C017 - Exeggutor Travel Agency

*Diiiiing*

For the first time since Pete had stayed at the lab, the doorbell rang. Pete hurriedly flipped some yoseban burger patties and hurried toward the door. However, Vivian beat him to it and shooed him back to the kitchen.

"Oh, that smells heavenly! What do you have on the stove, Vivian?"

Herbert's voice rang out in the hallway, but Vivian was clearly leading him to the kitchen.

"That's not mine, but Pete's doing. He's quite the cook," Vivian responded.

"You know what? I just decided that the travel cost has gone up a bit. I'll take one serving of whatever you're making, and we have a deal," Herbert said in a joking manner.

"I'm sure Pete has enough prepared, right?"

"Yep, I sure do," Pete answered with a smile and got back into it.

"You said it's just flipping these patties until their golden brown, right? Do you want to run to the guest room and see if you packed everything again? Did you check the bathroom?"

"I'll go, but not because I think I missed something but because I know you won't stop nagging," Pete said with a cheeky grin as he handed Vivian the spatula.

"You can't be getting cheeky just cause you're leaving in a bit. I'll remember this, you brat!"

Vivian shouted at his back as he ran to his room.

His six bags were now seven because he had to fill a fifth one with day-to-day items like his clothes and towels, so his seventh bag now held nothing but three empty bags.

He wasn't comfortable with showing his 'wealth' to Herbert, so he left one of his bags of holding out in the open and put the others in a large sack.

It was truly bag-ception in the guestroom with one large sack holding six bags, one of which held three more bags, but it was what it was.

Pete did one last check for the incubators and eggs that he decided he wasn't going to stop hatching and left with one bag only holding clothes for a day, a few necessities and his ID and tablet phone and a giant sack over his shoulder.

"Got it all. Left my toothbrush here, though. I did buy some for myself if you remember correctly," Pete said as he put the sack and the bag down and plopped on a barstool next to Herbert, who had been chatting with Vivian.

"So Pete, Vivian tells me you want to get to Goldenrod but that you won't stay there long. Where is this mystery farm of yours going to be then?"

"Eh, Evergreen Meadow, by Ilex Forest," Pete responded, surprised by Herbert's immediate interest.

"That's a tough cookie to crack. My pa used to tell me that the only reason the meadow even looked like a meadow still was because Celebi kept intervening. Nobody's seen Celebi for years, so who knows if that is even true," Herbert said with a pondering expression.

"Yeah, but I have a plan for that. You know Scarlett Moss, right? I'm planning to get a whole bunch of it and present it to the Ariados as an alternative food source. I was hoping they'll back off from the meadow in the short term until I put down my foundation," Pete explained, not bothered by the fact that he revealed his plan to a stranger.

Vivian had not only vouched for Herbert's integrity, he also gave Pete a nice enough impression from the start.

"Scarlet Moss... I don't get it, but I don't have to. I know a few rangers who constantly tell me how creepy they find it, so they might just help you scrape it off the trees when I say something. Who knows, haha," Herbert eventually shrugged with a laugh.

Pete was surprised at that. As a seemingly well-connected man in the plant and food industry, Pete would have thought Herbert knew about the non-pokemon bugs living in the moss, but it didn't seem to be the case. Or Herbert simply didn't make the connection. But it didn't matter either way.

"Let's talk plants then. The meadow has an almost tropical coastal climate with barely noticeable change of seasons. You can grow almost anything there, I reckon and probably harvest fruits several times a month and crops a few times a month. All-in-all good choice for a farm that wants to do everything. You do want to plant pretty much everything, right?"

"Yeah, crops, regular fruits, berry trees, even different grasses for the strict herbivores, vegetables from roots to stems to leafy veggies and whatever else you might have... I'll have to switch it up every few months, that's for sure," Pete started listing stuff with his fingers, and Herbert's smile grew wider and wider.

"You're going to create a green thumbs' true heaven, are you? You seem to be pretty knowledgeable, so I have no reason to believe you're gonna make your farm grow into an ugly mess. And you're pretty good looking to boot. How about once you're done, I'll use you and your farm as promotional material?"

"You want to put my face on your ads?"

"Don't sell yourself short. I got an eye for this stuff. The fact that you're an assistant professor to boot is just icing on the cake," Herbert praised.

"Can we.. can we delay it for a bit until the farm has solid foundations?"

Pete had to stall the request a little out of self-preservation. He'd have the protection of being Professor Elm's assistant, but even then a farm with countless expensive berry trees was prime material for robbery and people trying to squeeze money out of him.

He'd like his pokemon to be stronger first so they could protect themselves. But not everyone thought of the same thing.

"Oh that's right. The shady family from Unova you got away from... I almost forgot about that," Vivian spoke from stove.

"No worries, if you need some time that's okay for me. We can do the shots from angles where nobody finds out where the farm is and not mention it either later on," Herbert immediately voiced out.

"Uh, yeah... thanks a lot Vivian, Herbert," Pete responded with an awkward scratch on the back of his head.

Pete quickly difused the awkward situation by hurrying to the pan to flip a few patties Vivian had forgot to flip that were about to burn and then he continued busying himself with the food.

Having finally found some vinegar earlier today, Pete made a salad, some fries with the help of Rapidash's rapid air frying technique, and yoseban patties for everyone. It took a while to make so it wasn't technically fast food, but it was close enough.

And since he had three choices with endless possibilities to serve he had passable food for everyone who got something to eat.

After the delightful dinner, Pete, Herbert, Vivian and Professor Elm were standing out the lab's pasture.

Pete started balling all his pokemon one by one except for Solosis who had asked to experience the teleport with him. Herbert had agreed, so two men and two pokemon were about to travel all the way from New Bark Town to Violet City. A distance that should have taken Pete several weeks was about to be overcome in three 'hops'.

"Okay, I won't ask again if you have everything, but do remember to call from time to time, okay?"

Vivian had gotten a little emotional over dinner and was right at this moment dabbing away the tears that were about to spill, like a mother sending off her only son to college on the other side of the country.

"Yeah, remember to let us know if you're doing okay, Pete. Whenever you have troubles, at least shoot me a short message. And remember to collect as much data as possible, hehe," Professor Elm said to try and lighten the mood a little for Vivian. And it worked. His wife playfully slapped his arm in mock anger.

Herbert took out a one of a kind green/pink pokeball that Pete couldn't match to any pokeball he knew from the games. Maybe it was just painted in the pokemon's own colors because from it, Herbert called out a chubby coconut tree with several derpy faces on the pink-ish beige coconuts.

"Okay, don't worry, professor. I'll leave your new star assistant in one piece," Herbert joked as Pete finished his goodbyes.

"Ready, Pete?" Herbert asked with a grin as he touched the trunk of his Exeggutor's form.

Pete looked to Solosis, hoisted the big sack over his shoulder, and touched the trunk as well. Solosis apparently received permission from the coconut tree pokemon to ride among its heads, so that's where she sat.

With one powerful pull that dragged him into Exeggutor and one powerful push that spit him back out, Pete was suddenly standing somewhere completely different.

"Let it out, first jump is always a bother," Herbert said with a chuckle as Pete bent over touching his knees. He didn't have to empty his stomach, but it did come close. The sensation was like a roller coaster ride condensed into a single moment, but somehow, that also made it a little better at the same that it was worse. Because it was also over in an instant, instead of dragging it out.

"Phew, you say the next ones get better?"

"Yep."

"I'll take your word for it... where are we?"

"Usually, the two of us take the shortest route and teleport in a straight line. But I thought you would appreciate a kind of tour. Look behind you," Herbert suggested with a chuckle.

"Wow... Cherrygrove City?"

"Yeah. Somewhere between routes 29 and 30 on a hill. Quite the sight with the sun so low, right?"

And it was. With the sun slowly getting low in the west, bathing the coast near Cherrygrove City in golden light, the metropolis looked breathtaking. And so much bigger than New Bark Town, too. Equally as impressive as the City and the glittering waves bathed in the light of the setting sun was the mountain on the horizon on the other side of the Alph mountain delta.

The delta wasn't named in the games, but with the planet being so much bigger than the game and there being much more detail than a game for a handheld console from 1999.

Technically, the mountain wasn't named either, but it did exist and was home to both the Union Cave between routes 32 and 33, which was also an exit to the Ruins of Alph. So it made sense that the mountain was named the ruins or vice-versa.

"You drank in the sights?"

"Yeah, and thanks," Pete said with a warm smile as he leaned his hand against Exeggutor for support.

The feeling from before started again, and this time was not prepared for it.

"Haha, thanked me too early, eh?"

"Ugh... why," Pete whined and once more toppled over grasping his own knees so he wouldn't fall over.

"I didn't tell my wife I'd have dinner somewhere else, which is why I wanted to leave around dinner time. Now we're both gonna be miserable when we arrive," Herbert said with an evil chuckle.

"Oh yeah, before you ask. We're somewhere close to the Dark Caves on route 30," Herbert said before Exeggutor stepped forward and touched Pete's side with its trunk.

"Wait a se-"

Pete was once again whisked away, but this time, Pete couldn't keep standing. He quickly sat on his butt and heaved heavily. His large sack holding the bags almost spilled over, but Solosis was apparently fine after those two teleports back to back and gently put the sack to the side.

"Welcome, Pete. To Violet City and, more importantly, to my humble abode," Herbert said with a grand gesture that Pete couldn't appreciate right at that moment.

"Herbert! You're late! Do you have any idea how worried I was? And your food is all mushy now. You know when I finish dinner in this house!" A loud voice rang through the air, getting angrier and angrier with every word.

"Isabelle, wait a second. We have a guest! I swear I didn't do it on purpose. I was tempted to try a dish I never had-"

"You ATE without me?"

"No honey, please hear me out for just a sec-!"

"Dinner time is family time, Herbert!"

"Yes, I know that, it was just-"

"Are you telling me you found something more important than family!?"

"No honey, please... I just..."