A pair of yellow eyes kept watching the direction Meownei had left in. Only after making sure she was far away and had no intention of turning back did the Pokémon in the dumpster crawl out.
Judging by its build, it was clearly a feline Pokémon, but its fur was sparse. In the dead of winter, it looked almost like a hairless cat, with bald patches all over its body.
Still, its distinctive features remained. It had a catlike body with a few tigerlike traits.
It was actually one of the Alola Region's starter Pokémon-a Litten. Its presence here had a tiny bit to do with Xin Mu.
The story went back to their research expedition in the Gobi.
The emergence of the Pokémon Hunter Organization had prompted a region-wide crackdown, uprooting many organizations involved in illegal poaching,
and trafficking Pokémon.
There were no large-scale wars. In these regions, aside from regional organizations like Team Rocket and Team Galactic, Pokémon hunters were the biggest criminal organizations around.
There had even been cases where a Champion led a team to stamp out such organizations as soon as signs of them appeared.
Many Pokémon captured for sale were taken into care. Some were sent to Pokémon Day Care facilities, while others were released straight into the wild.
During the arrests, some Pokémon hunters and black-market dealers had simply released or abandoned their Pokémon in an attempt to lessen their crimes.
After all, their main offense was illegally selling Pokémon, and the specifics depended on which Pokémon they had sold,
so getting rid of the Pokémon would affect their sentencing to some extent.
Of course, that did not necessarily mean a lighter sentence. It could mean a harsher one.
That was how this Litten had ended up here,
Pokémon gained some awareness of