Kabukicho Belongs to Pokémon

"Th-This... I got isekai'd again?"

Xingye gripped the balcony railing and looked down. The street, which had been empty that afternoon, was now ablaze with neon lights and incomparably lively!

People coming and going... no, it should have been Pokémon coming and going. The entire street was full of Pokémon walking around or standing outside shops to greet customers!

There was Gumshoos, seemingly done with a day of patrols, walking down the street with several Yungoos that seemed to have just joined up. As they chatted, he introduced the surroundings, fostering a bond between senior and junior.

There was also an Incineroar that seemed to have just finished a ring match, walking arm in arm with his good brother Rillaboom. Both looked drunk as they swaggered down the middle of the street, constantly letting out strange laughter and forcing nearby Pokémon to steer clear.

Then there were Lilligant and Gothitelle, like close sisters. Dressed like humans, they held hands and carried handbags as they happily shopped...

And that was far from all. Such a scene would have been perfectly normal among humans, like strolling through some bustling Night City, but having it all be Pokémon was incredibly strange!

Xingye's hand on the railing trembled slightly. His body instinctively retreated several steps, taking him back inside. He had no idea what expression to make; everything he had just seen was completely beyond comprehension.

I must have opened the door wrong...

Thinking that, he shut the door again, ignored the noisy sounds outside, waited a few seconds, then pulled it open once more and looked down...

"It hasn't changed at all!"

"I only... slept for six hours. How does the entire world look like it changed?!"

Xingye checked the time on his phone, completely unable to understand. It had only been a few hours... Could some hidden dungeon have opened?

He could not make sense of it. It felt as though he were now the only human left in the entire world, and he could not understand a word the Pokémon were saying.

But then, he looked toward the first floor and noticed what seemed to be a mobile sign fitted with LED lights, flashing continuously.

He could not make out what it said from this angle, but he guessed it probably read "Slowking Izakaya." The Noble Pokémon downstairs had opened for business!

To figure out what exactly was going on with this street, he immediately ran downstairs toward the shop.

"If it's open for business, I just need to ask the owner. The Noble Pokémon is only a Pokémon, so the real izakaya owner must be its trainer. Besides, I'm the upstairs neighbor!"

As soon as he ran down the stairs, some of the Pokémon on the street immediately noticed Xingye.

However, he did not realize it. He noticed even less that some of those Pokémon were glaring at him with unfriendly eyes, and simply continued running into the open izakaya...

The izakaya's interior leaned toward a retro style, with imitation wood flooring and walls.

On the left were neatly arranged wooden tables and benches. Machoke and Gurdurr, who looked as though they had just returned from a construction site after laying concrete, were happily drinking together, behaving exactly like humans.

On the right was a long bar counter. A Slowpoke lay atop it like a mascot, staring up at the ceiling and repeatedly making a "Slow~" sound.

A row of tall stools stood below, though no customers were sitting on them at the moment. There were no other humans here either, only a Slowking behind the bar reading a newspaper...

"???"

"Wait... Could it be..."

In an instant, Xingye seemed to realize something. At the same time, Slowking swept his gaze over him, still wearing that expression of great wisdom.

"Slow?"

"Uh..."

Xingye had no idea what to do next. He could only walk over and sit at the bar, nervously preparing to ask about a few things.

"Slow chicken?"

"Um..."

He placed both hands on the counter and looked at the wise-looking Noble Pokémon before him. After hesitating and stammering for a moment, he asked, "So... why are there Pokémon everywhere here? And why are they all like humans, casually shopping, eating, drinking, and chatting? Also, why are you really Boss Slowking?"

Xingye dumped every question in his mind out at once. Whether the other party answered did not matter; he merely wanted someone to whom he could say everything he had seen and heard in the past ten minutes.

Yet to his utter surprise, Slowking suddenly turned his head away, skillfully pulled out a lollipop and unwrapped it, then held it in his mouth like a cigarette and chewed with obvious enjoyment.

After replenishing his sugar, he turned back, narrowed his eyes, and his expression immediately became disdainful. Tapping the bar lightly with rhythmic fingers, he slowly said, "What do you take this place for? This is Alola Kabukicho... Kabukicho!"

"Kabukicho? What is Kabukicho? Is this something that should exist in the Pokémon worl... huh?"

Xingye had been loudly complaining about the name when he suddenly realized something even more absurd. His expression instantly froze.

"The Noble Pokémon... talked!"

"It's telepathy, you big fuss."

"Huh... Oh, but this afternoon..."

"I only use telepathy when talking to you humans. You idiots can't understand us at all, so it's a real hassle."

"Sorry for being so stupid..."

After apologizing on instinct, Xingye paused slightly before remembering that this did not seem to be the point. He then shouted, "No! What I want to ask is, what exactly is Kabukicho?!"

He felt like he was about to become the jinchuriki of a hundred thousand whys. Despite calling himself a Pokémon scholar, the knowledge in his head was utterly useless here.

Fortunately, after watching him for a moment, Slowking answered the question.

"Kabukicho is a sleepless city for Pokémon leisure and entertainment. Did you think Pokémon were pets that only knew how to battle and act cute every day? How naive!"

"Uh..."

Xingye had never thought that. To him, Pokémon were living beings like humans, with feelings and lives in this world.

The Noble Pokémon continued, "Pokémon, whether they live in the wild, drift through cities, or have already been caught by human trainers... they all experience stress."

"They have dissatisfaction and complaints about a trainer's daily life. For example, not being sent out in battle, their trainer favoring newly caught Pokémon more, getting tired of the old and loving the new, or gradually falling behind the team in strength and being left in the backyard, perhaps only seeing their trainer once every few months or even years... and so on."

"Who can guarantee that every trainer cares for each and every one of their Pokémon? I've seen humans who cannot even remember how many Pokémon they've caught. And once Pokémon develop such emotions and mindsets, what happens if they have no outlet for that pent-up frustration?"

Hearing this, Xingye seemed to suddenly understand. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly said, "Could it be..."

"That's right!"

The Noble Pokémon nodded and continued, "That's the purpose of Alola Kabukicho. Smart Pokémon can open shops and do business here, while other Pokémon can spend money or trade things of equal value for enjoyment. This is a paradise for Pokémon, a Night City for Pokémon!"

"Hiss—"

Xingye sucked in a cold breath. His knowledge of Pokémon had increased. Since it had once been a game, he had only been able to understand things through its settings and background.

But he had never expected that Pokémon truly living in this world had such a side to them. Still, there seemed to be some other problems here.

"Wait! With a Kabukicho this big, no other humans know about it? Or have no Pokémon told their trainers?"

Xingye found it strange. Even if the place disguised itself as the Drifter District during the day, what about at night? With all these lights blazing, had no one noticed?

At that, Slowking suddenly gave a disdainful laugh, as though he had long expected Xingye to ask that.

"Because this is the territory of the Kabukicho Elite Four. They hold all rights of interpretation here. If there's anything you can't explain, go ask them!"

"???"