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"By the way, what's this doll called?" Jas asked, shaking her backpack. "It looks different from my other dolls."
"I don't know," Shane shook his head. He just felt that Jas would like this doll, and hadn't specifically asked what it actually was.
"I see." Hearing this, Jas shook her backpack again. After confirming that the doll inside wouldn't run out again, she continued forward: "What kind of Pokémon should we catch?"
Shane looked around while asking, "What kind do you like?"
"Is there a Pokémon like a fairy?" Jas asked. "Or like an elf!"
Although she thought Pokémon like Paras were also very cute, if it was going to be family, it'd be better if it wasn't a bug.
"——Is there?" Shane looked at Sailor, who was following behind them, and asked.
"Rattata?" Sailor pointed at its own face in disbelief. As a Rattata that had lived in the mines since birth, and even after being caught by Ron, only stayed at the farm and the beach—with Ginger Island being the furthest it had ever been—Sailor confirmed: "Rattata?" (Are you asking me?)
"Looks like Sailor doesn't know either." Jas said, then looked up and asked, "Then when I turn ten, can I go on an adventure in Kalos like Abigail?"
"No," Shane answered extremely quickly. "You have to be as old as Abigail first."
"Why?! Kids in Kalos can go out on adventures when they're ten! They even get to receive a Pokémon of their own!"
"Because this is Pelican Town," Shane thought for a moment and then added, "This isn't Kalos."
Jas pouted upon hearing this.
But children's emotions come and go quickly. By the time Shane found a spot and laid out the picnic mat for their camp, Jas had already forgotten what she was agonizing over just a moment ago.
She lay on the mat and, under Sailor's terrified gaze, took the doll out of her bag.
"Such a cute doll." Saying this, Jas pinched the doll's face and poked its body. "It's just a bit dirty. If I give it a bath and wash it, it'll become really clean."
"? Rattata?" Sailor looked at this bizarre, eerie red doll, staring at Jas in disbelief: "Rattata?" (It's really just dirty to you?)
Is it really just dirty?
"Don't you like this doll?" Jas asked.
"Rattata." (No...)
"I really love these dolls," Jas whispered to Sailor. "Except when I'm at school, I have to be by myself the rest of the time. Only the dolls play with me."
Of course, she didn't mean it as a complaint. She knew Marnie and Shane were very good to her, and the ranch had endless work. This kind of work wasn't like other jobs; if you took care of the animals today, you still had to take care of them tomorrow. You couldn't just feed them an extra meal today and then not feed them tomorrow.
So Aunt Marnie had things to do every day, and so did Shane, who worked on the farm.
"Rattata——" Sailor tilted its head and looked at Jas. "Rattata."
"Hm?"
"Rattata." Sailor thought for a moment, tugged at Jas with its paw, and after pulling her to the edge of the dirt, started drawing on the ground with its claws.
"What's this? A calendar?" Jas tilted her head to look. "Uh... Monday and Friday go to the desert... Tuesday and Wednesday go fishing, Thursday and Saturday can come... find... hey, is this me?"
"Rattata!" (Yes!)
"Come find me to play?"
"Rattata!"
"Yay!!!" Jas cheered.
"Rattata, Rattata, Rattata!" Sailor said a bit excitedly, but upon realizing Jas couldn't understand, it switched back to drawing on the ground: "Rattata, Rattata."
"Can also go to the farm to play... really?" Jas looked at Sailor.
"Rattata!"
As soon as Sailor finished calling out, it turned its head and saw an unfamiliar Pokémon that had somehow appeared standing by the edge of the picnic mat.
It was currently staring intently at the doll, which had also changed positions, as if pondering something.
"Audino?"
Audino instantly recognized what that doll was.
Of course, it wasn't a type of Pokémon. It was an antique called a Strange Doll, which seemed to be something used in certain ritual activities on this land in the past.
"Audino."
"Ah!! A Pokémon I've never seen before!" Jas pointed at Audino and asked, "Can we catch it?"
"Audino?" Audino, who was still agonizing over how to take this dangerous object away from Jas, froze for a moment. It then turned its head to look at Shane, and then at Sailor, who was already primed for battle.
After thinking for a split second, it immediately turned tail and ran.
Jas froze for a moment, then remembered and commanded Sailor, "Quick, Sailor, use... use a move you know!"
"——?"
Sailor's brain short-circuited for a moment, and it suddenly charged head-on toward Audino.
"Audino!"
That Audino immediately used Double Slap on Sailor, smashing heavily into its face.
"Rattata?!"
Because it had consumed a glass of Iridium Snake Milk from Mr. Qi, this amount of attack didn't cause much damage to Sailor. However, having not been attacked by anyone for a long time, Sailor was instantly fired up.
"Rattata!"
Jas watched Sailor and Audino fighting back and forth, falling into a brief silence. She then whispered, "——In this situation, aren't we supposed to be giving orders..."
"——Probably," Shane agreed. Saying this, he took out the notebook he had specifically borrowed from Gunther.
"Then——?"
"Let me check."
Shane cleared his throat, flipped through the notebook, and found the section about catching Pokémon.
"Chapter One: The Definition and Concept of Catching Pokémon."
"Chapter Two: The History of Catching Pokémon."
"Chapter Three: Why We Catch Pokémon——"
After flipping through it for a while, Shane slowly closed the notebook in his hand.
"There's a reason Gunther has studied Pokémon for so long without any results," Shane muttered. He then remembered that when buying the Poké Balls, Joy seemed to have given some instructions on how to use them.
So, thinking back a little, he pulled out a Poké Ball.
Just at this moment, the Strange Doll behind them happened to grasp the small knife in the picnic basket, while Sailor in front used Pursuit on Audino.
After quickly prioritizing everything in front of it in its mind, Audino charged toward the Strange Doll.
And the very instant it touched the Strange Doll, the Poké Ball sucked both it and the doll inside.
"Did we succeed?"
Jas asked, looking at the wobbling Poké Ball.
"I don't know——" Shane paused and said, "I think if it succeeds, there's supposed to be some kind of prompt."
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