Meria's Home.
Even in Jubilife City, where every inch of land was incredibly valuable and expensive, this particular building still didn't look old or worn compared to its surrounding structures.
Wayne had already heard Meria's complete story from Zorro during their phone conversation.
"Hello. We'd like to go inside, please. This is the authorization proof that Section Chief Zorro provided for me," Wayne explained politely to the security guard.
Zorro had efficiently prepared an electronic authorization document and sent it directly to Wayne's phone within minutes.
Without this official proof, Wayne would most likely not have been able to enter the orphanage facility and would have been forced to find alternative methods.
After carefully glancing at both the authorization document and the imposing Dragapult floating nearby,
the middle-aged security guard nodded with understanding. "Go ahead inside, but please keep a close eye on your Pokémon. It's best if you recall it into its Poké Ball for safety."
Wayne felt helpless at this reasonable request. Dragapult definitely wouldn't want to enter a Poké Ball at this emotionally critical moment.
Prior to Wayne's arrival, Meria's Home had already received an advance call from Zorro, informing the staff of Wayne's upcoming visit.
Upon entering through the main entrance, Dragapult immediately saw the person it had been thinking about day and night for two decades.
To the left of the entrance hall was a large group photograph displayed prominently: Meria, wearing a pretty hat and smiling sweetly and warmly, surrounded by a group of happy children.
This precious photo was carefully framed and protected behind glass, preserved in excellent condition despite the years.
"Gulu~" Dragapult's large head gently rubbed against the protective glass covering.
Although the physical touch felt cold and lifeless, to Dragapult's heart, Meria's presence felt so vividly real.
"It's a Pokémon!" a child's voice rang out excitedly.
"What a cool-looking Pokémon!" another child exclaimed.
The massive Dragapult and the gleaming Shiny Metagross quickly attracted the excited attention of all the children currently at Meria's Home.
Drakloak, seeing far too many mischievous and energetic kids approaching, quickly hid by perching on Wayne's head, resting its own head comfortably on top of Wayne's.
Because Wayne stood over 1.8 meters tall, even if these enthusiastic children jumped as high as they could, they couldn't reach Drakloak's position.
"Please wait! No destroy!" a staff member called out urgently.
A short-haired woman in her twenties, seeing Dragapult's actions near the photograph, quickly stepped forward to intervene and stop potential damage.
Wayne quickly stepped between them to mediate. "I'm very sorry for the concern, but it's not causing any damage to the photo. It just misses Miss Meria far too much."
"Huh? Is that really the case?" the young woman asked with surprise.
Looking more carefully at Dragapult's gentle and reverent actions, the short-haired woman indeed couldn't refute Wayne's explanation.
"Hey, hey, big brother! Can you please tell me its name?" a small voice piped up.
A little girl with two adorable pigtails, whose front teeth showed gaps when she spoke, tugged persistently at Wayne's pant leg while looking up at him with eager, shining eyes.
"That one is called Metagross," Wayne answered kindly.
"What about that one! What about that one!" she pressed excitedly, pointing at Drakloak.
"That's Drakloak," Wayne replied patiently.
"Dra... Drakloak!" the little girl tried to pronounce carefully.
"It's a Shiny Pokémon!" another child observed with awe.
"So shiny!" multiple children chorused.
"Big brother, why do you have a Pokémon growing on your head? Is it because you're secretly also a Pokémon?" one particularly imaginative child asked with complete seriousness.
A growing group of children surrounded Wayne completely, with all sorts of curious questions coming one after another in rapid succession, making the entrance area noisier than a bustling marketplace.
The security guard uncle laughed knowingly as if no one else was there. "That's exactly why I said to recall your Pokémon into their balls!"
He wasn't genuinely worried about the Pokémon attacking anyone. Rather, he was simply accustomed to how these children always reacted with overwhelming excitement whenever they saw Pokémon visitors.
"Everyone, please come back to your activities!" Several staff members came out one after another and patiently led the reluctant children away to other areas.
"Meta..." Metagross secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Those mischievous kids had almost managed to climb onto its head just moments ago.
Observing Dragapult carefully, a woman nearing fifty years of age showed a glimmer of distant recollection in her experienced eyes.
Especially seeing how nostalgic and reverent Dragapult was toward Meria in the displayed photograph.
She nodded with a warm smile. "I'm Rosa, the acting director here at Meria's Home. May I ask about this Dragapult...?"
However, twenty full years had passed since Meria's death. Could this truly still be the same Dragapult? Even Rosa wasn't entirely certain.
Acting director? Wayne mentally noted.
Wayne nodded respectfully. "Yes, it's Miss Meria's Dragapult, and Drakloak here is its child."
Rosa's face transformed with a heartfelt, genuine smile of recognition and joy.
"I've finally been able to meet you after all this time, Dragapult. Please follow me. I have something very important for you," Rosa said with emotion.
Wayne nodded in agreement. "Dragapult, let's go with her first and see what else there is to discover."
"Gulu..." Dragapult vocalized reluctantly.
Dragapult left the entrance area with great reluctance, looking back at the treasured group photo every few steps as they walked away.
Rosa led them through the facility to a specific room. Wayne threw out a Luxury Ball. "Come out, Lucario."
Wayne also needed Lucario present to translate Dragapult's communications accurately.
Since Wayne already had a rare Shiny Metagross, Rosa wasn't particularly surprised to see yet another powerful Pokémon like Lucario emerge. She introduced the space simply:
"This is Miss Meria's personal room."
Wayne had some vague impression of this room's layout. Its arrangement was almost completely identical to the second-floor bedroom in the house on Wuyin Mountain.
A comfortable reclining chair, a bed, a dressing table, and a bay window with a view—even the curtains were the exact same pattern and color.
The only notable difference was a photo frame prominently placed on the table, which contained an intimate photograph of Dragapult and Meria together.
In the photo, Meria was gently caressing Dragapult with one loving hand, her smile tender and beautiful—absolutely stunning in its genuine warmth.
If Wayne could easily recognize this room, there was absolutely no need to mention Dragapult's reaction. The Dragon-type immediately fell deep into memories.
Dragapult sat motionlessly by the bay window, completely lost in memories while gazing at Meria's photograph with overwhelming emotion.
Rosa spoke slowly and carefully. "Then I'll begin by explaining the origin and purpose of Meria's Home."
Wayne had already heard this story from Zorro. This explanation was primarily intended for Dragapult to finally hear.
Meria had been quite wealthy, but her life hadn't been fortunate or easy. Her parents had died in a tragic car accident, leaving her only a cold inheritance of money.
Fortunately, the Dreepy her parents had given her as a small child had faithfully accompanied her all the way until she turned thirty years old.
That Dreepy had been with her for a full twenty-five years, long ago becoming her truest family.
At the age of thirty, Meria had contracted a severe and aggressive illness—one for which there were essentially no effective medical treatments available, only the desperate option of risky surgery.
The surgery had been unsuccessful.
After the failed operation, Meria could only lie bedridden in the hospital. She passed away peacefully after approximately seven days.
Before her death, she had donated all of her substantial wealth to establish a charitable foundation.
The money from this foundation was dedicated solely to the renovation and operation of Meria's Home.
Because there was such a significant amount of money in the endowment, operating just this one children's orphanage allowed it to exist and function for a very long time into the future.
Rosa was only managing it temporarily in the role of acting director. There would be new directors in the future, but the permanent director of this orphanage would always be Meria in spirit.
"As for Dragapult specifically, Director Meria had asked us to search for it before she passed away," Rosa continued with emotion.
Dragapult looked up sharply and met Rosa's compassionate gaze directly.
"Director Meria asked us to deliver a message to Dragapult if we ever found it: not to wait for her anymore, because she had gone to a distant heaven," Rosa explained gently.
"We went to the mountain house approximately ten times to search, but we never saw Dragapult there, and we were actually relieved, thinking it had moved on earlier," Rosa admitted.
"Yet, we never imagined that after twenty full years, Dragapult would still be there, still waiting faithfully," Rosa said with awe and sadness.
Dragapult had known deep down that Meria had already left this world permanently.
But it was still waiting there for her return anyway.
Only to faithfully keep that precious promise they'd made.
As long as Meria appeared, Dragapult could once again joyfully become Meria's Pokémon partner.
"Dragapult, these are Director Meria's... twenty-seven letters that she left behind specifically for you. They can finally be handed over to you after all this time," Rosa said with reverence.
Ms. Rosa carefully pulled open a drawer and took out a thick stack of letters, all enclosed in individual envelopes.
The envelopes were old-fashioned in style but had been preserved in excellent condition, each one addressed simply to "Dragapult" with no return address.
These were twenty-seven heartfelt letters, representing Meria's twenty-seven expressions of love and thoughts for Dragapult.
"Gulu..." Dragapult vocalized with overwhelming emotion.
Wayne gently took them on behalf of Dragapult, who seemed unable to move.
The twenty-seven physically light letters felt as heavy as a thousand pounds in Wayne's hands.