“We’re here.”
Gui Ling looked at the GPS in his hand, called out to Yveltal to start descending, and then the two landed in a large open space.
“I don’t see any lab?”
Gui Ling looked around, and after finding nothing, he could only call Ruo Zhe.
……….
“???”
The phone’s sound suddenly blared from under Gui Ling’s feet, startling him and making him jump up. Immediately after, the turf opened like a door, revealing a small passage inside.
“You stepped on my door, kid! No wonder I couldn’t open it!”
“What kind of sane person builds a lab here?”
“Well, you’re seeing one today. Never mind that, hurry over.”
The passage led to a hidden world, much like a very large basement. Walking down the stairs, it was a futuristic-looking laboratory, with various new equipment standing in the center, and 11 incubation pods on the side, each containing a Genesect fossil.
“You’re quite fast.”
“The equipment was ordered from the start; I just lacked the funds.”
Gui Ling nodded, then toured the lab. The entire space was incredibly vast; it took Gui Ling nearly 15 minutes to walk a full circle.
“Don’t you have any separate rooms here? It’s just one big space.”
“It’s a place for experiments; why would there be so many empty rooms?”
“Alright.”
“Um, both of you…”
Just then, Lin Jingnan, who had been silent, yawned and then pulled out her phone, pointing to the time at the top.
“It’s already 1 AM. If we don’t sleep now, we won’t be able to get up tomorrow.”
Ruo Zhe shrugged when he heard this, then continued tinkering with his instruments.
“I’m pulling an all-nighter tonight; don’t mind me. You two should sleep.”
“Where do you have a place to rest here?”
Ruo Xi, hearing this, stopped what he was doing, then looked around and gave an awkward smile.
“Ahaha… well, I usually just sleep slumped over the experimental equipment. Do you guys want to sleep on the floor?”
Before Ruo Xi could finish speaking, Lin Jingnan, as if she had expected it, had already taken out her sleeping bag and crawled inside. Sylveon and Milotic also curled up beside the sleeping bag and fell asleep.
“Where are my things?”
“………… (What?)”
“My sleeping bag seems to be missing. Where did you put it?”
“………… (Didn’t you bring it?)”
“Didn’t you bring it for me?”
………A brief silence fell over the air………
“So, you didn’t bring it for me?!”
“………… (You didn’t bring it yourself; you’re just trying to find an excuse to blame me, right?)”
“I don’t care! You didn’t bring it for me!”
“………… (Then I don’t care about you; I’m sleeping anyway.)”
After saying that, Yveltal transformed into the cocoon of destruction and instantly fell asleep, leaving Gui Ling to continuously punch and kick the cocoon of destruction.
“Don’t sleep! At least let me squeeze in!”
“………… (Read receipt, no reply.)”
“No, where did you learn that phrase?”
“………… (Serperior.)”
“Uh… I’m speechless.”
After nearly half an hour, Ruo Xi finally adjusted the experimental equipment. When he turned his head, he found that Lin Jingnan was already asleep. Gui Ling, on the other hand, was sleeping soundly, arms crossed, leaning against the cocoon of destruction, seemingly unconcerned by the unfamiliar environment.
“Alright, let’s start the experiment. I just hope it doesn’t make too much noise and wake them up.”
As Ruo Xi placed a blue energy crystal into the slot of the experimental instrument, the floor of the entire lab began to glow blue. As countless intricate pipes transported energy to the 11 incubation pods, the status displays on the pods slowly began to show faint heartbeats.
“Excellent. Now, the next step is to install these reinforced mechanical skeletons.”
………
The next day, Lin Jingnan rubbed her eyes and crawled out of her sleeping bag, only to find that Ruo Zhe hadn’t slept all night and had been tinkering with his machines.
Lin Jingnan glanced at the time, 9:30 AM. After tidying up her belongings, she picked up a book and began to read. Meanwhile, the cocoon of destruction and Gui Ling beside her remained motionless.
“Don’t even think about waking them up.”
Lin Jingnan was about to have Sylveon wake Gui Ling and the others, but she was stopped by Ruo Zhe, who had dark circles under his eyes.
“Yveltal is known as the Pokémon with the worst ‘morning grumpiness.’ What do you think his Trainer would be like?”
“Oh.”
It wasn’t until noon that the 11 incubation pods gradually opened. The red Genesect following Ruo Xi immediately rushed over upon sensing the aura of its kind. Then, the 12 Genesect began to transmit signals to each other, explaining what had happened.
“Alright, next, let’s head to the location of the giant stone.”
“Aren’t you going to sleep?”
“Ah, I’m used to it. I won’t die.”
“Oh, what about him?”
Lin Jingnan pointed to the huge cocoon of destruction behind her. Yveltal and Gui Ling showed no signs of movement; they were still sound asleep.
“How long have they been sleeping?”
“Looks like it’s almost 12 hours.”
“? They can sleep that long?”
“Should we wake them up?”
Just as the two were at a loss, one of Gui Ling’s Poké Balls suddenly chimed. Then Diancie emerged from the Poké Ball, picked up Gui Ling’s phone, checked the time, and then put her hands together, emitting a pink glow, and began to condense a diamond.
Diancie: (Thinking about what I’m about to do makes me laugh.)
Immediately after, a giant pink diamond floated above the cocoon of destruction. Diancie stretched, then leaped away without looking back.
“Hehe, such a big diamond ~ for you!”
Thump!!!
“Ah!!!” × 2
Lin Jingnan and Ruo Zhe, witnessing such an outrageous wake-up method, were dumbfounded and couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up.
………
“I say, Gui Ling, can you stop looking so gloomy?”
“I’m just like this when I haven’t woken up yet…”
“Where are we going next?”
“Last time, during the Mew project, I specifically found some data. The data showed a place with energy identical to the energy that erupted from the previous giant stone, so I want to see if that place is indeed where the giant stone is located.”
“Are we just walking there? Not flying?”
“A journey has no meaning if you don’t enjoy the scenery along the way…”
“Can you please not say such inspiring words with that sleepy face?”
“Hehe ~ I’m used to it…”
Meanwhile, in a small cabin in the woods…
“Jenny, I really don’t know anything.”
Many Jennys searched high and low in the wooden house but found no useful clues.
“Even you don’t know the whereabouts of that researcher?”
“No, I haven’t been able to contact him since he disappeared 57 days ago.”
“Is that so? That’s when he stole the fossil… Alright, thank you, Mr. Yin Xing.”
“Goodbye.”
Click— (Door closing sound)
Seeing the Jennys leave, Yin Xing finally sat on the sofa and gently stroked Wind Spirit’s head.
“Good thing I cleaned up all the data related to Ruo Xi today, otherwise it would have been truly over…”
“Wind Spirit ~”
“Yes, I know, and thank you too.”
“Wind Spirit?”
“Why help Ruo Xi?”
Yin Xing chuckled, then looked at the photos burned to ashes in the corner of the wall and smiled.
“Even if he did something wrong, I still want to help him…”