"Good work, Venusaur." Erika gently recalled her Venusaur into its Poké Ball, speaking softly.
Then, she walked over to Johan.
"That was... a truly beautiful battle," Erika said with a smile, a touch of admiration in her voice.
In her words:
The beauty of Pokémon battles lies in their fleeting nature. No two battles in the world are ever truly the sa, making every mont irreplaceable.
It's this enjoynt of fleeting beauty that makes life vibrant and colorful.
Looking at Vulpix, who was now shalessly nuzzling Johan's arms, Erika chuckled.
"That was a splendid display of icy flowers," she praised.
"Oowu~~"
Embarrassed, Vulpix buried its head into Johan's arm, though the wagging of its tails betrayed its true feelings.
"Oh, and Professor Johan, here's the Rainbow Badge."
Erika handed over an eight-petaled badge that shimred with all the colors of the rainbow.
Johan glanced around.
"...This is the Hoenn region, right?"
Using Kanto's badges to defeat Hoenn trainers—doesn't that break so rules?
"It's fine! Rules don't matter," Erika said with a mischievous laugh. "No one's going to check anyway."
Of course, no one would check.
She was the one in charge of supervising such things.
"Besides," Erika added, "aren't you planning to challenge the Indigo League? This badge will co in handy, won't it?"
Johan: "???"
When did I ever say I was challenging the Indigo League?
"And here, take this TM for Giga Drain as well."
[Giga Drain]
Type: Grass
Effect: Deals damage to the target and recovers HP equal to half the damage dealt. (Pairs well with the "Big Root" item.)
Seeing the TM, Johan decided to just accept the badge.
Fine, fine.
Now he had three Kanto badges: Thunder, Rainbow, and Cascade. With five more, he really could enter the Indigo League.
To be honest, Johan wasn't entirely opposed to participating.
After all, the Indigo League is Kanto's annual grand tournant, with substantial prize money and rewards.
The problem was he didn't have ti to go challenge each Gym one by one.
Besides, Kanto's Gyms were notoriously difficult.
'Forget it. I'll keep it for now. If I collect all the badges, great. If not, it'll just be a nice keepsake.'
Johan comforted himself with this thought.
With formalities complete, Erika leaned in closer, lowering her voice.
"Professor Johan, have you ever considered teaching at Celadon University?"
"Huh?"
Surrounded by a subtle scent of fresh grass, Johan froze, startled.
Was she trying to... poach him?
"Our university's benefits are far superior to those of Rustboro's Pokémon Academy," Erika continued. "Besides, many of our flower arrangent faculty—who are mostly won—greatly admire you."
"Cough, cough!"
Johan coughed awkwardly and straightened up.
"There's no need to talk about benefits; that feels too transactional. Actually... I've always been quite fond of flower arranging myself..."
He trailed off and made a hasty retreat toward the stands.
Watching Johan's "retreat," Erika smiled mischievously, her expression akin to a playful devil's.
Professor Johan really is adorable.
"Ka-kah~~"
The mont Johan returned, Gengar shoved a bucket of popcorn into his hands.
"You raided the gardener's Sunflora again, didn't you?" Johan imdiately identified the popcorn's source.
"Ka-kah~~"
Gengar turned its head aside, feigning embarrassnt.
Why are you pretending to be shy?!
I didn't even praise you!
Still, since the popcorn was already made, wasting it would be a sha.
Johan grabbed a handful and popped it into his mouth.
Under the watchful eyes of Roxanne and the others, he chewed nonchalantly.
"What are you staring at for? Talk amongst yourselves." Johan looked puzzled at their reactions.
Roxanne, Bugsy, Brock, and the rest:"!!"
It was understandable for Flannery to be unfazed—she was used to fire Pokémon and heat.
But how was Professor Johan immune to ghostly fire-popped popcorn?!
The final match between Steven and Will was spectacular.
What started as a sowhat tense and competitive face-off evolved into a friendly exchange, with both participants appreciating each other's skills.
They marveled at Will's psychic tricks and Steven's sheer strength.
The outco beca secondary as everyone shared training and battle insights.
With the sun dipping low on the horizon...
Johan excused himself, explaining he had to move house.
Hearing this, everyone eagerly offered to help.
Faced with the dilemma of finding movers so late in the day, Johan wasn't about to refuse free labor.
Steven went a step further, summoning a truck and several Machoke over the phone.
In truth, this left little work for Erika's group.
"Gengar, why are you holding that lampshade? It's already broken! Leave it, and wait until we're at the new house to lick sothing fresh!"
"Stop worrying! Your plant is safe with the Machoke—don't trip them again!"
"Tinkatuff, put that hamr down! Those steel beams belong to the building!"
"Chu?"
The Tinkatuff, hamr mid-swing at a load-bearing column, paused at Johan's sharp rebuke.
Johan wiped the sweat from his brow.
That was close.
Smashing the column would've turned the building into a safety hazard!
Despite minor hiccups, the move proceeded smoothly.
The presence of Pokémon made the process remarkably efficient.
By the ti they arrived at Johan's new ho, deliveries from the furniture and electronics stores had also arrived.
As the golden sunset bathed the white walls in a warm glow, Johan and his team finally finished setting everything up.
The house was now fully furnished.
Johan initially wanted to invite everyone for dinner, but Erika and the others were tactful.
Knowing it was Johan's first day in his new ho, they excused themselves, promising to visit for a al another ti.
After seeing his guests off, Johan returned to the second floor to clean the kitchen and dining area.
However, as he looked at the massive oval dining table, he couldn't help but glare at Gengar.
"I told you not to buy such a big table. It's not like we have that many Pokémon to seat!"
"Ka-kah."
Gengar muttered sothing about planning for future additions to the family.
Vulpix, anwhile, was ecstatic with its new cat tower. It leaped and climbed across the structure, chirping happily.
Johan had taken the liberty of modifying the tower, extending platforms along the walls of the second floor to create a parkour-like environnt for Vulpix.
The idea was to keep it active and entertained while also preparing for its eventual evolution.
The fox Pokémon seed utterly delighted, its cheerful cries echoing through the house.
Elsewhere, Tinkatuff was busy lifting weights in its personalized gym room, and Dratini was happily splashing in its oversized bathtub.
Everything was falling into place.
But then...
As Johan brewed a cup of coffee downstairs, a shadow slipped through the slightly ajar front door.
Johan's sharp eyes caught it imdiately.
"Stop right there!"
"Ka-kah?!"
Caught mid-sneak, Gengar froze on the spot.
Johan narrowed his eyes.
"You were upstairs just a mont ago. When did you slip out?"
Gengar chuckled sheepishly, its grin wide and unrepentant.
"Ka-kah..."
I... uh... was just scouting the area! You know, making sure there weren't any thieves or bad guys lurking around!
Bad guys?
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Powerstones?
For 20 advance Chapters: /michaeltranslates
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