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The next day.
Outside the window, veiled by thin curtains, it was pitch black. Translucent mist drifted in wisps, like pieces of gauze, obscuring many things.
The temperature was slightly low.
Staring at the unfamiliar ceiling, Li Xiang lay still for a full five seconds before rolling out of bed. Coincidentally, the movement woke Riolu and Doublade, who were sleeping on either side of him.
"Rio~"
Riolu let out a yawn, revealing its pink tongue, a slight glistening at the corner of its eyes as it drowsily rubbed them with its paw.
Last night's sleep quality wasn't great because, surprisingly, it was quite particular about this and was somewhat sensitive to unfamiliar beds.
Doublade felt nothing. It just shook its tassels and floated up, skillfully heading towards the bathroom, then thud—hit the wall and fell to the floor.
This one was also a creature of habit.
"Don't break the wall, ah~"
Li Xiang yawned, his movements slowing infinitely as he got dressed. The winter bed was terrifying, possessing a devilish allure.
Even someone with his willpower wasn't immune to its attraction at times.
After a quick wash-up, he headed to the living room.
Incineroar was sprawled on the sofa, legs on the coffee table, half-eaten popcorn in its arms, mouth opening and closing as it snored loudly.
Greninja had taken over the small table meant for the vase and slowly opened its eyes at the sound of Li Xiang opening the door.
"Ninja."
It called out softly.
"Morning."
Li Xiang waved.
Corviknight...
"Truly the Husky among birds. Why does it like sleeping in the entryway?"
Li Xiang glanced at Corviknight, which was completely blocking the door, and twitched the corner of his mouth.
In the half-open study, the computer screen's indicator light was still on. Metagross had its eyes closed, underside pressed against the floor—probably fell asleep while gaming.
Opening the fridge...
"Good morning, Rotom."
The fridge spoke.
"Morning. How does it feel being a smart appliance?"
Taking out ingredients and placing them on the counter, Li Xiang asked without looking up.
"Not great. I just gained the ability to speak, Rotom, but I also picked up a strange verbal tic, Rotom."
The Refrigerator Rotom's voice sounded odd.
"That's part of your charm, Rotom."
Li Xiang smiled at it.
Its metallic surface inexplicably blushed. "D-don't think saying such things early in the morning makes it any less frivolous, Rotom! Boys should learn to be devoted, Rotom! Sweet talk is wrong, Rotom!"
"What's wrong with being devoted to you?"
Li Xiang asked curiously, then waved his hand. "Alright, please help me wake up Incineroar and the others. It's time for morning training."
"...Hmph!"
Rotom was both shy and displeased but obediently complied.
The three Pokémon still dreaming were thus awakened.
"Roar..."
Incineroar sat up, looked at the snack crumbs on the floor, then at Li Xiang in the kitchen direction, didn't dare burn them away with fire, and honestly went to get the broom.
However, the considerate Greninja had already fetched it.
"Roar!" (Oh oh! Thanks!)
Incineroar's eyes lit up, but it didn't reach out to take it. Its eyes shifted, and it smiled at Greninja, calling out, "Roar..." (Do me another favor? Use Extrasensory to get these into the dustpan, will you? Sweeping won't get it clean.)
Greninja glanced at the messy floor, saw it was true, and used Extrasensory to gather the food crumbs and deposit them into the dustpan.
With that, Incineroar didn't need the broom anymore.
"Roar.." (Thanks.)
It patted Greninja's shoulder and headed to the bathroom.
Greninja blinked, thought for two seconds, then started twirling the broom like a katana to ease the awkwardness.
Entryway.
Corviknight opened its moist red eyes and couldn't help but let out a loud cry.
"Caw caw caw—!" (A new day begins with the beautiful voice of the great singer!)
This guy was completely unaware of how much its behavior resembled a certain creature called a rooster.
Study.
Metagross tilted its body and crawled out through the narrow doorframe. Its heavy frame made the wooden floor tremble slightly with each step.
"Have some consideration for the floor, bro. If you can fly, why walk?"
Li Xiang tossed a piece of berry its way.
Metagross opened its mouth, and the berry piece accurately fell inside without even hitting it.
'Heh heh heh, everything is within calculation.'
Metagross, abusing its computational power, glanced provocatively at Li Xiang.
"Metang!" (I'm not the same dinner table... I mean, simple-minded fool I used to be!)
"Immature."
Li Xiang scoffed, covered the prepared food with plastic wrap to ferment for about an hour—then it would be ready for proper cooking. That was just enough time for morning training.
Mist City in the early morning lived up to its name. Wherever one looked, there was mist drifting like gauze.
Yet the fog wasn't thick; visibility was extremely high all around.
"Intangible mist... is this water vapor, or something else..."
Li Xiang reached out to touch it but, like yesterday, felt nothing. It looked quite magical.
It was almost 5 AM, still early before dawn.
The streetlights were still on.
The dim yellow light cast down, giving a wordless sense of tranquility.
At this hour, even wild Pokémon were still asleep. At most, some night owls might be active. Even Hoothoot had stopped calling.
The surroundings were frighteningly quiet, but Li Xiang was long accustomed to it and even enjoyed this feeling of being the only one around.
Training Facility.
The staff managing the place sat at the entrance, yawning.
"Student, you're too early. Waking up early even during break?"
He said with some resentment. It was one thing during the semester, as students sometimes trained through the night. But being here so early during break was truly rare.
"The early Pidgy gets the worm. Sorry for the trouble."
Li Xiang smiled and walked in with his Pokémon.
Two hours later.
He walked out, slightly tired, leading the sleeping Doublade with its eyes closed. The rest were recuperating inside their Poké Balls.
The school's equipment was good; it was easy to get carried away. No wonder the gap between school team members and non-members was so vast.
...
After breakfast, Li Xiang went to the school library.
As a higher education institute, the collection here was different from ordinary places.
Whether it was breeding methods for different attributes and Pokémon, or usage techniques for certain moves, they were all recorded in the library.
Rumor had it that many graduates and current students would record their experiences, submit them for instructor review, and contribute them to the library in exchange for credits or other things.
This resulted in a wide variety of books in the library.
Li Xiang was curious if there was anything he could use.
Mist City University had been established for over a hundred years, and the library had a century of history. With only so many Pokémon, there should be plenty who had raised Incineroar and others before.
"Speaking of which, I've seen a Rotom that could travel through time."
With no one around, Li Xiang suddenly said while reading a book that mentioned concepts of time.
The phone screen lit up slightly, showing Rotom's large face. "Time travel? Impossible. That's a power only the legendary Pokémon Dialga possesses. Where did you see it?"
"I forgot, but I've definitely seen it."
Li Xiang replied.
The time-traveling Rotom was from an episode in the XY anime, located in an abandoned restaurant.
When Ash and the others arrived, that Rotom targeted them, sending them back ten years to reverse the restaurant's decline.
It could also send them back to ten years later.
"The search engine didn't find anything. Are you sure you're not making this up?"
Rotom looked at Li Xiang suspiciously.
"Do I seem like someone who would talk nonsense about this kind of thing?"
Li Xiang retorted.
Rotom fell silent immediately. But time travel... that was just too exaggerated.
It was simply unimaginable for a Pokémon like itself.
"Don't sell yourself short. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to do it someday too?"
Seeing Rotom silent on the screen, Li Xiang spoke up. "You need to have dreams, even as an electronic ghost."
"I hope so."
Rotom responded, clearly lacking confidence.
Li Xiang, however, was full of confidence. If creatures like Pokémon could exist, what was so strange about a Rotom time traveling?
It was just the difference between stretching the truth and stretching it further—not much of a distinction.
After a morning of searching, Li Xiang didn't find much useful information. It wasn't that it was all fake, but rather that he couldn't use it or didn't need to use it that way.
The special manifestations of Pokémon moves sometimes related to the trainer's tactical style and couldn't be universally applied.
After all, the focuses were different.
Of course, there were still many books; he had only read a part of them in one morning.
He could continue looking tomorrow; surely, he would find something useful eventually.
Quietly returning the book to its place, Li Xiang headed to the cafeteria.
In the afternoon, he still had to go to the martial arts school to learn the Ten Forms of Ksitigarbha.
...
Time passed quickly.
Especially when living a life revolving around a few fixed points each day.
On this day, while Li Xiang was at home reading, the doorbell rang.
The entryway attendant, Corviknight, skillfully opened the door with its wing, paused for a second upon seeing the visitor.
"Gueeeest! Gueest heeere! Receive the guest!"
It turned and shouted inside to Li Xiang.
"I know without you telling me. And who did you learn that phrasing from—"
Li Xiang walked out of his room, speaking, then raised an eyebrow upon seeing the visitor and smiled. "Yo! If it isn't Young Master Song?"
Outside the door stood a white-haired youth in casual clothes. Half a year apart, and damn, he'd gotten even handsomer.
Under the light, his handsomeness was somewhat striking.
Behind him was an equally white-haired Lycanroc.
"What's up with your Corviknight?" Song Jie showed no sign of being a stranger, walking right in and very naturally changing shoes to enter.
"Learning the bad instead of the good, it's normal. Pokémon are as cheeky as people."
Li Xiang shrugged, then added, "When did you get here? You didn't call; I could've picked you up."
"You don't have a car. Pick me up how? In the end, you'd just be mooching a ride off me."
Song Jie walked from the entryway into the living room, his gaze sweeping over the coffee table. "Just looking at this place tells me you're bored out of your mind."
Inside the room, Doublade, hearing an unfamiliar voice, floated out unsteadily to look. Its pupils contracted sharply, and it instantly flew behind Li Xiang, full of vigilance.
"Your new Pokémon?"
Song Jie looked at the oddly behaving Doublade. "Why haven't you evolved it?"
Li Xiang grabbed Doublade by the hilt and pulled it off his back. "No rush. I have some other ideas. This one's shy and likes drawing swords. Don't provoke it casually."
Song Jie said speechlessly, "Only you would casually provoke other people's Pokémon, alright? Don't pin what you do on me."
Li Xiang just laughed it off.