Chapter 369: The Impatient Shinji and Regice

Shinji wants to see me?

Luo Mu's eyebrows twitched, feeling somewhat surprised.

It wasn't that he was surprised by Shinji's presence in Paldea.

After all, calculating based on the time the Shinji brothers visited the farm, the Battle Frontier challenge should have concluded a month or two ago; furthermore, not long ago, Luo Mu had already received the student enrollment data for Grape Academy this semester from Geeta, so he had long been mentally prepared for this.

However, Luo Mu hadn't expected that Shinji would actually choose to visit on a day off.

Since the other party had arrived, and was at least his future student, Luo Mu had no reason to shut the door and refuse to see him.

Without much hesitation, Luo Mu replied to Oranguru with a message asking it to bring Shinji over here.

He was also quite curious whether, after his intervention, Rei had successfully defeated Brandon, or if he had given up his career as a Trainer to become a Breeder running a Day Care.

A moment later, Oranguru arrived at the open ground where Luo Mu was, bringing Shinji with it.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Luo Mu smiled and waved at the departing Oranguru, then looked at Shinji, who was wearing the cool-toned summer uniform of Grape Academy, and couldn't help himself, nearly bursting into laughter.

"Pfft..."

Luo Mu swore that his control over his emotions was usually quite good, but upon seeing the expressionless Shinji wearing Grape Academy's uniform, he still couldn't hold back and nearly laughed out loud.

Shinji, who was just about to bow politely and greet him properly:????

Was there something about him that found very funny?

Fearing Shinji would misunderstand, and realizing he had lost his composure, Luo Mu quickly explained, "I'm not mocking you; it's just that you seem a bit mismatched with the style of the uniform..."

"A bit... mismatched?"

Shinji gazed intently at the clothes on his body.

A gray short-sleeved shirt, purple shorts that fell short of reaching even his knees, a purple tie at the chest, paired with brown student leather shoes and black long socks.

So this style was originally mismatched with him?

Seeing that Shinji seemed to be seriously contemplating whether he was suited for Grape Academy's uniform, Luo Mu's expression immediately turned strange.

Perhaps the pressure from his past 996 work schedule had been too heavy; nowadays, Luo Mu preferred to handle matters with a relaxed mindset, and even among the few students close to him, the most steady one, Peony, was mostly gentle.

To be honest, he felt he might not be very suited to dealing with someone like Shinji, who was rigid, methodical, and extremely serious.

Thinking of this, Luo Mu chose to directly interrupt this topic and switch to another one.

"By the way, speaking of which, how did your older brother's Battle Frontier challenge go?"

"... I lost." Shinji lowered his head slightly, his hands clenching faintly, "My brother defeated the first six Frontier Brains, but lost to the Pyramid King Brandon of the Battle Pyramid, failing to obtain the Brave Symbol."

Looking at Shinji with his head hung low, Luo Mu momentarily didn't know how best to comfort him.

He hadn't expected things to still return to their original trajectory.

Just then, a hand rested on his shoulder.

Luo Mu turned to look and discovered it was Calyrex, who was holding Cosmog in one arm while it slept and absorbed sunlight.

Calyrex's voice, gentle yet carrying a trace of majesty that hadn't quite faded, rang out in Luo Mu's mind: "His emotions are probably not quite what you imagine."

As if suddenly enlightened, Luo Mu's gaze immediately focused on Shinji's expression.

The emotion floating on Shinji's face was not the unwillingness and obsession Luo Mu had worried about; furthermore, the anime's extremely harsh philosophy toward Pokémon would not allow enrollment in today's Grape Academy; all Luo Mu could see on Shinji's face was intense fighting spirit and determination to pursue a goal.

Luo Mu was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "Can you tell me the detailed process of the battle?"

Shinji nodded, telling Luo Mu the detailed circumstances of his brother Rei's battle against Brandon, including events before and after that.

In short, after receiving Luo Mu's guidance, Rei relaxed and trained for a period of time, then directly took Shinji and began their journey challenging the Battle Frontier.

At the first several battle facilities, relying on his own meticulous battle thinking and under Luo Mu's guidance, Rei gradually dared to go all out when opportunities arose, breaking through the first six battle facilities with unstoppable force, obtaining six Symbols, and becoming a candidate for a Battle Frontier Brain.

However, during the battle against the Pyramid King, after Rei defeated Brandon's first two Pokémon, he exhausted all his trump cards but still failed to take down that Regirock, missing the seventh Symbol by a hair's breadth.

"Mr. Brandon said that my brother's tactics were correct, but he lacked true strength, so even correct tactics were utterly powerless before Regirock."

"My brother said he is just an ordinary Trainer, and perhaps it won't be long before he touches his limit, so recently he has been considering a career change to obtain a Breeder's license."

"Under my brother's suggestion, I took the Grape Academy entrance exam, obtained qualification for enrollment... and came for your sake."

"However, after school started, I discovered you had taken leave for a period of time; while waiting, I learned the news that you had returned to the Paldea region, and unable to suppress my impulse, I came to visit without permission; I apologize deeply."

After speaking such a long passage, Shinji bowed deeply to Luo Mu.

His expression was extremely serious, mixed with a hint of grievance that, if not for Luo Mu's excellent powers of observation, would have been imperceptible.

School started on August 1st, and today was August 9th; the fact that Shinji had waited a full eight days made Luo Mu feel slightly guilty.

After all, he truly had been a bit too leisurely as a teacher.

However, Luo Mu still had no intention of changing; focusing on providing more nutritious instruction to a small number of outstandingly talented students was the content of his work after his promotion.

There was no need to blindly pile up class hours; moderate guidance could still allow talent to bloom.

"So, you came today to...?"

Looking at Shinji, and in order to confirm his guess, Luo Mu specifically asked once more.

Shinji straightened his body slightly, and with clear enunciation and a determined demeanor, requested, "Teacher, please teach me how to become stronger!"

Shinji felt that since his admired older brother could not defeat Brandon, then he himself would defeat Brandon, which would also represent his brother's victory.

Hearing Shinji's request, Luo Mu also became interested, raising an eyebrow as he said, "If you can endure the teaching content I have coming up, I believe you will gain much experience for your growth."

"Yes!"

Ignoring the rare, different expression on Shinji's usually poker-faced visage, Luo Mu placed his hands on his hips, looked at the open ground, and said, "By the way, you've come at just the right time; I'm about to do something that you can watch from the side; you might even gain some insight from it?"

Shinji was stunned, and then was pushed by Luo Mu to a slightly farther place, so as not to get caught in the aftermath.

Shinji could only watch blankly as Luo Mu spoke a few words to the Pokémon beside him that seemed to have a rather large head, and then a neighing sound that suddenly made one feel chilly despite the midsummer summer came from afar to near, and a snow-white steed treading on firm ice ran over to that large-headed Pokémon.

Immediately after, a scene that destroyed Shinji's worldview occurred.

That large-headed Pokémon floated onto the snow-white steed, and after a blinding flash of light, the two Pokémon seemed to merge into one, yet emitted an atmosphere of being indistinguishable from each other.

Shinji:????

Fusion!?

Seeing Lei Guan Wang and Snowstorm Horse had already entered their centaur-like unified state, Luo Mu, holding the Cosmog he had received from Lei Guan Wang, pulled out an Ultra Ball with one hand and gently pressed the button, aiming it at the empty ground.

In the next instant, the ethereal white mist suddenly dispersed, and Regice, still bearing a hole in its body, appeared in the open space.

The moment it left the Ultra Ball, Regice began attempting to influence its surroundings, striving to create solid ice blocks to use as material for repairing its body.

Legendary Pokémon that restrain their emitted heat to avoid affecting crops, like Moltres, are actually the minority; most legendary Pokémon, like Regice, will do their utmost to create an environment suited to themselves if they possess the ability to alter their surroundings.

Among them, the most prominent must be the trio of Groudon, Kyogre, and Eternatus.

Luo Mu took a moment to glance at Paul, discovering that a look of bewilderment was clearly emerging on his expressionless face—only heaven knows how Luo Mu managed to read emotions from Paul's face; he couldn't explain it himself.

Judging by Paul's expression, Luo Mu knew he did not recognize Regice; at most, he probably just thought Regice looked slightly similar to Regirock.

However, Paul would naturally understand the reason Luo Mu had him stay here soon enough.

Luo Mu withdrew his gaze and exchanged a glance with Lei Guan Wang.

Lei Guan Wang understood, slightly tightened the reins, and lowered his voice: "My beloved steed, let us lend it a hand and speed things up."

As he spoke, Snowstorm Horse immediately released a vast wave of cold air, causing the surrounding temperature to plummet; even though he was some distance away, Paul, dressed in short sleeves and shorts, couldn't help but shiver.

A flash of blue light ignited in Lei Guan Wang's eyes, and formidable mental power surged forth, forcibly binding the cold air released by Snowstorm Horse and instantly condensing several massive ice pillars in mid-air.

Under Lei Guan Wang's control, these ice pillars landed steadily around Regice, encircling it completely like a stone formation.

Far from being annoyed by this, Regice's cross-shaped yellow dot-eyes instead flashed with delight several times; it emitted a stiff mechanical cry, grabbed one of the ice pillars with its hand, and brought it close to its damaged body as if feeding.

In an instant, as a non-dazzling light continued to glow at the junction between Regice's body and the ice pillar, the damage to its body began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At this moment, disregarding the cold, Paul finally realized something was amiss.

That Pokémon, which seemed to be constructed entirely of ice, had a large portion of its body missing and was currently using the ice pillars to repair itself.

This ability was exactly the same as that cheating Regirock his older brother had encountered, and coupled with their somewhat related appearances, could it be...?

Thinking of something, Paul couldn't help but widen his eyes.

During this time, Regice, as if starving for a long while, almost "wolfed down" the ice pillars created by Lei Guan Wang and Snowstorm Horse, integrating them into its own body.

It had to be said, the recovery power of this Titan family was truly formidable; by the time all the ice pillars around Regice had vanished, its body had already restored to its original form.

Smooth and flat, intact and flawless, it showed not the slightest trace of ever having had a large hole in it.

Witnessing this scene, Paul finally became convinced that the giant composed of ice before him must have an extremely close connection to the Regirock belonging to Pyramid King Brandon of Jin Zi Ta Fa.

Both were repairing their bodies; one completely healed the damage caused by his brother and Pokémon's all-out attack simply by consuming the rocks on the battlefield, while the other restored a huge hole in its body just by consuming ice blocks.

Paul's hands clenched slightly; he perhaps understood the reason Luo Mu had made him stay here.

"Beep beep beep—"

After completing its repair, Regice looked blankly at its surroundings, as if it didn't know why it had appeared here or where the place it needed to guard had gone.

At this moment, a leisurely, unhurried sound of hoofbeats rang out; Regice looked toward Lei Guan Wang, who was riding Snowstorm Horse and approaching it, while the yellow dots on its face flashed rapidly.

Sensing the beginning of turmoil in Regice's emotions, Lei Guan Wang raised his hand and infused the power of Heal Pulse into Regice's body, calming it down.

Once the flashing frequency of the yellow dots on Regice's face slowed, Lei Guan Wang nodded in satisfaction and looked toward Luo Mu behind him: "Luo Mu, it's your turn."

Luo Mu nodded gently, rubbed his hands together with some nervousness, and walked toward Regice.

Regice also noticed Luo Mu approaching it; its eyes flashed again—it remembered this human.

After awakening, it had wanted to drive away the intruder who had entered its guarded territory as per usual, but unexpectedly, the intruder was exceptionally tenacious.

Under Luo Mu's command, it had lost, and then been captured by the opponent into a spherical object.

After being captured into the sphere, a faint wave had told Regice that this human was now its Trainer.

Regice did not understand what a "Trainer" was; since its birth, it had stayed in that place, hardly ever moving, so it didn't understand many things.

During the few days spent inside the Ultra Ball, Regice had been pondering the meaning of "Trainer."

It was only after prioritizing the repair of its body and seeing Luo Mu walking toward it that it felt it might finally understand the meaning of a Trainer.

Regice knew it could easily shake off that feeling and proceed to attack the human before it as usual.

But perhaps because the current sensation and everything around it were too novel to it, as it gazed intently at Luo Mu approaching, Regice once again emitted a series of meaningless cries.

"Beep beep beep gibberish gurgle."

The yellow dots on Regice's face flashed a few times before finally settling into calm, and it did not launch an attack against Luo Mu who was walking toward it.

Seeing this, a glint of joy flashed in Luo Mu's eyes; judging by Regice's reaction, there was hope!

(End of Chapter)