Chapter 89: Perfume

Third week of February, Friday.

We decided to the remainder of this week to let Growlithe and Porygon get familiar with our other Pokemon, as well me getting used to how Growlithe battles. Growlithe also got attached to me really quickly. I wonder if this was part of the befriending ability I received when I reincarnated here. If that is indeed the case, then maybe the plan I have for Zubat might change. I was planning to hold off on its training until we reached Celadon City since it was known to have the biggest stores in Kanto.

I was planning to buy Zubat a Soothe Bell. But I wonder, if my ability is truly tied to the friendliness level, perhaps I don't need one after all? The Soothe Bell makes Pokemon become more friendly with its Trainer over time, about twice as fast as one would otherwise. I don't know the ratio of the ability mine gives, but lets say its triple the amount. That make me wonder even more, if I gain triple the boosted friendship level, and give Zubat the Soothe Bell, would both factor into itself, multiplying it, would it make it six times as effective? (A/N: Not a math genius, here, if you multiply two ratio factors into each other, that becomes six times as effective and not five times, right?)

To be honest, I do kind of want to test that out. So maybe I'll still purchase the Soothe Bell during our shopping. My to get list was quite big at this point.

Fire Stone for Growlithe.

An Upgrade and Dubious Disc for Porygon's evolution line.

Three Eevee Eggs.

Potentially three elemental stones for said Eevee Eggs.

A Metal Coat for Scyther.

Another Moon Stone for Nidorina, just in case Lillie does decide to evolve her Clefairy with the one I gave her already.

I should probably pick up another Fire Stone and Ice Stone, just in case for Sapphire and Snowy too. Who knows when Serena and Lillie will want to evolve them.

Pokeballs, medicine, berries, and the bunch. As our roster grows, the more we will eventually have to shop for.

With that, I concluded my thoughts, and opened my eyes to start the day. I immediately saw Growlithe curled up at the head of my pillow. Growlithe grew pretty attached to me during this one week of training after catching it. Beside it was Clefairy who was at the head of Lillie's pillow while Torracat was at the head of Serena's. Besides that, Amber, Snowy and Sapphire slept on the floor next to us.

Unless we were having our nightly fun, we would typically let out our Pokemon to sleep like this. I took this time to wake everyone up as usual. We got cleaned up, and after enjoying breakfast in the tent and feeding our Pokemon, we recalled them and packed everything up.

Serena did say it would take about half a day from her judgement, and sure enough we exited Route 7 around noon, and approached the vast market city. However, that wasn't the only thing Celadon was known for. It was known for its beauties, as every single one of the Trainers in Celadon Gym was female, including the Gym Leader herself, Erika. Besides that, the only other female Gym Leaders were Misty and Sabrina.

And it was because of a certain product this Gym creates on a regular basis did it become renown in Celadon City, causing crowds of girls to swoop in and buy it. After admiring the bustling city along with its high-rises, we were soon attracted by nice scents coming from multiple directions. Serena took a good whiff of it, becoming surprised.

"These scents....is this perfume?", Serena asked, surprised. "Every one of them smell really nice. It's like I'm about to dive into a field of flowers.", Serena complimented.

"That's right. Celadon City is known for making its perfume and cologne, isn't it?", Lillie asked.

"Teehee, you are right about that. Interested in taking in a sample?", A near by seller asked. We soon saw a rather pretty blond haired woman. As the main streets bustled with people, we approached the shop this girl was working at. She then took a good look at Serena and Lillie, before nodding her head.

"You two do well to keep up your beauty. And the pale skinned one, you're just like a deep sea pearl. I think I know which one to give you already~,", the seller said while clapping her hands. She then went to her near by trays on the small table in front of the store, which appeared to have several samples to try out. After reaching two bottles, she came back.

"This first one is called Midsummer's Blues, while this second one is Daffodil's Dream. Please have a try.", the salesgirl said. Serena and Lillie looked at me for a moment and I nodded my head, saying it was fine. The two smiled and took their respective samples given to them. Serena and Lillie both sprayed them on their hands, and almost immediately we were given two more scents to enjoy.

Serena's eyes lit up while Lillie's expression became very relaxed, and she even closed her eyes.

"Amazing, it really is like I'm entering a field of flowers. Just like I'd be in the middle of Floaroma Town!", Serena said, complimenting it.

"Mmm. It's almost like I'm back at the sandy beaches again in Alola...", Lillie said, enjoying the scent of hers as well, which caused the salesgirl to blink.

"Wow, you're likely, really from Alola? That's quite far from here. What made you come to Celadon City?", The salesgirl decided to ask.

"Well, I'm actually from Kalos unlike Lillie, but believe it or not we're Trainers. We decided to start our journey here in Kanto thanks to Itsuki here.", Serena said, explaining a bit. This caused the salesgirl to look toward me.

"Trainers huh? We get Trainers all the time to our perfumery. So, how about it, handsome? Your friends are enjoying our perfume samples, we have plenty cologne for men to try too.", The salesgirl suggested, which caused me to scratch my head.

"Haha, to be honest I have never tried on cologne before, so I wouldn't even know where to begin.", I replied with a chuckle. However, hearing this, I only saw the salesgirl's eyes light up.

"So like, all of this is your natural look? If that's the case we got people with more expertise inside the store. If you guys aren't busy, want to come in?", The salesgirl asked.

Hearing that, I looked back at Serena and Lillie, who looked back at me.

"Well, we just got to Celadon City and we have our own shopping list to attend to. But I don't see why we can't go in now.", I said back to her.

"Excellent! Let's head on in and I'll bring someone over for you!", The salesgirl said excitedly, as if she had just found more new customers. Well perhaps she did, haha! It wouldn't hurt to purchase goods like these too, if we ever decide to have more fancy dates in the future. Especially in high end restaurants. I mean, I know we are on a journey to experience Pokemon battles and all that, but that isn't what journeying is about.

It's experiencing the regions whether independently or with partners, what it has to offer. Pokemon battling is just one aspect of that. And so is training. Besides those two, exploring various landmarks, enjoying dates, shopping, anything one can think of. And now that I think about it, this perfumery is very familiar for some reason. And besides this perfumery visit, we will do our own shopping of course. There is also a potential matter I may get to while Serena and Lillie are busy elsewhere.

Taking a bit to look besides the surrounding high-rises and open markets where many people gathered to peruse different types of goods, the main towering superstore could be seen further down, the giant department mall. And in-between those, I could see a colorful building with fancy display lights.

The Game Corner.

Seeing this building in the distance, I could only let out an sigh. It was very likely this place belonged to Team Rocket. I know I said as long as they wouldn't interfere with us directly, we wouldn't interfere with them. But knowing my other identity, part of me still wants to drop in, to check on what they've been doing as of late.

It's been oddly quiet without hearing much news of Team Rocket as of late, typically one would hear an incident or two from them every so often. That strange burst of psychic energy back at Viridian City as well, was that really part of Mewtwo's unveiling, or perhaps this was tied something else entirely?

Yet at this time, I had no idea that a oddly clothed person with a Pokeball-like afro was conspiring with Team Rocket... (A/N: Insert Miror B theme here)

"Itsuki?", Lillie asked, which wiped away my current thoughts, seeing that I turned quiet. I quickly shook my head a bit and spoke out.

"It's nothing. Let's head in. For some reason I'm getting a familiar feeling with this perfumery.", I said. Lillie nodded and we proceeded to walk into the store.

We could see several beautiful girls scattered around the first floor, while a few of them were actually wearing different colored kimonos. If one had a close look at these few, these few had name tags on their outfits, signaling that they were also workers of this perfumery. Everyone looked at us before going about their daily business again.

"Wait here for a moment, 'kay?", the first salesgirl said, before vanishing into the back. We decided to have a look around, only to get interrupted by a rather calm voice after the next couple of moments passed.

"Oh my, you three definitely aren't regulars here. I always find joy in bringing new potential customers to this store. You must be the one who is new to this as well.", A calm voice said, only to reveal a black haired girl wearing a kimono as well. Except the moment we saw this girl, all three of us became surprised.

She had smooth black hair, with part of it being held up by a ribbon on the frontside of her head, letting her bangs get tucked down beneath it. Her hair was cut diagonally toward her chin. The kimono she wore was yellow on the upper half and maroon on the bottom half.

"I am indeed the one who is new to using cologne. But I wasn't expecting to see you here, or should I say it's as expected, Miss Erika?", I said.

"You know me? Fufu, I guess a lot would, knowing that the three of you are Trainers. You guys complimented our perfumes, and I am grateful for that. But yes, I am Erika, the store manager here.", Erika said, introducing herself with a bow while holding onto her kimono.

That's right, the person that just came into our view was none other than Erika! That's why I felt this place was familiar. Turns out this was Erika's perfumery. And not only that, this is the same Erika who belongs to Celadon City Gym. Erika is its Gym Leader!

*

Here comes Team Rocket?

Don't forget to drop those power stones!