"Buyers?" Kawaki blinked in surprise at the word.
Officer Jenny nodded. "That's right. Some humans have extremely twisted fetishes—they buy Pokémon and treat them like collectibles."
"This kind of behavior is strictly forbidden under League law, but those people use poacher networks and the black market to purchase their favorite Pokémon."
As a police officer, Jenny had heard and seen plenty of these cases.
Some rich tycoons, driven by childhood dreams of collecting rare Pokémon, spend fortunes buying and hoarding them.
Others, obsessed with Gardevoir, would forcibly take them, even claiming to marry them—indulging in twisted, illegal relationships.
There were even those who forced Ditto to transform into people they liked… and then made it do unspeakable things.
All of it, deeply perverse and entirely illegal.
"They'll offer prices that are hard to refuse. A single rare Pokémon can sell for over a million, sometimes tens of millions, on the black market."
Jenny's face twisted with disgust. "One day, we'll tear every Pokémon poaching network off the face of this world."
Kawaki fell silent.
He'd been prepared for this, but hearing it outright—even he, with his tolerance for weirdness—found it revolting.
Jenny composed herself again and turned to look at the six rescued Pokémon.
"These six are in your care now. But it's going to take a lot of work to help them recover from their trauma…"
Kawaki looked at the six Pokémon in front of him and nodded. "Leave it to me, Officer Jenny."
The daycare didn't have that many Pokémon yet. They had more than enough time to care for these.
"In that case, I'll leave them with you," Jenny said.
To the poachers, these Pokémon were all valuable commodities.
But to her and her team, it was the Pokémon they loved that were truly precious.
Rescued Pokémon generally faced two outcomes:
One was being released back into the wild in a safe environment.
The other was being taken in by a daycare or the backyard of a professor's lab for long-term care.
But there was no lab in Fallarbor Town. The only local expert, Professor Solance, specialized in meteorites.
That made Kawaki's daycare the best option available.
After all, the mental and emotional health of the Pokémon living here spoke for itself.
As a novice breeder, Kawaki had proven he could take excellent care of every Pokémon under his roof.
Jenny gave him a nod before leaving to return to the police station.
In the blink of an eye, the daycare was quiet again, leaving only Kawaki and the six rescued Pokémon.
Chansey still stood in front of the others in a protective stance.
Jenny had explained: all six of them were wild Pokémon with little experience around humans. The first humans they ever encountered may have been poachers.
That made it easy for them to assume any new human was just as dangerous.
Seeing how wary they were, Kawaki did his best to radiate calm and kindness. He smiled and spoke gently:
"Don't worry, Chansey. This is a daycare—I'm Kawaki, the caretaker. The bad guys have all been caught. No one will hurt you anymore."
Ralts, Bulbasaur, Gastly, Chansey, Abra, and Ditto.
All six of them were incredibly rare Pokémon in the Hoenn region.
No wonder those poachers had targeted them…
Kawaki said his piece, and beside him, Growlithe barked earnestly at the newcomers.
Bewear, Chingling, and the Clefairy were all watching curiously too.
Sensing the gentleness in Kawaki's tone and posture, Chansey's expression finally showed some hesitation.
"Chansey…"
The five behind her reacted differently.
Ralts didn't dare peek out. Bulbasaur was visibly anxious. Abra sat frozen in place, too scared to move. Ditto's gelatinous body was trembling. Even Gastly, normally mischievous and bold, only dared to reveal part of its face—nervously peeking at the human.
Kawaki noticed Gastly's gaze and turned to meet its eyes.
The moment their eyes met, Gastly flinched and vanished behind Chansey again.
"…Just as Jenny said," Kawaki muttered. These Pokémon had clearly suffered serious psychological trauma.
Gastly, for example, was usually the prankster type, playful and outgoing.
Now it was trembling like a mouse.
Kawaki turned to Chansey again.
It wasn't hard to imagine how, during their days trapped in that underground sewer prison, Chansey had been the one to comfort and protect the others.
It was no surprise the group clung to her so tightly.
Kawaki knew he couldn't rush their recovery. After a moment of thought, he gently said:
"For now, I'd like you all to stay here in the daycare."
"The Pokémon here all live with me. They won't hurt you. If there's anything you're unsure about, you can ask them for help," he added, glancing at the Clefairy.
"Come with me—I'll show you where you'll be living."
Instead of housing them in the main backyard, Kawaki chose a quieter spot in the garden near the berry orchard.
The shed once prepared for Miltank was currently empty—perfect for Chansey and the others.
With some distance from humans, the new Pokémon would hopefully feel safer, less likely to go into fight-or-flight mode at the sight of people.
Plus, that area was shared by Oddish, Clefairy, and Castform, so it wouldn't feel too isolated.
Kawaki led the way.
After a moment's hesitation, Chansey gathered the others and cautiously followed.
They passed through a small wooden gate tucked in the corner, and suddenly, their world opened up.
What they saw took their breath away.
Before them stretched a vibrant, living garden.
An orchard heavy with plump berries. Neatly planted vegetable rows. Open grassland sprinkled with colorful wildflowers swaying in the breeze.
Having been locked in that sewer prison for nearly a week, they hadn't seen the outside world in what felt like forever.
Now, faced with such a beautiful, peaceful scene, the Pokémon froze in place, stunned.
Once, they'd taken this kind of life for granted.
Now, after everything they'd been through, they realized just how precious it really was.