After arriving at the temporary camp, Whimsicott discovered that Luther had kept every promise he'd made.
She had originally compromised only for the sake of the Pokémon traveling with her, never expecting that decision to mark the beginning of an entirely new life.
When it came to food, Whimsicott and the Pokémon under her care actually only needed one proper meal a day to get enough energy. Normally, a few Berries would be enough, after which they would laze around together and bask in the sun. Life in the wild was hardly exciting.
When food was plentiful, they ate their fill, spent a little time training themselves, then relaxed with their companions. When food was scarce, they moved as little as possible to conserve energy.
But at the temporary camp, food was the one thing they never had to worry about. Both temporary warehouses were packed full.
After ownership of the island was transferred to Luther, the Pokémon League had removed half the supplies from the storage facility near the power plant aboard the ships delivering construction materials.
As for the remaining half, the message passed along by the Pokémon League was simply: "All supplies temporarily stored on the island by the Pokémon League have now been removed." In other words, the rest had quietly been left behind for Luther.
With such an abundance of food, Whimsicott soon realized that she was practically the only one still eating the Berries she'd brought with her.
The girl named Mai prepared several different flavors of Pokémon food every day. She had even started making some delicious little cube-shaped treats.
Petilil, Budew, Oddish, and Cherubi showed up beside Mai at the same time every day to collect their portions. More often than not, they would eat some there and bring the rest back for Whimsicott.
Whimsicott had her own share too, but because the others had relied on her protection for so long, they still kept their old habit of sharing anything good with her.
At this point, Whimsicott was starting to feel embarrassed, especially since Mai clearly didn't mind Petilil and the others doing it. If anything, she seemed to encourage them.
Their entire way of life had changed. Before, much of their day revolved around finding food. Now they only had to wait, and food would practically be delivered right into their mouths.
With so much free time, naturally they started wanting to wander around and explore. Ever since arriving at the temporary camp, however, Whimsicott and her group had kept mostly to themselves.
Their strong sense of being a separate little group was obvious enough that Mai, Mira, and Luther's Pokémon had all tacitly chosen not to intrude. Silver, who had greeted Whimsicott on the first day, had been taught by Houndoom to keep his curiosity in check and stop approaching them.
As a result, the two sides barely interacted at all except for briefly seeing each other during mealtimes.
Whimsicott decided it was time to change that awkward situation. She ventured deeper into the camp, looking around as she went, only to discover that the place was strangely empty today.
Aggron, Houndoom, and the other Pokémon who were usually around were nowhere to be seen. Even Gengar and Dusknoir, who had a habit of appearing and disappearing without warning, weren't here.
Mai, the girl who made all that delicious food for them, seemed to be inside one of the nearby buildings currently being renovated, while Mira was probably keeping her usual schedule of leaving early and returning late.
Whimsicott had finally worked up the nerve to get to know some of the other Pokémon, only to pick the exact day when everyone happened to be out. She sighed helplessly.
Slowpoke had watched the entire thing. He even heard Whimsicott mutter in disappointment, "I finally wanted to get to know them better... so why isn't anyone here?"
Slowpoke scratched his head. He was standing right beside a mound of stacked construction materials, and Whimsicott had walked past him several times already.
'Can she not see me?'
No matter how lively things became outside the camp, there was always at least one Slowpoke left behind to keep watch. That had already become routine. Of course, Slowpoke couldn't be bothered to call out to her, so he simply continued staring blankly into space.
In truth, once all the Pokémon had become familiar with the surrounding area, Luther had pretty much started letting them roam freely.
The reason the camp was especially empty today also had something to do with the Pokémon Luther had kept at Professor Rowan's laboratory.
The first group that had arrived on the island was currently being shown around by the Pokémon already living there, getting familiar with the environment and meeting their new companions.
The second group, and also the last, had arrived that morning as well. It consisted of three Misdreavus. Until Mismagius returned, Dusknoir would be looking after them for the time being.
Naturally, the ones happiest about being allowed to roam freely were Chikorita and Joltik. The surrounding area had already been thoroughly explored by Luther and Mai's Pokémon, and they hadn't found any particularly powerful wild Pokémon nearby.
With safety no longer a concern, the two of them could play around without a care in the world.
They both loved fishing, and ever since arriving on the island, they'd completely fallen in love with the place. Back on Lily of the Valley Island, the artificial lake had gotten boring fast. All they ever seemed to catch there were Quagsire.
Here, though, things were different. Remoraid, Octillery, Horsea, Finneon, something different seemed to bite every day.
If Chikorita couldn't haul something up with Vine Whip, Joltik would send a little electric shock into the water and stun the Pokémon below for a moment. Chikorita would then give one hard yank, and that was that.
These days, Petilil, the one who had come here with Whimsicott, could usually be found standing behind them. In fact, she'd gotten familiar with Luther's Pokémon even earlier than Whimsicott had.
When they dragged a Mantyke up to the surface, it blinked around nervously, trembling as it tried to figure out what was happening. Petilil immediately hopped over with a Berry she'd prepared in advance.
Chikorita and Joltik loved messing around, but they weren't completely thoughtless. Every Pokémon they dragged up got some food afterward. They'd come up with that rule after making a Quagsire angry once and getting scolded by Luther for it.
They couldn't help it. They just really liked fishing.
Sure, waiting around was boring, but the instant Chikorita felt Vine Whip twitch from something biting below, the rush of finally catching something was enough to keep them happy for the entire day.
And sometimes the Pokémon they pulled up would even share stories about what they'd seen beneath the sea after receiving their Berries. That only made the whole thing more fun.
The Mantyke happily munched on its Berry, waved its fins at Petilil, Chikorita, and Joltik, then left with a cheerful smile. It had apparently completely forgotten that these were the same three villains who had just forcibly dragged it up from the bottom of the sea.
Petilil still didn't understand what was supposed to be so fun about fishing. You stuck Vine Whip into the water, lay around on the beach under the sun, and sometimes waited one or two whole hours.
That was fun?
Petilil thought building sandcastles and playing in the sand while they waited was much more interesting.
She'd had a hard life. Even with Whimsicott protecting her, there often hadn't been enough food to go around. And because Cherubi and some of the others were weaker, Petilil would always give away part of her own share of Berries, then pretend she'd already eaten enough.
The way she became friends with Chikorita was actually very simple. One day, when Petilil came to Mai for food, Mai casually asked whether she'd like to go play with Chikorita and the others.
Petilil looked at the food in front of her and agreed almost immediately. And just like that, Chikorita accepted her into the group.
Once Chikorita noticed that Petilil had a habit of saving part of her food to take back for the others, she started pestering Mai's Gengar and Mira's Gengar to pick up some Berries whenever they went wandering around at night.
It wasn't exactly a difficult request, so the two Gengar naturally agreed. Whenever they went out on patrol, they'd gather fallen Berries they happened to find and bring them back to Chikorita.
Then Chikorita came up with a system. As long as Petilil finished her entire daily portion, Chikorita would reward her with an extra Berry.
If Luther had been there, the whole thing would've looked extremely familiar. It was basically how a kindergarten teacher, or a parent, coaxed a child into finishing their meal.
And somehow, it worked. The two quickly became friends.
Seeing how effective it was, Mai couldn't help smiling. If you were going to lure someone into staying, humans couldn't be the only ones doing the work. The Pokémon had to join in too.
That way, Whimsicott and the others would gradually feel more and more at home here until they naturally started seeing themselves as part of the group.
Technically, Luther hadn't caught any of them.
But in practice?
There was barely any difference anymore.
(End of Chapter)
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