The Litleo looked confused.
While the boy holding it had a look of surprise on his face.
Eh?
Litleo's injuries have healed?!
The boy looked up at the man driving, his face full of disbelief.
Only then did he notice the group of Pokemon in the man's car.
At this moment, a large group of Eevee were crowded behind the car window and beside the man, peeking at him.
And in the back of this pickup truck, there were also two big Pokemon sitting there, one of which he recognized—it was a Cyclizar, a transportation Pokemon from the Paldea Region.
They seemed too big to fit in the driver's seat, so they were placed in the back.
"You're welcome." The man's voice snapped the bewildered boy back to his senses.
Naoki smiled at the Litleo and casually asked, "Is it your Pokemon?"
The boy finally came back to himself, hurriedly shaking his head, "No, it isn't! I just encountered it in the wild. It was attacked by a Scovillain, and I helped to rescue it."
"I see." Naoki nodded.
He looked at Litleo, who also realized that this human had saved it, and it gratefully licked the boy's cheek with its tongue.
"Looks like it likes you very much!" Naoki said with a smile.
Seeing Litleo was fine, the boy was in a good mood too. He reached out, petting Litleo's head.
Watching the harmonious interaction between the boy and the Pokemon, Naoki's lips curled up, thinking to himself that there were indeed many kids like Ash in the Pokemon World.
Without saying a word, he stepped on the gas, ready to move forward.
As the car started, the boy realized he hadn't thanked the gentleman.
He ran behind the car with Litleo, shouting, "Hey, wait a minute!"
However, the man's voice came from the front.
"No need for thanks, just take good care of yourself and Litleo!"
With these words, the car drove off completely.
Leaving the boy and Litleo standing by the road in a daze.
After a while, the boy withdrew his gaze.
He looked down at Litleo beside him, happily saying, "Alright, your body is fine now, you can go back!"
But Litleo was unwilling to leave.
Because it remembered how the boy anxiously rescued it from Scovillain, bringing it to seek help.
Litleo looked up at the boy and gave a growl.
"Ah-woo!"
The boy blinked in surprise.
Then Litleo jumped up, using its paw to pull a red and white ball from the boy's waist.
The red and white ball fell to the ground, and Litleo looked down at the Poke Ball, then back at the boy.
"Ah-woo!"
Seeing this, an incredible thought popped into the boy's mind.
He pointed at himself, asking incredulously, "You want to leave here with me?"
Litleo nodded affirmatively, "Ah-woo!"
The boy paused, seemingly understanding Litleo's intention, and his eyes lit up. He used the Poke Ball to capture Litleo.
The Poke Ball gently rocked twice and then fell silent.
This meant success in capturing Litleo.
"Litleo, please take care of me from now on!"
*
After helping the young trainer, Naoki was in a great mood.
He hummed a little tune while driving leisurely on the country road leading to Porto Marinada Town.
Just then, the Rotom Phone he had in his pocket suddenly rang.
Naoki drove with one hand, retrieving the phone with the other, only to find that it was an incoming video call from the Heroic Expedition Team.
"Huh?" Have Teddiursa and the others called back?
He pressed to connect, and the next moment, the faces of Teddiursa and Mew appeared on the screen.
"Yippee yippee!"
"Miu～"
As soon as the call connected, Naoki heard some Pokemon cries from the other end.
Before he could speak, the intents of the two Pokemon were translated and read out by Phone Rotom.
Teddiursa: "Naoki, more new companions are going to live at the World Tree!"
Mew: "That's right, a lot of new companions are joining this time!"
"Hmm?" Listening to this, Naoki became interested: "What Pokemon are they?"
Not only him but several Eevee next to him also craned their fluffy heads over.
Teddiursa: "It's Mewtwo!"
Mew: "And Charizard, Golduck, Wigglytuff, Venusaur, Pikachu, Meowth and the others!"
"Pff!" Naoki almost spit out a mouthful of water, asking incredulously, "What did you say?"
Teddiursa repeated itself.
"Mewtwo and Pikachu and the others are coming to live at the World Tree with us!"
Then, Naoki saw the camera on the other end of the screen move to another direction.
There, a human-like Pokemon with a long tail looked calmly at the Rotom Phone.
...Mewtwo!
And behind Mewtwo stood a large group of ordinary Pokemon.
Pikachu, Meowth, Charizard...
Those Pokemon bore distinct dark patterns, which Naoki immediately recognized as markings.
They were the marks of the Cloned Pokemon!
Naoki's mind flashed with the plot from the movie "Mewtwo Strikes Back."
If he remembered correctly, that Pikachu was the clone of Ash's Pikachu.
And that Meowth was the clone of the talking Meowth from Team Rocket's trio.
Wait a minute! Wasn't Teddiursa and Mew traveling in the Hoenn Region? How did they encounter Mewtwo there?