Early one morning a few days later, Cynthia stood at the doorway, holding Gible in one arm and pulling a suitcase with the other, dressed in a particularly elegant black dress.
Pokémon school had gone on summer break the day before yesterday. Two whole months—there was homework assigned, sure, but still plenty of time to have fun.
After waiting for Volo to return last night, they planned to head back to their hometown, Celestic Town, together. Their flight to Veilstone City was this morning, and with a transfer afterward, they likely wouldn't get home until evening.
"Gible, say goodbye to Rowlet and Eevee," Cynthia said with a smile, gently reminding it.
"Gible~"
"Eevee~"
Eevee responded obediently, but Rowlet just flapped its wings, clearly giving off a "safe travels, no need to come back" vibe.
Seeing this, Gible lowered its head sadly—only for an egg-shaped Pokémon to suddenly hop onto its head, grab on, and start rocking back and forth happily while letting out cheerful cries.
"Togepi~"
"Togepi, stop messing around," Cynthia said helplessly.
She had no choice but to free the hand holding the suitcase and pick Togepi up.
Then she looked up and called out, "Alright then, Lumiere, we're heading back to Celestic Town."
"Mm, have a safe trip."
Lumiere waved from the doorway, but suddenly a figure flashed in front of him, smiling as they stared straight into his eyes from extremely close range.
"What are you doing now?!" Lumiere stumbled back in fright, nearly falling over.
Volo straightened up and lightly wagged a finger at him. "Take good care of the house for us. We'll be back in two months~"
"Go on, go on."
Lumiere waved him off with an annoyed expression. This guy always loved sudden ambushes that scared the life out of him—completely impossible to guard against.
And he always wore that gentle, next-door big-brother smile, making it impossible to tell what he was really thinking.
But one thing was certain: he was terminally obsessed with Cynthia, utterly beyond saving. Other than her, there was probably no one in the world who could keep him in check…
Once the two of them left, the house instantly felt empty. Volo had even taken Spiritomb with him, leaving one fewer presence to greet in the mornings.
Watching Eevee and Rowlet chase each other around the living room, Lumiere stroked his chin and slowly fell into thought.
Two whole months… staying home just to watch the place felt like a waste, didn't it? Such a perfect opportunity—shouldn't he be taking on more commissions from the Villain Mutual Aid Society to make some money?
If he got lucky and cleared a few high-paying jobs, paid off everything he owed Volo, wouldn't he finally be free?
"Rowlet, Eevee—we're going to take commissions!"
Lumiere's plan was simple: start with easy commissions that didn't take much time.
At the very least, he needed some cash on hand, just in case. Otherwise, if something unexpected happened and he landed in trouble again… better not think about it.
And so, another busy month flew by. Lumiere ran all over Jubilife City without stopping.
At first, he planned to prioritize commissions involving the capture of common Pokémon, like Bibarel or Caterpie—but after a few hard lessons, he gave up on that idea.
Some people might ask: the Mutual Aid Society has clearly priced commissions for helping capture Pokémon. Isn't that basically the same as being a Pokémon hunter?
Not really.
Of those who post Pokémon capture commissions, 99.9% are children who aren't Trainers yet or don't have any Pokémon, usually no older than eleven.
These commissions require the contractor to accompany the client. The Poké Ball is provided by the client.
You help knock the Pokémon out, then the child throws the Poké Ball themselves. That way, the Pokémon counts as theirs, and afterward everyone goes their separate ways.
However, Pokémon captured this way are often released by parents once brought home—or taken over by the contractor instead.
After all, kids are too young. If a wild Pokémon isn't friendly toward humans, letting children play with it is extremely dangerous.
There were even past cases where kids brought home Bellsprout and ended up getting bitten in… certain places. Absolutely unbearable to think about.
That said, Lumiere was still conscientious. Since he could view Pokémon information, whether a Pokémon was friendly to humans could be seen directly from its favorability.
The idea sounded good—but in reality, he didn't successfully complete a single capture commission. He even ended up losing money.
Kids usually only had one Poké Ball. If the throw missed, fine—but if it hit and the Pokémon broke free, you'd have to pay up. They'd shamelessly dump all responsibility on you. What, argue with a kid?
Poké Balls have a special internal mechanism. If a Pokémon forcibly breaks out, that structure is destroyed, rendering the Poké Ball completely unusable for capturing Pokémon again.
Of course, once a Pokémon is successfully captured, that mechanism disappears automatically—at the cost of that Poké Ball no longer being able to capture any other Pokémon.
Because of this, after being driven crazy by several kids over the course of the month, Lumiere spent most of his time taking miscellaneous commissions and working odd jobs.
No choice—those were easy, stable, and reliable. If better commissions came along, he'd take them, of course.
By the end of the month, after all kinds of random expenses, he'd saved about six thousand in private funds. Barely enough to scrape by.
For the remaining month, he planned to leave Jubilife City and visit other parts of the Sinnoh region.
Eevee had basically mastered Sizzly Slide. It was time to look for the next Eevee…
Night fell, and the room grew noisy. Rowlet and Eevee bounced around energetically while Lumiere leaned quietly against the headboard, scrolling carefully through his phone.
Eevee was considered a relatively rare Pokémon. You almost never saw them in the wild, but plenty of Trainers owned them.
Especially wealthy ladies—many loved keeping Eevee as pets.
Searching for Eevee online mostly turned up posts showing off outfits or Contest performances. Finding a truly powerful Eevee evolution was actually quite difficult.
With no other choice, Lumiere turned to well-known Trainers in the Sinnoh region, relying on memory.
First were Sinnoh's eight Gym Leaders—but in this Alola-era Sinnoh region, it seemed only Volkner had held onto his position.
"If I remember right, the fourth Gym had a Jolteon. I think it was used in a Gym battle. I'll mark that for now—maybe I can teleport over someday."
"Volkner's good buddy, that 'McDonald's uncle,' Flint, seems to have a Flareon—but I already have that, so no need."
"Then there's Gardenia… did she have a Leafeon?"
Lumiere searched his memory but couldn't be certain.
Online information said that Gardenia was currently the head of Eterna City's botanical garden.
Among the Pokémon she commonly used, Leafeon wasn't listed—but that didn't mean she definitely didn't have one. He marked it anyway to check later.
"As for Crasher Wake… the ultimate masked hero who protects world peace wouldn't possibly use a soft Pokémon like Vaporeon. Cross him off."
"That leaves Candice. I remember she had a Glaceon. Wait—let me double-check."
Lumiere searched Candice on his phone, and the results came up quickly.
She was apparently the guardian of Snowpoint Temple, a role passed down through generations, and was quite famous in Snowpoint City.
She also handled the planning and promotion of the local tourism industry. Since Snowpoint City lay at the northernmost part of the Alola-era Sinnoh region, cruise ships touring the region often stopped there to resupply.
By leveraging tourism like that, the city's economy had received a major boost.
"Candice's signature Pokémon is Abomasnow… got it! Glaceon!" Lumiere said, successfully identifying his target from her commonly used Pokémon list.
Now the choice was clear: Sunyshore City or Snowpoint City?
There was no question—Snowpoint City.
Summer was way too hot. Rather than going to the beach, he'd rather go see the snow.
Besides, Volkner was an Electric-type Gym Leader and also the boss of the Ginkgo Guild. Setting aside whether he could even find him—
Even if he did, as a Gym Leader, Volkner would definitely insist on battling first. Otherwise, how would he show off his Jolteon? And Lumiere knew full well he couldn't win.
So it was better to find somewhere cool to stay.
Like Snowpoint City.
And while he was at it, he could take the two Pokémon along to enjoy the snowy scenery…