Ch 36. Celadon City

Having spent the night at the pokemon center, Ares looked at the quest board to find something suitable for him and his pokemon, something that would give them a bit of urgency to grow,but nothing was fitting for any of his pokemon. Most of the quests were favorable to grass types and fire types. Not really ones that went with the description of his own Pokemon. There were quests for caterpie exterminations, but he had no use for those except for feeding Pidgeot, as he really enjoyed a Caterpie every once in a while.

Leaving the pokemon center, Ares instead decided to explore the city a bit. From the distance it had seemed big, but it was even more so when he was inside of it. The city was as big as Saffron city in the form of inhabitants, which was surprising as Saffron city was one of the biggest trade cities in Kanto.

The city consisted mostly of large shopping streets, with only the outer edges scaling down to the housing area of the people living here. Right now, Ares was walking along the main street, where a few vendors had set up their shops. There wasn't a lot of space, with most of the vendors having decided to set up their shops in the nearby parks.

People were walking along the streets in droves as they were going about their daily lives, making it a bit hard to enter or exit a store easily. Once inside the nearest store he could find, Ares looked around only to see he had stumbled into a prefume store, one of the many in this city.

"Hello. Can I help you with something? Are you looking for a gift or for your own use?"

A young lady walked up to him, with the intention with helping him with his pick.

"Ah... I'm just looking around."

He replied, not sure if he had a good enough reason for getting in the store, aside from a bit of curiosity. From the distance it looked like a cafe, so he wanted to check it out and see if he and his pokemon could grab a bite. Who knew the outer appearance of the store was so confusing.

"Do ask for help if you need it. If it is for your girlfriend, I can surely help you."

Not replying to that at all, Ares glanced over the pristinely colored glass bottles, each filled with their own particular scent. To be honest, he couldn't really stand the smell of the perfumes. It mingled a bit too much, making the combined scent overwhelming and suffocating.

At his side, Lucario seemed to think the same as he grimaced, doing his best not to respond with the much wanted paw over his nose.

It was to be expected, as Lucario's nose was even better than his, making this place worse.

Ready to leave, Ares was halted at the door by another girl, one who had a calm demeanor. She had short black hair, kept tidy by a red hairband. She wore a simple yet elegant looking kimono, the red mapple leaf pattern on it standing out from the warm yellow color of her kimono.

"Have you seen enough? Wasn't there anything you liked among our assortiment?"

Stopping in his tracks, Ares looked at her, not sure how to reply.

"Not particularly, no."

"Then do you have a certain preference for the scent you are looking for? We can also have it custom-made, as not all of our scents fit the requested specifications. Our brand is fairly popular, making such an application possible."

"That isn't needed."

He replied, walking past the girl at the door. Lucario was already standing outside, waiting patiently for him to leave.

Not detered by the negative reply at all, she handed him a flyer. On it were the steps on how to request a custom made item.

"Please take this if you change your mind. If you call and say Erika sent you, they will know. I hope you have a nice day."

Erika smiled as she saw Ares put the flyer in his back, happy he didn't throw it away or gave it back.

"I will think about it."

He muttered as he began to look around the street, only to notice he had walked into the wrong store. The one he wanted to go to was a few steps back from where he had come from. It wasn't that surprising, as the passersby had pushed him further along the street than he wanted.

Going a bit further back, he took a rest at one of the cafe's, one where pokemon were the ones serving the customers. Bulbasaurs, Vileplumes, Tangela and Gloom were taking orders at the table. Once the orders had been received, they were put through to the chef, which led to them bringing said orders back to the table.

There didn't seem to be any problems at all with the way they operated, as questions were directed through an electronic panel, where one of the human personal answered them. It would be difficult after all if a pokemon needed to reply to a question.

Taking a seat, he and Lucario waited for one of the pokemon to come to him. Thinking Pikachu and Clefairy would like this as well, he called them out as well. Umbreon was napping in his pokeball and the rest of his pokemon were too large to take part in this. Maybe he could have some to-go later?

Taking a seat as well, Clefairy and Pikachu were waiting with excitement. A Vileplume arrived, handing them a menu. It didn't need to wait long, as Ares and his pokemon were rather quick with their decisions. Having chosen their meals and drink fairly quickly, the orders were put through.

Not having to wait too long, their orders were placed on the table. Pikachu had chosen a Oran berry/Pecha berry smoothy, with a cookie on the side. Clefairy had gotten a Muffin with a lot of whipped cream and a lot of fruit.

Lucario and Ares had both ordered some sandwiches, both of them liking savoury food more than sweets.

It was a delight to see the little ones eat, as they both made a mess of it. Clefairy had whipped cream all over her face, while Pikachu had crumbs in her fur. They were truly adorable.

Cleaning them up with a napkin, he order some food to-go for the rest of his pokemon and paid immediately. They left the cafe soon after, returning Pikachu and Clefairy to their pokeballs.

Now he just had to find where the gym was. It was best if he could scout out the battlefield he was going to battle at.

Wandering around, he soon arrived at a greenhouse, on its front the logo of the gym. From what he had discovered on the internet, the gymleader here was the girl he had met in the perfume store, Erika. She was a user of grass type Pokemon. As he already had three gymbadges, chances were high he would battle with two or more Pokemon. The pokemon that she used were Weepingbell, Tangela and Gloom.

They were all grass types that could use status moves like stun spore and poison powder. A tactic he could probably counter with Pidgeot, as well as with Clefairy. Clefairy had the abillity wonder guard after all, so status moves were useless against her. As for his possible third pokemon, he decided to let Pikachu take the spot, if it was needed.

Having gotten a look at the battle field, which was a normal one without any advantage/disadvantages for any type, Ares returned back to the Pokemon center, going to strategize with his Pokemon on the coming battle.