Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 327 Poison Sprout – A Confession of Abandoning a Partner

Chapter 329 Poison Sprout – A Confession of Abandoning a Partner

Fine snow, summoned by a giant ice dragon, drifted across the stage at the center of the banquet, while the "Aurora Curtain," like colorful silk, distorted light and color.

The pumpkin monster's singing harmonized perfectly with the live piano ensemble. The originally eerie tone gradually became elegant and grand through the coordination of the "round" technique.

At the center of all the guests' attention, Gardevoir, dressed in a pure white dress, danced with its trainer.

The "power of the moon" created a magnificent stage backdrop. Under the radiant moon created by the fairy's power, their movements were as graceful as feathers, as if they could truly ignore the earth's gravity, with each dance step treading on the void.

Graceful and ethereal, her dance is both dreamlike and elegant, perfectly capturing the romance and splendor of this Carlos dance.

In a dimly lit corner far away in the banquet hall, Mia stared blankly at Champion Karuni on the stage, motionless.

So engrossed was he that he didn't even notice the mountain of food piled up on his plate thanks to the waiter's enthusiastic distribution.

"Miss Mia, I'm a little sorry to disturb your performance, but Miss Karuni's solo show will be uploaded online later. As far as the viewing experience is concerned, rather than watching from our remote spot right outside the restroom, it would be better to wait a few more days and watch the official version on your phone or computer. It will be much clearer."

As Hugo spread the whipped fruit mousse onto the dessert crisps, he casually reminded the lady in front of him in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"Ah—." Mia finally came to her senses, reluctantly looked away, and sat up straight.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I was daydreaming. Seeing Ms. Karune and Gardevoir dancing together, I felt—very envious."

"Oh, are you envious of how closely they can dance together?"

The detective handed the assembled dessert to Bogarman beside him and then asked the person opposite him in confusion.

"Well, I guess so." Mia nodded hesitantly.

"While I'm a little better off than Aiya Mushroom, I'm still extremely timid. I've hardly ever participated in sports with my peers growing up. Activities like dancing, which involve being in front of people, are like groundbreaking feats for me—"

"Using light and dance moves to create the effect of walking on the moon does indeed give the feeling of creating something real, even though it's on a satellite."

The detective glanced at Champion Carlos, who was engrossed in the charity performance, nodded in agreement, and then casually asked Mia about the previous topic.

"By the way, Miss Mia, did you really release that Auricularia into the wild in the end? It must have taken a lot of courage for you to return your only starter Pokémon to the wild, right?"

Mia fell silent for a long while before speaking—

"I don't know if that was courage. But in the end, I really did release Agaric. Not during that release event, but a few days later, I secretly released it away from its Poké Ball on a deserted mountain."

"Is it because you're worried about Aiya Mushroom?" Hugo asked.

The woman nodded and then shook her head. "I—I don't know. Apart from the basic activities of maintaining life, Agaric doesn't react to the outside world at all—except for that release event at school. Because of that look in its eyes, I felt at that time that Agaric probably—also wanted to be like those released Pokémon, to escape the constraints of humans—"

Perhaps, leaving human care and settling down in a quiet, humid place, growing quietly and naturally like a real mushroom, would be more in line with the nature of that agaric mushroom, Mia thought at the time.

"So, have you explicitly announced this decision to the Pokémon?"

Hugo put down the knife he was using to spread the berry mousse, looked into the other person's eyes, and asked seriously.

"Announcing to your Pokémon with words like, 'You've been released back into the wild, I no longer need you, go and enjoy your freedom,' can lead some trainers to feel ashamed and intentionally or unintentionally skip this step, unilaterally abandoning their Pokémon in the wild and then leaving them to their fate. This can cause the Pokémon to harbor illusions about its original trainer and be unable to properly reintegrate into the wild."

Mia quickly shook her head in denial: "Of course, of course I told Aiya Mushroom about it. But—like countless other things I've said to it in the past, I still haven't received a single response."

"Sigh, what a unique mushroom!"

The detective sighed.

Based on the information he knew from the Pokédex, although Breloom has a Grass-type attribute similar to plants, its personality should usually be quite lively before evolving into the giant Breloom.

These tiny, mischievous mushroom Pokémon sometimes gather together in dark, damp corners, just like Clefairy under the moonlight, bouncing and hopping around with their Poké Ball-like caps.

Even within the *Ayakiniku* population, there exist some individuals with a more introverted and timid nature. When faced with external threats, these individuals will still fiercely release poisonous spores, launching a fierce and tenacious resistance against the invaders.

This is not a matter of individuality, but rather a biological instinct.

As for Agaric, Mia's starter Pokémon, which is indifferent to the outside world like a plant, it is a strange thing even in the entire Pokémon research community.

"By the way, Miss Mia."

Hugo suddenly thought of a question that he hadn't subconsciously considered before, due to his own detective nature: "Have you ever sent out Agaric to battle other trainers' Pokémon before?"

"Never."

Lost in her memories, Mia looked up and shook her head as she answered the detective.

"I—as I just said, I rarely participate in those sports activities, let alone Pokémon battles."

Hugo pressed further, "Even general schools that aren't geared towards trainers should include lessons on Pokémon battles in their curriculum, right?"

Mia shook her head, gazing at the two Pokémon happily eating beside the detective, and said dejectedly, "The schools I attended provided Pokémon for rental during battle practice classes, allowing students to command pre-trained Pokémon. Besides, my classmates could clearly see the condition of my Agaric Pokémon at school. So, they wouldn't specifically come to battle me."

"Does this kind of *Agaricus bisporus* really have the ability to survive in the wild? Will it be unable to adapt to the wild environment after being released?"

Hugo asked the question with a bit of a headache.

Although the case of the agaric mushroom is not typical, even if they are kept growing for a long time, the cultivation cost is not much, as they are only about 20 centimeters in size.

However, just as the question of whether humans have the right to restrain the nature of wild Pokémon is a controversial one, the question of whether humans have the obligation to support Pokémon lacking basic survival skills and whether they should let wild individuals that would be eliminated by nature die is also a controversial topic.

"I—I can't be sure. But my father told me that when he first caught the Ayak-like mushroom in the wild, he encountered resistance from it and was sprayed with spores. So I was thinking, could this motionless personality have suddenly appeared after I adopted it?"

"I see. So when you really feel you're in danger, you'll still put up a fight." The detective nodded thoughtfully.

"My father may have misremembered, or he may have kept the truth from me to comfort me—in any case, I never saw the mushroom squirting spores with my own eyes, so I can't guarantee whether that event actually happened."

Mia seemed to have opened a floodgate, rambling on and on, "The day I released it, I wasn't really that determined. I put Agaric in a forest far from school, near Route 16. I looked it up online and heard that the forest was not only sparsely populated, but also had very few bird Pokémon because of the many Electric-type Emolga. Plus, according to a scholar from the Yew Research Institute, there were already many Agaric populations around Route 16. So—I released Agaric there. I placed it in a hidden spot under the roots of a huge old tree, surrounded by the damp soil that Agaric likes."

"That must be Mr. Eric's research on the habitat of elves—," Hugo said with a touch of nostalgia.

"What I was thinking was—if Aiya Mushroom was still motionless, just like when it was with me before, and hadn't left the release site at all, I certainly couldn't just leave it there in the wild. So, I left a mark on the trunk of that big tree and decided to come back to the forest the next day to check on Aiya Mushroom. If it was still under the marked tree, I would take it back, as if the release had never happened—that's how I convinced myself." "You've thought it through thoroughly enough; no one can blame you for it."

The detective spoke softly and calmly, offering words of comfort to the woman before him.

Regardless of the outcome of that release, since Mia ultimately attributed it to her suicide attempt at the beach, it means she regretted her past actions—even though it might not have been her fault.

"When I arrived at that forest the next day, I didn't see Aurelula under the marked tree trunk—nor was the child in sight, nor was there any trace of it among the nearby bushes. It seems that after leaving me, it resumed its independent activities and chose to leave again—that's how I released my starter Pokémon."

Mia lowered her gaze and fell silent. It seemed that the guilt she felt back then still troubled her to this day.

"So, why are you thinking about this again now, many years after leaving university?"

Under the cover of melodious music in the distance, Hugo cautiously asked his question.

He was extremely cautious, as if afraid that his question might touch a nerve with the suicide survivor.

"I—" Mia looked dazed.

"Recently, I dreamed about Agaric, as if a voice was calling to me, reminding me of the starter Pokémon I once abandoned—and then—"

The piano and vocal duet came to an abrupt end at the final climax, and the stage lights in the distance went out. The guests, admiring Carlos's magnificent performance, erupted in thunderous cheers and applause.

Amidst countless cheers, Mia revealed a deathly pale expression, her indifferent gaze piercing through the detective, as if staring at a distant time and space on the other side of the world.

She said abruptly, "Then, I started thinking about suicide."

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