Fortunately, even as they went to eat, the four of them stayed together. No matter how much Heracross wanted to feast, it slowed its pace to remain with Scizor and the others. Wimpod followed silently behind them, and the group gathered to begin their meal.
Heracross's eyes lit up the moment it saw the food. It immediately grabbed a plate of pastries from the table and began devouring them greedily.
Mmm, this is delicious, was Heracross's first thought.
While it loved tree sap most of all, drinking it every single day could get tiring. Changing things up occasionally was nice. Although this human food didn't offer much nutritional value for it, the flavor was excellent, making it quite memorable for Heracross.
Scizor and Beedrill joined in next. As Beedrill started eating, it noticed Wimpod had jumped onto the table but didn't have a single dish in front of it. Consequently, Beedrill pushed a plate of noodles toward Wimpod. Wimpod looked at Beedrill with gratitude; Beedrill simply nodded and went back to its own meal.
Two large tables weren't enough, so Tetsu had the maids bring over several smaller ones. The service was fast. According to Tetsu, he had anticipated this situation; given the appetite of Pokémon, one had to prepare a massive amount of food, or it simply wouldn't be enough. This was especially true with a Steelix in the mix—that fellow's appetite was no joke. However, this amount of food was a trivial matter for Tetsu's family fortune.
At the dining table, Tetsu looked at the Pokémon happily eating nearby and said, "There are two reasons I called everyone here for a gathering today."
"First, I wanted us to catch up and have some fun together. After all, we are friends who have shared joys and sorrows and competed in tournaments together."
"The second reason is that I wanted to see how the Pokémon everyone hatched are doing and have us exchange experiences."
After Tetsu finished speaking, Eichi nodded. This approach was actually beneficial for everyone. Only someone as wealthy as Tetsu could host such a gathering. In fact, among the nine people present, only Kosei and Eichi came from ordinary backgrounds. To put it bluntly, Eichi was the poorest.
The families here could be divided into three tiers. The first tier consisted of Sato and Konan; their families were among the wealthiest in the Johto region. The second tier included Matsumoto, Ishida, Kelly, and Tetsu. The third tier was Ami.
Since Eichi and Kosei weren't part of those tiers, one could see that Kosei was slightly restrained during the meal, while the others were very relaxed. Eichi, however, wasn't affected by this. After all, he was the strongest, and Tetsu was his best friend, so he had no reason to feel out of place.
The food at Tetsu's house was truly exquisite; it was said his family had paid a high price to hire a specialized master chef. After dinner, Tetsu led everyone to the backyard to hang out. A maid switched on a large overhead light, making everything in the backyard clearly visible.
After finishing their meal, some Pokémon lay on the grass to digest, while others remained energetic, chasing each other and running around the yard. Heracross lay lazily in a corner; it was too full and needed to digest properly. Wimpod stayed right by its side, refusing to go anywhere else. Not far away, Beedrill perched in a tree, keeping a constant eye on Wimpod.
Scizor was different. Just as it finished eating, Sato's Charizard ran over, wanting to have a match. Scizor was more than willing, and the two flew off to battle.
The group sat down in the backyard. There were no chairs, so they sat on the grass, which no one minded. The night breeze was very comfortable. The moon was bright, and the stars sparkled one by one in the sky—it was beautiful and filled with mystery. Looking at the sky, Eichi suddenly thought of many Pokémon, like Rayquaza, Latios, Latias, and Deoxys.
He wondered if he would ever meet those Legendary Pokémon. He especially wanted to see them. Just as he had been curious about whether dragons existed in his previous life, he felt the same way now. He knew Legendaries existed, so his desire to see one was exceptionally strong.
Tetsu's voice pulled him back to reality. Tetsu laughed and said, "Everyone, let's show the Pokémon we brought from the incubator room. I'm still very curious about them."
"I'll start. Trapinch, come over here."
Following the call, the Trapinch lying on the grass nearby stood up slowly and walked over to Tetsu. It looked a bit dazed but was also quite cute. Everyone gathered around immediately. Trapinch was a Pokémon from the Hoenn region, so most of them hadn't seen one before. Eichi activated his Eye of the Bug Emperor; it was much stronger than when it was first born, having already reached level 10.
After everyone finished looking at Trapinch, Kosei took the initiative to call Tyrogue over. Tyrogue seemed much more spirited than Trapinch and looked quite capable in battle. Next, Ami called over his Buneary, which was very adorable. One by one, the others called theirs over: Ishida's Shellos, Kelly's Roselia, and Matsumoto's Shuppet. Then came Konan's Shinx and Sato's Drilbur.
Eichi scanned them with his Eye of the Bug Emperor. As the academy had stated, they were all of Outstanding talent. However, there were still differences. The most gifted was Ishida's Shellos, whose talent reached the third stage of the Outstanding grade. Then there were Tetsu's Trapinch, Sato's Drilbur, and Konan's Shinx, which were at the second stage. The others were all at the first stage. Among them, Sato's Drilbur had the highest level, around level 13.
Finally, everyone realized Eichi was the only one who hadn't brought his Pokémon over. Ami asked curiously, "Eichi, where's yours? I caught a glimpse of that Pokémon earlier, but I didn't recognize it. Call it over so we can get to know it."
"Sure," Eichi replied with a smile.
He called out toward the corner, "Wimpod, come over here."
Hearing Eichi call its name, Wimpod looked up. It saw Eichi waving, but seeing everyone else staring at it made it feel afraid. However, unwilling to disobey Eichi's command, it shuffled over hesitantly.
Except for Tetsu, this was the first time everyone had seen a Wimpod, and they were extremely curious. Seeing their gazes, Wimpod got scared and quickly hid behind Eichi's heels.