"Rattata?"
Sailor at the front looked in confusion at Bonnie, who was clutching her cheeks.
"It's asking what's so cute about it, meow?" Meowth then explained to Sailor. "Because we don't really do this back where we're from... but the few of us have always eaten at the same table, meow."
Bonnie immediately sat in the seat closest to Sailor and asked, "What's its name?"
"Rattata!"
"Sailor, meow!" Meowth translated.
"Sailor, huh." Bonnie touched the little hat on Sailor's head. "It fits rather well... so cute!"
It was her first time seeing such a cute Rattata!
Hearing this, the Rattata who loved wearing hair accessories also squeezed over, sitting quietly next to Bonnie, and "casually" revealed the super cute daisy hair clip on its head! This was a new clip it had saved up its pocket money for a while to buy!
"You're cute too, you're cute too."
"Rattata~" It lowered its head a little shyly upon hearing this.
Indeedee, who had been taking culinary lessons, easily conquered Serena and Bonnie with its cooking skills. If it were possible, they would have even wanted to invite Indeedee to travel with them.
The feeling of being needed instantly satisfied Indeedee's little vanity. It raised its head and looked at Ron proudly, then chimed an "Indeed."
Seeing Meowth about to translate, Indeedee immediately stopped it. It then instructed: "Indeedee, indee."
Next time you hear me say something just because I eavesdropped on people's inner thoughts, there's no need to translate it.
"Oh, okay, meow."
After the meal, Indeedee played the gracious host, leading Bonnie and Serena on a tour of the farm, and preparing to take them for a good stroll around Pelican Town later. After all, Indeedee really didn't have much else to do itself now.
After eating, Ron went to the barn with a heavy heart. Under Magearna's guidance, he found a pile of Rabbit's Feet. After stuffing one into every pocket on his body, he shoved the rest into his backpack.
Even Ron himself didn't know what he was feeling so guilty about. Theoretically, he hadn't done anything—how on earth did things turn out like this?!
"Tomorrow is the Flower Dance." Emily lay on the table, writing a letter to Sandy far away in the desert.
After Haley left, it was obvious that Emily had become much lonelier. She had a lot of things she couldn't find anyone to talk to about, so she could only write them down in letters to Sandy. But the letters weren't necessarily always sent, after all, Sandy wasn't much better off than she was. Under similarly lonely circumstances, there was no need to vent these negative emotions onto each other.
Emily tried her best to dress up her mood and make the letter sound a bit more cheerful.
"How have you been? Are you looking forward to tomorrow's Flower Dance too? I promise I will definitely be the new Flower Dance Queen—"
Emily looked up in a daze. She felt like she was sick, otherwise why would even her inner thoughts sound like Haley's voice? When she clearly knew the other person was still in Kalos right now?
She whipped her head around and saw Haley holding a Sunkern, laughing hysterically. "Then your hopes are going to be dashed! Because the former Flower Dance Queen, me! Haley! Has made a sparkling return!"
"..."
Before she could even finish speaking, Emily suddenly hugged her tightly.
"Am I dreaming?"
Emily asked, her voice muffled as she buried her face in Haley's arms.
"——" Haley paused. After a moment, she wrapped her arms around Emily and hugged her back. "I'm back, Emily."
"I missed you so much," Emily said.
"Well, it's been a long time since we saw each other." Haley patted Emily's head. "I missed you too. This time I'm staying until summer before going back to Kalos, I'll celebrate your birthday with you."
"You came back specifically to celebrate my birthday?" Emily raised her head, a bit pleasantly surprised.
"——" Haley looked away guiltily. "Ah, um, something like that."
Right now, overwhelmed with surprise, Emily didn't notice anything off about Haley at all. She happily hugged Haley tightly, then asked, "Have you had lunch? If not, I'll make something for you."
"We've eaten," Haley said. "Are you going to work at Gus's saloon this afternoon too?"
Seeing Emily nod, she continued, "Then I'll go with you."
On the other side, a touching scene was also taking place at the Grocery Store.
Because Abigail had been away from home even longer than Haley, even Pierre was hugging her tightly right now.
Although there was no communication between them, at this moment, both Emily and Haley had reached a silent consensus not to tell the truth, secretly praying that the other wouldn't spill the beans either.
"Did you come back specifically for your dad's birthday?" Caroline asked with a smile, pretending to be annoyed. "Then why didn't you come back specifically for your mom's birthday?"
"Uh—" Abigail once again looked away guiltily.
Caroline patted Abigail's head. "I'm just teasing you. How many days are you staying in Pelican Town?"
"Until the beginning of summer," Abigail said. "Then we'll have to ask Ron to send us over."
"I see, that's too much trouble for him." Caroline continued, "Did your friends from Kalos come too?"
"Yeah, they're here, but they're staying at the farm."
"Then let's invite them over to our house for dinner tonight," Caroline continued. "Ron too—and um, the farm Pokémon can come along too if they want."
Abigail nodded repeatedly.
Although it hurt his wallet a bit, to thank Ron and the two girls for taking care of his daughter, Pierre tacitly approved of this event that was about to cost the grocery store a small fortune.
He was even a little glad that the grocery store was connected to a church, which could serve as an activity room for everyone. Otherwise, he really wouldn't know how a small dining table could fit so many people and so many Pokémon.
Especially those two outsiders with massive appetites.
After letting Abigail settle her luggage, Caroline started preparing for dinner.
Abigail walked out of the grocery store. As soon as she stepped out, she saw Indeedee leading Serena and Bonnie on a stroll.
Indeedee was chiming "Indeedee, indeedee" as it introduced the various buildings, while Bonnie was running around excitedly, trying to find any magical or mystical things hidden around.
"Indeedee, indee."
"That's the Clinic, and that's the Grocery Store, meow, which is Abigail's house," Meowth translated.
"How does it feel?" Abigail asked.
"It's not quite what I expected," Serena said honestly.
Based on the way Ron presented himself to them, they thought Pelican Town was either a highly technologically advanced place, or a last-century town full of magic. Right now, the only thing that matched their expectations was probably the "last-century town" part.
But maybe the mundanity was just a facade. After all, a place that possessed so many wondrous creations absolutely couldn't be as ordinary as it appeared.
Thinking this, Serena said, "But it feels really comfortable here... it feels like home."
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