Gastly looked at the customer, then at Carver, then happily agreed: "Gastly~!"
"Hello, what services do you need?" Carver politely greeted this customer.
The young man looked around the breeding house's arrangement, his gaze falling on the sign hanging on the wall behind the counter.
It read:
[Breeding House Main Services]
[1. Pokémon Boarding]
[2. Currently Available Move Tutoring: Baby-Doll Eyes, Tackle, Sleep Powder, Swords Dance, Protect, Toxic, Odor Sleuth, Vine Whip...]
[3. Breeding: Board two Pokémon of the same egg group but different genders simultaneously at the breeding house to cultivate superior offspring through egg production.]
[4. Rare Item Trading: Evolution Stones, Big Root.]
[5. Buying in Large Quantities: Moon Stones!]
[6. Food and Lodging.]
There was another sign beside it.
[Bewear Inn]
[5000 League Dollars/night]
[Bewear Restaurant Currently Offers: Ramen 800/bowl, Porridge 300/bowl, Berry Juice 100/cup, Sandwich 500/serving, Pokémon Treats 500/serving, Fresh Milk 600/cup, Fried Rice 900/bowl, Apple Pie 800 League Dollars/serving]
Carver wasn't in a hurry and patiently waited for this customer to browse the "menu."
After a while, the young man finally looked up and asked: "Boss, can you help breed Pokémon and arrange battle tactics here?"
"Arrange battle tactics?" Carver was stunned.
"That's right, help think about what move combinations Pokémon can use in battle!" the young man nodded quickly.
His brain was slow, and he relied entirely on offensive moves for battles. This fighting style had cost him many times and made other trainers mock him as a reckless fool.
So he wanted to try changing his battle style—maybe this way he and his Pokémon could go further on this path!
"The breeding house doesn't offer this service," Carver replied somewhat regretfully. This work should originally be arranged by the trainer themselves.
"Huh? You don't?" The young man immediately looked completely disappointed.
Seeing his expression, Carver thought carefully.
In fact, as someone from another world, he did know quite a few battle tactics.
Like weather teams, Tailwind systems, Trick Room systems, Perish Song tactics, and even many dirty strategies.
But these didn't seem to fit the breeding house's mainstream business—in other words, they weren't part of his job description.
However, seeing the young man's disappointed look, Carver couldn't help asking: "Can I ask why you want others to help arrange tactics?"
"Because I don't really understand these things!" the young man scratched his head, explaining the reason: "My Pokémon and I only rely on offensive moves in battles. Others always say we're reckless fools, but we really don't know how—so I wanted to learn a bit. Maybe this way my Pokémon and I can go further on this path!"
Carver was slightly surprised.
A reckless fighting style without considering team composition and tactics?
That indeed wouldn't go far.
Looking at the young man, Carver pondered for a moment and said: "Let me see your Pokémon first!"
Seeing an opportunity, the young man's face lit up as he quickly pulled out a Poké Ball.
White light flashed, and a Pokémon with huge black bat wings on its back appeared before Carver.
This was... Gliscor?
[Pokémon: Gliscor]
[Type: Ground/Flying]
[Gender: Male]
[Ability: Poison Heal]
[Moves: Sand Attack, Harden, Poison Jab, Fire Fang, Cross Poison, Substitute]
[Status: Healthy]
[Mood: Disappointed, Sad]
[Joy Level: -20]
[Friendship: 0 (You don't know each other)]
[Description: If only it could defeat opponents to help its trainer. —Gliscor]
Looking at the small dark cloud above Gliscor's head, Carver momentarily didn't know what to say.
From the moves it knew, this Gliscor seemed to have evolved somewhat early, so it hadn't learned moves it should have mastered during its Gligar stage.
How should tactics be arranged for such a Pokémon?
Carver observed all the moves in its move list, as well as its ability.
A possibility quickly surfaced in his mind.
Substitute + Protect + Toxic!
This Gliscor had already learned Substitute, and the breeding house happened to be able to teach Protect and Toxic. Combined with its ability[Poison Heal]—
Almost perfectly matched.