C077 - Dragons at his farm

Pete was once more in his kitchen. Courtney had taken Valerie to the hot spring to relax and even invited her over to stay. Jasmine was outside talking things through with her pokemon with Whitney watching, and Iris and Clair were currently watching Pete cook.

"So you wanted to talk about mega evolutions? Did you get a stone and want to figure out who to give it to?"

Clair looked at his back and admitted with a sigh, "Yeah, Lance recently found three stones in a raid and is on his way to Kalos to discuss their prospects with Professor Sycamore. We both owned Keystones for a long time, but finding the appropriate stone for your pokemon is simply too hard."

"He gave you one to keep? What are its typings?"

"Flying and water," Clair answered as she took out a stone slightly bigger than her fist.

"Hmm, that's certainly a nice stone for your lineup. First of all, it probably screams Gyarados. For Flying, you probably have way too many options in Charizard, Aerodactyl, Altaria... do you have a Salamence?"

Clair narrowed her eyes at Pete and asked in suspicion, "And I have a Dragonite and a Kingdra. Why would you leave them out? Is this your way of telling me they don't have mega evolutions?"

Pete stilled for a moment. It was true. They didn't have mega evolutions... in the games. They could have mega evolutions after all in this world.

"Uh, how would I know? I'm not consciously thinking about your lineup day by day. Just telling you what came to mind, haha."

"Ugh, anyway. Lance sent me a picture of his new mega Salamance that evolved thanks to a dragon/fire mega stone, and I don't want to lag behind. I've thought about Gyarados, too. My Charizard declined the opportunity. It was my grandfather's pokemon he started training at the end of his career and is getting too old. He would rather have me use this precious stone on one of my younger pokemon."

While Clair kept weighing her options, Pete thought about the known mega evolutions that could induce dragon typing.

'I'm already way too knowledgeable about a lot of stuff. Can I really come out and tell people about undocumented mega evolutions like Ampharos, who turns into electric/dragon Mega Ampharos? Or Mega Sceptile, the grass/dragon pokemon? The hidden evo-conditions I could explain with educated guesses, rumors, and hidden myths... I probably shouldn't even mention that Altaria changes into the only known dragon/fairy pokemon upon mega evolution. With it getting the Pixilate ability, Clair would be undefeated among dragon trainers, most likely...'

"Your Altaria was very young yet very eager last we met. Right? I have a few Swablu flittering around my pokemon's newest breeding ground, 'Dragon's Peak', next to where the lake meets the ocean's bay. So I'll be biased and say I would want to see Altaria mega evolve. Did Professor Sycamore have data about a Mega Altaria yet?"

Clair didn't think much about Pete's potentially hidden info anymore and mused that trying her luck with Altaria was as good as whatever she came up with. But before she could respond, Iris chimed in rather aggresively.

"You have a Dragon's Peak here? Point me to it! I want to challenge the peak's master with my Hydreigon and become their queen!"

Pete finally turned around to give Iris a concerned look, "Uh... I'd appreciate it if you didn't destroy the peak. I won't tell you how to behave because those living there are dragon pokemon, you are more knowledgeable about them. Oh, and don't hurt the Swablu. They are too cute, and my Cinccino are great friends with all of them. They'd be quite upset with me if their cleaning playmates were injured."

Both Cinccino, who were helping out in the kitchen swiftly and eagerly nodded, fearing for the wellbeing of their newest friends.

Iris swiftly ran outside before running back in, "Tell one of your pokemon to take me there!"

Pete shook his head and called out for his Metagross. The Beldum he had received from Steven took much longer to evolve than any other pokemon in his team and only evolved into its final form four weeks ago. He called out to Metagross because it was one of the few pokemon not intimidated by the aura of the pokemon present there.

'Hey buddy. Could you drop off Iris near the peak after dinner and bring her back once she's done with whatever she's doing? And please help me keep an eye on the Swablu and the eggs. I don't want the Dragonites to get angry.'

Metagross hummed in agreement, and Pete turned to Iris, who had shining eyes while looking at the giant steel pokemon. She could likely feel the sheer power Pete's rare pokemon emitted.

"Metagross here will take you once you've eaten. Food's almost done anyway."

With the help of two Miltank, two Cinccino, an Arcanine and a Klinklang, who moved knives and pots with his steel type energy, Pete prepared two giant pots of curry for some of his pokemon and all his guests.

He had to stop feeding all of his pokemon self-made food quite a while ago and only cooked on special occasions like guests coming over. Some pokemon still regularly ate with him and the girls, but it simply wasn't feasible to cook for over a hundred pokemon on a daily basis.

Instead, Pete let them eat berries or other plants straight from the source or they would eat Pokeblocks that Pete regularly mass produced with a device Devon Corp made for him some time ago that was three times as large as the regular portable Pokeblock Kit he bought in Hoenn on his trip.

Sophie came back from her dayjob and joined them outside for dinner. She recently had Herbert and Isabelle create a company in Olivine City that imports and exports fabrics, and she started designing unique, one of a kind dresses and suits with them. She chose Olivine based on the fact that her sister would likely become the gym leader there, and she didn't want to be too far apart from her twin sister.

"Hey, isn't that that obscure dragon pokemon Uncle Drayden told me about? Flapple?"

While they were sitting outside to enjoy their food while the area near the house was lit up in torches, Iris pointed to a small lizard frantically flapping its wings made of red apple shell. The small pokemon barely as tall or big as a watermelon landed near Pete's shiny Jumpluff and placed two berries next to her.

"Yep, that's my Flapple. He eats nothing but berries, and mostly just Leppa Berries, but he usually brings something over for his mate Jumpluff when we eat. He's probably unconvinced that my food is nutritious or tasty enough," Pete explained with a grin. Flapple really had a lot of character, but it was still much more sociable than his other dragon pokemon. The Dragonair he hatched from Milotic's egg had quite the attitude, for example. Only his Flygon, the matriarch of Dragon's Peak, was on the more friendly side.

She also surprised Pete immensely when she laid eggs that didn't have Yanmega as the father. Apparently, this world had some mild changes to the egg pools and made Flygon part of the dragon egg pool like it rightfully should.

Clair looked intrigued and thought now was as good a time as any to bring up the second reason she came today.

"Hey, Pete. Do you have any Applin eggs you would trade with me? You would honestly do me a favor more than I do you, but there's a Drampa who lost a wing and can't make the daily trip down from the mountains near Blackthorn City anymore. He's a gentle soul among dragon pokemon, and I'd want him to stay here in this peaceful environment."

"Huh, that's intriguing. I would agree, but you have to ask Jumpluff and Flapple over there. They only have two eggs between them so far, and from what I have seen, Flapple didn't spread his apple seeds anywhere else," Pete suggested with a wink. "Or do you know if Flapple has another mate, Courtney?"

Clair just groaned, but Iris gained an appalled blush at Pete's crude words. Courtney tilted her head to think for a moment. She sat next to Valerie at the table. Those two immediately clicked when they met earlier.

"No, Flapple is a one-gal-guy from what I've seen. He was smitten with your shiny Jumpluff from day one. Took him a while to woo her," Courtney answered.

Pete nodded in thanks and turned back to Clair, "There you have it. Get their permission, and you can take an egg. His ability Ripen is a bit of a cheat on this farm, but honestly, our berry orchard is gigantic. I'm already feeding quite a few wild pokemon with excess berries."

Valerie, Iris, and Clair stopped what they were doing and looked at Pete as if he was a madman. Whitney just shook her head with an exasperated sigh and murmured, 'what did I expect' under her breath.

Iris eventually spoke up while changing her expression and looking at Pete as if he is an idiot, "Why not sell them?"

"Hmm, I know Celebi probably couldn't care less. But when I ended that decade old war between the Vileplume and Ariados tribes, it asked me to nurture new, diverse life in the meadow and by extension the forest. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to live here, so I'm doing it for more brownie points, if I'm honest. And what would I need more money for? I already have way more than I would ever need thanks to my publications, and let's not talk about the 3% shares in Devon Corp that would mean I couldn't spend all my money in one lifetime."

Clair lifted an eyebrow and curiously asked, "How did that happen? Mr Stone didn't need any investors because he built up the company from ground up on his own. Only his son Steven, that weird nerd Bill and Oak ever received any shares from that man."

"Remember the Devon Corp mass terminations in Unova and Hoenn some time ago? Right around the time that Team Aqua leader managed to get away in Hoenn? I, uh, helped out in identifying some corporate spies. Joseph, Steven's dad, wanted to thank me with the position of CTO in the company or some other outrageous positions like Head of R&D, and when I declined them all, he handed me the shares. The contract was already finalized and didn't need my signature, so I had to accept. Even though he knew his son had already rewarded me plenty with my Metagross, Swampert, Blaziken, and some super rare TMs," Pete sheepishly answered while scratching his left ear.

Iris and Clair didn't really know what to say to that. Valerie, on her end, didn't care much. Her parents were just as rich as Pete, so it didn't faze her, and Whitney had heard the story some time ago.

The youngest trainer at the table eventually couldn't take the silence that followed anymore and stood up abruptly, "It's already night. I want to fight before midnight if possible, so please have your pokemon escort me to this Dragon's Peak!"

Pete called out to Metagross, who was resting near the house, and the pokemon complied by teleporting the young lady away just as abruptly as she stood up before.

"I'll see if my Altaria is compatible with my mega stone. She deserves the opportunity most," Clair said as she stood up and walked toward the lake. She had asked Flapple and Jumpluff for an egg moments before and received an okay on the condition that she makes their offspring strong and cared for.

"Courtney's showing me the hotspring, so that's what I'll do," Valerie chimed in as she grabbed Pete's assistant's hands and dragged her inside. "We'll make a flowery bath for my Spritzee, too, and make her the best smelling Spritzee in the world!"

"I'll see what all the fuss is about with mega evolutions if you would allow me," Whitney added as she stood next to Clair with a grin. Jasmine and Sophie wanted to tag along, too. One because of the pokemon and the other to stay at the lake during the night.

'Hmm, Kangashkan with that ridiculous mega evo where the baby in its pouch grows up a little and Pidgeot. Were there any other normal type mega evolutions for Whitney? Lopunny who gains fighting and Audino who gains fairy secondary typing, right? I could see Whitney using a mega Lopunny to great effect... but would she want to mega evolve anything that isn't her Miltank or her Lickilicky? I did gift her that Buneary a while ago, but she never told me about her progress in training it.'