There seems to be something wrong with these Pokémon

"This should be your first time in Ziyuan Town, right? Please don't worry or get too nervous. Just treat this place as your home and have fun."

"That being said..." Sakura swallowed her saliva and silently moved closer to Xiaoye, "But the decoration style of this neighborhood can't be compared to the warm and comfortable home, right?"

Just as Sakura said, although they finally walked through a path full of dead trees under the man's guidance and came to the town's recently renovated main road, the dark-colored architectural style nearby and the faded gray flags swaying in the wind still made people unconsciously think of some not-so-good things.

"Haha." The man smiled awkwardly, "It's just this part, just this part. There won't be any more later..."

The man wanted to just laugh it off and let the matter go, but as he was laughing dryly, he saw the young man staring at him helplessly, his eyes as blue as the sea seemed to be condoning something.

You can make it up, we just listen to it and won’t take it to heart.

This sentence popped up unconsciously in the man's mind, his shoulders slumped and his steps became heavier.

"Forget it. I'm too lazy to lie to you." The man sighed and whispered, "As you can see, the consequence of the long-term decline of the tourism industry is that the already poor economy has become even more depressed. The more depressed the economy is, the more dilapidated the decoration is. The more dilapidated the decoration is, the more it proves the rumors that Ziyuan Town is haunted. This is a vicious cycle."

"Is that why your mayor wants to completely change the style and reputation of Ziyuan Town so that more people can come to the town to travel?" Xiao Ye said, but he thought of "Qiyu Town" in his mind.

"Perhaps what you need is a festival that highlights the characteristics of the small town, a festival that is born out of traditional customs. I think many tourists will pay for the stories behind the festival, right?"

"There used to be." The man shook his head, his eyes full of fatigue. "But can the festival that accompanies Ziyuan Town be a festival with a celebratory atmosphere? Apart from summoning ghosts and playing tricks on people, it's just endless sacrifices. Doesn't this further aggravate the outside world's stereotype of our Ziyuan Town?"

The man paused, as if he realized something, and quickly picked up the smile that had accidentally fallen.

"Forget it, these are all ancient and boring history. Compared to these, why don't I take you to visit the most famous Pokémon Tower in our Lavender Town? It just so happens that it is about to be demolished. It would be a good thing to take a photo with it during these last few days, right?"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Shen Qiliang, you two distinguished guests can just call me Xiaoliang."

----

The entire town is built on the mountain, and the Pokémon Tower can only be seen by crossing the town to the back of the mountain.

Perhaps to avoid something, or perhaps to prevent offending someone, the Pokémon Tower is located in an extremely remote area, and the closer it is to human habitation, the sparser it becomes.

A bright moon was hanging halfway up the mountain. When Xiaoye looked up by chance, the bright and flawless moonlight sprinkled on his face, but when he looked up through the branches of dead trees, it seemed that the moon was also stained with a little blood.

The whistling sound of the wind seemed to carry a hint of sorrow, and the rustling sound of the wind passing through the branches sounded like the whisper of a ghost.

It wasn't until the three of them walked not far from the entrance of the Pokémon Tower that the inexplicable gloomy wind finally dissipated.

"Is there something at the door?"

Sakura had better eyesight, and the moment the wind stopped she breathed a sigh of relief and looked towards the Pokémon Tower, only to see a hint of red swaying in front of the tower.

"Hey, is there something at the door? But at this time..." Shen Qiliang touched the stubble on his chin and suddenly thought of something, "Oh, it seems that there was a guest who came to the town before you came. My father personally received him at that time. I guess he was a very important guest, right?"

"There are actually people in this place..." Will they come?

Sakura swallowed her words halfway through, smiled awkwardly, waved her hand, and took a small step back.

I was really frightened to the point of having a nervous breakdown. I actually said such rude words in front of a native local.

Fortunately, Shen Qiliang's attention was all focused on the unknown guest, and he didn't care about the girl's momentary offense.

"That looks like a Pokémon."

Xiao Ye patted the girl's shoulder, took a few steps forward, and started chatting with Shen Qiliang who seemed to be lost in thought.

"Pokémon?" Shen Qiliang suddenly realized, "No wonder, if there really was someone standing in front of the Pokémon Tower in the middle of the night wearing red, not to mention you, even I would never go there, it's too creepy."

"Pokémon?" Sakura frowned slightly when she heard that, and once again stared at the red dot not far away for a long time, "Why haven't I seen a Pokémon like this before?"

"I think her name is Beautiful Flower?"

Xiao Ye answered, "I also heard from others that this Pokémon should not belong to the Kanto region. It's normal that I haven't seen it before."

The beautiful flower in a grass skirt pacing around the entrance of the Pokémon Tower brought back Xiaoye's memories of the young man in a green robe and holding a red fan in the golden city center square.

I remember that at that time, I thought it was the petals created by the "Petal Dance" moving in the center of the stage. It was not until a woman reminded me that I realized that it was a Pokémon with beautiful petals dancing in the center of the stage.

However, the Melia should not be common in the Kanto region, so could this Melia belong to that young man?

The three of them quickened their pace, and when they got near the Pokémon Tower, Shen Qiliang discovered that just as Xiaoye had said, the one wandering around in front of the Pokémon Tower with a nervous expression was a Pokémon.

Meilihua seemed to be frightened by the sudden appearance of the three people and she wanted to run away reflexively.

However, he suddenly stopped after taking a few steps, and looked back repeatedly at the gray backpack leaning against the wall of the tower. After hesitating for a moment, he turned around decisively, ran to the backpack with small steps, opened his arms wide and showed a ferocious expression as if he was driving away the three people.

"No, wait a minute." Sakura quickly took a step forward and negotiated, "Your name is Mei, Mei..."

"Beautiful flower."

"Right, Beautiful Flower?" After being reminded by Xiaoye, Xiaoying quickly squatted down and spread her hands to show her kindness. "We are not bad people. We are just tourists who want to visit the Pokémon Tower. We will not hurt you."

After hearing this, Meilihua's expression seemed to relax for a moment, but after looking back at the backpack lying alone on the ground, its fierce expression appeared again, with green leaves floating above its head, as if it was about to launch an attack in the next second.

"No, there's absolutely no way to communicate!" Sakura had no choice but to retreat under the pressure of Leaf Blade. She squeezed her hands hard, "Did its trainer give it an order to attack anyone approaching the tower?"

If...if verbal negotiation doesn't work, then she'll have to send out Bulbasaur to calm the Pokémon down.

Occupying the Pokémon Tower and prohibiting outsiders from entering is very suspicious no matter how you think about it. Is he doing something shameful in the tower and sending Mermaid out to keep watch?

Just as Sakura's brows were getting deeper and deeper into a frown, and were about to twist into a ball, and her hand was about to touch the Poké Ball at her waist, she saw a figure blocking her way.

"The performance in the central square of Golden City, is that you?"

Xiao Ye took small steps forward. When he saw Meilihua's expression suddenly become dazed for a moment, he knew that he had guessed right. This beautiful flower was the one dancing freely in the central square.

"That performance was beautiful, I loved it. Especially the way you danced, dancing with the petals, it was so natural."

The beautiful flower blinked and then lowered its head quietly!

Although it was not noticeable in the dark, the blush on the beautiful flower's face was definitely due to shyness, right?!

It turns out that the beautiful flower that just behaved so fiercely is actually a little cutie who gets shy when being praised?

Shen Qiliang's eyes were empty, and he was trying not to think about the strange scene before him.

Fortunately, his father stopped him from becoming a trainer, otherwise, with his brain, he would never have imagined that Pokémon could have such rich emotions and inner world.

"Are you staying outside to guard the trainer's luggage?" Xiaoye noticed the backpack blocked by the beautiful flower and softened his tone again, "Don't worry, we just want to go into the tower to visit, we won't steal your things."

As he spoke, he saw that Meilihua's eyes were alert again, so he took a few steps back sincerely, standing at a maximum distance from Meilihua, but just enough to be close to the edge of the door to enter the tower.

"We'll just go in from here and won't go near your side, okay?"

The beautiful flower seemed to hesitate for a moment. It was about to firmly refuse, but the boy's praise just now came to its ears again.

[Maybe, it's a good idea to let them in. Maybe they can help the trainer. Doesn't he always say that art needs to be evaluated? ]

Meilihua was extremely conflicted, and even the two red flowers on her head seemed to tremble a few times because of her different opinions.

[But the trainer said that he had already communicated with the mayor tonight and borrowed the Pokémon Tower here to rehearse the show, and he didn't want to be disturbed by outsiders. ]

【He praised me for being beautiful...】

[The trainer's words cannot be disobeyed. I could have followed him in, but I stayed outside because I was afraid of ghosts. I helped the trainer look after his luggage and prevented irrelevant people from rushing in and disturbing the trainer.]

【He praised me for being beautiful! 】

[But the trainer said...! ]

[No matter, he praised me for being beautiful! They must be good people! Let them in!]

In the end, Aimi's heart prevailed over the trainer's orders.

Meilihua nodded quietly and took a small step back.

----

After all three people went in, Meilihua stood up with a red face, buried her head in the trainer's backpack, and touched her heart which was obviously beating too fast.

[Woo woo woo, they are right, they are really good people! ]

Meilihua, who had just taken a small step back to make room, still felt a little guilty for going against her trainer's wishes, but the sudden voice interrupted her self-blame.

"Thank you, Meilihua. The red flower on your head is so bright and beautiful!"

Meilihua suddenly raised her head, and her eyes were suddenly filled with tears.

"Yes, yes, yes. And the skirt looks so noble, and it looks even cuter against the beautiful flowers!"

Sakura also turned around with a smile and praised the beautiful flower.

"Uh..."

Shen Qiliang touched the back of his head, feeling that it would be unsociable if he didn't say something at this moment.

"That... is indeed beautiful."

Meilihua covered her mouth with her little hands and tilted her head slightly, twisting her body.

The next moment, in the astonished gaze of everyone, Meilihua put down her hands, placed them on her skirt, lifted the hem of her skirt and bowed.

Just like the noble ladies in Western fairy tales, they welcome the distinguished guests with etiquette.