Chapter 118 ⇾ Look at This Pie, It's Big and Round

"You look like a ghost!"

Hearing Milotic's assessment, Cole looked puzzledly at Ember — wasn't her appearance perfectly normal? Still as beautiful as ever!

"Who are you calling ghostly? You're the one with no sense of aesthetics!" Ember glared fiercely at Milotic.

"I have no sense of aesthetics?" Milotic laughed bitterly, "If I hadn't promised Cole, do you think I'd even be here?"

Cole strongly disagreed with Ember's words. How could Milotic not understand aesthetics? Its songs were the very pinnacle of beauty — just like Ember's appearance.

Hearing Milotic's words, Ember reluctantly fell silent, afraid of angering it into leaving.

Meanwhile, Mismagius quietly observed Ember, doubt creeping into its mind. When it reached out with its Psychic Power to touch the woman, Ember's eyes suddenly flashed purple, completely repelling Mismagius's power.

It stared at her, startled by what had happened.

Seeing Mismagius's unusual expression, Cole asked worriedly, "Mismagius, what's wrong?"

"Misma~ Misma~" — Nothing, nothing...

Mismagius quickly shook its head.

Ember cast a meaningful glance at it, satisfied that it hadn't spoken out of turn.

Shifting his attention away from Mismagius, Cole turned to Ember, "I've fulfilled my part of the agreement by bringing Milotic here. Can you give me what you promised?"

Ember looked at him with a half-smile, "Of course I'll keep my word, but I'm curious how you managed to convince Milotic to come."

Cole glanced at Milotic, who then said, "Cole, don't waste words with her. If she won't give you what she promised, we're leaving right now!"

It glared fiercely at the woman again.

Seeing Milotic's rising anger, Ember quickly backed down, "Alright, alright... I won't ask anymore, okay? Really, we haven't seen each other in so many years — why are you still hung up on ancient history?"

"Hmph~" Milotic snorted coldly, turning away from her.

Ember turned to Cole, "Wait a moment, I'll get what you want."

She disappeared inside.

Several minutes later, Ember returned with an elegant wooden box.

She approached Cole and opened it, revealing two thin pink fragments. Though they resembled diamond, they emitted strong Fairy-type energy waves.

"What is..." Cole looked at her in confusion.

"These are Heart Diamond fragments..." Ember gazed absently at the contents, "Only these two pieces remain..."

{T/N: Heart Diamond is a magical diamond made by Diancie that powers the Diamond Domain - a peaceful underground realm where Carbink live under Diancie's rule.}

She seemed to be speaking more to herself than to Cole.

Closing the box, Ember pressed it into his hands, "These were originally meant for Little Diancie. I planned to give them to you later, but now you should give one to your Hatterene and the other directly to Little Diancie."

Though she didn't explain what the Heart Diamond fragments were, Cole could guess they were connected to Diancie.

Clearly, this woman and that Pokémon shared a deep connection!

"Thank you, Ember. I'll make sure one reaches Little Diancie." Cole said gratefully.

After giving final instructions to Milotic and Mismagius, he prepared to return to Coumarine.

Before departing, he addressed them both, "If either of you needs to reach me, just call. Ember has my contact information."

Mismagius nodded absently, while Milotic replied curtly, "Don't worry, I'll settle things with Ember quickly and contact you for a ride back to the seaside. I can't stand another day with that person!"

Cole shook his head helplessly and left.

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He returned home under the cover of night. As soon as he entered, he saw Alfred sitting at the table in the living room, absorbed in work.

Hearing movement, Alfred turned and saw the travel-worn boy, "Cole, you're back!"

He quickly rushed to Cole's side, carefully checking for any injuries.

During the early part of his journey, Cole had regularly called to report his safety. Later, as he ventured farther from human settlements, poor signal made phone calls impossible.

"Why didn't you let me know you were coming back? Have you had dinner?" Alfred asked with concern.

"It's so late, I was worried you'd be asleep." Cole said with a smile, "I was in a hurry to get home, so I haven't eaten yet!"

Alfred took his backpack, "It's not late at all — I wasn't planning to sleep for a while anyway!"

"Have you been working late every night while I was gone?" Cole asked disapprovingly, "You better watch out, or I'll tell Meili!"

Alfred quickly waved his hands, "Please don't! The director will confiscate my computer if she finds out."

Now his work was inseparable from his computer — it had practically become his girlfriend.

Just then, Buneary emerged, drawn by the commotion. Holding onto the doorframe and rubbing its eyes, it took a moment to realize Cole had returned.

"Bune~" — Cole!

It quickly ran to his side and hugged his leg.

Alfred smiled, "Buneary, Cole hasn't had dinner yet. Why don't you make something for him?"

"Bune~ Bune~" — Okay! Cole, wait a moment, it'll be ready soon!

With that, Buneary darted into the kitchen.

"Buneary, just make something simple, don't go to too much trouble." Cole called after it, though truthfully, he had really missed its cooking during this time.

While Buneary was cooking, Alfred asked him about his journey. They hadn't been chatting long when the bunny brought out a large bowl of noodles.

Cole was famished and immediately began slurping up the noodles. Halfway through, he noticed Buneary standing motionless, watching him.

Puzzled, he asked, "Buneary, are you hungry too? Would you like some?"

"Bune~ Bune~" I'm not hungry, not hungry at all.

It said bashfully, fidgeting with its little hands, looking quite awkward.

"Pfft~"

At this point, Alfred couldn't help but laugh, and suddenly something clicked in Cole's mind: Oh, so that's it!

He took out all the Poké Balls he was carrying and released the Pokémon.

The moment Heliolisk appeared, Buneary rushed over to it, and the two Pokémon walked hand in hand back to their room, clearly very close.

Cole: (-_- υ)

"You really can't read the room." Alfred teased him.

Cole responded expressionlessly, "Don't talk to me, I just want to be alone right now."

Among the Pokémon, Kricketune, Chatot, and Swablu were visiting for the first time, so Brionne enthusiastically volunteered to show them around their new home.

Since they were all part of the same band, it arranged for the three of them to stay next door to itself. Daisy had no objections, so they went along with Brionne's arrangements.

After his long journey and finishing his noodles, Cole felt extremely tired. He went straight to bed after washing up, but not before reminding Alfred not to stay up late.

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The next morning when Cole woke up, he found many Pokémon gathered in the courtyard — they had all come to see him after hearing of his return.

He finally got to see Hatterene too. Since it had been asleep the night before, he hadn't wanted to disturb it. Looking at its condition now, it appeared to be doing quite well.

After the other Pokémon left, Cole gave the remaining Heart Diamond shard to Hatterene, having given the other shard to Carbink the day before.

When Hatterene saw that he had truly obtained the item from Ember, it was deeply moved and nearly burst into tears.

It gently caressed the Heart Diamond shard, feeling the Fairy-type energy flowing through it, warming its heart. It vowed to properly repay Cole in the future.

Now with the Heart Diamond shard, there was no need to worry about Hatterene's illness anymore — its condition would gradually improve with time.

After breakfast, Cole began working in the orchard with the Pokémon. Having been away from home for a while, he needed to quickly help channel energy through the berry trees.

Though he could now multitask, the morning's work left him quite tired. Still, seeing the berry trees blooming again on the mountain, he smiled with a sense of achievement.

Exhausted from his efforts, Cole decided to head home first to eat and rest before continuing in the afternoon.

When he walked through the door, he found Brionne, Kricketune, Chatot, and Swablu huddled around Daisy, whispering about something.

"What are you all gathered together for?" He asked as he approached.

They must have been deep in conversation, as his sudden voice startled them.

"Bri~ Brii~" — Cole, why are you sneaking around like that? You startled me!

Brionne said, patting its chest.

Cole laughed, "Or maybe you're up to something sneaky?"

"Bri~" — Hmph, not at all.

Brionne's voice lacked conviction.

As soon as Daisy saw Cole, it started complaining that Brionne and the others had stolen its tablet to watch dramas first thing in the morning.

He looked at Brionne, who wore a pitiful expression, clearly wanting a tablet or phone of its own.

"Don't tell me you've gotten hooked on dramas too?" Cole asked, puzzled.

Brionne shook its head, snatched the computer back from Daisy, and opened it to show him.

When Cole looked, he was shocked — Brionne and the others had registered an account on a streaming platform, planning to perform live streams there.

The key point was, they had used his personal information to register — no wonder Brionne had looked so guilty earlier.

"Are you serious?" Cole asked incredulously.

Brionne, Kricketune, Chatot, and Swablu all nodded together.

Swablu was especially enthusiastic — hadn't it left home to pursue its dreams? What could be more direct and convenient than performing on a streaming platform?

It had never known such amazing things existed in the human world before. After Brionne's introduction, it was now completely captivated by the concept of live streaming.

According to Brionne, if they became popular enough, their performances could be seen by people and Pokémon all around the world.

Simply fantastic!

Seeing the Pokémon's faces full of dreams for the future, Cole couldn't help but warn them, "Performing on streaming platforms isn't that simple, and success often depends on luck."

Brionne wouldn't accept this, firmly convinced their band would become popular. To prove its point, it pulled up a fairly popular streamer to show Cole, claiming the streamer's skill level wasn't even half of theirs.

Cole watched the video and had to admit that in terms of pure performance ability, the streamer wasn't as skilled as his little band. However, they knew how to create engaging content — these days, talent alone isn't enough; you need to know how to entertain.

But Brionne and the others wouldn't listen to his reasoning, insisting that he buy them streaming equipment so they could debut as internet celebrities right away!

Unable to resist the Pokémon's enthusiasm, Cole agreed to take them to the West District after finishing work to buy streaming equipment.

Brionne was absolutely confident their band would become popular, so it wouldn't settle for ordinary equipment — it wanted the highest-performance model available.

Seeing they wouldn't be satisfied until they reached their goal, Cole agreed to their requests. He wasn't short on money anyway, and he was curious to see how far they could go.

In the end, they spent quite a sum getting all the equipment Brionne wanted. Even Kricketune and Chatot felt embarrassed.

These two Pokémon, having lived with humans before, understood typical spending habits. Seeing Brionne so freely spending such a large sum made them feel quite self-conscious.

After all, as band members themselves, they had joined in asking Cole to purchase the equipment.

Cole didn't mind the expense and encouraged them instead, "Now that we've invested in the equipment, you'll need to work hard! If you become big stars, you might end up earning far more than me — this cost will seem tiny in comparison."

His words ignited the Pokémon's fighting spirit, and they pledged to become the most famous Pokémon band ever.

Cole added, "Once you're famous, you could even promote my orchard — then my success will depend on you!"

The grand promises made Brionne's nose lift with pride.

It began daydreaming about sitting with Cole in a jewel-encrusted chair while Kricketune, Chatot, and Swablu tossed money around them, and all the other orchard Pokémon gazed at them in awe.

That scene... tsk tsk... was simply delightful to imagine.

"Brionne, Brionne!" Cole nudged the sea lioness, who stood with head held high and a dreamy smile, "We've got everything — let's go home!"

It took several calls before Brionne snapped out of its fantasy, and it wore a silly grin all the way home, making Cole wonder if it had lost its senses.

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