“Whoa.
This guy is huge!”
The sailors gathered around Dhelmise, staring at it in amazement.
Unlike the imposing presence it had shown earlier, Dhelmise now seemed rather nervous under all that attention.
There was no helping it.
Pokémon that normally lived in the deep sea tended to be fairly shy around crowds, and being surrounded by so many people clearly left it flustered.
“All right, spread out, spread out!
Can’t you see he’s uncomfortable?”
Uncle Sam stepped in and stopped the sailors from crowding around.
Although, to be fair, he had reacted almost the same way at first.
He had heard about Dhelmise before, but this was still his first time seeing one in person.
“You should recall him first.
He’s too big.
There’s no room for him on our little boat.”
Uncle Sam turned to Blake as he spoke.
Dhelmise floated, yes, but its horizontal size was still nothing to laugh at.
Their boat simply did not have space for it.
It was not as if a small fishing boat like theirs carried an anchor that huge.
“Understood, Captain!”
Blake saluted with a grin, then took out Dhelmise’s Dusk Ball and recalled the Pokémon, who had clearly been wanting to escape the attention for a while now.
After that, the group checked the wreck one more time.
Once they confirmed there were no other problems, they took advantage of the tide before it went out and quickly boarded the boat to leave.
“By the way, Uncle Sam, what was this wreck originally used for?”
Thinking about what he had found inside the safe, Blake grew curious about the ship’s identity.
If it had been a normal vessel, even if it sank, someone could have come back to retrieve the valuables.
What he had found was not cheap.
“That ship?
A smuggling vessel.
Why else would it get stuck in a place like this?
And what they were smuggling was Pokémon.
After they were caught back then, everyone on board was arrested.
The captain was thrown out of the cabin during the accident and apparently died on the spot.
The others were all taken in, the smuggled Pokémon were sent away by Officer Jenny and the International Police, and some dangerous goods were destroyed.
The ship itself was just left here.”
Uncle Sam explained it casually.
It was not exactly a secret.
Plenty of people had known about it back then.
Blake had only been too young to know the details.
“I see.”
Blake nodded.
That made sense.
No wonder no one had taken something so valuable from the captain’s cabin.
It probably had not come from anywhere legitimate in the first place and might even have been stolen goods.
Not that it mattered too much if it was.
In Blake’s hands, it could at least serve a proper purpose.
Still, where had those people found that Spell Tag? This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Judging by its condition, it was definitely not a modern product.
It had likely been excavated from some ruin.
No, once he got back, he needed to call his father and ask about it.
Blake sank into thought without realizing it.
It was not until they were close to shore that Haunter reminded him, finally snapping him back to reality.
“What are you thinking about so seriously?
Hurry home and get some rest.”
Uncle Sam patted Blake on the shoulder.
“All right, Uncle Sam.
I’ll head back first and come see you again in a couple of days.”
Blake’s mind was full of questions about that Spell Tag, so he did not linger for more small talk.
He jumped off the boat, got on his bicycle, and sped all the way home.
…
Bang!
After closing the door behind him, Blake immediately dialed his father’s number.
Unfortunately, his luck was not good.
His father had probably gone into another ruin somewhere, because the call did not connect.
“Seriously.
The moment something important comes up, I can’t reach them!
Sigh…” Blake sighed helplessly.
Being unable to contact them was actually the norm.
His parents often disappeared into mountains and caves for months at a time while searching for ruins, and mountain regions usually had no signal.
Most phones in the Pokémon world did not rely on satellites for coverage, after all.
There was a very heavyweight presence hanging around up in the atmosphere.
“Forget it.
I’ll take a shower first.
Oh, right.”
Blake took out Dhelmise’s Poké Ball and released it.
“This is our home.
Let Haunter show you around for now.
Tonight, I’ll clean out the aquarium for you, and you can rest there from now on.”
Blake spoke to Dhelmise.
“Dheeeelmise—”
Dhelmise swayed its body to show it understood.
It liked this place.
Many areas of the house carried fluctuations of Ghost-type energy, and some spots were not even inferior to the wreck.
Also, from what Blake said, it would still be able to soak in water here.
“Haunter, I’ll leave him to you.”
Blake said to Haunter.
“Haunter!
o(￣▽￣)d”
Haunter was especially fond of using his new fingers now.
One hand gave a thumbs-up, while the other formed an OK sign. Get faster updates on g.com.
Completely at ease with Haunter handling things, Blake went straight into the bathroom.
He had not noticed it earlier, but now that he was home, he realized the roll he had taken inside the wreck had left him smelling faintly of rot.
He needed to rinse off as soon as possible.
While Blake washed his clothes and showered, Haunter took the large Dhelmise around the house.
Perhaps Blake’s father had already considered situations like this when the house was built, because every floor had high ceilings, and the doors were very large, leaving enough space for Dhelmise to move around.
Even so, Dhelmise still had to be careful.
Among Pokémon, its size was simply too large.
“Haunter!
ヽ(•ω•ゞ)”
Haunter first brought Dhelmise to Blake’s room and pointed at Blake’s bed and desk.
Dhelmise, however, noticed the incubator on the cabinet instead.
Inside was a Pokémon Egg patterned in dark green and pale green.
“Dheeeelmise?” [・・?]
Dhelmise expressed curiosity about the Egg.
It felt that the Egg probably was not Haunter’s.
“Haunter.
ヽ(ー_ー)ノ”
Haunter indicated that it was indeed not his Egg.
That Egg had been in this house longer than he had—even longer than Blake.
For some unknown reason, though, it had never hatched, even after more than ten years.
“Dheeeelmise…” (̆•ω•̆)
Dhelmise was very surprised by that.
A Pokémon Egg that had not hatched after more than ten years was almost unimaginable to it.
In the wild, if a Pokémon Egg exceeded its expected hatching period, it would usually be abandoned by its parents, and most abandoned Eggs would not survive.
“Haunter!
(´・・)ノ(..`)”
Haunter patted Dhelmise’s body, explaining that their boss’s family had a special ability that allowed them to sense that the Egg was still alive.
That was why it had been kept all this time.
The person caring for it had simply changed from their boss’s father to their boss.
“Dheeeelmise.”
Dhelmise nodded to show it understood, and its recognition of Blake rose another level.
After that, the two Pokémon visited the other rooms as well.
One of them contained an enormous aquarium, which was clearly going to be Dhelmise’s future living space.
Originally, the room had been used by the Pokémon belonging to Blake’s mother, Louise.
Louise had quite a few Water-type Pokémon, so when the house was built, a large room had been specially set aside and fitted with an oversized aquarium.
It was even connected to a seawater valve that allowed the water to circulate.
However, after Louise and James left, they had taken all their Pokémon with them, so the room had been left unused until now.
For Dhelmise, though, it was practically perfect.
When it stayed in water, it did not like moving around much anyway.
Most of the time, it simply lay there like a display piece.
Even if Louise returned, it would not affect her Water-type Pokémon.
“Looks like the two of you are getting along pretty well.”
Blake walked out of the bathroom while drying himself with a towel.
“Haunter!”
“Dheeeelmise!”