368 CH1 (365), Welcome Back To Hope Town (1)

"Home, sweet home," I said after we appeared in front of the door of our home in Hope Town before I turned to Horus/Xatu and Mothra/Butterfree.

"Thank you, you two," I thanked them for alternately teleporting us here from Rota.

We greatly reduced the waiting time by having both of them alternate between teleportations. I would have added Gwen/Gardevoir and Ali/Kirlia into the mix, but they did not have any teleportation spots saved in their memory in the direction we were heading.

I did not fancy teleporting forward randomly since we could have ended up in the middle of someone's territory which would be dangerous, especially not in an area between regions, with no real human cities in the area to dissuade stronger Pokemon from settling in their surroundings.

Anyway, the first thing we did after entering our home was not to start unpacking but to head to the terrace/garden. We took stock of the situation and informed all the wild Pokemon, that had been permitted to stay there, that we were back.

Still, mom and dad assured them that they could keep staying on our property as long as they did not harm us, our Pokemon, or our possessions, and all Pokemon gratefully accepted the offer.

Nonetheless, once the matter of the wild Pokemon was settled, the real reason why they directly headed outside was revealed. They began discussing where they should bury Sunny/Vileplume and Lono/Lombre's coffins.

"I think besides my flower field and the pond would be a good resting place," mom proposed but dad shook his head.

"That's too central. Everyone keeps trampling through that place while walking around the garden. It would be better if we placed them on the outer part, but we can choose a place beside the other end of the pond, and you can just plant a new flower field there if you want," he contradicted her before giving an alternative.

"That's a great idea," mom acknowledged his suggestion before she began listing plants she would plant in the new field to make sure the area beside Sunny and Lono looked pleasant.

"I'll make sure to use flowers that bloom all year round like the tickseed, bush mallow, verbena, and periwinkle," she finished her short rambling about her plans.

After that we walked to the end of the pond and mom chose an area for the new graveyard. Once she had chosen the place, they let me weed the area before dad pulled out two shovels from his bag, and the two began digging the holes for the coffins of their respective Pokemon.

Like the first time, this had to be done by them personally, at least according to them, and only after they finished digging, did mom and dad call out their Pokemon to let them witness as well as help with the rest of the "second" funeral.

Their Pokemon helped lower the coffins into the holes and then refilled them with the previously dug-up earth. Afterward, mom and dad personally placed the tombstones at the head of the grave, while Titan/Nidoking as well as Titania/Nidoqueen set the statues of Sunny and Lono that I made at the foot of the graves.

We stayed there for another 15 minutes to pay our respects to the two Pokemon that gave up their lives to protect my parents before the three of us went back inside.

Meanwhile, my parent's Pokemon stayed outside and went to check up on their homes on our property, at least for those that already had one. The ones that had joined during our stay in Rota, began to check out the place to see where they could settle down.

The three of us on the other hand began to strip down the covers from all the furniture before dusting off and vacuuming all rooms. We managed to finish with that by 2 p.m. and stopped for lunch.

Afterward, we began unpacking part of our stuff, mainly our clothes. Mom decided that we would be unpacking the rest of the things, such as books and utensils throughout the next week, so we spent the rest of the day relaxing.

I called out my Pokemon in batches to show them around the house and our property. A large part of the senior ones already knew the layout but the ones that joined after we moved to Rota didn't, and even the seniors enjoyed the reintroduction since it was a group activity.

They also got to see all the wild Pokemon as well as my parent's Pokemon so everyone knew not to harm each other whenever they came out of Utopia and roamed our property.

The great number of Pokemon I had meant that I ended up doing that tour so often, that I only managed to go through everyone close to dinner time. I kinda felt like a tour guide by that point, but the joy on the face of my Pokemon each time had been enough to keep me from going into autopilot mode.

The next morning after breakfast I worked on finishing my gift for Jessica. I was nearly done, but I still had to prepare the salve for Chansey's evolution. I did that because I remember that Chansey had been ready to evolve to Blissey for some time now, but the two decided to wait for Chansey's evolution until the completion of Jessie's internship.

The most precious/main ingredients I was using were a Blissey Egg, an Oval Stone, and even a Lucky Egg. A Lucky Egg was in fact a Chansey or Blissey Egg that had been kept at the Pokemon's side for a prolonged period, absorbing a lot of energy during this time, unlike the usual eggs which generally got used within a short period.

Due to all the energy that the egg absorbed, its nutritional, as well as energy value, increased substantially. While it did not have the exaggerated effect that it had in the games, it was really beneficial for those that got to consume it.

This particular Lucky Egg was from a Blissey as well, so it was even more precious than one from a Chansey. The 3 main ingredients were C-Class while the rest of the ingredients were D-Class. It took me more than an hour of focused work but I successfully concocted the Blissey salve.

Once I was done with the salve, I bottled it and placed it in the gift box I prepared, along with the other gifts. After that, I informed my parents that I was going out to visit Jessica, and left before they could tease me. I called out Horus/Xatu and asked him to bring me to Jessie's dorm in Viridian City.

Once we arrived there I thanked and recalled him before I made my way up to her room after greeting the dorm guard. I gave them a berry basket to thank them for their hard work keeping everyone safe while mentioning that I was just going up to the third floor to visit Jessica.

I made it to her door and knocked after taking out the gift box. It took a few moments for her to open the door but the moment she did, I said "surprise" while giving her a bright smile.

Seeing her shock and then happiness at me showing up in front of her door was worth the effort of visiting her in advance. She composed herself quickly enough and I saw her eyes briefly flicker to the box I was carrying before she focused back on my face.

"What a surprise, Mikail. I had not expected to see you," she said while opening the door further to let me inside.

She closed the door behind us once I stepped inside the room. We headed for her couch after I took off my shoes and wore the house slippers. I placed the box on the couch table before I sat down, and Jessie sat down beside me.

"I know that we were going to meet up on Kyoday for the party, but I wanted to personally congratulate you for successfully finishing your internship, and becoming a full-fledged nurse," I told her while giving her a brief side-hug.

"That was thoughtful of you," Jessie returned with a smile and I could feel her happiness at my thoughtfulness.

"I've brought you a gift," I motioned to the gift box on the table, causing her gaze to land there.

"That's really nice of you, but you didn't have to get me any gifts," she replied. "You visiting me like this is more than enough for me," she added, and I shook my head in denial.

"I knew you would say that, but I wanted to get you something. Besides, I'm sure you'll really like these gifts of mine, and I sincerely hope that you won't try to reject them since that would make me sad," I asserted and she looked just a tad bit torn at my words.

"Seeing you covering your bases like this, it's probably something really expensive, isn't it?" she asked with a shake of her head. "Mikail, you know how I feel about receiving expensive gifts," she followed up on her question sounding slightly troubled, but I pat the back of her hand to calm her.

"I know, I know," I began placatingly while still soothingly patting her hand. "However, I really wanted to do something for you," I admitted in a genuine tone.

"I've been preparing these gifts for you for quite some time now, so I would be genuinely disappointed if you rejected them. I'm sure you'll love them, so just accept them as me expressing my care for you as a close friend," I told her while taking the box from the table and placing it on her lap.

"Mikail, you, really," she tried to say something, but there was not much she could say without "hurting" my feelings since I went out of my way to say all that stuff.

"Go on, open it," I told her, and she gave up "resisting". "Fine. You're unbelievable, you know that?" She said exasperatedly with a fond smile before she lifted the lid of the box.

I saw her eyes widen at the stuff inside the box, and she looked quite shocked as well.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Yes," I admitted with a nod. "6 custom-made, handcrafted Pokeballs. One for each of your Pokemon," I confirmed for her.

"I made sure that they were perfect for each one of your Pokemon, and I'm confident that they are some of the best balls that can be procured by anyone below the level of an Elite," I could not help but slightly brag since I was really proud of my achievement.

The balls were all C-Class, and I had made each ball with a respective species in mind instead of just focusing on the typing, which was why I was certain that they were perfect for Jessie's Pokemon.

Honestly, I became a Tier 3 Ballcrafter while I worked on creating the best ball of each variety, and chose one that I made after the breakthrough as her gift, so I had a reason to be confident.

"These have to be worth a fortune," Jessie mumbled and I cut her off before she could say anything even remotely sounding like a rejection.

"It doesn't matter how much they cost," I refuted. "The important thing is that they are a token of my care for you and your Pokemon," I continued before I finished with a "just accept them."

"Alright, fine," she said sounding like a mix of resignation and happiness. "So, what's that," she asked while looking at the bottle beside the balls.

"That's a salve I managed to procure for Chansey. It will be really beneficial for her evolution, you simply have to apply it on her skin before she evolves," I answered her and she just gratefully accepted this time since she knew that it would help Chansey.

"Thank you," she said before she put the box aside and gave me a side hug. "You're welcome," I told her while rubbing her back, sensing that she felt a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

She let go once she had sufficiently calmed down, and I told her to go ahead and transfer her Pokemon from their old balls to the new ones, so she called out all her Pokemon, before she began the transfer process.

She first had to tell them what she was going to do, to avoid them feeling surprised when their link/connection to their previous Pokeball snapped. While Jessie already had a genuine bond with her Pokemon, which meant that she did not have to worry about their bond snapping, the connection between Pokemon and Pokeball was an extra that the Pokemon could feel snapping.

Anyway, after informing her Pokemon, Jessie first broke the connection of the previous ball, effectively releasing them from it, before establishing another connection with their new balls, practically recapturing them, despite them not becoming wild Pokemon due to the existence of the genuine bond.

After she was done with the transfer, we went out to stroll around the city center. We stopped at one of the fast food restaurants for lunch before Jessie led us to a secluded region in one of the city parks.

Apparently, she wanted to go through with Chansey's evolution there, but I tried to stop her since I knew that the evolution of one's Chansey was a really private and personal moment in her paternal family, so she usually should be going through it in private.

Well, she used my previous arguments against me, saying something along the lines of "if you can spend a veritable fortune on gifts for me, then I can let you witness Chansey's evolution with me".

After she said that, I did not keep insisting, and I watched the evolution with her. Jessie made use of the salve I had prepared, and it ended up being useful since I noticed that Blissey's potential had improved from blue to deep blue after her evolution.

I congratulated both on the successful evolution. We only left the park after spending close to an hour there. During that time Jessie helped Blissey get used to her new body, and I simply observed them on the side, providing help whenever needed.

Blissey did share that she felt as if she could break through at any moment after her evolution. However, I recommended that they trained for an additional half a year or a full year before going through with the breakthrough.

I claimed that this would allow Blissey to get used to her new form and unearth any additional strength her evolution could provide. While that was true, it was mainly because Blissey was already at the (high) silver stage for some time now.

Waiting for that period while she kept training would allow her to come closer to reaching the point where she could break through without any detriment. They decided to listen to my suggestion, and as I said, we left the park after an hour.

Jessie had a skip in her step for the next few hours as we strolled around Viridian City. When it became 6 p.m, we went to "Aldini's" for dinner, and I invited her to the cinema after that. I let Jessie choose the movie and only after we left the movie theater did I accompany Jessie back to her dorm room.

It was already 8:45 p.m. at that point, so I did not get inside with her but wished her a good night at the door. Right before she closed the door, Jessie told me that she was going to apply for a job in Pallet City, which meant we would be able to hang out more often once I started my internship.

I told her that I was looking forward to it before I left. I wished the guards a good evening and called out Horus for the return trip. This had been no doubt another successful/great meeting between two close friends.

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