Continuing their discussion, Yuga and Suzuki refined the details of their plans until it was time for lunch.
At noon, Yuga's aunt, Hisako, visited the shop.
The main reason was that Yuga had gone out without informing her. A couple of days ago, Luna had come looking for Yuga and found he wasn't around. Luna had mentioned this to her own mother, which had made its way to Hisako.
Yuga had been absent for several days, his phone was unreachable, and there had been no response to any messages. This had naturally led to worries on Hisako's part.
"Dear aunt, I just went out to see a friend. There's no need to worry so much. Look, I'm perfectly fine," Yuga said, spinning around to demonstrate his well-being.
Of course, he wouldn't tell his aunt that he hadn't gone to see any friends but had ventured into the desert for an adventure. Besides, apart from Robert, he didn't really have any other friends.
Hisako patted Yuga's back and said, "As long as you're fine. Just let us know next time if you're going somewhere, or you'll needlessly worry us."
Yuga quickly wrapped his arms around Hisako's, trying to appease her. "I understand, I promise next time I won't do this. I guarantee."
Pushing away Yuga's hands from her arm, Hisako continued, "As long as you're safe, that's all that matters. If you do this again next time, I won't...!"
As she spoke, Hisako raised her hand in a playful threat towards Yuga.
Yuga quickly pleaded for mercy, laughing as he said, "I won't, I won't."
Hisako had come over after lunch since she had to return to work in the afternoon. She chatted with Yuga for a while and then left.
After Hisako departed, Yuga got in touch with the person who had previously helped him design the Day Care's website. He wanted to make some modifications to the site.
Yuga had also met this person online. At the time, he had posted a task to design a website, and this person had taken it up.
They had chatted a few times online, and Yuga had found him decent, so they had kept in touch.
"Hey... you there? Brother Seal?"
This person wasn't very talkative. When chatting with Yuga, he generally answered Yuga's questions directly.
Yuga didn't even know his real name; he only knew him by his online name, "Brother Seal." It sounded cute, a complete mismatch with his actual personality.
"I want to make some changes to the website you designed for me. I'd like to make it more polished."
"How do you want to change it?"
Yuga explained his requirements and also provided the Day Care's address. He said, "This is the address of our Day Care. Add it to the location I just mentioned."
"Okay, got it. I'll let you know once the changes are done."
Yuga sent a message after that, "Hey bro, can I ask for a favor?"
"What favor? Go ahead."
"It's , you know, I run a Day Care. I'm thinking of hiring someone to maintain and manage the website. I was wondering if you knew anyone you could introduce to me?"
Adding another message, Yuga continued, "Don't worry, the compensation will be good. I won't mistreat your friend."
Brother Seal hesitated for a moment before replying.
"You? Of course, you're even better. But do you not have any other job?"
"None. As long as it's good on your end, I'm okay."
"If you're willing, then I certainly have no problem. I'm just not sure if you staying with me will be too far since I don't know where you're from."
"I'm currently living in Rustboro City, not far from your place."
"Rustboro City? That's a big city. How did you think of coming to work in my small town?"
Regarding Yuga's question, Brother Seal didn't provide a direct answer. Instead, he replied, "I'll be there in a few days, and I'll have the website changes ready for you to see."
Yuga didn't probe further into why Brother Seal didn't answer his question; after all, everyone had things they preferred not to discuss.
"Okay, I'll be waiting for you to come."
After ending the conversation with Brother Seal, Yuga went to the Ecopark and found Audino.
Yuga: "Audino, I want to create Pokéblocks for the Trapinch and Gligar. Can you help me?"
The Pokéblocks Yuga wanted to make were the ground-type universal Pokéblocks provided by the system as rewards.
Audino naturally agreed after hearing Yuga's request. She was delighted to be of help to Yuga.
In addition to Audino, Yuga also called over the Miltanks and Chimecho. The numbers of Trapinch and Gligar were quite substantial, and Yuga and Audino alone wouldn't be able to handle the workload.
The ingredients required for the ground-type universal Pokéblocks were common fruits. They could be found in the orchard of the main Ecopark and in the desert oasis. There was no need for Yuga to buy them.
The Gligar were responsible for collecting the fruits and placing them in baskets. The Flygons then used their feet to transport the baskets, brimming with fruits, to the main Ecopark and place them in front of Yuga and the others. In no time, they had collected all the required fruits.
Yuga had already prepared the fruit blender required for making the Pokéblocks. When all the fruits were in place, they began their work.
The Miltanks and Chimecho were responsible for chopping the fruits according to Yuga's instructions. The sizes had to be roughly the same, not too big or too small, all chopped into thumb-sized pieces.
As for Chimecho, Yuga had asked it to use its psychic powers to control the knife while chopping the fruits.
Chimecho had recently learned psychic abilities, so its control over its own psychic power was quite rough. Yuga hoped that through this task, it would gradually learn how to use its psychic powers with more precision.
Yuga and Audino's task was to take the different kinds of chopped fruits and place them into the fruit blender in certain proportions. Then, they operated the fruit blender to turn the mixture into Pokéblocks.
The process of creating Pokéblocks wasn't overly complicated, just a bit tedious due to the various steps involved.
The real challenge of making Pokéblocks always lay in acquiring the right recipe. The right combination of fruits and proportions that could create Pokéblocks suitable for the consumption of the Pokémon was a topic of great concern for all breeders.
While many fruit combinations would yield Pokéblocks when mixed and blended, the sheer variety of fruits meant that incorrect recipes could potentially be harmful rather than beneficial for the Pokémon.
As such, the formulation of each Pokéblock recipe was a labor of love for countless breeders.
Just like the Pokéblocks sold by Devon Corp, the ones painstakingly developed by the breeders under their banner were proprietary and confidential, not to be shared outside the company.
All the Pokéblocks consumed by the Pokémon in Yuga's Ecopark were ordered from Devon Corp.