The rain curtain soaked into the deep night, and only a few scattered lights were still surrounding the circular square. Water droplets knocked on the stone slabs and window lattice, transmitting the sound along the door crack into the small space in the wooden house that was dimmed by warm orange light.
In the hazy sound of rain, Shimura told the young trainer a long-standing story.
In the eyes of some people in big cities, the Orange Islands are almost synonymous with chaos - the land is scattered, the population is sparsely distributed, the economy is not developed enough, and management is much more difficult than in areas such as Kanto and Johto. On some islands far from the center, the number of illegal crimes remains high, and some remote towns have even become hotbeds of criminal gangs.
Naipulu Island, located in the westernmost part of the Orange Islands, was once such an island.
Starting about ten years ago, a group of poachers became entrenched in the Fengxue Mountain area. They hunt wild Pokémon on the island, tame them with brutal violence, and sell the Pokémon to small factories that need labor. After witnessing the inhumane treatment of Pokémon, the local trainers were filled with outrage and gathered together many times to try to fight the poachers.
However, poachers are so cunning that even the locals who are most familiar with Naipuru Island have difficulty detecting their traces in the mountains with complex terrain. After the gang grew, poachers even began to extend their claws to other areas - Qiang Beibi was one of the victims.
The current owner of the drugstore, Takayuki Shimura, had his grandfather, Yasuo Shimura, who was an executive on the front line when he was young. He led the enthusiastic townspeople to form a rescue team and found clues of the poaching group in the mountains.
Concerned about the huge gap in combat capabilities between the two sides, Shimura Yasuo did not act rashly. Instead, he took advantage of the main force of the poacher gang to leave Naipuru Island and launched a thunderous attack on one of their dens. In the end, tens of thousands of Pokémon were able to escape from the den, and more than a dozen members of the poaching group were arrested on the spot.
Considering that the Pokémon that had been abused had suffered huge physical and mental damage and were not suitable for release directly or sent to an adoption center, the trainers in the town took the lead in initiating adoption activities and organized capable townspeople to adopt them as much as possible—— It was at that time that Chao Beibi became the old shop owner's partner.
These innocent victims have seen the most cruel and ruthless side of human beings. At first, Xiangbeibi was extremely repulsive to all humans. When the trainer got too close, he would even violently attack and hurt people. The old shop owner had been stumbling along with it for nearly a year before Chao Beibi was influenced by the old man's patience and gentleness and truly became his partner.
That attack destroyed only one of the poachers' many dens and failed to cause any serious damage. After that, the private rescue team headed by Shimura Yasuo was still in action - and Chaobibi and his partner were always active on the front line. They fought side by side in a tacit understanding and worked hard to rescue more Pokémon.
It wasn't until two years ago that the Executive Department sent soldiers to Naipulu Island, and with the help of intelligence provided by the civilian rescue team, they annihilated the poaching group that had been entrenched for nearly ten years. Shimura still clearly remembers that his grandfather was so happy that day that he seemed ten years younger. Before attending the celebration banquet, he dressed up again and again before going out. Before leaving, he did not forget to make a promise to Chao Beibi——
"Take good care of your house. I'll be back soon."
When she heard this, Xiao Ye had already vaguely realized something.
Seeing that the hair of the kid opposite stood on end, he just had to write on his forehead "Is there a spy ambushed at the celebration party?" "Is there a remnant of poachers who want to take revenge on them?" "Is there a big bad guy in the execution department that came to help?" etc. Waiting for the unreliable novel-like sentences, Shimura couldn't help but roll his eyes, "What are you thinking? My grandfather died of a sudden illness."
He added angrily, "I'm old, I have high blood pressure, high blood fat, and heart disease. I even drank three barrels of wine on the day of the celebration."
Night:"……"
It turns out that you people in the Orange Islands drink according to the bucket...
The young pharmacy owner sighed and looked out the window at the black rain.
"Birth, old age, illness and death are human nature, but... Chao Beibi paid too much attention to the person who pulled it out of its suffering. To this day, it refuses to accept the fact that its trainer is dead."
Shimura could be sure that Chao Beibi understood what he said that day.
He didn't know what "death" meant for a long-lived rock Pokémon. But from that day on, Chao Beibi returned to the silent look he had when he first came to the medicine house.
It no longer happily plays and interacts with its partner's grandson, no longer pays attention to the voices of others, and no longer complains to the regular customers of the medicine house on rainy days that it hates. No matter day or night, rain or shine, it stood upright at the door of the medicine house and refused to move a step, stubbornly staring in the direction where the old man left.
It was as if he still firmly believed that as long as he kept his promise and waited, the smiling old man would come back one day.
Shimura tried his best to do this. Good words and advice cannot reach its ears, and even cold stares and angry curses trying to drive it away are of no avail. In the end, he could only watch it continue to wait in vain day by day, its former lively vitality gradually exhausted, and the Pokémon's stiff body became more and more like a soulless sculpture. As time went by, its food intake gradually decreased - as a drug store owner, Shimura knew what this meant.
Most rock-type Pokémon have long lifespans. Judging from the average lifespan, Northnose is only a teenager. The fire of life gradually goes out. Such a thing should not happen to it at all.
That's not physical aging, but mental "weakness."
The story, which is neither long nor short, is told to the end. Shimura let out a sigh of relief and looked at his chosen client.
"——I think you should understand what I mean."
The trainer opposite nodded slightly.
"Do you want me to take it away?"
"That's right." The medicine shop owner stood up and walked to the window to watch the rainwater draw traces on the glass surface. "Since it insists on waiting here for its trainer to come back, then when it is forced to leave, it will I will definitely try my best to get back here, and I will never give up my life easily before achieving my goal.”
Xiaoye closed the notebook in her hand and did not answer immediately.
"I know this is an embarrassing request." Shimura turned around, "Because it wants to escape from you all the time and cannot be a help in your journey. It will only add endless trouble to you. It will definitely be hostile. You, resent you, attack you, even want to kill you."
"So, it's up to you to decide whether or not to accept this commission."
Little Pichu listened in a daze, only catching the keyword "kill you" from Shimura's long string of words, and his eyes suddenly opened with vigilance. The person involved, Xiao Ye, had no change in her expression. She stroked the electric mouse's fur with her hand and reassured it, then calmly replied, "I understand - I accept your commission."
Probably because he answered too quickly, as if without thinking, Shimura raised his eyebrows, "Have you thought about it?"
"Yes." The purple-haired young trainer nodded, "I have the ability to make it unable to escape or deal with its attacks. You also considered this before entrusting the work to me, didn't you?"
Before yesterday, perhaps in the eyes of the medicine shop owner, Xiaoye was just a newcomer who picked herbs very quickly. And when Mi Chuanba accidentally ran away, the bright sword light falling from the sky was deeply engraved in Shimura's mind - she was a powerful trainer who could easily knock down the huge ice beast. If "please ask travelers to take away Xiangbeibi" is the only solution to save its life, then the girl who met him by chance may be the most suitable entruster.
And in the warm light, he looked at the other person again - the young trainer looked solemn, without any trace of contempt or greed on his face.
Finally, he nodded.
"good."
In the dark night, two humans walked out of the medicine house one after another and stood still in the rain.
The body with the north nose almost blends into the darkness, leaving only a blurry silhouette in the field of vision. Shimura looked at it and said softly: "Chaibeibi. Although this is not the first time, I still want to say to you——"
"It's time for you to leave."
The moment the drug store owner finished speaking, Xiaoye opened the elf ball. As the deep purple ghost appeared in the red light, the sculptural Pokémon seemed to realize something.
Its body trembled - at this moment, even though the Pokémon's expression could not be seen clearly in the darkness, Xiaoye still felt huge anger and hostility coming towards her face.
The trainer turned a blind eye to this and did not even intend to say hello before the battle started. He simply gave the "Shadow Ball" command. At the same time, the angry North Nose fired rock shells. The moves of both sides collided in the air, and exploded after a few seconds.
When fighting side by side with his trainer and against the poaching group, Northnose is not a weak Pokémon. It's just that it has neglected its fighting skills for two years, and even the most skilled moves in the past have become difficult. Under the attack of Ghost Stone's fierce wind and rain, it retreated steadily and soon began to be unable to sustain itself.
Explosions and fires bloomed one after another in the silent night. Probably because the sound of the battle was too sudden late at night, people gradually came looking for the sound.
These people did not accuse the opponent of disturbing their rest - the owner of the fitness equipment store silently opened the window, the owner of the Fruit House was standing by the door and watching, the eldest daughter of the owner of the fishing gear store rubbed her eyes and looked out the window, Bao Ms. Joy from Kame Center walked out of the front desk step by step. People who lived a little further away walked all the way in the rain in pajamas, and hurriedly hid under the awnings of nearby shops, but refused to take their eyes away from the fighting place for a moment.
The members of the "Whitecaps Rescue Team" who once fought side by side with the old drugstore owner gathered silently in the square on a rainy night. They all seemed to understand something. They didn't talk or laugh, they just watched everything that was about to happen quietly.
"——Shadow Fist!"
The bottom-up punch hit Chaobei's nose hard, causing him to stagger and almost fall down.
It wasn't until this moment that Shimura realized that it was not just the smoke and dust from the explosion that filled the surface - the black mist like water waves had covered the ground at some point. The ghost stone flew nimbly in the night sky, while its hands sank into the smoke and dust on the ground, completely hiding its form in the mist. As the angle of the shadow fist continued to change, Xiang Beibi had completely lost the initiative and was so disoriented that he couldn't even find the enemy's position for a while.
But it still refused to fall, still burning with rage. It struggled to stand firm against the storm of the Shadow Fist, and suddenly burst out with powerful power - with the north-facing nose as the center, the gravity suddenly changed. The flowerpots were crushed, the branches and leaves of the potted plants were twisted and broken, and the shelves rattled, almost as if they had been trampled by an invisible giant beast.
Caught off guard, Shimura, who was within the affected area, fell to his knees directly, knocking his knees painfully. But Xiaoye, who was closer to Xiangbei Nose, was not shaken at all. She still stood steadily with her face as normal, as if she had not endured the sudden increase in gravity at all.
Ghost Stone on the battlefield was equally calm. For gas Pokémon, the effect of gravity is minimal. No trainer would make such a stupid mistake——
However, their opponents did not have a trainer fighting alongside them.
Thunder light condensed in front of Chaobeibi. The heavy rain accelerated the surge of electricity, and all the energy was compressed into the dazzling energy cannon, carrying its fear and anger, and struck directly at the ghost in the night sky.
"——Shadow ball combo."
Ghoststone let out a creepy, raucous laugh. It throws energy balls one after another like a game, and its moves are almost connected into a fine black curtain. The light of the electromagnetic gun fell into it, and there was no sound in an instant.
The next moment, a heavy rain of shadow balls fell. In the dance of wind and fire, the Rock Pokémon fell heavily.
Chaobeibi's scarred body turned into a ray of red light, and was absorbed into the red and white pokeball. He shook weakly twice and then lost his voice.
Xiaoye picked up the elf ball that was wet by the rain, and turned her head to look at the client who had been watching the battle for a long time.
"Well done, thank you," Shimura said.
His eyes lingered on the Poké Ball for a moment - in fact, he went into the mountain in the rain not just to test Xiaoye's reaction. That young man once helped the Mizui baby regardless of danger when it went berserk. It is almost natural for such an enthusiastic trainer to go to rescue after noticing that someone is in danger in the mountains. It is too much to deliberately test her "kindness". Superfluous things.
What Shimura really wanted to test was North Nose's reaction.
If the despair of the past two years has completely blinded its mind, wiped out its good intentions, and made it indifferent to the news that its former family was in danger, then Shimura would never entrust such a Pokémon to a young man. On the contrary, as long as the will to protect something remains in its body——
can still be saved.
"I'll leave it to you for the next year." In the dim rainy night, the current owner of the medicine house said solemnly, "You have to keep it close to your side and never let it escape back here."
"Also... take it to see the world and see more beautiful scenery and kind people. Let it know-"
"How foolish it is to seek death and life for one person."
====================
small theater:
Shimura: (Angrily) He's old, has high blood pressure, high blood fat, and heart disease. He even drank three barrels of wine on the day of the celebration.
Xiao Ye: ...(seems to have some realization)
——One day, Xiaoye and Yang Yu had dinner together——
Xiaoye: I have already ordered three barrels of wine. If you think it is not enough, you can add more. (If you do this, the people in the Orange Islands will definitely be very happy.jpg)
Yang Yu:...! ? (Are the Kanto people trying to intimidate me? jpg)
#Do the Kanto and Orange Islanders understand each other today#
#No, and the misunderstanding is even deeper#
