"Indee——dee?"
Indeedee looked at Sailor, who had already vanished from sight, and cried out in disbelief.
Seriously, it believed that?
It actually believed that?
Meanwhile, Sailor, having fled into its room, leaned against the door, gasping for breath.
That was close! It almost got cornered by Indeedee!
Sailor leaned against the door in terror, only letting out a long sigh after a while. Staring at the plate in its hands, it mentally prepared itself for a long time before awkwardly starting to eat.
"Rattata——"
This can't go on.
Sailor pondered. "Rattata——Rattata?" (What exactly does it like about me?)
——
After thinking for ages, Sailor took a deep breath, picked up its plate, and sneaked out of its room. It trotted over to the kitchen, where Indeedee was busy washing dishes. Seeing Sailor approach, Indeedee pointed at the sink next to it without turning its head: "Indeedee, in." (Put it in the sink.)
Hearing this, Sailor immediately tossed its plate into the sink.
Remembering the misunderstanding from earlier that still hadn't been cleared up, Indeedee paused and opened its mouth to speak: "Indeedee——"
Before the words could even leave its mouth, Sailor, having finally gathered its courage, had already bolted away in a flash.
"..."
Now Indeedee finally understood what it felt like to be completely unable to defend itself.
Thinking about the complex thoughts swirling in Sailor's head, it couldn't fathom how such complicated things could fit inside Sailor's tiny brain.
With mixed feelings, Indeedee placed the plate into the water. At this moment, it unexpectedly gained a faint understanding of how Ron must feel.
Meanwhile, in the Sinnoh region.
——
As usual, the Wizard was wandering around the Sinnoh region.
Beldum was far rarer than he had anticipated. Or perhaps, as he had suspected, this kind of Pokémon could sense some connection to arcane energy, causing them to deliberately avoid him.
In any case, with so many days having passed, the Wizard still hadn't encountered a single Beldum.
The only thing worth looking forward to was waking up each day and immediately checking the Pokédex Ron had gifted him to see if there was any news of a Beldum mass outbreak nearby.
"Sigh——"
The Wizard let out a long sigh.
The listless Caterpie beside him did the same.
"Maybe I should go back for a few days——" The Wizard leaned against a nearby rock, staring at the sky in thought.
He could also use the trip back to replenish some arcane energy.
Additionally, he needed to restock some ingredients.
Although the Sinnoh region did sell ingredients, they didn't quite suit the Wizard's cooking habits, making it difficult for him to easily use his large pot to simmer everything into a single mush.
"Pii——" The Caterpie beside him slowly stood upright and looked at the Wizard.
The Wizard glanced sideways at Caterpie, pondered for a moment, and recalled it into its Poké Ball.
"Then let's head back for a bit——thinking about it, it's almost time for that too." The Wizard thought, finding a simple mini totem from his pocket and placing it on the ground.
Unlike the farm's totem poles, this kind of totem also had the ability to travel between two locations, but wasn't restricted to fixed positions. By setting one up here, it could easily link with the mini totem inside the Wizard's Tower, briefly connecting the two continents.
To be safe, the Wizard placed a restriction on the totem that only allowed himself to pass through, then touched the totem and returned to the Wizard's Tower.
The Wizard's Tower had been empty for a long time. The moment he entered, a cloud of dust kicked up.
But the Wizard had no interest in cleaning it up. He let Caterpie out, placed a few Berries nearby, and went straight upstairs to sleep.
Time flashed forward to the next day.
Just as the Wizard had predicted, Green Rain fell on this day.
Because there were still a few things only he could handle, he had prepared in advance to come back today.
"Arcane energy is quite plentiful too." The Wizard stretched his body. As soon as he came downstairs, he saw Caterpie curled up on the floor.
It hadn't touched yesterday's food at all, and was now writhing painfully on the ground as if enduring something.
"——Because the arcane energy from the Green Rain was too abundant, so it was forced to absorb some?" The Wizard guessed, watching the arcane energy continuously gathering on Caterpie's body.
But letting it suffer like this wasn't a solution either.
Thinking this, the Wizard recalled Caterpie into its Poké Ball and teleported toward the Pokémon Center.
Meanwhile, at the Pokémon Center.
The summer Green Rain arrived as scheduled. Because of their observations last time, once they realized the Green Rain's effects weren't significant, everyone lost their sense of panic. However, with the Community Center now fully restored, Joy had taken over Gus's role from last time, inviting townsfolk who still felt afraid or were alone to come to the Community Center.
Joy came out from the back room and glanced at the Green Rain pouring down outside the window. She remembered how, when she had just arrived in Pelican Town last year, Robin had braved this very Green Rain to come get her and bring her to the Carpenter's Shop.
As she was wistfully staring at the front door, lost in thought, a purple silhouette suddenly flashed into existence at the entrance.
In this eerie green atmosphere, that silhouette appeared especially terrifying.
Joy jumped in fright. She watched in horror as the silhouette slowly walked toward her.
"Don't——"
The moment the silhouette spoke, Joy let out a scream.
"Don't be so tense, child——" The Wizard awkwardly cleared his throat. "I have some business today and wanted to ask you to help take care of this Pokémon."
Saying this, he placed the Poké Ball in Joy's hands.
It had been a long time since they last met. Joy thought for quite a while before remembering who the Wizard was. She quickly took the Poké Ball from his hand.
"Yes, yes, of course, I'll take good care of it."
Before Joy could say anything else, the Wizard vanished from the spot in a flash.
"The Wizard's Pokémon, huh——"
Looking at the Poké Ball in her hand and thinking of the Wizard's appearance, Joy couldn't help but feel a deep sense of reverence for what she was holding.
Even though she still had no idea which Pokémon was inside.
But it must be some incredible legendary Pokémon that only exists in myths!
Thinking this, Joy opened the Poké Ball.
A flash of light swept by, and a green unidentified creature curled up on the floor.
"Pieee——"
The unidentified creature lay curled up.
Based on Joy's current knowledge of all known Pokémon, there was only one that matched this color, this shape, and this appearance.
"Caterpie?!" Joy exclaimed in disbelief.
Saying this, she quickly covered her mouth.
"Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, I was just so surprised."
Even if the Wizard had pulled out a Rayquaza, Joy felt she would have remained much calmer than she was right now.
She then noticed Caterpie writhing on the ground, shook her head to snap out of it, and quickly scooped it up.
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