The morning sun streamed through the window, casting bright patches of light on the room's floor.
Just then, his mother's voice, raised with a hint of concern and confusion, came from the living room: "Xiao Kai! Where did you run off to last night? You came back so late."
Chen Kai was sitting at his desk, a dusty notebook open before him, his brow slightly furrowed as his pen rapidly recorded something.
Hearing his mother call him, his pen paused.
He certainly couldn't tell the truth. Taking a deep breath, he didn't even look up, just raised his voice slightly towards the door and replied in as casual and perfunctory a tone as possible:
"Mom, nothing much, really. I just wandered around the back mountain, got some fresh air, and battled some wild Pokémon for a while. I just accidentally walked a bit too far, it's fine!"
It was quiet outside the door for a few seconds, then his mother's half-believing mumble came: "...These kids nowadays, I really don't understand them... Alright, alright, remember to report to school later."
"Okay! I got it," Chen Kai replied perfunctorily, but he knew that his classmates had all gone to Rong City to watch the competition.
He had only asked for a week off, but it ended up being over a month, and the Sichuan Province high school league had already started several days ago.
Although only 8 people from his class were participating, it was still a big competition, so the principal simply let the entire class go to Rong City to watch.
According to Huangmao, the competition was going quite smoothly.
After all, with Yelena there, it was unlikely to find a second high school student in the entire Sichuan Province, besides Chen Kai, who could challenge her.
Moreover, he heard that Yelena had recently become the Big Boss of the class, leading all the classmates in Pokémon battles for training. Many times, she didn't even need to participate, and the team would still win.
So, the most frequent message Huangmao sent Chen Kai recently was just one sentence: Kai, class safe, no worries!
Chen Kai decided to take his time and first record and sort out recent events.
First, he recorded his Pokémon:
Name: Xiao Mei (Ampharos)
Attribute: Electric
Level: Senior-level (estimated around Level 45)
Ability: Static
Held Item: Ampharos mega evolution stone
Proficient Skills: Thunderbolt, Dazzling Gleam, Power Gem, Dragon Pulse
Less Proficient Skills: Electric Terrain and Thunder Punch, which Xiao Mei often secretly practices.
Name: Hydrapple
Attribute: Grass + Dragon
Level: Senior-level (Level 40+)
Ability: Regenerator
Held Item: Leftovers
Proficient Skills: Earth Power, Ultimate Drain, Random Light, Pollen Puff
Less Proficient Skills: Nasty Plot, Recover
Name: Green (Sceptile)
Attribute: Grass
Level: Elite Level (Level 36)
Ability: Overgrow
Held Item: Sceptile mega evolution stone
Skills: Energy Ball, Ultimate Drain, Leaf Blade, Dragon Pulse
Name: Xiao Gao (Alola Exeggutor)
Attribute: Grass + Dragon
Level: Normal Class (Level 20+)
Ability: Harvest
Held Item: Sitrus Berry
Skills: Psychic Noise, Ultimate Drain, Flamethrower, Psychic Terrain.
Name: Seadra
Attribute: Water
Level: Elite Level (around Level 35)
Ability: Swift Swim
Held Item: Dragon Scale
Skills: Bubble Beam, Dragon Breath, Rain Dance.
Name: Dracovish
Attribute: Dragon + Water
Level: Normal Class (Level 20+)
Ability: Strong Jaw
Held Item: None
Skills: Ice Fang, Psychic Fangs
Name: Swablu
Attribute: Normal + Flying
Level: Normal Class (Level 25+)
Ability: Natural Cure
Held Item: Sitrus Berry (it says this is for hydration during weight loss)
Skills: Peck (power probably only 20)
Occasionally Usable Skills: Round
Completely Ineffective Skills: Disarming Voice, Dragon Breath
Chen Kai looked at the recorded status of his Pokémon, pondering whether he should change Xiao Mei's held item.
"Xiao Mei, how about I change your held item?" he turned to ask Xiao Mei.
Chen Kai had recently tried, and his Mega Evolution with Green was very smooth, capable of evolving at any time, feeling like a natural progression.
However, Mega Evolving with Xiao Mei only worked during battles, and there was a small chance of failure. It would be better to get Xiao Mei a Scope Lens to increase its critical hit rate.
"Long--" (Whatever you think is best) Xiao Mei replied without turning its head.
It was currently watching TV in the room. This TV belonged to Miraidon, but Miraidon rarely watched it, mostly playing on its phone and computer.
"Xiao Mei, what's your current goal?" Chen Kai continued to ask.
Xiao Mei flexed the muscles on its arm:
"Long--" (To continue getting stronger!)
Chen Kai nodded, then looked at the line for Hydrapple.
He didn't need to worry too much about Big Boss and the others. In Alola, Chen Kai had bought a set of "Leftovers" for Big Boss.
He had even touched it, and it was quite magical—it looked like a leftover apple core, yet it could continuously replenish a Pokémon's stamina.
Although the amount wasn't much, Big Boss loved the fruit core dearly.
Chen Kai leaned out the window and asked Big Boss, who was tending to the fruit trees: "Big Boss, do you have any goals now?"
Big Boss stopped its work upon hearing the question and began to think.
Instead, Second Boss spoke first: "Mi!" (When can I be the head?)
The other snake-like Pokémon also chimed in, chattering:
"Mi!" (I want something delicious!)
"Mi!" (I also want to keep the Leftovers item!)
"Mi!" (I want a bow!)
Fortunately, Big Boss knew Chen Kai wasn't Aladdin's lamp, and even the lamp could only grant three wishes.
It stopped its younger siblings' unreasonable demands and said:
"Mi, mi, mi." (I think things are pretty good now, but if possible, I'd like to plant more fruit trees.)
Chen Kai nodded, wrote it down, and then looked at Green.
Green had learned Dragon Pulse from Xiao Mei over the past few days since evolving. Green was very fast, so in the future, he should consider abandoning skills like Ultimate Drain and teaching it skills like Leaf Storm and Earthquake.
He needed to maximize the advantages of its fast physical and special attacking style!
He looked at Green beside him and asked, "What's your goal?"
Green replied directly:
"Cha." (I also want to continue getting stronger.)
Then Chen Kai shifted his gaze to Xiao Gao, who could only stay outside.
Mainly because it was simply too tall, over 10 meters. For the past two days, it could only pitifully poke its head through the window, with most of its body and backside exposed outside.
However, Chen Ba was already preparing to renovate the house, planning to transform the entire living room wall into a fully open design and build a retractable 10-meter awning.
Although it required custom work and wasn't cheap, Chen Kai's family wasn't short on money now; as long as Xiao Gao was happy, that was all that mattered.
When Xiao Gao was an Exeggcute, it didn't have many skills, but after evolving, there were simply too many skills it could learn and should learn.
Later, Chen Kai even considered arranging Draco Meteor, Sleep Powder, and Leech Seed for it, but then it would have too many skills, and he had recently found it difficult to choose.
Chen Kai asked as usual, "Xiao Gao, do you have any goals?"
Xiao Gao stretched its long neck into Chen Kai's room through the window, nuzzling him as it said:
"Dan? Dan." (Can I learn fewer skills recently? My head is spinning.)
Chen Kai smiled: "Alright."
Then he asked Seadra and Dracovish, who were playing in the water: "Do you have any goals or dreams?"
"Tz!" (Evolve!) Seadra's voice came from afar.
"Okay, okay!" Chen Kai also responded loudly.
"Awoo?" Dracovish tilted its head, not quite understanding Chen Kai's words.
But Chen Kai was already used to it.
He had intended to get Dracovish a Choice Scarf or a Choice Band, or if not, a Focus Sash would do. He had bought all three, but no matter where he tied the item on Dracovish, it would always untie it and bite it, thinking Chen Kai was playing with it...
But Chen Kai was very patient with Dracovish. Now that it could learn Psychic Fangs and distinguish between Psychic Fangs and Ice Fang, it was already very good. He thought they should take it slow.
Finally, he looked at Swablu, who was flying around the house. It had been exercising constantly recently and had already lost half a pound, but Chen Kai felt it wouldn't last long.
Chen Kai, however, didn't really want to ask it, so he skipped it and tried asking his three "bodyguards" if they had any goals or dreams.
He couldn't be partial.
Iron Hands had been watching Xiao Mei's TV since earlier and couldn't hold back any longer. Hearing Chen Kai ask it, it excitedly shouted: "I want my own phone."
Chen Kai didn't expect it to make such a request, like a primary school student asking their parents, but it wasn't difficult, so he immediately agreed: "No problem, I'll get you a tri-fold one!"
Iron Hands, upon hearing "tri-fold," excitedly clenched its fist, causing sparks of electricity to fly around the room.
Then Chen Kai asked Iron Bundle and Iron Thorns, who were in their Poké Balls. They were very polite and both shook their heads, declining.
At this moment, Swablu also realized that Chen Kai seemed to have skipped it, and immediately became displeased. It flew into the room, pecking Chen Kai while chirping:
"Qing! Qing!" (That's what you get for not asking me! That's what you get for not asking me!)
Chen Kai covered himself with his hands and asked with a smile: "Then Swablu, what's your goal?"
Swablu flapped its wings and loudly declared: "Qing, Qing!" (I want to get stronger and beat up that spiky fish.)
"Good." Chen Kai, instead, looked at Swablu with newfound respect. It was quite ambitious, so he smiled and agreed.
Outside, Seadra's sneering laugh could be heard:
"Tz" (Little runt.)
Swablu was so angry it wanted to chase after it and fight, but then it thought, 'I can't beat it, so never mind.'
Chen Kai retracted his previous thought; it seemed Swablu wouldn't give up exercising anytime soon.
Then Chen Kai began to record his goals:
Goal 1: Miraidon is only two legendary seasonings short; keep up the good work.
Goal 2: Get stronger with Xiao Mei and Green!
Goal 3: Get a few more fruit trees for Big Boss and the others.
Goal 4: Sort out suitable skills for Xiao Gao.
Goal 5: Help Seadra evolve into Kingdra.
Goal 6: Swablu... let's focus on losing weight first.
Goal 7: Buy a tri-fold phone for Iron Hands. Although Iron Bundle and Iron Thorns didn't say anything, I still need to buy a crystal ball and wine for each of them.
Goal 8: Talk to Grandma Ju about matters concerning Area Zero.
Grandma Ju was a good person and had helped Chen Kai several times, especially when he sold the mega evolution stone last time, which left a very good impression on him, making him feel she was very loyal.
So this time, Chen Kai was going to ask for her help again.
Looking at the dense records in his notebook, Chen Kai was very satisfied.
Recalling the first time he set goals during the summer vacation, he could only write down 4. Now, those 4 goals had basically been achieved—although Miraidon's goal wasn't fully completed, there had been progress.
Now there were a full 8 goals. Although he was busy every day, he was also full of accomplishments!
Miraidon leaned over and glanced, reminding him with a smile: "Xiao Kai, what about your own goal?"
Only then did Chen Kai realize, turning to the page with his first recorded goal, where it was clearly written: Goal 1, find Terapagos (though it's probably hard to find, so just wait for the interdimensional device).
He had completely forgotten about it.
After a few seconds of silence, Chen Kai added another line under the current goals:
Goal 9: Try to find Terapagos.