Chapter 129:The Criminal Story of Prison Pokémon!

Time inside the secret realm is synchronized with the outside world.

When the sunlight no longer penetrates the secret realm passage, the sky here also turns dark.

Natsume set up a tent by the pond within the secret realm.

With a campfire lit, Natsume sat by the riverbank fishing.

Milotic rested its head on Natsume's legs, its tail gently swaying in the water.

The Lopunny were preparing food with Gardevoir, and everything was very quiet.

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite joyfully flew back.

"What's up, Dragonite? Are you done playing?"

When Dragonite first entered the secret realm, it had chased after a Dodrio.

Natsume had already captured Annihilape by the time it returned.

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite shook its head and then reached out a hand toward Natsume.

Dragonite indicated that it needed empty Poké Balls.

"Poké Balls?"

Natsume looked at Dragonite in confusion. "How many do you need?"

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite counted with its fingers.

Natsume was surprised. "Do you need a lot?"

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite shook its head and happily held up three fingers.

Natsume said with mock annoyance, "Wow, just three? You took so long to count."

Milotic glanced at Dragonite and then moved off Natsume's legs.

Natsume took three Poké Balls from his bag for Dragonite.

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite accepted them and happily flew off into the distance.

Natsume watched Dragonite's retreating figure and said helplessly, "Milotic, who do you think Dragonite is capturing?"

"Milotic~"

Milotic thought it would probably be another cute-looking Pokémon.

"That makes sense."

Natsume agreed with Milotic's assessment.

Shake~ Shake~

At that moment, the fishing rod at the water's edge suddenly began to shake.

Natsume quickly reached out, and the fishing rod floated automatically into his hand.

A tremendous force came from the pond.

Crack~ Crack!

The fishing rod developed a crack.

Natsume immediately enveloped the fishing rod with Psychic.

Milotic dived into the water.

At the bottom of the river,

"Feraligatr!"

A blue Feraligatr was pulling hard on the fishing line.

"Feraligatr!"

Feraligatr glanced at Milotic, who was submerged in the water, and opened its mouth to unleash a powerful stream of water.

"Milotic~"

Milotic swam gracefully.

Its tail whipped toward Feraligatr, sending a wave-like stream of water crashing toward it.

Aqua Tail!

Bam~

With a loud explosion, the river water turned murky, and a large number of bubbles rose to the surface.

On the shore,

Natsume looked at the splashing water and said, "Looks like I caught a big one!"

Gardevoir glanced at the surface of the water and then used Inner Focus to perceive the scene underwater.

After scanning Feraligatr with her Inner Focus, Gardevoir no longer paid attention to it.

"Lopunny."

Gardevoir said to the Lopunny beside her, "How does it smell?"

"Lopunny~"

Lopunny felt that Natsume would definitely like it.

"Reel it in for me~"

Natsume called out, then pulled hard on the fishing rod.

Whoosh~

A dazed Feraligatr, disoriented from the splash, was hauled onto the shore.

It was a Feraligatr at level 38, with the ability Torrent.

"Feraligatr!"

Feraligatr shook its head, glanced at Natsume, and suddenly lunged toward him.

Feraligatr used Slash!

Although it was a crocodile in the water and was now on land, this Feraligatr was still very fast.

However, Dragonite was faster.

"Dragonite~"

Bang!

Dragonite came crashing down and kicked Feraligatr into a pit.

"Dragonite?"

Dragonite curiously asked, "Who is this silly-looking creature?"

Natsume crouched beside the fainted Feraligatr and poked its skin with his finger. "I just caught it."

"However, it really is typical of Pokémon from a prison."

"Its aggression toward humans is quite high."

As Natsume spoke, he used Eternity Power to simply heal Feraligatr's body.

"Feraligatr~"

Soon, Feraligatr woke up.

"Feraligatr!"

As soon as Feraligatr opened its eyes, it let out a booming roar.

Natsume frowned slightly and rubbed his ears.

"Dragonite."

Dragonite walked up to Feraligatr.

"Feraligatr!"

Feraligatr looked at Dragonite warily.

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite took a deep breath.

Gardevoir, standing behind Natsume, leaned against him, placing her hands over his ears.

"Roar~!"

The roar echoed loudly!

"Feraligatr."

Feraligatr felt as if it had been hit by a sonic attack, covering its ears in pain and collapsing onto the ground.

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite fell silent and looked at Feraligatr with a hint of pride.

Feraligatr stayed quietly crouched by the side, not moving.

"Dragonite."

Natsume praised Dragonite and then said, "First, let me see the Pokémon you captured."

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite shook the three Poké Balls in its hand and then tapped them.

Whoosh~

Three beams of red light shot out.

Exeggutor, Dodrio, and a Weezing that looked like it had two chimneys on top.

Natsume looked at them in shock. "Dragonite, you have quite unique taste."

These three Pokémon had very strange appearances.

Exeggutor had three heads, and Dodrio did as well.

Weezing had two heads.

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite thought they all looked like a lot of fun.

"Alright."

Natsume curiously asked, "But how did you get them to agree to come with you?"

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite explained that it found them interesting, so it invited them to join, hoping they would come to the farm.

However, they initially refused.

Dodrio arrogantly said, "Why would I follow you?"

So, Dragonite gave it a punch.

Immediately, all three heads of Dodrio agreed.

Exeggutor and Weezing quickly followed suit as well.

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite said proudly, hands on its hips, waiting for Natsume's praise.

"I see."

Natsume patted Dragonite’s large belly and laughed, "Dragonite has quite the talent for being a Trainer."

"Dragonite~"

"Dodrio~"

Dodrio suddenly sniffed the air.

All three of its heads simultaneously turned toward Lopunny.

The rice made from Hearty Grains was ready.

Natsume observed the scene and said, "Are you hungry?"

"Then let's have a meal together."

"Dragonite~"

Dragonite excitedly dashed over.

Seeing Dragonite leave, Feraligatr quickly turned and swam back into the water.

Natsume didn't mind Feraligatr's departure.

He returned to the campfire, where Lopunny handed him a wooden bowl.

"Lopunny, could you please prepare a serving for Dodrio as well?"

"Lopunny~"

Dodrio and Weezing seemed a bit tense, their bodies rigid as they stood still.

Exeggutor was much more relaxed.

It plopped down beside Natsume.

Exeggutor didn't know why, but seeing Natsume made it feel very at ease.

It felt as if Natsume carried a blessing from nature.

This feeling brought it comfort.

Natsume smiled kindly at the Exeggutor beside him.

Exeggutor was tall, over 2 meters high.

Sitting next to Natsume, it looked just like a sturdy coconut tree.

But,

"Lopunny!"

Lopunny puffed up its cheeks and glared at Exeggutor.

"Exeggutor?"

Exeggutor looked at Lopunny in confusion.

It wondered why this rabbit was suddenly angry with it.

"Lopunny!"

Lopunny declared that this was its spot.

Exeggutor, confused, moved aside to make room for Lopunny.

"Lopunny~"

Lopunny's expression brightened again.

Natsume looked at Lopunny and asked, "Lopunny, why aren't you upset that Gardevoir is sitting next to me?"

"Lopunny~"

Lopunny explained that it was because Gardevoir was different.

They were all part of the same family, so it didn't matter.

Natsume rubbed Lopunny's soft cheeks and smiled. "I see."

"Dodrio~"

Dodrio glanced at the food placed in front of it.

It lowered one head and began to enjoy the meal.

The other two heads kept a vigilant watch, alerting for any danger.

Natsume looked at Dodrio curiously and asked, "Do you take turns eating?"

"Or does one head eat all the time?"

"Dodrio~"

The head responsible for alerting said that as long as one head got food, they would all be satisfied.

However, they still took turns eating and sleeping.

This Dodrio was at level 35, with the ability Early Bird.

Its potential was also promising, Gym Leader level.

In fact, all of these Pokémon had the potential of a Gym Leader.

"Dodrio, can you tell me why you ended up here?"

Natsume tossed a piece of wood into the campfire.

"Dodrio."

Dodrio began to narrate its story.

Dodrio's previous Trainer was a Pokémon Hunter.

They often traveled to various places to find the Pokémon their employers wanted.

Sometimes, they would go to the desert, and other times they would venture into the deep sea.

They even stole Pokémon directly from other people.

As for why its Trainer got caught, it is quite an interesting story.

They captured a Rowlet in a cage and then started to run.

Rowlet's Trainer chased after them furiously.

Rowlet cried out in fear inside the cage.

One of Dodrio's heads, which looked very sad, said, "Shouldn’t we let it go?"

The head that looked somewhat pleased countered, "If we let it go, the Trainer will be angry. The most important thing right now is to keep running."

The last head angrily insisted, "Why run? We should be preparing for a battle right now!"

The three heads argued back and forth, their body frozen in place.

Meanwhile, their Trainer, who was about to throw paralysis powder when Dodrio unexpectedly stopped, fell over directly, and the paralysis powder ended up affecting them all.

Soon, the Pokémon police arrived.

The last time Dodrio saw its Trainer, he had a look of anger and despair as he said, "I must be cursed to have chosen to take you out!"

"I never want to see you again, you idiots!"

This made all three heads of Dodrio very sad.

Natsume looked at the sorrowful Dodrio and felt like laughing, but it didn’t seem appropriate.

So, Natsume smiled and comforted, "It's alright; you’ve done a good deed."

Dodrio recalled the sad events and lowered its head to continue eating.

Natsume then turned to Exeggutor and asked, "What about you?"

"What were you captured for?"

Not just Natsume, but Dragonite and the Lopunny were also curiously looking at Exeggutor.

It was clear that everyone was interested in its story.

Exeggutor said it encountered that human in the rainforest.

He seemed to want to use food to catch its Pokémon.

However, Exeggutor thought the bait he set was really tasty, so it used Psychic to pull it from the trap into its own mouth.

At that time, it felt quite unlucky.

Because Exeggutor always followed him, every time he set a food trap, Exeggutor would eat the food.

So he invited Exeggutor to help him in battles.

He provided the food.

Exeggutor thought it was a good arrangement, so it agreed.

The so-called battles didn't require Exeggutor to take the field.

Exeggutor just had to use its help on a particular Pokémon in certain special situations.

This way, Exeggutor could get a lot of delicious food.

Exeggutor enjoyed this lifestyle.

Until one day, when Exeggutor used its help move and assisted the wrong Pokémon.

As a result, they were discovered.

Then that human was caught and beaten up by many people.

Exeggutor was taken here as well.

Exeggutor did not resist, as the person who brought it along also provided food.

After hearing Exeggutor's story, Natsume chuckled and said, "So you were that easy to trick?"

Exeggutor looked at Natsume in confusion.

It thought it was just looking for someone to provide food; why was it being called kidnapped?

Natsume was momentarily at a loss for words.

"That makes sense!"

"Exeggutor~"

Exeggutor responded lazily and then used Psychic to continue feeding itself.

Exeggutor was quite aware!

Natsume then turned his attention to Weezing. "What about you?"

"And what were you captured for?"

This Weezing was a Poison and Fairy-type Pokémon.

It was a very special Pokémon.

Because they could purify the air.

They did not rely on berries like ordinary Pokémon for food.

Weezing would absorb pollutants from the atmosphere, using the contaminated air and toxins as nutrients.

The gases inhaled would have their toxins extracted and then be released as fresh air from its head.

The released air became very clean and refreshing.

"Weezing~"

Weezing actually didn’t know why it was captured.

It had been happily absorbing toxic gas in its Trainer's factory every day when suddenly a group of people came and took its Trainer along with it.

"Was it because of excessive toxin emissions?"

Natsume asked curiously.

Weezing shook its head.

It was unclear about such matters.

At that moment, Tomohira approached from a distance.

He looked over at Natsume and the others.

By the dimly lit lake, the campfire was burning.

The wood that had just been added crackled as it burned.

Natsume and the Pokémon sat in a circle around the campfire.

They were relaxed, sharing their stories and chatting like friends.

Feraligatr carefully peeked at the water's edge, also watching Natsume and the others.

The group of Mightyena in the secret realm seemed to be attracted by Natsume and his Pokémon as well.

"Poochyena~"

A Poochyena whimpered softly.

The Poochyena was a bit hungry.

It really wanted to eat the food prepared by Natsume and the others.

Sitting beside Natsume, Gardevoir sensed the Poochyena's emotions and waved at it.

Poochyena immediately perked up and happily ran toward Natsume and the others.

When Poochyena reached Gardevoir, it looked at her with anticipation.

Gardevoir used leaves to serve a bowl of rice to Poochyena.

"Poochyena~"

Poochyena was delighted.

The Mightyena did not obstruct anything but quietly watched.

Tomohira walked over and remarked, "Truly deserving of being Natsume, the gym leader."

"This is the first time I’ve seen someone come to this secret realm and get along with so many Pokémon right away."

Natsume smiled at Tomohira and said, "That’s because these Pokémon are all very interesting."

"Please sit down. Would you like something to eat?"

Tomohira sat between Exeggutor and Dodrio and said, "Thank you, but I’ve already eaten."

"I see, that's a pity."

"By the way, do you know what Weezing's Trainer did?"

Tomohira glanced at Weezing and said, "I don't know the details very clearly."

"I just know that Weezing's Trainer seemed to have been involved in something on the last day of the Millennial Comet."

"At that time, quite a few people and Pokémon were captured."

"I see."

Natsume smiled at Weezing and said, "It seems we do have some fate with each other."

"From now on, why don't you all come live on my farm?"

Weezing was concerned about whether the farm had enough food.

"My farm doesn't really have what you eat."

"But you can eat at Morimachi."

"In the morning, just take the bus."

"Just ride back on the bus."

Natsume began to tell everyone about life on the farm.