Chapter 620: The Postman Dragonite

Alliance Year 799, January 13th.

The highly anticipated Champion Assessment in the Paldea region has finally concluded successfully, and the battle between master and disciple has already sparked considerable discussion within a small circle.

However, the impact of these events will only gradually become apparent from this point onward.

Early morning.

"Meebu~"

With fur as soft as velvet and a ruby on its forehead glowing faintly, the Espeon stretched its body, its forked tail curving and swaying happily in the morning sunlight.

Its purple eyes glanced at Luo Mu, who was still sound asleep, and then at its younger sister, revealing a touch of human-like helplessness.

Leaving aside Luo Mu, who loved to sleep in whenever nothing was happening, the changes in its younger sister were now significant.

Perhaps due to them evolving during the day and night respectively, its sister not only stayed awake at times when she should have long been asleep, but also became rather energetic once night fell.

She had probably patrolled the farm grounds with Houndoom and the others again last night, having fully developed a nocturnal biological clock.

In contrast to the Umbreon, the Espeon, as the older sister, found herself getting sleepy more easily at night, enjoying better sleep quality, while becoming quite active during the day.

This rhythm was similar to its habits before evolution, so the Espeon adapted to it very quickly.

The Luxray had long since left the room; the Espeon itself had only gotten up after the sky had completely brightened.

It seemed Luxray had once again gone with Serperior and the others to train in an open area far from the new house, where they wouldn't create too much noise to disturb everyone's rest.

The Espeon actually admired Luxray and that batch of seniors quite a bit.

They had followed Luo Mu to "conquer the world" even before the farm was established, eventually building this home and taking in itself and its sister.

The Espeon wasn't entirely clear on the detailed circumstances, nor had it heard the other seniors explain them in detail, but many Pokémon on this farm shared similar experiences to itself and its sister before being taken in.

There were Deerling and the others, as well as Vespiquen, among those who came earlier.

Later arrivals included Shuckle, the older sister and younger brother, who were rescued from a distant place, as well as Tapu Fini and Popplio, who came from another world.

The Espeon had always felt that Luo Mu, who went around rescuing Pokémon in difficulty, was very kind; that was why it could let down its guard, trust him wholeheartedly, and finally achieve this evolution.

The Espeon was also very grateful to those "seniors" who had provided shelter for its weak self, while simultaneously admiring their day-after-day voluntary training.

In response, all it could do was shoulder its responsibilities as a member of the farm and do what it was capable of.

Gazing at the doorknob on the closed bedroom door before it, the Espeon subconsciously wanted to use its psychic power to move it.

Just as its pair of purple eyes began to glow faintly, the figure of Oranguru suddenly flashed through its mind, causing the psychic power the Espeon was about to gather to instantly dissipate.

Recalling some of Oranguru's teachings, the Espeon tilted its head, ultimately abandoning the use of psychic power; instead, it gracefully leaped in place, hooked the doorknob with its paw like a house cat, and used its own body weight to pull it down, achieving the goal of opening the door.

With a "click," the door swung open.

The Espeon wore a satisfied expression.

After evolution, one could often do things that one's former self could not, so the Espeon had no objection whatsoever to its own evolution.

Like on a certain day in the past.

While playing with its sister, it had accidentally run into a room, only for the door to be blown shut by the wind right afterward.

Back then, no matter how hard it tried to leap, it simply could not reach the doorknob.

When it finally managed to grab it after many attempts, it was unable to press it down due to its light body weight.

Amidst its sister's uneasy expression, it could only blame itself for being "unable to do anything"; such things would never happen again.

Familiarly making its way to the kitchen, as expected, the team of six Falinks and the Audino were busily working away, and the aroma of breakfast was continuously drifting out from the pots.

After spending a little time suppressing its appetite, the Espeon approached Oranguru, who was currently handling logistical work for them.

"Mee~" Good morning~

The Espeon raised a paw toward the looking Oranguru.

Oranguru was the type who appeared very majestic and serious at first glance, but upon getting along with it, one would discover it was meticulous and reliable, attending to every detail.

Nowadays, the Espeon's psychic training was also being conducted under Oranguru's guidance.

It was not a naturally Psychic-type Pokémon; even before evolution, although everyone praised its intelligence, it itself had not come into contact with too many Psychic-type moves.

Furthermore, during its evolution, due to the interference of Lei Guan Wang, who was quite approachable on the farm but revealed just how formidable he truly was upon closer contact...

The total amount of psychic power, or rather spiritual energy, possessed by the Espeon itself was far greater than that of its counterparts evolving under similar conditions.

According to Oranguru, in terms of quantity, the Espeon might already be comparable to itself.

Luo Mu had mentioned that Oranguru's psychic abilities were equivalent to the ace Pokémon of some Gym Leaders specializing in the Psychic type, something the Espeon still found somewhat unreal.

Comparable to Oranguru? Me?

In the Espeon's view, Oranguru simply crushed it by three streets in terms of psychic ability; usually intelligent as it was, it felt like a pig when it came to psychic powers.

"Yare yuta~"

Even though what Oranguru said after waving at it was in "Oranguru language," under the effect of a mysterious power, the Espeon accurately understood its meaning.

"Good morning, today we will continue with the lesson on controlling psychic power~"

"Meei~"

The Espeon nodded nervously, its gaze falling upon a basket of fresh green vegetables, and began to focus its attention with full concentration.

Slowly, as the Espeon's beautiful purple eyes began to glow faintly, an invisible force spread out; after crookedly capturing a small green vegetable, it began to pick the leaves.

That's right, this was the Espeon's "Psychic Cultivation."

Picking vegetables was a technical task; even with the freshest small green vegetables and the best refrigeration techniques, it was still impossible to avoid the possibility of yellowed or rotten leaves.

At such times, one had to pluck off these leaves in advance during the picking process, leaving only the fresh parts.

One also had to carefully remove the old stems, and then repeatedly rinse the roots with clean water to wash away the dirt.

To accomplish all this, one's psychic power had to be utilized with a dexterity comparable to human fingers.

—But because the Espeon possessed immense power immediately upon evolving, it often failed to control its output, resulting in the small green vegetables either snapping in half or becoming tattered and torn.

Having trained for several days already, the Espeon hadn't even managed to reach the washing step yet.

Seeing Oranguru multitasking, simultaneously plucking leaves from over a dozen small green vegetables, to say that the Espeon wasn't envious would definitely be a lie.

To achieve this, it could only bitterly follow Oranguru to train slowly.

Because its strength was amplified out of thin air during evolution, training was actually harder for it than for others of its kind.

But in response, Oranguru comforted Espeon, saying that with practice comes perfection, and with such a high starting point, it would eventually become far more powerful than most of its kin.

This was also why, upon waking, it hadn't used telekinesis to twist the doorknob but had chosen to open it manually.

—It was afraid of ripping the entire doorknob off.

At this moment, Espeon actually felt somewhat envious of its younger sister.

When Umbreon absorbed moonlight, the enhancements were mostly physical; adapting to that was naturally much simpler than dealing with Espeon's extra "pair of hands."

Oranguru just watched Espeon fail repeatedly with a smile, waving its fan to correct Espeon's method of controlling telekinesis while simultaneously preparing ingredients needed by the Falinks and the Audino.

After finishing everything and informing Espeon that morning training had ended for the day,

Oranguru was just about to rise and wake its young master early, as Luo Mu had instructed the night before, so he could go out and avoid the spotlight.

But the "persistence" and "obsession" of the person Luo Mu wanted to avoid were clearly not so easily evaded.

It was only seven-thirty in the morning; Oranguru hadn't even moved yet when the doorbell, connecting directly from the farm gate to here, rang first.

Seeing this, Oranguru smiled helplessly.

It seemed its young master had still underestimated his student's enthusiasm for battles.

Especially now that she had truly become a "Champion-level Trainer," in a certain sense standing on the same level as Luo Mu.

How many people were there who could spar with her?

Case in point, she had come knocking.

Oranguru could only first send the fast-footed Feng Su Gou to bring Hearing Hearing Nimo over, then instruct the pair of Maushold, who were currently sweeping dust with feather dusters, to have Hearing Hearing Nimo wait in the living room, while also keeping their young master's beloved disciple here for breakfast.

Having done all this, Oranguru leisurely walked upstairs toward the bedroom.

—Anyway, it was too late now; whether he woke up early or late made no difference.

Oranguru was somewhat curious: when its young master was woken up and told that the person he needed to dodge was already sitting in the living room, what expression would he make?

Luo Mu kept a straight face throughout.

After harmoniously finishing breakfast, since this wasn't an official match, he directly disregarded sportsmanship and used a combination of Mega Evolution, Terastallization, and Z-Moves.

It could be said that aside from the venue being limited to the Galar region and himself lacking a Dynamax Band to drive Dynamax, he had utilized every existing battle system available.

Hearing Hearing Nimo lost even faster than she had yesterday evening.

Luo Mu thought she would at least know when to back off; specifically, after seeing him demonstrate Mimikyu's exclusive Z-Move, she might consider going to the Alola region to train for a while and participate in the Island Challenge to obtain a Z-Ring capable of using Z-Crystals.

—But Hearing Hearing Nimo merely left behind the words, "Teacher is indeed very strong; my goal has been refreshed again," then left some valuable gifts that Sebast had prepared for Luo Mu according to her master's wishes, before energetically running off once more.

She thoroughly embodied what it meant to be "willful and wayward."

It's just that if she didn't rest every hundred meters, she would have looked a bit more dashing.

Luo Mu dared to guarantee that if he hadn't reminded her that Pokémon couldn't engage in high-intensity battles endlessly, as the drain on stamina would be too severe,

—Hearing Hearing Nimo would absolutely have said something like, "Let's battle again at noon, and another one tonight."

Fortunately, the current Hearing Hearing Nimo only raised one main team; her second team, consisting of Duskull, had only formally begun training not long ago.

Otherwise, she would probably have rotated through her first, second, and third teams to constantly challenge Luo Mu.

No one knew where her abnormally vast stamina for battles came from, given that she panted after running just a few steps.

She felt capable of being like the future Ash, who could consecutively activate Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, and Dynamax in the Masters Eight Tournament finals without even breaking a sweat.

After seeing Hearing Hearing Nimo off, Luo Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

There were no classes today; more accurately, there were no classes this entire month. School would only resume in February when the Grape Academy finished renovations and reverted to being Orange Academy.

This was also a one-month holiday that occurred every season.

It was time to consider what to do today.

As time passed and temperatures rose, the outside world was no longer clad in silver; once the ice and snow melted, spring would soon arrive.

The matters currently piling up on his hands were not many.

One was the purification of the Treasures of Ruin; this didn't need to be rushed and could be discussed with Seeing Lei He again once school started.

The second concerned matters left behind several months ago when Xiao Zhi had temporarily stayed at the farm.

The giant Dragonite, searching for its "own kind," should currently be alongside the traveling Lugia.

Leaving it with Lugia indefinitely wasn't a solution; Luo Mu planned to soon take the giant Dragonite to search for a giant Tentacruel, to see if the giant Dragonite would regard it as its own kind.

If that truly didn't work, he would have to consider finding some Pokémon related to time to send it to the super-ancient era, where giant Pokémon roamed in groups.

—Wait, related to time?

Luo Mu suddenly remembered that introverted female Torkoal on his own farm; he vaguely recalled that when Terastal energy became dense enough, it seemed capable of producing the miracle of time-space travel.

For now, he would just mark this as a possibility; if in the future he couldn't find accurate time-travel assistance from Celebi or Dialga, he would activate the Time Machine Plan.

There would surely be a way to help the giant Dragonite.

Lugia had seemingly mentioned heading to seas near Paldea; it was unknown whether that meant Kalos, Galar, Hoenn, or even further out to Alola?

If it was Hoenn, things would be much easier to handle.

Coincidentally, he himself had some matters requiring a trip to Hoenn.

There was the invitation from Professor Lendro in Mossdeep City.

And there were Wallace's consecutive invitations, asking him to bring Ninetales and Milotic to the Hoenn region to experience the local Contest culture, and even introducing his good buddy to Luo Mu and so on.

Luo Mu had already prepared himself for the possibility that if Hearing Hearing Nimo continued coming every day, he would have to consider running away on a spur-of-the-moment journey.

—The Hoenn region would be nice.

Delibird was also traveling there, having bumped into Xiao Zhi and his group several times, and incidentally beating Xiao Zhi up a few more times.

Beyond these matters, there was another quite important issue that needed to be resolved soon.

"Dragged out from the Alola region until now, the timing is about right; let's go take a look first."

Murmuring thus, Luo Mu changed his clothes and headed straight for "Thunder Roar Lake," located in the farm's lake district.

After several expansions, the coverage area of Thunder Roar Lake had grown significantly larger.

Aside from a portion sectioned off by isolation nets for fish farming, most of the area had been handed over to the farm's aquatic Pokémon as a habitat.

This included the farm's newest members, Seeing Seeing Kapu and the Brionne it cared for.

Now that the ice and snow were gradually melting, blocks of ice no longer frequently floated on the surface of Thunder Roar Lake, which made the Brionne—essentially a tropical species—much more comfortable.

It and Seeing Seeing Kapu had also quickly adapted to the farm's rhythm of life and environment.

Calculating the time, there was still a while until lunch; at this hour, Seeing Seeing Kapu and the Brionne should still be active in the South Paldea Sea, communicating with the power of nature and resonating with the ocean currents.

However, a few days prior, Seeing Seeing Kapu had already informed Luo Mu that it had accumulated enough power to use its "special mist" and could help anyone meet a departed person connected to them at any time.

It was only out of consideration for the Champion Exam that Luo Mu had postponed this matter until today.

But before allowing the Dragonite leader to meet its trainer, Luo Mu first had to confirm its mental state.

Soon, Luo Mu spotted the back of the Dragonite leader sunbathing by the lakeside, accompanied by three Dragonair and a Dragonite.

It was not just the Dragonite family; even the Politoed, the Poliwag, and the three Garganacl residing in the nearby Salt House had gathered around the Dragonite leader.

Moreover, the Dragonite leader today looked somewhat different from usual.

Luo Mu did not speak to disturb their interaction; after sizing up the Dragonite leader from head to toe, he discovered the difference.

—It had put on the red-topped, black-rimmed hat that had been carefully stored in its satchel.

Luo Mu had heard some things about the Dragonite leader from Mewtwo.

After experiencing adventures together, the Dragonite leader and its trainer seemed to have settled down in a city in Paldea.

Relying on the Dragonite's excellent flight speed, they had secured a good job at the Paldea Post Office established in that city.

This was also the reason why, during the counterattack, Mewtwo had tasked it with delivering letters rather than going to clone.

The Dragonite leader had once been a Pokémon mail carrier.

(End of Chapter)