On the journey back to Jubilife City, Wayne first reported his successful advancement to the Top 16 to his grandfather, while Gold was already enthusiastically bragging in their group chat.
Gold typed furiously on his phone. "Making the Top 16? Isn't that incredibly easy?"
Whitney responded disdainfully through a voice message. "Only Top 16? Come back and brag after you've actually won the Champion title!"
Blue added his own comment. "I sincerely hope I can still see that confident face of yours when we reach the Top 8 round."
Lorelei chimed in with surprise. "Speaking of which, I'm genuinely shocked you agreed to serve as a judge for this competition."
Blue sighed audibly. "Research costs substantial money. Mr. Harrod provides a considerable amount of annual sponsorship funding to Professor Oak's Laboratory every year."
Lorelei instantly understood the situation.
There was no real choice when someone offered that much financial support.
Yellow also appeared in the chat.
"How about Mr. Wayne? Did he successfully pass to the next round?"
Wayne happened to see the message at that exact moment.
"Yes, I passed easily. I actually placed first in both rounds."
"That's so amazing!"
Lt. Surge caught the most important detail immediately. "Hold on—you placed first in both rounds? So then, what about Gold's placement?"
Before Wayne could type his response, Gold quickly jumped in with a voice message. "I placed second in both rounds!"
Lt. Surge replied with obvious amusement. "As expected of you, Gold—the eternal Second Place King!"
Technically speaking, Gold actually hadn't lied outright.
It was simply that one round he had placed second overall, while the other round he had placed second from the bottom.
Second to last was still technically second place, wasn't it?
Watching this scene unfold, Wayne sneered inwardly. 'Keep bragging all you want, Gold. You'll be completely exposed when the show airs on television.'
Gold thought happily to himself. "I just need to get through this current round successfully. As long as I somehow win the Champion title in the end, absolutely no one will care if I placed second to last in the Top 16 qualifying round."
Flying on their Pokémon while simultaneously chatting, the two young Trainers returned to the Jubilife Breeding Center in what seemed like mere moments.
The Breeding Center maintained a relatively quiet atmosphere at 7:30 PM, though customers and staff members could still be seen strolling casually under the warm streetlights.
Wayne gestured expansively. "From this point here all the way to that building over there, and then extending further back toward the west gate—it's all owned by my family."
Gold's eyes widened with genuine astonishment.
"I've only seen this place in your videos before! I genuinely didn't expect your family's Breeding Center to be this incredibly large!"
The Breeding House where Gold occasionally worked was a modest, small-scale operation run primarily by his grandparents.
Their facility only accepted basic services like move tutoring and temporary foster care breeding.
This stood in stark contrast to Wayne's family business, where even specialized services like fur management, essential oil treatments, and complete styling design fell within their comprehensive scope of work.
"Little Boss, welcome back."
"Hey there, Brother Wayne."
Not only the Breeding Center staff members, but even regular customers were already quite familiar with Wayne by now.
A tall, elegant woman around thirty years old, holding her well-groomed Furfrou, smiled warmly. "Wayne, did you advance successfully in the competition?"
"Of course I advanced, Sister Juliette. No problems at all."
Sister Juliette was a wealthy woman who lived in the nearby residential area.
Many of the houses in the surrounding neighborhood actually belonged to her property portfolio, and she frequently brought her beloved Furfrou for professional styling services.
Moreover, she always specifically chose the two most expensive service providers available: Wayne for Furfrou's grooming care, and his uncle for the styling design work.
"Well then, I'll head back home first. Congratulations on your success!"
Wayne had already informed his parents not to wait up for him in the evening, so everyone else in the family had already finished their dinner.
Wayne joked casually. "Since you're here anyway, how about helping me look after the Pokémon for a bit?"
Gold looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Please have some humanity! I haven't eaten anything yet, and I'm supposed to be your guest!"
Wayne genuinely hadn't expected Gold to react quite so strongly to the joke.
"I was just kidding around. My family stops accepting business at five o'clock sharp. There aren't any customers requiring service at this late hour."
Wayne released several Luxury Balls simultaneously. "Everyone, please rest for now. I'll prepare your dinner right away."
His Milotic, Metagross, Lucario, Arcanine, and Dragapult dispersed to their preferred resting spots throughout the facility.
Seeing this, Gold also released his own team—Typhlosion, Togekiss, Ambipom, and Politoed.
Gold had only brought these four Pokémon with him. The rest of his team remained back home since he was only here specifically for the competition duration.
"I'll take care of Explosion Taro and the others' food preparation too. You don't need to worry about them at all."
"Awooo!" Typhlosion cried out happily.
"Togekiss!" his Flying-type called cheerfully.
"Croak!" Politoed agreed enthusiastically.
"Chirp!" Ambipom added its own voice.
Gold's Pokémon had all met Wayne during previous visits, so Gold didn't need to waste time with formal introductions.
Gold rubbed his already audibly rumbling stomach with obvious discomfort.
"I'm genuinely starving right now."
"Don't worry, you won't starve to death. I'll make something good for you."
Wayne's grandfather had already retired to his room to rest for the evening.
Wayne prided himself on being a dutiful grandson. He couldn't possibly ask his elderly grandfather to specially prepare a late meal, so Wayne would have to cook the food himself.
"Let's go then! I'm ready!"
Wayne first sent a quick message to Leon. "Made it home safely. Heading to the cafeteria now to make something to eat."
Then he led Gold toward the facility's cafeteria area.
Looking at the remarkably spacious cafeteria where someone could practically run laps, Gold stood stunned in the doorway. "Even your cafeteria is this incredibly large?!"
"This entire space was left behind by the Breeding Center's previous owner. It originally operated as a public cafeteria, but that business eventually went under and closed down."
After Wayne's family successfully acquired and took over the Breeding Center property, this cafeteria space was included in the transaction.
Currently, the facility served only as a staff cafeteria for employees. If the family ever decided to open a proper Pokémon-themed restaurant in the future, the space would definitely need significant renovation work.
At 7:30 PM, only two middle-aged women remained in the cafeteria, diligently washing the evening's dishes.
"Wayne's back home! This must be your friend visiting. Should I prepare something for you two young men to eat?"
"This is Gold, my friend from the competition. I'll make the food myself tonight. You two can leave after you finish washing up. I'll handle cleaning up the rest myself later."
Gold also greeted them politely under Wayne's introduction. "Hello, Auntie Fengdai and Auntie Kuishi. It's nice to meet you."
Gold was young with a bright, sunny smile—exactly the type that the two aunties particularly appreciated.
"Do you have a girlfriend yet, young man?"
"Would you like me to introduce someone nice to you?"
Wayne immediately covered Gold's mouth with his hand before he could respond.
"No need for that! He's perfectly fine as he is!"
Wayne could accept being single himself, but Gold absolutely couldn't be allowed to get a girlfriend.
It followed the same principle as not being able to drive a luxury car with a close male friend—the balance of their friendship would shift.
Auntie Fengdai and Auntie Kuishi looked slightly disappointed but accepted Wayne's firm refusal.
Speaking of meals, Leon never shortchanged himself when it came to food quality. He would never settle for eating what others prepared if he possessed the ability to cook it himself.
Of course, the only exceptions were dishes prepared by his grandfather and Wayne.
If anyone's cooking skills could genuinely earn Leon's approval and high praise, they would naturally earn a permanent spot on his trusted list.
The two cafeteria aunties only handled dishwashing and general tidying duties. While they were enthusiastic and kind-hearted, their cooking abilities remained at a basic home-cooking level.
Moreover, Wayne wanted to personally host Gold properly as his guest.
As a sincere thank-you for Gold recently promoting Wayne's family business, Wayne naturally couldn't delegate the cooking to the cafeteria aunties.
Wayne glanced at the large refrigerator, which was fully stocked with fresh ingredients.
Even if it had been empty, it wouldn't have mattered much. The cafeteria also maintained a well-supplied walk-in freezer.
"Can you handle eating spicy food?"
Gold confidently patted his chest. "No problem whatsoever! Bring it on!"
"Perfect. Then I'll prepare Mapo Tofu, Spicy Diced Chicken, Chopped Pepper Fish Head, and Boiled Beef in Chili Oil for you. There's also chilled Smoked Sitrus Berry Juice in the refrigerator, so I won't bother making soup tonight."
"Slurp~"
Just listening to Wayne systematically list the planned dishes, Gold unconsciously swallowed his accumulating saliva.
However, before Wayne could begin cooking the human meal, he needed to prepare proper food for all the Pokémon first.
Specifically, he needed to create a special nutritional meal for his Drakloak. The three precious Dragon Scales he had obtained from Rayquaza were meant to be consumed gradually over three consecutive days.
The two item lottery tickets Wayne had received as rewards from treating Rayquaza had yielded a Durin Berry and a Soothe Bell.
The Soothe Bell's effect was straightforward: when held by a Pokémon, it significantly increased the Pokémon's friendship and intimacy with its Trainer over time.
The Durin Berry, while having no direct effect on improving battle abilities, could enhance a Pokémon's physical appearance and make it more handsome—primarily useful for participating in Pokémon Contests.
Wayne decided to give the Soothe Bell to Shaymin as a thoughtful thank-you gift for the Miracle Seed that Shaymin had generously given him earlier.
Since Shaymin particularly enjoyed playing hide-and-seek games, wearing the constantly jingling Soothe Bell made the game sound somewhat like a foreboding death knell announcing its location...
Gold casually turned on the cafeteria's television and settled in to watch a recorded battle between Steven and a Pewter City Gym challenger.