Pokemon: A New Path

The moon shone high in the sky.

Pawmi, driven by hunger, visited the ranch once again. It had been lost from its parents and had no reliable food source, so it had to scavenge for itself.

After a few days of observation, it learned that a human and a group of formidable Pokémon lived here: the Skiddo radiating an intimidating aura, the Nacli always huddled together, the Butterfree hovering above the pasture capable of spitting out electric nets, and that large, red-skinned monster that looked the most terrifying and ferocious of all.

They often kept Pawmi awake at night. It was scared and hungry.

It didn't dare show itself during the day, only cautiously leaving its hiding place at night when those fearsome creatures were asleep to sneak into the chicken coop, the safest place, and steal the "little biscuits" made of grains.

Tonight, it returned under the cover of darkness. Leaving the safety of its tree hollow, it ventured into this frightening place.

Squeezing through a gap in the fence, Pawmi ran to the chicken coop and gently pushed open the door with its tiny paws.

Suddenly, a strange sound echoed from inside.

"Butterfree!"

Pawmi's fur stood on end. It turned into a shadow and hid in a dark corner, its heart pounding in its chest.

It pressed itself against the wall, not daring to move.

The sound quickly faded, and after a long while, there was no further movement.

'Was it safe'?

Pawmi cautiously peeked its head out to observe.

Inside the small chicken coop, the hens were dozing on the haystack, and a group of fluffy yellow chicks nestled close to them, sleeping soundly. The hens hadn't woken up.

Pawmi looked around.

The bright moonlight streamed in through the window, and the surroundings were surprisingly quiet.

The feed trough, the pitchfork, the water bucket—everything was the same as the night before.

Pawmi breathed a sigh of relief.

After ensuring there was no danger, it scurried out from the corner and ran to the biscuits. Seeing the leftover chicken feed, Pawmi's eyes lit up, and it quickly started eating to replenish its energy.

On a beam in the chicken coop's roof, Butterfree silently watched everything below. The scene of the little creature eating under the moonlight was reflected in its eyes.

"Butterfree.?"

Under the moonlight, Butterfree gently flapped its wings, and countless star-like specks of light fell from them, like a shimmering river of stars, flowing towards Pawmi below.

Pawmi, engrossed in its meal, twitched its nose. It seemed to sense something and immediately stopped eating, looking up in confusion.

The next second, it witnessed an incredibly beautiful sight.

But before it could react, a wave of drowsiness washed over it.

Pawmi yawned loudly, and the chicken feed in its paws fell to the ground with a thud.

'So sleepy'.

Pawmi couldn't resist any longer and collapsed onto the floor, falling into a deep sleep.

When Naoki received the notification and rushed over with a flashlight, this was the scene he found: a small Pokémon sleeping soundly in the feed trough.

It was clearly the thief who had been visiting the chicken coop at night.

A Pawmi.

Pawmi was a Pokémon unique to the Paldea region. Like Pikachu, it was an Electric Squirrel Pokémon. It had orange fur all over its body, while the fur on its hands and tail was beige. It had round yellow electric pouches on its cheeks and pink pads on its paws.

"Well done, Butterfree," Naoki praised.

"Free~" Butterfree fluttered its wings, making a happy sound.

Naoki picked up the Pawmi from the ground. It was a small creature with a delicate frame and appeared slightly thin. Its fur was dull and rough to the touch.

Naoki turned the Pawmi over in his hands. The sleeping Pokémon was like a stuffed toy, not reacting at all to having its paw pads pinched or its fur stroked.

"It's quite cute," Naoki observed.

Naoki wasn't angry about the Pawmi's actions of stealing chicken feed. He was simply curious why it chose chicken feed over other things. Although chicken feed was made from various grains, it was perfectly fine for Pokémon to eat.

After some thought, Naoki closed the chicken coop door and took Pawmi back to his house. It was only three in the morning, and several sleeping Pokémon were awakened. They gathered around to observe the Pawmi that Naoki had brought in.

At the same time, the effects of Sleep Powder wore off.

Pawmi woke up from its deep slumber.

When it opened its eyes, it saw a massive, red-skinned monster standing before it.

The next second, a terrified shriek rang out—"Pawmi!"

Koraidon was confused. "Gaah?"

Pawmi curled up and shivered, rubbing its cheeks with its paws.

Seeing this, Naoki said to Koraidon, "Don't scare it. It's about to shock you."

Before Pawmi evolved, the electric pouches on its cheeks weren't fully developed, and it couldn't release electricity directly like Pikachu. Instead, it had to rub its front paws together vigorously to generate electricity.

When Pawmi felt uneasy, it would rub its cheeks to prepare for a discharge. It would first rub its cheeks back and forth to charge up, then release the shock from the pads of its palms, delivering a jolt by touching someone with both hands.

Naoki still remembered the relevant Pokédex entry.

However, Koraidon wasn't afraid of Pawmi's electric shock. Instead, it smiled at Pawmi as if greeting it.

But the result of this was that Pawmi used Discharge, and Koraidon's entire body was enveloped in electric light.

Bathed in the electricity, Koraidon looked completely unaffected, as if Pawmi's shock had no impact on it at all.

Naoki: "..."

As expected of a Dragon-type Pokémon with double resistance to Electricity.

Seeing that its moves couldn't harm the giant red-skinned monster, Pawmi was dumbfounded. 'How could this be'?

Naoki walked forward and looked at the little squirrel Pokémon.

At that moment, Pawmi finally took its eyes off Koraidon and realized that there were other Pokémon and the ranch owner around. Looking at Naoki approaching, Pawmi's heart skipped a beat, and its eyes filled with fear.

It had been caught!

Pawmi recalled its parents' warning: 'some bad people would hunt them as prey, and if they encountered them, they should turn and run immediately'.

'But now, with this terrifying red-skinned monster present, there was no way to escape'.

Pawmi's expression turned blank. Only one thought remained in its mind:

'It's over. It's going to be eaten'!

Pawmi closed its eyes in fear.

Naoki: "..." What was going on in this little creature's head?

Were they really that scary?

"Listen, Pawmi, no one will hurt you here," Naoki said.

"Pawmi?" Pawmi was momentarily stunned.

Naoki, thinking about the Pawmi's prior actions of stealing chicken feed, turned around and retrieved a Peach from the cupboard, placing it in front of the Pokémon.

"Here, are you hungry? Have a snack!"

Pawmi was stunned, then looked at the Peach in front of it with disbelief.

'This human wasn't even angry'!

Not only that, but he was also offering it food!

Pawmi was indeed very hungry, and after ensuring there was no danger, it immediately picked up the fruit and started eating.

Naoki sent all the other Pokémon, who had been watching, back to sleep. Once Pawmi had finished eating, he asked, "Do you live around here?"

Having eaten the Peach, Pawmi was no longer so afraid of the human. Hearing the question, it lowered its head sadly. "Pawmi."

Apparently, it didn't. So Naoki asked again, "So, your home is far away?"

This time, Pawmi nodded.

It used to live in a meadow. One day, while sleeping next to a stone, it was accidentally picked up by a migrating pokemon, along with the stone, and placed in its bag.

When Pawmi woke up, it found itself in this unfamiliar place. It was terrified and used Electric Discharge inside the the bag. The startled pokemon dropped it, along with the stone.

Luckily, it fell into the river and wasn't injured. This ranch was right next to the river.

Seeing Pawmi nod, Naoki continued, "Do you remember the way back home?"

"Pawmi."

Pawmi shook its head sadly. It hadn't been able to see anything from inside the pokemon's bag.

"Okay," Naoki took a deep breath and summarized, "So, your home is very far away, and you were brought here for some reason, and you can't remember the way back."

Pawmi nodded. "Pawmi." 'That was about right'.

But Naoki was still a bit puzzled. How did such a small Pawmi end up here?

He voiced his question.

In response, Pawmi stood up unsteadily, flapped its arms, pretending to spread wings and fly. It looked around, then opened its mouth, picked up the Peach pit, and puffed out its cheeks.

After "flying" for a bit, Pawmi opened its mouth again and spat out the pit.

Naoki was confused. What did that mean?

He asked tentatively, "Did you fly here?"

"Pawmi!" Pawmi shook its head.

"Did you wander off while playing and accidentally end up here?"

"Pawmi." Pawmi shook its head again.

That left only one possibility.

Naoki thought of Pawmi's actions of spitting out the pit and flapping its wings. This behavior reminded him of a Paldean Pokémon, Bombirdier.

Bombirdier was a bird Pokémon based on a white stork. It made a pouch from the fluff on its chest and shed feathers, then put things in it with its mouth and played with them by dropping them from high places. It also wrapped food in the pouch on its chest and brought it back to its nest.

Could it be that.

An incredible thought suddenly popped into Naoki's mind: "Were you brought here by a Bombirdier?"

"Pawmi, Pawmi!" Pawmi's eyes lit up, and it nodded repeatedly.

"Was it really like that?" Naoki was surprised. It was similar to Thumbelina in the fairy tale, floating down the river on a leaf.

Naoki asked, "Have you thought about what to do next?"

Pawmi's expression turned gloomy. "Pawmi."

Naoki seized the opportunity. "So, do you want to stay at the ranch and work with us?"

Hearing this, Pawmi was stunned.

"Pawmi?" 'Is it okay'?

"Of course," Naoki smiled. "In the human world, this is called employment. You work for me, and I provide you with food so you don't have to go hungry anymore."

"Pawmi." 'It didn't know what it could do'.

Naoki was just making up an excuse, but it seemed to work. After thinking for a while, he casually said, "How about watching over the chickens? You don't need to feed them, just keep an eye on them to make sure they don't wander off or get hurt by wild Pokémon."

"Pawmi!" Pawmi nodded in agreement.

Seeing that his goal was achieved, Naoki was delighted.

Finally, there was a cute, fluffy Pokémon on his ranch!

And so, Pawmi settled in at the ranch.

...

The next morning, when Pawmi saw the Moomoo Milk and various delicious foods on the dining table, its little face filled with shock.

"Pawmi."

Naoki looked at it with satisfaction and said, "Go ahead and eat! I'll give you a bath after breakfast."

No one knew where this little one had come from. It was dirty, and there were even two burrs stuck in its fur.

Pawmi immediately started eating happily. After taking a bite of a snack, tears of joy welled up in its eyes.

This was the most delicious food it had eaten in days!

After breakfast, Dragonite went to town to deliver milk, Alcremie and Smoliv went to play with the Nacli, and Naoki boiled a basin of hot water to give Pawmi a warm bath.

Koraidon and Cyclizar lay nearby, watching.

Naoki took out some shampoo and lathered Pawmi's body. After a while, a fragrant, clean, and tidy Pawmi emerged.

There was no hairdryer at home, so Naoki first used a blanket to dry Pawmi, then summoned Butterfree and asked it to use Gust to help finish the job.

Butterfree flapped its wings, creating a gentle breeze. Pawmi closed its eyes and enjoyed the wind.

Butterfree looked at Pawmi and, remembering how it had used Sleep Powder on it last night, apologized softly, "Butterfree."

Hearing this, Pawmi also felt a bit embarrassed. "Pawmi."

Butterfree was happy. "Butterfree~"

"Pawmi!"

Naoki couldn't understand Pokémon language, but judging by their expressions, they seemed to be getting along quite well.

Soon, Pawmi's fur was dry.

Butterfree stopped, and Naoki gently lifted Butterfree by its underarms.

Pawmi looked up at the light and squeaked, "Pawmi!"

"So cute!" Naoki thought to himself as he nuzzled his face against Pawmi's fluffy belly.

Ah~ It was truly adorable!