August 30, 2005

5:00 am

Early in the morning, Jonathan stepped out of his house, bringing nothing with him except the clothes he was wearing and a hidden invitation ticket in his pocket. He chose not to bring along his Rhyhorn slave to avoid arousing suspicion. Some servants, who were awake early, were surprised to see him leaving at such an hour, and Jonathan gave them the reason that he was heading to a friend's house.

However, the real reason for his departure was his burgeoning curiosity. The servants did not doubt his explanation and genuinely believed he was simply going out, as Jonathan did not bring anything that looked suspicious. To be honest, Jonathan did not truly care about the beasts or the harmony between humanity and beasts, but the anomalies he witnessed in the beasts the day before and the mysterious manner in which Suzuki was screening people had significantly piqued his curiosity. It seemed as if they were hiding something substantial. Thus, he wanted to meet the elusive Kanraku Hiroshi in person and then make a final decision about whether he would go.

…

Malibo Coastline

Early in the Morning

Floyd reached the meeting point, his clothes torn in places and his face somewhat dirty, with black spots here and there. Axew, following him, looked a bit exhausted. The reason for their disheveled appearance was the trouble Floyd had encountered earlier. Initially, he just wanted to take advantage of some Pokémon sleeping at night, but unexpectedly, in the midst of stealing berries, he encountered a family of Ghost Pokémon, Gengar. The pranks they played and the ruckus they created woke up several other wild Pokémon. Discovering their berries gone, these Pokémon were filled with rage and set out to find the culprit.

If not for his space backpack, carrying all those berries would have been tantamount to courting death. The most troublesome aspect was that these Pokémon harbored a strong animosity towards humans, and nearly all Pokémon Floyd met attacked him on sight. Complicating matters further, the Gengar joined in the chaos, playing pranks not only on him but also on other Pokémon.

The situation escalated to the point where Floyd and his Pokémon were surrounded by numerous Pokémon of levels 10, 20, and above 30, as he estimated. Knowing that he and Axew wouldn't stand a chance, he decided to release the unconscious Dragonite. Although it was unconscious, the aura that Dragonite emitted was intimidating. The sight made many Pokémon retreat in fear, assuming it was sleeping, and fearing the consequences of waking it up, they fled. Even the Gengar family disappeared; in fact, they were the first to vanish upon sensing Dragonite's aura.

There, without taking a moment to rest and with a tired expression on his face, Floyd appeared at the meeting scene on the edge of the coastline where only a few ships rarely docked. Currently, he saw just one ship, measuring 220 feet in length. Compared to cargo or passenger ships, it might be smaller, but given that only a few were expected to come, this ship was considerably large.

As he walked, he noticed a young man and a woman in a grungy dress he had met the previous day. He was surprised by the woman's appearance; unlike before, with disheveled hair, her hair was now neatly arranged to shoulder length, revealing brown eyes and a straight yet slightly curved nose that couldn't be seen previously. Despite her worn-out dress, her beauty was striking. Floyd had anticipated her to be attractive, but he hadn't expected her to be as breathtaking as a goddess.

He stopped looking at her when she noticed his gaze and bowed her head embarrassingly. She seemed to feel insecure whenever he looked at her. Then, he turned his attention to the young man who, just like before, remained silent, a gloomy aura surrounding him.

He didn't see the Vice Mayor's son, so it appeared he might be the last one to arrive, or perhaps he wouldn't come at all. Floyd glanced around the surroundings and, not seeing Suzuki Akiko, quickly found a seat to relax a bit.

As he sat down, he felt a sudden movement in his backpack, and a Dratini's head popped out, its face showing a grievance. It hadn't experienced much battling earlier when Floyd had suddenly put it in the backpack due to an accident.

"Eh-hew," it complained to Floyd, expressing its dissatisfaction.

The woman observed this scene, feeling an urge to hug the Dratini and accidentally murmured, "So cute." But she immediately covered her mouth with her hands and looked away, embarrassed by her remark.

Tweet Tweet

A Swablu, which had been behaving at her side, pouted as it watched the scene and made a noise, asserting that it was cuter. Although the woman didn't understand its words, she sensed its dissatisfaction and hugged it.

The young man's eyes flickered when he saw the creature, but he didn't act impulsively.

Floyd, preoccupied with calming the little Dratini in front of him, didn't notice their reactions. Then, he heard crunching sounds from his bag and, feeling a sense of premonition, he opened it.

Crunch crunch

Inside, he found Horsea munching on his custom-made Pokéblock.

"You little rascal, have you eaten it all?" Floyd abruptly pulled out Horsea and peered inside his backpack, finding only half of Horsea's Pokéblock remaining. Veins popped on his forehead. This little creature had consumed a whole week's rations in less than a day, not even twelve hours!

"Horsea~" (It's delicious!) Horsea's belly was bulging, and bits of Pokéblock were still around her mouth.

"You little rascal, do you realize that was supposed to last you the whole week? You've eaten half; what will you eat for the remaining week?"

"Horsea~" (Then make some more; there are plenty of berries inside.)

Floyd could feel his anger boiling up inside. Noticing this, Horsea looked up at him with teary eyes, acting cute. Floyd felt a strong urge to scold her and spank her tail, but seeing her cute expression, he relented, "Fine, but this is the last time."

He then began preparing food for them all. While distributing the remaining Pokéblock to Axew and Dratini, he noticed a decrease in Dratini's portion and shot him a look. Dratini felt his gaze, shivered slightly, snorted, and looked away as if nothing happened. Hmph, this is your fault, human, for not letting me fight, he thought.

The young man and the woman were surprised by this harmonious scene; they hadn't expected to witness such a joyful atmosphere among these four individuals. Even Suzuki Akiko, who had just appeared with her Wartortle, was paying close attention to them, especially Floyd. He actually has two other creatures with no iron bind around their necks? And he doesn't even seem scared. This scene genuinely took her aback. Although her Wartortle was similar, she knew they had a bond. She wouldn't dare try to tame any creature other than her Wartortle.

Even though her perspective on the creatures had eased due to incidents in their previous villages, she still didn't dare to tame others. Only Kanraku-san and… this man, could do so. Perhaps this was what Professor Kanraku termed the harmony between beasts and humans.

While they were all engrossed in this scene, a group of individuals approached them.