The Pokemon Nova had in mind was the evolved form of Pat's Kirlia: Gardevoir.
He had come to the Pokemon world. It would be a shame not to find one.
The problem was that Psychic-type and Ghost-type Pokemon were genuinely uncommon in everyday life. They had specific habitats, and most of those habitats were not places that were easy or safe for humans to spend time in.
The gathering place for Psychic-type Pokemon that Nova was most familiar with in the Norlandia Alliance was the Lost Forest. Anyone who entered without natural psychic ability of their own had a very low chance of finding their way back out.
Ghost-type habitats were worse. Places called things like Silent Ridge, Howling Abyss, or Haunted Graveyard did not need further explanation. The names alone described the kind of environment they were.
The odds of simply walking down a city street and running into a young Ralts were about the same as stumbling across a wild Gible under the same circumstances. It happened, but not to people who were counting on it.
There was also the matter of the Telepathy ability itself. Its usefulness depended heavily on the individual Pokemon's talent. Pat's Kirlia was an exceptional example. It could communicate with humans clearly and without any strain, which put it well above most Pokemon with the same ability. It was said that the most gifted Telepathy users could make a person feel as though they were simply having a spoken conversation, with no sense of mental contact at all. That kind of ability was something extraordinary, far beyond what most trainers ever encountered.
Because of the trust that had built up between Nova and Jenny, Pat was happy to answer Nova's questions as openly as he could.
His Kirlia, he explained, had come from a place called the Secret Heart Garden.
The Secret Heart Garden was well known across the Norlandia Alliance, and for a straightforward reason. It was considered one of the safest secret realms anywhere in the world. The ruler of the garden was a Gardevoir whose strength was said to approach or possibly surpass that of certain Legendary Pokemon. This Gardevoir was believed to be the one who first brought humans and Pokemon together in peaceful contact more than a thousand years ago, making her a living piece of history in her own right.
Tens of thousands of people visited the Secret Heart Garden every year. It had become the most well-known travel destination in the entire Norlandia Alliance.
The Gardevoir Queen enjoyed the company of humans. As long as visitors came with honest and gentle intentions, she welcomed them into the garden freely, and she did not forbid them from leaving with a young Ralts if one chose to go with them.
The condition, however, was that the Ralts had to genuinely want to leave. It had to choose the trainer on its own.
That sounded simple. In practice, it was not. Very few trainers left the Secret Heart Garden with a Ralts each year.
The reason was that Ralts could only be won over by trainers who were truly happy, not performing happiness, not suppressing unhappiness, but genuinely content from the inside. Ralts were known as Feeling Pokemon because they could sense the emotions of the people and Pokemon around them through the red horns on their heads. They were drawn toward positive emotions because joy and warmth were genuinely good for them. Negative emotions like grief or deep sadness caused them real discomfort when they were too close to it for too long.
That was not a world most people actually lived in. Most people carried something heavy with them. Worries about money, or health, or the future. A few troubling things that never fully went away. A person who was truly and deeply happy in every moment was not easy to find.
Nova was aware that he was not that person.
His previous life had worn him down in ways that had not fully lifted. Even at sixteen, he had a heaviness to him that did not match his age. He could not think of the last time he had felt genuinely, uncomplicated happy. Perhaps when Sprigatito had hatched. Perhaps when Nidoking or Corviknight had evolved. Those moments had been real.
But they were not a constant state.
After listening to Pat describe the Secret Heart Garden, Nova felt a quiet uncertainty settle in. Would someone like him be turned away at the gate? Would the Gardevoir Queen look at him and simply shake her head? That was not an experience he particularly wanted to have.
He pushed the thought aside.
He decided to look up the application process once he was back in Harmony City. If there was a chance to go, he would go. And maybe, if a Ralts chose him, having one around would make it easier to feel that way more often.
While Nova was still talking with Pat, he spotted Jenny riding toward them on an Arcanine from across the ruins. That likely meant the squad captains had finished coordinating and a counterattack was being prepared.
But the first thing Jenny said when she dismounted was to tell Pat to take Sandra and a small escort team and bring Robbin back to Forest City. There would be no counterattack. Team Origin's forces had already begun pulling back from their positions on their own.
The battle was over.
The Great Master's orders had moved through Weasel's network and reached every squad on the front line. Once they had a clear direction to follow, even this disorganized collection of criminals managed to execute a reasonably clean withdrawal, covering each other's retreat in alternating groups.
Nova had a question. "Are you not going to pursue them?"
Jenny's expression was quiet, and a little tired, though she still managed a small smile. "I would like to. But most of the other captains have taken losses. They are not willing to push into another hard fight when they can already withdraw safely. They advised me not to chase a cornered enemy."
Not everyone in the Security Officer corps shared Jenny's way of thinking about the job. For her, it was a calling. For most, it was work. They had fought hard against opponents who outnumbered them, and they had survived. That was already more than enough to ask of people. Going further, risking more losses in a chase that might or might not close the net, was not something most of them were willing to do. They had friends and partners who were still alive, and keeping them that way mattered more than eliminating a few more retreating criminals.
It was not surprising. Security Officers usually dealt with theft, minor disputes, and the occasional more serious case involving Pokemon-related crime. The kind of opponents they trained against were not organizations like Team Origin. A long stretch without any real pressure had meant that when the pressure finally came, the gaps in their readiness showed clearly, including the fact that a criminal organization had managed to place people at senior levels of their command without anyone noticing.
Still, the way things had ended left Nova feeling oddly flat about the whole thing. He looked out at the retreating figures on the edge of Lune Town and could not quite help himself.
"Seriously? That is it? You come in, blow up a town, and then just leave when things do not go your way? What happened to the dramatic final stand?"
If the Great Master had been close enough to hear that, it would have been a painful few seconds for him.
"If it were not for that troublemaker stealing Robbin, I would not have had to pull everyone back so quickly in the first place."