After dinner, everyone chatted for a while before the Pokémon began to leave one by one.
However, Ange specifically asked the Scovillain couple and their three Capsakid, the Victreebel couple and their one Victreebel and two Weepinbell, and finally the Floette to stay behind.
Just as everyone wondered what Ange wanted to do with them, he took out the Evolution Stones he had received from the Flygon and the Krookodile.
The moment they saw the Evolution Stones, the Pokémon immediately realized what was happening, so they all looked at Ange with anticipation.
Ange said with a smile, "I got some Evolution Stones while I was out this time, so I brought them back for you.
The three red Fire Stones are for the Capsakid.
The two green Leaf Stones are for the Weepinbell.
And the only Dawn Stone is for the Floette."
Upon hearing this, the Pokémon let out excited cheers and could not wait to take their respective Evolution Stones in their hands.
The moment they touched the stones, a blue-and-white light of evolution erupted from them, wrapping them up completely.
The scene of six Pokémon evolving at the same time was quite spectacular; the bright light of evolution almost dispelled the night.
The two Weepinbell were the first to complete their evolution. As the light faded from their bodies, the family of five finally finished their final evolution.
The two newly evolved Victreebel were slightly smaller than the other three.
However, because they were well-fed and had sufficient nutrients, the family of five was larger than the average Victreebel.
An average Victreebel stands about 1.7 meters tall, but in this family of five, the parents were over 2 meters tall, and the three children were 1.9 meters, 1.8 meters, and 1.8 meters tall, respectively.
Next were the three Capsakid. After the evolution ended, they became as tall as their parents, so they jumped up and down with excitement.
Florges was the last to complete its evolution.
In the light, the Floette's body grew taller. In the blink of an eye, it went from being the size of an adult's arm to being only half a head shorter than Ange.
When the light of evolution faded, a new Pokémon, different from the Floette, appeared before everyone.
It had a slender, emerald-green body, resembling the stems and leaves of a plant.
Its snow-white arms and head made it as elegant and beautiful as a human woman.
It also had a ring of flowers around its neck, with flower spikes hanging down, making it look even more intelligent and elegant.
This was the evolution of Floette, the Garden Pokémon—Florges.
From Flabébé to Floette and finally to Florges, they come in five different colors based on the flowers they hold: red, orange, blue, white, and yellow.
Ange's Pokémon was the most vibrant red Florges.
Ange expressed his congratulations to all six Pokémon at the same time.
"Everyone, congratulations on your evolution."
The Pokémon stepped forward to surround Ange, expressing their gratitude to him.
Without Ange, it would not have been so easy for them to evolve; Evolution Stones were not easy to find in the wild.
Ange said, "You work hard every day helping me manage the orchard and providing seasonings. You've worked hard, and what I've done is just a trivial matter."
Hearing this, the Pokémon were even more moved, so they could not help but hug Ange.
Fortunately, the Victreebel only hugged Ange with their leaf-like hands, not like the one belonging to a certain Team Rocket member, who would directly shove its trainer into its mouth.
After some "rubbing of ears and temples" with Ange, the Pokémon went back to rest.
After watching the Pokémon leave, Ange intended to go inside, but as he turned around, he saw Xerneas standing not far away.
Ange asked curiously, "Xerneas, aren't you going back to rest?"
Xerneas replied, "I'll go back in a while."
Then it asked, "I heard you found Latias and Latios, who were turned into stone by Yveltal."
Ange said in surprise, "You already know?"
Xerneas nodded, "I heard it from Eevee and the others."
"Then why are you here?" Ange asked, puzzled.
Xerneas said, "I can help Latias and Latios recover."
Xerneas can restore any life petrified by Yveltal by granting them life.
Ange asked, "Will frequently sharing your life cause any adverse effects on you?"
Xerneas had already shared its life with Baltoy once before.
"Don't worry, it won't," Xerneas said with a hint of a smile in its voice. "If there really were any effects, would I have waited until today?"
"That's good." Ange let out a sigh of relief, then thought, well, that's true.
No matter how many times Yveltal has caused great disasters, Xerneas has shared its life just as many times, and each time the amount of life shared was much greater than now.
This had continued for countless years.
The price Xerneas paid for sharing excessive life was to turn into a great tree and sleep, and there seemed to be no other effects.
Now, with the special food Ange made to replenish a large amount of life force every day, Xerneas's vitality was so full it was almost overflowing, thus eliminating the only side effect of sharing life.
"Then I'll leave it to you when the time comes," Ange thought and said. "It's hard to say whether those two stone statues are really Latias and Latios, after all, even Yveltal doesn't remember."
Xerneas nodded and said, "Then we'll wait until the stone gate opens and Yveltal confirms it."
"Yeah, we'll see then."
After reaching a consensus, the human and the Pokémon chatted for a while before parting ways.
After returning to the house, Ange spent some time relaxing with his Pokémon, then went to the Culinary Training Room to practice with them, and finally said goodnight to everyone before going back to his room to sleep.
Outside Ange's door.
Munchlax wore a nightcap and sprinted over clutching a pillow; it wanted to sleep with its master tonight.
But just as it reached the door, it saw Pawmot also running over with a pillow.
Munchlax: ...
Pawmot: ...
The two Pokémon stared at each other in silence for a while, then knocked on Ange's door at the same time.
Ange had just finished washing up and crawled into the covers when he heard the door. He quickly got out of bed to open it, only to see Munchlax and Pawmot staring at him expectantly with their pillows.
"Munch~ Munch~" Master, can I sleep with you tonight?
Munchlax asked, full of anticipation; it had been a long time since it had slept with its master.
"Of course you can!" Ange readily agreed, or rather, he couldn't have asked for more.
He then looked at Pawmot, "You want to come too?"
"Paw~ Paw~" Pawmot nodded repeatedly.
Ange patted its head and said, "Alright then, I'll experience the feeling of being surrounded by you two tonight."
"Munch~"
"Paw~"
When the two Pokémon heard this, they immediately smiled and crowded into the room with Ange.
After Ange got into bed, he patted the spot next to him and said to the two Pokémon:
"Come on, it's getting late, let's go to sleep!"
"Munch~"
"Paw~"
The two Pokémon climbed into bed impatiently and lay down on Ange's left and right inside the blanket.
Ange's bed was big enough that it didn't feel crowded with him and the two Pokémon.
After the two Pokémon were settled, Ange reached out to turn off the light and crawled under the covers.
Because of the two Pokémon, the bed warmed up in no time.
No, actually, it was a bit too hot.
"Munch~~"
Sensing Munchlax snuggling closer to him, Ange said, "Go to sleep."
Soon the room was quiet, and even the Doublade hanging on the wall was asleep.
Only Baltoy was floating by the window, awake.
Moonlight spilled through the window into the room, dyeing it a silver white. Using this light, Baltoy silently watched Ange, Munchlax, and Pawmot sleeping soundly on the bed.
It had followed Ange around the Nebel Plateau for half a day, seeing all the Pokémon on the plateau and witnessing how much all the Pokémon loved this human.
Including the two powerful deities.
It didn't understand, it didn't understand at all.
What's so good about humans? Why does everyone like humans?
The original body is like this! The Pokémon here are also like this.
Just after it broke free from the Prison Bottle, it had briefly merged with the original body, and thus it caught a glimpse of part of its memories.
It saw the original body being taught for the past hundred years by a human named Gulis (the great-grandfather of Meray and Baraz).
That human took it to experience nature and comprehend power.
It also saw the time the original body spent with Meray and Baraz.
They were mischievous together in the Valley of Creation, did homework together, laughed out loud together, cried from grievances together, and even ran away from home together...
The original body often wore a smile that it could not understand.
What was the meaning of these times?
Taking its eyes off Ange and the others, Baltoy turned and looked out the window.
The night on the Nebel Plateau was silent, with only the occasional Murkrow flashing by.
Apart from this, a Lunatone was also taking advantage of the night to hover in the sky, absorbing moonlight to increase its power.
Baltoy did not sleep, quietly hovering in front of the window and meditating all night.
Early the next morning, Ange got up and planned to pack his things, then go to the Royal Capital to work with Doublade and Inteleon.
However, Inteleon told Ange to rest at home; it and Lucario were enough to handle the shop.
Ever since they had Lucario as a sous-chef, Inteleon felt that its work efficiency had greatly improved, and its master could definitely enjoy life at home.
Ange was very moved after hearing this.
"That's great, I finally get to enjoy the favor of my disciple. I didn't teach you in vain!"
With that, he gave Inteleon a big hug.
However, Ange still said, "I'm very happy that you have this intention, but since I'm at home, there's no need to put all the burden of the shop on you. It would make me feel too guilty."
"Inteleon~" Inteleon nodded embarrassedly when it heard this.
It just wanted to make things easier for its master.
"What a filial child," Ange said, patting Inteleon on the shoulder.
Then, the master and disciple took Doublade, Lucario, the two Meowstic, and Ralts to Munchlax Home.
Ange brought Baltoy along as well.
As soon as they arrived at the shop, everyone got busy.
The two Meowstic took Ralts to clean up, while Ange and Inteleon, along with Doublade and Lucario, busied themselves with steaming buns and boiling porridge.
Sure enough, with Doublade and Lucario as sous-chefs, the workload for the master and disciple was greatly reduced, and they didn't have to be as busy as before. They even had spare time to chat while working.
For a time, the relaxed and happy sound of Ange and his Pokémon talking echoed in the kitchen.
Baltoy floated to the side, looking idle.
Seeing this, Ange said to it, "If you have nothing to do, go help the Meowstic with their work."
"Bal~ Bal~" Why should I help?
Baltoy subconsciously retorted.
"Are you going or not?" Ange glared at it when he heard this.
Baltoy: ...
In the end, under Ange's threatening gaze, it went outside honestly to help.
Soon, customers began to enter one after another, and Munchlax Home gradually became lively.
When they saw Baltoy, the customers were surprised.
"Yo, it's a Baltoy, is it a new waiter at Munchlax Home?" someone asked with a smile.
"Meow~ Meow~" The male Meowstic stepped forward and called out to the customers, as if introducing Baltoy.
Everyone looked at Baltoy with friendly eyes and said, "Baltoy is also very cute."
The male Meowstic pulled Baltoy along, and Baltoy reluctantly greeted the customers according to what everyone had just taught it.
The customers were very friendly and tolerant toward the new waiter, Baltoy. Even if its attitude was a bit cold, everyone just thought that was its personality.
Even when it made small mistakes occasionally, everyone would smile and encourage it, saying it was fine.
Baltoy was baffled by everyone's kindness.
What strange people. I'm the one who made the mistake, why are you telling me not to mind it? Of course I won't mind, the ones who should mind are you guys!
Hmph!
Just like that, encouraged by the customers, Baltoy gradually became familiar with the work in the shop and worked more and more efficiently. The customers did not spare their praise, as if they were coaxing a child.
Baltoy: (((//Д//)))/
A while later, another incident occurred in the shop, which left everyone amazed.
Ange and Inteleon were busy working and did not notice the sudden bursts of exclamations from the main hall outside.
Ralts was serving buns to a customer in the shop. This customer was a regular, and seeing that Ralts was really cute, he asked:
"Ralts, can I take a picture with you?"
Ralts was a little star in the shop!
"Ralts~~" Ralts readily agreed.
Seeing this, the customer hurriedly took out his phone and squatted down to lean close to Ralts.
"Come on, Ralts, look at the camera, let's smile."
"Ralts~~" Ralts quickly raised a cute smile.
"Click~~" With the sound of the photo being taken, Ralts' appearance was frozen on the phone screen.
"Thank you, Ralts, I will treasure this photo." The customer said gratefully.
Not everyone in the Pokémon world raises Pokémon.
Take the customer in front of him, for example. He was an incredibly busy office worker, and just taking care of himself every day was already overwhelming; he simply had no energy to take care of a Pokémon.
But what if he liked Pokémon? Then he could only raise "cloud" Pokémon.
And the cute Ralts, the waiter at Munchlax Home where he ate breakfast every day, became his first choice.
Every day, as long as he could see Ralts' cute and enthusiastic smile, he felt healed.
How cute!
Receiving the customer's thanks, Ralts waved its hand happily to say "you're welcome."
At this moment, a bright light suddenly erupted from Ralts' body.
"Oh, Ralts is evolving! Congratulations!" a customer said upon seeing this.
Hearing that Ralts was about to evolve, the customer in front of it showed joy on his face.
To be able to witness Ralts' evolution, what a lucky thing this was for him.
In the light, Ralts' body was growing taller bit by bit, and everyone held their breath at this moment, afraid to disturb Ralts' evolution.
When the light faded, a brand-new Pokémon appeared before everyone.
It had a white body, green hair, a skirt-like hem that flared out like a ballet tutu, and a pair of slender green legs standing elegantly.
This was the evolution of Ralts, Kirlia.
After successfully evolving, Kirlia looked down at itself, reached out to look, and then happily spun around in circles, as if dancing ballet.
"Ralts... oh, no, now it's Kirlia, congratulations on your evolution!"
"Yeah, yeah, it's getting cuter and cuter!"
"That's for sure, we can consider ourselves having watched Kirlia grow up!"
...
The customers expressed their congratulations to Kirlia one after another.
"Kirlia~ Kirlia~" Kirlia responded to them one by one to show its gratitude.
Kirlia could sense the emotions of the people around it, so it knew that everyone was sincerely congratulating it and was happy for it.
The customers in the shop liked it, and it liked the friendly customers too.
Not far away, Baltoy watched the interaction between the customers and Kirlia.
It was even more confused. What does Ralts evolving have to do with them? It's not their Pokémon, why are they so happy?
How inexplicable...
Are humans all this strange? Baltoy felt that it was becoming less and less able to understand this creature called "human."
After interacting with the customers, Kirlia could not wait to run to the kitchen; it wanted to share its joy with Ange.
Ange was taking a tray of steamed buns out of the steamer and noticed a Pokémon entering the kitchen, so he intended to tell it to take them to the customers quickly.
But the moment he lowered his head, he saw Kirlia, whom he hadn't seen before.
He was stunned for a moment, then asked hesitantly, "You are... Ralts, you evolved?"
"Kirlia~ Kirlia~" Kirlia nodded happily.
Ange looked pleasantly surprised when he heard this, "That's great, you finally evolved too."
"Kirlia~ Kirlia~" Kirlia happily spun elegantly in front of Ange.
Ange praised, "You look so beautiful. Your parents will be very happy when they know."
"Inteleon~"
"Lucario~"
"Ralts~"
Inteleon, Lucario, and Doublade also offered their congratulations to Kirlia.
After sharing the joy with everyone, Kirlia threw itself into work with great enthusiasm.
Time quickly reached 10:00 in the morning, and after all the customers had left, Ange closed the door on time.
Not only that, he also put up a sign at the entrance of Munchlax Home.
It read:
"Starting this week, the breakfast shop will be closed on Saturdays, and the noodle house will be closed on Sundays."
Inteleon looked at the words on the sign and asked a bit uncertainly:
"Inteleon~ Inteleon~" Master, are you sure?
Ange nodded and said, "Of course, isn't this what we already discussed?"
Inteleon looked worried, "Inteleon~ Inteleon~" Will this affect the shop's business?
Ange thought for a moment and said, "It will definitely have an effect! But it won't be much, so don't worry about it so much. Rest when it's time to rest."
"Inteleon~" Inteleon nodded and said nothing more.