The commotion over here made all the little Pokémon turn their heads toward Luther.
They looked at Luther, then at Jumpluff and Espurr. After a moment of hesitation, they hurriedly hugged their Berries close and hid behind Whimsicott, cautiously peeking out from her cottony body to watch him.
Whimsicott, meanwhile, had clearly become wary. She guarded the Pokémon behind her while slowly backing away, doing her best to put on a fierce expression.
Unfortunately, it wasn't intimidating in the slightest. Luther only found it adorable.
He had planned to move closer and explain why he was here, but every time he took one step forward, Whimsicott and the Pokémon under her protection retreated two.
"They're really on guard. Doesn't look like I'll be able to talk to them properly."
Luther thought for a moment, then crouched down and patted Jumpluff.
"Go explain why we're here."
Since they were both Grass-type Pokémon, Whimsicott was noticeably less wary of Jumpluff. When Jumpluff approached, Whimsicott merely leaned back a little.
Jumpluff greeted her politely first. After Whimsicott responded, she began explaining the situation.
Jumpluff gestured wildly as she talked, completely absorbed in her explanation and seemingly oblivious to the fact that Whimsicott's expression was getting worse by the second.
The Pokémon hiding behind Whimsicott were already looking at her nervously.
Espurr, perched on Luther's head, tugged at his hair, trying to tell him that something about Whimsicott and the others didn't feel right.
Not that Luther needed the warning. He could already tell.
A moment ago, Whimsicott had merely been wary of him.
Now she looked angry.
Suddenly, Jumpluff's body jerked sideways.
Whimsicott had slapped her across the face.
Jumpluff froze for two whole seconds.
Then she let out a shriek Luther had never heard from her before and launched herself at Whimsicott.
The two immediately began wrestling.
The Pokémon behind Whimsicott panicked and scattered, then cautiously gathered around the fighting pair, desperately trying to stop them.
It was useless.
Neither Jumpluff nor Whimsicott wanted to use wide-range moves with so many little Pokémon nearby, so instead of battling properly, they were basically brawling with their bare bodies.
Which somehow made it look even more vicious.
Whimsicott unleashed a rapid barrage of slaps.
Jumpluff responded by shoving one of her cotton puffs straight into Whimsicott's face. The instant the fluff blocked Whimsicott's vision, Jumpluff leaped up and kicked her to the ground.
Whimsicott refused to back down. She sprang up, tackled Jumpluff, grabbed onto her cotton, forced her down, and threw her with a full-body slam.
Luther stared.
Uh...
Aren't you two Grass types?
Because right now, you look like a pair of Fighting types beating the hell out of each other.
At this point, Luther no longer cared whether approaching would scare Whimsicott's group away. He rushed over and had Espurr try to separate the two.
Espurr grabbed hold of Jumpluff, who was still muttering angrily under her breath and looked fully prepared to shove Espurr aside and charge right back in.
Petilil, Cherubi, and Budew stood in front of Whimsicott, doing their best to calm her down.
The fighting finally stopped.
The arguing did not.
Jumpluff's mouth never stopped moving. Even while Espurr held her back, she rattled off insults at machine-gun speed.
Just because they weren't fighting anymore didn't mean she couldn't keep trash-talking.
Whimsicott occasionally fired back, but once she realized she couldn't match Jumpluff in either speed or vocabulary, she settled for glaring at her with murderous intensity.
Luther put a hand on Jumpluff's head.
"Enough."
Feeling the warmth of his palm, Jumpluff finally stopped her tirade.
"Hmph."
She turned away, refusing to even look at Whimsicott.
Ironically, the fight had given Luther the perfect excuse to walk right into the middle of Whimsicott's group.
The atmosphere, however, was now painfully awkward.
"So... why exactly did you two start fighting?" Luther asked.
Jumpluff immediately launched into an angry explanation.
Luther nodded along repeatedly.
He didn't understand every detail, but nodding seemed like the safest response.
At times like this, he really wished Team Rocket's Meowth were around.
Once he started traveling around and communicating with more Pokémon, having someone who could translate directly would save an incredible amount of time.
Still, based on how well Luther knew Jumpluff, he managed to piece together what had happened.
Jumpluff had told Whimsicott that Luther was the owner of the island, and that he had already decided to cut down some of the trees in this area and build several large houses here. They had come today to see what Pokémon were currently living nearby.
She had also conveyed Luther's request that Whimsicott and the others temporarily move away from this part of the island.
Up to that point, the conversation had been perfectly normal.
Throughout the long development of human civilization, humans had inevitably come into contact with Pokémon habitats. As human settlements expanded and their needs increased, friction with wild Pokémon was unavoidable.
Fortunately, the world was vast, and the territory occupied by Pokémon was far larger than the areas actively used by humans. Because of that, such conflicts tended to be concentrated around the borders between human society and the wilderness.
Whimsicott and her group lived fairly close to human territory, so naturally they understood this.
Now that the island had a human owner, it was inevitable that the area available to them would shrink somewhat.
Whimsicott had only asked one question.
Would they still be allowed to come back and gather Berries from the fruit trees around here?
After all, if they moved farther away, there was no guarantee they would find enough Berry trees to support everyone.
Jumpluff's answer had been:
"They'll probably all get cut down. My Trainer said they're going to build lots of big houses on this island. What, with this many Pokémon, you still can't find something to eat?"
Whimsicott's anger made absolutely no sense to Jumpluff.
What was wrong with what she'd said?
Darkrai, hiding in Luther's shadow, and Espurr on top of his head both understood Whimsicott's reaction perfectly.
Wild Pokémon might have far more freedom than Pokémon raised by humans, but that freedom came with plenty of survival challenges.
Finding food and securing a stable territory was never easy.
From Luther and Darkrai's observations, this area was beautiful, but surprisingly few Pokémon actually lived here. After all this time, Whimsicott's group was the only one they'd encountered.
There were plenty of trees, but comparatively few Berry trees.
Without Berries, most Grass-type Pokémon could only absorb sap and nutrients from plants to replenish their energy. That was enough to survive, but often not enough to accumulate the energy required for Evolution.
Pokémon that wanted to grow stronger naturally gravitated toward areas rich in food.
That was also why fully evolved Pokémon were relatively uncommon in the wild. Not every Pokémon could gather enough energy to complete every stage of Evolution.
Whimsicott wasn't particularly ambitious, and she wasn't especially strong either. The only reason she could live here comfortably was because this area occupied an unusual sweet spot.
Strong Pokémon weren't interested in it.
Weaker Pokémon didn't want to come here.
And the weakest Pokémon could survive just fine by eating leaves and drinking tree sap, so they had no need to gather together in groups.
Jumpluff, on the other hand, had been raised by humans since birth.
She simply couldn't put herself in Whimsicott's position or understand just how important a cluster of Berry trees could be to wild Pokémon.
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395