To Bloom Again

Chapter 16: A happy hopes reunion special

The skies remained dark and cloudy in Lilycove city after a brief storm that came in during the middle of the night, with little sprinkles of rain here and there, leaving the streets wet.

Gripping the umbrella tightly in her hand, Marina and her pokemon walk around in a nearby park to get some kind of exercise. No way was she going to be cooped up in the pokemon center and no bit of rain is going to stop her from the task she's meant to do here.

But, she wasn't doing it. Marina was supposed to go look for her other older brother, Mikey, in Lilycove.

For some reason, something in that anxious mind of hers is telling to not go through with it and would rather bump into him at random like with Hugo back in Slateport city all those months ago. Back then, Steven and Wallace were there with her and if it wasn't for them, she probably wouldn't have seen her fabulous brother ever again.

This time however, is different. Marina must search for her other brother herself if her heart wants to see him again, but has a feeling in her gut that he doesn't want to see her after running off years ago without an explanation.

With a puff, Marina leaves the park area and goes deep into the city. Her pokemon follow behind her to help their trainer out, with Tobias stuffing his face with blue pokeblocks in the fishbowl Grace found lying around in the pokemon center (and carrying it with her) and Karen holding onto an old photo of the man that Marina had for age to help identify him.

The team goes to the department store first and skims through every floor, every aisle, every area that wasn't restricted to the employees. Heck, Marina got out of her comfort zone to ask people if they saw or knew him. So far, nothing. Not a single trace.

"Well, since we're here, we might as well get a few things." The blue haired woman said, with her voice lowered and a bit less enthusiastic.

"It's the first place we looked. There's plenty of others to go around." Grace assures her trainer.

"Grace is right. We got plenty of time to go look for him so no need to rush." Sheldon adds.

So, with the help of her pokemon, Marina goes and picks up some necessities, as well as some snacks, and leaves the building.

They all spend the next couple of hours heading into stores, restaurants, hotels and even the mall that's crowded with people, asking complete strangers if they saw Mikey.

But eventually, it got tiring and with the loud rumble of her stomach, Marina got hungry. Very, very hungry.

She turned around and saw a group of girls, squeeing their hearts out like fangirls at an anime convention as they waited to be seated at a restaurant, simply named ' Happy Hopes Café.

"Huh, this must be a new place." Marina whispered under her breath as she tilted her head, taking a quick glance at the building in front of her. "Established in 2001?"

This place opened two years after she went missing? She couldn't believe her eyes.

"So where's Michelangelo?" Asked a woman with short blonde hair to the male server outside, in a rather bitter tone.

"Yeah, where is he? I want my pancakes and he's the only one who makes them taste good." Complained a teenage girl with pink hair. "I will go fucking nuts if I don't get my pancakes!"

More females started to complain.

"I need my powdered waffles!"

"We need our breakfast funnel cakes."

"I can't live without my ham and egg sandwich!"

"We need Michelangelo right now!" They all shout.

Keeping his composure, the male server responds, "I hate to disappoint you all on this lovely morning, but Michelangelo is not coming in today. I can't go into full detail but he's not, umm, feeling the greatest right now. We still have wonderful chefs that will still prepare your meals. If you want to wait here to be seated, you can. Otherwise, you can leave."