Forging a Bond

After confirming that Uncle Kam was all right, Zeno finally felt completely at ease. Only five days remained of his vacation, and he still had some loose ends to take care of, so he planned to visit the Clamperl Ranch again.

When he reached the village beach, Zeno found quite a few people gathered there. Curious, he decided to go see what the commotion was about.

"Uncle Dazhuang, what are you all doing here? Did something interesting happen?"

Whenever Dazhuang was not out at sea, he took odd jobs at the construction site in town. It was rare for Zeno to see him in the village during the day, so he could not help feeling curious.

"It's Zeno. We're watching that Pokémon. It's been swimming around our village beach for two days and refuses to leave." Dazhuang pointed at the pink Pokémon.

"Alomomola? Why is it here?"

"No idea. Could someone in the village have stolen its baby?" Dazhuang said uncertainly.

"Look at that memory of yours. This is the Pokémon the village chief saved. I saw it when I came back yesterday, and it kept following us. I never expected it to still be here." Another villager also found it unbelievable.

"So that's what happened. It must have stayed here because it was worried about the village chief."

The villagers' curiosity faded quickly. After watching for a while, they all went back to their work. Seeing Alomomola circling in place and refusing to leave, Zeno could only step forward and try to persuade it.

"Alomomola, the person who saved you is fine now. You don't need to worry. Go home first."

"Momola~ Momola~"

Even after hearing Zeno's words, Alomomola still refused to leave.

Zeno had no choice. Since Alomomola insisted on seeing Uncle Kam, he could only go back and bring him over. This Alomomola surprised Zeno. He had not expected it to be so headstrong, but it was rather interesting.

Although Kam had awakened, he was still suffering some aftereffects these past two days. He felt nauseous from time to time and was constantly dizzy, so he had been resting at home.

"Uncle Kam, go take a look. The leading lady from your heroic rescue is here." Ram was lazily eating fruit, and Zeno could not resist teasing Kam when he saw it.

"A heroic rescue? What does that mean?" Kam looked utterly confused. He was already an old man—how could he have such thoughts?

"Don't remember? That was your 'dream lover,' hahaha!"

"You brat, what nonsense are you spouting? Have I been too good to you? Is your skin itching now that you dare tease your uncle? Explain yourself!"

"The Alomomola you saved came looking for you."

"Alomomola? Why did it come here?"

"It was worried about you. It has been following you since the day of your accident, wandering around the village beach for two days now and refusing to leave. I asked it just now, but it insisted on seeing you and would not go. I had no choice but to come find you."

"It's been here for two days? How can that be? Has it eaten anything? It isn't starving, is it?"

"People in the village gave it food, but it does not seem to be in the mood to eat."

"How can that do?"

Kam was worried. He grabbed his clothes, hurriedly got dressed, and rushed out.

The moment Alomomola spotted Kam in the distance, it excitedly swam toward him. Seeing that it was about to swim onto the shore, Kam hurried over to stop it.

"Momola! Momola~"

Although Kam could not understand what it was saying, he could feel its concern. He had not expected this fish to be so loyal and affectionate.

"Don't worry, I'm fine now. Thank you for caring about me. You've been guarding this place for two days, so you must be hungry." Kam poured the food he had brought into his palm and fed it to Alomomola.

After personally confirming that Kam was safe, Alomomola finally relaxed. Hunger immediately swept over it, and it hurriedly lowered its head to eat the food in Kam's hand.

"Eat slowly. There's plenty more, and no one's going to steal it from you. Don't choke." Kam spoke gently as he scooped another large handful from the bag.

Kam was very patient. He simply watched it eat quietly, waiting until it was full before packing away the remaining food.

"All right, everything's fine now. You can go home."

"Momo~"

Alomomola kept circling and simply would not leave. Kam could not understand what it meant or what it wanted until he saw Zeno, who was about to head for the Reef Hut.

"Come here for a moment. What's up with this Alomomola? Does it have some kind of gift for me?"

"That's right. It has a huge gift for you!"

"What huge gift?"

"Hahaha, it plans to give itself to you!"

Seeing Zeno's punchable expression, Kam could not resist giving him a hard knock on the head. But he quickly realized what Zeno meant.

"It wants to follow me!"

"This Alomomola is a girl, you know. Isn't that giving herself to you?"

Zeno rubbed the spot Uncle Kam had hit and could not help continuing to tease him. Hearing this, Kam felt a little embarrassed. He raised his hand as if he were about to knock Zeno again, frightening Zeno into retreating several steps.

Octillery and Cloyster had only willingly followed Kam after being defeated in battle. This was the first time Kam had encountered something like this. On top of that, Alomomola had always been a Pokémon he dearly wanted, so he could not help feeling overjoyed.

"All right, I understand. Go do your own thing."

Kam's attitude of tossing him aside after using him left Zeno feeling utterly dejected. He had wanted to watch Uncle Kam's little spectacle a while longer, but could only put his things on the boat and leave helplessly.

"Wait, I don't have a Poké Ball. Give me one." Kam looked completely matter-of-fact, without the slightest embarrassment.

Zeno did not know whether it was just his imagination, but he kept feeling like a mere tool. Sure enough, after staying at home for too long, Uncle Kam had started to find him annoying.

And so, Alomomola became Uncle Kam's fourth Pokémon. Zeno could not help sighing at how wonderful fate could be. After all, that was how he had first met Carvanha.

Since Alomomola was currently the only girl in the household, everyone indulged her. Whenever Mantine and the others had something tasty, they always shared a portion with her. Alomomola also liked her new life very much and behaved exceptionally well.

After Kam's injuries had fully healed, he began taking the villagers out to sea again. For decades, it had become a habit for him. If he stayed home too long, he felt uncomfortable all over. Zeno could not stop him and could only remind him to be more careful.

Since he could not persuade Uncle Kam, Zeno could only approach the matter from another angle. After thinking it over, he still felt that upgrading Kam's equipment was the most reliable option.

He was still young, after all. Neither Uncle Kam nor his teacher would allow him to travel too far away, so he might as well earn more money, buy Uncle Kam a good boat first, and prepare more things that could be used at sea.