Chapter 318:
Soon, a simple shed and a police station under construction appeared near the town exit, close to the road.
Officer Jenny sat inside.
Occasionally, she would patrol the town with a majestic Arcanine.
Hayashi Kaede also found time to visit once.
He suddenly noticed that there seemed to be some unfamiliar faces among the town's residents?
New foundations were being dug around the area?
There was even a small western-style house already under construction.
Some old, long-uninhabited buildings were also being gradually demolished for reconstruction.
It wasn't until Hayashi Kaede asked the town mayor that he learned many residents had recently returned for the New Year, and there were also people moving in. They planned to build houses on both sides of the newly repaired road.
The land on both sides of that road was originally abandoned farmland.
Now it was just right for building houses.
"Aogiri Town is getting better and better," Hayashi Kaede couldn't help but sigh.
With increasing population flow, Officer Jenny had arrived, the roads were repaired, and he even saw a restaurant under construction.
This perfectly addressed the common complaint—"Aogiri City is a bit far from here. If we come, we can only choose to come after mealtime, or bring a packed lunch, otherwise we have to go home."
"Now we will only be missing a Gym and a Pokémon Center."
Hayashi Kaede couldn't help but think.
Unfortunately, the best Gym Leader had gone off training, so that just left the Pokémon Center.
If Aogiri Town had a proper Pokémon Center, all traveling Trainers could learn through their Pokédex or phone that there was a free place to rest in Aogiri Town.
"No hurry, no hurry."
Hayashi Kaede wasn't anxious.
Today was already December 6th; the holiday he had in mind was getting closer.
Mew had set off on its journey again last night with a new storage capsule.
The next time it returned, it might not come back alone; it might bring Latias along?
He couldn't help but look forward to it.
Would that Latias get its brother's permission to cross the sea and come here?
Outside, the cold wind was biting, but inside the villa, the heater made it warm and cozy.
Hayashi Kaede sat on the sofa with most of his Pokémon, leisurely sipping World Tree Tea.
This weather was perfect for staying indoors and drinking tea.
It would be even better if it snowed a little.
The living room on the first floor had floor-to-ceiling windows. If it snowed, everything outside would be white. If Alolan Ninetales left footprints in the snow, it would probably look beautiful.
"Sprigatito..."
Sprigatito, also sleeping near the heater, suddenly felt something within. It stood up, sensing the stirring energy inside, and froze.
Then, a dazzling white light enveloped it.
Hayashi Kaede's eyelids twitched, then he showed a delighted expression.
Sprigatito was evolving!
Thinking about it, Sprigatito really should be evolving. It was born on October 27th.
Without the help of Rare Candies, it evolved in about a month!
The white light shone on Sprigatito, its body stretching until it took on a humanoid form.
When the light faded, the once small turquoise cat had become a Floragato, about 1m tall, with a dark green mask-like marking on its face and red flowers on its shoulders.
"Floragato?"
As the light disappeared, Floragato looked blankly at Hayashi Kaede. The sudden change made it look down at itself.
But after one look, its eyes widened dramatically.
"Floragato?"
Who is this ugly thing?
Before Hayashi Kaede and the others could react, it quickly ran to the bathroom, climbed onto a stool, and saw its complete current form in the mirror.
Its previously large, round eyes were gone, replaced by somewhat narrow ones. There were strangely shaped dark green fur around its mouth and on its belly.
There were strangely colored flowers on its mouth.
It had a... childish feel to it, like watching Vulpix.
"Floragato?"
"Floragato.." (So ugly....)
The newly evolved Floragato felt no happiness, only a faint sadness.
"Floragato..."
The mournful sound soon drew Hayashi Kaede over. "What's wrong, what's wrong?"
(.﹏.*): "Floragato..." (So ugly...)
Hayashi Kaede: ???
He was stunned, looking at Floragato, whose eyes were almost tearing up, completely baffled.
Floragato was about to cry because it thought it was ugly?
Although, but...
In Hayashi Kaede's impression, evolved Floragato should look cool,
But paired with this tearful expression, it did feel a bit... ugly.
"Pfft..."
Hayashi Kaede pursed his lips, unable to hold back a laugh.
But this laugh made the already sad Floragato even more heartbroken, almost to the point of despair.
Tears were already falling as it ran out of the bathroom towards the second floor.
As soon as he laughed, Hayashi Kaede realized his laughter was somewhat impolite.
Now, seeing Floragato running upstairs, he quickly suppressed his smile and chased after it.
After running into the room, he found Floragato hiding in its cabinet bed.
When it saw him come in, it specifically buried its face.
'So ugly, so ugly,'
It didn't want Hayashi Kaede to see it like this.
"Floragato?"
Hayashi Kaede crouched in front of its cabinet, gently stroking its exposed head.
"Floragato.."
Floragato curled up inside, not wanting to speak at all.
"Floragato, it's okay. If you don't want to stay in this stage, let's get through this stage quickly, alright?"
He didn't use comforting words like "you look good now" or similar tactics.
Because it didn't like its current appearance itself. Even if he said it looked good, Floragato would still feel uncomfortable.
If Sprigatito had said before that it didn't want to evolve into an ugly Floragato, Hayashi Kaede would have prepared an Everstone beforehand.
But now it had already evolved and couldn't devolve. The best way was to help Floragato quickly pass through this stage and become Meowscarada.
Since the problem had appeared, thinking about how to escape it would leave the problem itself unresolved.
But if you think about how to solve it, maybe it will disappear quickly.
"Floragato?"
Floragato peeked out, its mask-like face showing some confusion. "Floragato?"
Hayashi Kaede took out his phone and searched for an image of Meowscarada. "Yes, this is what you'll look like after evolving again."