"Huh?" Jas was taken aback for a moment, then cheered: "Wow!!! It's Sailor!!"
"Rattata!"
Jas trotted to the door and pulled it open, only to see the Fairy Rose Sailor was holding out to her, and Shane standing by the door.
"Is the farm work already done?" Jas took the Fairy Rose, picked up Sailor, and asked.
"Yeah, Jessie and James said they'd help me do today's chores," Shane said, pulling five Poké Balls from his pocket. "Sailor said it'd accompany us for a stroll in the mountains and help catch a Pokémon while we're at it."
Jas looked at Sailor excitedly: "Really?"
"Rattata!" Sailor patted its chest and said, "Rattata!"
"Yay!" Jas immediately cheered. She spun around a few times holding Sailor, then set it down. "Are we leaving right now?!"
"Wait a sec." Shane said, going inside to grab the backpack he had prepared early this morning. Inside were some quick snacks for a picnic, a picnic mat, and some potions and first-aid items.
"I want to carry a bag too!" Before Jas even finished speaking, Shane handed her a small bag.
"There's some candy inside, plus a doll."
The doll was something Shane had traded from the Desert Trader during the Desert Festival.
In town, aside from Jas, probably only Gunther and Penny would like this kind of thing.
"A doll?" Jas took the doll out of the backpack and examined it in her hands. "What a weird doll... but I love it!"
Saying this, Jas let out a cheer. She then stuffed the doll back into her backpack.
Sailor was standing on the ground at this moment. It looked up and saw the doll that was about to be stuffed into the backpack suddenly twist its head around and look right at it.
"Rattata?" Sailor froze, then rubbed its bloodshot eyes with its paw: "Rattata?"
Were its eyes playing tricks on it just now?
Sailor thought, standing on its hind legs and tiptoeing to tug at Jas's backpack.
"Do you want some candy?" Jas turned her head to look at Sailor, pulling out a piece of candy and handing it to Sailor's paw.
"Rattata... Rattata." (Not exactly... but...)
Even though that wasn't it... but...
Sailor thought about it and accepted Jas's gift with a clear conscience.
In return for Sailor's gift, Jas also solemnly pinned the Fairy Rose onto her backpack, then joyfully held Shane's hand and followed behind Sailor, heading toward the back mountain.
Meanwhile, today was Thursday, so there were no classes. As usual around this time every day, Leo and Linus would wander around the back mountain together.
On one hand, they could help any wild Pokémon that had accidents, and pick up the trash scattered around Pelican Town; on the other hand, they could also gather some ingredients to use as food for the time being.
With this in mind, Linus and Leo entered the mountains, one after the other.
Having been in Pelican Town for a while now, Leo had also gained some understanding of these magical creatures. He casually picked up a piece of trash from the ground and fed it to the Trubbish beside him, then turned his head and asked: "Can we lend Trubbish to Jas and the others for a bit?"
"What?" Linus was stunned.
Among the kids taking classes with Penny right now, Jas was the only one left who didn't have a Pokémon at home.
Although Leo didn't have one either, since Linus was considered his guardian in Pelican Town, Linus's Trubbish was essentially his family's Trubbish.
——
"I just want to lend Trubbish to Jas and them, um, to help her catch a Pokémon in town," Leo said, scratching his head a little embarrassedly. "She always looks so envious every time."
"Trub?" Trubbish chewed the trash in its mouth over and over, then lifted its head: "Trubbish!"
"Are you willing?"
"Trubb~"
"If we let Trubbish go..." Linus confirmed, "Will they mind it?"
Besides, Trubbish had almost no combat ability; to be precise, it had basically never battled. Following Linus's side, its main job was digesting the trash when Linus went through dumpsters or foraged in the wild.
"Probably not," Leo thought for a moment and said. "I feel like Jas isn't the kind of person who would mind it."
"——Alright then." Linus agreed.
"Trubbish!"
The two collected berries from the bushes while keeping an eye on their surroundings.
"This is the place." Shane looked at the sign that read "No Entry Without Pokémon," took a deep breath, and tightly held Jas's hand as they walked up the mountain path.
As a jungle jointly maintained by the Adventurer's Guild, Linus, and that Trevenant, as soon as they entered, Jas saw Pokémon leaping among the branches not far away.
"What's that?"
Shane looked over upon hearing this and shook his head: "I don't know either, probably some kind of monkey."
"Alright, when I turn ten and go adventuring on my own, I'll know," Jas didn't dwell on it. Sailor, walking in front, glanced back upon hearing this and opened its mouth to explain, but then thought better of it, realizing that without Meowth, they wouldn't understand what it was saying anyway, so it closed its mouth again.
But with just that glance, Sailor's eyes suddenly widened.
The doll that was originally stuffed into Jas's backpack had somehow poked its head out. Seeing Sailor looking at it, the mouth sewn with thread actually curled into a grin.
"Rattata?!!"
"What's wrong?" Jas quickly looked in the direction of Sailor's gaze, saw nothing, and then withdrew her gaze.
Shane, on the other hand, quickly stepped in front of Jas, vigilantly scanning everything around them.
So the doll instantly turned to face Sailor directly.
"Rattata, Rattata!"
Sailor jumped up fiercely, just about to tear that doll down, when Jas reached out and stuffed the doll, which was about to run out of the backpack, right back in.
"Rattata, Rattata, Rattata——" (It's alive! It's alive!)
It kept shouting at Jas and Shane.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know... Do you want more candy?" Jas asked.
Sailor regretted not bringing Meowth along, while simultaneously trying to figure out a way to approach the doll on Jas's back.
Not far from the group, an Audino was currently strolling through the forest.
Audino, much like Trevenant, was one of the members maintaining the peace of this forest.
Because its abilities were somewhat similar to Indeedee's, although it wasn't very enthusiastic about serving humans, it was equally skilled at listening to the thoughts and feelings of humans and Pokémon. Therefore, it took on the responsibility of preventing disputes between Pokémon, as well as treating Pokémon that Linus hadn't found and sent to the Pokémon Center.
"Audino?" Hearing what sounded like a mischievous Pokémon about to play a prank, Audino followed the sound and headed toward the source of the noise.
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