86 C086 - Family

The next few days were an absolute doozy for Pete. From long group calls with Elm, Oak, and Sycamore, who threatened - no, begged to be allowed a visit, Pete was in a research high. And Sycamore's visit was scheduled for after he came back from Alola and was for the professor specialized in mega evolutions to inspect all three mega evolutions Pete recorded for him: Torterra, Altaria, and now Milotic.

Despite Pete's evergrowing understanding of pokemon and psychic bonds that allowed him to feel the moods and thoughts of his pokemon, a talking pokemon was on another level altogether. As she could understand pokemon perfectly well as if they all spoke the same language, Mega Milotic became an invaluable part of Pete's research.

She could vocalize how much changed in the other fairy pokemon since Pete unlocked his fairy affinity with the mega evolution or even just if other pokemon needed something very specific he did not yet provide. With his excellent understanding and pokemons' generally high intelligence that didn't amount to much, but little things, like lowering the tree house for the Cinccino by half a meter so they had an easier entry or making a little fountain with drinking water for the Combee tribe so they had more time tending to their honeycombs, made everyone even happier than they already were.

"Jasmine mentioned something about making Valerie gym leader of Mahogany Town," Courtney spoke from behind Pete as he sat near the water conversing with Mega Milotic as he so often did nowadays.

"Mhm, nobody likes Pryce anyway, and she would make a great gym leader, wouldn't you agree? She even became trainer of three of my babies and took away a Togepi, a Ralts and one of my Marill! Well, I always knew that Marill wanted to fight, but you know as well as I that I'm not really a battling trainer. The adventure group took her in just fine, but they are too powerful and scare off most pokemon. So good for her," Pete said as he turned his head to his partner with a smile as he remained sitting.

Courtney would never disagree with his opinion because everything he said was spot on, but she was still a little conflicted, "Are you doing this for me?"

"So what if I did?"

Courtney shook her head. She stepped closer and hugged Pete from behind.

"I can't believe some random dude from Johto sent the disgraced me some pokeballs and lured me on his farm out of nowhere. I can't believe even more that you didn't abduct me for some lewd experiments or something and actually provided me with the perfect life. You're my best friend, you know that?"

"Hehe, best friend, boss extraordinaire, perfect landlord, amazing matchmaker, and I even introduced you to a shiny Oddish who agreed to follow you. I really am your lucky star," Pete gloated with a good natured giggled as he reached up to pat her head.

"You barely brought Valerie here because she insisted. But I'll give you partial credit, Mr. Matchmaker." Courtney gave him a smooch on the cheeks and shoved him forward, "Now all you need to do is find my Camerupt a mega stone, hehe."

"Oh, sure," Pete agreed with a shrug. "Steven sent me three more keystones from his last haul as my Devon Corp dividends, among other things. Originally, I planned to give them out to future, promising students when I become professor. But you might as well get one. I'm sure we'll find you a suitable stone eventually," Pete said after he remembered that the Kalos egg delivery was handled through a Devon Corp transport division and Steven packed some goodies for him, too.

Courtney looked a little panicked as she shouted, "Wait, Pete! I was joking!"

"Why? I wasn't."

"Come on, how am I ever to repay all of that?"

Pete's smile receded a little as he seriously said, "You're my friend, no at this point you're family. No payment was ever needed. I'm really glad you spent all this time here on the farm and helped me make it perfect."

Courtney paled a little and asked in a shaky voice, "Are you telling me to get lost?"

"What?" Pete asked as her question failed to connect with his brain, "Wait-wait-wait. What? Who said anything about that?"

"You worded that like you want to kick me out!"

Pete looked at Courtney with a deadpan expression for a moment and stood up. Courtney was much taller than the twins and stood at roughly the same height as Pete. So Pete looked her dead in the eyes, grabbed both of her cheeks, and pulled at them.

"Don't joke around with that. You're welcome here forever."

Crying and laughing at the same time as she tried fighting off Pete's vicious hands, Courtney pleaded, "Okay, okay. Pleesh shtop!"

"Sure," Pete agreed as he regained his sunny smile and patted her head once more, much to her annoyance, and continued, "Now, Reuniclus was sent to pick up Vivian, Benny, and Valentino - I'm sure they'll arrive soon. I'm preparing a late lunch. Could you check if the hot spring is all cleaned up? And no making out in there while Benny is present."

"Alright, but I only agree because of Vivian. You get nothing from me, bastard," she cried out in answer while still laughing as she ran away with reddened cheeks - from Pete's pinching.

'Courtney is a very pleasant person,' Milotic said over their bond as she regarded the back of Pete's 'assistant' farmer and pokemon breeder.

"Yeah, I'm really, really glad I prevented her from slipping into a bad fate. She really deserves this life," Pete murmured.

'Mhm... am I getting a serving of your food this time?'

"Huh? Of course! Cooking one to three meals every day for hundreds of pokemon is simply not feasible even with the help of several Miltanks, Alcremie, Gardevoir and one of the fire pokemon," Pete explained with a reassuring smile and offered, "But if you ever feel like you would prefer a cooked meal, just ask. And tell the other pokemon the same. If I don't have time, the shiny Miltank recently mellowed out a little after her first egg and resigned from the adventure group to join as 'pokemon head chef' in the kitchen. You can always ask her, our farm will never run out of food."

A few hours later, after the guests arrived, ate together with everyone and after Valentino ditched everyone to release his two Lapras at the lake for a little expedition to the Butterfree island, Pete sat together with Vivian as they watched Benny play hide and seek with a few Whimsicott near the Comfee Fields.

"I heard my husband say you're getting promoted soon," Vivian whispered to Pete with a mischievous grin.

Pete looked at her, amused and excited, and asked, "And it's something he asked you to keep quiet about, right?"

"Hmph, like it would be bad if you knew before. We all knew it was coming anyway," Vivian retorted with a stubborn pout.

"Did you speak it out openly so you wouldn't say it by accident later?"

"Hey! When have I ever done that?"

"Uh, the first time we talked over a video chat when I showed you the ongoing construction of the farmhouse and you spilled the beans about your 'surprise' visit. When you told me, entirely unprompted, that Elm would gift me the TM for Aura Sphere as a bonus after my first paper on fairy pokemon. When you-"

"Okay, okay. I get it," Vivian interrupted as she shot Pete a seething glare. "Wow, you really have a mean-streak sometimes."

"Sure I do," Pete said while rolling his eyes.

"When are you two gonna give my Benny a playmate, by the way?"

Pete, who somehow saw this question coming, didn't look very flustered when Vivian asked. Instead, he calmly looked to Vivian and answered, "We haven't talked about kids yet outside of acknowledging that we both want at least one down the line. I'm guessing we'll talk about it once more when our careers are both well on their way. But shouldn't you rather ask if we want to birth your next kid a best friend?"

Now, Vivian was flustered, and she asked in a shocked voice, "How'd you know that? I only found out a few days ago! I'm not showing yet, am I?"

Pete only grinned. When Vivian had enough and slapped his shoulder, demanding an answer, he eventually replied with, "Fairy affinity is completely busted for stuff like that. I don't think I can 'sense life' with it, but combine it with grass and psychic affinity, and here I am, looking at you harboring, nurturing another life inside you. Honestly, it looks a little like a glow inside of you, really hard to describe, and I wasn't sure what it was. But it was concentrated at your stomach, so I took a wild guess."

"So you weren't sure? That's cold, Pete," Vivian said in fake hurt.

"It's not like I'm pointing it out because of your bulging tummy, and it turns out you only ate a little extra," Pete retorted with a roll of his eyes.

Vivian turned around, losing all the hurt and gaining a big grin. She stood on her tiptoes and patted Pete gently on the head, "Yes, you would never do that. I taught you well."

"Huh, Jasmine and I joked recently when the time comes when you make me call you 'mommy'."

Vivian perked up and asked with curiosity written in her face, "And what was your conclusion?"

"Eh, it wouldn't matter much, I thought. You're already family in any case," Pete answered with a shrug.

Vivian teared up a little and gave Pete a crushing hug.

"They grow up so fast," she mumbled under her breath, which prompted Pete to start laughing. A few moments later, Vivian started giggling too, but the tears didn't stop.

"Is she ready?"

"For tomorrow? Yeah. There's no way Preston won't make her his successor, and I've repeatedly told her as much until she finally lost most of her nervousness," Pete answered with a calm voice.

Vivian smiled and nodded in appreciation, "You're a great boyfriend, Pete. Jasmine is lucky to have you."

"I'm lucky to have her, too."