"No." Thump. "No, no." Thump, thump.

Kneeling down next to one of the boxes, Chu-e was busy digging through the books. He would toss whatever books he wasn't interested in over his shoulder- which was caught in the air with a pulse of psychic energy from his Delphox, who was busy standing guard at his back. It led to quite the spectacle, the pokemon hovering dozens of books in the air as his trainer dug for more.

A frustrated groan left Chu-e and he pushed the box away; the books were quickly and neatly stacked back into the box by the fox pokemon as his trainer moved to the next one. It was not the one that @zhao was looking through, but it was the one next to it. Much like before, Chu-e would pick up a book, squint at the cover, then toss it over his shoulder for his pokemon to catch.

"Hah?" When someone spoke to him, Chu-e glanced up to meet @zhao's eyes. A book would be half over his shoulder, many already floating around him, and he would pause and blink at the other. Then he would glance back at the box, almost as if he forgot what he was even doing to start with.

"... oh! Yes, please!" Reaching into his pocket, Chu-e pulled out his phone. On the screen was a picture of a book, an older looking guide to plant pokemon, which had been out of print for a while...

"I'm looking for this book! A lot of people online said it has the best and most detailed care plan guide for Budew! I heard a rumor that there might be a copy here, but I can't seem to find it..."

"Damn. Well, guess I'll have to look online..." Chu-e perked up, eying @zhao. "Or just take you up on that offer!" He grinned, triumphant that he would have some type of success.

"I'm trying to coax the little girl to evolve into a Roserade to help my friend out. I've been... holding her, kissing her little head, petting her, feeding her expensive food, saying nice things to her, making sure she gets lots of sunlight... but nothing so far! And they're so delicate, I don't want to try and make her use those evo steroids from the stores." He sighed lightly.

"I'm starting to thing she just doesn't like me, or maybe I just have the opposite of a green thumb."

"Hmm... well, I've not battled with her at all. I've only been feeding her store-bought food because I don't know how to make food for grass types myself. She wasn't too happy when I tried to feed her the stuff I made for my Igglybuff, for example." But, what @zhao was saying made sense. With his own inexperience, he would need to attack this at a different angle to see what she needed.

"She's quite shy... hmm... actually, I have her with me. Would you care to take a look at her?" If this guy had a big knowledge-base then Chu-e was going to abuse it for all he could.

Even before making sure the other agreed, Chu-e was pulling out a pokeball; in a flash of red, the Budew was in his arms. She whined and tried to hide her face against his chest, trembling. He gently shushed her and gave her little pats to help calm her down.

"Oh, that would be nice." Again, with a little pat, Chu-e snuggled the Budew into his arms. "Someone told me to put her in my garden, so whenever I'm out there I take her with me. She seems to like that, too."

Chu-e gave a small smile down at the grass type and reached a hand out to her, so the Sunflora could choose if she wanted the attention or not. From behind Chu-e, the Delphox was looming over him, narrowed eyes glowering at @zhao and his pokemon, full of mistrust. Chu-e either seemed to not notice or mind that his pokemon was doing this.

"Ah, I've just realized- I never gave my name!" Instead, Chu-e offered his hand to Zhao to shake. "Ji-Hoon Ki! Nice to meet you."

A laugh was startled from Chu-e at the slap. Thankfully, he didn't seem like the type to be offended by such things.

"Me? Oh, not too much! I do a lot of reading, watch some cooking shows, and I've been trying hard to learn how to cook!" Which... wasn't a lie. These were all things that Chu-e did in his spare time. Maybe he didn't mention how he would spend hours playing match 3 games on his phone or how he would use the lazer pointer on his plethora of cat pokemon, but Chu-e's free time was mostly more innocent than one would think.

In fact, his eyes had lit up at the mention of his hobbies.

"I'm planning on trying out this new recipe and that reminds me! I need to pick up some soft tofu after this! I only have medium and firm at my place and those just won't work for what I plan on doing." As he spoke, Chu-e gently placed his Budew on the ground again, easing her a little closer to the Sunflora.

The budew, for her part in this, sniffled but did totter forward. She hesitated before seeming to realize that the Sunflora was like her- then she quickly darted forward and pressed her tiny body against the other plant pokemon, still trembling. Poor thing. She was very scared! Everything was so big and so bright and so loud and she just wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing. It was a lot for one tiny plant.

"I guess today's trip was worth it, even if I didn't get that book, then." He laughed softly at that. "Nothing too complicated! Just a soft tofu and egg mix that I can pour over some rice. I want to try something simple before moving on to the more complicated things."

Glancing away, Chu-e seemed almost flustered to admit what he was making.

"It's something my mom used to make a lot as a kid, too. I wanted to learn how to make it for myself."

@zhao