The train swiftly moved along the tracks. As time passed, Audino and Wigglytuff sat there drowsy, while Poliwrath continued to look left and right, still showing great interest in the scenery along the way.
Just then, the voice of a train attendant came over the intercom.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are currently encountering a Pokémon migration, and the train will make an emergency stop."
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are currently encountering a Pokémon migration, and the train will make an emergency stop."
After the announcement ended, several attendants patiently explained to the passengers the reason for the sudden stop.
Although such incidents were not common in the Pokémon world, it was considered an unforeseen circumstance, and everyone could understand. With the organized efforts of the staff, the train soon came to a gradual stop on the tracks.
Because Pokémon migrations could take a while, some passengers expressed their desire to disembark and witness this rare event.
After consulting with the forest rangers responsible for safeguarding the migration, the train conductor agreed to the passengers' request, with the condition that everyone should stay within a certain area and not disturb the migrating Pokémon.
Initially, Audino and Wigglytuff weren't inclined to join in the excitement, but Poliwrath was curious, and Wigglytuff didn't want to leave it alone. So, they reluctantly got off the train to see what was happening.
This migration involved a large group of Wooper and Quagsire. These Pokémon appeared slow and had a somewhat vacant expression, contributing to the migration's extended duration.
The reason behind their migration was related to water pollution.
Wooper and Quagsire could only live near high-quality water sources. Once their habitat became polluted, they would fall ill or even die.
The water source where this group of Wooper and Quagsire originally resided was contaminated due to an invasion of Grimer and Muk. This prompted the forest rangers to organize their emergency migration.
The Wooper and Quagsire were specially brought from Johto Region by the Forest Rangers Union to diversify the local species. It was introduced by Cherrygrove City and they couldn't just let a group of Grimer and Muk wreak havoc on them.
Cherrygrove City is known as the city with a fragrant breeze blowing on the face, and its ecological environment is very high quality, especially the water sources, which consistently rank first in Johto's annual assessments. It is also the largest habitat for Wooper and Quagsire.
The forest rangers orderly directed the Wooper and Quagsire to cross the road and the adjacent train tracks. Onlookers watched from a distance, taking out their phones to capture this group of endearing creatures, snapping pictures for souvenirs.
Within the crowd, Poliwrath found the scene before its eyes incredibly novel.
Born on a survival-of-the-fittest island where Pokémon fought every day to survive, Poliwrath only realized after coming to the human world that there was another way of life for Pokémon.
Humans and Pokémon can living in harmony!
Poliwrath took a deep breath while watching the forest rangers directing the Wooper and Quagsire: This kind of life is really nice!
Compared to its previous days, when its head was always hanging from a belt, Poliwrath discovered that it preferred the current comfortable life, free from worries about food and drink, where it could do as it pleased.
Perhaps being more well-behaved when it returned wouldn't be a bad idea. Suddenly, this thought crossed Poliwrath's mind.
Poliwrath wasn't inherently a crafty Pokémon; its personality was shaped by the environment it grew up in.
On the other hand, Yuga returned home and found the house empty, with no sign of Audino and Wigglytuff. He began searching for them everywhere.
After searching for a while with no success and starting to suspect that Audino and Wigglytuff might have been kidnapped, Chatot flew back with a lot of stumbling and babbling.
"Hey... hey... boss, I'm back!"
Chatot landed on Yuga's shoulder, greeting him in a somewhat confused manner.
Since reconciling with Noctowl, it had gradually changed how it addressed Yuga, shifting from "darling" to "boss."
"Did you go drinking again?" Yuga asked as Chatot flew over, and he immediately caught a whiff of the strong smell of alcohol, quickly covering his nose.
Is there anything else you'd like to know or discuss?
Chatot had developed a fondness for alcohol, and it was a common sight to see it return home completely intoxicated.
This little guy could talk and often praised the townspeople to the point where they were bewildered.
Coupled with the fact that the town had a soft spot for YoYo Day Care, Chatot was quite popular in Verdanturf Town.
If It wanted to drink, and everyone was willing to invite it for a drink, so it lived its days in perpetual bliss.
Yuga generally paid no mind to Chatot; he had his wife to look after, and he had no intention of dealing with that sort of stuff.
Chatot perched on Yuga's shoulder, used one wing to cover its head, belched after taking a sip, and then suddenly stretched out its head, saying, "By the way... Tu-Tuff asked me to tell you... told me to tell you..."
Before it could finish its sentence, it tumbled from Yuga's shoulder.
Upon hearing that it had a message from Wigglytuff, Yuga hastily picked it up by one leg from the ground. "Hey, what happened to Wigglytuff?"
But Chatot was already unconscious.
At that moment, Noctowl arrived, and Yuga threw Chatot over to it. "Wake it up."
Noctowl expertly caught Chatot, then, after placing a basin of water, directly tossed it in. The way Noctowl did it was so skillful, as if it had been refined through countless trials.
"Ahh!! Ahh!!"
In no time, a still not quite sober Chatot was splashing around in the basin, causing water to fly in all directions.
Seeing that Chatot was still not coming to its senses, Noctowl used its talon to push Chatot's head down, submerging its body in the water again.
Noctowl was significantly larger than Chatot, almost like it was pressing down on a little chick, rendering Chatot completely powerless.
...Ten minutes later...
Yuga looked at Chatot, standing on the edge of the basin, completely drenched, and asked, "Are you awake now?"
"I'm awake," Chatot answered, shaking off the droplets from its still-damp feathers.
"Where did Wigglytuff go? Is Audino with it?" Yuga continued to ask.
Chatot nodded honestly, "Yes, they are together. They and Poliwrath said they wanted to go on a spontaneous trip."
Poliwrath? Yuga paused for a moment. If he remembered correctly, Poliwrath didn't have permission to enter or exit the Ecopark. So, the only Pokémon who could take it outside was Audino.
In terms of entering and exiting the Ecopark, Audino held the highest authority after Yuga.
Without much thought, Yuga could already guess that it was Poliwrath who encouraged them to leave. That little guy sure had some guts!
"When did they leave? Where did they go?"
After some questioning, Yuga quickly found out the destination of the three Pokémon: Pokémon Tower.
That place was certainly chosen by Wigglytuff.
Thinking of this, Yuga suddenly felt that he hadn't shown enough concern for Wigglytuff. Otherwise, it wouldn't have left without waiting for him and gone straight to Pokémon Tower.
Wigglytuff had a calm personality, and it wouldn't leave home on a whim. But where were they now? Yuga couldn't help but worry.
Just then, Suzuki Koen suddenly greeted Yuga, holding a phone and said, "Boss, look, does this look like our Audino and Wigglytuff?"
This photo had been posted by an internet user, and Suzuki Koen had come across it while surfing the web. However, Suzuki Koen merely thought it looked like them and hadn't recognized Audino and Wigglytuff, as she couldn't have imagined that these two, along with Poliwrath, had left home.
Yuga leaned in to take a look. In the center of the photo, there was an adorable group of Wooper and endearing Quagsire. In the corner of the photo, unmistakably, there were Audino, Wigglytuff, and Poliwrath, apparently captured unintentionally.
This was undoubtedly the three little brat that runaways from home!
Yuga quickly asked Suzuki Koen for the location where the photo was taken. After she told him, Yuga instructed her to take good care of the shop and then dashed out quickly.