The Mischievous Cottonee

Hearing that Ye Lan was willing to take it with him, Cottonee was overjoyed. With a powerful bounce, it flew straight toward Ye Lan.

After Ye Lan hurriedly caught it, it cried out even more happily.

"Cotton~"

Seeing how much the little fellow liked him, Ye Lan found it rather wondrous.

He took out the Capture Ball he had thought he would not need. After watching the little fellow gently press its switch and be captured, Ye Lan had never expected to obtain his second Pokémon this way.

After thanking Uncle Lei once more, Ye Lan headed contentedly to the center of the Wilderness Zone to handle the paperwork.

This trip to the Wilderness Zone had not only let him capture a Pokémon he was satisfied with, but also gain a top-quality Water Stone.

Compared to those gains, the fifteen-thousand handling fee required to take a Pokémon out of the zone felt utterly insignificant to Ye Lan.

"With this Water Stone, Servine and Cottonee won't have to worry about resources for a long time. Once Cottonee evolves, I'll also need to prepare a Sun—"

All of a sudden, Ye Lan realized a very serious problem.

Cottonee needed a Sun Stone to evolve. Given Ye Lan's personality, if he could use the best, then naturally he would use the best.

This top-quality Water Stone could clearly only be traded away!

"Ludicolo, I'm sorry!" Ye Lan was on the verge of tears.

He had never expected that after obtaining a top-quality Water Stone, his financial situation would not improve at all. With Cottonee joining the team, it had instead become even more precarious.

As for cash, after deducting the fee for taking Cottonee out, he had barely anything left.

"Everything depends on today's battle."

Watching Ye Lan and Servine leave, Uncle Lei smiled in relief.

"This little devil finally found a Trainer it likes. I'm already an old man—how could it keep pranking me every day?!"

Uncle Lei had first met Cottonee half a year ago, when he had just been transferred here as a ranger.

Living at the eastern station, he would either lose water or electricity every day. Thinking that the Wilderness Zone's conditions were simply like that, he suffered terribly day after day.

It was not until he returned to headquarters for a discussion meeting and spoke with the rangers from several other districts that he realized he was the only one having such problems!

With his wealth of experience, he immediately suspected a Pokémon was causing trouble. After setting a trap, he finally managed to catch Cottonee.

But when he saw how adorable Cottonee was, he could not bear to do anything to it. He merely made an agreement with it not to interfere with his work, and the captured Cottonee could only agree.

From then on, the man and the cotton ball gradually became familiar with each other.

Although Cottonee no longer disrupted his life, it would still occasionally tease him with little pranks, leaving Uncle Lei both amused and exasperated.

Through prank after prank, Uncle Lei noticed Cottonee's talent for status moves.

Despite being a wild Pokémon that had never received systematic training, it could use all sorts of status moves with effortless ease.

After discovering this, Uncle Lei began explaining the profession of "Trainer" to Cottonee.

When Cottonee asked what a Trainer did, Uncle Lei thought for a moment before answering, "A Trainer is someone who helps you improve your ability to prank others, so you can prank other Pokémon even better."

"And when you successfully prank other Pokémon, the audience will cheer for you."

Hearing that explanation, a dazzling light burst from Cottonee's eyes. Its marshmallow-like body bounced up and down in excitement.

Whenever it had pranked other Pokémon before, they had always gotten angry. This was the first time it had heard that someone might cheer for it.

It wanted to find a Trainer too!

"If you meet a Trainer you like in the future, go with them. You shouldn't be trapped in this tiny Wilderness Zone. You have a bigger stage waiting for you..."

Thinking back on every little moment he had shared with Cottonee, Uncle Lei suddenly felt a little melancholy.

He had grown used to being pranked by the little fellow. Now that it had suddenly left, the quiet around him felt almost too still.

Just then, the Poké Ball at Uncle Lei's waist opened, and a Scyther appeared beside him.

"Scy!"

"Is it patrol time again, Scyther?"

Patting his old partner on the shoulder, Uncle Lei headed off in the direction opposite Ye Lan and the others.

"Good thing I'm a Trainer too!"

Sitting in Ye Lan's arms and looking at the colorful modern city beyond the car window, Cottonee's eyes were filled with curiosity as it stared without blinking at everything unfamiliar.

Just then, Ye Lan's large hands suddenly reached over and kneaded the little fellow's cheeks like dough.

"Cotton?"

Its face had been kneaded so much that its words came out garbled. Not knowing what Ye Lan wanted, it wore an innocent expression.

Cottonee used Fake Tears!

"You're still playing dumb? You were the one who made us get chased by Fearow all afternoon, weren't you? And you were also the one messing with us when we were trying to start a fire at camp."

Trainer Ye Lan used Irrefutable Evidence. Cottonee's move had no effect!

"Servine!"

Servine chimed in as well. Now that they were so close, it quickly confirmed that familiar aura.

In truth, when Ye Lan saw that Cottonee had mastered Razor Leaf, he had already guessed that it was the one who had fired those green blades of light.

But worried that the little fellow would be frightened, Ye Lan had chosen not to expose it in front of Uncle Lei.

Hearing Ye Lan's words, the pitiful expression on Cottonee's face vanished in an instant, replaced by a mischievous smile.

"Cotton~"

Ever since hearing about the profession of Trainer from Uncle Lei, Cottonee had lingered around the entrance of the Wilderness Zone every day, hoping to meet a Trainer it liked.

When Ye Lan entered the Wilderness Zone, Cottonee had instantly been drawn to the aura around him and could not help following after him.

When it saw Ye Lan and the others get attacked by droppings, the little fellow laughed so hard it toppled back and forth, stirring up its mischievous nature.

After attacking the Fearow, it followed Ye Lan and the others toward the center of the Wilderness Zone.

Though Cottonee looked small and delicate, it was familiar with the Wilderness Zone's terrain and quickly caught up with the fleeing Ye Lan and Servine ahead.

After repeatedly stealing Ye Lan's firewood and interfering with him while he tried to light a fire, Cottonee gradually realized that Ye Lan truly suited its tastes.

"Following him out of here definitely won't be boring, right?"

Just as it was thinking that, more and more Pokémon began gathering below at the campsite, and the aroma of food gradually drifted over.

At that time, Cottonee had actually been on the verge of revealing itself.

Unfortunately, the aura Servine had unleashed while facing the Fearow had truly frightened it.

As much as it loved pranks, if it had not been cautious, it would have been caught by who knew how many Pokémon already.

It finally waited until night, when all the Pokémon had fallen asleep. Only then did the starving Cottonee dare eat the leftovers in the pot.

After eating its fill, it grew sleepy again. Unable to hold out any longer, it ran onto Ye Lan's chest and slept there for the night. Before dawn the next day, it quietly slipped away and hurried toward Uncle Lei's cabin.

After telling Uncle Lei the good news that it had found a Trainer it liked, Uncle Lei was overjoyed. He picked up the little fellow and rushed toward the campsite, afraid that Ye Lan might have already left the Wilderness Zone.