C110 - Back at the farm

Two weeks later, Pete was dressed in his winter gear as two white-furred Vulpix were nestled in his coat's hood. A big Mamoswine listened to his instructions as Pete pointed out where it was supposed to move the earth away in the cave. To the side, psychic/ice typing Mega Reuniclus was busy moving ice crystals around, planting them in the ceiling.

Never-Melt-Ice.

Never-Melt-Ice that looked like stars with the ceiling Pete had installed prior to turning this part of the cave system into a fridge. A ceiling that showed the movements of the moon outside and but kept the sunlight out to always offer a relatively dark and relaxing atmosphere for everyone who wanted to sleep in this this freezing cavern.

Like his new ice pokemon Alolan Vulpix and one of the Eevee his Espeon and Sylveon gave birth to over the years, as well as Courtney's Mamoswine.

"Alright, anybody got any objections?" Pete asked when Mamoswine finished making its own bed.

Glaceon brushed up against his leg as it appeared out of nowhere and gave a low purr. The little evolved Eevee had been the reason for his sudden decision to make this ice cave deep inside the hill where the other habitats of the more... 'normal' pokemon were. Many of them had made their discontent known after Glaceon started sleeping next to the two Alolan Vulpix down in the deepest part of the original sleeping arrangements.

Even the newly evolved Leafeon, Glaceon's sister, was giving Glaceon angry looks each morning because he didn't control the cold around him while in his dreams. At more than one point did one of the 'fur leaves' on Leafeon's body broke off in the morning, completely frozen through.

"Alright. I'll keep the Ice Stones for you two to evolve, Vulpix, and you guys tell me if we overdid it with the cold. I don't want you guys to get ill or shiver through the night just because we didn't consider putting the Never-Melt-Ice a little deeper in the cave," Pete argued with a smile as he took the two ice fox pokemon out of his hood and regarded them fondly.

Getting a few happy 'yips' in return, Pete placed the two down beside Glaceon and said, "I'm getting the photograph of your Drampa guardian tomorrow. The printshop in Goldenrod City said it'll be done by then."

Both Vulpix gave him some more happy noises in return, and Pete made his way out of the cave. The way up was lit up in a soft light, and for human company, it even had railings on both sides so nobody would slip on the potentially icy flooring.

Just before exiting the cave, Pete saw someone don a thick jacket to take a look down in the cave. No jacket was needed outside in the permanent spring-summer weather of the Evergreen Meadow.

"Hey, Willow! Are you going to rate my ice cavern setup?" Pete jokingly asked when he saw the white-haired professor get ready for a snow hike.

Professor Willow invited himself to Pete's farm and Ilex Forest. Elm's stories during the meeting made him eager to find out more about the reigning Vileplume tribe and their coexistence with Pete.

It had happened before, but the newest professor's operation was on a scale that was previously undocumented, according to both Birch and Willow, who both studied pokemon habitats.

Without prompting, Professor Willow even offered to provide a substantial shipment of metal for the construction of Pete's future research base as payment for living at Pete's farm. The man was one of the richest professors among the group, Pete learned as they made their way toward Johto after they spent some time as a big group in Alola - Willow had discovered or rather rediscovered the mythical Melmetal pokemon line.

The pokemon was a sort of metallic Ditto, and it amassed chunks of refined ore just by existing, especially if out hiking near a mountain that contained raw ore. And, Professor Willow did both.

On the other hand, Magnolia invited herself onto his farm before anyone had made any plans to do so. She and Pete spent a couple of days in Alola together and mostly stayed at Kukui's to help the two with their baby.

And then there was Professor Sycamore, who was busy doing absolutely nothing except for chatting with the Miltank in Pete's kitchen or bar-hopping in Goldenrod City... just like he did in Alola already.

Not that he needed to, but Sycamore did 'buy' his way in as he stayed at Pete's farm. After a quick call with Jasmine, the Kalosian professor learned that Pete originally came to Alola in the hopes of finding an Alolan Raichu. And the man did just that... by sheer luck after he made out with a woman who was nursing a hurt wild pikachu back to full health at her home.

With the promise of an idyllic home and the enticement of a 'free' evolution with a thunderstone Sycamore provided, the Pikachu agreed to staying at Pete's farm in the future since it was close to the water and nothing was expected of the electric pokemon.

It did, however, come with five additional wild Pikachu... not that Pete minded in the slightest. He could even test if the pokemon truly needed to be in Alola to evolve into their electric/psychic variant of if getting birthed and raised there did the trick to decide the variant.

"A tropical farm with its own ice pokemon habitat," Willow quipped as he looked past Pete down the wide hallway leading down into the mountain. "And people call me the eccentric and rich professor."

"I mean, they call me the recipe professor, and I don't even own my own kitchen anymore," Pete countered with a laugh before he pointed behind himself. "Want me to show you around?"

"No, I'm good. Your lovely wife told me to fetch you anyway," Willow waved away with a smile. "Something about 'getting grounded'? I'm sorry, I didn't pry further to give you a better explanation."

"Ah, that's all I needed. It's time to make good on my word," Pete cryptically answered and had his Mega Reuniclus teleport him back to the entrance of his house despite it being a relatively short walk.

"Jas! I'm here!" The newly-minted professor shouted into his home and got a jump-scare when his wife called for him from just behind him. She had been sitting in the shade of the heart tree outside as she waited for him and was hidden behind its trunk before.

Using his ground typing energy to find people and pokemon around him was something Pete did by instinct at this point, but Jasmine had ground typing energy herself and constantly trained it just like Pete. Hiding herself from his senses had become a small game between the two as they tried to surprise each other by sneaking in for a small kiss without the other one finding out first.

"Take off the jacket," Jasmine ordered with an exasperated sigh as she brushed Pete's long hair behind his ear lovingly. "You're gonna start sweating it through real soon."

"You're right," Pete agreed and quickly dumped his jacket into his bag without care which earned him a small glare until he took it back out and hung it in the closet next to the house's main door in an orderly fashion. He meekly added, "Sorry."

Jasmine flicked his forehead and asked, "You got the gem?"

"I do! Did you talk to our pokemon to see if they have a definitive preference?"

"They do, it's where the two Torterra sleep, just like you originally suspected," Jasmine answered with a sweet smile and hooked her arm into her husband's to drag him over to where they would 'plant' the Ground Gem Pete brought back from Alola.

Through the psychic link with his Espeon, Pete called it over together with the Espeon's first Eevee offspring - the one that he had been pumping full of ground type energy before and after its birth. It was time to see if doing so had a pay-off or not. If this Eevee didn't evolve even sleeping right next to such a powerful ground typing energy artifact, then at this point, Pete could only concede that the eeveelution didn't exist.

"Did you know that Preston has a Rock Gem?" Jasmine idly asked as she enjoyed walking around Pete in the sunny orchard.

"Oh? I mean, he did run the Olivine City rock gym for quite a while. I shouldn't really be surprised, but I still kind of am," Pete pondered as he looked around to judge the status of his berry trees.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I thought. Kind of made me wonder though how much we don't know about the true powerhouses of the league. I wouldn't have something like a Ground Gem for my pokemon for quite some time because I didn't even realise just how much influence such a rare item could have... and how much influence or luck I would need to get it in the first place," Jasmine softly argued as her grip on Pete's arm tightened for a moment. She was feeling even more lucky than she originally thought she was on days like these. Having Pete by her side felt like a cheat at times.

"Eh? Without me here, you'd have hundreds of suitors lined up in front of your gym lavishing you with gifts to gain your attention. Eventually, one of them would have realised your true worth and buried you in Ground Gems. I was just lucky that I got your affection without the need for such tricks," Pete countered with a loving smile and earned himself a shy slap on the shoulder as Jasmine mumbled 'stop it' and gained a blush.

"Ryan reached out again yesterday, by the way. Or, well, I stalked him a little," Jasmine eventually revealed a stone throw away from the waiting Torterra.

"Oh? Where did you interest in him come from?" Pete curiously inquired.

"It's you who paid him the attention originally," Jasmine countered with a pout. "I just like seeing their progress. It's really humbling to think about where they would be without your helping hand..."

"Now you're making me blush," Pete joked with a big grin before he asked, "So what did Ryan do?"

"Not him, but his girlfriend! She caught a shiny Staryu!"

Pete stopped dead in his tracks and looked at his wife before he asked in disbelief, "Say that again?"

"She caught a shiny Staryu? Why are you looking like that?"

'Of course I'm looking like that! My MC didn't get a love interest in my story until after the Kanto arc was over!!' Pete shouted in his mind as he shook his head and inquired, "Who's is his girlfriend?"

"The youngest sister of the four Cerulean City gym sisters. You know, Violet, Daisy, Lily, who share the title of gym leader and their youngester sister Misty who's fresh out of school... I think?" Jasmine unsure revealed. The three sisters taking over for the mysteriously missing father of the four girls made quite the splash when it became news before Pete even entered the world. But there wasn't much known about Misty... yet.

"Ryan and Misty are a thing? Do we know how that came to be?" Pete asked, still not sure how such a thing was even possible.

"Since when were you such a gossip? Ask him yourself if you want. You have his number," Jasmine scoffed as she looked at her husband with an amused smile.

"Maybe I will," Pete mumbled under his breath.

But in the next moment, his head snapped back to the task at hand.

Time to bury a Ground Gem.