Once Gan was finished with washing himself, he dried off and threw on a fresh set of clothes. Gan walked into the living room and saw Eevee and Growlithe playing with each other.
"This is good, but I'm getting really hungry." As soon as Gan appeared, both Eevee and Growlithe stopped playing.
When seeing them, he thought of the many Pokemon around the world. There were just so many options, and Ninetales was a cool option that almost made him cave back then. But overall, Arcanine is a better choice than Ninetales.
Gan summoned Vulpix to add to the cuteness around here. Vulpix would also be used to guard this house while he went out if a certain butler got any ideas.
"Pix" Vulpix first eyed Gan before her gaze momentarily landed on the duo of Pokemon.
Vulpix, if one hadn't guessed was one of the Pokemon that wasn't hostile towards Gan upon being summoned.
Gan would have to battle or beat those Pokemon into submission later, but battling and defeating was the best choice. If he did things by force, he would run into many problems—with him later needing to teach his Pokemon Frustatiuon or something, if you know what I mean.
"Nice to officially meet you Vulpix, we'll get to know each other more later." Gan had to find some way to get a Thunder Stone.
Once he was done here, he wanted to defeat Misty. Next, he hoped that Warren would have contacted him by then, so they could rob the Museum.
Gan exited the house before pausing and staring at the garden someways away from him. There were well-trimmed bushes, while some parts looked like a little maze that was forming with trimmed bushes.
𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐦~!
Gan smiled before turning back towards the mansion. Once he took a step forward, he heard a commotion somewhere near the garden.
"What is that? Is there a fight over there?" Gan could see a small dust cloud overhead.
"Shoot! Why not?" Gan couldn't help but feel nosy, he had to check it out. He sped walk toward the location of the dust cloud, but he slowed down once he was close enough.
Gan took cover behind a bush and gazed into the distance.
"Oh..." There, he saw multiple children gathered around; there were about 12 kids in total. They appeared to be around the ages of 9 to 11 if Gan had to guess.
Gan already understood the situation to some degree. There was actually a Pokemon battle going on here. Gan focused his gaze on the Pokemon before inspecting the kids closely, who were using their Pokemon for battle.
Gan immediately recognized one of the kids, she had fiery red hair. She was the young miss of the house, who Gan had traded with back in Viridian forest.
Allura Roseworth.
"Finish it! Iron Tail!" Raticate followed up on its previous attack and quickly slammed its chrome tail onto Clefairy's head.
"FAIRY~!" Clefairy's face slammed into the ground before swirls appeared in her eyes, she had fainted.
"Nooo~! How can I lose to such an ugly Pokemon?!" Allura's expression was filled with disbelief. This ugly Pokemon was actually this strong?
The boy she was battling against grinned victoriously, as he stared at Clefairy with disdain.
"With these below-average battling skills, how do you expect to become a trainer in the future? Don't judge a Pokemon by its cover, there are many ugly Pokemon that are powerful."
Gan, who was listening, nodded, agreeing to the boy's statement.
"Clefairy, are you okay?" Allura quickly went to check on Clefairy, ignoring the boy.
"What a sore loser, who is the next battler?" The boy gazed around and asked.
Gan wanted to call out to Allura, but this didn't seem like the best time so he turned to leave. He walked towards the residence and was greeted by a maid.
"Esteemed guest Gan, what can I do for you at this time?" This maid had brown hair, and she was especially polite with her tone. She had seen how the madam of the house had treated him and didn't dare to show any disrespect.
"Ah, yes, I was just wondering if you guys are selling a Thunder Stone? I would like to buy it to assist my Pokemon." Gan's nose was assaulted by a sweet aroma flooding the house's air.
"Thunder Stone?" The maid wasn't expecting such a question or request.
"I'm not sure, but I can send someone to see if they're selling one or giving one away. Please, come take a seat here until I come back with an update on that."
Just as the maid was done speaking, another maid with blonde hair that was done in a ponytail came over. She only came over because she had spotted Gan, she was actually here for him.
"This is perfect, the madam wanted me to go and fetch this esteemed guest." The maid smiled and bowed slightly.
"Oh, this is the perfect time for you to ask, young trainer Gan." The brown-haired maid narrowed her eyes and smiled. These girls were already fully grown women, at least they were 18 and up.
Of course, Gan tried to check them out with a few peeks, but their maid outfits made it hard for him to see their curves. Gan was really cautious when looking, so they wouldn't notice his gaze. He was a guy, so of course, he wanted to check them out—even if only for a second.
"So what! Your Pokemon won't be the strongest for long, it can't even evolve any more! And it's ugly!" Just as Gan and the maids were about to leave, they heard a voice filled with anger from outside.
"You're just mad that I'm a better trainer, something you wish to be!" Another voice was heard, it was obvious at this point that they were arguing.
They drew closer, and who appeared were the many kids from beyond the garden.
"Guys, it isn't a big deal. Your mom wanted me to come and get you guys for lunch, so please act in line." They were being led by the Butler, Robert, who seemed to be trying to calm them down.
"His rat is still ugly, hmph!" Allura pouted and said her last bit of words.
The boy's lips curled into a smile, at the end of the day, he was the victor. Everyone here had acknowledged that.
Robert sighed, but he quickly frowned when he got closer to the mansion doors that led to the garden. Gan's guest house was right beside the garden, so he gazed at it before stepping into the mansion.
His eyes widen when he saw Gan standing with the 2 maids. Robert was expecting to see Gan because the madam had invited him to lunch, he just wasn't in charge of receiving him.
Gan smiled at Robert before winking at him.
'You little jerk, don't wink at me!' Robert thought, as his eyes flashed coldly.
The brown-haired maid had seen what Gan had done from her peripheral vision, and she almost laughed out. She quickly covered her mouth to prevent this, they both knew Robert was just waiting for a certain someone to get older one day.
Honestly, they all thought he was a creep!
"Huh?" Allura's gaze landed on Gan.
"Ah, it's the uncle from Viridian forest who traded with me!" Allura jumped in joy and ran over towards Gan.
"Hey, do you have any more Pokemon up for trade? I have some more Pokemon, so I can trade with you now." Allura was smart, she knew what she was doing by calling him an uncle. She was ten, they were by no means dense or oblivious at this age, at least towards basic things.
"Of course, we might be able to trade again, but you have to stop calling me an uncle." Gan was only sixteen, how could take being called old?
"Alright! I'll forever stop calling you an uncle if you trade with me." Allura quickly agreed happily.
"Young miss, you should maintain your image in front of the guest. You shouldn't get too close to him." Robert didn't like the idea of his young miss getting too close to strangers, at least, this is how he viewed Gan.
"He isn't a stranger, he traded me that cool Pokemon, Clefairy. My father invited him here, so he isn't a stranger at all." Allura turned towards Robert and said before looking away.
"Oh, so he's the one who traded you that weak Clefairy. I defeated that thing so fast, how could it be cool?" The little boy who defeated Allura in a Pokemon battle laughed mockingly.
He wore brown pants that were attached to suspenders, with a plain white dress shirt and brown shoes.
"Kurt, shut up, your Pokemon is only good earlier on, it can't contend in the later run!" Allura glared at Kurt and said.
"Young miss, he's right, you were probably given a weak Pokemon while the best one was taken from you, or in this case, 'traded' at that time." Robert sneered in his heart before his eyes ran over Gan's expression, but there didn't appear to be much change to it.
Both the maids narrowed their eyes in disgust at Robert, but he didn't care what these maids thought of him.
Allura's expression fell, she was told by her Grandpa that Clefairy could evolve into a Clefable—which was a very powerful Pokemon. He even said it was also powerful in a way that it could annoy people and Pokemon to the extreme during combat.
Before Gan could say anything, another maid hurried over and told everyone that the madam was waiting. Gan was going to only solely speak to Allura since her confidence was shaken by their words.
The brown-haired maid told everyone to follow her to the dining hall and everyone did so. Robert smiled as he saw Allura's expression, maybe this will shake her confidence in this scammer. He thought.
Everyone followed the brown-hair maid, while they stared at Gan curiously. This was mainly because of the Pokeballs hanging from his waist—this indicated that he was a trainer of some sort.
Some of these kids believed Allura was scammed while some knew how good Clefairy would become after it evolved. All of these kids came from rich families, so they were used to being pampered and arrogant.
A few had sneered on their lips and didn't think much of Gan. He appeared to be some rip-off merchant from what they heard. Once they arrived in the dining area, they were greeted by the fresh aroma of food.
There, they saw a long table with several dishes on it.
Honestly, to Gan, it smelled like seafood in here. There were already people seated around the table, but only 2 people this time around.
It was Natalie and some old man who had greyed already.
"Perfect! Everyone take a seat, we also have a guest joining us today." Natalie had actually worked on this lunch. Of course, she had some help to make so much food for everyone here.
All of the kids took a seat, while Allura sat next to Gan.
"Bring out the dishes." Natalie clapped her hands and several maids came over with dishes.
"I ordered these from another region alive, they arrived yesterday. They're the Pokemon known as Clauncher." Steam came from the meat, they had been cooked up and seasoned for this occasion.
Clauncher meat and Rice! There was dessert sitting in the middle of the table, which was a large pie.
Gan almost drooled; this meat smelled amazing, but he sighed at the same time. Clauncher's evolution was a powerful special attacker, but at the end of the day, it was just a shrimp pokemon.
In Galar, its claw meat was seen as a delicacy.
'If I could eat like this every day, my life would be complete.' Gan thought.
There were different types of sauces laid out. Anyone could grab a small cup to for each to eat with their meal. There was a large plate for everyone to eat off of, so no one would want seconds.
...
-Tomato Berry sauce for that spicy flavor.
-Mago Berry sauce for that rich sweet flavor.
-Grepa Berry sauce for that sweet and sour flavor.
...
Everyone began to dig in after Natalie said a few words. Everyone ate, and while eating, Natalie introduced Gan to the old man, who happened to be her father.
"Ah, so your name is Gan. I heard that you traded my Grandaughter that Clefairy. Thank you very much for that, this Pokemon is hard to spot on certain days." The old man smiled and thanked Gan.
"No problem. Allura had something I needed, so I traded her. Of course, I didn't want to rip off a kid, so I wouldn't slight her in any way." Gan said modestly.
Robert scoffed under his breath, but it was heard by Gan because he was standing behind him. He actually meant to stand behind Allura, but Gan was sitting next to her. Robert wasn't allowed to join them, he only stood in the background—just like the maids.
"What good qualities, I can already see a great future ahead of you, young man." The old man nodded with a smile and said.
"Grandpa, it's just weak Pokemon, it isn't strong at all!" Kurt couldn't understand why his Grandpa put Clefairy on a pedestal so much.
"Kurt, I've already explained this to you. Clefairy is a fairy-type Pokemon, and one of the strong ones at that. Fairy, Dragon, Steel, Ghost, and Psychic are the hardest types to come by. They're also of the strongest to get your hands on for battle beside the basic ones."
Apparently, Kurt was Allura's cousin.
"I checked this Clefairy's talent, it's at the Silver Rank but its talent can be elevated with resources." The old man knew Kurt was still young and needed to be educated on these things, this is why he wanted to send him to Hoenn or Sinnoh because of their great school system.
"I told you shouldn't waste the TM-Iron Tail on Raticate, but you didn't listen." The old man could only sigh. He was going to give his Grandson a better Pokemon, but he wasted Iron Tail on a Raticate.
"....." Kurt.
Every kid looked towards Kurt, some were mocking and some were that of pity. He was going to get a better Pokemon but he wasted a TM on a Raticate with low talent. It was a Pokemon that wasn't worth the investment—if it came out with a low talent; that was the end for it.
"Well, onto the next." Natalie interrupted and continued. "Where are you from Gan, do you live somewhere in Kanto, or maybe you come from Johto?" Natalie asked curiously.
Gan swallowed the Claucher meat after dunking it into the spicy Tomato berry sauce, before saying...
"I'm from the Unova Region." Gan grinned.