章 59: C059 - News on Lance and Clair's raid
"Oh hey, if you like pink, then you're going to love my Jumpluff! Let me check if she's close," Pete offered as he concentrated his psychic energy to reach out to Jumpluff.
As luck would have it, she was currently dancing around with both Grotles near the berry farm, just barely in Pete's range. Pete couldn't really talk yet over this distance, but he could send a short command, which admittedly gave him a bit of a headache.
"How is he going to check if she's close," Lily whispered to her sister Jasmine next to her in the hotspring.
"Oh, he awakened his psychic potential and has been training it really hard. It helps out a lot on his farm," Jasmine whispered back barely loud enough that their mother Isabelle heard it, too.
Isabelle, who had liked Pete from the very start, got more and more excited about having him as a son-in-law. Not only did he not ogle her or her daughters as they put down their robes as a normal teenager would, he was also a gentle soul with enough resolve to end an age-old war between pokemon to live his life like he wants.
Not to forget, the life he wants is to raise powerful pokemon and become an influential pokemon professor while doing the side business of opening up a new avenue of products for their company with this grafting technique he pulled out of nowhere. And just looking at her shy daughter's smile, Isabelle judged that they had 'roped in' the perfect son-in-law.
The sisters talked amongst one another as Isabelle closed her eyes to relax in this pleasant bath Pete had created. Pete himself concentrated on his water training once more until he was awoken from his focused state.
"KYAAA!" Pete looked up and saw Lily hurrying over to him. He looked up and saw his pink, shiny Jumpluff float just a short bit over his head.
In the next moment, the young mother pressed her assets into the bewildered assistant professor's face as she reached out in an attempt to hug the pink pokemon flying above his head.
"*Cough* Please calm down, Lily," Pete offered as he pried the woman away from him.
"Hey, Jumpluff. Thanks for coming over so fast. These are Lily, Jasmine's and Sophie's sister, Isabelle, their mother, and in the little crib over there, that's Lily's daughter Emily. Lily, as you may have noticed, loves the color pink, and I wanted to show off my pretty Jumpluff to her," Pete introduced.
While Jumpluff stuck to Pete because he wanted her to feel and be special outside of being 'shiny', the pokemon didn't mind getting praised for her pretty appearance. It just had to come in appropriate doses.
'Maybe I should hide Espeon for a bit,' Pete thought in worry at the excessive reaction of Lily.
Nobody saw the glare Jasmine was throwing her elder sister. She hadn't done anything so bold to Pete, and yet her sister went ahead and did it without meaning to. However, she was glad to see Pete largely unaffected. His brows were only slightly furrowed, and if Jasmine had to guess, he was likely thinking that he should hide Espeon from her sister instead of generous chest sticking in his face.
At breakfast the next day, Pete was the first to wake up like usual. Valentino arrived next, grabbed a quick bite, and hurried back into the forest with his pokemon. The next person to wake up wasn't Isabelle like he suspected, but Lily with a crying Emily in her arms.
"Diaper checked? Hungry? Any of her clothing too tight, too hot or wet?" Pete asked off-handedly as he continued to read the news.
Pete didn't have kids of his own even in his last life, but the two kids of his brother gave him enough ideas about what the little girl could be crying about. It was way too early for any teeth to grow, and if it was growing pains, which it was a little too early for, too, then they simply had tough luck.
"Hmm, she does feel a little sweaty on her back," Lily said in wonder as she fussed over her daughter on the couch.
Pete looked up and regarded Emily with a warm smile.
"You don't want her to get a wind-chill, but maybe lose the shirt under the onesie. If she's just lying around, you could throw a light blanket over her to shield her from the breeze. Just don't pack it tight if you don't need to," Pete offered as advice and turned back down to his tablet.
Through league channels, he could finally read a redacted telling of events from Lance's and Clair's raid on the Team Rocket lab near Olivine City here in Johto.
"Does my sister need to worry about becoming a stepmom, or are you a natural with this stuff?" Lily asked as her baby stopped crying after losing a layer of clothing and having the sweat wiped away.
Pete turned back to look at the article. Two Dragonite, three Dragonair, a Charizard, two Aerodactyl, which Pete found more astonishing than anything else, a Kingdra, an Altaria, and a Gyarados. These were the pokemon the current champion and his cousin, the dragon gym leader of Blackthorn City, had brought to either arrest or deal with the threat of the lab as needed.
"Nah, used to have an older brother and sometimes watched his kids," Pete off-handedly answered as he kept reading.
"Used to have? Oh no, what happened?"
Pete didn't look up and honestly wasn't really paying any attention to the conversation. Sixteen goons and most of their pokemon died as they resisted arrest. Thirty-seven Team Rocket members, including three researchers, and a self-proclaimed professor survived and were being processed by the police as they uncovered 'unethical' research. Sadly, the article did not mention anything about what they found.
"Are you okay, Pete? You don't have to talk about it," Lily sat beside him and gently touched his shoulder in reassurance. She took his silence as being too sad for him to talk about. She didn't mean to pry open old wounds.
'Trainers dying, their pokemon wiped out with them... this is very far from my experience in this world so far, but I should know better. I've seen those dead Team Rocket grunts in the forest and fought a 'war' alre- Wait, Lily was talking!'
"Hmm? Oh, my brother? That's..., well. It's not 'fine' fine... But while we can't see each other anymore, I hope with all my heart that he is happy where he is. Being surrounded by my lovely pokemon helps a lot," Pete replied giving his best reassuring smile to the young mother who was already tearing up a little.
It was a bit of a heavy topic for someone Pete had just met the day before, so the atmosphere turned a little awkward after that. And in the grand scheme of things, it was a little weird since it was technically him who died, not the other way around. He'd have to mind his wording in the future.
"Have you heard about all these attacks on Team Rocket bases yet? I imagine your husband or, at the very least, his sister were informed about it, maybe even roped in, no?" Pete asked to break the silence and change the topic.
'Hmm, does Duosion know I'm not from around here? Celebi could have figured it out even more easily,' Pete idly thought as Lily began reading the article from next to him.
"He mentioned something and would have been sent to investigate since an Officer Jenny would have been 'too obvious', but Emily came in the way," Lily explained as she sent her daughter a fond look. "I know it's selfish, but seeing how many people died, I'm glad. Tom's Raichu, Blastoise, and Seadra are powerful, but not whatever... this is."
Lily and Pete reached a point in the article with a photo of the pokemon lineup the two elite trainers brought. Seeing all these grossly overpowered pokemon was very intimidating.
'I think I remember a tidbit of the games where Silver, the second gen rival, didn't want to partner up with Clair because he insults her outfit? Wow, I get his reluctance. That weird combination of boots with the two thick rings below her knee and the weirdly cut swimsuit are very unflattering.'
'She should have long, toned legs and looks fit enough for a killer butt, but that combo... her haircut is also a weird choice, makes her slim face look round and rectangular at the same time,' Pete thought in deep contemplation, not realizing that Lily had stopped looking at the picture a few moments ago and instead scrutinized him.
Unknown to him, Lily was glad her earlier question didn't seem to have put a damper on his mood. And, she also didn't think that the boyfriend of her youngest sister was currently judging how good Clair's ass would look in jeans instead of that skyblue wetsuit, but rather that he was analyzing the strong pokemon in the picture.
"Morning Pete, Lily. And how are you, my little bundle of sunshine?" Isabelle squealed as she made her presence known when she sat next to Emily on the couch.
"Ah, you finally lost a layer of clothing. Good thing I was worried Emily might be a little too hot in this sunny meadow all dressed up for a mountain hike. Better learn it here than your home, too. Mikan Island is even more tropical," Isabelle in full 'grandma mode' explained.
Instead of answering her mother, Lily only shot Pete a grateful look, but he already continued reading the article.
There seemed to be a hidden lab near Alph mountains North-East of here, that even Pete, with his meta knowledge, didn't know about. Their next raid started... two hours before sunrise today.
'Good thing there's still a full buffer in Ilex Forest between us and the mountain range... I should still accompany the adventure group the next two days and maybe leave a few more pokemon here than planned when Valentino and I leave in three.'
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