A sharp sound cut through the quiet room.
Fine hairline fractures spiderwebbed across the smooth shells. Like a chain reaction set off by a single switch, crisp snapping sounds followed one after another as the shells began to yield.
Before Julian could step closer, a warm, golden radiance spilled from the cracks, bathing the cleanroom in gentle light.
Ruan Mei, Herta, and Stephen stood by, watching the glow with clinical composure. Julian, on the other hand, held his breath, his fists clenched tight as he stared unblinkingly at the glowing cradles.
His throat felt dry, his pulse hammering so loud in his ears that it drowned out the hum of the cooling units.
Whether the dream of a lifetime could truly take root in reality hung entirely on this fleeting moment.
"Pichu?"
"Squirtle, Squirtle~"
"Char~"
"Bulba?"
As the soft illumination melted away, four tiny figures appeared in their respective incubation bays: Pichu, Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur.
They blinked against the sterile laboratory lights, looking out at the vast room with wide, innocent curiosity.
Julian hurried forward, his boots clicking hurriedly against the floor. As he drew near the first pod, the sudden movement startled the little mouse inside. Pichu scrambled back to the far corner of the glass, crouching low with round, frightened eyes.
Tiny golden sparks crackled across its pink cheek pouches in an instinctive, defensive reflex.
"Hey there..."
Julian let out a breathless, trembling chuckle. Hot tears welled in his eyes, spilling over his cheeks before he even realized he was crying.
In an instant, memories of his childhood from a past life rushed back like a vivid montage: sitting cross-legged before an old television screen, starry-eyed, holding the purest, simplest wish a kid could ever have—to have a Pokémon of his own.
As the years rolled by and he grew up, the cold rules of reality had set in. He had learned that Pokémon were just lines of code and animated frames, lovely dreams that had no place in the waking world.
Quietly, that yearning had been tucked away into the deepest corner of his heart.
Only on quiet, lonely nights would the thought occasionally surface: How wonderful would it be if they were truly real?
Now, standing here, he finally understood that his childhood longing was never just about possessing a creature. It was a yearning for a world where dreams and reality walked hand in hand, without a bitter wall between them.
A world where any child, upon turning ten, could pack a bag and set out to explore the horizon alongside a loyal friend.
A world where losing a match wasn't a tragedy, only a lesson that made you stronger for tomorrow.
A journey where humans and partners lifted each other up through every hardship.
Where what mattered was never raw strength or cold numbers, but the unseen, unbreakable bond between hearts.
How much voltage a little electric mouse could discharge never depended on base stats; it depended on how deeply you trusted one another.
Carried by that shared warmth, even ancient legends would yield to the thunder called friendship.
When he first woke up in this vast cosmos, he had gained the ability to manifest these creatures through the power of the Path.
Yet simple projections had their limits.
Phantoms that appeared only for him, tied solely to his presence, could never bring about the world he had dreamed of.
Only now, watching these four living, breathing souls look back at him from the warmth of their pods, did Julian feel as though his younger self was smiling back at him across time with absolute, unclouded joy.
Neither Herta nor Ruan Mei stepped forward to break the silence.
Having spent lifetimes unraveling the mysteries of the universe, they understood the weight of this moment. In their own distant youths, hadn't they felt the exact same rush? Overcoming an impossible problem was always accompanied by racing pulses and quiet tears of relief.
Over the long centuries, that emotional edge had dulled. With their lifespans extended indefinitely through their own genius, time had lost its urgency; problems could be set aside and unraveled at leisure.
Julian, despite carrying the longevity of a Xianzhou native, was still young at heart. It was only natural for his emotions to overflow with such raw sincerity.
Beside them, Stephen looked on with wide, soft eyes. As the youngest among the Genius Society, essentially still a boy who had never quite grown up, Julian's open display of feeling resonated with him deeply. Stephen sniffled, rubbing his watering eyes against his sleeve while trying desperately to keep Herta and Ruan Mei from noticing, an awkward effort that left the two older researchers quietly amused.
Down in the pod, Pichu tilted its large ears, seeming to realize the human on the other side meant no harm. Seeing the tears tracking down Julian's face, the little creature crept forward on tiny paws, offering a sweet, gentle chirp as it pressed a soft palm against the glass, as if trying to soothe him.
Julian's heart melted at the sight. A bright, genuine smile broke through his tears, and he wiped his face with the back of his hand.
"Alright, that is quite enough sentimentality for one day," Herta said, stepping forward with a firm wave of her hand to gently nudge Julian aside. "We need to run full biological diagnostics to verify their cellular baseline and metabolic stability. Don't crowd the sensors."
Her sudden approach sent the four little ones huddling back into their blankets, staring warily at the puppet frame.
Herta held little personal attachment to the creatures themselves; her interest lay entirely in the biological methods Ruan Mei had used to synthesize them.
It was a realm of life sciences she had never mastered. With a complete working specimen right in front of her, she wasn't about to pass up the chance to study the underlying principles.
Ruan Mei was well aware of her curiosity and made no effort to hide her data; had she wanted total secrecy, she would never have set up her equipment aboard Herta's station in the first place.
Julian stepped back, regaining his composure. He understood that visual likeness and elemental sparks were only the surface. Whether their genetic chains were stable and free of underlying defects was what truly mattered.
Running the readouts through the diagnostic arrays, Herta quickly arrived at a definitive conclusion: at the genetic level, these physical specimens matched Julian's Path projections with absolute fidelity. There was zero indication of cellular collapse.
Ruan Mei nodded, as if the outcome had been settled long before the shells cracked.
"Given the unique biological rules governing these species, their genetic stability is essentially finalized the moment the egg itself takes viable form," she observed calmly.
Just like the failed Ho-Oh embryo: if the sequence had a fundamental error, the egg would simply dissolve before forming a shell.
That was the conclusion she had drawn from the earlier failure. She still possessed a modest reserve of divine catalysts and planned to make a second attempt at synthesizing the rainbow phoenix, though the rare components would only support one final trial in the near future. She intended to begin that project only after the larger Xerneas egg hatched and yielded its secrets.
Once the medical checks were cleared, Julian reached into the open pods, gently scooping the four tiny creatures into his arms.
Compared to their adult battle sizes seen in the animated shorts, these newborns were noticeably smaller and softer. It was only natural; outside of creatures blessed with primordial instincts, no living being came into the world ready to fight.
Stephen drifted over, reaching out a curious finger to brush Pichu's soft fur.
He had touched Julian's Path projections before, but just as Julian felt, holding a truly living, breathing creature carried an entirely different warmth, even if the physical texture seemed identical on the surface.
"So... what do these little guys actually eat?" Stephen asked, suddenly realizing a practical problem.
Julian paused, caught off guard.
That was right: this universe didn't have Oran berries, Pecha berries, or nutrient-rich wild fruit trees native to their habitat.
While standard cow or goat milk could serve as an emergency substitute, Julian had higher standards.
He cared about the entire living ecosystem that made the world of Pokémon what it was.
Natural berries, functional capture devices, specialized battle equipment, and elemental stones—all of these elements were essential if these creatures were to walk among people in everyday life.
There was no need to rush everything at once, of course; the foundational items could be developed in phases while the population remained small.
Julian turned to Stephen, laying out the practical challenge and asking if the young genius could lend his mind to developing these support tools.
Stephen's eyes lit up at the prospect. The idea of raising living companions in the real world and equipping them for friendly matches sounded infinitely more entertaining than writing dry simulation code. He pulled up a blank slate on his personal datapad, sitting down on an equipment crate to brainstorm device schematics on the spot.
Julian pulled up his comms to ring Asta, asking her to arrange for fresh, nutrient-dense organic milk to be delivered to the cleanroom.
With the initial health checks showing perfect stability, Ruan Mei and Herta stepped away, turning their attention back to the massive egg resting quietly in the secondary isolation chamber. That legendary life force would still need considerable time to stir.
Julian sent a detailed update to Cai Xing on the Luofu.
The following morning, an official announcement went live across the company's network—
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