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"Ah~ I'm finally home. These past few days really wore me out…"
David stretched his arms wide, let out a long yawn, and slowly made his way off the plane.
He had fallen asleep almost the moment he boarded, drifting off so quickly that by the time he woke up, the plane had already touched down at Imperial City Airport. Not a single minute wasted.
And truly, not a single moment had gone to waste these past few days. He had spent nearly every waking hour in the Lloyd family's training room with Lucario, practically living there. Kirlia and the little Zorua had been dragged along too, neither of them given much of a choice.
Lucario had split its time between receiving guidance from Mienshao and studying the two hanging scrolls mounted on the wall of the training room. The scrolls were valuable items, no question about it, but among all of David's Pokémon, only Lucario could truly benefit from what was written on them. The rest simply weren't at the right stage yet.
The little Zorua, with nothing better to do, had made itself comfortable in David's arms and served as his personal pillow. Kirlia, true to form, stayed close by, competing for affection and bickering playfully with the Zorua whenever it got the chance.
And Shelgon? Shelgon had enjoyed what could only be described as a perfect few days — eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating, in a perfectly content cycle.
Using the knowledge passed down through his family, David had put together a proper diet plan for Shelgon and called his father to arrange for the supplies to be sent directly from Imperial City. There was simply no other option. The quantities involved were staggering. Even with top-grade Energy Cubes, Shelgon got through at least two full boxes per meal. Under normal circumstances, a single Energy Cube was enough to keep a Pokémon going for a good while. Two boxes per meal was a serious commitment.
It was fortunate that David came from a family with the resources to support it. Anyone else trying to raise a Shelgon at this rate would have gone broke from the food bills alone before ever seeing it evolve.
That was the real difference between serious trainers and casual ones. Raising a Pokémon wasn't anything like keeping a pet. The rapid growth that competitive Pokémon training demanded couldn't be sustained on ordinary food or half-hearted effort. Ordinary families might raise a Pokémon to level twenty or thirty over many, many years of slow, patient grinding. Top-tier new trainers like David, on the other hand, had already brought freshly caught Pokémon to level thirty or above in under half a year. Even average students at a proper academy were hovering around level twenty with their partners. And in terms of raw battle power, there was simply no comparison — amateur-raised Pokémon couldn't come close to what a dedicated trainer's team could do.
Not long after leaving the terminal, David stepped outside the airport to find a luxury car bearing the Ascending Dragon emblem already waiting at the curb. Before he had even fully registered it, a purple-black arm reached out from the driver's window and waved at him.
"Long time no see, Indeedee! Thanks for picking me up."
David walked over with a smile and waved back. The figure in the driver's seat was Indeedee — the family's head maid, and one of the most reliable members of the household. He could recognize her even among others of the same species. There were subtle differences between individual Pokémon if you knew what to look for, but the most telling sign was Indeedee's level, which was well above fifty. That wasn't something an ordinary household Pokémon achieved easily. In fact, even in the Moore household, only their two Indeedee — the butler and the head maid — had reached that level.
Having received word that David was arriving today, Indeedee had come early and was ready to take him home.
Indeedee gave him a warm smile in return. A gentle wave of Psychic energy lifted David's shoulder bag from him and settled it neatly onto the back seat of the car.
It's been a while for you too, Young Master David.
Her voice arrived directly in his mind, clear and familiar. Telepathy came naturally to Psychic-type Pokémon, and Indeedee had been using it around the family for as long as David could remember.
He nodded and climbed into the passenger seat. Indeedee started the car. It was just past two o'clock in the afternoon.
The airport wasn't far from the Moore residence — under an hour and a half by car — and before long, David was stepping through the front door.
"Mom? Aria? Dad!"
"I'm home!"
He called out as he came in, but the house was quiet. No response came.
"Huh? Nobody's home?"
David looked around the empty living room, puzzled. Indeedee floated in behind him, levitating his luggage with Psychic energy, and gently offered an explanation.
David listened, then nodded slowly. "Ah… so Mom took Aria out this morning to pick up groceries for tonight's New Year's Eve dinner, and Dad is still at the League office…"
That made sense. His mother had always insisted on cooking New Year's Eve dinner herself, even now, in a world full of conveniences. She always said it wouldn't feel like the New Year otherwise. And his father — well, the Ascending Dragon Gym didn't run itself. As both the Gym Leader and a League official, the period right before the New Year holiday was always his busiest stretch. If he didn't clear his workload before New Year's Eve, the holiday itself would be no peace at all. Most years, getting home by early evening on New Year's Eve was the best anyone could hope for.
Still, David couldn't help but feel a small wave of exasperation. He'd rushed all the way back, and he was the only one here.
That's right. You are the only one home at the moment.
Indeedee's telepathic voice carried the faintest note of amusement.
"Alright, Indeedee, don't worry about the luggage — I'll take it up myself later. You go ahead and get ready for tonight."
Of course. Please call if you need anything.
Indeedee set the bags down carefully and quietly excused herself. New Year's Eve meant a long list of things to prepare around the house.
Left alone, David picked up his bag and headed upstairs. He settled onto his bed, rummaged through his bag, and pulled out one of the notebooks he had copied from his grandfather's library. It was a study on Aura power — detailed, dense, and exactly the kind of thing he had been wanting more time to sit with.
He hadn't been able to get through everything in the library during his stay. A few days simply wasn't enough. So he had copied as many of the texts as he could and brought them back with him. His bag had been stuffed with them. It was a good thing that spatial bags existed in this world — otherwise that much paper would have filled a large storage crate on its own.
He opened the notebook and settled in.
Time passed without him noticing. The afternoon light shifted, the sun dipped toward the horizon, and somewhere around five or six o'clock, he heard the front door open downstairs.
"David~! You're back?"
That was Aria's voice. David put the notebook down and headed downstairs.
"Aria — Mom — I got back at two in the afternoon! Didn't you ask Indeedee to pick me up?"
His mother looked at him with a sharp eye and then reached over and pinched his ear before he could dodge it.
"You little troublemaker. I told you to be home before New Year's Eve, and you showed up on the very last day. Were you really at your grandfather's the whole time, or were you off wandering around?"
"Ow — Mom, easy! I was at Grandpa's place the whole time, I wasn't getting into any trouble—"
"Really? Because I heard you spent three or four days in Efo Province before you even got to your grandfather's house!"
She wasn't wrong. David opened his mouth to argue and then thought better of it.
"And stop pretending it hurts, I barely touched you."
She let go of his ear, but her expression had softened into something close to amusement. Beside her, Aria was already laughing quietly. Gardevoir, standing nearby with the grocery bags still hovering in a gentle Psychic field, gave a small, dignified smile of its own.
"Alright, you two go relax. Gardevoir, come help me in the kitchen."
"Gardevoir~"
Gardevoir nodded and turned toward the kitchen, guiding the bags along with it.
"Wait — Mom, I'll cook tonight."
David stepped forward before she could disappear through the doorway.
His mother turned and looked at him. Aria blinked.
David cooking was not something that happened in the Moore household. Not ever. When he lived alone, even his breakfast was prepared in advance by Indeedee. The kitchen was not his natural territory.
"You'll cook?"
"Come on, trust me! Have I ever let you down?"
He steered his mother and sister gently toward the living room before either of them could raise more objections, then walked into the kitchen himself and took stock of what had been bought.
Out in the living room, the two exchanged a glance.
"…Can he actually do it?"
"He said he can, so let's give him a chance."
And so, while his mother and sister waited in the living room with varying degrees of confidence, David rolled up his sleeves and got to work.