Chapter 467:

"Yes, just like that. Try not to affect the river itself too much."

Well, actually, the goal was simple. He just wanted to create a layer of ice here to cool off a bit.

Looking at the frozen surface of the river, Kaede stepped onto it. Feeling the cool air rising from the melting ice, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Ninetales...."

Meanwhile, Alolan Ninetales, now understanding the purpose, blew a flurry of ice flakes at Kaede in mock annoyance.

And here it thought it was something fun. Turns out it was just brought along for manual labor.

It turned its head away and trotted off, seemingly indifferent.

"Hahaha...." This scene was witnessed by an elderly man fishing nearby, who couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh.

"..."

Kaede responded with an awkward smile.

Stupid Ninetales. I will get my payback later—no... maybe just a soft punishment.

Without a Pokémon by his side, Kaede quickly lost interest in the ice sheet. But a glance around revealed something new immediately capturing his attention.

It was the weekend, not a Challenge Day, but honestly, weekends often drew even larger crowds.

People would spontaneously gather in this area for Pokémon battles or to watch the progress on the Ice-type Gym.

Today, however, seemed different.

It looked like everyone was crowded around something.

Some had their Pokémon with them.

That location...

Kaede suddenly remembered something.

He walked over. Before he could speak, someone spotted him and automatically made space.

About a dozen people formed a circle. Someone greeted him, "Hey, shop owner Kaede, you’re here too."

That one comment prompted others to chime in with their greetings.

"Haha, it’s getting harder and harder to see Kaede these days. Back when the Breeding House first opened, we could see you every day."

"Suddenly it feels like there’s an unfathomable chasm between us now..."

"Hmm..." Kaede responded simply. Faced with the friendly teasing, he just smiled without offering any explanation.

Then he looked towards the center of the crowd.

Without a doubt, they were gathered around... the Precipice Blades formed by Alcremie’s "Metronome" move that day.

The towering stone pillars, though no longer flowing with molten lava, still emitted waves of heat. The trenches dug by Blaziken and Dragonite were now filled with cooled, blackened lava.

Among the onlookers, some had Fire-type Pokémon with them, others had Ground or Rock-types.

It looked like they were... absorbing something?

Could it be... they were gaining insights from being near the Precipice Blades?

Kaede felt a bit exasperated.

Sure enough, the next explanation from someone nearby confirmed his suspicion.

"Hey, Kaede, did you create these pillars?"

Someone asked.

Kaede nodded.

Upon receiving confirmation, the person continued, "It’s really incredible. A while back, a high school Trainer brought his Nidorino here to observe this stone pillar. And amazingly, it actually learned Earth Power here!"

"That’s right, that’s right! After he went back, he spread the word, saying this pillar seems really helpful for Fire-type and Ground-type Pokémon?!"

"After going back, his Nidorino evolved into Nidoking!"

"So today, we Trainers with those types of Pokémon brought them over to gather around."

"???"

Kaede had question marks popping up in his mind.

Was that really possible?

"Look, there’s even video proof." Someone pulled out their phone and showed Kaede the clip.

Kaede took a look.

The video indeed showed a Nidorino standing solemnly beside the stone pillar, seemingly in deep contemplation.

Then its eyes snapped open, as if a flash of insight passed through them, and the ground began to tremble. An invisible shockwave rippled across the earth...

That was indeed... Earth Power...

But even for an evolved Nidoking, Earth Power isn’t an easy move to learn. It requires considerable practice or a Technical Machine.

Let alone for a pre-evolved Nidorino, which doesn’t even have the Ground typing yet.

The learning difficulty should be even higher.

"This is outrageous..."

Kaede muttered silently to himself.

He also noticed the person in the video looked familiar. It seemed to be one of the two high school students who first visited the Breeding House.

The one who had a Nidoran and a friend with a Pichu back then.

He hadn’t expected that Nidoran to have evolved into a Nidoking now.

"Gotta hand it to young master Kaede, intentionally placing such a good thing near the Breeding House without saying a word, waiting for us to discover it ourselves. My Sandshrew said it’s close to learning Dig these past few days near here..."

"Don’t even mention it. My Charmeleon is about to learn Flamethrower."

"You don’t get it. Kaede’s place must have even more good things. Look at that tree! That’s a Pecha Berry tree, right? Whose Pecha Berry tree grows that tall?! Those berries look delicious. Young master Kaede, when are you gonna put some up for sale? We just wanna taste it."

"Don’t even think about it. Those berries must be crazy expensive. You can’t afford them..."

"Speaking of money... these pillars... were also made by young master Kaede. Do we have to pay to be here?"

That question made everyone turn their eyes to Kaede.

Hearing this, Kaede shook his head. "...Uh... it’s free."

He was joking; he wasn’t short on money now.

Besides, this thing wasn’t something he intentionally set up.

He just hadn’t expected it to actually have an effect on some ordinary Pokémon.

"That’s great, that’s great, hahaha...."

"Kaede is such a good person..."

...

Listening to the voices around him, Kaede gave a light shake of his head.

If it was effective for Fire-type Pokémon, why hadn’t his own Blaziken and Arcanine noticed?

Or maybe they had, but the effect was just too minor.

Most likely, staying around here was more of a psychological effect for these Trainers and their Pokémon.

Time to head home, head home~

Going home to cuddle with Alolan Ninetales.

.....

In reality, by the time he got home, Alolan Ninetales was long gone from the house, off goofing around somewhere...

But that’s okay. Happiny, cradling its egg, walked over.

"Happiny~?"