"Rotom!!!!!"
Rotom cheered, then dove headfirst into the electrical circuit interface nearby.
The next instant, it felt a force extracting electrical current from its body, and slowly lost consciousness.
"—I was clearly preparing to put batteries in." A blue-skinned man, wrapped in a heavy robe, slowly advanced through the tunnel in silence: "What a hassle—"
Saying this, he opened the electrical box nearby and took out the unconscious Rotom from inside.
"But it counts as passing, I suppose." Thinking this, the man took out a slip of paper from his pocket, then brought this Rotom along with it to the farm.
The Pokémon by the fireplace hadn't woken up yet, so the man placed the paper on the table, then put the Rotom on top of the paper, and turned to leave the farm.
A Rattata lying asleep by the fireplace suddenly began kicking its paws wildly, as if having some nightmare, thrashing all four paws in place.
"Indeedee?" Indeedee rubbed its eyes and crawled out from under the blanket.
Looking at the blanket on itself, Indeedee paused, then looked at that thrashing Rattata.
"Indee?"
Are you okay?
Indeedee carefully shook it awake.
This Rattata opened its eyes in terror.
"Ratta ratta ratta ratta—"
Just now! It was clearly still in a dream, using the money it had finally saved up to order a bunch of food from Gus and eat heartily. Then it dreamed that the food suddenly turned into blue giants, chasing it all around Pelican Town.
"Indeedee?"
Indeedee comforted this Rattata while sniffing the surroundings.
This Rattata was the most timid among the Rattata group, and correspondingly the most sensitive, always able to detect danger at the first moment.
And—when they fell asleep, they didn't have blankets on them, and there was also a strange smell in the house. Very faint, but because it was somewhat special, it could be easily distinguished.
"Indee—"
Could someone have come by just now?
Just as Indeedee was thinking this, the Rotom on the table slowly climbed up from the table.
It then let out a terrified "zzt" and slumped down beside that slip of paper.
This sound startled Indeedee, and also scared the Rattata it had just comforted into running wildly around the room.
Indeedee used Psychic to control this Rattata to prevent it from startling the other Rattata and causing some chain reaction, while walking to the table.
It then saw that Rotom, which should have been in its Poké Ball with a head full of bad ideas, now sitting dazed on the table.
Its thoughts were also terrifyingly simple: So scary so scary so scary so scary—
"—? Indeedee?" Indeedee called out hesitantly, and this Rotom suddenly flew up from the table, then without looking back, drilled back into its Poké Ball.
"?"
Indeedee paused and saw the slip of paper on the table.
It couldn't clearly see the words on it, but from Rotom's behavior, Indeedee highly suspected that thing was some ancient curse, or perhaps the legendary death prophecy broadcast on TV?
Indeedee couldn't help but take a deep breath and carefully approached that slip of paper.
Reason told it it would be best to wait for Ron to come back before looking—this kind of matter shouldn't be borne by a single Pokémon.
But because Ron had entrusted most of the farm's affairs to it before leaving, it felt it should bear corresponding responsibility.
Thinking this, Indeedee carefully walked to the table.
"Indeedee—indee."
Don't be afraid! Indeedee, you can do it!
After taking another deep breath, Indeedee picked up the slip of paper.
"Indeedee?"
Place a rainbow shell in the box at the train station platform.
"Indee???"
Indeedee sat by the fireplace holding the slip of paper with a face full of question marks, put the Rattata still thrashing in mid-air back in its arms, and petted the Rattata's head with a distracted expression.
This Rotom—does it have something wrong with its brain?
Meanwhile, in Kalos, at the Lumiose Gym.
Clembot looked around vigilantly, confirmed there was nothing around, then slowly connected to the power source.
"What's wrong, Clembot?" An assistant passing by couldn't help but laugh. "Did you forget? That Rotom has already been sent to the breeding institution."
"Ah—right." Clembot let out a long sigh of relief, sat properly in the corner, and began charging with a relieved expression.
"Really—" The assistant shook his head with a smile, looking at Clemont nearby.
"Even the robot was tortured like this. Won't the Rotom be returned after some time?"
"—Please don't say such terrifying things, okay?" Clemont said with a solemn expression.
With Rotom gone, the entire Lumiose Gym was filled with a joyful atmosphere.
Although they didn't know how long such peaceful days could last, one day at a time.
Thinking this, Clemont prayed for Ron a few times in his heart, then happily welcomed the next challenger.
"What's wrong? Caught a cold?" Haley looked at Ron with concern.
Ron shook his head. "Not sure. I feel like someone is talking about me."
"There's no such saying." Haley laughed and patted Ron's shoulder: "Ah, but in Pelican Town, there's a saying that sneezing means your soul is being targeted by the devil. But it's fine, Yoba will protect you."
"Yoba?" Meowth repeated, turning to look at Jessie and James.
"Could it be some rare Pokémon?" Jessie asked in a low voice.
"Maybe—perhaps it's because of that Pokémon that that place is so magical," James answered.
This kind of thing wasn't uncommon. Some regions were protected by quite powerful legendary Pokémon, leading to miraculous events that never happened elsewhere.
Some could even bring people back from the dead.
Thinking this, Jessie's eyes began to sparkle.
"But Meowth thinks it's better not to do this," Meowth said, raising its head.
"Why?" Jessie lowered her head.
"Don't you think they're all very good people, meow?" Meowth said in a lowered voice: "The food they give us is that specialty from Lumiose that's super super expensive, meow."
These past few days, Ron had covered their meals. It was only today at the Pokémon Center entrance that Meowth learned from other Pokémon that the things Ron had been treating them to these past few days were things that required waiting in line for a very very long time and spending a lot lot of money to buy in Lumiose City.
"Really?" Jessie gasped: "Those things that cost half a month's wages to afford?"
"Yes, meow."
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