Catching Ralts

"Was that enough? Want some more?" A Pokéblock wasn't very big, so even if Ralts ate slowly, it wouldn't take her long to finish one.

To Xiao Ran's surprise, however, Ralts shook her head and refused another Pokéblock, even though she clearly wasn't full.

"What's wrong? Don't be afraid. I have plenty more!" As he spoke, Xiao Ran opened the bag he carried, revealing several more boxes of Pokéblocks inside.

"Do you, want to, catch me, inside, that ball?" Apparently noticing the Poké Balls in Xiao Ran's bag, Ralts suddenly spoke up.

Pokémon were intelligent, not the mindless beasts humans imagined them to be. They could think and feel, and they experienced joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.

In the wild, Ralts had seen far too many Pokémon caught in Poké Balls. Some lived decent lives, while others were even worse off than she was. With a bad owner, they might be beaten or scolded at every turn, and the Poké Balls kept them from escaping even if they wanted to.

That was bad enough, but when real danger struck, their owners might even send those Pokémon to their deaths just to buy themselves a slim chance of survival.

In Border Town, in the danger-ridden Wilderness Area, there were plenty of people who valued money over their own lives. Such things happened all the time.

"I don't want to capture you like that. You may have seen plenty of trainers who use Poké Balls to control Pokémon, but I won't."

"A Poké Ball is just a convenience. It's also a form of identification in the human world. It represents your place in human society."

"I admit that I do want to catch you and have you become my Pokémon, but not as some slave controlled by a Poké Ball, the way