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I chuckled a bit at the thought, but I wasn't going to let it linger. "That's a nice thought, but we've already had our honeymoon," I said bluntly. I wanted to point out that Yuna was conceived on our honeymoon, but I didn't want to make Keiko homesick and ruin the whole point of this trip. "A convenience store sounds good. I could use some breakfast," Keiko spoke up. I immediately felt a pang of guilt for not saving an apple for her from earlier, but I didn't bring it up. I didn't need to. Sub would likely point that out on his own. Besides, the one apple I ate didn't really fill me up, so sharing a meal with Keiko would be nice.

“I guess that would make sense… but what kind of apple would do that? If it’s tart and sweet for the other evolutions.” Tsuki said back before walking over to someone who was picking apples with a Sentret partner holding a basket of them. He asked about the kinds of apples they grew in Kitakami and if they had anything special for the Dipplins that seemed to be almost exclusively native to the area. The worker, a short woman who appeared to be in her mid twenties, answered that it was actually the sweetened syrup they made from a mix of their apple varieties and coating their apples in that syrup that caused Applins to undergo that evolution. They were even able to evolve further- supposedly at least. She hadn’t seen that happen in person.

Having one mystery solved only for another to arise, Tsuki turned his attention back to Clare. “Well, I’m good here unless you have anything else you wanna check before the Crystal Pool you mentioned?” He asked. Snapdragon, meanwhile, seemed to be making himself comfortable by eating any fallen apples he could find lying on the ground. The dragon’s head lashed out of his syrupy shell and ate anything that looked tasty faster than someone would expect if they knew him. Tsuki scratched the back of his head, wondering that if he did evolve again would he be able to keep up with his feeding requirements.

“Oh also, mind if I ask if you’re some kind of hybrid if you are one? I don’t wanna be rude, but I’m just curious!” Tsuki asked, the sixteen year old waving his hands in a slight panic when he thought that that came out wrong.

"Hello! Here to pick some apples? Pick a bushel full and you'll get a dozen apples for your time!" The local informed Rachel as she approached. Once she got confirmation that Rachel was interested in the deal the trainer would be handed by the local woman a wooden container for the apples to go into, a bucket of sorts. The amount of apples that bucket could contain was a 'bushel'. How many apples constituted a bushel? Roughly one hundred and twenty medium sized apples so more or less than that depending on sizes. So that meant if Rachel filled it up she got to keep about ten percent of what she picked. That wasn't too bad considering this was more of a thing you did for fun and to help the locals and not an actual job. "Just be cautious of Formantis and Spinarak hiding in the trees. They typically run at the first sign of being spotted by humans but rarely they will attack, just keep a head's up. Also you might encounter Sewaddle was well but they are harmless. Oh and leave the apples with a worm in them, those belong to the wild Applin. We try not to bother them." The woman informed Rachel and with that she was released into the orchard to pick to her heart's content.

While Rachel was picking however she would spot to somewhat familiar faces, or at least recognized them and their affiliation. It was Clare and Tsuki, members of Team Snagem, both together visit the orchard of Apple Hills like she was. From the looks of it they seemed prepared to leave Apple Hills already. Will Rachel see what they are up to or just go about her apple picking?




Conversely Tsuki and Clare would spot the somewhat familiar Rachel, picking apples. At the very least they would note she came on the bus with them, as a Snagem.




Sub would follow Darts up to Peachy's, finding himself standing in front of the counter. While most convenience stores had the products inside lined up in aisles Peachy's was more like a stand, an open air convenience store with some products just out in front of the counter, on it, or held behind the counter and had to be requested. It was nothing like a typical PokeMart but it was cute, different.

As the Dark One looked over their selection of ice cream, peering into the cooler the man behind the counter pointed out to him, he would hear Darts call out for his attention. "Hm? What's up?" Sub asked as he turned towards Darts, seeing from a distance something he was poking and decided to approach and get a better look at what Darts was asking him about. Now closer he could get a better look at what Dart was inquiring about. It was purple and sort of tear drop shaped with two little appendages on its front, a large black circle on its front as well. Darts' finger would sink in slightly as he poked it, indicating that it was somewhat soft yet firm enough to not be penetrated, at least not easily. Noting that Sub leaned in and gave it a sniff to glean more information.

"Smells fruity, like berries...in fact...Pecha Berries? Maybe? I've never seen anything like this. Is it a Pecha Berry scent plushie or something?" He asked no one in particular as he pondered aloud. "Hey! Peachy! What is this thing?" Sub called out to the shop keep, the man acting like he didn't hear him as he rummaged through products, moving them around, stacking them and so forth. Sub just grumbled slightly before turning back to Darts. "Either he isn't the Peachy or I'm being ignored. Oh well, they can keep their weird dusty berry plushie thing, isn't even that interesting anyways." Sub said with a scoff. "Ter, Keiko, grab something to eat and let's shove off, see what else we can't find."



The old woman perked up as Crystal spoke to her, the elderly lady initially glancing around confused as if she couldn't see who had spoke to her only for her to eventually lay her eyes on Crystal and chuckle softly to herself. "Oh! Sorry my dear, didn't see you there. My eyes aren't what they used to be- my, what an interesting outfit you have on. A costume for the festival? You must have worked really hard on that dear. Some sort of guardian spirit?" She asked as she squinted, trying her best to get a good look at Crystal but failing.

"Hm? Oh, these are mochi of course dear. You must not be from around here if you're asking that question!" She said with a hearty laugh. "They are a Kitakami signature dish. They are rice cakes that are often flavored or filled with berries of all kinds. Pokemon and humans both love them! In fact some people make special mochi to empower their Pokemon similar to those Vitamin things you see on the TV commercials. Here..." She said, approaching the shrine and took a green mochi off the plate before turning back to Crystal and handing it to her.

"Try a Clever Mochi, good for concentration." She informed Crystal. Once Crystal took a bite of the mochi she would find it bitter and tangy but it soon leveled out and sort of dissolved into a pleasant smooth consistency, the bitterness fading away to allow her to pick up the hidden sweet berry notes. It was a roller coaster of flavors and textures that certainly made one focus more. "What do you think?"

I smirked at Sub's plight, but suppressed the laughter that was trying to follow it. I picked up a cereal bar for myself as I'd eaten something a couple of hours earlier while Keiko grabbed a medium size bag of pretzels and a small bottle of milk. She hoped the pretzels would fill her stomach, and the milk was there to counteract the salt pretzels usually had on them.

Once she had her breakfast in her hands, she looked at the plushie Sub had scorned. "It does smell nice," she pointed out, not needing to put it up to her nose to detect its scent. "I wonder if Yuna would like it." I smirked at that. It was nice that she could think of Yuna without wanting to go back home and check on her. I wasn't going to push my luck by talking about her, but the plushie...

"Only one way to find out," I shrugged. I held my cereal bar in my mouth - I hadn't opened it yet and my saliva wouldn't hurt the wrapper - and opened my wallet, paying for Keiko's and my food plus the plushie. I trusted Sub to be able to pay for his own food, and I didn't know Darts well enough to offer to pay for him, so I didn't offer. I'd pick up Sub's financial slack if he needed it, but given that he payed us in literal gold coins, I couldn't imagine him asking for financial help, especially with nothing as minor as buying from a convenience store.

Even though he doesn't have a visible nose, Darts caught a whiff of the deep fruity scent, very odd for a plushie but he thinks little of it as the rest of the group comes ambling up, turning his attention away from Ter's attempted purchase of the thing. "Heya Freth," he answers, not taking time to nab any of the food. he didn't technically NEED to eat, and nothing was catching his eye anyhow. "Well.... some of the locals are going to be very disappointed when Sub and I don't form some kind of erotic writhing knot later on." His tone clearly indicated he was joking in some way, but he was going to leave that up to her own imagination to figure out. "What's that you were saying about Area Zero?"

He nods to Tristen as the kid approaches too, noting how much bigger the hybrid had gotten since he had last seen him, almost like he was a bit more of an... adult in some way. That, or Darts was just getting old...

[Infernal Pass -> Crystal Pool]

"Considering everything you said about after the encounter, I'm surprised Dad and Reno weren't practically shoving you out the door to come out here," Aden remarked. "Honestly, the worst part of my own contribution to those ideas is the whole energy thing and constantly questioning if I don't recall something because I actually forgot or because it was erased. Aside from the moves, I'm... well, it sucks, but I can learn them again. Or even learn different ones than what I supposedly knew... huh."

Stopping for a second at the gate, he'd be reminded of the one from before too. This one was still elaborate in its own right, but more... plain, in a way. It awoke more curiosity from him, another reminder that maybe he should've seen more of the countryside like this. Either for the first time or the second first time. "...yeah, let's. Wonder what this gate's for, though, it can't be the same as the last one."

---


[Kitakami Hall]

"Er, she is, but..." Cera felt a bit bad after the comment, having to admit one didn't exactly see Lapras all that often. But what was she supposed to do, ride on a Joltik? She dwarfed that poor bug even when she wasn't transformed. "Don't worry, I take really good care of her and I'll make sure she's safe. And thanks, the practice sounds good. You coming too, Leslie, or...?"

Knowing what she had in mind, hopefully the people here wouldn't be too upset about any potential aftermath. If they were, well, the trip was short and there'd be plenty of time to chill out over it.

Leslie would immediately fall in line behind Cera to start on the march towards the practice area. "Oh I am absolutely not missing out on seeing how you are going to pilot a Lapras across the plains. Plus I wanna make sure I get the general technique down for using the hammer for this. Would hate to end up sending the berries for a home run drive by accident in the actual thing." Leslie said, giving a little shake with her hammer as she mentioned the bludgeon. It was so nice that everyone was cool with her packing it around here, most places someone would be having a fit over the child holding anything that could be considered a weapon.