Chapter 43: The Tale of the Scoundrel Panda

She was born in a moderately sized wild community led by a Totem Pangoro, living a leisurely life within a vast bamboo grove.

She evolved, grew up, and had a child.

However, just as her child was born and before it had even hatched, a Pokémon hunter appeared. Accompanied by a pseudo-legendary Pokémon known as Hydreigon, that villain relied on the immense power of Hydreigon to indiscriminately capture the Pokémon living in the bamboo grove.

Among them was her child—that unhatched egg.

She challenged the Pokémon hunter like one gone mad, but how could an ordinary Pangoro defeat an enemy that even the Totem struggled to overcome? Unsurprisingly, she lost. Yet perhaps it was for the best, for at least she could hope that the enemy would take her along as well, to keep her together with her child.

The reality, however, was…

"Such a weakling. Even if I catch it, it won't fetch much money. Just kill it."

The Pokémon hunter had spoken those exact words.

She stood frozen, then erupted, and finally plunged into madness, launching a desperate, near-death counterattack, but it was all meaningless.

In the very end… she awaited a savior. It was an international police officer dispatched by the League, a detective who used an Arcanine, using overwhelming strength to crush the Pokémon hunter she could barely fight against.

The bad guy was arrested, but the Pokémon he had captured were circulated outward through various channels. Even the detective could only recover a portion of them, and among the remaining Pokémon that had not yet been found was her child.

That day, she stood before the Totem, asking the leader who had once seemed invincible in her heart: "If I were strong enough, would I have been able to protect my child?"

The Totem looked at her in silence, and after a long while, nodded gently: "But this is not your fault. As your leader, I could not protect all of you, nor could I defeat the enemy..."

That day, the Totem cried as well.

She felt as though she had understood something. She wanted to become stronger. She embarked on the path of gaining power, leaving the bamboo grove and pressing forward in the direction of her child—to search for her child, to grow stronger, and to protect more of the weak.

Until… she arrived in this completely unfamiliar world.

She fell into madness once more, because she felt that if she left that world, she might never find her child again, and the meaning behind her quest to grow stronger would vanish entirely…

In her madness, she encountered poachers—faces just as ugly as those of the Pokémon hunters.

She met the detectives of this world. Those who had helped her in the previous world were now fighting against her because of the poachers. She did not fight back, simply watching as the detectives and the poachers departed.

Her heart grew cold, and her inner world slowly collapsed. It was then that she met Growlithe.

That fellow who smiled while asking for directions, the one who spoke of a "master" being right here, and that unwavering steadfastness that seemed as though it would never crumble, caused her to completely… plunge into madness.

Until… a certain figure appeared beside her, telling her:

Your child is also in this world.

Your child is also in this country.

Your child is waiting for you.

The Pangoro awakened, and her deadened heart came alive once more.

This is… my story.

——

Sitting in the car that had been righted by the Pangoro, Qian Lin silently looked at the Pangoro before him, momentarily at a loss for words to describe the feelings in his heart.

Growlithe sat beside the Pangoro, whimpering softly as it tried to comfort her.

Swablu covered its mouth with its wings, its large eyes brimming with tears.

[So everyone guessed wrong. This incident really was humanity's fault, but it wasn't the fault of the humans in our world.]

[Those Pokémon hunters deserve to die!]

[Pokémon have the exact same thoughts and emotions as humans. In that case, what's the difference between stealing a young Pokémon and stealing a human child? Scumbags like that should be shot!]

[I'm sorry, Pangoro. I misunderstood you.]

[Damn it, I hope bastards like that never appear in our world, or else I swear I'll smash a brick over their heads the moment I see one.]

[While I'd also love to smash a brick over their heads, when I think about what Qian Lin just said about Hydreigon, I think we'd better try a different approach.]

[A burlap sack!]

[If Pangoro's child came to this world too, maybe we could help look for it. Pandas are so distinct that there's no way we'd mistake it for something else.]

[You dare go out into the wild?]

[Uh… never mind.]

"So the reason you helped me this time, besides wanting to get stronger, is also because you wanted to apologize to me, Swablu, and Growlithe..." Qian Lin sighed softly.

It was probably because that mysterious entity had brought Pangoro back to her senses, and she realized that her attack on Growlithe was entirely a result of misplaced anger, which was why she chose to help Qian Lin as a way of apologizing.

Looking at the noticeably dejected Pangoro, he instinctively reached out and patted her arm: "It's fine. Under the current circumstances, the chances of you and your child reuniting are actually higher here than they were in the Pokémon world. Isn't that even better?"

Qian Lin didn't know how vast the Pokémon world was, but based on the prototypes of the game maps from his past life, the Pokémon world should be roughly the same size as Earth.

Trying to find a single Pokémon on an Earth teeming with Pokémon would be extremely difficult, but trying to find one in China, where Pokémon density wasn't as high yet, would be comparatively much easier. Moreover, Pangoro's strength wasn't weak, and there were no Pokémon hunters in this world.

One could say this was already the place where Pangoro's wish was closest to coming true.

"Roar~" Pangoro nodded, acknowledging what Qian Lin had said.

Qian Lin flashed a smile: "I'll be live-streaming in various places from now on. If I run into a community of Pancham or Pangoro, I'll help you spread the word that a great mother is searching for her child."

"They will be waiting for you to come," Qian Lin clenched his fist.

Pangoro was momentarily startled, as if pondering something. After a long moment, she extended her fist and bumped it against Qian Lin's.

Facing the smile on Qian Lin's face, she withdrew her fist and slowly turned around. Without saying much more, she simply walked away in the direction she had come.

Qian Lin watched the retreating figure of the Pangoro and took a deep breath: "Goodbye, Pangoro."

Growlithe stood beside him, holding its body straight as it gazed into the distance. Swablu fluttered its wings and took flight, shedding tears while waving its wings in farewell to the Pangoro until her figure vanished into the lush jungle.

Swablu landed on Qian Lin's head, sniffed its runny nose, and its large eyes remained filled with tears.

Qian Lin reached out to stroke Swablu's head, smiling as he comforted it: "It's alright. As long as we remember each other, we'll always have a day when we meet again."

"Chirp~" Swablu nodded tearfully.

Even though it had experienced the parting with Milotic and Magikarp, the separation in this moment still left it feeling deeply saddened.