Chapter 1353

Morning in Miare City.

Baimu returned alone to the Prism Tower.

Although An Xiner was discovered by him first, she wasn't a wild Pokémon, so naturally she chose to stay with her distant great-aunt.

However, after further discussion, they gave up on the idea of going out to play, even though Carnet actively suggested it.

An Xiner, however, said that being able to stay together with her was enough.

The little girl fully understood Carnet's usual busy work, unwilling to take up her hard-won chance to rest, and even more unwilling for Carnet to be affected by her, expending energy and spirit.

What a sensible little girl!

Carnet was both moved and relieved, dense maternal instinct almost completely enveloping her, even nearly fantasizing that An Xiner was her own biological child.

Baimu stayed with the two until nearly dawn; after Carnet fell asleep holding the drowsy An Xiner, he agreed to meet at the arena and quietly returned to the Prism Tower.

At this time, Hitron had just woken up and was preparing to make breakfast for everyone; discovering Baimu coming in from outside, he was startled, "Did you go for morning training?"

"... No."

After a brief hesitation, Baimu told Hitron about what happened last midnight.

They would meet sooner or later anyway; there was no need to conceal it.

Hitron listened and went dumb.

"Wait a minute."

He held his head and pondered, "The daughter of Champion Carnet from a parallel world appeared above the Prism Tower yesterday, and is now together with Champion Carnet?"

Baimu nodded, "Correct, you understand quickly."

Hitron was wildly excited, "So that rift connects to a parallel world! Amazing!"

He abandoned the frying pan still cooking food and ran at a trot toward his laboratory.

Yesterday Hitron was serious about letting science create the future, staying up inventing until eleven, too sleepy to continue, before falling asleep.

Who would have thought he'd just fallen asleep on his front foot, and An Xiner would arrive on her back foot.

Baimu very naturally took over the frying pan; by the time Hitron realized he hadn't turned off the stove and ran out in a fluster, breakfast was already done.

Yulijia, wearing her Tyrunt pajamas, swayed to the table and started eating; her eyes lit up after the first bite.

"Mmm~ Delicious! Big Brother Baimu made this, right!"

The delicious food woke her up.

Baimu took the opportunity to tell Yulijia about An Xiner; Yulijia instantly shouted excitedly again and again, "So amazing so amazing! Can you let me meet her?"

Worthy of being siblings; their reactions weren't just identical, at least eight or nine parts out of ten similar.

"Wait for Ash's match; she'll come to the venue with Carnet." He patted Yulijia's head, "She's younger than you, you know."

Yulijia was about two years older than An Xiner; the two differed by a whole head in height.

"So she's a little sister."

Yulijia held her face and twisted about, clearly already looking forward to meeting An Xiner.

Unexpectedly, not long after finishing breakfast, Carnet called.

"An Xiner wants to see me?"

Baimu's face was full of bewilderment.

Carnet said softly: "She just asked about your whereabouts, and is now helping me make breakfast. If you're free, could you come over?"

Baimu: "..."

What does "helping me make breakfast" mean?

A twenty-something adult woman, letting a child under six cook?

Carnet probably also realized how absurd the situation was, lowered her voice: "Come quickly~ Please~"

She was even starting to act coquettish.

Showing how urgent the situation was.

Baimu glanced at Yulijia playing with the Pokémon, and said: "Alright, I'm coming right away."

Instinct told him now was not a good time for Yulijia and An Xiner to meet.

——

Carnet owns multiple properties in Miare City.

Normally she lives in a manor in the suburbs, but this time, to keep An Xiner from catching cold in winter, they moved into a five-story apartment.

Without a doubt, the entire apartment building is Carnet's property.

And the parallel world's Carnet probably also lived here often, causing An Xiner to be extremely familiar with the building's various structures, even without Carnet explaining.

This also led to An Xiner already being busy in the kitchen when she woke up.

Carnet wanted to take over, but was blocked by An Xiner's line: "Mother, you're not good at this."

Simply because everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

However outstanding Carnet's talent is in performing arts and Pokémon, her talent in daily life is that lacking.

Of course her level is actually only a bit worse than an ordinary person's; with better ingredients she can make good things too.

The problem is Carnet lacks experience distinguishing good ingredients from bad... daily trivialities are basically all handled by her agent Mimei.

So when she asked An Xiner why she was so skilled at housework.

"I learned from Aunt Mimei, oh!"

The daughter's words were quite piercing.

When Baimu arrived, what he saw was Carnet sitting properly and restrained on the sofa, An Xiner bustling back and forth, occasionally calling on Hu Pa to cooperate.

He couldn't help asking: "Where's Mimei?"

"Mimei went to push announcements for me..." Carnet held her forehead.

Since it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, Minami had to properly apologize to those partners who had been stood up and pay compensation.

Even though the other party most likely wouldn't accept it, the communication process was still extremely tedious.

"Uncle Baimu!"

An Xiner was very happy to see him. "I made a breakfast for you too, let's eat together!"

Carney shot Baimu frantic looks.

How could Baimu refuse? He cooperatively took his seat, muttering, "I'm only nineteen, and I'm already an uncle?"

"Nineteen?"

An Xiner precisely caught those words.

He pointed at himself. "Can't you tell?"

"..." An Xiner shook her head with difficulty. Baimu's face looked at least twenty-four or twenty-five.

The Rotom Phone interjected, "He had a hard life before, so his skin is rougher."

Given Ole's living environment back then, who wasn't dark-skinned? Wanting fine, fair skin — probably only some people in Silicon Beryllium City could manage that.

At least in Huang Tie Town you couldn't find a few people with skin both fair and delicate.

After learning Baimu's age, An Xiner glanced at Carney a couple more times, and her mood seemed to become a bit downcast.

It was baffling.

Until after the meal, when An Xiner voluntarily went to clean up, the Rotom Phone said to Baimu and Carney, "She probably really suspected you were her dad before, and just now confirmed you're not."

Carney, who was drinking black tea, nearly choked to death. "Cough cough cough!"

"Shut up."

Baimu flicked it flying again.

The current timeline is two years before An Xiner's world. If the two of them really had a thing, Carney would have had to make her move when he was fourteen or fifteen.

Criminal! So criminal!

After catching her breath, Carney surprisingly didn't have much embarrassment, but instead laughed and teased, "This kid seems to really like you. Any interest in being her father?"

"You mean adoptive father?"

"What else?"

"I don't have the face for that. The Champion's daughter — I can't reach that high."

"Smooth talker!"

The two's mutual banter was fully observed by An Xiner. She not only had no aversion, but even felt deeply relieved.

Morning.

Since An Xiner didn't want to disturb Carney's day off, the three stayed in the apartment.

It wasn't boring, though.

The three played games with the Pokemon, watched a movie, Baimu taught An Xiner to cook, and Carney helped An Xiner wash her hair and braid it.

Time flew by during this period.

An Xiner's smile never faded. She probably hadn't seen Carney in a very long time, and cherished the chance to be with her all the more.

Even if it was just a parallel world's aunt.

Carney truly treated An Xiner as her own daughter, caring for her in every possible way.

At noon the three cooked together. Carney was clumsy enough to make one's heart race, and in the end was chased out of the kitchen by An Xiner, half coquettish, half annoyed.

After lunch ended.

They went to the Miare Conference venue to watch the match between Satoshi and the Elite Four's Drasna.

An Xiner obediently put on sunglasses and a mask, not wanting to cause trouble for Carney.

In her world, Carney had already gone through a press conference publicly acknowledging her daughter's existence, and she knew everything that happened during it.

There was no need for that kind of thing to happen again.

Carney herself also understood that An Xiner's origins were hard to explain, and she didn't have the nerve to be nonchalant about it.

Only Baimu wasn't worried.

How would photos of them make headlines?

"Kalos Champion Carlos Secretly Married, Has Child; Girl Already Over Six Years Old; Carney Suspected of Violating Criminal Law?"

Calculating by An Xiner's world's timeline, she'd be plenty criminal.

Calculating by this side, she's even more criminal!

Baimu isn't even fourteen yet! He's still an elementary schooler!

Unavoidably, Carney has to meet with people from the Kalos League. She is the Champion, after all.

But there's not much need to worry about leaks. Carney doesn't meet just anyone.

By the time Citron and Yurika arrived, An Xiner was no longer hiding and dodging, and could talk openly with strangers.

Speaking of which, to An Xiner, these two siblings don't count as strangers either.

Citron asked An Xiner many questions about parallel world matters, but unfortunately An Xiner couldn't understand some of the content at all.

"You're expecting a six-year-old child to understand the STEM stuff you're saying?"

"But when I was six — fine."

Citron was persuaded by the Rotom Phone.

He wouldn't go so far as to say "No matter how stupid, can you not learn calculus?"

And when he learned that the parallel world's Miare Gym was closed and the Prism Tower was ownerless, Citron's expression was strange.

"Eh? The me in the parallel world left Prism Tower?"

"That's right. As far as I know, Prism Tower currently has no one... hmm? Seems like some organization might be managing it?"

An Xiner didn't recall it for a moment.

You Lijia liked this girl who was two years younger than her very much, and actively invited her to play together after the match.

An Xiner's personality counted as a little adult, but her nature was still innocent; she accepted You Lijia's invitation.

The match proceeded.

Because he had crammed intelligence on Drasna before the match, this round's Xiao Zhi still sent out Onion Soldier and Gill Dragon as usual, but the battle process was much easier.

The famous scene likewise didn't miss out —

Gill Dragon used Water Gun to wet Mega Altaria's feathers, causing it to turn into a drenched chicken unable to fly.

Then the move switched from the original 【Dragon Rush】 to 【Ice Fang】, successfully knocking Mega Altaria to critical HP, and Onion Soldier's 【Meteor Assault】 took it down.

The match lasted fifteen minutes, a high-level ball-level two-on-two singles; Xiao Zhi successfully took down Elite Four Drasna, advancing to ninth place.

Only one step away from the Eight Masters position.

However, the opponent he was about to face was not Wulfric from the original plot, but —

Alain!

That's right, he defeated Wulfric to become the Eight Masters' gatekeeper.

"That battle we couldn't fight at the Miare Conference, in the end it's unavoidable after all?"

Baimu's expression was strange.

Previously Alain missed the chance to participate in the Miare Conference because of Team Flare, causing Xiao Zhi to become the conference champion after defeating Shota.

Never expected that now the two would still have to fight a round.

However, if Xiao Zhi doesn't use Greninja, he probably won't be defeated by Alain.

His current lineup, not to mention hard-countering Alain, definitely won't lose to him.

After brief consideration, Baimu decided it was necessary to give Xiao Zhi a hand.

Not for anything else.

Just to reduce that tiny bit of possibility.

He didn't mind spending his own time to help Xiao Zhi; after all, the two of them would very likely meet at the Eight Masters anyway, and sparring with each other was equivalent to seeing the exam answers early.

So after the match.

Baimu actively sought out Xiao Zhi and confirmed a time with him.

"Really? I'm very happy!"

Xiao Zhi couldn't be more eager to train specially with Baimu; among so many good friends, Champion Dan Di and Baimu were the few opponents he had never beaten.

Therefore his fighting spirit was extremely blazing.

Both sides agreed on a special training time, then parted ways to wait for the opportunity.

Baimu also learned from the tournament side that for the next month they would not schedule any more matches for him, letting him focus on preparing for the Eight Masters.

"Couldn't find opponents?"

Porygon Phone could almost deduce from the tournament side's arrangement this time who they were preparing as opponents in the Eight Masters.

Baimu was somewhat regretful; on one hand, with his current strength, the simulator countdown needed quality opponents to greatly reduce; on the other hand he felt he hadn't battled Elise for a long time.

If possible, he should meet Elise.

Unfortunately, the organizers didn't give the chance.

After Xiao Zhi's match ended, Baimu accompanied An Xiner in Miare City for two days, until Carnet had to continue working.

An Xiner clearly still hadn't had enough, but also knew this Carnet wasn't her real mother after all.

She was also very grateful for Baimu's company these two days, and decided to express thanks to him many times before leaving.

Before departure, An Xiner stood by the Golden Ring, hesitating as if wanting to say something.

Baimu patted her head, "You have Hu Pa with you; whenever you want to come, just give me a call."

"……Okay! Uncle Baimu!"

An Xiner showed a smiling face.

Although Carnet had previously said laughingly she wanted An Xiner to be his goddaughter, this kind of thing was still too early for nineteen-year-old Baimu.

Seeing off An Xiner as she stepped into the Golden Ring, Baimu exhaled a breath of turbid air, "Parallel world ah, actually going back to play for a bit wouldn't —"

"Uncle Baimu!"

The Golden Ring, shrunk to wrist size, suddenly enlarged again, and An Xiner's scream came from inside.

Baimu frowned, and without thinking ran inside.

The enlarged Golden Ring instantly shrank and disappeared.

Inside the parallel world.

The towering Prism Tower was now covered in pitch-black vines, the city covered by countless vines, a huge black flower roaring at the sky.

And An Xiner and Hu Pa were being bound by a vine.

The moment Baimu arrived, the differently-colored Gengar from the shadows leaped out, and together with Porygon Phone blasted the vines, successfully rescuing An Xiner.

Only they looked at the completely unfamiliar environment, and the distorted Prism Tower, and were stunned for a moment.

What does this mean……

Prism Tower suddenly came alive?