Zining High School offers both boarding and day-student options.
Chen Kai, with his Miraidon, naturally chose to be a day student, commuting to and from school.
Miraidon at full speed took less than 10 minutes to reach town, and with its built-in radar, there was no fear of hitting anyone.
However, these past few days of school life had left Chen Kai feeling depressed; aside from a few pet-like Pokemon appearing in class, it was no different from Earth.
Xiao Mei and Dipplin found it boring; they even preferred staying home to help with the sheep rather than going to school.
Chen Kai had probed Bai Lijuan for her opinion: if Chen Kai didn't go to school, his legs might be broken.
“In the Pokémon world, aren’t you supposed to get a Pokémon and then travel everywhere?” Chen Kai complained in his room.
“Which world is like that?” Miraidon asked, munching on a biscuit.
“The knowledge in your textbooks, people in my world would have learned that in elementary school!
No human in any world doesn't need to study.”
Chen Kai slumped over his desk, despairing.
Suddenly, the egg on the desk began to shake slightly, and the amplitude of the shaking grew larger and larger, as if a powerful force was surging within it.
Immediately after, the surface of the egg began to flash with a bright light, which grew increasingly intense, shining like a small sun in the night, so dazzling that it was almost impossible to keep one's eyes open.
From within the light came a crisp yet vibrant “crack, crack” sound—the sound of the eggshell breaking. As the sound echoed, cracks began to spread from the top of the egg, growing more numerous and larger. Through each crack, an even brighter light shone, as if it wanted to break free from these constraints and welcome a brand new world.
Finally, with a “pop,” the eggshell completely split open, and a small Pokémon emerged from the broken shell.
It was a Treecko, emanating a fresh Grass-type aura.
This Treecko, perhaps because it had just hatched, was only about 20 centimeters tall. Its body was a standard grass-green, its tail slightly darker, and its belly a vibrant rose-red.
It blinked its large yellow eyes, curiously observing Chen Kai before it.
“Chamo?” (Who are you?)
For some reason, Chen Kai immediately understood Treecko’s words. Normally, it would take him half a day to grasp the general meaning of what a Pokémon was saying.
Only after spending a long time together could he fully understand what it meant when it spoke.
Xiao Mei and the Dipplin also saw the light and gathered around to peer over.
“Rong!” (Welcome!)
“Mi, Mi?” (Is this my little brother? He looks just so-so, huh?)
With so many creatures suddenly surrounding it, Treecko was momentarily overwhelmed and shrank back in fear.
“Quick, get out of the way.” Chen Kai quickly shooed them away.
“You must be hungry. I’ll go get you something to eat.”
Chen Kai went to the next room, retrieved some Moomoo Milk that Miraidon had bought, warmed it up, and gave it to Treecko to drink.
“Chamo!” (Delicious!)
Chen Kai gave a maternal smile: “If it’s delicious, drink more. Miraidon has more.”
Now Miraidon had also learned to pick berries itself. It had a bag, and after picking them, it would sell them, earn money, and buy snacks for itself.
It even had its own phone and had activated the Pokémon payment and collection app; it had more money in its pocket than Chen Kai!
So Chen Kai taking a few extra bottles of Moomoo Milk didn't bother Miraidon much.
After two bottles of Moomoo Milk, Treecko was full and satisfied, and followed Chen Kai on a tour of its new home.
Chen Kai introduced them one by one: “This is Bai Lijuan, our family’s boss. She’s in charge of the food.”
“Chamo.” (Hello.)
“This is Chen Dafu. He’s the MVP of our family.”
“Chamo?” (What’s an MVP?)
“This is Xiao Mei. If anyone bullies you outside, you can find it.”
Xiao Mei flexed its muscles again:
“Rong!” (I’m invincible!)
“These are the Dipplin. One is the Big Boss, and the other is the Second Boss. The Big Boss is more reliable; you can find it if you need anything.”
The Big Boss nodded:
“Mi.” (Indeed.)
The Second Boss protested:
“Mi!” (I’m the reliable one!)
“Finally, this is Miraidon. It might not seem reliable normally, but it’s very reliable when it matters. The Moomoo Milk you just drank was its, so just ask it if you want more.”
Miraidon playfully scolded Chen Kai: “Why don’t you go buy it yourself!”
“Chamo, Chamo.” (Thank you, Miraidon.)
Chen Kai stood firm and extended his hand, saying, “My name is Chen Kai, and I suppose I’m a Pokémon Trainer.
These are most of our family members. So, Treecko, are you willing to live with me and let me be your Trainer?”
Treecko blinked its large eyes. Although it didn't understand what a Trainer was, it instinctively wanted to extend its tail to shake Chen Kai’s hand. After a moment of hesitation, it still Mimicked Chen Kai and extended a hand.
“Chamo.” (Please take care of me, Chen Kai.)
The human and the Pokémon gently shook hands.
“Please take care of me too, Treecko.”
Chen Kai took out a red and white Poké Ball, lightly touched Treecko’s forehead, and successfully caught Treecko!
Then Chen Kai looked at Treecko’s Pokedex entry:
Name: Treecko
Type: Grass
Level: Infant (Definitely Level 1 now)
Ability: Overgrow
Although it wasn't the hidden ability ‘Unburden,’ Chen Kai didn’t mind. After all, he had Sceptile’s mega evolution stone, and after Mega Evolution, it would have the Lightning Rod ability, so there wasn’t much difference.
Chen Kai casually gave Sceptile’s mega evolution stone to Treecko.
The Evolution Stone contained faint Grass and Dragon energy, which was beneficial to Treecko.
Treecko quite liked this red and green orb, holding it dearly, even clutching it while sleeping.
Early the next morning, Chen Kai also took Treecko to school.
Xiao Mei and the three Dipplin were already quite seasoned and simply lazy about going to school.
“Oh! A starter Treecko!” As soon as they entered the classroom, the yellow-haired boy exclaimed!
In the entire Zining High School’s second year, including Chen Kai’s Treecko, only four people had starter Pokémon, and none were duplicates.
Unlike in Kyoto, where Chun Jie and her friends had starter Pokémon as a standard, so when they saw Treecko, the classmates gathered around to see what a real-life Treecko looked like.
“Tsk… another Grass-type. I feel like I’ll be even less able to beat Kai Ge now,” the yellow-haired boy muttered softly.
Su Yuexi’s Oddish also came over to greet Treecko enthusiastically.
“Congratulations, Chen Kai,” Su Yuexi said softly.
Teacher Xu also walked into the classroom at this moment.
“Alright, everyone, quiet down. Chen Kai’s Pokémon has also hatched. Now only two students in the class have not hatched theirs yet, but I estimate it will be soon. So, starting next week, we will have outdoor Pokémon training classes.
Please wear comfortable athletic clothing!”
“Yay!” The students erupted in cheers, apparently having been cooped up in the classroom for too long.