Chapter 87: Hatterene in the Shelter
On the day the Reservoir was completed, all the Pokémon in the Orchard came to watch. The Gyarados and Clawitzer were the most Excited, as this would be their New Home from now on.
"It's about Time, let's open the Sluice Gate!" Bai Feng shouted.
Hearing Bai Feng's instruction, Nidoking and Nidoqueen, standing by the Sluice Gate, worked together to slowly pull the Sluice Gate up.
As the Dam was slowly opened, the Water Flow from the Tributary instantly surged into the Reservoir. In no Time, the Reservoir accumulated a large amount of Water.
"Roar~"
"Roar~"
"Roar~"
...
Seeing this, the eight Gyarados immediately couldn't wait to dive into the Water, roaring excitedly while freely stretching their strong Bodies.
Ah, it's comfortable in the Water! The Gyarados sighed in their hearts.
The Clawitzer were not to be outdone, jumping into the Water one after another, splashing back and forth in the Water, their small Tails slapping the Water surface very quickly.
Seeing the Gyarados and Clawitzer having fun, Brionne and Vaporeon also couldn't help but join them. For a Time, the Reservoir was bustling with activity.
When they returned Home in the evening, to celebrate the completion of the Reservoir, Bai Feng gave all the Pokémon a Healing Treatment again. The Pokémon were truly overjoyed.
Please let this kind of good thing happen every day.
Several days passed in the blink of an Eye since the Reservoir was completed. The Gyarados and Clawitzer had Adapted very well to their New Home. Even Vaporeon liked to run to the Reservoir during most of its free Time and was now practically residing there permanently.
Brionne also ran over there every few days to train the younger ones.
Bai Feng planned that after the Reservoir Environment stabilized after some Time, he would go find some cash crops suitable for planting in Water and bring them back to plant.
At the same Time, Bai Feng also began to consider hiring a new helper.
After finishing the day's work and coming back, he still had to help with Housework. Bai Feng was so tired he could barely straighten his back; he had truly had enough.
But where could he hire a Pokémon? Pokémon good at doing Housework were not easy to find.
Because of this Matter, Bai Feng was a bit distracted during Schooling.
"Bai Feng, what's wrong? Is something on your mind?" Student Shen Mu asked with concern.
"I'm fine, just thinking about some things," Bai Feng said, shaking his head. Then he thought, perhaps Student Shen Mu could help offer some ideas.
"It's like this..."
So Bai Feng told Student Shen Mu about his trouble.
"I see..." Student Shen Mu lowered his head in thought.
After a while, he seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly raised his head and asked, "Bai Feng, do you know about the Pokémon Shelter?"
"Pokémon Shelter?" Bai Feng looked blank.
"Yes, the Pokémon Shelter." Shen Mu nodded and said, "You know, there are some stray Pokémon in various cities. To prevent stray Pokémon from affecting the city's image, some cities specially establish a Pokémon Shelter to take in those stray Pokémon and provide them with basic living security."
"There's a place like that?" Bai Feng said with a surprised look. "I really haven't heard of it. This place seems quite good."
Student Shen Mu shook his head and said, "The Pokémon inside can only guarantee the most basic life; in fact, most of them don't live very well."
"So you want me to go take a look there?" Bai Feng asked.
Student Shen Mu nodded and said, "The Pokémon in the Pokémon Shelter can be adopted, and the League strongly encourages Trainers or families to adopt Pokémon from there."
Bai Feng thought to himself: Then I can definitely go take a look.
"Is there a Pokémon Shelter in our Couriway Town?"
"Of course there is." Student Shen Mu nodded. "If you want to go, I can go with you after school."
Bai Feng said happily, "That would be great, sorry to trouble you."
"It's okay, I don't really want to go Home too early anyway," Student Shen Mu said.
Bai Feng basically knew everything about him, so he had no reservations when speaking to Bai Feng.
After school in the afternoon, Bai Feng and Student Shen Mu went to the West District together.
Student Shen Mu had been to the Couriway Town Pokémon Shelter before. With his lead, Bai Feng quickly arrived at their destination.
The Pokémon Shelter was in a very remote place in the West District. Although it was said to be in the West District, it was actually in a corner bordering the West District and East District.
The entire Shelter was in a large Courtyard. Speaking of which, it was a bit similar to Bai Feng's Home, except the houses were quite dilapidated and seemed to have been built a long Time ago.
Student Shen Mu explained, "This was originally the Residence of a wealthy family. Later, because it was haunted, that family mortgaged this Courtyard to the League at a low price.
Later, the League sent Trainers to check the Situation here, and finally Discovered that the haunting in the Residence was actually just a few Ghost-type Pokémon.
Later on, Couriway Town needed to build a Pokémon Shelter, so the League allocated this dilapidated Residence. Because of insufficient funds and the higher-ups not paying much attention, this Courtyard has never been repaired."
Bai Feng nodded in understanding.
The two walked to the Doorway of the Residence and rang the doorbell.
"Who is it!"
At this moment, the main gate opened with a creak. They saw a sloppy Uncle rubbing his eyes as he walked out. He looked like he had just woken up, his Hair messy like a bird's nest.
"Hello," Bai Feng greeted politely.
The Uncle saw two children standing at the Doorway and asked impatiently, "What do you want?"
Bai Feng replied, "I heard that Pokémon can be adopted here, so I wanted to come take a look."
Hearing this, the Uncle finally looked directly at Bai Feng and said with a suspicious look, "You want to adopt a Pokémon? Do your parents agree?"
Bai Feng said with a Smile, "You can rest assured about that."
The Uncle looked at Bai Feng silently for a moment, then stepped aside and said, "Come in."
"Thank you, Uncle," Bai Feng said with a Smile.
"Thank you, Uncle," Student Shen Mu also said.
After entering the Courtyard, Bai Feng began to look around at the Environment inside.
The Courtyard was indeed very large, even larger than Bai Feng's Home. As expected of a wealthy family's former Residence, there were many Rooms in the Courtyard, but quite a few were completely damaged and looked like they couldn't be lived in.
There were quite a few Pokémon in the Courtyard. Some were working, like sweeping; some were playing, like hide-and-seek... The Pokémon all had Smiles on their faces and seemed to be living quite well.
The arrival of Bai Feng and Shen Mu caused the Pokémon to stop what they were doing one after another and look at the two with curious Eyes.
The Uncle turned his head and urged the two, "Walk faster."
"Coming!" Hearing this, Bai Feng quickly chased after him.
Under the Uncle's guidance, Bai Feng and Shen Mu came to a dim Room. It looked like this was the Uncle's office and residence.
The Uncle sat behind the desk, picked up a Pen, and asked without raising his head, "What's your Name?"
"Bai Feng."
"Where do you live? Who else is in your family?" the Uncle continued to ask.
"I live at Bluebird Orphanage, and there's also..."
Bai Feng's current Household Registration was still at Bluebird Orphanage. Before he became an adult, he couldn't establish a separate Household Registration.
Hearing Bai Feng's answer, the Uncle raised his head in surprise.
"You're an orphan? You, an orphan, are coming to adopt a Pokémon? You..."
The Uncle didn't speak the rest of the words, but Bai Feng probably knew what he wanted to say, which was nothing more than "Can you raise a Pokémon well?"
"Orphans can't adopt Pokémon?" Bai Feng asked back.
The Uncle didn't answer, just buried his head and continued to register Bai Feng's Information.
"Why do you want to adopt a Pokémon?"
"I manage an Orchard. I'm usually very Busy with work and can't take care of everything at Home, so I want to invite a Pokémon Home to help share the Housework."
Hearing Bai Feng's words, the Uncle raised his head in surprise again and asked, "Didn't you say you were an orphan?"
Bai Feng nodded and said, "Yes, is there a Problem?"
"Then you also said you manage an Orchard!" the Uncle said irritably.
"That's right, orphans can't manage Orchards?" Bai Feng asked back again.
The Uncle was choked by Bai Feng's question. Indeed, there was no such rule, but this didn't make sense! How old are you? You already have your own Orchard?
The Uncle said irritably to Bai Feng, "Let me see your Identity Certificate!"
Bai Feng nodded and pulled up his Identity Certificate on his Phone.
The Uncle carefully compared the Photo on the Identity Certificate and found that it was indeed Bai Feng. At the same Time, the Identity Certificate also clearly stated that Bai Feng was an orphan.
As for whether Bai Feng had an Orchard, when handling the adoption procedures, the Materials would be submitted, and the higher-ups would naturally verify the authenticity, so the Uncle didn't need to worry.
After confirming Bai Feng's Identity, the Uncle asked again, "How many Pokémon do you want to adopt? And what kind do you want to adopt?"
Bai Feng didn't answer, but instead asked, "Can I go see the Pokémon here before deciding?"
"How troublesome!" The Uncle impatiently threw down the Pen in his hand. "Come with me."
Under the Uncle's guidance, Bai Feng and Shen Mu came to the Courtyard again. They saw the Uncle take out a Loudspeaker and shout loudly into the Loudspeaker:
"Everyone come out! Come out! Come out!"
As this sound spread throughout the Courtyard, Pokémon walked out of the Rooms one by one, and soon filled the entire Courtyard.
Bai Feng roughly estimated that there were at least a hundred Pokémon living here. It was hard for this Uncle to manage them all.
Actually, Bai Feng really misunderstood. The Pokémon here weren't managed by the Uncle, but they managed themselves.
Because of the special nature of this Place, the Pokémon living here were all very well-behaved, afraid that one day they might cause trouble or problems, and Couriway Town would close down the Pokémon Shelter, leaving them homeless.
Although the conditions here weren't top-notch, the League regularly provided them with Food Expenses.
And the Uncle, as the manager here, although he didn't usually manage things, he also didn't pocket their Meals. The Pokémon were already very satisfied with this.
Of course, that little bit of Food Expenses from the League couldn't make them full every meal, but at least they wouldn't starve to death, which was much better than wandering outside.
"This Young Man is here to adopt a Pokémon. All of you behave well. If you can be chosen, then good days are coming!" the Uncle shouted into the Loudspeaker at the Pokémon.
As for whether he himself believed these words, no one knew.
The Pokémon looked at each other, not showing much desire. They had already gotten used to life here and didn't have high expectations for being adopted.
In the past, there were also Pokémon who were adopted, but they never saw each other again and didn't know how the adopted Pokémon were living now.
Towards unknown life, the Pokémon were a bit resistant.
Seeing the Pokémon's behavior, the Uncle angrily "Tch"ed and said in a low voice, "A bunch of useless guys."
Shen Mu was a bit angry hearing this and seemed to want to say something, but was pulled back by Bai Feng.
There was no need to conflict with the Uncle. If this Uncle was really bad to the Pokémon, if they rashly conflicted with him, after they left, only the Pokémon would suffer.
Moreover, according to Bai Feng's previous observation, the Pokémon didn't seem to dislike the Uncle. Their Emotions were also very calm when looking at the Uncle, without the slightest look of fear or nervousness. It shows their relationship with the Uncle was okay, at least not bad.
At this moment, Bai Feng stepped forward and said, "My Name is Bai Feng. I live in Couriway Town's East District and manage an Orchard. You won't have to worry about food and drink there, and it's very close to here. If you want to come back and visit, you can come back anytime."
Bai Feng had roughly guessed the mindset of these Pokémon. They had completely adapted to the current stable and peaceful life and didn't want to Change at all.
Seeing that everyone was still indifferent, Bai Feng was a bit helpless and could only continue to say, "The work Tasks there aren't heavy, just doing some Housework. Is there anyone among you who is good at Housework?"
The Pokémon's Eyes darted around, but Bai Feng still noticed that the one they looked at the most was a Hatterene.
Actually, Bai Feng noticed the Hatterene hidden among the group of Pokémon from the start.
The most noticeable thing about this Hatterene was that it had a very hideous and terrifying scar on its cheek.
The original habitat of this kind of Pokémon, Hatterene, was the distant Galar Region. It was originally not a common Pokémon, and logically, it shouldn't be easy to see in the Kalos Region, but this one appeared in the Shelter.
Bai Feng couldn't help but ask the Uncle about the Hatterene's Situation.
The Uncle didn't hide it from Bai Feng and told Bai Feng the entire Reason why the Hatterene was here.
It turned out this Hatterene was smuggled over from the Galar Region by Pokemon Hunters several years ago.
Hatterene was already considered a relatively rare Pokémon in its original habitat, the Galar Region. If it could be smuggled to Kalos, its Value could almost double.
Unfortunately, this poaching group had bad luck. Not long after arriving in the Kalos Region, they were noticed by the Police.
During the battle, the Spaceship the poaching group was on had a violent explosion, so much so that almost all the Pokémon caught by the poaching group on the ship were killed in the explosion.
Most of the Pokémon the poaching group caught at the Time were Initial Forms that had just been born and had almost no ability to protect themselves. Of course, they couldn't withstand that level of explosion.
Even the Hatterene at the Time was still just a Hatenna.
Relying on Psychic stress protection, Hatenna barely survived the explosion, but its cheek was also cut by fragments from the exploding Spaceship, leaving a huge wound. Even Healing Wave and other healing Moves couldn't heal that wound.
As the wound healed, a terrifying scar was left on Hatenna's face, and this scar became even more noticeable as it evolved into Hatterene.
In reality, if someone was willing to spend a lot of Money, with the help of Medical Technology, the wound on Hatenna's face could actually be healed.
But who would be willing to spend so much Money on a "useless" one?
Perhaps it was too traumatized. Ever since Hatenna woke up from that explosion, it has never used a Move again and was judged to be a useless Pokémon.
Nurse Joy checked Hatenna's Situation. She said Hatenna's Body had no Problems. It refused to battle and refused to use Moves, probably due to psychological Problems.
Having such a Problem, even if Hatenna was a rare Pokémon, no one was willing to take it in anymore.
After being unable to find out where Hatenna came from, it was sent to this Pokémon Shelter to be settled.
(End of Chapter)