A promise with kitty

Pandas might be called pandas, but they were still bears at heart. As long as they stayed clear of those terrifying upright apes carrying weapons, they ranked pretty high in nature.

And that was just an ordinary animal. As Pokémon, Pangoro were even more formidable. Punching a large dump truck into scrap or snapping a reinforced concrete utility pole was easy for them.

People who didn't know the full story would naturally find it hard to believe that a cat could smash glass that even a bear like that couldn't break.

"No, that glass might have..."

"Our supervisor will speak with you shortly. I don't have the authority to handle this matter, so please wait a moment."

Xin Mu hadn't intended to shift the blame, but before he could finish, the staff member interrupted him.

From the look of him, he seemed to have suffered at the hands of visitors before.

In the end, Xin Mu didn't have to pay for the glass. The park classified the incident as a quality issue on their end.

The security footage only showed Pangoro and Meownei striking the glass at the same time, so they couldn't be certain how it had cracked.

Besides, that first strike had only cracked it. According to the footage, Pangoro was still the one who had shattered it completely.

The park even seemed willing to offer some compensation for their distress.

The team members had all experienced a beating from Meowscarada and knew how strong this Pokémon who could sweep their entire team was. No one asked for money, and by the end, everyone felt the staff were being far too generous.

Not long after Xin Mu and the others left, news spread that parts of the base had been closed.

"Aww, what? Looks like we'll have to wrap up our visit here for now.

But we've already seen lots of adorable Pancham! So, where do you want Iono to go next?"

Iono, who had come on a whim to "catch" Meowscarada's Trainer, had also arrived. She had no idea that, at their closest just now, she and Xin Mu had been only two hundred meters apart.

Since she didn't know exactly where he was, Iono could only wait for the competition to begin, then head to the venue to find him.

Until then, she had started livestreaming her travels.

As a Gym Leader, she could put her Gym duties on hold, but her side business absolutely couldn't stop.

Closing the Gym for a few days was no big deal. Challengers would understand that the Gym Leader had simply gone out for work.

But if she didn't stream for a few days, who knew what rumors might start circulating?

Besides, she was from Paldea. If all else failed, there was always that model employee, Aoki.

"Go see the Suicune statue at Wuhou Shrine? Sounds good! Then it's settled!"

For the past few days, Iono's approach had been to go wherever her viewers told her to, and overall, it had worked pretty well. The various local attractions had brought in plenty of viewers, too.

After all, relatively few people had the time, energy, and money to travel between regions. Virtual sightseeing through a livestream was much more affordable.

Face-changing performances, fire-breathing, spicy hot pot-Iono had been all over the place these past two days. After hearing about it, the organizers of the Pangoro Academy Cup had even invited her to stream on-site and serve as a guest judge for some portions of the event.

Meanwhile, after leaving the breeding center, Xin Mu and the others were actually headed to Wuhou Shrine as well.

"Mu, aren't you coming to take a look?"

"Yeah, haven't you never been here before? They say there's no bigger Suicune statue in all of Donghuang-no, in the whole world."

"No, you guys go ahead. I'll head back to the hotel and find Teacher Liu."

Xin Mu had heard quite a few local legends lately. For instance, drawing North Wind in mahjong here earned an extra multiplier, because Suicune was known as the incarnation of the north wind.

As for why someone borrowing the east wind would seek out the incarnation of the north wind, one explanation was that the wind borrowed that day had actually been a northeast wind.

The other was that surely the guard at the north gate knew the guard at the east gate. Their duties overlapped a little, after all.

Although he was somewhat interested, Xin Mu could tell that Meownei was unhappy, so he no longer felt like continuing.

After hearing Xin Mu's explanation, Li Han had several others who were tired of sightseeing return with him.

On the school team, Pokémon mattered even more than the team members. If a member got sick, someone else could temporarily command their Pokémon.

It might affect how well they performed, but their overall strength would still be there.

If a Pokémon couldn't compete because of an injury, however, the impact would be much greater.

After spending most of the day alone, Old Liu finally welcomed some returning team members that afternoon. While everyone else had been out sightseeing, he had finished the series billed as the year's grandest tearjerker-"From Daughter-in-Law to Mother-in-Law."

But he remained lonely. Unless something special came up, these youngsters weren't willing to spend long stretches alone with a middle-aged teacher.

The difference in their roles made them uncomfortable.

"Meownei, is something wrong? You don't seem very happy. The glass wasn't a big deal. Just be more careful next time."

"Meow... (It's nothing...)"

"You look miserable, and you're still saying it's nothing? What did that Pangoro say?"

"Meow... (Just stuff about abandonment, humans not being trustworthy, and all that...)"

"That Pangoro must have suffered some kind of psychological trauma. You don't need to take those words seriously. But am I really that unreliable in your eyes? Something a Pokémon you've never met says is enough to shake you?"

Meownei hadn't told him everything, but Xin Mu could guess most of it. As Pokémon who were extremely devoted to Trainers they acknowledged, Meowscarada could become rather extreme when certain things were involved.

Especially since Meownei wasn't actually very old. By Meowscarada standards, she was only a teenage girl-well, one with cheats enabled.

"Meow! (No!)"

"Then there you go. I won't abandon my companions. Not a single one. Besides, you're the most special of them all. If anyone should be worried, shouldn't it be me? Maybe one day you'll abandon me."

That statement even had some basis in the Pokémon world. The Pangoro they had seen that morning had been abandoned.

But according to research, Pokémon such as Snivy and Sprigatito, who had a bit of a tsundere streak, were the ones who abandoned their Trainers.

These Pokémon were indeed deeply devoted to their Trainers, but earning that devotion wasn't easy.

"Meow! Meow! (I would never! That won't happen!)"

"I believe you. Don't worry about something that will never happen again."

He rubbed Meownei's head. Although she wasn't a Pancham, the gesture worked just as well on her. Then Xin Mu held out his little finger.

He hadn't arrived here yesterday. By now, he was certain that Meownei's memories all came from the games, including the various story scenes and cutscenes from that open-world game.

Back then, pinky promises had been one of the ways they made agreements.

Well, that had been an extra mod. Apparently, there were adult-only mods too, but Xin Mu had never used those.

"Meow~"

Kitty could be a little emotional, but she was easy to soothe. She wouldn't keep everything to herself and make others guess.

Their two fingers hooked together, and the human and cat made a new promise in this world.