48 C048 - Plans upon plans after completing a plan

A few days later, it was time for Professor Elm's visit. Since the Meowth was out of the sack, Pete had discussed logistics with him a little, and the professor agreed to bring a few things he hadn't thought to bring before. Most important of all were his pokemon.

To get full research potential out of his TM, Professor Elm had ordered several TMs of every typing. And to round out what he is able to teach his pokemon who were eager to train, Pete had asked if the professor could bring some TMs with him.

Goldenrod's stores didn't have too much diversity in what they sold to the public, and Pete, who could have maybe asked Whitney but didn't, had no connections with Silph Co or Devon Corp at this point in time.

Pete's pokemon, at least some of them, had made sparring, and team-battles their go-to hobby if they weren't helping out on the farm. For that, they had even created a battlefield near the lake where Pete usually swam with his Milotic. Those battle-hungry pokemon of his were eager to get new sparring partners with the tribe leaders the professor was the trainer of. Jasmine's pokemon were no exception to that.

For battle pokemon that would likely accompany him on his trips to other regions, Nidoking was the clear leader. The three Farfetch'd and surprisingly the shiny Miltank were close behind, but all four of them were rather young Pete had deduced in his time spent with them.

His shiny Duosion was, of course, exluded from the list because no matter what, Duosion would accompany Pete. His first pokemon in this world had only ever grown closer to him since her training bore fruit, and she learned almost every typing all of his pokemon were capable of. So far only dark and dragon type energy eluded her.

Sunflora used to have a very apparent drive to become stronger for a short while, but that more or less stopped with his evolution just as quickly. Now, he was simply content with tending to Pete's berry trees, using Life Dew on his vegetable beds, and socializing with the Glooms, Vileplumes, and Bellossoms.

But there was still a grass pokemon in Pete's team that was more than eager to battle: Snivy. Frustrated with his inability to learn Dragon Claw, it had surprisingly taught itself the dragon move Twister two days after having 'learned' the TM.

Only very few pokemon of his were able to figure out how to use dragon type energy through the TM. Those who did got a few tips from Pete on how to form moves with it. He described the moves Dragon Breath and Dragon Pulse to them, as well as Dragon Rush and Dragon Tail with the Breaking Swipe variant.

The Milotic were the only ones making any progress with it, but it was still too early to tell. Especially since Snivy would probably figure out even more moves the moment he evolved.

The Marill, no it should be Azumarill, the Azumarill family would likely also want to tag along, if only for the fact they would love to see the world. That might also be true to Zorua and the two Minccino, but they had recently started competing in who would build the more comfortable nest with the towels and pillows Luna had brought when she finished the interior design for Pete.

Speaking of that, yesterday was the day the rush order for the sky light glasses from Cianwood finally arrived, and Luna and Carl had finished the house in record time.

Well, it would have been record time in Pete's old world, but with pokemon and some miraculous items, it wasn't unheard of to build a two bedroom house in less than four days.

Instead, they had finished a one master bedroom, two bathroom, and four guest room house with a giant open kitchen and a study/lab above it in a glass dome in a good week as promised. And, Pete already had plans to increase the size of it all.

It wasn't strictly an extension of the house, but he would start building a sort of stable with his own hands and the help of his pokemon soon. A stable that would lead to a big warehouse-esque room inside the hill, same as with Herbert's company, and would be connected to the hallway of his house.

Winter didn't really lead to snow and frost in the climate of the Evergreen Meadow, but some of his pokemon would likely still prefer to have shelter from the cold and rain of the winter time.

Did he want an outdoor bath or even hotspring mayb-

"What are you thinking about?"

Jasmine's voice roused Pete from his musings. Right at this moment, he was on the first floor of the glass dome at his work desk, but no reports or other files were open on it or the tablet sitting in his lap. Clearly, Pete was just sitting here.

"Hmm? Oh, it's just with the house done there's still so much to do! I was thinking about what to prioritize," Pete answered with a warm smile as he faced the young gym-trainer-to-be.

"Oh? How high on the list is helping my sister get a Milotic?" Jasmine asked with a wide grin.

"Ugh! I don't know if there are other Feebas in the lake just yet. I still can't believe your sister thought it was a good idea to start with an insult and then offer to make them prettier. Those two Feebas looked so heartbroken as they fled the shore," Pete responded with an exasperated sigh.

"Can't your Milotic call them over again? I feel like they would listen to them. And Sophie could try her tactic again, this time start out with her offer because she already said the hurtful words," Jasmine offered while surpressing her snicker.

"Yeah, can't hurt to try... let's hope she is convincing," Pete relented as he picked up a bag and placed his tablet inside.

"Let's go grab your sister."

An hour later, Pete and Jasmine were watching Sophie stand in the lake in a bikini, anxiously waiting for Pete's Milotic to come back. Growlithe was on Pete's lap, getting her fur brushed with a blissful expression on her face.

"What do you think her chances are?" Pete asked in a quiet voice to not disturb Growlithe's relaxed mood.

"Pretty good. She told me her game plan just now, and I think it could work," Jasmine whispered back.

Eventually, the two Milotic popped out of the water with two Feebas following behind.

"Ah! There you two are! Wa- WAIT! Don't flee again! Please let me finish my point from before! I'm so sorry for being so insulting the other day," Sophie pleaded as the two Feebas turned tearful at seeing Sophie's face and were about to spin around and swim away.

"Look at me, I'm really pretty, right? That's because I hold the secrets to becoming pretty!" Sophie continued as the Feebas stayed behind reluctantly.

Pete looked to Jasmine as if asking if Sophie was serious, but Jasmine, her identical twin, just kept looking ahead with a slight blush on her face for the shameless proclamation of her sister. She didn't dare to face Pete after she had told him she approved of her sisters chances after hearing her plan.

"You see, come closer, and I'll share that secret with you two. The two Milotic next to you, I can make you just as pretty as them," Sophie offered with a conspiratorial grin.

The two Feebas looked at each other and then to the two super pretty Milotic in envy. As if deciding that their life wasn't worth much if they don't get prettier now, they swam forward to Sophie with determination blazing in their eyes.

"Yes, yes! Come to me, my pretties," Sophie mumbled with a crazed expression on her face, but she quickly composed herself when she heard her sister's cough.

Sophie proceeded to take out a make-up kit with waterproof colors as well as some berries she had gotten from Pete's farm and started to paint on the two unsuspecting fish pokemon and feed them some more 'beautifying berries'.

Pete kind of wished he was anywhere but here as he saw a hideous Feebas becoming even uglier with bright pink eye-shadow and cherry red lipstick. The two of them looked like clowns in his opinion, but then Sophie's plan fell in place.

She whispered into the ears of one Feebas, and it looked to the other painted Feebas in shock before it started to evolve with a mirthful smile on its face.

Sophie turned to the other and whispered something in its ears, too, before it started evolving with an astonished look.

Pete got the entire process on camera, proving once and for all that Feebas evolved into Milotic. But he still had to ask Sophie how she did it. Later, he would cut out that part of the video and make something up in his report.

"What did you tell them, Sophie?" Pete asked as he walked forward to Sophie into knee-high water.

"Huh? Oh, the first one I told that I made sure it was prettier than the other, so I gave it ugly makeup and made his extra pretty. For the second one, I told it that it was painted in the same pretty makeup as the other one, and it was so pretty that it instantly evolved. The second one would either evolve with it or look at me as if I was stupid," Sophie whispered back so the evolving Feebas wouldn't hear it.

"Wow, that's... kinda mean, just like your first try," Pete responded in a low voice with a deadpan expression.

"Ugh, I know! I don't think they'd have given me a second try, though, so I was desperate," Sophie admitted with an embarrassed expression.

"Well, you still have to convince them to stick with you. Any other manipulations planned for that?"

Sophie looked at Pete with a pout, but then Pete sensed something and looked back to the beach. Someone was teleporting here.

"Oh my! We came a minute too late! Pete stop pointing the camera in our direction, get it all on video!" Professor Elm shouted from the shore with Vivian, who had their son Benny on her arm.