“You still need to be careful. Just because no one’s here doesn’t mean they all ran away. They could be dead,” June warned, her expression alert.
Those monsters were incredibly unpredictable.
One could suddenly lunge at them at any moment, so June didn’t dare let her guard down for even a second.
Leon had never experienced firsthand just how terrifying Pokémon could be.
After all, he’d spent the first three days after their arrival holed up at home without ever venturing outside.
June, on the other hand, really had been chased by Pokémon.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t know so many ways to avoid them.
The second floor wasn’t dark.
Many of the stores hadn’t had time to close their curtains, and a lot of their windows had been damaged to varying degrees.
Shards of glass littered the corridor floor, and every time Leon stepped on them, he had the illusion that he was walking on the tips of knives.
The Pokémon hadn’t descended from the sky when they arrived.
They had simply appeared, as though they’d crossed some dimensional barrier and suddenly materialized in reality.
Click, click…
The sound of gears turning came from inside a cosmetics store.
June and Leon both stopped at the same time when they heard it.
‘Monster!’
June mouthed the word without making a sound.
Leon gave an almost imperceptible nod.
June gestured for him to back away.
Understanding immediately, Leon began retreating as quietly as he could.
The two slowly withdrew until they were a considerable distance away.
Having narrowly avoided disaster, both of them broke out in a cold sweat, shaken by what had almost happened.
“That was definitely a monster. I just don’t know what kind,” June said.
Leon asked, “Did you hear exactly what that sound was?”
June thought back.
“It sounded a little like metal striking metal, but also like gears turning.”
“Then I didn’t mishear it.” Leon nodded.
“We need to go around that store. I suggest we take the corridor on the other side.” June pointed toward the opposite corridor.
It meant taking a longer route, but compared to passing through a store with a Pokémon hiding inside, Leon would much rather walk the extra distance.
“Then we’ll go around,” Leon agreed.
With their decision made, the two took the detour.
June continued to lead the way while Leon kept watch from behind.
They moved with their backs slightly hunched, barely daring to breathe as their wary gazes swept over every corner around them.
After nearly running into a monster, they were even more cautious than before.
Leon quietly observed the stores they passed.
He noticed that all the exterior glass seemed to be broken, which meant Pokémon had previously tried to attack the people inside the mall.
He thought back to the camp rules.
The warning that they must not expose themselves beneath the open sky was beginning to seem even more important.
“Leon, did you…”
June turned around to ask him something, only for her pupils to suddenly contract.
Her face went deathly pale as she stared at Leon—or, more precisely, at the creature behind him.
‘Run!’
June silently mouthed the word.
Leon didn’t notice her lips.
He was still wondering why June had suddenly stopped halfway through her sentence.
But he did see her expression.
The terror on her face immediately gave him a bad feeling.
Leon mechanically turned his head.
Behind him was a pink Pokémon with a small red clown nose and what looked like a blue jester’s cap on its head.
Mime Jr., a Psychic- and Fairy-type Pokémon.
Mime Jr.’s current pose looked rather comical, because it was mimicking Leon.
Its legs were already short, yet it was awkwardly copying the way Leon had hunched over with his knees bent.
But when it saw how badly it had startled Leon and June, Mime Jr.
clutched its belly and burst out laughing.
Mime Jr.
was delighted that its imitation had surprised these two unfamiliar creatures so much.
It was so pleased that it unwittingly forgot it was supposed to be mimicking them.
At the sight of this, Leon immediately turned and ran.
June was just as quick, but she deliberately slowed down so that she fell behind Leon.
Her reason was simple.
She was worried the pink monster might chase them.
If it did, she could use her gun to interfere with its pursuit.
The two sprinted all the way to the other end of the mall.
Panting heavily, they leaned back against the wall and struggled to catch their breath.
Still gasping, Leon asked, “Did we lose it?”
“It doesn’t seem to have followed us. Looks like we got lucky and ran into a monster that just wanted to play.” Relief was written all over June’s face.
Hearing that, Leon recalled Mime Jr.’s Pokédex information.
Mime Jr.
liked places where people gathered and had a habit of mimicking its opponents’ movements.
It could imitate the expressions and actions of anyone it saw.
If its target was surprised by the imitation, Mime Jr.
would become so delighted that it might even forget it was supposed to be mimicking them.
They had been frightened just now, but Mime Jr.
had probably mistaken their fear for surprise.
That was likely why it had stayed where it was looking so pleased with itself.
Once they had calmed down, June sighed.
“Looks like we’ll have to take another route back. I don’t think we can use either of those paths anymore.”
Leon nodded gloomily, then prayed, “Hopefully we won’t run into any other monsters.”
“The vast majority of monsters are extremely territorial. We’ve already run into two of them. Surely we can’t possibly run into a third, right?” June complained, visibly worried about their luck today.
“Actually, we’ve been pretty lucky. If that had been some other carnivorous monster, we might already be dead.” Leon was more optimistic.
Having Mime Jr.
suddenly appear right behind him was still better than having Gengar do it.
June nodded, fully agreeing with him.
If it had been one of those rat monsters instead, Leon would probably be getting gnawed on right now.
“All right, let’s hurry up and gather the supplies. The second floor seems to have it out for us, so let’s finish the job and get out of here.” June didn’t want to stay on the second floor any longer.
They hadn’t been up here for long, yet they’d already run into two monsters in quick succession.
Their luck was ridiculous.
Leon nodded and pulled out the woven plastic sack he’d brought with him.
June reminded him, “Focus on vitamins and supplements that provide protein.”
Leon nodded and began clearing the health supplements from the shelves.
June was more selective, choosing specific medicines and stuffing them into her backpack.
In less than ten minutes, Leon’s sack was packed full, and June had picked out almost everything she wanted.
Looking at the bulging sack, Leon remarked, “The mall certainly has plenty of supplies. It’s just pretty dangerous getting them.”
June nodded in agreement.
“Yeah. We’ve only searched one store, and there are at least ten more like this on this floor. Still, we should avoid coming back here unless we absolutely have to.”
“Let’s go. We’ll take the emergency stairwell on this side. We’ll have to pass by the aquarium, but that’s still safer than taking another detour through an area we haven’t explored.” With that, June pushed open the door to the emergency stairwell.