Pokémon: Who let him leave Pallet Town?

Chapter 473 Blueberry Academy
This kid actually went, and actually got rid of the person?!
Such a troublesome group, an organization that even he, the mayor, dared not easily touch, and which was even attacked by the other side during the election.

They just vanished without a trace, overnight?!
I was just analyzing the numerous difficulties and weighing the pros and cons with myself.
In the short time it took Natsume to turn around and go out?
No, he hadn't even been away from City Hall for very long!
An almost absurd shock and immense doubt struck Shaka's heart like an electric current.

He took a few deep breaths of the smoke-filled air before steadying his voice: "Never mind that! Get the stuff inside! Right in the main building's lobby! Quickly! Quickly!"

After hanging up the phone, Xia Ka paced back and forth in the spacious office, his steps losing their usual steadiness and appearing somewhat hurried and disordered.

He would glance toward the door every now and then, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table, making a soft, rhythmic sound.

The previous frustration and heavy pressure of the election seemed to have been torn open by this sudden change, leaving behind a huge gaping hole, filled with disbelief, confusion, and a hint of... vague anxiety.

This kid possesses world-destroying telekinetic powers.
After an unknown amount of time, the office door was pushed open.

Natsume strolled in slowly, his hands in his pockets, with Jiaozi following closely behind, her face showing shock and bewilderment.

"Have all the furniture been moved in?" Xia Ka suddenly stopped, his gaze fixed intently on Xia Mu, as if he wanted to dissect him from head to toe.

"Yeah, it's a mess, but it's good enough to sleep on." Natsume nodded casually, walked to the sofa, sat down, picked up the cold coffee that Shaka hadn't finished and took a sip. "Thanks."

"Where are they?!" Shaka could no longer contain himself and asked with a frown.

"Uh, I don't know, you should ask it."

As Natsume spoke, he lifted up his middle-parted hair, which was yawning and resting at his feet.

What do you mean you don't know?

Almost growling, Shaka strode up to Natsume, staring at him with a grave expression:
"Those guys! The Pokémon Protection Organization, the kind of people who dare to interfere in my election!"

"Where did you go? Don't do anything stupid, you little brat!!"

Natsume put down his coffee cup, raised his eyelids slightly, and revealed an innocent and pure expression:

"Don't worry, Mayor Shaka, it won't affect you."

"I really don't know where they went. Maybe they had a change of heart and went home?"

Natsume shrugged. "I'm a law-abiding citizen."

When he arrived at the scene, all he found was a middle-part hairstyle and a high-pressure water gun.

Although Natsume was very curious about how the man with the middle part had managed to single-handedly drive away those guys with a high-pressure water gun, he decided to ask back later.

Shaka almost choked on his breath.

"Alright, you little brat, Professor Oak is right!" Shaka laughed angrily, but knew that pressing for answers now was useless.

What Professor Oak?
Natsume looked completely bewildered.

Did Professor Oak notify Shaka before he came over?
Shaka walked back to his desk, picked up the intercom, took a deep breath, and tried to make his voice sound normal: "Notify the Shuanglong Daily and the television station's information department to monitor today closely."

"Any objections? Let the objecting party come and talk to me!"

That night.

The midnight wind, carrying a chill, quietly crept into the huge, empty shell of Blueberry Academy.

Moonlight streamed in through several glass windows adorned with faded spray paint graffiti by street artists, leaving crooked patches of light on the thick layer of dust accumulated on the ground.

"Haohaokong," Jiaozi said softly, hugging Natsume's backpack and staying close to him, not daring to fall behind.

It was eerily empty; even their footsteps echoed, as if something was mimicking their movements in the darkness.

Natsume swept the space in front of him with his flashlight.

The hall was so high that the ceiling was not visible, supported by several thick cement pillars.

Some walls were only half-built, revealing dark, empty holes behind them.

In the corner, rusty steel bars and dust-covered wooden planks were piled up, resembling a skeleton that had been eaten.

“The design standards were very high back then,” Natsume said calmly, as if he were talking about his neighbor’s yard.

"It's a pity we didn't make it to the end."

The beam of light stopped not far away—a folding bed and table that the municipal workers had crammed in looked all alone in the darkness.

The boy with the middle parting had already curled up into a yellow ball of hair on a mat, snoring loudly.

"Are we really going to sleep here?" Jiaozi looked at the few pitiful little beds and then at the bottomless darkness around her. Her voice was timid, but she leaned against Natsume as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Of course not."

Natsume touched his nose; he wouldn't do something like forcing himself to suffer without doing it.

The purpose of bringing these things in was simply to have something of "own" on this property.

"Ah!" Jiaozi was a little anxious, and hooked his index finger around Natsume's little finger.

"What do you want to do?" Natsume turned around and looked at the other person strangely.

"Actually, I think it's quite nice to stay here for one night, since some Dark-type Pokémon are more active at night."

Jiaozi looked shyly at the bed not far away.

"Right."

Natsume had almost forgotten about this; the Pokémon protection organization was just the surface of the problem. The root cause was still these Dark-type Pokémon colonies.

“That’s just a temporary stop,” Natsume said, putting down his backpack.

"I'll go talk to them, and they'll get the water and electricity connected tomorrow." Before he could finish speaking, a crisp "crack" sound came from the depths of a dark, narrow doorway blocked only by broken wooden planks.

"Ah!" Jiaozi jumped up like a curly-eared cat whose tail had been stepped on, grabbing Natsume's arm tightly with both hands, her whole body almost pressed against his back, her cold little hands trembling even through his clothes.

"There's something!"

Natsume was jolted by her tug and immediately shone his flashlight in her direction.

Within the beam of light, two slender, scarlet eyes lit up, wary. A small, thin, bat-winged shadow hung upside down from the tube—it was the pickpocket cat.

It flicked the tip of its tail, then, clutching its food, darted into a dark crevice higher up.

"Pickpocket Cat, a nocturnal Dark-type Pokémon, is a long-term resident here."

As Natsume explained, he felt the two small, icy hands on his arm gripping him even tighter, and he felt her tense, rapid breathing against his back and her warm breath against his neck.

Natsume stiffened slightly: "Are you afraid of the dark?"

It's strange. Every night, Jiaozi comes to my room in the dark, and I've never seen the other person so afraid.

The air was silent for a few seconds, broken only by the snoring of the man with the middle-parted hair.

"Uh!" Jiaozi suddenly let go of her hand, and jumped back half a step as if she had been burned, her little face turning bright red.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Natsume! I... I was so nervous." She lowered her head in a fluster, twisting the hem of her clothes with her fingers.

Why be nervous?

Natsume felt that he and the prodigy were not on the same wavelength.

"They have their own ecological niche and generally won't attack intruders on their own initiative." Natsume Kan shifted his gaze, his tone remaining as calm as if he were lecturing.

“Observing them is also part of understanding the food chain in this area.” He paused, seemingly trying to reassure him.

"Get used to it."

"Mmm," Jiaozi mumbled in response, her face still flushed.

The touch and warmth of his body still lingered on my skin, and my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of my chest.

She quickly rubbed her arms. "It's so cold here, it feels much colder than outside."

This is no exaggeration; the empty building was bitterly cold.

"The building is large and poorly insulated, so it loses heat quickly at night." Natsume walked to the wall and pressed the switch, but there was no response.

He took a camping lamp out of his bag and placed it on the table, then started rummaging through his bag again. "I should have brought a thick blanket, wait a moment."

Natsume suddenly felt a pang of nostalgia for Tsuyoshi.

Every time we went camping, the other party would prepare everything.

By now, Ash should have met Brock, right?
A chilling, even more sinister air swept in from somewhere, carrying the dampness unique to the earth, making one's bones feel cold.

"Hiss!" This time, Jiaozi was really cold and shivered. Forgetting about the embarrassment just now, she instinctively shrank closer to Natsume, her face turning pale.

Natsume also sensed the unusual chill and turned his gaze to the depths of a dark corridor on the side, half-blocked by debris.

He looked away, not pursuing the matter further.

There's an ice cave underground here, so it's normal to be cold.

He continued rummaging through the bag: "Found it."

Natsume pulled out a large, thick, dark green blanket.

Seeing Jiaozi's nose red from the cold under the lamplight, and her arms trembling slightly, Natsume swiftly and decisively wrapped her up in a thick blanket.

"Wrap it up tight, don't get a fever again." (voice)
The thick blanket carried Natsume's clean and refreshing scent, mixed with disinfectant and a faint smell of tree oil, instantly blocking out the chill.

Warmth enveloped her whole body, and Jiaozi looked like a wrapped-up rice dumpling, with only her rosy little face showing. She was completely stunned.

"Why are you steaming again?"

Natsume's fingers twirled above the boy's head, still wet.

"Thank you, thank you," she said, tilting her head back and looking at his face, which was so close to hers, with big, watery eyes. The light cast a golden glow on his features.

The heat shot up to my head with a "whoosh" and I couldn't stop it.

Jiaozi lowered her head, burying her burning face in the blanket, leaving only her eyes showing. Her fingers gripped the edge of the blanket tightly as she took a deep breath.

My nose was filled with the scent of Natsume, and my heart felt like it had been tickled by a feather, both tingly and numb.

Natsume simply nodded, turned around and sat back down at the table, starting to fiddle with his communicator and some strange instruments.

"You rest first. I'll check the signal and basic environmental parameters here, and also investigate the ecology of the arid community here."

Leaving Loletta to wait beside the prodigy, Natsume picked up a flashlight and peered out of the academy.

(End of this chapter)