Pokémon: Who let him leave Pallet Town?

Chapter 584 Drive the 'people' out of the village!
Miss Joey's scream, like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, instantly shattered the deathly silence of the North Country in the Reversed World.

Not long after, a chaotic commotion, filled with fear and despair, came from the depths of the town.

Natsume looked up and saw that Miss Joy, who had just run away, had returned, followed by a large group of villagers.
Let's just call them villagers for now.
These villagers resembled Joey in appearance, with varying degrees of translucency, pale skin, and elusive figures. They moved silently, like a group of condensed ghosts.

They gripped various weapons tightly in their hands—

Rusty hoes, chipped shovels, and even clotheslines and brooms.

Their faces all wore expressions of extreme fear, yet they forced a fierce look.

Several Pokémon, also appearing in a semi-transparent, ghostly form—a snarling Smeargle, and several fleeting, crying masks.
These Pokémon followed on the periphery of the crowd, emitting low, bluffing whimpers and cries, but their trembling limbs and tendency to retreat betrayed their inner fear.

"Over there! That person! Right in front of the Pokémon Center!"

Miss Joy's voice trembled as she pointed at Natsume, hiding behind a relatively burly villager.

The crowd suddenly stopped a dozen meters away from Natsume, as if facing some kind of flood or ferocious beast, and dared not go any further.

"My God, my God! It really is a person! A living person!" A villager holding a hoe said, his voice trembling.

"His face is so clear! So real! It's terrifying!"

"His clothes, those clothes, the green cloak, the 'person' who, according to legend, brings misfortune to this place!"

"Quick! Get him out of here! We can't let the stench of a 'living creature' pollute our town!"

Natsume: "."

He stood there, his orange hood and little tiger teeth standing out in the moonlight, while his light green cloak and pink bow swayed gently in the night breeze.

Looking at the group of "ghost" villagers who seemed to be facing a formidable enemy, and listening to their absurd and terrifying pronouncements, an extremely strong sense of disorientation washed over him once again.

"Quick! Use 'that'!" a villager who seemed to be the leader shouted in a shrill voice.

Several villagers shakily took out a few thin white candles from behind them and tried to light them with trembling hands.

The faint, flickering candlelight shone as the villagers held their candles in front of them as if they were some kind of exorcising instrument, and slowly and fearfully approached.

"Get out! You!"

Go back to the 'world of the living' where you belong!

"We do not welcome 'living' things!"

Natsume looked at the candles that were being used to scare him away, and his lips twitched involuntarily.

In the real world, lighting candles is often done to commemorate or remember the deceased, or to attract or appease ghosts in certain rituals.

Here, in the reversed world, lighting candles is actually used to drive away the living?
This worldview is completely upside down.

What's even more interesting is that as the candles were lit, the villagers seemed to gain some courage. Although they were still afraid, they at least dared to slowly approach.

"Yes! Use 'salt'! Sprinkle salt!"

Suddenly, another villager remembered something, took out a handful of glistening granules from his pocket, and threw them in Natsume's direction!
However, those particles did not appear to be salt commonly used for exorcism in the real world, but rather a shimmering, white sand-like substance.

Sparkling "white sand" drifted over, landing on Natsume's face like snowflakes amidst countless tense gazes.

Natsume was incredibly curious: what exactly is the salt from the Reverse World?
He couldn't resist sticking out his tongue and rolling a few white granules into his mouth.

"Why is it sweet?" Natsume smacked his lips, puzzled by the sweet taste of the salt.

"He...he actually ate it!"

"A person, a person ate the salt!"

The villagers were immediately terrified.

The salt they scattered had no effect whatsoever. Judging from Natsume's expression, the other party seemed to actually like the taste.

"There's still noise! ​​Making noise! ​​People hate noise the most!" someone else shouted.

Immediately, the villagers began to bang their shovels and hoes hard, producing a dull, muffled clanging sound. The ghost Pokémon also joined in, letting out as many cries as possible.

The whole scene resembled a poorly rehearsed, shabby-made anti-exorcism ritual, with the actors themselves terrified.

They tried to drive away Natsume, the "living person," using methods that "attract" or "appease" ghosts in the real world.

Natsume stood still, raising his eyebrows slightly.

Damn it, if all his electronic devices hadn't malfunctioned, he would have definitely recorded it.

This is extremely rare; it's a moment of direct contact with the humanities in a world that has reversed its course!

At that moment, Natsume probably understood.

In this inverted world, most intelligent beings seem to exist as ghosts.

Similarly, "living things" are a taboo here, a terrifying legend.

To them, their own living, breathing body and clear face were probably more frightening than any hideous ghost.

"Sigh," Natsume sighed, looking at the villagers who were still trying to "drive away" him with candles, salt, and clumsy banging, and decided to leave for the time being.

He feared that if he stayed any longer, the villagers would scare themselves into a state of panic.

He turned around and, amidst the villagers' relieved yet wary gazes, slowly walked into the darkness outside the town.

It seems unlikely that it will be possible to find out the whereabouts of Dr. Yew's team from these villagers in the "Reversed World" village through normal means.

He had to think of another way; perhaps he needed to find the true form of the "Evil Spirit" in this world first.
Or, to figure out exactly what the difference is between this inverted world and the real world.
"We've driven them away! We've driven them away!"

"Great! Keep it up and drive him out of the village!!"

As Natsume walked out of the village, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.

Clearly, his departure made them extremely happy, and the cheers behind him grew even more enthusiastic. Even as Natsume walked to the village entrance, he could still faintly hear the sounds of gongs and drums.

"Compared to the people from Zhenxin Town, I'm a bit lacking in skill."

Natsume turned around and looked at Green Town not far away.

The moonlight shone on his cloak, casting a soft glow.

As Natsume walked back to the cave, the cheers and banging sounds of the villagers behind him were gradually broken up by the night wind and scattered in the cold air.

He walked up the winding path to the middle of the hillside, stopped, and looked back again.

The verdant town at the foot of the mountain huddled under the moonlight, a few flickering candlelight shining behind the window before quickly going out, as if uneasy at his gaze and hastily hiding away.

The entire town fell into a breathless silence, unlike the deathly stillness he had experienced when he first arrived; this was a silence tinged with obvious wariness and rejection.

A night breeze blew by, lifting the hem of his light green cloak. The rough stitches of the fabric rubbed against his skin, causing a slight tingling sensation.

The pink, crookedly sewn bow at the neckline trembled gently in the wind.

He stood alone on the hillside, the moonlight casting a long shadow on the cold, unfamiliar earth.

The shadow had a strange outline—a round headgear, sticking-up tufts of hair, and an exaggerated grinning expression with sewn-in little tiger teeth.

This is not his real shadow, but rather the silhouette cast by this outfit, belonging to another being.

In the darkness in the distance, it seemed that several pairs of eyes were secretly and fearfully watching his direction.

But soon, those few faint lights disappeared completely, as if they had been suddenly pulled back to the safety of their nest by something.

All that remained was the sound of the wind and an invisible, cold barrier.

He stood there for a moment, then turned around and continued along the path into the deeper, unknown darkness.

(End of this chapter)