25 C025 - Goldenrod City

"You girls have everything you need?" Isabelle looked at her two daughters. Sophie had a stylish bag in the form of a cute, pink bagpack. Jasmine had two shoulder bags on her, both of them bags of holding, one of which had a quick-access pokeball function for her Onix and Corsola.

Both girls were once again wearing the same thing. This time, they both had charcoal grey leggings and sports bras that were hidden by baggy shirts that were short enough to expose their midriff. Goldenrod City at this time of year was near tropical in climate, after all.

Pete had already packed up camp and balled his pokemon after lunch except for Solosis. Growlithe had agreed to stay with him under the condition that she would be trained, same as Nidorino. Both pokemon were given the opportunity to learn the TM Fire Blast earlier after breakfast.

Equipped with all his bags in the large sack to hide his true wealth, Pete was ready to teleport with the girls.

"Okay, girls, I wired some money to your IDs. Spend it responsibly. I also already paid your hotel, so don't let them tell you otherwise," Herbert said as he walked out of the mansion with Exeggutor following him leisurly.

"Here, catch," Herbert warned as he threw a pokeball to Jasmine.

"It's Exeggutor's ball. If you come across a situation where he can't be out but also shouldn't be too far, ball him instead of sending him away," he advised, likely not the first time.

"Thanks, dad. I already know," Jasmine responded with a solemn nod.

"Oh honey, I also managed to get find two Rhyhorn eggs, a Phanpy, and a Gligar for sale. The Phanpy is from a reputed breeder from Ecruteak City. The Gligar was a wild catch, but apparently, she isn't too fond of male trainers? They haven't found out for sure. I also have a lead on a Numel that was badly mistreated and rescued from a hooligan who was abusing it. Do you want me to get them for you and keep an eye out on the Numel?"

Jasmine's eyes glittered with excitement.

"Where are they all right now?"

"The Numel is currently with the rangers at the Safari Zone. They noticed the trainer whipping his pokemon and the Numel not reacting at all. He was from Hoenn, and they don't know more as of yet. The Phanpy is still on the farm in Ecruteak, Gligar is similarly in Ecruteak at this moment. The eggs are already getting delivered, though you could likely pick them up in Goldenrod City since you're going," Herbert explained.

"I'd like to take a look and see if they would even allow me to train them, especially the poor Numel," Jasmine decided.

"Alright, message sent. If they agree, Numel will meet you in Goldenrod City, same as the eggs. With Phanpy and Gligar, I'll have to call first. Maybe we could have Exeggutor teleport you over or the sellers to you. Maybe they have their own transport. I'll let you know as soon as possible," Herbert immediately answered.

"Thank you, dad," Jasmine meekly thanked her father for all the effort and likely money he had put into this matter.

"Ha! I didn't get rich to horde all the money like a dragon. And imagine how much I could brag when my youngest daughter becomes a gym leader! Worth every pokedollar in my book," Herbert non-chalantly waved his hand as if what he did wasn't a big deal.

But only he knew how many people he contacted and how many favors he offered to hear back as soon as possible. Yet he greatly enjoyed how much passion Jasmine radiated this morning when she told Herbert and Isabelle about her talks with Pete yesterday and about the typing she could choose to specialize in.

Jasmine told Pete yesterday that she would need to think about it first, but she already went to bed knowing that she would rather choose the ground typing. Pete had muttered so many cool combos after all, and she couldn't wait to make them a reality.

"Psh, we all know who rakes in the money in the family," Isabelle muttered with a pout. She wouldn't admit it, but Herbert had greatly outdone her with the pokemon he had managed to find for Jasmine on such short notice.

She still had her feelers out but wanted to keep it from everyone before she found some cool ground pokemon, now that Jasmine had shown interest in getting more pokemon.

"Okidoki then. You'll message us when you find out where Jasmine needs to be? In that case we should get going!" Sophie interjected. She was eager to spend all the pocketmoney they got on yummy treats, new clothes and the like.

"Can't wait to finally get rid of dad, can you?" Herbert said with fake tears in his eyes.

"Ugh, yeah, you're right," Sophie admitted with a roll of her eyes.

"Stop before your father takes it serious," Isabelle admonished with a wink as she hugged her daughter.

She moved on to Jasmine, while a crying Herbert grabbed Sophie in a bear hug.

"Okay then. Pete, look out for our daughters please. Don't let them get into too much mischief. Especially Sophie," Herbert eventually pleaded with a wink only Pete was supposed to see.

A bit more family bonding later, Exeggutor teleported the group to a large beach resort in two hops. All three humans looked a little pale, but it wasn't their first teleport so they held it in.

"You got us to Luvdisc Seaside first so we can drop off our extra luggage?" Pete asked as he looked to Exeggutor. The coconut palm tree pokemon hummed in agreement and started walking toward the hotel.

Pete, Jasmine, Sophie followed along and checked into the hotel. Their rooms, Pete's too, were already paid for and right next door to each other. Even their balconies were pretty much connected if you would just hop over the railing.

Since this was a rather expensive hotel with great security, Pete unloaded his sack and prepared two bags for the trip to the city and the following trip to the East of Goldenrod in the hopes of finding a few Miltank.

Pete felt bad for Rapidash and the other bigger pokemon, but they would have to stay in the pokeball for a little while longer. He could leave them on hotel's very own grassland pasture, but he wanted to keep them close for their trip later.

Only Zorua and Solosis were outside their balls right now. Zorua used its ability to look like a very young version of Pete, somewhere between toddler and kindergartener. Pete had to admit, Zorua nailed the look.

"Aww, look at how cute he looks~" Sophie gushed as she stepped past Pete to take a closer look at the transformed Zorua.

Jasmine didn't say anything, but she kept stealing glances at Zorua as well.

When they were outside the hotel once more, Jasmine took out Exeggutor to get them closer to Goldenrod City. They could see the skyline of the city from the hotel, but it would be a good half an hour walk, maybe more, to reach the city. And why not use the truly convenient form of travel Teleport.

Once inside the city, they did a whole lot of windowshopping. In an electronics appliance store, Pete bought a non-Rotom washing machine that barely fit inside bag but was well worth it at P$315. He also found a self-expanding, highly durable water tank for his future housing that a water pokemon could fill up comfortably. With a few hose options that came with it, the tank cost Pete P$530. The water heater module for the tank cost an additional P$300, the plug would fit the generator Pete had found at the very beginning. A nice find, because Pete still wasn't all too sure about the plumbing in his future home.

The three eventually went to a cute-sy restaurant with pink ribbons everywhere. Sophie had demanded that they visit this establishment at all costs. The atmosphere in the restaurant itself was very jolly and the food tasted pretty decent, but especially looked good on top of the taste.

"Hey look, Jasmine. Your future colleague," Pete whispered as he spotted a young woman with pink hair in short pigtails.

Since Pete bent over to whisper in Jasmine's ear, he didn't see Sophie standing up and running to Whitney, the city's gym leader.

"Excuse me. I don't want to be a bother, but where did you buy those earrings? I desperately want to buy a pair! They look so super adorable!"

Sophie didn't mean to, but she was loud enough that a good quarter of patrons, Pete and Jasmine included, looked toward Sophie and Whitney.

Whitney looked a little shocked. When people stopped her, it was because she was the 'respected gym leader' of their city. Nobody had stopped her for her self-proclaimed godly fashion sense before.

When the normal type gym leader fully understood that there was indeed someone interested in her choice of cute clothes, her eyes became stars.

"Ah! It's a little boutique next to the mall. You can easily overlook it next to all those big stores. No wonder you didn't find Shiny Shinies yet! It's my absolute favorite shop in the entire city. Everything they sell is super adorbs!"

Pete looked at this situation with furrowed brows. If he didn't play his cards right, Sophie would derail the whole day into a shopping trip.