101 C101 - Next stop: Akala Island

After spending some days with Professor Kukui and his wife, playing and bonding with his pokemon at the beach and generally having a good time, Pete made his way over to Heahea City on the next island of Akala.

As he stepped off of Steven's speedboat that he used to hop islands, an uncharacteristically tan Nurse Joy was waiting for him with a blinding smile at the port.

"Pete! I'm so glad to finally meet you again!"

Betty Joy, the original Nurse Joy of Violet City, Jasmine's hometown in Johto, quickly ran to Pete for a hug. Pete had given her a tip on where to find Comfey, an elusive pokemon that was a natural healer and caretaker just like the Blissey line on their first meeting. Sharing that nugget of information was what allowed her to join her clan's Alola expedition as they started opening Clan Joy Poke Centers in the region.

When he shared the piece of information, it was meant as payment for a Clan Joy Blissey teaching his Solosis, who was Mega Reuniclus by now, of course, the healing move Heal Pulse. The psychic move was treated like a 'must-know' by his pokemon on the farm, and most of the pokemon that have affinity with psychic moves know it to varying degrees.

And it all came back to Betty Joy urging the Blissey at her poke center in Violet City to teach Solosis out of the goodness of her heart.

Only one pokemon on Pete's farm ever beat Reuniclus in the efficiency of the move before his first pokemon mega evolved, and that was Pete's Gardevoir.

Possibly owed to the fact that it held the psychic/fairy dual typing, Pete's Gardevoir excelled in healing moves of all kinds more than a usual psychic or fairy pokemon would and Pete was rest assured that the pokemon living on his farm were still in great hands with his new chief healer staying behind even with Mega Reuniclus travelling with him.

Not that healing moves were going to be scarce, with almost a hundred fairy pokemon living on his farm by this point.

"Wow, the video calls don't do it justice! I can say with great confidence I could perfectly tell you apart from your mother and all your sisters, cousins, and aunts," Pete teased with a laugh as he reciprocated the hug.

"Don't tease me like I'm the only one who gained a tan here! The last time I saw you in person was before your fame and farm, and you were just a pale kid. Now you're this sun-kissed hero professor educating the masses in a completely new typing," Betty retorted with an amused expression as she held his shoulders and critically judged and compared the tans both friends gained.

"Kid!" Pete gasped in shock. "Take that back! You were talking to a powerful assistant professor even back then!"

"Ah, you silly goose~" Betty answered with an amused giggle.

"So? You got anything planned for us?"

Betty shook her head, "No, things are a bit different here in Alola. I'm sure you noticed already. I have an assistant who took over the long-time patient care and he can call me if something comes up. I left my three Comfeys and Chansey in the center, too, if they need help. I got the big bad professor here to keep me safe anyway."

"In that case... I could eat an early dinner? Is there a restaurant you want to recommend?" Pete asked as he ignored the teasing of the last part.

"YES! A friend of mine has this little bistro with just three tables on the other side of the city! If we're lucky, Pablo has an empty spot because he doesn't do reservations," Betty excitedly suggested as she began dragging Pete in the right direction.

"Friend of yours? Are you finally settling down?" Pete asked as he pumped his eyebrows suggestively.

"Hmph, Pablo had his chance, but he blew it. I hear he has a brother, but he moved to Johto - too bad, their family's cooking is to die for!"

"No way, is his brother called Paolo? There's this beach restaurant in Olivine City called Alola's Touch that opened some time ago. It's amazing!"

Betty looked to Pete with a pondering expression before shrugging, "Possibly. Sounds about right, but he never mentioned his name. What cruel mother would name her two sons something so similar, though?"

Pete wanted to retort, but he thought better of it. 'Nobody can call your entire family apart, and you all just call yourself Nurse Joy unless you forge personal relationships! Your family is no better!'

Then, since Betty kept quiet, Pete thought about all the given names he knew of the various Nurse Joys he met and got names from. 'Betty from Violet, now Heahea City. Maggy, the elder who contacts me from the Clan grounds for missions. Conny from Violet City after Betty moved. Kelly from Slateport City in Hoenn. Penny from Mossedeep City in Hoenn. Remy from Goldenrod City near the farm... Is Betty trying to make me joke about that for a trap or something?'

To keep them from not talking at all or falling into the trap, Pete shared with Betty how his first meal in 'Alola's Touch' went and how Paolo called him the Recipe Professor and how he managed to start the trend of serving different kinds of ciders. Betty was listening to it with shining eyes, though secretly she already knew all of that. She owned every recipe book of his or those inspired by Pete.

After casually walking along the wide open road from the port all along the waterfront of the city, they eventually reached a small beach in the east of the city. Pete had his two bird pokemon on his shoulders, an Eevee on his head and Nurse Joy pulling him along, so he got quite a bit of attention from the laid-back populace of the city. He had to admit it was a nice change of pace for getting looks because he looked a bit peculiar and not because everyone knew exactly who he was.

Eventually, they reached the bistro with just three tables owned by Betty's acquaintance Pablo, but sadly, all three tables were already occupied.

"Ah, too bad," Pete mumbled.

"Nah, this is Alola. Watch this," Betty whispered back with a wink.

The young nurse walked over to the tables and began talking to the owner Pablo, who was first elated at seeing the pink-haired beauty, but he quickly looked troubled. Then, Betty pointed toward Pete and talked a little more with him. Pete could see Pablo's face change from confused, to elated, to weirded out, and it finally settled on pleasantly delighted.

Before Pablo could decide if he wanted to kick someone else out or simply put up a fourth table which wouldn't be the first time, a tanned beauty who looked like a native lifted her hand from one of the tables. Hers was the table that had the best view toward the ocean and across the bay to a different city of Akala Island, but it was also a bit hidden from Pete's view so he didn't recognize her yet.

That changed when Betty called him over with an excited smile and began introductions as she hugged the woman close, "Pete! You're in for a treat! Meet Olivia, Akala's kahuna, proud owner of the most beautiful jewelry store and overall nicest person I've met in Alola! Olivia, meet Pete, soon-to-be Professor Pete! And the reason I'm in Alola at all! He told me about the Comfey living near Route 5, which I shared with my clan to get priority for our expansion."

Wild, yet still neatly styled short brown - almost black hair. Tasteful, yet primal looking necklaces, bracelets, leg bands, and earrings. Very short dark-fushia colored hotpants and a tight, misty-rose-colored top that didn't leave much to the imagination. Her entire outfit screamed meticulously put together. But at the same time, Olivia looked like she woke up like this - well, her gorgeous makeup assured Pete otherwise.

'Haaa, living with Sophie and Valerie for so long really does something to a man's psyche. No way I could have named the color fuschia or called her top anything other than pink or even pale pink instead of 'misty rose' otherwise,' Pete thought while inwardly rating her outfit a full score.

Deciding it would be rude to just stare at her for even longer, Pete walked forward to shake the woman's hand, "Olivia, it's a pleasure. Kukui and Burnet had nothing but praises for you when we talked the last few days. Betty, too, only mentions you in the highest regards during our regular calls and updates. And please, just call me Pete."

"Burney called me an hour ago to tell me to keep an eye out for you. What a lucky coincidence," Olivia explained with a bright smile as she kept Pete's hand after the handshake. "Lovely to make your acquaintance~"

"Before you flirt, Oli. Pete over here only just married Jasmine, the new Olivine City gym leader in Johto," Betty chimed in as she heard the flirting tone of her good friend.

"Oh my, congratulations," Olivia answered with a look filled with longing. "If only I could finally find a strong, dependable husband..."

She quickly picked herself up, though, changed the subject, and asked with gleaming eyes, "I've known Preston for quite some time. Comes easy with our shared, preferred choice of pokemon. Can you tell me how that old rock head decided on giving his gym to a ground type specialist?"

Pete gladly answered as he could brag about his wife's story of success and told the rock-type specialist and future Elite Four of Alola all about Jasmine's pokemon and how she came to change her desired typing from rock to ground.

Olivia herself opened up just as fast and talked pokemon-diets and all things 'rock' with Pete, who proved to be quite knowledgeable thanks to his friendship with Preston and his extensive research into diets especially. Rock pokemon were quite peculiar in their diets in that most of them ate not just rocks but also unprocessed ores, precious stones, and - as Pete found out and publicized recently - stones of 'stone fruits/berries'.

Since they could be used to plant new berry trees, they were treated as a very precious part of a berry and trainers would usually want to keep them for their sales value or to actually try planting a berry tree, which meant nobody other than Pete would be as 'wasteful' as trying to see if something could be used as a rock diet just because it was called 'stone'.

It was quite a lucky find, too. Pete felt like he was pranking himself when he had offered a 'berry stone' to one of the wild Graveller living near Ilex Falls.

They talked for hours as they ate all kinds of good food and drank delicious ciders, and the three were only briefly interrupted as Pablo introduced himself to Pete, THE Recipe Professor. The owner confirmed that Paolo was indeed his brother who 'left the nest' to bring Alolan cuisine to the other parts of the world. Which resulted in Pablo swiftly calling his brother to brag that he could now say he had served Pete, too.

Apparently, Paolo had taunted his brother that he knew the food 'icon'. The young assistant professor hoped with all his heart that the brothers were joking when they called him an icon for publishing a few recipes from his old world...

After the call ended, Pablo bragged almost as much about his younger brother as Pete did with his amazing wife. Almost.

That was certainly a dinner worth remembering in truly pleasant company.