"Lopuu!!"
Lopunny sprang over to Shiko's side in a single bound.
Seeing how close Shiko was with Ralts, a trace of anger surfaced on her face.
No wonder she was mad.
The Revival Herb Shiko had used to treat Ralts was the one Lopunny had given him back then.
Shiko using the Revival Herb to save Ralts—Lopunny didn't really mind that.
But—
Ralts snuggling intimately in Shiko's arms?
That, she cared about a lot!
What Lopunny felt right now was like catching a mistress being affectionate with her own husband—
and the mistress was wearing her clothes, too!
Unforgivable!
Sparks were practically about to shoot out of Lopunny's eyes!
"Lopuu!"
She immediately planted herself next to Shiko, hooked onto one of his arms, and glared hard at Ralts, boldly declaring her "territory"!
"Ralts!"
Ralts refused to back down.
She rubbed her head even closer to Shiko's chest and stared right back at Lopunny.
The two Pokémon's gazes collided.
It felt like the air itself was about to crackle with electricity.
Not far away, Himeko saw this and her expression grew complicated.
How could she not tell what was going on?
Good grief—
a clichéd drama where two girls fight over one guy!
Tch!
This Shiko guy—
his charm was seriously off the charts!
He already had Lopunny as a little fangirl,
and now he'd even won Ralts's heart!
No need to think about it.
This guy definitely counted as a handsome catch in the Pokémon world!
But…
why did she feel a little sour inside?
Was she jealous?
No!
How could that be!
How could she possibly be jealous!
Right—this was envy!
Envy that Shiko could earn the affection of both Lopunny and Ralts!
Himeko's thoughts were a mess,
and her cheeks heated up despite herself.
The excuse she'd just found for herself didn't seem like it could fool even her own heart.
"Alright, alright! Let's all calm down!"
As the tension kept rising, Shiko could only hurry up and play peacemaker.
He set Ralts down from his arms,
and also pulled his arm free
from Lopunny's hold.
"Let's get out of here first. Team Dark might still have more people coming."
Himeko walked up at that moment and spoke.
Shiko nodded.
No one knew
whether Team Dark had reinforcements on the way.
After such a major fight,
he was already running out of strength.
It was better to leave this trouble spot as soon as possible.
"What about them?" Shiko asked via telepathy.
"Leave them to the City Defense Forces!"
"The Alliance cracks down hard on people from these evil organizations!"
"Just these few, alive, should be enough to help us trade for a bounty of at least a few hundred thousand!"
Himeko glanced at the Team Dark members who'd been tied up like rice dumplings and gave a sly grin.
Shiko nodded.
Handling it this way was fine.
It was basically maximizing "waste utilization."
Himeko reinforced the ropes on Team Dark's people again,
then tossed them into an extremely hidden spot.
This was to prevent them from being rescued before the City Defense Forces arrived,
in case Team Dark's backup came looking.
So she had to hide them—
in a place only Himeko herself knew.
After taking care of that,
Himeko packed everything up
and left the forest with three Pokémon.
Watching Shiko walking ahead—
one hand holding Lopunny, the other holding Ralts—
and then looking at herself lugging a huge bag behind them,
Himeko suddenly felt like a maid escorting a young master on an outing.
Where was her dignity as a Trainer?
Damn it!
She was a dignified Champion-level Trainer!
After being reborn, she'd actually ended up like this!
Wasn't that just miserable?
She grumbled like that in her head,
but in her eyes,
a strong joy was flickering.
Her gaze
was tightly fixed on Ralts beside Shiko.
A flash of blue light passed.
In front of her eyes,
Ralts's information appeared.
The smile on her face grew even brighter.
(End of Chapter)
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[[email protected]/Zukooo]
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