“This is the men’s dorm. The family dorm is next to it—several elderly people are staying there with children. And over there is the women’s dorm,” the chubby kid explained as he led the way.
June had cleared out six storefronts and temporarily converted them into three dormitories.
Seeing the curious look on Leon’s face, the chubby kid added, “June gathered everyone together because she’s worried that some lone monster might attack us. If we all stay together, it’ll be easier to get away if something happens.”
Yes, get away.
Not fight back.
June had a gun, but having a gun didn’t mean she could actually hit a Pokémon, much less hurt one.
And compared to Pokémon, humans were simply too fragile.
“What about food? How much do we have stored here?” Leon asked, getting to the question he cared about most.
At that, the chubby kid glanced around without drawing attention to himself.
Only after making sure no one was watching them did he lower his voice.
“June said things aren’t looking good. The supermarket on B1 has been taken over by rat monsters, so we can only scavenge supplies from the fourth floor and above.”
“But the fourth floor is mostly clothing stores. Luckily, the fifth floor is all restaurants. The food we’ve collected so far should be enough to feed a hundred people for at least half a month.”
“The water and power have been out since yesterday, though, so cooking has become a huge problem. Everyone’s hoping the Federation will send a rescue team to get us out of here.”
“But I don’t think there’s much chance of that. Monsters are everywhere in the city now, and most of the military was wiped out by those Ghost monsters.”
The chubby kid sounded thoroughly pessimistic.
At the very least, he wasn’t holding out much hope for rescue from the Terra Federation.
Leon fell into thought as well.
Hundreds of millions of Pokémon had suddenly descended upon this world.
Caught completely unprepared, humanity’s armed forces had been devastated by Ghost-type Pokémon.
Then the satellites had suddenly gone offline.
Leon couldn’t help wondering if Rayquaza had something to do with that.
Even an ordinary Caterpie had displayed such absurd combat power.
He didn’t even want to imagine how terrifying the Pokémon revered as gods might be.
But life always found a way to survive.
Given the current situation, if he wanted to stay alive in this apocalypse, it seemed his only real option was to become a Trainer.
Of course, people in this world might end up calling them beast tamers instead, considering they referred to Pokémon as monsters.
But if even a Caterpie was ridiculously powerful, how was he supposed to obtain his first Pokémon?
There were no Poké Balls in this world.
There weren’t even any Apricorns to make them from.
Going from nothing to something was always the hardest step.
For now, the only method Leon could think of was finding a Pokémon Egg that hadn’t hatched yet.
A newborn Pokémon might not have much fighting ability.
And if Pokémon were prone to imprinting on the first person they saw as a parent, then with both factors working in his favor, he might just have a slim chance of winning one over.
The problem was that he’d never seen a Pokémon Egg.
Not even a Caterpie Egg.
“We hand out food from 7:30 to 9:00 in the morning, 11:30 to 1:00 in the afternoon, and 6:30 to 7:30 in the evening. Make sure you remember those times. If you miss one, you’ll have to wait until the next meal.”
“And if you want to stay here, tell June ahead of time. She’ll have someone get a bed ready for you.”
The chubby kid paused, then continued in a lighter tone, “Good thing there’s a bedding store downstairs. We might be short on everything else, but beds are one thing we’ve got plenty of.”
Leon: “…”
Worried that the Pokémon outside might spot the people inside Central Star Mall, June had specifically ordered most of the curtains drawn.
Just then, an elderly woman and a child caught Leon’s attention.
Both of them were staring fixedly outside, as though waiting for some miracle to happen.
The chubby kid followed Leon’s gaze toward them.
“What’s with them?” Leon asked curiously.
“Are they keeping watch? Or watching something in particular?”
The chubby kid shook his head.
There was some sympathy on his face, but a flicker of disdain quickly passed through his eyes.
“They’re waiting for their enemy to die.”
Leon turned his attention fully toward him, curious to hear the rest of the story.
“That brat lives in our neighborhood. He’s the kind of little hellion who’s always causing trouble. His family didn’t have much food stored at home, so his parents brought him and his grandmother here to take shelter with June.”
“But when they were passing a landscaped area, the brat spotted a few green caterpillar monsters in the trees and decided it’d be a great idea to spray one of them with his squirt gun.”
“You can probably guess what happened next. His parents tried to save him, and the green caterpillar monster wrapped them up in silk like dumplings.”
“You probably saw those white cocoons when you passed through that landscaped area, right? His parents are inside two of them.”
By the time the chubby kid finished explaining, Leon’s expression had turned equally disdainful.
If the brat was willing to spray even a Caterpie with a squirt gun, he’d probably spent plenty of time using random passersby for target practice before all this.
A kid causes trouble, and his parents end up paying the price.
They’d certainly brought it on themselves.
“Then what are they watching for?” Leon asked.
“They’re waiting for one of those bird monsters to prey on the green caterpillar monsters. If that Caterpie gets killed, at least they’ll get to watch their enemy die with their own eyes.”
“Come to think of it, it’s kind of a pathetic way to make themselves feel better. That whole family might be pretty awful, but you’ve got to give them credit for finding a way to cope,” the chubby kid remarked.
Leon was left speechless.
Still, the mention of bird Pokémon preying on Caterpie immediately brought Pidgey to mind.
With the brat’s family story finished, the chubby kid asked again, “So, are you staying? We definitely can’t give you any of the food supplies to take with you, and going back would be pretty dangerous anyway.”
“I’ll stay. There’s no food left at home anyway.”
Leon nodded, making his decision.
After hearing what had happened to that family, Leon couldn’t help feeling fortunate.
He’d been incredibly lucky that the Caterpie he’d passed earlier hadn’t attacked him.
Now that he knew just how dangerous they were, there was no way he dared go back.
Before, ignorance had made him fearless.
Now he knew perfectly well that he’d just had a brush with death.
Compared to the usual kind of zombie apocalypse, a world where danger could strike at any moment was actually far more terrifying.
“Pidgey~!”
A crisp chirp carried through the glass window.
The moment Leon heard it, he rushed to the window.
Even after more than twenty years, he still remembered that familiar cry.
That was definitely Pidgey.
That was exactly how Pidgey sounded in the anime.
He hurried closer to the window, pinched the edge of the curtain between his fingers, and gently opened a narrow gap.
Just in time to see a Pidgey hunting a Caterpie.
Pidgey’s sharp beak stabbed forward, piercing straight through the Caterpie’s head.
It picked up its prey, tossed it into the air, then opened its mouth wide and swallowed the Caterpie with perfect accuracy.
The other Caterpie nearby trembled in terror.
They frantically twisted their bodies and spewed silk, trying to bind Pidgey to the branches and buy themselves enough time to escape.