“Wah wah!”
“Hmm?”
Next to a newly built log cabin, a middle-aged man and a green Pokémon wiped sweat from their brows as they looked at the painstakingly built cabin. Just as they were about to go in and rest, they heard bursts of crying.
Following the sound, they saw a white object particularly conspicuous under a golden Yin Xing tree.
“How is there a child left here?”
“Sana?”
“Never mind, let’s take him home first. He definitely won’t survive alone.”
“Sana~”
“Gardevoir, you must take good care of him~”
Six years later…
“The Yin Xing trees are blooming again this year, golden like gold.”
The log cabin was surrounded by Yin Xing trees, making it seem as if it were plated in a layer of gold, like the most brilliant treasure in the wilderness.
“Little Yin Xing and Gardevoir, have fun playing, remember to come back early for dinner.”
“Okay, Dad!”
“Sana~”
After six years, this researcher, who had retired from the laboratory due to a previous accident, chose to leave society and enjoy his “later years” in the forest with his lifelong companion.
He hadn’t expected that he would still be able to raise a child in his final days…
“What a pity…”
“Gardevoir? Why is Dad hiding in the dirt and not coming out?”
“…”
“Gardevoir?”
The once gentle Gardevoir seemed to have completely changed, becoming gloomy and sad.
What no one expected was that Gardevoir was not a mythical beast, yet she used telepathy.
“He went to another world.”
“Where did he go? Why didn’t he take us?”
“He…”
Gardevoir was very conflicted. When the middle-aged man had just embarked on his journey, he encountered Ralts, who was still a Pokémon egg.
Years of companionship had long since allowed Ralts to evolve into Gardevoir.
As a researcher living in seclusion in the mountains, although his life with Gardevoir wasn’t eventful, it was very stable and happy.
However, the previous experiment had failed, and a type of radiation caused the middle-aged man’s resistance to rapidly decline. For his own safety, he had no choice but to withdraw from the laboratory.
But both of them knew what a decrease in resistance meant, and they had long anticipated that this day would come…
Now that his lifelong Trainer had left, she also felt the urge to follow.
But…
“What about little Yin Xing…?”
“Gardevoir?”
“…”
“It’s nothing…”
“Little Yin Xing, go to sleep now, it’s getting late…”
“Okay.”
Gardevoir looked at the small mound gradually submerged by golden leaves, standing there and watching for a very long time.
Gardevoir did many things in the single day she had: she prepared nearly a year’s worth of food and put it in the refrigerator, and she repaired the somewhat dilapidated log cabin.
She also found a newly born Cottonee in the forest, and after Gardevoir’s repeated pleas, the Cottonee, separating from its group, finally agreed to Gardevoir’s request.
The next day,
The young Yin Xing woke up and, as before, walked to the dining table to eat bread.
“Little Yin Xing~”
“Huh?”
Yin Xing turned to look at Gardevoir. This time, Gardevoir showed a long-lost smile, but this smile carried a different kind of emotion.
“There’s still a little time until your 7th birthday, but I want to give you your birthday present early~”
“Wow! It’s a Cottonee!”
“Do you like it?”
“Yes, yes! Gardevoir, I like you the most!”
“...Little Yin Xing?”
“Hmm?”
“Can you… call me Mom?”
“Huh?!”
Meeting Gardevoir’s somewhat nervous gaze, Yin Xing thought for a moment and then called out.
“Gardevoir… Mom?”
The next second, Gardevoir immediately hugged Yin Xing. The Trainer’s passing and the accumulated grievances of this period burst forth simultaneously.
Long crying took away Gardevoir’s worries and further solidified the path she would take next.
“Little Yin Xing…”
“What’s wrong?”
“I really miss your dad… I really do…”
“Why? Is Dad not coming back?”
“I want to go see him. Can you take care of yourself?”
The young Yin Xing did not understand what this meant, nor did he understand what parting felt like.
Childlike innocence urged him to prove early on that he was already a good child who could take care of others.
“Of course! I’m not a child anymore!”
Gardevoir showed a relieved smile, along with a hint of release.
“Are you still sleepy?”
Gardevoir bent down, gently stroked Yin Xing’s head, and placed a kiss on Yin Xing’s forehead.
Draining Kiss activated.
As Yin Xing was drowsily falling asleep, Gardevoir left her final words.
“Goodnight, my child, and… goodbye.”
“If there’s a next life, I truly hope I’m human, so I can have you with your dad and start a new life again…”
“Cottonee?”
“From now on… I’ll entrust him to you.”
After an unknown amount of sleep, Yin Xing got up from his bed.
Feeling somewhat hungry, he came to the living room again, but this time there was no bread on the table as before. In every corner of the room, there was no longer the white and green figure, only the Cottonee he had seen yesterday.
Until Yin Xing came to his father’s grave.
Gardevoir’s originally white long dress appeared somewhat damaged, and the red energy body at her chest had dimmed.
She looked as if she were asleep, but this time, she finally showed a long-lost smile.
“Why are both Dad and Mom asleep?”
“The Yin Xing trees are blooming again, Dad and Mom, look!”
“Don’t you like little Yin Xing anymore?”
“Why aren’t you answering me…?”
Time returns to the present. Unexpectedly, Yin Xing, despite being a hacker, was by no means weak in actual combat. Without relying on Wind Spirit’s power, he could fight back and forth with three Jennys on his own.
With Wind Spirit’s assistance, Yin Xing quickly gained the upper hand.
“Hmph!”
Jenny was shot in the thigh, stumbling and falling to the ground, glaring at Yin Xing and saying,
“Yin Xing! How dare you assault a police officer?! Do you know what the consequences are…?”
Thud!
“So much talk.”
Yin Xing knocked out the last Jenny with a hand chop, quickly ran towards Ruo Xi, helped him up, and then walked forward with his arm draped over his shoulder.
“This is probably your first time out of your Yin Xing forest, isn’t it?”
“If it weren’t for the trouble you stirred up, I wouldn’t have come out. I don’t want anyone else to leave me…”