"Milady, here's your food!"
"Milady, here's your drink!"
"Milady, here's your money!"
Sweat beaded on Clothes Rack's and Clothes Hanger's necks as they fawningly untied Mewa and handed her food and water. They did not need to turn around to know that a terrifying presence was watching them—Serperior!
That was why they were so obedient. One wrong move, and they might die without even knowing how.
"Servine." Serperior swayed its tail, its ruby-red eyes gathering the power of Mean Look, ready to unleash it at any moment. The Vine Whip extending from its neck held a Snivy whose face was full of defiance and haughty indignation.
Meanwhile, Nurse Joy quietly watched from behind it, without revealing the slightest trace of her presence.
"Mm! Excellent. I am most pleased." Mewa looked at her little round-toed leather shoes, polished until they gleamed... These poachers had quite a varied skill set. "Come forth and march with me!"
With a grand wave of her hand, she strode forward.
Clothes Rack and Clothes Hanger exchanged a glance. Feeling as though needles were digging into their backs, with no choice in the matter, they smiled bitterly. "Yes—!"
Elsewhere, Dian had arrived at a tourist inn and spread out the map in his hands to study it.
For this trip, he had left most of his Pokémon with Fennel, Lorelei, Yue Jifei, and Azisa. Beedrill had used its Nightmare form during the competition, so it needed to return to the dream space to recharge. After all, it still could not generate dream energy on its own and could only absorb it from the dream space at an extremely inefficient rate.
Tyranitar and Meloetta had been temporarily lent to Courtney to suppress another upheaval of the earth. Every upheaval now caused the Pokémon deep underground to run riot.