At seven o'clo the m, the member of the team, Growlithe, padded over to Julian's bedroom door. The pup stood up on its hind legs, pressing the door hah its paw like it had done many times before. But today, the handle wouldn't budge.

  Growlithe: I could open this door a few days ago. Why isn't it w now?

  After cirg a few times in front of the drowlithe's ears perked up as an idea popped into its head. It bolted to the living room, eagerly nosing open one of the drawers. After some rummaging, Growlithe emerged, holding a key in its mouth.

  Trotting back to Julian's door with the key cmped between its teeth, Growlithe pced its front paws against the door and attempted to ihe key.

  After a couple of tries—and switg out two more keys—it finally found the right one. With a triumphant little growl, Growlithe mao turn the lod push the door open.

  Onside, the pup's tail wagged excitedly as it spotted Julian still fast asleep. Growlithe backed up a few paces, ran, a into the air, nding squarely on Julian's chest with a thud.

  "Bang!"

  Julian's body jerked into a V-shape, his head a snapping upwards as the weight of the overenthusiastic Growlithe smmed down on him.

  "Grow! Grow! Grow!"

  Growlithe barked, its tail wagging furiously as it bounced around on the bed.

  Still groggy and fused, Julian bli the happy Growlithe, trying to figure out how it had mao unlock the door.

  Normally, he didn't mind being woken up by his Pokémon, especially since Growlithe had taken it upon itself to be his personal arm clock. But this method? Not so much.

  "If you keep jumping on me like this, I'm going to need a doctor soon," Julian muttered, rubbing his eyes.

  If it weren't for his abnormal physical strength, a 40-pound Growlithe crashing onto his stomach every m would definitely put him in the hospital.

  Seeing Growlithe inch closer, ready to give him a good-m face wash, Julian quickly caught its muzzle with his hand.

  "Alright, alright, I'm up. How about you go wake up the others instead?"

  Juliaured toward Aron aan, who were still snuggled up in a er of the room, pletely oblivious to the otion. Growlithe barked in agreement and bounded over to rouse its teammates.

  By the time Julian was washed and dressed, all three Pokémon were wide awake and trailing him downstairs. At the dining table, Slowking—who had been awake for hours—was already setting out breakfast.

  Slowking floated a gss of moo-moo milk over to Julian as he sat down.

  "Thanks, Slow"

  Julian said, though he couldn't help but feel a bit resigned. He had hoped to escape the daily moo-moo milk ritual when he left home, but no such luck.

  It all started when his family called, and found out that Slowking was very good at taking care of people. After that Love took over the call and asked Julian to put Slowking on.

  Julian didn't know what the two Pokémon talked about after that.

  But from the day onwards, a fresh gss moo-moo milk ced in front of Julian by Slowking.

  Breakfast was a bowl of pe, apanied by a staall pickles and ten dumplings, all made by Slowking. The taste was top-notch, as expected.

  "Stop chatting with Love all the time, or you'll end up learning too much from her"

  Julian said, notig that Slowking was on the phone again. He could hear Love's voi the other end, as they discussed how to best take care of him.

  For the past few days, Slowking had been in stant tact with Love, seeking advi looking after Julian. Love, not taking any ces, had instructed Slowking to keep a close eye on him.

  Julian had even bought a mobile phone for Slowking. With its high IQ, using the phone and pying games had been easy for it.

  As Julian sipped the milk, Slowking snapped a picture of the empty gss before sending it to Love for firmation.

  Julian: Even in the imperial capital, I am still uhe supervision of Love.

  You're a traitor, Slow.

  Although he showed he was unhappy But truthfully, he was grateful.

  With Slowking managing things, he could focus more on training his Pokémon and less on daily chores.

  After finishing breakfast, Julian headed out to the backyard. His Pokémon were already lined up, Growlithe, ever eager, sat wagging its tail with a bowl in its mouth, waiting for its food.

  Julian reached into his system spad pulled out food for each of them.

  "Seriously, Slow," he said, notig Slowking removing its to use as a makeshift food bowl again.

  " you please stop using that to hold your food? It looks ridiculous."

  The had seeer days, covered in scratches as from being repurposed as a dish.

  And when Slowking took it off, its intelligence dropped siderably.

  "Fet I said anything"

  Julian could only shake his head as Slowking gave him a bnk stare, clearly not uanding a word he said.

  "Jigglypuff.... Jiggly...."

  Before Julian could say anything else, the sound of Jigglypuff's iic cry rang out—it was his aunt calling. He answered with a smile.

  "Hey, Aunt"

  "Okay I got it, Yes"

  "Thank you, aunty"

  A quick chat ter, Julian hung up.

  "My aunt says the paper on your evolution is getting published in the Pokémon magaziomorrow, and the video will be orainer Association's app," he told Slowking.

  "Looks like you'll be able appear publicly with me from now on."

  Slowking, ba and intelligence restored, nodded in aowledgment.

  Because Slowking was a new evolutionary form of Slowpoke, releasing this new form to the public requires a lot of early-stage work.

  Until that work was pleted, Slowking wasn't ready to show herself to the outside world.

  "Slow!"

  Slowking nodded.

  She was curious about the outside world, especially after learning about it through the I. Her curiosity about what the outside world was like only grew stronger.

  Julian had discovered this new evolutionary form of Slowpoke, and naturally, the Walker family would enjoy the bes that came with it.

  Not to mention, the authors of the reted research paper were Quinn and Julian.

  The Kings Rock avaible on the market had also likely been acquired by the Walker family.

  The Kings Rock, which had appeared very early on, was initially misuood due to its resembo a rusty , leading some people to buy it as an antique.

  However, the Kings Rock itself was retively rare. Although the Walker family had mao acquire a number of them, their quantity remained limited.

  The acquisition of the Kings Rock wasn't motivated by a desire for profit; the Walker family was not g in money. Instead, it was a strategic move for potential future dealings with other families.

  Slowking is a Water-type and Psychic-type Pokémon with a very high IQ.

  Its appearance would undoubtedly attract trainers specializing in Water and Psychic types, especially those powerful trainers who uand the value of having a Slowking.

  With such a high IQ, Slowking also possesses the ability to take care of people, making it all the more desirable.

  "I'm going to the opening ceremony. You guys just stay at home. Growlithe, don't tear down the pce"

  Julian warned, ed about Growlithe's eiature and fearing that the vil might not survive his absence.

  Growlithe nodded vigorously. His expression didn't seem like a promise to Julian but more like a signal for him to leave quickly. It was as if he was saying, 'I'm going to demolish the house as soon as you leave. I have a three million renovation pn; would you like to hear it?'

  "Slow, I'll give you the authority over him, make sure this pce is still standing when I return," Julian said solemnly.

  "Slo~"

  Slowking nodded in agreement.

  Then its was knocked off by Growlithe.

  Slowking: Who are you?

  Julian: I don't care if I don't attend the opening ceremony.