Feeling the cool night breeze and the fragrance of the flower sea, Lumiere held Rowlet in his arms, found a shady spot, and lay straight down.
He was utterly exhausted. In less than half a day since arriving in this world, he had either been chased or was on the way to being chased. Even leaving the forest had kept his nerves stretched taut, constantly on edge.
Looking at the chubby little bird sleeping on his chest, Lumiere reached out and poked the bubble it had blown.
Pop—
Rowlet instantly woke up, blinked, then tilted its head and stared blankly at Lumiere.
"Rowlet?"
Seeing that adorable and ridiculous expression, Lumiere's mood finally improved a little. He rubbed its small head and coaxed it back to sleep.
After that, he began studying Rowlet's wardrobe again. He didn't know why this ability had been granted to him—perhaps it was because before transmigrating, he had cut up his own clothes to patch the plush.
Leaving that aside, in a sense, this "oddball" ability was incredibly strong—absurdly strong!
As long as Rowlet could pluck even a tiny bit of material from its opponent during battle and toss it into the sewing machine to change outfits, then continuing to fight that same Pokémon would make it practically unbeatable.
Of course, that only applied to ordinary Pokémon. But what if it were a legendary Pokémon?
For example, if you plucked some fur from Arceus and threw it into the sewing machine, could you really make a new outfit?
If that actually worked, it would be terrifying. A Rowlet in Arceus clothes with a 50% boost fighting the real Arceus… that would probably end with the battle raging to the edge of the universe and grinding the very laws of existence away.
Still, those were just idle thoughts. After all, he hadn't even figured out where in the world he was yet.
That said, in Lumiere's memory, there was only one place with such a vast flower field—the Floaroma Meadow of the Sinnoh region.
Of course, that was just a guess. Maybe this world didn't even have other humans at all?
If that were true, what then? Find humanoid Pokémon to reproduce with? Like a thick-stemmed Gardevoir? Or a green female Machamp?
Thinking such nonsense, Lumiere kept a faint smile on his face. His breathing gradually evened out, and he drifted into sleep.
At that moment, Rowlet's bubble suddenly popped. It groggily opened its eyes, looked around, wobbled over, and nuzzled against Lumiere's face before falling asleep again.
The night wind continued to brush through the flowers. A few lone Combee, unable to find Snorlax's trail, flew back to their hive to wait for the queen's return. The flower field seemed to fall back into calm once more…
But then, an incongruous sound shattered the peace. A white egg suddenly whooshed down from the night sky like an airdrop, with no warning at all.
In his dream, Lumiere was playing Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. He had just chosen Sprigatito as his starter and was about to set off on his heroic journey—when the egg hit him square on the forehead. He didn't die on the spot… but was left with half his life gone, nearly departing this world in his sleep.
"Damn it! I'm gonna die!"
Clutching his head, Lumiere rolled wildly across the grass. At that moment, he felt like his brain had been thoroughly shaken smooth. Stars danced before his eyes, and he couldn't see anything clearly.
Rowlet, shaken loose by his movements and dropped to the side, sat on the ground with a blank expression.
But when it looked at the white egg nearby, its face instantly lit up. Without hesitation, it pecked at it.
It wanted to see how it tasted. However, the egg seemed to have a will of its own, wobbling as it dodged the attack.
"Rowlet?"
Unconvinced, Rowlet pecked again, but the result was the same—it dodged once more.
"Rowlet!"
Rowlet immediately switched its outfit from Snorlax to Beedrill. Holding its twin stingers, it rubbed the tips together and approached the egg with a gentle smile—like a deathly surgeon about to operate. Today, this egg was definitely getting eaten.
But at that moment, the egg suddenly sprouted a pair of round little feet and bolted. Rowlet's eyes flashed—there was no way it would let it escape. Flapping its wings, it gave chase!
Meanwhile, Lumiere finally recovered a bit from the pain.
He gently touched the egg-sized bump on his head, his expression one of misery.
"What kind of grudge is this… using a rock to smash me…"
Just then, a yellow egg suddenly hopped onto his head from behind. Lumiere turned around in confusion.
But at the same time, the egg used his head as a stepping stone and bounced away. Right in front of him, Lumiere saw a yellow figure raising twin stingers and charging at him!
"Huh?"
Lumiere froze for a split second. Rowlet couldn't stop in time and instinctively switched to the Snorlax outfit, slamming heavily into his head.
As one figure toppled backward, Lumiere… lost the ability to fight.
Seeing the person it loved most fall, at that very moment, Rowlet became furious!
"Rowlet!"
Rowlet switched back into the Beedrill outfit, vowing to avenge Lumiere!
It locked onto the still-running egg, narrowed its eyes, predicted its movement, and fired off a String Shot!
White threads shot out, instantly wrapping the egg several times over. Then Rowlet bit through the threads, wound them around its stingers, and slowly dragged the egg back.
When the egg tried to struggle, Rowlet wrapped it up with even more String Shot, then dragged it all the way back to Lumiere's side, planning to wait until he woke up so they could eat the egg together.
With that thought, Rowlet switched back into the Snorlax outfit and fell asleep again. Sure enough, even a little exercise made it sleepy…
Who knew how much time passed before Lumiere finally regained the ability to fight. His expression was blank, his head throbbing painfully, with no clear memory of what had happened.
"Hiss—"
After lightly touching the bump on his forehead, Lumiere quickly pulled his hand back. He then looked at Rowlet sleeping against him.
He reached out and patted its head, then let his gaze continue drifting—until it stopped on an egg beside them… an egg?
Holy crap! This thing didn't steal someone else's Pokémon egg while I was unconscious, did it?!
Lumiere hurriedly woke Rowlet and questioned it, "Where did you get this egg?"
"Rowlet~" Rowlet patted its belly in response.
Seeing the complete non-answer, Lumiere held back and continued, "Do you want me to cook it for you?"
"Rowlet~" Rowlet nodded enthusiastically, flapping its wings.
Lumiere: "..."
This conversation was going nowhere. This little princess only knew how to eat.
After thinking for a moment, Lumiere decided to peel off the threads and take a look first. What if it wasn't a Pokémon egg but some ordinary egg instead?
Everyone knew that the Pokémon world also had normal animals—otherwise, what, chew on Magikarp bones?
Carefully peeling away the threads, Lumiere's expression gradually grew strange as layer after layer came off.
The upper half of this "egg" was yellow, but the lower half of its body was wrapped in eggshell. On the shell were red and blue triangular ring patterns.
〔Pokémon: Togepi ♀〕
〔Type: Fairy〕
〔Ability: Serene Grace (Thanks to the heavens, my moves' additional effects trigger more easily)〕
〔Moves: Tackle, Sweet Kiss, Calm Mind, Life Dew, Charm〕
〔Status: Frightened (Too scared to move), Slightly Injured (The eggshell is about to crack from the fall)〕
〔Affection: 0 (Strangers, please don't come near me)〕
"This isn't an egg at all! This is a Togepi! Where did you grab it from?!"
"Rowlet?" Rowlet tilted its head, looking genuinely confused, as if asking whether this 'egg' wasn't edible.
Faced with Rowlet's response, Lumiere had nothing to say. He then looked at the Togepi, which clearly seemed terrified of him.
And another thing—its status said the eggshell was almost cracked? Just how high did this shell have to fall from to nearly break?!
Lumiere touched the bump on his forehead again, then looked at Togepi's body. In that instant, it was as if everything clicked into place!
So it was all Togepi's fault. This little thing had fallen from the sky and smashed into his head, nearly killing him on the spot.
But that raised another question. Togepi wasn't a Togepi airplane—how could it even get into the sky?
At that moment, a thin string with a pink heart tied at the tip brushed against Lumiere's cheek, as if silently saying, "Grab me."
But Lumiere didn't reach out. Instead, he instinctively turned his head—and what came into view was a purple balloon Pokémon with a yellow cross on its face.
"Looks like the answer's clear now…"