[Public Notice from the Rustboro City Pokémon Care Center: Please be advised that this center does not accept adoption applications for Salamence. You are welcome to adopt other Pokémon.]
Sure enough, this very notice was posted on the main gate of the care center.
At this moment, Big Bear (Stufful) was standing right at the iron gate, firmly blocking its entrance, blankly staring at the crowd of people gathered before it. It wasn't until it noticed Edward that a hint of delight finally appeared in its simple, honest expression.
"Big Bear, still on gate duty today, huh?" Edward greeted him cheerfully, stuffing a fried chicken drumstick, which he had picked up on the way, into Big Bear's hand. Big Bear swallowed it in one gulp, then scratched his head sheepishly and grinned in a goofy manner.
Q, nestled in Edward's arms, wagged its tail and greeted Big Bear, while Blacky (Murkrow) flapped its wings with a loud caw, circling around Edward once before perching on his outstretched hand—of course, not without first enduring Q's sharp and watchful gaze.
Only then did Q contentedly shift a little deeper into Edward's embrace.
"Here, this one's for you," Edward said as he tossed a berry to Blacky. Blacky caught it mid-air with its beak, chirped joyfully, spun in place, then flew up and perched on the iron gate.
Edward patted Big Bear on the back with a smile. It had been a while since they last saw each other, and Big Bear seemed to have bulked up even more. For some reason, he now appeared even more simple and honest than before—somewhat adorably naive, really.
Behind him, murmurs continued to ripple through the crowd. The words they were whispering were beginning to grow increasingly unpleasant. Edward frowned slightly, then pulled out his phone and sent a message.
"Your filthy Pokémon! I'll **** your entire female family line! What, your mother *** died and now you *** turned into a ****? Worthless *****, ********, ********!" Just as Edward had hit send, his mind was suddenly flooded with an overwhelming barrage of words filled with censorship beeps—so much so that his brain seemed to buzz with a cascade of bleeps and bleeps and bleeps.
Immediately after, a large figure burst out from the care center, soaring through the air with a Kirlia riding atop its back—and Kirlia was currently operating at full verbal firepower.
"How dare you curse people?! I was just trying to adopt a Pokémon!" a well-dressed man roared indignantly, glaring at the Salamence before him with undisguised possessiveness in his eyes.
"**** you, you ***!!" Kirlia shot back at breakneck speed, a rapid-fire stream of heavily censored expletives hammering into Edward's ears so forcefully that he could barely hear anything else over the nonstop beep—beep—beep.
The man was no match for Kirlia. In no time at all, he had been verbally roasted to the core—his face turned beet red, and when he couldn't catch his breath, he collapsed to the ground, unable to stand.
The surrounding onlookers were stunned by the spectacle. As if with silent agreement, the entire crowd instinctively took a collective step back.
"And you—wait… ah… Mr. Edward?!" Kirlia's sharp gaze landed squarely on Edward, who was standing slightly forward from the others. But before she could say more, her eyes focused on his face, and in the next instant, she recognized him.
"Kirlia, are you settling in well here at the care center?" Edward smiled casually as he greeted Salamence and struck up a light conversation with Kirlia.
"I—I'm doing okay…" Kirlia suddenly started to stammer. Salamence, meanwhile, happily rushed over and rubbed its scarred head affectionately against Edward. Then, with a competitive gleam in its eye, it let out a low roar toward Q.
Kirlia looked visibly flustered and a little uneasy. When she had first regained consciousness, she had already seen Edward. But it was only later that she realized—Edward was her savior. If not for his intervention, she would likely have been sold off already.
Edward patted the battle-worn head of Salamence, thick with old scars, then glanced at his phone. The old butler had already arrived with a team.
"Young Master Edward, are you all right?" The old butler walked over quickly, followed closely by a group of employees from the legal department of Devon Corporation. They were already handling the troublemakers. If those people continued to act out and spew nonsense, they'd soon be greeted by Devon's elite legal strike force—known across the Hoenn region as the undefeated "Devon Pizza Delivery Team" of court victories. At that point, those rabble-rousers would be lucky to avoid spending time in a League courthouse.
"I'm fine. Thank you, Grandpa Robert," Edward smiled. The message he had just sent had been to request the butler's help with this exact situation.
Surprisingly, the old butler's approach was quite civil. Edward had honestly expected him to just have a Pokémon clear the area.
Seeing that Edward was unharmed, the old butler also let out a sigh of relief. He glanced at the clearly nervous Kirlia standing behind Edward, offered a small smile, and then turned his attention to dealing with the troublemakers.
Once the iron gate was pushed open, Edward finally understood why Big Bear had been blocking the entrance so resolutely. Behind the gate was a crowd of visibly angry Pokémon—at the forefront stood Greeny (Shroomish), furiously spraying spores in all directions. Thankfully, a psychic barrier had been erected around the area, shielding everyone from the spores. Otherwise, the Pokémon standing near Greeny—ready to help Headmistress Lillian vent her frustrations—might have all passed out before getting the chance.
"Sorry about this, Edward. Must've been quite a scene," Headmistress Lillian said as she walked over with a smile. She cast a sidelong glance at the troublemakers outside, now finally quieted, and let out a disdainful hmph.
If she hadn't been worried about the Pokémon being mistreated, she would have come out to handle the situation herself. These people—utterly shameless.
When Salamence was still a Shelgon, barely anyone had shown interest in adopting it. And even the few that did come by were usually scared off by its heavily scarred body. As a result, Salamence remained unadopted for a long time.
But ever since it evolved into its final form, Salamence, adoption requests had flooded in like a tidal wave. People were now frantically vying for the chance to claim it as their own.
"What's there to laugh at? The real joke is those freeloading opportunists," Edward said with undisguised contempt as he glanced at the crowd behind him. Each one of them had the same ridiculous idea—to adopt a fully evolved, top-tier Dragon-type Pokémon already in peak battle condition. Dream on.
And after being rejected, they still had the audacity to loiter around and throw shade? Where did these people even get their sense of entitlement?
Furthermore, Edward knew full well that some people, after adopting Pokémon, would turn around and either resell them or abandon them again. Sadly, this wasn't the first time Headmistress Lillian had encountered such cases.
"Let's not dwell on these annoying individuals," Headmistress Lillian said, not wanting to let such matters ruin her mood. "Edward, what brings you here today?"
"Headmistress Lillian, I'd like to ask everyone here to help me watch a short film—to test the market response," Edward replied with a bright and cheerful smile.
"A short film? That's no problem at all!" Headmistress Lillian agreed without hesitation. After all, Edward had done so much for the care center—donating generously and providing support time and time again. Without his help, their operations would be even more strained.
So, watching a short film? That barely counted as doing him a favor—it was the least they could do.
Kirlia gave a full-body shiver. Out of nowhere, an ominous premonition came over her, as though something extremely unpleasant was about to happen—and she might be involved.
She couldn't help but steal a glance at Edward—only to be greeted by his bright, radiant, sunshine-filled smile.
And somehow, that just made her anxiety worse.
(End of Chapter)