Feebas’s evolution was still a long way off.
For now, Leon’s only real plan was to find a way to survive long-term in this apocalyptic world.
Setting aside the fact that he knew far more about Pokémon than the people of this world did, Leon himself didn’t actually have much of an advantage.
If he wanted to survive the apocalypse, he still needed to stick with a group.
And if he wanted to live somewhat comfortably, he needed to become one of the camp’s higher-ups—or at the very least, part of its management.
He had already accomplished that goal.
The next step was to develop the camp so that the survivors could keep it going for the long haul.
With that in mind, Leon began making plans.
Whether it was an apocalypse caused by the arrival of Pokémon or the kind of zombie outbreak seen in movies, the essential needs were basically the same.
A safe place to live, food and water, and medicine.
For the time being, there was no point hoping for a safer living environment.
Without exaggeration, even a single Caterpie getting into the camp could cause serious casualties.
There was simply no room to improve their defenses right now.
Being able to scrape by under Mimikyu’s protection was already good enough.
There was no point thinking too far beyond that.
Then there were food and water.
Food wasn’t much of a problem.
June had already sent people to clear out the restaurants downstairs, and with all the shelf-stable dry goods and frozen meat they’d collected, their reserves were fairly substantial.
The camp wouldn’t need to worry about food in the short term.
At two meals a day, their supplies could last for another month.
Water, however, had become a potentially fatal weakness.
The water supply had already been cut off.
If they wanted to collect water, they would have to go to the aquarium, but that wasn’t a good solution either.
For one thing, they could be attacked by Water-type Pokémon.
For another, there was a very real chance they might lead those Pokémon back to the camp.
So their most urgent priority was solving the water problem.
They had medicine here.
No one was sick right now, so its importance wasn’t obvious yet, but in an apocalypse, medicine was just as indispensable for survival.
Distracted by his thoughts, Leon applied whitening cream to Feebas.
Its eyes had grown noticeably livelier, and Feebas calmly enjoyed Leon’s care as though it were only natural.
Once the treatment was finished, Leon put Feebas back into its fish tank.
After that, Leon went to find June again.
Looking at her seriously, Leon said, “June, I have a plan, but I’ll probably need your support.”
“Go ahead.” June straightened in her seat.
The situation was so completely backward that she looked more like the subordinate here.
“Tonight, we can go up to the roof and open the lid on the water tank. If it rains later, the tank might be able to collect quite a lot of rainwater.”
June nodded thoughtfully.
She understood what Leon meant.
The mall had its own water purification system.
Drinking the water it processed normally wouldn’t be particularly healthy, but this was the apocalypse.
Water was more precious than gold.
Who could afford to worry about health concerns now?
Seeing that she was already considering the idea, Leon immediately continued, “Going at night means we can avoid the bird-like Monsters that are active during the day. If we’re careful, it shouldn’t be too dangerous.”
June hesitated.
“But there are flying Monsters at night too. One of the survivors told me about some that look a little like bats. They can suck a person’s blood completely dry.”
“But it’s still safer than going during the day, isn’t it?”
“Besides, this is the apocalypse.
Nothing we do is ever going to be completely safe.” Leon remained unmoved and continued, “I checked the weather forecast before.
There’s a chance of rain soon.
This might be our only opportunity to get a large amount of water in the near future.”
“You’re sure it’s going to rain soon?” June asked, puzzled.
Leon nodded with absolute certainty.
“Of course.”
He wasn’t bluffing June.
On the very day the apocalypse began, he had specifically checked the forecast for the coming week, and it had clearly shown several consecutive days of rain coming soon.
“All right!” June gritted her teeth and nodded.
“I’ll personally lead a group up there tonight.”
“I’m going with you,” Leon said.
Naturally, he needed to volunteer for a job that wasn’t particularly dangerous.
Otherwise, people in the camp might find something to hold against him and accuse him of sitting around enjoying the benefits while ordering everyone else around.
June nodded without objecting.
After all, Leon was the one who had proposed the plan.
It was a good thing that he was willing to take part himself.
Leon added, “We don’t need too many people. Five will be enough.”
“Do you have anyone in mind?” June asked.
“You, me, Ray, Jason, and Old Harris.”
“Why Jason and Old Harris? They’re not exactly in good shape right now,” June asked.
Jason and Old Harris had gone without food for an entire day and night and had only barely escaped with their lives.
Dragging them into another risky job now seemed rather excessive no matter how she looked at it.
“Two reasons.” Leon held up two fingers.
“I’ll explain the details after dinner tonight. For now, let Jason and Old Harris get some proper rest.”
June sighed.
“I can call them over, but if you can’t convince them, I won’t force them. It really wasn’t easy for them to make it back alive.”
“No problem.” Leon had no objection.
June wasn’t actually well suited to being the camp’s leader.
For one thing, she was too kind.
And although she appeared decisive and efficient, she sometimes acted too emotionally and could be too softhearted.
Yet those very flaws were also why everyone in the camp loved and respected her.
They were a double-edged sword.
Sometimes they could hurt both her and others, but at other times they could strengthen the camp’s cohesion.
Time quickly passed, and six in the evening arrived.
Dinner was actually quite plentiful, with both meat and vegetables.
After going hungry all day, the survivors had healthy appetites, and almost no one wasted anything.
Even if someone accidentally dropped a piece of meat on the floor, they would immediately pick it up and eat it.
Leon watched an elderly woman at the table across from him pick a piece of meat off the floor and eat it, then nodded in satisfaction.
The child beside her had accidentally dropped a piece of meat without noticing.
When the elderly woman saw the meat fall from her grandchild’s bowl, she quickly picked it up and ate it.
In this apocalypse, people like them who couldn’t go out to search for food would undoubtedly be despised by everyone else if they wasted any.
June had established a rule that the elderly and children didn’t need to go out searching for food, but correspondingly, their status in the camp was somewhat lower.
Although June had never explicitly divided the people in the camp into different social ranks, some people automatically placed themselves into one category or another, and there were even those who actively played along with it.
There was an unusually large amount of meat on Leon’s plate today, even more than Ray had.
Leon had never asked for special treatment, but the person serving the food was observant and knew how things worked.
Leon was the deputy June had personally chosen.
Some people might not be happy about it, but anyone who had managed to secure a position serving food couldn’t possibly be ignorant of how to handle personal relationships.
Across from him, Ray grinned and teased, “Leon, you’ll have to look after your little bro from now on.”
“Man, in this goddamn world, everyone’s just trying to stay alive. I wouldn’t call it looking after anyone. Let’s just watch each other’s backs from now on.” Leon wasn’t particularly good at navigating social relationships, but even he understood that having another friend meant having another person he could rely on.
Besides, Ray was genuinely a good guy.
Making a friend like him could only be a good thing.