Two Pokémon stood obediently under the showerhead, allowing Naoki to wash their bodies.
Washing off the mud stuck to them in the field, then applying a layer of fragrant shower gel and scrubbing out foam with a bath ball.
Cyclizar accidentally got some foam up its nose, and it stopped after sneezing several times from the irritation.
Nearby, Koraidon looked on disdainfully.
"Arggh…"
The next second, while breathing, it also inhaled a mouthful of foam into its nasal cavity and started to sneeze following Cyclizar's lead.
"Pfft, hahahahaha!"
Naoki laughed heartily and mercilessly, leisurely picking up the shower to rinse the foam off the two Pokémon: "Now, are you still disdainful of Cyclizar?"
Koraidon: "..."
Cyclizar showed a silly smile on its face: "Gaaoh~"
Koraidon glared at Cyclizar, flicking its large tail, and turned around, ignoring people.
It was throwing a little tantrum.
Naoki wasn't in a hurry to soothe it, first helping Cyclizar rinse the foam off and then using a towel to dry it, sniffing and praising:
"Smells good, alright, go wait in the living room for dinner!"
"Gaaoh~" Cyclizar said, happily running off.
Koraidon couldn't help but look back, and Naoki sat on a bench, calling out: "Alright, come on over, let me rinse the foam off you."
Koraidon walked over rather honestly.
Naoki picked up the showerhead, rinsing while saying: "Why disdain Cyclizar? Cyclizar hasn't been born for two years yet, for us humans, that's still a baby."
"Arggh…" Koraidon didn't know what to say.
"Everyone starts off not knowing anything!" Naoki thought he should help Cyclizar ease its standing with Koraidon: "Cyclizar is still young now, give it a few more years, and it will undoubtedly become smarter and more capable, I have a hunch, it will grow into a very powerful Pokémon!"
After all, the effects of the birthday cake take time to manifest.
But hearing this, Koraidon's heart grew even more complex.
Naoki… really believes in it and trusts it, huh?
Looking now, it seems not to have let Naoki's trust down, indeed becoming a very powerful Pokémon, one so capable it could protect Naoki and its past self.
Memories of the past flooded its mind, and Koraidon allowed Naoki to dry its body with deep reluctance.
"Alright, you also go downstairs to wait for dinner!" Naoki smiled, patting Koraidon's head.
Koraidon responded somewhat numbly and walked downstairs, looking at the silly Cyclizar.
Its heart was infinitely conflicted because Naoki can now understand it, meaning it could tell Naoki about things that would happen.
But doing so… might lead to terrible consequences.
In Koraidon's mind surfaced the conversations it had overheard between Naoki, Professor Sada, and Professor Turo.
Back then, they were discussing matters about time travel.
Koraidon clearly remembered Professor Sada saying: If someone from the future travels through time to prevent their grandmother and grandfather from marrying, then the future person will disappear, never having existed.
At that time, as a Cyclizar, it was confused by these words, and Naoki had specially explained it all to it.
When you play with time, time plays with you too.
And now, that kind of thing was happening to it.
If it tells Naoki about the future, then things will change, and Naoki will definitely stop something from happening.
Then, if Cyclizar didn't fall into the Time Machine, it wouldn't be born.
So, the current it would disappear along with it.
Koraidon didn't want to disappear; it wanted to stay by Naoki's side forever.
But looking at its past self, Koraidon's heart also filled with a trace of unbearable compassion.
If it doesn't speak up, then its past self will go through those terrifying and painful experiences just like it did.
In Koraidon's golden eyes, a trace of conflicted emotion surfaced as it silently gazed at its past self.
At least… let it accompany Naoki a while longer! Koraidon thought sorrowfully.