The New Neighbors

Professor Birch had been relatively free lately and had not gone out, so he had plenty of time to teach Zeno. Just like that, Zeno spent a busy month at Littleroot Research Lab and celebrated his eleventh birthday.

"Senior Brother, hurry up and come with me! I heard a new family moved in near the research lab. Let's go check it out."

Sapphire ran excitedly into Zeno's room, but she had not expected her father to be there. For a moment, the atmosphere was a little awkward. Sapphire had thought her father would scold her for neglecting her duties again, but Professor Birch was surprisingly not angry.

"You should go help them. Come to think of it, you know this family too!"

"I know them? Who are they?"

"Ruby from Goldenrod City in the Johto Region. Do you remember him?"

"Ruby? I don't remember. Have I met him before?"

"It doesn't matter if you don't remember. He's Norman, the Petalburg Gym Leader's nephew. His family moved to Littleroot Town because of his parents' work. Norman and I are old friends, so the two of you should go help them later."

A vast stretch of land around Littleroot Research Lab was Professor Birch's private property, and no one lived nearby. There were only two houses: one belonged to Professor Birch himself, while the other belonged to Norman, the Petalburg Gym Leader. Since Norman's whole family had moved to Petalburg City to manage Petalburg Gym, that old house had been vacant for a long time.

Ever since Sapphire heard from her mother that someone would be moving in today, she had been curious about the new neighbors. But she had been too embarrassed to visit them by herself, so she had wanted to bring Zeno along.

When the two arrived at their new neighbors' house, the family was taking inventory of their furniture. Two large trucks were parked outside, while Vigoroth from the moving company bustled up and down, carrying the larger pieces of furniture. Zeno had already seen Machop hauling bricks and Pidgeotto delivering packages. Now that he had seen Vigoroth moving houses, he could not help marveling at how versatile Pokémon had become.

"Ma'am, are you the new neighbor who moved in today?"

"Yes, I'm Makiko." Hearing Sapphire call out to her, the middle-aged woman smiled and introduced herself.

"Hello, Aunt Makiko. I'm Sapphire, and this is my senior brother, Zeno. My dad asked us to come take a look and see if there was anything we could help with."

"What good children. Your father is Professor Birch, right? I've heard my brother-in-law mention him. Thank you. Come in and have a seat first."

"Aunt Makiko, it's wonderful that you moved here. It's been so quiet around here, but now it'll be much livelier."

"Haha, I may have to disappoint you. There are only three people in our family. My husband is always busy with work and rarely comes home, while my son is still in Goldenrod City. He'll only arrive tomorrow with his father."

"Are you planning to stay here for a long time?"

"Yes. My husband was transferred here, so we came along with him. We've already transferred our household registration, and my brother-in-law happened to have an empty house in Littleroot Town, so we moved in."

"Aunt Makiko, you have so much stuff, and you still need to tidy up the rooms. Why don't we help?" Zeno had not forgotten why their teacher had sent them over.

"Wouldn't that be too much trouble for you?" Makiko felt a little embarrassed.

"Of course not. We came here to help you in the first place. Senior Brother, you can help carry things. I'll help Aunt Makiko clean the rooms."

"No problem."

They had quite a lot of belongings, so Zeno could only help carry the lighter items. The Vigoroth were highly efficient, and Zeno watched them work so diligently with great curiosity.

The whole Slakoth family was really interesting. When they were still Slakoth, they always lay on the ground without moving, spending most of the day asleep.

Once they evolved into Vigoroth, their personalities changed dramatically. They stayed excited all day long, unable to sit still even while eating, with more energy than they knew what to do with.

Then, after evolving once more into Slaking, they became lazy again, even worse than before. They could sleep for days at a time and would only move a little when hunger woke them up. Yet Slaking were actually very powerful Pokémon. Their species had excellent stats, but their Ability was simply too awful and held them back too much. Otherwise, they would surely be popular Pokémon.

Zeno remembered that Norman, the Petalburg Gym Leader's ace, was a Slaking. It was said that he had a unique training method.

Watching those Vigoroth, Zeno suddenly had an amusing thought. If they all evolved, this moving company would probably go bankrupt. One of the workers saw him staring at the Vigoroth with a sly expression and thought the kid had his eye on them. But his plan was doomed to fail. These Vigoroth were their boss's treasures.

After Zeno and Sapphire worked for half the day, they finally finished helping their new neighbors move in. Makiko was deeply grateful and hurriedly invited them to stay as guests.

"You've lived in the Hoenn Region all this time, so you must never have tried the food from Goldenrod City. Today, I'll let you have a proper taste."

"Okay, okay! Thank you, Aunt Makiko!" Sapphire became especially excited whenever food was mentioned.

"Aunt Makiko, since you came from Goldenrod City, can you tell us about what it's like there?"

"Of course. Goldenrod City is the largest city in the Johto Region, just like Lilycove City is in Hoenn. I remember Lilycove has a particularly famous department store, right? Goldenrod has one too."

"Are there any fun places in Goldenrod City?"

"If you go to Goldenrod City, you definitely have to visit the Radio Tower. National Park and the Pokémon Athletic Competition Dome are also quite nice."

"I heard Goldenrod City is especially prosperous and has a very developed economy."

"That's right. Goldenrod City is the economic and communications center of the Johto Region. On that continent, it is second only to Saffron City in Kanto in terms of prosperity. Transportation is very convenient too. Not long ago, the maglev train line from Goldenrod City to Saffron City opened."

"I'll definitely go see it someday." Zeno was very curious about Goldenrod City.

The three chatted for a while before Makiko went to prepare lunch for them. To entertain her two young guests, she made a lavish meal.

"Wow, there's so much delicious food!" Sapphire's eyes went wide at the sight of all the dishes.

"Haha, hurry and try it. See whether it suits your taste. These are all Johto Region specialties."

"It's so good!" Sapphire was conquered by the unfamiliar dishes after just one bite.

"Aunt Makiko, your cooking is wonderful!" It was also Zeno's first time eating food from another region.

"I'm glad you like it!"

"It's really so delicious! Aunt Makiko, can I have my mom come over and learn from you?"

"Of course. She'd be very welcome."

After lunch, Makiko gave each of them a large crate of Moomoo Milk. This milk was a specialty of the Johto Region and could only be produced by Miltank. It was famous throughout the world.