29 C029 - Wrapping up the first day in Goldenrod City

"I can't believe it. This was only the second time I've seen Hyper Beam in my entire life! And, the only other time was a Dragonite trained by Lance, the Elite Four dragon trainer!"

Whitney was completely out of it. She had been screaming in disbelief for the entire return trip to the lake, the short wait for more Girafarig, and subsequent trip to Goldenrod City.

Sophie was impressed with the move but was too busy playing with Azurill now that Whitney had relinquished her choke hold of the poor baby pokemon.

Jasmine was once again quiet, but she, too, had a feverish expression. As an aspiring gym leader, having a pokemon who knows Hyper Beam would be a big deal. Internally, she was weighing the pros and cons of asking Pete and his Rapidash to teach the move to her Onix.

"I mean, Rapidash still has to train the move. That should have been her first use," Pete, who had two Marill riding on his shoulder, said for the Xth time.

This was the first visit to a city for the two Marill, and they were excitedly pointing at everything. Sometimes, they even grabbed Pete's ear to have him go somewhere so they could get a better look. That included a novelty trashcan in the look of a Golbat. Solosis, the only other pokemon Pete had out right now, was amused when Pete had to palm his face.

"That's still so super impressive, Pete! Hyper Beam is usually only taught by the leader of a super powerful tribe to their direct offspring, and those kinds of pokemon are way too proud to join a trainer normally. Why would they? They know Hyper Beam! They are the top of the foodchain," Whitney was screaming again. Thankfully, they were on the road leading to the hotel now, and there were barely any people close by.

"Yeah, once she trains the move a little more, Rapidash will be in a league of her own," Jasmine added with a firm nod.

"Haaa, hey Whitney. I know this is a little abrupt, but do you know a reputable construction company in the city that could start on a project this week?" Pete asked to try to change the subject. They've been talking about it for a bit now, and Pete wasn't really ready to talk about the TM and the TM-CD for the move he had yet.

"Yeah, I do. But when I refer you, you'll have Rapidash try and train my pokemon for an afternoon," Whitney demanded with a pout.

"Hey, isn't it enough that I got a cute little Girafarig to join your team?"

When they were at the lake to pick up Girafarig and the others who didn't join for the trip to the Miltank herd, two Girafarig had joined Pete's Girafarig.

A father and his young daughter, it turned out, and Whitney was immediately smitten with the daughter. After a long discussion, Whitney managed to convince the pair to follow her instead of staying with Pete and his Girafarig.

She had even promised to have them taught Teleport with a TM so they could visit anytime. Pete would have fought the notion of the two Girafarig not joining him, but he was okay with having a few less pokemon to worry about for now. And who knew? Exeggutor would teleport both him and Girafarig to the lake tomorrow morning to see if there were still any other survivors.

"Ugh, can't you be a little less reasonable? Ugh, okay! Here, I'll forward you a number. Ask for Luna. She's my interior designer, but she and her father build houses, too," Whitney complied as she forwarded a contact to Pete's tablet.

Pete's first stop at the hotel was the pasture to release all his old and new pokemon. That included an Azurill, two Marill, a Girafarig, and two Miltank. What a fruitful trip.

Pete's food reserves were running low, so he told his pokemon to bear with it as he ordered the premium food from the hotel instead of making his own. The Farfetch'd were very understanding and saluted Pete. But only because he gifted the three birds a reserve leek he had bought in the city earlier.

After that, Pete went up to his room with only the Marill family coming along. They were too curious to look at everything and didn't want to stay in the pasture.

The girls were right now freshening up for dinner at the hotel restaurant, so Pete did the same. In the hotel room, he transferred the two Miltank eggs he had received to his bag holding the other eggs and checked up on the incubators. None of his other eggs were hatching.

Usually, an egg takes somewhere between a week to hatch for weaker pokemon like Caterpie or up to fifteen weeks for stronger pokemon like Dratini. So he still couldn't say there was anything wrong with the other eggs.

To get it over with, Pete called the number Whitney had forwarded him. Sadly though, it seemed like Luna was currently out, so Pete had to talk it out with her father Carl.

"Okay, so you'll meet with me at Goldenrod City southern gate tomorrow morning at 8?" Pete asked again to make sure. This Carl person didn't really sound like a reliable contractor.

"*No problemo, dude. I'll be there as sure as a Wingull when you drop some fries,*" Carl answered with a weird sing-song voice.

"And you will bring your daughter Luna?"

"*Yeah, yeah. You asked like ten times already. She'll be there, too. Are you trying to set up a secret date with my pretty munchkin?*"

"Haaa, no, I'm not. I need you guys to build a farmhouse and some other stuff for me," Pete answered with a sigh. This call really took a lot of energy out of him.

*knock knock*

A minute after he hung up on Carl, someone knocked on the door.

"Peeeete~! Hurry up, we're all hungry," Whitney's voice came through the door as he walked to it.

"Coming," Pete shouted back as he picked up the keycard for his room and the bag with his tablet and ID.

The food turned out to be very delicious. Pete was an okay cook, but compared to the chef of such a high-class hotel, he naturally couldn't hold a candle. During the meal, Pete had retold his tiring call with Carl, and Whitney could only answer with giggles.

"I told you to ask for Luna. Her father is an amazing foreman, but his people skills are... kinda bad," Whitney said between chuckles.

"Yeah, well, Luna was out," Pete huffed back.

"Tihi, that's what he always says. But 9 out of 10 times, he just says that, hahaha. Nobody would hold a conversation, hehehe, with him if he wouldn't do it like that," Whitney squeezed out between laughs.

"Sounds like you got got, Pete," Sophie chimed in with an amused expression.

"Haa, okay, anyway. I'll meet them at 8. I'll be at the lake before that with Exeggutor and Girafarig, so please leave him out in the pasture if you don't want me to wake you that early," Pete answered with a roll of his eyes.

"Ugh, why don't you start your days a little later?" Sophie groaned.

"We should be a little more like him instead," Jasmine sighed. She wouldn't deny that she was terrible at getting out of bed early, but she really wanted to get better at it. If not to get more training done, then at least to have more time with Pete right now.

They finished the dinner and said goodbye to Whitney. The gym leader really only wanted to eat lunch outside today but instead spent her entire day away and even caught two new pokemon she was eager to introduce to her other pokemon.

It was a good thing that there were no fights scheduled for today. Before she left, she once again reminded Pete of the training session for Hyper Beam she had blackmailed out of him and left with a giant smile.

Pete excused himself from the twins and went toward the massage parlor of the hotel after picking up a robe from his hotel room. He had asked around earlier, but only the two Miltank were comfortable with a massage here at the hotel. Maybe that would change once the two Miltank brought back good reviews.

The masseuse for Pete was a middle-aged man who did a decent job. His Marill, however, got a show of two giant Machoke kneeding the two Miltank into cow-shaped pudding. Pete was a little disturbed by the sounds the two newest additions to his team were making on the other side of the paper room divider.

Once he stepped outside with a conflicted expression after asking the two Machoke to bring his Miltank to the hotel's pasture once they woke up, Pete put on some swim trunks and went to the hot spring bath of the hotel.

He was relaxing in the hot water with the Marrill and Azurill floating around him in bliss as he heard two voices getting closer.

"That mud bath was kinda weird. The Quagsire was just staring at us with his tongue out the entire time."