As the backbone of the farm’s street-roaming gang, Armarouge prided herself on having explored nearly every corner of the land.
At least, when it ca to the broader layout, she was sure she'd covered most of it.
But this place… didn’t ring a bell?
Wait—no, she had been here before.
Armarouge squinted at the landscape, searching it carefully until a flicker of familiarity sparked in her mind.
It looked… vaguely familiar?
Could it be… the spot where Ting-Lu was once suppressed?
Everyone knew w had a mouth bigger than her body could justify—she just couldn’t keep secrets.
While training the two Charcadet rookies, w had bragged about her past exploits more than once.
Enemies that required a whole army to subdue? w claid she wiped the floor with them in three moves.
With a flick of her tail, she had effortlessly sealed one in a crater behind the farm.
And to make it all the more convincing, she’d personally led the kids on a field trip to go see it.
Armarouge still rembered w standing at the rim of the basin, recounting her so-called “glorious past” with no trace of humility.
For w, the story boiled down to this:
Ting-Lu didn’t know her place, tried to resist, and got smashed.
But by the ti w finished spinning her tale, the whole scene had taken on a different flavor entirely.
In her retelling, she was the main character in so red-haired protagonist's power fantasy novel, effortlessly crushing ignorant challengers with a flick of her paw and a cold flick of her eyes.
After a short, noble speech ant to enlighten her enemy, she had no choice but to sigh, defeat them, and seal them away for their own good.
Honestly, the only thing missing was a dramatic line like, “As though even fate had turned to dust.”
Sure, it sounded cool and all—but let’s not kid ourselves.
Ting-Lu stood up. Then got bodied. End of story.
At the ti, Ting-Lu had been crouched silently in a corner, praying for the world to explode then and there.
Please. Just end it all.
I’ve had enough humiliation for one lifeti.
“Hmm…”
Chin propped on her gauntlet, Armarouge sank into deep thought.
She didn’t know what had happened here recently, or what was causing it.
But one thing was clear—sothing was off.
I’ve got to check it out!
Her eyes glead as she turned to her little sister, her intention practically written across her armor.
I’m going on an adventure—co with , yeah?
Armarouge had always been bubbling with enthusiasm for the world around her.
But Ceruledge—well...
?_?
She just stared back, eyes as dead as a Magikarp’s.
Ceruledge felt like there were about fifty things she could say right now.
But she kept them all to herself.
Forget it. Fine.
She sighed softly. In the end, she couldn’t say no to her sister.
For so reason, she felt like Armarouge had grown even more…
…childlike since evolving.
She mulled it over and dug out what she felt was a polite-enough term from her vocabulary:
High EQ: “Innocent.”
Low EQ: Childish and mischievous.
Instead of telling soone when she noticed sothing was off, her first instinct was to go off on an adventure herself.
What is this, so kind of junior detective club?
Compared to his sister’s curiosity and faint worry, Ceruledge was the picture of calm.
He was confident that Natsu definitely knew what was going on here.
What’s that saying again?
Nothing new under the sun?
Doesn’t matter.
Ceruledge knew very well—on this farm, there was no such thing as so Pokémon scheming in the shadows.
Especially not with the terrain shifting so drastically across such a wide area.
Even if Natsu hadn’t noticed it himself…
Surely Big Sis w and the others would’ve picked up on it.
Are you telling a bunch of Legendary Pokémon didn’t realize a part of their ho turned into a volcanic zone? Co on, that’s just cody.
Even a third-rate joke wouldn’t go that far.
That’s why Ceruledge, trailing behind his sister, remained perfectly composed.
But the mont they stepped into the flaming basin, both Ceruledge and Armarouge imdiately sensed the difference.
The scorching air, unbearable for most Pokémon, felt like water to a fish for them.
Their bodies ca alive with energy.
Strange. Just a few steps apart, and yet the environnt had completely changed.
Ceruledge glanced back thoughtfully.
Just a mont ago, they had been standing on lush, green grass.
Now, only a few paces forward, the ground had turned into cracked, scorched red earth.
Two entirely different climates, coexisting side by side without interfering with each other.
Like distinct zones on a ga map.
This power… was far beyond what an ordinary Pokémon could achieve.
No doubt—it was the power of a Legendary.
Was this the ancient "Chi-Yu" Natsu ntioned he was going to handle?
Can’t rember.
At this point, whenever Ceruledge ran into sothing he couldn’t explain, he just chalked it up to being the work of a Legendary.
Anywhere else, that might sound ridiculous.
But not here.
Only Arceus knows what it feels like to wake up, grab breakfast, and see five Legendary Pokémon saunter by to steal your food.
It’s… complicated.
On one hand, it makes Legendaries feel not so distant after all.
On the other, there’s a subtle sense of pressure.
Legendaries don’t even stand out here.
Let alone regular Pokémon.
For all he knew, maybe Natsu saw him no differently than an Oddish.
“Hmm~”
As Ceruledge let his thoughts wander, a long, lodious call rang out.
It sounded like a deep-sea whale’s song, but lighter—more ethereal.
Suddenly, the lava at the center of the basin began to boil.
Yeah, weird as it sounds, it really was boiling.
Seconds later, a surge of crimson magma erupted skyward.
And from within, an orange glow began to erge.
Eyes slowly opening, Chi-Yu rose, peering down imperiously at the two intruders on its turf.
The majesty of legend radiated from it without restraint.
For a mont, Ceruledge and Armarouge went completely blank.
anwhile, elsewhere—
“All right, go have fun.”
Natsu gently patted Bounsweet’s head after placing a pink pokeblock into her hand, freshly collected with her post-training sweat.
Bounsweet leaned in and took a deep sniff.
The rich, sugary aroma made her face light up with joy.
So sweet!
Clutching the pokeblock, Bounsweet cheerfully ran off to play.
Of course, she had to eat it quickly.
Nibbling off a small piece, her face blood with happiness at the thought.
“This batch is getting good feedback.”
Watching her reaction, Natsu smiled.
This pokeblock's defining feature was its sweetness.
Everything else about it was basically just a bonus.
He had even sacrificed so other performance aspects just to enhance the flavor.
For a Pokémon just finishing a hard training session, one of these made it all worth it.
Sweetness has the power to lift the mood—even for Pokémon.
Even those with pickier palates wouldn’t turn down a cube like this.
As a side note, one of the core ingredients in this pokeblock was Bounsweet’s own sweat.
Collected, processed, and turned into pokeblock.
Then fed back to Bounsweet as a reward.
A perfect self-sustaining loop.
That’s what they call shearing the sheep to knit the sweater, right?
Neither Natsu nor the Bounsweet tribe had any issues with it.
Natsu got his raw material.
Bounsweet got her treat.
Win-win!
Staaare...
As Natsu shook out his hand to give his wrist a break, he sensed a faintly sulky gaze on him.
Turning around, he caught the back of Tsareena's head.
Clearly, she’d been watching him just now.
The mont he looked, she whipped her head away.
“Tsareena, here—this is for you.”
“Thanks for your help today.”
Natsu understood imdiately.
She wanted an pokeblock too.
But she couldn’t bring herself to go ask like the kids from the tribe.
So she was holding it in.
Since Tsareena was too shy to ask, Natsu would just take the initiative.
He pulled out a small box with a Bounsweet design on it. Inside, it was packed with those sa sweet pokeblocks.
All of them were that sa flavor.
For now, Natsu had dubbed this variety “Bounsweet No. 1.”
Well, “for now” might as well be “forever.”
Like that “Slowking No. 1” from before.
He’d said he’d co up with a better na eventually… but so far, nothing.
Forgive Natsu—he’s hopeless at naming things.
If he had to na stuff, he’d have to go look it up online.
So let’s just stick with calling it Bounsweet No. 1.
It’s easy to rember, at least.
“Chyu-wa!”
Tsareena's eyes lit up as she saw the pokeblocks in Natsu’s hand.
Still, she put on a cool, collected front as she calmly accepted it.
Then imdiately popped a piece into her mouth.
The mont it touched her fingers, the fruity sweetness snuck into her nose.
And the instant the pokeblock t her tongue, a delicate, rich sweetness blood in her mouth.
The outer layer lted quickly, leaving a thin, sticky-sweet film.
It gently wrapped around her whole mouth, bringing a joy that words couldn’t quite express.
It wasn’t just an emotional delight—Tsareena swore she could feel it physically.
For a mont, all her worries lted into that sweetness, leaving only pure bliss.
She closed her eyes, quietly savoring that perfect mont.
Natsu sat lazily on the grass, watching her with a slight smile.
His eyes were full of the purest affection for Pokémon.
Even though Tsareena had evolved long ago, going from an oblivious airhead who couldn’t even recognize new tribe mbers, to a competent leader…
In Natsu’s eyes, she was still that Tsareena who used to sneak over for cuddles and beg for pokeblocks.
When she liked a pokeblock, she’d show it without reservation.
When she didn’t, she’d stuff the leftovers back into Natsu’s arms and throw a tiny tantrum until he soothed her.
Whenever she had a problem, she’d cling to him and ask endless questions, hoping he’d solve it.
Even when making decisions, she’d first co to check if her plan made sense.
And while Natsu thought things over, she’d just sit there, staring up at him with those big eyes.
As if all of that had just happened yesterday.
But sohow, it felt like a long ti had passed.
So long, in fact, that the little one from back then had already grown into a capable leader of her tribe.
“?”
As she opened her eyes, Tsareena was just about to offer so custor feedback when she noticed Natsu staring at her with a rather peculiar expression.
There was sothing complicated behind that look—too complex for Tsareena to fully comprehend for now.
Casting a suspicious glance at the pokeblock in her hand, she started to wonder if Natsu had just handed her a box of experintal pokeblocks to test out.
...Surely not, right?
After all, wasn’t Corviknight still around? No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like it was her turn.
Frowning, Tsareena couldn’t make sense of it.
Watching her puzzled expression, Natsu could more or less guess what was running through her mind.
He found it a little exasperating, a little amusing—but didn’t bother to explain.
It was nothing more than a tiny misunderstanding, barely even worth calling a misunderstanding.
In a little while, Tsareena would forget all about it.
Without dwelling on it any further, she carefully stashed away the pokeblock Natsu handed her and resud chasing after the Steenee in her tribe.
Every tribes had its share of little rebels. Take the ones Tsareena had just rounded up, for example.
So of them were simply defiant.
Others were just scared.
To be fair, the illusion created by Ralts was pretty terrifying.
As Natsu continued collecting data, the first few Bounsweet who had experienced the illusion had already run back and spread word of what they saw.
One of them had been thrown into a forest swarming with bird Pokémon.
How was that any different from being dumped onto Cannibal Island?
At least that scary Persian from earlier was just a quick fright—it ca, it went.
But Ralts’ illusion? That had to be felt—you had to go through the whole thing.
And when it ended? Well, that was up to Ralts.
Tsareena had made a special request: for the particularly unruly ones, let them enjoy the experience a little longer.
One after another, these overconfident rookies thought they were ready to soar—when really, they had no clue what they were doing.
Better to face the facts sooner than later.
“Gar—de.”
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out. Ralts, who had just been preparing to cast Hypnosis, froze mid-spell.
Turning around, she saw her eldest sister—Gardevoir—had sohow appeared beside Natsu without anyone noticing.
She was leaning close, speaking to him in a low voice.
“I see… I’ll go take a look, then.”
While calming the restless Bounsweet on his lap, Natsu responded gently.
“Garde.”
With a nod, Gardevoir quietly stepped behind Natsu.
At the sa ti, she cast a subtle glance toward Ralts.
There was a touch of warmth in her eyes.
In the beginning, Gardevoir had worried a lot about her little sister.
She didn’t know what she wanted. Didn’t know what she should be doing.
Every day, she just trailed aimlessly behind Gardevoir or Gallade.
They’d been to plenty of places, sure—but when you thought about it, she’d never done anything.
But now, she’d finally found sothing she wanted to do—and that was a good thing.
Gardevoir wasn’t the type who expected every Pokémon to hustle all day or be so kind of workaholic.
She just didn’t want her little sister to drift through life with no direction, not even a hobby.
Even if all she wanted was to go ss around with w and the others playing pranks—that would’ve been fine too!
“All right, go play.”
“i, I’m heading out for a bit. Can you and Ralts keep an eye on things here for ?”
He let the Bounsweet hop off his lap, then turned to i beside him with a smile.
“OK, OK.”
She raised a hand and flashed an “OK” gesture, indicating no problem.
The Ralts in her arms nodded as well.
After flashing a smile at i and Tsareena, Natsu placed his hand on Gardevoir’s shoulder.
In the next instant, a blue aura enveloped them both—and just like that, Natsu and Gardevoir vanished into thin air.
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