"Blu blu,"
Lanpu accepted everyone's blessings gladly.
"When I get a chance to obtain a Dusk Stone, I will give it to you," Ange said to it, "That way, you can evolve into Chandelure whenever you want."
"Blu blu," Lanpu thanked Ange happily.
"Min min," Cinccino said weakly at this time.
Lanpu's anger had not subsided yet. It flew right above Cinccino's head and said very seriously, "Blu blu."
"You are not allowed to eat at Diancie's Grand Cafeteria tonight. You can only stay home and eat Pokéblocks."
"Minic!!!"
Cinccino looked as if it were struck by lightning upon hearing this.
If it could not eat at Diancie's Grand Cafeteria, what joy would be left in its day?
Ange did not interfere with Lanpu's punishment of Cinccino, only watching everything with a smile.
Lanpu was the head of the house. It had a responsibility to discipline the family members, ensuring they loved each other and followed the rules.
Once they came out of the employee dormitory, Ange took Sneasel to the winery and handed it over to Passimian.
Komala was also over at the winery.
It had come looking for Passimian early this morning.
When Ange arrived, Passimian was offering the various wines it had brewed to Komala for tasting one by one. Komala looked so happy that it was practically bubbling with joy.
Unlike Infernape, who had a clear preference for wine, Komala liked any kind of alcohol. It never refused anything, whether it was a mellow red wine, a spicy white wine, or a flavorful fruit wine.
Furthermore, it did not show an obvious look of drunkenness after a few cups like Infernape did.
No matter how much alcohol Komala drank, a single change could not be seen on its face.
Of course, it was also possible that because of its Comatose ability, nobody could tell even if it were drunk.
In any case, Komala was the happiest about Passimian's arrival. Even though it never made a sound, Ange could still feel a clear aura change from its body, which was an emotion called joy.
Passimian welcomed its new colleague Sneasel very warmly, pulling it along to whisper for a while.
Before long, Passimian placed three glass mugs on the wooden counter, one for Ange, one for Komala, and one for Sneasel.
These glass mugs were specially used for drinking beer!
Holding a wooden keg, Passimian poured a full mug of beer into each glass.
The beer Passimian brewed had a very clear color, so bright that it was almost close to gold. Bubbles floated up and down in the liquid like pearls.
Finally, Passimian snapped its fingers at Sneasel. Sneasel understood implicitly, opening its mouth to exhale a blast of cold air across the table.
It was a weakened version of Icy Wind.
In an instant, a thin layer of frost formed over the three mugs of beer, and wisps of water vapor drifted up from the glasses.
"Passi passi,"
Passimian urged the three of them to taste it quickly.
Hearing this, Ange, Komala, and Sneasel picked up their glasses at the same time, tilted their necks, and drained them in one gulp.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
After finishing, Ange slammed his glass down and exclaimed loudly, "Refreshing!!!"
Beer really had a special flavor when iced.
Not only did Ange and Komala like it, but Sneasel also enjoyed iced beer very much.
After tasting the beer, Ange said to Passimian, "Then I will leave Sneasel to you."
Passimian made an OK sign toward Ange, which it had clearly learned from Inteleon.
When Ange left the Secret Fortress, Diancie finally woke up.
As soon as it opened its eyes, it felt something in its arms. After rummaging around for a bit, it pulled out a pink, chubby little piglet.
"Where did you come from?"
Munna also happened to wake up at this time.
It grinned and smiled at Diancie.
The two Pokémon stared at each other blankly for quite a while, until two Spinarak also woke up and crawled along the table onto the bed.
"Ito,"
"Ito,"
The two Spinarak told Diancie that they had a very strange yet very realistic dream.
"You dreamed too?" Diancie said in surprise.
"Ito ito," the two Spinarak nodded simultaneously.
Diancie had already noticed the missing Pokémon egg on the balcony, so it looked at Munna in its hands and said, "Did you hatch from that egg?"
Whether Munna was truly silly or just pretending, it did not answer Diancie's question. It only knew how to burrow into Diancie's arms continuously.
However, since this was an obvious matter, Diancie felt there was no need to ask.
Thinking like this, it let go of Munna, picked up the two Spinarak, and planned to get out of bed to wash up.
Checking the time, it found that it was already very late. Diancie was a bit surprised that it had actually slept until this hour.
However, it did not panic. Waking up late was waking up late, and worrying would not help.
As soon as Diancie got out of bed, it saw that Mareep was also awake.
Unlike the lively Mareep in the dream, the Mareep in reality was still that silent figure. After waking up, it just lay quietly on the beanbag chair, staring silently out the window.
"Good morning, Mareep." Regardless of whether Mareep responded, Diancie greeted it with a gentle smile.
It got up and said to Mareep, "I will take Spinarak to wash up first, and then I will come back to help you."
Sure enough, Mareep did not respond to it like it did in the dream.
A dream is just a dream, how could it possibly become reality.
Thinking this way, Diancie carried the two Spinarak into the bathroom.
While washing up, the three Pokémon talked about their respective dreams, and then they discovered to their surprise that they had actually shared the exact same dream.
Furthermore, they remembered everything that happened in the dream with absolute clarity.
Was this a coincidence? At this moment, Diancie could not help but suspect the newly hatched Pokémon.
After washing up and coming out, Diancie asked Mareep again, "Mareep, did you dream last night?"
Mareep still stared out the window without blinking, completely unresponsive to Diancie's words.
"Sigh," Diancie sighed deeply, giving up on questioning Mareep.
After helping Mareep wash up, Diancie took the four Pokémon downstairs.
Just then, Ange came back from the Secret Fortress. Seeing Diancie as soon as he entered, he greeted with a smile, "Morning, Diancie."
Diancie also greeted, "Morning, Ange."
Right after that, Ange noticed Munna floating above Diancie's head. He said in surprise, "Munna? Where did it come from?"
Without waiting for Diancie's answer, he suddenly came to a realization, "Did that egg hatch?"
"Mhm," Diancie nodded.
"So that was a Munna egg!" Ange was a bit surprised. Munna was not a very common Pokémon in the Kanto region.
"So this little guy is called Munna!" Diancie said.
Ange nodded and introduced this species of Pokémon to Diancie.
Munna, the Dream Eater Pokémon, Psychic type. True to its name, it feeds on the dreams of living creatures to gain strength.
When it eats sweet dreams, Munna exhales pink smoke; when it eats nightmares, Munna exhales blackish-gray smoke.
After listening to Ange's introduction, Diancie seemed to understand something. It muttered to itself, "Feeding on dreams..."
Seeing Diancie space out, Ange asked in confusion, "Is something wrong?"
So Diancie told Ange about how it and the two Spinarak had shared the exact same dream last night.
Ange was very surprised after listening.
Munna indeed had the ability to eat dreams, but he had never heard of them being able to bring others into someone else's dream. At most, they could only project the contents of a dream through the smoke they released.
It was certain that the dream Diancie and the others had must be related to Munna, otherwise it could not be explained.
After pondering for a long moment, Ange said, "Perhaps this Munna has a special talent."
Saying that, Ange used the Eye of Observation to look at Munna.
Munna
Type: Psychic
Ability: Forewarn
Gender: Female
Level: 5
Moves: Stored Power, Defense Curl, Hypnosis
Individual Values
HP: 18
Attack: 13
Defense: 19
Special Attack: 16
Special Defense: 23
Speed: 21
The data overall was completely ordinary, showing nothing special.
However, Pokémon were wondrous creatures, and it was difficult to see their talent-based abilities purely through data.
Perhaps Munna really hid an unknown talent.
Diancie hesitated for a moment and asked, "Then was the dream we entered last night really Mareep's dream? Was the experience in the dream real?"
Ange shook his head pieces in distress and said, "You really stumped me with this question, I am no expert in this area either!"
"True." Diancie felt that it had really become obsessed.
Suddenly, a bright idea struck Ange, "Right, I have a way to try and prove whether your experience in the dream was real or not."
Diancie's eyes lit up, "What way?"
"Didn't you say Mareep likes to draw? Let's give it a try," Ange said.
"That's right!" Diancie realized.
Promptly, Diancie lifted Mareep onto the table, while Ange fetched paper and a pen.
Under the watchful eyes of Ange, Diancie, the two Spinarak, and Munna, Mareep actually reached out, picked up the pen, and began to doodle on the paper in front of it.
"It is really drawing!" Diancie said in pleasant surprise.
However, after a long while, Diancie was dumbfounded. Looking at the mess of black lines Mareep had drawn on the paper, it could not connect this in any way to the Mareep from the dream world.
"As expected, are dreams all fake?" A look of disappointment appeared on Diancie's face.
But Ange stared at Mareep, who was still doodling away, falling into deep thought. After a long time, he spoke up, "Perhaps Mareep really does have a talent for drawing."
"How so?" Diancie asked.
Ange explained, "Think about it, Mareep's drawing was done in a dream, which means in reality its hand has never even touched a pen. Under these circumstances, how could it possibly know how to draw?"
"So, Ange, what you mean is... Mareep's mind knows how, but its hand doesn't?" Diancie thought of the phrase Ange used to use to describe his apprentice practicing cooking.
"Exactly, that is what I mean," Ange nodded and said, "Besides, didn't you say the manga Mareep drew in the dream was very interesting?"
"Yes!" Diancie nodded, "I can even remember the contents of the manga right now."
"Then that's it! It shows that Mareep also has a talent for constructing stories." Ange pondered for a moment and said, "Since Mareep likes to draw, let's buy it a set of drawing tools."
Hearing this, Diancie nodded, "I will also buy a tablet for Mareep, and get it some drawing courses online!"
Ange: "Then it's a deal!"
What Ange and Diancie did not know was that while they were discussing buying drawing tools for Mareep, a ripple of emotion flashed through Mareep's originally dead eyes, though it was impossible to tell whether it was sorrow or joy.
So Ange and Diancie leaned over the table, heads together, discussing what kind of tools to buy for Mareep.
The two Spinarak were playing with Munna in a corner of the table, while Mareep kept doodling on the side with the paper and pen.
There were quite a few drawing tools in the System Store. Ange and Diancie did not know much about this field, so they simply bought one of everything.
Ange had not used his Happiness Points to buy any big items recently, only some small miscellaneous things that did not cost much, so he had saved up a lot of Happiness Points.
Soon, Ange and Diancie bought a whole pile of things for Mareep.
Then they specifically bought a tablet computer for Mareep. After connecting it to the internet, they bought various drawing courses for it, including sketching, oil painting, manga, and so on. Ange and Diancie even signed it up for digital painting courses.
These courses could be studied directly online, so Mareep could learn whichever type it liked.
After buying the tools and courses, Diancie took Mareep back to the room.
Once in the room, Diancie set up a small table for Mareep on the carpet in the middle of the room, placing the purchased drawing tools and the tablet computer next to it.
After the things were set up, Diancie began to teach Mareep how to use the tablet and how to use it to take classes.
Even though Mareep did not make a sound, Diancie still taught it very carefully.
As for how to use the drawing tools, that was not something Diancie could teach. Mareep would need to practice using them on its own based on the courses it learned.
After finishing the teaching, Diancie did not know if Mareep had learned it or not. It could only place the tablet computer in front of it and say, "Stay here quietly and practice, I have things to be busy with, I will come back to see you later."
With that said, Diancie went out with the two Spinarak.
After Diancie and the Spinarak left, Mareep stared quietly at the tablet computer without moving, sitting blankly for nearly an hour.
Finally, an hour later, its eyes flicked slightly. It then reached out to pick up the tablet computer, operating it smoothly, and quickly clicked open the relevant drawing course.
There was a teacher conducting a class in the tablet, and Mareep listened quietly like that, its eyes not even blinking.
When Diancie returned to the room a while later to check on the situation, Mareep was still maintaining that exact pose, listening to the class.
Seeing that Mareep was actually listening to the class, a smile appeared on Diancie's face.
It was good that Mareep had a reaction to the outside world. No matter what kind of reaction it was, even if it was subtle, Diancie felt it was a good thing.
On Ange's side, after finishing up with Mareep's matter alongside Diancie, he intended to go look around. After all, he had been away from home for a while. He wanted to see how the fish in the Fishery were growing, whether the Berries in the orchard had grown bigger, and if the range of the green grass cultivated by Gogoat and the others had expanded.
However, just as he walked to the exit of the courtyard wall, he saw two Charcadet riding two Oinkologne back from afar.