There seems to be something wrong with these Pokémon

It was already dark when they returned to Rainmaker Town.

The moon is bright in the sky, the stars are twinkling, and the evening breeze is blowing.

There were rarely so many people gathered at the town gate, and even if the evening breeze had all its power, it couldn't bring coolness to everyone. Their hair stuck to their foreheads, strand by strand.

But the townspeople still stood on tiptoe and looked into the distance, hoping to see the return of those lovely yellow figures.

After an unknown amount of time, a rustling sound was finally heard in the dark forest. Everyone's face was filled with surprise and they looked forward to it.

However, their hopes were dashed again when they saw two unfamiliar, short and fat figures that were obviously not Psyduck's.

No matter how high one's hopes are, they will be slowly eroded by time. Many townspeople turned their backs and covered their faces with tears.

Only an old man struggled to move the crutch around his waist, walked over with staggering steps and held the hand of the slightly embarrassed young man. He dared not say anything, but looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Grandma, we found Psyduck and the others."

Just this one sentence attracted everyone's attention, and some people had tears still half hanging on their faces before they could wipe them away.

The old man was startled, and trying hard to suppress his uncontrollable excitement, he asked carefully, "Then...what about them?"

Before Xiaoye and Kitazawa Lingyou could reply, Jill's enthusiastic and lively voice came from the hillside behind.

"Grandma, everyone! I brought the Psyducks back!"

Xiaoye turned around and saw that the peach pink clothes lit up the dark night and together with the yellow duck, they formed the scene that people most wanted to see.

"It's Psyduck!"

"My Psyduck is back!"

The townspeople shouted and ran towards the flock of Padauks.

Jill slowed down his pace with the two Pikachus, going against the flow of people and finally stopped in front of the old man with red eyes.

The old man stretched out his wrinkled hands and gently stroked the wound on Jill's face that had long since dried and turned into a scab.

"Good girl, have you suffered all this time?"

Jill turned her head away from the old man's touch and smiled with her eyebrows curved.

"No, these are just minor injuries from my fall. They will heal quickly. There's nothing to worry about."

However, after hearing this pretended sensible reply, the old man could no longer hold back his tears. He threw aside his shaky walking stick and stretched out his arms to hug the girl whose body was covered in mud.

She doesn't need to be so sensible, she doesn't need to be so sensible!

Since her parents passed away, little Jill has become more sensible and understanding as if she were reborn.

Cooking, washing, cleaning, working...

Jill took over these tasks, which should not have been done by young children, without any complaints, just to allow her elderly grandmother to have more rest.

Only the Psyduck that was hatched at the same time as her parents' bodies were getting colder could accompany her as she grew up, so that this well-behaved girl would not become too lonely.

"Grandma, everyone is watching here." Jill took the crutch that Xiaoye picked up with a smile, supported the old woman and said.

"All the Psyducks have returned safely. This is something worth celebrating! How can I cry?"

"Yes! We must celebrate!"

The uncle at the side immediately echoed what Jill said after hearing it, calling out to everyone in the Rain-Praying Town, and shouting in a voice as loud as a bronze bell.

"Today is the Rain Prayer Festival! It's not over yet! We have to celebrate the festival happily with Psyduck and the others!"

The townspeople held Psyduck's hands and nodded in agreement, then turned their backs and returned to the Rain-Praying Town to hold their interrupted celebration.

Just as Xiaoye and Kitazawa Lingyou looked at each other and were about to follow the crowd back to the Rain-Praying Town, Jill reached out to stop them, lowered his head and clenched his fists.

"Jill...?"

Jill did not respond to Xiaoye. Instead, under their gaze, he slowly lowered his raised right arm and spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Sakutani, you are a trainer, right?" Jill whispered softly. Although the question was a question, she did not give Xiaoye any time to answer and continued talking on her own.

"You will probably challenge the gyms scattered all over the place, meet all kinds of Pokémon and fight them, and finally stand on the field of the Quartz Conference, right?"

"lucky......"

Xiao Ye looked at Jill worriedly, as she was obviously in a bad condition. Just as she opened her mouth to utter a word, her voice was cut off by her sharp voice that also contained a hint of crying.

"Don't interrupt me! Let me continue!"

Jill's nails pierced into her palm, but she didn't feel any pain at all. She just wanted to speak out the script she had prepared all the way.

I was afraid that if I stopped for even half a second, I would regret it and choke up to the point of being unable to utter a single word.

"Pokémon battles are cruel things. I've always known that."

The old man next to her seemed to notice something and gently tugged at the girl's sleeve.

"Grandma, it's okay. I've accepted it a long time ago." Jill gently but firmly pushed away the old woman's right hand, urging her to leave first.

“I always wonder, what does it mean to die?”

"Will you never see the brilliance in those bright and moving eyes again? Or will you never hear the laughter coming from those thin lips again? Or will you feel your strong and powerful heartbeat stop beating?"

Little Jill seldom saw her parents, but whenever their faces faded from her memory, they would come back together and then leave in a hurry.

Little Gil didn't know what his parents' jobs were, but it was probably not trainers because they were very busy and had never seen their Pokémon.

The grandmother, who could still walk freely without a cane, suddenly stopped her fertilizing work at noon when the sun was shining brightly. She didn't even have time to take off her big bamboo hat and pulled the little girl who was playing with the car, and hurried to Kuye City to board a very domineering yacht.

"Grandma, where are we going?"

The childish voice interrupted the old man's thoughts.

She looked down at her granddaughter with an innocent and lovely face, and wanted to speak but couldn't utter a word.

In the end, she could only wipe the ignorant girl's cheeks with her muddy hands and choked with sobs.

"Jill, Jill, you have to be strong. Promise grandma that you will be strong."

"Gill has always been very strong!" Little Gil imitated the boys in the town, rolled up his sleeves to his upper arms, and showed off his small "muscles". "Look, grandma, is Gil very strong?"

The old man closed his watery eyes and repeated in a low voice, "Great, great, great..."

Until the moment he got off the boat, little Jill had no idea what he was about to face and was still talking to his grandmother with a smile on his face.

"The air here smells so good! It smells like sea breeze!"

But all her good mood came to an abrupt end when she saw her parents lying on the hospital bed, not knowing whether they were dead or alive.

The young child didn't know what the jumping lines on the machine next to her meant, but she hated the transparent tube that was wrapped around her parents like a rope.

Especially since blood-red liquid flowed through the tube from time to time, Jill was filled with fear.

Every day that followed, Jill would draw her own pictures in the ward, tell her mother stories, and touch the prickly stubble on her father's face.

Until one day, little Jill squeezed onto the small hospital bed and fell asleep in her father's arms.

In a daze, I heard the voices of my grandmother and many strangers.

"salute!"

Little Jill wiped the physiological tears from the corners of her eyes and turned over impatiently.

But in the next moment, my right ear, which was pressed against my father's chest, suddenly could not hear the faint heartbeat!

"dad?"

Little Jill's heart tightened, as if she had a premonition of something. She moved her limbs and leaned over to the man's ear, whispering like she did when she was a child.

"Dad, can you open your eyes and look at Jill?"

"Dad, Jill is so scared..."

As the shrill alarm sounded from the machine beside his ear, little Jill heard the stranger's unwilling and resentful words.

"...They were attacked by the enemy while...on vacation. Even though we tried our best to support them, the enemy's Pokémon were too numerous and they were inevitably defeated. When we arrived, we only saw the khaki-colored 'Destruction Light',..."

"But fortunately, a pregnant Psyduck survived..."

The memory was in disarray and Jill's mind could no longer hold so many details.

But she always remembered the yellow Pokémon egg that her grandmother handed to her with tears in her eyes.

"This is a birthday gift from mom and dad to Jill. Jill, please protect it well."

"Is this... a gift from mom and dad?"

Little Jill carefully took the slightly heavy Pokémon egg, but the moment her fingertips touched the Pokémon egg, a dazzling white light illuminated the lifeless ward.

"Happy birthday, little Jill."

----

"In fact, I have always known that this child is very competitive and likes to fight." Jill looked down at the three strands of hair on the yellow head and continued, "But because of my own shadow, I pretended not to see it all, and while hurting Psyduck, I didn't let myself go."

"I think... this child is more suitable to join the trainer and fight on the Quartz Plateau?"

Jill raised his right hand and placed it on Psyduck's head, stroking it gently.

"Although I really hope that the person with it is me, but... I can never get over this hurdle and I can't accept the 'fight' no matter what."

"so......!"

Jill raised her head suddenly, and the determination in her eyes pierced into Xiaoye's heart like a knife as she looked at her.

"I want to entrust this child to you, and ask you to fulfill its wish with my regrets."

"What about you?" Xiao Ye saw through the girl's pretending to be strong and asked in a low voice.

"You have always regarded Psyduck as a family member. What will you do if it leaves?"

But Jill shook her head, and the tenderness in her eyes surrounded everyone present like the sea.

"It is precisely because I regard it as a family member that I support it in fighting for its own interests."

She turned her back and let go of Psyduck without any reluctance.

"Xiaoye, you are gentle and considerate, powerful, caring for others, taking care of the emotions of Pokémon, and your love for Pokémon is far greater than mine..."

Jill recalled everything that happened in those two short days, describing the image of the boy in her mind word by word.

"So, I won't worry at all if Psyduck is with you."

Jill looked up at the starry sky, fearing that tears would burst out if she lowered her head.

"In short, this child is left to you."

After saying her last few words, the girl waved her arms desperately and ran away.

She needs to prepare herself mentally and get used to life without Pikachu.

"Jill..." Xiaoye reached out his hand subconsciously and wanted to grab the girl's sleeve, but was stopped by Kitazawa Lingyou.

Kitazawa Lingyou gently placed his hand on Xiaoye's arm and shook his head firmly, "She has made up her mind. Now all she needs is some quiet time alone."

Xiao Ye slowly lowered his hands.

He didn't know what Jill and Psyduck said alone after they left, but it was obvious that she had decided to let it go.

At this time, Psyduck also walked to Xiaoye's side and patted his thigh.

Xiaoye came back to his senses from his trance, half squatted down, and took out an empty Poké Ball from his waist.

"Psyduck, do you want to go with me?"

Psyduck smiled with eyes curved, and without any hesitation reached out his hand to touch the red and white Poké Ball.

It will follow Xiaoye's footsteps into the world, challenge all Pokémon, and fight against the strongest!

Find that person while becoming stronger and avenge Jill!

Psyduck disappeared before his eyes, and the Poké Ball in his hand successfully captured it with almost no resistance.

Xiaoye stood up and promised to the Poké Ball containing Psyduck.

"I will definitely take you to the Quartz Plateau to fight against stronger ones."

He shook the Poké Ball in his hand, as if making an agreement with Xiaoye.

Xiao Ye smiled. He threw out three Poké Balls at the same time, put Ditto and Serpentine on his left and right shoulders respectively, then took Psyduck's hand and walked forward a few steps.

Then he turned around and invited Kitazawa Lingyou, who was standing there, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Let's go and put a perfect end to the Rain Festival."

Xiaoye stretched out her left hand and placed it in front of Kitazawa Lingyou.

"Kitazawa, come back to this festival with us!"

Snake and Ditto imitated Xiaoye's movements and stretched out their hands.

Although Psyduck doesn't have the tacit understanding with Snake, Ditto and Leafy, after seeing their actions, it also parrots and stretches out its hands.

Shortly after the townspeople returned to the town, fireworks suddenly lit up from the brightly lit Rain-Seeking Town.

The lamp tree has thousands of light, and the flowers bloom with seven branches.

The seven-colored light illuminates the young man's handsome face, and the smile on the corner of his lips is more dazzling than the fireworks.

Kitazawa Lingyou was stunned for a moment, a smile gradually appeared in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows, and he slowly placed his right hand in Xiaoye's warm palm.

"it is good."