Flower and the Last Mission

 The rhythmic sound of the blade of the knife hitting the wooden cutting board in the kitchen gave Chloe's mind something to focus on rather than letting her thoughts wander. Especially when holding a sharp knife, it was important to remain focused and on task in order to minimize the risk of injury, and she had quite a few different vegetables to cut up.

Some of them, like the onions and mushrooms, were simple enough to just slice into pieces, but the broccoli had to be cut and prepared specially. She cut the florets off the tough stems and then cut the stems each into smaller pieces. She would have to partially cook these parts later a little bit before adding them to the final dish, but all of these preparatory steps were necessary for making the perfect finished product.

This left the carrots and potatoes, and after peeling the carrots, she went against the common wisdom of how to cut them and instead cut them into small, star shapes, leaving a stack of them on her cutting board, ready to be added to the stew. As she turned to move them from her board to a bowl temporarily, she saw Eevee on the kitchen counter getting close to the other chopped veggies. She shooed the Pokémon away. "Get down, Eevee! This isn't ready yet and this has to be absolutely perfect!"

Eevee looked up at her before hopping off the counter, landing next to Yamper, who was already pawing at the cabinets but lacked Eevee's jumping power to get up high. "Eievui..."

"Yamp...?"

She tried to quiet her mind, focusing on the task of cooking rather than the purpose of this particular meal's preparation. She began boiling one pot of water to prepare the broccoli as she set out the ingredients for the soup.

~~~

"I didn't think it'd be this much, Eevee..."

"Eievui..."

Her Pokémon, normally a source of positive energy, provided her with no comfort at this moment. Her backpack was heavy with books and missed assignments. Many worksheets would require her attention on diverse courses such as history, math, and literature and that was on top of the reading required for those subjects, as well as the make-up essays she had to turn in for what she learned during her absence (though on that note, she was sure that her experiences would end up being mostly dismissed as fiction, even as true as they really were).

And without Mika and Deliah around to help her catch up, all of this school work would end up being a solo affair, she realized, which made Eevee's rather blasé attitude even more irritating. This is why she was dragging her feet back to the laboratory. But still, the double doors came into view once again, and she opened them up, giving a half-hearted shout of "I'm back" as she stepped in, with Eevee rushing in between her legs.

"Welcome back."

"Huh?"

She looked up and she saw Goh standing there in the entrance way with a calm smile on his face. Grookey was on his shoulder, excitedly chittering at her before the chimp leapt from his shoulder to the ground, just as Yamper arrived from the other room to excitedly lick Eevee upon her return as well.

The Pokémon, all being happy to see each other, did quite a bit to lift Chloe's flagging spirits, but looking at Goh, she saw something hidden past his smile. He was clearly masking something fairly important with his greeting and handsome features, but if he was doing it openly, it meant that he would reveal the truth soon enough.

Which, to Chloe, meant that this was to cushion the blow to what she was about to hear.

But rather than approach the topic directly, she thought to tease it out of him a little. "Thank you," she said, "but I thought you'd be in the park with Ash."