Nova didn't let the small reward bother him for long. Honestly, a government body that actively maintained its waterways was probably the only buyer in the world willing to pay anything at all for a Grimer. Try listing one at the Pokémon Exchange and it would sit there for months without a single offer. On top of that, he still had a backyard to clean up — leaving a fetid pond sitting outside his own home was never really an option.
Looking at it from a different angle: the goal for the afternoon had been to clear the Grimer out of the pond and get some battle experience in for Growlithe. Both done. The 3,000 League Coins were just a bonus — and he had a certificate to show for it.
Operation Backyard Cleanup: complete.
He put the reward toward a takeout order from the best restaurant in Harmony City.
When Aresdra came home and set her shopping bag down to find yet another spread of food laid out across the table, she laughed and shook her head at the same time. "What kind of household is this? We eat like this every day — can you actually keep up with the spending?"
"Keep up with it?" Nova said. "A man never admits he can't keep up."
Aresdra didn't particularly care whether he meant it. She'd find out for herself in a few years. For now, she just opened her arms toward him.
Nova blinked. A hug? Since when is she this clingy?
He settled Sprigatito onto his shoulder and stepped forward — only for Aresdra to give him a look that said quite clearly: why are you coming in like that?
"What?" Nova asked.
"The cat," Aresdra said. "I want to hold the cat. I can hug you any time."
Nova said nothing aloud, though he thought plenty. You can hold the cat any time too.
He transferred Sprigatito into her arms anyway. "It's already bonded to me," he warned. "If someone grabs it the wrong way, it'll scratch."
Sprigatito, however, did not scratch. It sat calmly in Aresdra's arms and made no complaint whatsoever.
Excuse me? Nova stared at it. What happened to the attitude? The jealousy? The absolute refusal to tolerate competition?
Apparently, none of that applied here. Sprigatito had sorted it out for itself: Nova and this girl smelled the same. They smelled like home. There was nothing to be jealous of.
The Jealous Flame trait, it turned out, was aimed squarely at Nova's Pokémon — and at anyone else who might one day compete for Aresdra's attention. In the cat's internal ranking, Nova and Aresdra were simply Mum and Dad. Everyone else was a rival.
Once Nova thought about it that way, it made complete sense. This was a classic first child refusing to share its parents' attention with the newer additions.
Growlithe, the longest-standing victim of this arrangement, had thoughts on the matter. Excuse me — I was Nova's third partner. Shouldn't I be the one setting the pecking order here?
Sprigatito's reply was unspoken but perfectly clear. Challenge the 120% damage bonus and find out.
Growlithe did not challenge the 120% damage bonus.
Nova had to admit Aresdra had a gift for this.
She had been told over the video call at lunchtime that Nova hadn't got around to buying a proper cat bed and was using Riolu's old carrier in the meantime. After class, she had gone directly to a shop and a florist. Her allowance had covered a soft, plush cat bed and a small selection of vanilla, lavender, and dried rose petals.
That was what had been in the bag.
After spending time with Sprigatito, she arranged the dried flowers and herbs across the cushion, letting the scent settle in. It was exactly the kind of calm, fragrant environment a Grass-type would thrive in.
Sprigatito was won over immediately. It rubbed the top of its head against Aresdra's legs and then spent the rest of the evening in her lap without moving once.
Nova watched all of this with barely concealed frustration. He had carried that cat around all day long. He had fed it, warmed it, and nuzzled it. Aresdra had been there for thirty minutes and already had more of its affection than he had earned in hours.
There was no end to what a person could learn.
By the end of the evening, everyone had what they needed. Sprigatito had its dream bed. Riolu quietly reclaimed its carrier. Growlithe was relieved to have its own space back. Nova had learned something new and humbling about the way a kitten's loyalty worked. And Aresdra had earned herself a devoted cat.
All in all, a good night for everyone.
Then Corviknight came home at midnight and ruined the mood.
It had been gone since early afternoon without a word. Nova, not particularly warmly, asked where it had been.
Corviknight landed with the air of something that had accomplished a great deal.
It had gone to the forest nearby and found them a gardener.
Nova looked past it to the Sunflora cowering in the corner of the garden, shaking from head to toe, and went quiet for a moment.
He had said, offhandedly, that the back garden looked overgrown and untidy. He had teased Corviknight for spending its days napping and eating without doing much of anything useful.
The proud bird had taken every word of it to heart.
And it was clever — that much had always been clear. Two days of quietly scouting the nearby woodland, identifying a Pokémon capable of encouraging plant growth, deciding it could take it in a fight, and then making its move. The whole thing had been calculated.
Poor Sunflora had been basking in a sunny patch and quietly humming to itself when a large, armoured bird had dropped out of the sky and carried it off.
Where was the justice in that?
Nova ran a quick scan. Sunflora had the Egg Move Grassy Terrain.
Of course. That was why Corviknight had targeted it specifically.
In battle, Grassy Terrain boosted Grass-type moves and provided a small, steady trickle of recovery to all Pokémon on the field, turning the ground beneath them into something lush and alive. Outside of battle, with actual soil and seeds to work with, the effect could produce a genuine lawn.
Still, kidnapping was a significant overreaction. A small fee and a polite conversation would have solved the whole thing.
Nova decided the priority was calming Sunflora down. Whether it would agree to help with the garden was a conversation for after it had eaten something and stopped trembling.
He pulled out ingredients he had set aside for Sprigatito and put together a Grass-type meal.
Sunflora had spent the entire journey convinced it was being taken somewhere terrible. It had expected the worst. Instead, it arrived somewhere warm, completely unharmed, and was immediately offered a proper meal.
It sat there blinking.
Was this... actually fine?