"That's right." Tim grinned and clapped Jace on the shoulder. "We all got one."
"Yep."
"Mm-hm."
One by one, everyone passed Jace on the way out, giving him a pat on the shoulder as they went. Even Dratini waddled over and tapped his shoulder with her tail — and only then did Jace snap out of his daze. He lunged forward and grabbed Auron by the leg.
"Boss! Going tomorrow too? I need a new Pokémon!"
Auron tried to shake him off, failed, and gave up. "No. Everyone already picked theirs. What would be the point?"
"But *I* don't have one!"
"Didn't you get an egg selection from the school?"
"Oh—"
Jace paused.
...Right. He did.
"Oh. Never mind then."
He stood up, brushed off his jacket, and walked away looking perfectly composed — as if he hadn't just been clinging to someone's leg thirty seconds ago.
Auron gave him a look, then headed for the door.
Dratini copied his expression exactly: eyes rolled skyward, then she cracked herself up and had to be carried.
Jace didn't care in the slightest. There was dinner waiting. He fell into step with the group, grinning, as they all headed out together.
The restaurant wasn't far, and it was still early enough that no one bothered calling a car. They walked, talking about nothing in particular, following the route to Emperor's Flame Sichuan.
———
"This one's really good. Here, Dratini — try some."
"Rah!"
"Chu~"
Dratini took a bite, squinted her eyes shut in bliss, and nuzzled her face against Auron's arm.
Watching her reaction, Auron found himself thinking he'd like to meet the chef.
He knew his own limits. The Pokémon food he made — the Pokémon loved it, that was true. But most of that came from the formulas and from his Aura precisely adjusting every step. Strip those two things away and what he had was good cooking. Nothing more. Nowhere near the level of someone whose hands had made this dish.
Not bad compared to most chefs, sure. But not the best.
"Holy—!"
Auron flinched again. He turned to Jace with undisguised irritation. "What is *wrong* with you today?"
"Rayquaza!"
"Rayquaza?!"
Everyone's head snapped toward Jace's phone at once.
"Yeah. This afternoon — Rayquaza showed up at Wando Lake in Zhejiang Province and got into a fight with a Latios."
"Wando Lake? *Latios*?"
Auron paused. He'd always figured Latios lived in Alto Mare. How was there one inside Dragon Kingdom borders?
"Not just that — there were tourists below at the time. And a Latias was there too, apparently protecting them."
"Latios *and* Latias at Wando Lake?" Auron's expression did something complicated. "That's..."
"Makes sense if you think about it. There's actually been a local legend for years — people say Latios and Latias have always lived around Wando Lake. Nobody ever confirmed it until now. Turns out the legend was real."
Rayquaza had picked fights with Latios before. Usually Cyrus Zhuge was nearby to manage things, and he'd always notify Wando Lake's administrators in advance so they could clear the area. The two Pokémon tended to fight high up in the sky anyway, too far for anyone below to get a clear look.
But this time — between the Church business and the aftermath of Rayquaza's clash with Darkrai — Cyrus had assumed Rayquaza was done picking fights for a while and hadn't bothered with the usual precautions.
Rayquaza, for his part, had been equally puzzled to find tourists on the ground. There were never tourists. But by the time Latios provoked him, retreating felt beneath him. Cyrus would handle the fallout anyway.
So the two of them had gone at it in full view of a crowd.
Auron looked at Tim, who was wearing the calmest expression imaginable, and thought: *are you serious right now?*
And then it hit him — if this was real, that meant some mythical Pokémon weren't unique.
"Wait." He pressed two fingers to his forehead. "Right. They're *not* all unique. I've been applying game logic to the wrong world."
He'd let himself slip into old assumptions. This wasn't a video game. Multiple individuals of the same species were entirely plausible.
"Apparently one of them used Draco Meteor during the fight," Jace continued, reading aloud. "Latias deflected the worst of it, but some meteorite fragments made it to the ground — tourists picked them up." He looked up, incredulous. "And... they're already listed for sale online?"
That was genuinely absurd.
Lucas stared out the window with a distant, longing expression. "A mythical Pokémon... wonder when I'll get to battle one."
Tim rubbed his chin. "Heard that Master Wang Yi's Mamoswine once pinned a Landorus. Fairly easily, by all accounts."
Lucas turned around. "The one from the island nation, right? And his Blaziken apparently knocked out North Korea's Moltres too."
Auron inhaled sharply. "Seriously? A Pokémon beating a mythical?"
Lucas and Tim both nodded. "Completely true."
"There are some who say he once held off Regigigas by himself for a while," Lucas added. "Though that one's probably exaggerated."
"Held off Regigigas?"
Auron thought about it. He wasn't sure that was an exaggeration. Regigigas had the Slow Start ability — for the first five turns of combat, its attack and speed were halved. In the real world, that probably manifested as a warm-up period where the Pokémon's power was significantly reduced before it fully activated.
If that was the case, Master Wang Yi holding the line for a short window was entirely plausible. Once Regigigas fully came online, though? That would be a different story.
The meal wrapped up amid chatter and speculation. Dratini ate until her belly was visibly round, and despite her best efforts, she simply couldn't wrap herself around Auron afterward — so he ended up carrying her home in his arms.
"Later, bye~"
"See you. Come over tomorrow if you're free — I'll be home making Pokémon food. You're all welcome to learn."
"Sounds good. See you tomorrow."
"See you."
At the campus gate, goodbyes were exchanged, and everyone drifted off toward their own rooms.
Auron pushed open his door and stopped.
Charizard and Snorlax were at the table, both staring at something on top of it.
"Gah!"
"Lax."
"What's going on?"
He set Dratini down gently on the sofa, walked over, and poked the shell of the Pokémon curled up on the table.
"Why won't it come out?"
*(End of Chapter)*