The last day of summer.
Penny watched the three kids who were already celebrating the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies early, and smiled along with them.
"Do you dare to take on the Seafoam Pudding challenge tomorrow!" Vincent asked mysteriously.
"Seafoam Pudding?" Leo didn't quite understand, but it sounded pretty delicious.
"That's right. Tomorrow, Pierre will set up a special stall to sell that stuff. It's used to punish those unfortunate fools who forget the lessons of the past year, get carried away by the festive atmosphere, and challenge their bizarre appetites."
Seeing Vincent's mysterious expression, Leo couldn't help but feel curious.
"It's that thing Willy always holds in his hand," Jas reminded him, just before Leo could impulsively agree.
He didn't know what Seafoam Pudding was, but mentioning the stuff in Willy's hand, he remembered that cup of glowing, strange, unnamed solid.
"I don't dare."
He answered crisply and cleanly.
Vincent didn't expect Leo to be completely immune to provocation. If their roles were reversed, Vincent probably would have agreed the moment Leo spoke.
So, he pouted.
"Clefable~" Clefable called out from the side.
It liked the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies. According to Clefable's habits, they would dance under the moonlight on full moon nights. Although it was the only Clefable here, being on the beach with everyone made up for it. You could say it prevented its underlying code from running idle.
Penny rested her head against Clefable's belly.
Clefable's soft belly gave off a faint scent unique to its fur, mixed with a hint of fresh grass and a slightly crisp aroma. Right now, the belly rose and fell with its breathing, giving Penny an inexplicable sense of calm.
Penny watched the kids playfully roughhousing, her thoughts drifting to the festival tomorrow.
When Penny was very young, because Pam was always hungover, she would mingle in the crowd. Sometimes she would bump into Pierre and Caroline. After they sold out of Seafoam Pudding, the two of them would sit by the pier, watching Abigail play and roughhouse nearby, and then they would look at each other and smile.
The moonlight shone down, spilling over the sparkling sea water and the bobbing Moonlight Jellies, ultimately passing through that happy little family.
Back then, Penny always thought that when she had a family of her own one day, she wanted it to be just like that.
"Fable?"
"It's nothing," Penny turned her face and buried it in Clefable's embrace. "Nothing at all."
"Clefable?"
"I'm just glad I have you," she added.
"Fable!"
***
Meanwhile, in the Sinnoh region.
By the time the plane arrived at its destination, it was already evening.
A lot of people had gathered in this city due to the mass appearance of Beldum. As soon as they got off the plane, the Wizard and Indeedee saw many trainers holding Poké Balls, ready for action.
The city government had even promptly cleared the way for this Beldum craze, dispatching personnel specifically to guide everyone to where the Beldum were gathering.
Just a short distance away at the gate, an Officer Jenny in a police uniform was holding a sign high: Beldum Gathering—This Way.
"I thought it would be hard to find—" The Wizard silently followed the crowd toward that direction.
'I guess this is the benefit of highly developed information,' the Wizard thought, glancing at Indeedee beside him, who also had an eager, ready-for-action expression.
"It looks like we might just make it back for the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies if we catch it today," the Wizard added.
"Indee!"
Indeedee's eyes immediately lit up.
Even though she had looked like a runaway leaving home when they set off, she was still a kid at heart.
The Wizard thought, clutching the Poké Ball in his hand as he shuffled along with the tide of people.
"Hey mister, are you here to catch Beldum too?" a trainer nearby stepped up and struck up a conversation with the Wizard.
It wasn't because of the Wizard's strange clothes that he caught the trainer's attention. There were very few people dressed normally here anyway. Basically, there was freedom of dress; if you wanted to, coming in a Pikachu onesie would be perfectly fine.
"Yeah," the Wizard nodded.
So, the trainer probed, "How many badges do you have now?"
"Badges?" The Wizard paused. It took him a moment to remember what that was, so he shook his head. "I don't have any."
"?"
The trainer froze for a second, then visibly let out a sigh of relief. He patted the Wizard on the shoulder and said, "That's alright, it's all about participating! Who knows, maybe if you throw a Poké Ball into the Beldum swarm, you might accidentally catch one by luck."
That was what he said, but the trainer's expression didn't look like he was sincerely comforting or blessing the Wizard. He looked like a man who was just glad to have one less competitor, his face full of absolute determination to catch a Beldum.
One must guard against pride and rashness in all things.
At this thought, to be safe, he continued to confirm with the Wizard, "Is the Pokémon you brought this Indeedee?"
"No," the Wizard shook his head.
'As I thought, he's underestimating his opponent.'
The trainer looked at Indeedee, then back at the Wizard, his face full of curiosity.
"She belongs to someone else, she's just with me temporarily," the Wizard added. "My Pokémon is a—uh."
The Wizard pulled out his Pokédex, checked it for a moment, and under the trainer's expectant gaze, said, "A Metapod."
He had seen people sigh in relief before, but never one this obvious.
The trainer just assumed the Wizard was here to join the fun, so he heartily patted the Wizard's shoulder again. "Don't worry, it's all about participating!"
Speaking of which, it was about time for him to show off his sense of superiority, but since the Wizard didn't ask, he felt a bit stifled, unable to bring it up.
'Don't you know about reciprocity? This is the part where you're supposed to ask me what I brought!'
The trainer complained internally while trying to figure out how to steer the topic in that direction.
Of course, he couldn't just abruptly blurt out that he brought a Charizard. In front of a starving man, chewing quietly is a form of politeness.
Therefore, he couldn't actively flaunt his superiority. The essence of the flex was to casually, seemingly absentmindedly, drop the name of his Pokémon, and then, in front of this middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties but still only had a Metapod, put on a face of pity and sincerity to tell him that a Metapod still had great potential.
The trick was to show off with an absolutely unbothered, casual air, so as to avoid revealing the ugly, "let them eat cake" kind of arrogance.
"..."
Using Indeedee's empathy, the Wizard had pretty much figured out the trainer's psychological state by now.
Having not socialized with anyone for a long time, the Wizard had almost completely forgotten the nuances of social interactions.
But since he was already on the edge of socializing anyway, the Wizard paused and asked, "What about you, what Pokémon did you bring?"
The trainer, who had been desperately trying to steer the conversation, froze for a second. He then pressed down the wildly upturning corners of his mouth, putting on an utterly ordinary, casual expression, and said in a steady tone, "Oh, nothing much, just a Charizard— that's all."
At the very end, he couldn't control it, and his voice cracked.
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