Victor walked out onto the balcony and stretched.
The backyard was filled with the scent of flowers and the chirping of birds, as well as the lively sounds of Pokémon.
Seeing Victor on the balcony, the Pokémon below all greeted him.
A few daring Staravia flew up to the balcony, and Victor patted each of their small heads.
Gengar was nowhere to be found, and it hadn't even done its morning exercises.
A gust of autumn wind blew past, and Victor shivered.
After a sneeze, he hurried back into his room.
Looks like it's the season to start wearing more clothes, he thought.
He then went into the bathroom to wash up.
When he went downstairs for breakfast, Gengar floated back in, its arms full of berries and other things from the forest.
"You went to the forest again?" Victor asked, his mouth full of bread.
Gengar nodded, then sat down in its spot and began to eat its own breakfast.
"Remember to only take a small portion. You have to leave the rest for the forest Pokémon."
"Gengar—"
I know.
After breakfast, the temperature had risen a bit. Victor felt the air, then headed to the backyard.
He left the front counter to Lilligant and Roselia, the two "sister-flowers" of the Breeding House.
He was sure they'd be even better at the front desk than he was.
First, Victor contacted the company that Laura had recommended. They said they would come by in the afternoon, and he nodded.
He then had Dali and the others move all the trees they had brought back yesterday.
Victor took out a ruler, measured them, and drew lines with a pencil.
He asked Dali to split the logs along the lines.
He drew a quick sketch, then took out his tools and, using the techniques he had learned from his great-aunt's item list, began to work from the sketch.
He spent a while knocking, tapping, trimming, and scraping.
The noise attracted many of the Pokémon. They stood quietly in a circle, watching him and eating berries.
They whispered to each other, discussing what Victor was making.
As Victor worked, the log in his hands slowly took on its intended shape.
A seesaw.
Victor looked at the nearly-finished seesaw. He had carved Q-version faces of Gengar, Lilligant, and the other Pokémon into it. It looked pretty good.
He did a bit more carving, and after assembling it, he sat on one end, making the other end go up.
"Dali, let's try it out."
Dali obediently sat on the other end.
Victor was immediately launched into the air.
He pressed down with all his weight, but Dali didn't budge.
"That's not how you play. You have to relax. When you're up, you push down," Victor explained.
Hearing his words, Dali relaxed its body, and Victor pushed down hard.
Dali still didn't budge.
Victor facepalmed.
I forgot, a Machoke weighs over 200 pounds.
And the Dali in front of him was probably even heavier.
He sighed, asked Dali to get up, and then got off himself, swapping it out for another Pokémon.
Victor and Heracross went up and down, having a great time.
Mime Jr., seeing them, wanted to play too.
Gothita just used its psychic powers to lift Victor up.
"You know, multiple people or Pokémon can sit on one side," Victor said helplessly, his feet now forced back onto the ground.
"Goth?"
Why didn't you say so earlier?
Victor sighed, sat back down, and continued to work on the remaining logs.
After he had finished the other two, he looked up.
A long line of Pokémon was waiting to play.
Under Gothita's direction, they had split into different teams. Each team got to play for one minute.
Victor smiled, then installed the other two seesaws next to the first one.
Listening to their happy laughter, Victor felt his own spirits lift. He then hung a few more swings in other places and, with the help of Gengar and Gothita, tidied up the flowers in the garden.
He breathed in the fragrance from the flower garden.
Victor was in a great mood.
He continued like this until the afternoon, when the construction company arrived.
Victor communicated his plans to them.
The supervisor nodded when he heard that Victor wanted to build a diving area by the lake, saying it was no problem.
He also needed to buy some sand, and then in the new "Sand-Rock Area" (composed of the sand pit and the rock area), he wanted to install some slides and other equipment.
The supervisor discussed it with Victor, and after confirming the plan, he took out his phone to make the arrangements.
Before long, truck after truck of sand arrived.
The supervisor then directed his company's Machoke to get to work.
They were incredibly efficient.
The diving area and the play area were built in no time.
When it was time to settle the bill, the supervisor asked Victor if he had any Pokémon Eggs for Pokémon that were strong and suited for moving work. He was looking to buy one.
Victor thought for a moment and recommended the Rhyhorn egg.
This Pokémon was a perfect fit for the supervisor's needs.
It was strong and powerful.
Its evolutions, Rhydon and Rhyperior, were both excellent choices.
But an egg like that wouldn't be cheap.
Hearing Victor's introduction, the supervisor was very tempted.
After paying for the construction, the supervisor gave Victor a 10% discount.
He then left with the Rhyhorn egg, ready to head home with his crew.
Victor walked to the entrance of the Breeding House and looked at the road that ran from Twinleaf Town, past his Breeding House, all the way to Sandgem Town.
Before he arrived, the Breeding House had been abandoned for a long time. Although people passed by on this road every day, the surrounding trees and bushes were overgrown and messy. The dirt road itself was uneven and full of potholes from the rain. Victor walked over to a few of the potholes and stepped in them.
He thought for a moment, then called out to the supervisor.
"Excuse me, does your company also do road repairs?"
"Road repairs? You mean this road from Twinleaf to Sandgem?"
Victor nodded.
"From what I know, that would be an enormous expense. Are you—"
"You've misunderstood me," Victor interrupted. "My idea was just to fill in the potholes with sand or dirt, pack it down, and at the same time, trim the trees and bushes along the roadside."
The supervisor understood. "If that's the case, the cost would be much lower, but it would still be a hefty sum."
Victor thought about it. The supervisor was right.
This road was too long. Even for his simple plan, the cost would still be a huge amount for him.
"But you could try contacting the mayor. Perhaps he might have a solution."
Victor thought that was a good idea. He decided to ask Mayor Arthur's opinion before doing anything else.
After seeing the construction crew off, Victor took out his phone, found the contact information Mayor Arthur had left him, and gave it a try.
The call connected quickly. After introducing himself, Victor made some small talk, then got straight to the point and explained his idea.
There was silence on the other end for a moment.
"Owner Victor, are you at the Breeding House right now?" the voice suddenly asked.
Victor confirmed that he was.
"Alright. Please wait for me. I'll head over right now to discuss this with you in detail."
Mayor Arthur said this, and then hung up.
Victor, looking at the disconnected call, went back to watching TV with Gengar, waiting for the mayor to arrive.
...
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