A Very Twisted Journey

🌹 Parties! Tarts! Leon!? oh no,🌹

A few days had passed since that nightmare, and everything was back to normal. Thanks to the Pokémon's help, the Maze Garden was even better. All of Lia's Grass types did a phenomenal job; adding other flowers and landscaping made it more photogenic. They even added a separate garden with berries for the dorm to feed the Pokémon. Trey was pleased about it after he tried some of them.

Lia had to explain the properties of the berries a few times, considering some of them (more specifically, Ace) ate a tomato berry before she could warn them about its flavor. The poor boy had guzzled down six bottles of water to kill the spice.

And ever since Lia told him about Shaymin's spices and what they do, Riddle asked for another separate garden for Shaymin's gracidea flowers. Mr. Clyde was relieved that the gardening didn't take long; when he saw its state before, he was as stiff as a statue in shock. In his words, the place looked like a war zone between a demon bear and an Elder Ent.

(A/N- For those who don't know, an Ent is a giant magical 'Tree creature that protects forests. That is pretty much where the inspiration for Trevenant came from)

Now, with the garden repaired and Riddle's recovery. It was time for the do-over Unbirthday party.

"All hail our leader! The Red Rose Sovereign ruler himself. . . Housewarden Riddle! And his honored guest, Lady Lianara!"

The gates opened, and Riddle, Lia, and their partners came out with proud smiles; everyone clapped as they entered the scene. The Pokémon who helped were there, too, as they cheered.

"Hmm, yes, a proper Unbirthday indeed. The roses are bathed in red, and the tablecloths are white. And the dormouse," Riddle then stopped himself, shaking his head. "Ah, I suppose it's fine either way."

Since the 'overblot, ' Riddle has loosened up on the rules and traditions. Not by much, but it was a start. Everyone was opening up to him and no longer cowering from his presence.

Trey couldn't help but laugh at his attempt to adjust. "It's alright; not everything has to change overnight," he continued as he prepared some scones for the two and Pokémon.

"How about this: instead of spreading jam on the mouse's nose, Let's do it on scones. And let's set the bar to saying, "It's fine like this," instead of "It has to be this way;" that seems like a reasonable goal."

Riddle fondly hummed as Trey's Alcremie added a dab of cream to the scones. "Yeah, makes sense."

Lia held his shoulder. "Hey, you're trying. That's all that matters; the important thing is that you're okay with it."

"Thank you, Lia."

A little way from their table, Ace, Deuce, Theo, and the kids were talking with Cater. "Aaaaaagggh, I can't believe we still got roped into cleaning and prepping the garden."

"Ace, you know, as well as all of us, that we were also responsible for its destruction."

"But we didn't start it!"

"Hey, look on the bright side. Thanks to all the Pokémon who helped, it didn't take so long." Maddie beamed.

"Yeah, it only took about a day to fix everything. Although, what were those little guys that helped with the soil?"

"Oh, those were wild Diglets and Dugtrios. They're our world's moles, in a way. The dirt aerates when they dig through the earth, making it perfect for gardeners or farmers." Matt explained.

Cater laughed, "Sounds like there's a Pokémon for everything. The garden is ten times more Magicam-worthy than before! #nofilter needed for this gorgeousness!"