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Joy still had no idea why a Sobble, a Pokémon with such notoriously strict environmental needs, had ended up in a place like this.
But one thing she was absolutely certain of.
She would never throw him back into Molten Season Forest, a place fundamentally unfit for a Water-type Pokémon to survive.
The Joy family's long-inherited compassion and love for all Pokémon would never allow her to choose from that.
Not when it could leave a Pokémon trapped for the rest of its life in confusion and stagnation, with no way out.
So that option had been ruled out from the very beginning.
As for the second possibility, Joy's first thought had been to send the Sobble to a nearby professional nursery.
With trained breeders there to care for him, he would almost certainly be able to grow up safely.
But later, Joy realized there was a serious flaw in that plan.
Mercury Town was not one of those major cities deep in the central mainland. It was just a remote little town.
It might have all the standard facilities on paper, but in many ways, it still fell far behind the infrastructure available in those larger cities.
And the local nursery was a perfect example.
The nursery in Mercury Town did have a professional breeder assigned by the League Breeders' Association, but because of the town's limited planning and space, its overall scale was far smaller than the nurseries found in major cities.
As far as Joy knew, when it came to Water-type Pokémon, the place had little more than a modest pool.
Other than the elemental environment being somewhat better, it was not even necessarily superior to the lake inside Molten Season Forest.
That kind of setup was fine for raising ordinary Water-types.
But for a Pokémon like Sobble, whose environmental demands were far higher, it was nowhere near enough.
That was what had Joy so troubled.
Should she just accept the compromise and place him in the nursery anyway?
Or should she follow her conscience and find another path for him?
She had been wrestling with that question since yesterday.
It was only now, after someone asked what was wrong, that she finally voiced it out loud.
"That's easy."
Ashu spread his hands, sounding almost surprised that someone as capable as Joy had gotten stuck on something that seemed so simple to him.
"Huh?"
"You have a solution?"
"Of course I do."
"You're overthinking this. If our town doesn't have the right place to raise a Sobble, then send him somewhere outside town. Send him somewhere with enough space and enough resources to raise him properly."
"With Lanlian's status as the Water-type Elite Four member, plus a little help from your Joy family connections, if all you want is foster care and proper training, where couldn't you send him?"
"That's true."
Joy lifted a hand and lightly tapped her forehead, looking like she had suddenly been woken up.
Such a simple idea.
How had she not thought of it herself?
She had been trapped by her own location and her own assumptions, boxed in by habitual thinking, and had only sunk deeper into frustration the more she obsessed over it. If Ashu had not reminded her, she genuinely did not know what she would have done.
Giving him a grateful nod, Joy hugged the medical chart to her chest and hurried off toward the communications room inside the Pokémon Center.
As a member of the Joy family, one of the largest and most connected families in the League, her network ran incredibly wide. From high-ranking League officials down to the owner of the local shop next door, she had solid relationships everywhere.
And now that her thinking had broadened, Joy naturally had a new plan in mind.
Mercury Town.
The Chinchou Tavern.
As the only tavern in town, the Chinchou Tavern did excellent business. Even on a bright morning, it was never unusual to see drifters or regular drinkers wander in for a glass.
And now that players had started flooding into the game, that lively atmosphere had only become even more intense.
It was barely a little after three in the afternoon. The sky had not even begun to dim toward evening yet, but the inside of the tavern was already loud with voices.
At the center of the room, a band hired at considerable expense by the owner was fully absorbed in its performance.
Light piano notes blended with the long, elegant pull of violins, while the soft voice of the harp and the lilting rise of a flute came together in a beautiful symphony that seemed to celebrate life itself.
Centered around the stage, rows of tables were laid out in neat order, packed closely together without ever feeling cramped.
In a quiet corner toward the southeast side of the tavern, two figures sat together.
Wendy curiously lifted the delicate glass resting on the table in front of her.
She gave it a small swirl.
The deep red wine inside rippled gently, gleaming enticingly beneath the tavern's dim lights.
Because of federal law, she had never actually tried real alcohol before, the kind of drink people said could make your head spin.
But now, even if this was only inside a game, it still felt like a good chance to step into unfamiliar territory.
Over the past few days, after first entering the game, she had already confirmed that immersive neural virtual technology could reproduce the taste of food with near-perfect accuracy.
So Wendy did not doubt that the Xiath red wine in front of her would taste exactly as it should.
With quiet anticipation, she brought the glass to her lips and took a small sip.
In an instant, a rich burst of fruit fragrance mixed with the scent of unfamiliar blossoms filled her mouth.
It felt as though she had stepped into a sunlit orchard in spring, where flowers bloomed across the ground beneath branches heavy with ripe fruit, beautiful enough to make anyone lose themselves in it.
The silky wine slid softly down her throat, leaving behind a deep sweet-tart aroma lingering between her lips and teeth.
Wendy could not help narrowing her eyes in enjoyment.
"Ahem."
Just as she was about to sink a little deeper into the pleasant haze of it, an obviously deliberate cough sounded from beside her.
Slightly embarrassed, she hurriedly lowered the glass, a faint flush touching her cheeks.
Sitting beside Wendy was none other than Gerald, the one who had entered Molten Season Forest with her earlier in search of Sobble.
The reason the two of them had come to the Chinchou Tavern had nothing to do with romance or anything dramatic like that.
They were here because they genuinely had business to discuss.
Earlier, under the attack of the powerful wild Pokémon Skarmory, Wendy and Gerald, who had been tracking Sobble, had been wiped out along with their partner Pokémon and turned into streams of system data, which sent them back to their starting point in Mercury Town.
Even though the capture mission had failed, they had not come back empty-handed.
They had confirmed Sobble's existence for the guild.
And more importantly, they had confirmed how extraordinary its talent was.
That alone was enough.
A high-potential, high-quality Pokémon that had only just been born was more than enough reason for the guild to invest major manpower and resources into capturing and raising it, all so they could open a decisive gap between themselves and rival guilds in the early days of the game.
Creeeak.
The tavern's wooden door was suddenly shoved open from outside with a harsh scraping sound.
Under the blaze of sunlight spilling in, several figures appeared in the doorway, carrying with them an unmistakable sense of purpose.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!