C022 - Violet City early morning shopping

Under the urging of Rapidash, Pete decided to take Growlithe with him. At least for the night, he didn't want to ask the pokemon to join him after she had just lost her family.

The three Farfetch'd followed Pete silently at the heel in an orderly row without any prompting. It was kind of endearing to see, though Pete wondered where their military-esque mindset came from.

Nidorino followed along too, which came as a surprise. It didn't want to get into a pokeball, so their return trip took a little longer with the wounded poisonous rabbit following along.

Pete wasn't yet sure if he wanted to keep him, or if maybe the pokemon only wanted to stay until its recovered a little. But Solosis assured him that Nidorino didn't follow with bad intentions and would not attack them.

Back at the site of the fight, Pete had cut a piece of Arcanine's tail fur to keep as a memento for Growlithe and buried the corpses of the fight with Golett's help including the Team Rocket grunts.

Once they all returned, Pete once more tended to the wounds of the new addition to their camp and then walked inside the quiet mansion of Herbert's family.

Isabelle, who was in the living room reading, looked at Pete with a raised eyebrow as he came inside only to 'steal' a bowl of spring onions. But she decided to ask tomorrow.

The three Farfetch'd looked at Pete with worshipping gazes as he placed the bowl down so they could choose their 'weapon'. Each of them picked one and they started a three-way-sword fight with their new spring onion. They looked weirdly agile and professional, but it was still a very derpy sight.

He then brought the remaining vegetables inside and went to the bathroom to get ready for the night. Sleep came easy to most this night, except for Growlithe and Rapidash, who had forced the pup into her warm embrace for comfort.

When Pete woke up, Rapidash, for the first time in a long time, was not awake before him. He looked at the fiery unicorn, and his heart broke at the sight of Growlithe curled up with wet fur near her eyes next to Rapidash's head.

Golett was still up and greeted Pete with a silent, robotic wave to which Pete responded with a warm smile and a nod. Nidorino was up, too.

The pokemon was covered in bandages on its purple fur and had a determined look in his eyes. It looked like he wanted to talk to Pete, so he guided him toward the mansion a little away from all his still sleeping pokemon.

Since unlocking his psychic affinity and concentrating on the changes, Pete noticed he could more accurately tell a pokemon's mood and meaning. That would come in handy for the upcoming discussion.

"Alright, tell me then. What can I do for you?"

"Nido!"

"You want to become strong?"

"Nidoo!"

"Okay, yeah, I guess I could probably help with that, but strength for my pokemon and I isn't my goal. It's to be safe and live comfortably."

"Nidorino~"

"Really? The fire in your eyes tells me you want to gain strength for strength's sake."

"Nii!"

"You sure? You don't want strength to take revenge on the group those people came from?"

"Nidoo~"

"Yeah, I thought as much. Well, I could help you get stronger, but there are better trainers out there to help with that. And while I could potentially help you evolve, I don't see any benefit to me if you're just going to leave to fight Team Rocket."

"Nido!"

"Yeah, sure, I could use a fighter in the short term..."

"Nidori!"

"I... I guess. Let me be clear, though. I can help, but it's at my pace, not yours. Don't start fighting wild pokemon to train your moves and drag the others and me into it when you bit off more than you can chew."

"Ni!"

"Haaa. Okay, I'll browse some common training guides for your species on my tablet once we're done with breakfast. Welcome to the team, Nidorino," Pete said with a sigh.

His plan was not to catch any more pokemon in the short term, yet he already had four new pokemon since the three Farfetch'd already looked like they wanted to worship the ground Pete walked on. Especially when he said he would open a farm where plants like leeks and green onion would grow.

And there was still Growlithe, who Pete was sure would stay one way or another by the way Rapidash was behaving.

When Pete was done cooking breakfast, the twins joined him at the table at his camp site with incredibly tired eyes. They only really lost their sleepiness when they saw the pitiful Growlithe all wounded and curled up next to Rapidash eying everyone warily.

"Aw, poor puppy! Who hurt you like this? Did Pete bully you?" Sophie asked as she squatted down next to Growlithe to try and comfort her.

"The wounds look properly cared for," Jasmine analyzed as she squatted down next to Sophie. The Corsola on her arms looked distressed at the pitiful state of Growlithe as well.

The Corsola even went as far as using rock type energy to break off one of its horns on the back and gift it to Growlithe. It was one of the bigger ones and even taller than her head, but thin enough that Growlith could carry it in her maw of she so chooses.

Under the urging of so many pokemon and people who wanted her to get better, Growlithe eventually ate a big portion of Pete's food. For a short moment, she even growled in pleasure because the food was so delicious. But when she heard it herself, she grew disheartened and stopped with a sad look. She did, however, accept the horn and gnawed on it slowly and with care. Kind of like with a chew-toy or bone.

Pete looked up a few guides on how to train the Nidoran lines and didn't find anything too crazy outside of having them eat the corpses of other poison type pokemon to increase the power of their poison.

Which could be accomplished if he sicked the Nidorino on the Ariadnos at Evergreen Meadow later on, but he couldn't do it right at this moment.

Nidorino needed to get healed first anyway. So when the twins were ready to go into Violet City, Pete took Solosis and Zorua with him while keeping Nidorino balled.

He planned to get Nidorino healed at a pokemon center because it took much more physical damage than Growlithe, who would recover shortly with just the berries and the potion spray Pete used.

Zorua didn't want to leave Pete's side this morning and Solosis was asked to come along so she could potentially get a glimpse of the move Heal Pulse from the Chansey or Blissey likely working at the pokemon center.

Pete asked the rest of his pokemon to keep a look out for his belongings and to enjoy some time off, but he knew the Minccino, Ponyta, and Blitzle were up to some shenanigans. Sunkern was once again hanging out with Isabelle's three Sunflora.

The three Sunflora were asked to mend quite a few more grafted berry trees now that they learned of the great success of the first try and Pete hoped Sunkern would learn a thing or two from them on this sunny day.

"Where'd you wanna go first, Pete?" Sophie asked as the three made their way down from the mansion into the city.

Both girls were wearing fluttering sundresses and large, white hats. The dresses were the same cut, but Jasmine's was a warm earthen beige, while Sophie's dress was skyblue.

"Hmm, I think the pokecenter to get Nidorino checked if you don't mind," Pete responded as he palmed the ball the pokemon was in.

"Sure, we can do that," Sophie agreed with a cheerful smile.

"Maybe we should have insisted Growlithe come too," Jasmine muttered as she looked at the pokeball with the wounded pokemon inside.

"She looked fine to me. The wound on her hindleg was almost closed this morning. Just exhausted, tired, and very, very sad. I don't think the pokecenter would help more than Rapidash mothering her all day as best she can," Pete interjected.

Showing up to the pokecenter with an ID that said "assistant professor to Professor Elm" turned out to be a VIP card that meant the Nurse Joy of the pokemon center would more or less agree to his every reasonable demand.

The check-up for Nidorino would take some time, so Pete left him there together with Solosis. Pete had asked if he could let the pokemon stay so that it might learn Heal Pulse. He had asked Professor Elm before if that would be considered impolite, but the professor assured him that the Nurse Joys would welcome pokemon trying to learn the noble art of healing.

With Zorua on his shoulder and the twins at his side, Pete started taking in the sights of Violet City now that his biggest worry was taken care of.

They browsed a few shops here and there, and Pete was dragged into a few clothing stores, too. Sophie seemed to have a knack for fashion as she decided how the twins would dress for the day Pete learned today. Jasmine was more focused on pokemon and gladly trusted her sister's fashion sense.

Pete, in turn, was made to buy a bunch of outfits that matched his overall look. He didn't say anything to shirts and hoodies, but he did ask for the pants and jackets to also be functional and not just a fashion statement. Sophie already knew Pete was going to say something like that, so she chose the stores well in advance.

At a large convenience store Pete stocked up on pokemon treats he couldn't make just yet, bought a bunch of spices and cooking utensils like whisks he didn't get in New Bark Town and found a few gardening tools.

Lunch was getting closer, so Pete wanted to get Solosis and Nidorino from the pokemon center and get back to the mansion. The day had already cost him P$8.520 - that was enough for Pete.