I actually paid a visit to both the orphanage and the sanctuary after I left the agency, just to make sure that both places still stood. Thankfully, they were perfectly fine. It was good to see that the crew I paid to clean both locations twice a month was actually doing their job.
I had to do that because I did not want my properties to be overgrown and full of dust, dirt, as well as grime. Such a state might invite/lure over certain Pokemon, which I did not want. That was the reason I had multiple housekeepers and a gardener on my employee list after all. Well, they'd be responsible for the orphanage, and the current cleaning crew would still be responsible for the sanctuary.
Mothra/Butterfree and I went to a local restaurant for dinner. She obviously was in her chibi form, and the restaurant staff said nothing against her when they saw how adorable/small she was. Some of the staff asked if they could take a photo with her and Mothra agreed.
Even the boss came out and took a picture with Mothra. He said that he would keep one copy for himself and hang up another in the restaurant. In the end, the boss waived our bill, and Mothra gave me a smug "you're welcome" as we left the restaurant. At least, that was what she tried to look like, but in her chibi mode, she just looked cute.
Anyway, we made our way to Pallet City after that, and the next day, I decided to throw a grill party to make up for the restaurant dinner the others missed. Overall, I/we spent the whole Grouday inside Utopia, and the next morning I went back to work as usual.
The project that I joined on Arcday was a smelly but rather useful one. Well, that was the best way I could describe working on/with Gloom odor, smelly but useful.
Everyone knew that Gloom were capable of releasing an extremely pungent odor that could keep nearly all beings away from them. There were a few exceptions such as Grimer and Muk that did not mind the smell, along with one or two species that actually got attracted by it, but generally, the smell kept others away.
To be fair, Gloom could release more than just that one particular/nasty smell, but it was this repugnant smell that the research team was focusing on. There were already some Pokemon repellants on the market, but the team was studying the Gloom odor to see if they could come up with a more effective repellant. They also looked into whether the current repellants could be enhanced or not.
While the work was hard on the nose, there was no doubt that their research was important, so I did not complain even once during the whole week and did all the work I was assigned with 100% commitment. By the end of the week, my nose had suffered quite a bit despite the use of a mask, but I could say that I did not regret joining the project for this week.
However, I had to admit that I would be quite hesitant to join the project for a longer period since I actually enjoyed being able to smell. I definitely respected everyone on that team and I could freely admit that their commitment to science and humanity was admirable.
I also learned that there were a few more similar projects happening parallel to the Gloom one with different species/smells as the focus, and I decided that the Gloom one had been enough for me, so I made a note to avoid those projects during the time I had left at the lab. If I ever decided to take another stab at a project like that, I could do so on my own since I had more than enough Gloom hanging out inside Utopia.
The next project, I chose on Arcday of the following week, was focused on Slowpoke. It was uncertain why, but within the last 160 or so years, every once in a while, or more like every few decades, a rumor regarding Slowpoke, predominantly its tail, popped up somewhere.
Sometimes it was about an allegedly unimaginable taste, and at other times it was regarding a supposed nourishing effect. There were even cases where it was even more exaggerated than that, and the Slowpoke Tail was presented as some kind of immortal panacea.
Whenever a rumor like that or on some other magical effect of another part of Slowpoke sprouted, the Slowpoke population in and around human settlements suffered for a year or two before everyone accepted that the rumors were in fact just ridiculous gossip.
It appeared that someone with a major grudge against Slowpoke had appeared in the last century and that this person was trying to use the public to harm Slowpoke. Nothing else made sense.
Otherwise, the tail rumors would not insist that the tail had to be cut off at the root when a cut made just a few centimeters below that would be relatively harmless to the Slowpoke. If handled in that manner, the tail could perfectly regrow on its own.
Once could be an accident or misinterpretation. Two times could still be a coincidence. Heck, even three times could be somehow explained as an unfortunate coincidence, but it happened 9 times, so this was definitely a deliberate action from an individual or a group.
Unfortunately, the perpetrator(s) had not been captured yet since they seemed to be extra cautious with their actions. It seemed they only started the rumors and fanned them a bit before adopting a completely hands-off attitude, which meant that they could not really be traced. At least, that was what happened so far.
The last rumor happened just last year. Thankfully, it got suppressed within half a year this time around, but the research team I joined decided that enough was enough. They took all the rumor content and similar ideas and began to debunk them one by one while documenting the results.
They were planning to publish a paper that would hopefully settle the matter once and for all. With the paper out in the public domain, the team was hoping that no one would believe the rumors when they popped up again, or that their work would swiftly prove the rumor to be wrong. While one or two such papers were already out there, none were from a prominent lab/individual like Oak Labs.
The/Our paper contained proof that raw Slowpoke fat could not make one younger if used as a cream and that a Slowpoke Tail cut off at the root did not taste heavenly or grant eternal youth. The tail tasted good enough, but cutting it off at the root did not enhance the tail, it simply stopped the Slowpoke from regrowing it.
The reason Slowpoke could use their tails to fish for food was a fluid that they were capable of releasing that worked similarly to "Sweet Scent". Furthermore, said fluid did not affect the taste of the tail. They also showed proof that there was nothing about a Slowpoke that could grant eternal life.
I honestly could not understand how anyone could fall for the last one. I mean did those people believe that every Slowpoke was one of the original legendary Pokemon or what. Heck, even if one believed that for some dumb reason, why would you try to eat it if you thought it was amazing enough to be the key to eternal life? Shouldn't such a Pokmeon be Uber-powerful?
I definitely agreed with the team's approach, and after reading through their reports/work, I could say they were doing a pretty good job. The team was making sure that each rumor was refuted in a detailed and unmistakable manner, which was why the project was not done yet since it took time to go through everything.
Anyway, before I left that evening, I informed Hans, the team leader, that I would not be showing up tomorrow and that I would be coming to work on Kyoday instead to make up for Mewday. I made sure that he knew that Professor Oak had already given his approval, which was a polite way to say that I was just informing him since I already had my permission.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early. I left the dorm by 6 a.m. and headed to the Pallet City Teleportation Hub for my appointment at 6:10 a.m. A relatively short series of teleportations later, I was at the Ferrum region on the western continent. I was not exactly sure what the distance between Pallet City/Kanto and the Ferrum region's capital was, but it had to be around 50000 km
Traveling 50k km in under 1.5 hours could not only be considered relatively short, but it was quite impressive as well. Even more impressive was the fact that the travel time could have been even faster if I had been willing to pay more, which I wasn't since it felt like a waste to me. This one had been the most cost-efficient option, and I managed to make it to the Ferrum City Teleportation Hub at 7:30 a.m.
From there Mothra/Butterfree and I strolled to the hotel my parents were staying at. We took it a bit slow since it was still rather early. I wanted to surprise them since they were expecting me at 10 a.m., not ruin their morning by waking them up before 8.
That would not have been a nice way to start Dad's birthday, so I stretched the 20-minute walk to the hotel to one that took an hour and a half by doing some window shopping. At one point even literally since we went inside a shop that sold glass panels.
I took a look at the glass types they had in store since I did occasionally enjoy doing some glass sculpting. While I produced the glass mass myself most of the time, I did not mind buying some that I would simply have to remelt.
Anyway, once it was close to 9 a.m. I walked into the hotel and confidently headed to my parent's room. I rang the bell, changed my voice a bit, and exclaimed "Room service". A few moments later I heard someone heading to the door, and I heard Dad ask Mom if she asked for me, which she denied.
Dad then proceeded to open the door and was in the middle of saying "We did not ask for room service" when he noticed that it was me at the door. I could not help but chuckle at that and said "Surprise", which Mothra mimicked from atop my head.
Mom came over as soon as she heard us but I asked them to let us in first since we were still standing in the hallway. Obviously, the first thing I did once we were inside was to hug Dad and wish him a happy birthday. Mothra from her perch on top of my head pat Dad on the head and wished him a happy birthday as well.
Only after that did we greet Mom and once that was done as well, I pulled out the luxurious breakfast I bought on the "long" walk over. Once we had eaten, Mom and Dad went to freshen up since I had gotten to them right before they could do so. No, a simple face washing after one woke up did not count as freshening up, at least that's what Mom said.
Afterward, we went out into the city and strolled around. My parents acted as my tour guides since they had been staying here for some time. It was nice to simply stroll around with them, and we did that until lunch. That was when Kinji actually ended up joining us, which was a rather pleasant surprise.
Dad was quite happy that Kinji decided to come over to celebrate his birthday with us. While Kinji might have been on the northern continent anyway, his actions were still quite thoughtful. That was also the moment when the calls from my friends began coming in. They all wished my dad a happy birthday, and even though it was just a call, I could see that Dad was happy with their gesture. His own friends also started to call him at that point.
After lunch, we resumed our walk through Ferrum City, this time with Kinji in tow, and our final stop was a restaurant my Dad took a liking to. It seemed that Mom had organized a birthday cake/surprise for Dad since the staff actually brought one out for him once we were done eating our dinner. They sang the happy birthday song and all that. Kinji, Mom, and I obviously joined in as well.
I pulled out my phone and showed Dad a video I had taken with my Pokemon where they all congratulated him since doing it in person would take up too much space. Kinji chose that moment to give Dad a gift, so I followed suit and gave Dad the first gift I bought him, which was a universal care kit.
I told him that I was going to give him a more personal gift once we were alone since the gift had a sentimental value. Dad was happy with everything and after we left the restaurant, Kinji excused himself.
I followed my parents back to the hotel, and once we were back in their room, I took out my second present for Dad. It was a true-to-detail self-made glass sculpture of a picture he had shown me that had him and my grandparents in it.
Thanks to my memory I was able to perfectly remember the picture and replicate it as I was making the sculpture. The sculpture was 60 cm in height and 30 cm in width and had taken me a lot of hours to complete since I wanted it to be as detailed and lifelike as possible.
Dad was genuinely moved by my gift and I saw his eyes glistening with unshed tears as he took in the sculpture. Mom squeezed his hand as he was marveling at how great the sculpture looked. Once he had his fill, Dad pulled me into a hug and thanked me for the great gift.
A few moments later Mom joined in as well and she praised me for being so thoughtful. I was just happy that Dad liked it, and about 20 minutes later I said my goodbyes to them and headed back to Kanto/Pallet city. By the time I was back in my dorm room, it was already close to 11 p.m., so I chose to simply go to bed.
The next morning I was back to work, and as I had promised, I stayed with the Slowpoke team until the end of Kyoday. At one point during the week, I could not help but wonder to myself if, at some point, someone was stupid enough to try something with the Slowpoke around Coast City or even worse the Slowpoke Well over in Johto. I was pretty sure that Boss Slowbro here, or Boss Slowking in Johto would have had something to say about that.
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