Pokémon from Galar

"……Um?"

"...You, you decide..."

Leading everyone up the elevator, Lillie still had her puffed-up face, her chin resting on her fluffy white head, looking quite adorable.

"My dear mother, really...!"

Mao seemed somewhat worried that Lillie's actions were a bit impolite.

"Is this alright? We..."

"No problem, and it would be too unfair if I had to always cooperate with Mother!"

Mary subconsciously reached out and touched Lillie's head, saying:

"Everyone's waiting for Lillie to show us around, don't be sullen, smile!"

"I'm not angry! Humph—!"

Although there are many reasons to explain things, Mary wouldn't spout grand theories. How could someone as gentle as Lillie not understand? Lillie could certainly imagine how busy her mother was, having single-handedly supported the entire Ether Foundation.

It was just that Lillie's desire to act spoiled towards her mother as a daughter was something she couldn't calm down, and everyone could see that, so naturally no one said anything more.

Meanwhile, in another corner, Musashi and Kojiro, who were feeling sentimental after hearing Lillie's angry words, went unnoticed.

The elevator was moving quickly, and before we knew it, we had reached the floor where the Pokémon Protection Area was located.

The Pokémon Reserve is huge, and the floor is also quite spacious. Flying-type Pokémon can fly around in the air without feeling crowded at all.

At first glance, one sees a network of interconnected walkways, thriving vegetation, and clear flowing water. Numerous Pokémon gather here, and many staff members are also conducting tests and performing various tasks on the Pokémon.

P.S.: Speaking of which... after writing for so long, all the books on my list are related to turning characters white... I only have one Pokémon book list. Pokémon's popularity is really low right now, sigh...

Chapter 125 The Ditto Who Once Gathered a Crowd to Cause Trouble

The protected area is very large, and Marie hadn't made a decision yet when the two little dragons ran out of their Poké Balls on their own. Baloo had no choice but to follow them out as well, lest the two little guys disappear without a trace.

"Ouch... (Sorry, Mary, I didn't keep an eye on them all...)"

Baloo huddled next to Mari and apologized with a wry smile. Mari shook her head, raised her hand, patted Baloo's head, and said with a smile:

"It's okay, it's okay, Lillie—can I let the Pokémon out to play for a while?"

"Sure, it's perfectly fine."

Thank you~

After thanking Lillie, Marie patted Baloo's tail to reassure him.

"Go ahead, just don't let those two little guys, Xiao Zuo and Xiao You, cause trouble for other people's work."

"Hoo~ (I understand~)"

Baloo wagged its tail, nodded, and then turned and floated away in the direction of the two little guys.

With such a large size, Baloo was surprisingly conspicuous in this protected area. Marie didn't bother with him; such a big Pokémon didn't need Marie to watch over him all the time.

When Mari finally turned her attention away from Baloo, she saw a woman bursting out of the water, which startled Mamane.

"He's out—pfft~ Is he saying hello~"

The woman, wearing a wetsuit and having removed her diving mask, smiled and greeted everyone before curiously striking up a conversation with Mary:

"Miss is the Marie that Kukui mentioned, right? And that Pokémon just now was Dragapult, wasn't it?"

"Ah, yes, hello, I'm Mary from Galar."

"Haha~ Alola, my name is Banette. I've been hearing Kukui mention you a lot lately."

Dr. Barnett waved to Mary, unzipping his wetsuit as he said something that left Mary speechless. Others might not know, but Mary remembered: Barnett and Kukui were supposed to be getting married…

"I am very grateful to Dr. Kukui for his help recently, and he even provided me with accommodation."

Mary offered a brief explanation and then said no more, presumably because Dr. Barnett knew what Dr. Kukui had done.

"Dr. Barnett, it's been a long time!"

Ash, standing slightly behind Mammane, greeted her with great enthusiasm.

"Hey, is this someone you know, Ash?"

"Alola, Ash."

After introducing themselves, Dr. Barnett joined the tour group, and the group was now walking towards a cabin built beneath a walkway.

Dr. Barnett entered the code to open the door, then pointed inside and introduced with a smile:

"look--"

Inside the cabin were five Pokémon that looked like amorphous, soft-bodied creatures, with only blurry limbs and faces. They were Ditto, a very rare and uncommon Pokémon.

Ditto is a Pokémon that can transform into any other Pokémon at will, and can perfectly imitate its moves and abilities, making it very powerful, but its strength is relatively limited.

After all, skills and physical abilities can be imitated, but combat experience and the way skills are used cannot. Therefore, although Ditto is rare, it is not a popular Pokémon.

However, it was quite rare to see five Dittos in Etherland. Like the other students, it was the first time that Mary had seen live Dittos, so she leaned close to the glass to take a closer look.

“After Ditto transforms, it is easy to confuse it with other Pokémon and make it difficult to distinguish, so we specially separated them and put them in a separate room for protection.”

Biko explained the purpose of isolating and containing Ditto, while Marie remained noncommittal. After all, letting Ditto roam freely would make regular care and checkups for Pokémon extremely troublesome.

And if you listen carefully, the Dittos inside don't seem to care much, so Mary didn't bother to say anything more.

This protected area was originally just a temporary shelter, where the Pokémon would be released after they recovered. Designating certain areas to facilitate treatment was perfectly reasonable.

As Biko was explaining, Dr. Barnett stepped through the door, placed her palm on the screen, and after her fingerprint was scanned, the door unlocked.

"Huh? Is it okay to open it like this?"

Barnett turned to Ash and explained with a smile:

"We're about to do the vaccinations, does anyone want to help?"

"Okay!" x7

Mary was among them; she also wanted to get a closer look at the Ditto.

Following them inside, Maokachi and the others each held a Ditto in their arms, lining up to wait for Dr. Barnett's vaccine. Marie and Lillie stood to the side, watching the Dittos, who seemed either obedient or simply too lazy to move.

"By the way, Miss Biko, may I ask why these Ditto were brought to this protected area?"

Mary was genuinely curious. Five Dittos at once? Did they wipe out an entire nest or something?

"Ah, this~"

Upon hearing Mary's question, Miss Biko raised her right hand to her cheek and chuckled.

"Actually, these Dittos were found in a police station."

"Police station?"

Lillie also became interested in this idea and turned to look at Miss Bick.

"Yes, these five Dittos ran into the police station and disguised themselves as police officers, causing quite a commotion. In the end, the police station's Pokémon recognized them and arrested them, taking them directly to the nearest Aether Foundation base station."

"Um...did the police pack up the troublemaking Pokémon and hand them over to the Aether Foundation?"

"Yes, at first the staff didn't intend to take them in, after all, we only take in injured wild Pokémon, but the police were worried that they might go back and cause trouble, so they forced them to come here."

"Pfft..."

Mary roughly understood. The police were also troubled by these Dittos that seemed to have gathered together to cause trouble for no apparent reason. Fortunately, they knew that there was a particularly large ecological area in Etherland, so they simply packed them up and sent them over, treating it as just dumping the trouble on them.

"So what are you going to do with these Dittos after this?"

Lillie did raise a question that is worth considering, but leaving it here would be inconsistent with the purpose of Ether Paradise.

"Hmm...we're also having a headache over this problem. We haven't been able to decide how to arrange things for these kids yet."

Miss Bee didn't know how to deal with these Dittos. These little guys had been causing so much trouble at the police station, but after we took them in, they were surprisingly well-behaved and we hardly had to worry about them.

This is also what's puzzling.

"By the way, Mary! Could you help me ask around?"

Lillie reacted quickly, turning to look at Mary with sparkling eyes, her face full of anticipation. Mary blinked, unable to resist that little gaze, and could only nod.

"I'll give it a try... to see if I can get any information."

Chapter 126 The Strange Race and Values ​​of the Ditto

Although she nodded in agreement, Mary didn't act immediately. The Dittos were still in line getting vaccinated, so she'd have to wait until they were all vaccinated before making any decisions.

"Alright, everyone come in one order to get vaccinated!"

Dr. Barnett picked up the syringe, turned around, and waved to Mao and the others who were lined up holding their Ditto, signaling them to come over.

The first four Ditto twitched briefly and then it was over, until the fifth one that Mamane was holding...

Dr. Barnett, leaning on a chair, smiled as she brought the needle-free injector closer.

"Okay, you're the last one~"

However, just when everyone thought it would end smoothly, Ditto suddenly stretched its body dramatically the moment the syringe approached, and then, taking advantage of the moment when Mamane was caught off guard, it jumped out of his arms!

"Mama—! (I don't want a shot!)"

"Waaaaah!"

Mammane was used as a springboard by Ditto to escape, but losing her balance, Mammane accidentally fell headfirst to the ground.

But Ditto flipped over, leaped high into the air, and charged towards Lillie.

"ah--!"

Lillie spread her arms to block Ditto, but because she was afraid of touching the Pokémon, she subconsciously crouched down as she got close, allowing Ditto to easily cross the first human wall.

Seeing that things were not going well, Mary quickly raised her hand to grab it, but unfortunately it was too far away. Her palm only managed to grab a corner of Ditto. It was soft and boneless to the touch, and before she could exert any further force, Ditto twisted and escaped from her palm.

After bypassing two people, Ditto changed direction and slammed its head into Zaobo's face, intending to use the momentum to knock him out. Zaobo was retreating towards the automatic door, which...

Once unlocked, the automatic door was easily flung open by Zaobo with a single trip, as soon as it sensed someone approaching...

"Mama—! (I'm outta here!)"

The group stared blankly at the Ditto as it drove away, only reacting when it had completely disappeared from sight.

"Loto the Ditto has escaped!!!"