Chapter Six: An Unexpected Incident

Standing in front of the station in Zhuxing City, Chen Ou scratched his head somewhat awkwardly, then turned to Shirona, who was accompanying him, and said, "I could go on my own, you really don't have to trouble yourself to see me off."

Shirona responded with a gentle smile, "There's no need to be so polite. First, I do need to make a trip to Baidai City, and second, my grandmother asked me to accompany you part of the way. Besides, it's really no trouble at all."

Hearing this, Chen Ou could only nod even more sheepishly, his hand unconsciously tightening around the handle of his suitcase. He genuinely didn't want to inconvenience Shirona. After all, if Shirona was traveling with him, they'd have no choice but to take the train—since Chen Ou didn't have any Pokémon capable of flight. In fact, he didn't have any Pokémon at all. However, he could use the movement techniques he'd developed from the Flame-Flame Fruit to travel quickly. Shirona, on the other hand, did have flying Pokémon, but Garchomp wasn't suited for long-distance flight and Togekiss was too small to carry two people. Thus, they could only travel by train.

It was worth mentioning that Shirona assumed when Chen Ou said he didn't have any Pokémon, he meant he didn't have any flying Pokémon. After all, in this world, who didn't have at least one Pokémon?

Unfortunately, Chen Ou still couldn't fully accept himself as someone from this world. So, when he said he didn't have any Pokémon, he meant not a single one...

But even while developing his Flame-Flame Fruit abilities, Chen Ou was troubled. He felt as though he'd already reached the limits of his fruit. The problem was, he still couldn't perform powerful moves like Ace's "Great Flame Commandment: Flame Emperor" from the anime. At present, his survival skills were strong, but his offensive capabilities were lacking. He had no idea why this was the case. He could only chalk it up to there being some major after-sales issues with his transmigration—unfortunately, there was nowhere to leave a bad review...

Chen Ou and Shirona chatted idly as they waited. Meanwhile, the Four Elite were growing frantic.

"What on earth is happening in Twinleaf Town?!" Aaron’s brows were tightly furrowed, his tone deeply displeased.

They had just received a transmission from Twinleaf Town, but it was abruptly cut off midway, and they couldn't get through no matter how many times they tried. When they sent nearby trainers to investigate, the entire town was found to be shrouded in a thick fog. Strangely, no matter how they tried to walk through the mist, they simply couldn't enter Twinleaf Town. The Elite made a snap decision and immediately reported the matter to the Four Elite.

"Shirona should be in Zhuxing City right now—contact her. I’m worried this is the Darkrai incident that was reported earlier, out of control," said Bertha gravely. This was no small matter; Darkrai, known as the Nightmare Pokémon, was not someone ordinary people could handle. And the closest person to Twinleaf Town at the moment happened to be Shirona.

Flint and Lucian exchanged glances and nodded to each other before Lucian said to Aaron, "Aaron, you coordinate things here. Flint and I will head over. Also, contact Shirona immediately—if she can't handle it alone, tell her to buy time until we arrive."

Aaron nodded. Lives were at stake—there was no room for hesitation.

Flint and Lucian headed out together. Although neither had particularly fast flying Pokémon, they were still more mobile than Bertha with her Ground-types. And since Shirona wasn't present, Aaron was naturally the best choice to coordinate. So, only the two of them could go.

Bertha didn't hesitate. "I'll arrange for follow-up and contingency measures. Be prepared for the worst."

Aaron nodded, dialing Shirona's number as Bertha left without a backward glance to handle her own responsibilities.

Meanwhile, Shirona, who was chatting with Chen Ou, finally received the call she had been dreaming of the night before. Unfortunately… it had come too late.

Thinking how wonderful it would have been if this call had come yesterday, she answered with a serious expression, "What’s wrong, Aaron?"

Seeing Shirona enter work mode, Chen Ou fell silent, simply watching her and feeling a hint of relief in his heart. Now he could travel alone and avoid unnecessary complications. After all, if Shirona were around, whether it was the Flame-Flame Fruit or his lack of Pokémon, if she found out, he'd be in for a lot of questions.

But as Shirona’s expression grew increasingly grave, he felt an ominous premonition. In this parallel Sinnoh world, where Team Galactic had already been wiped out, only a legendary Pokémon could make a powerful Champion so serious.

"Understood, I’ll head to Twinleaf Town immediately."

Finishing the call with a stern face, Shirona ended the call, then bowed apologetically to Chen Ou. "I’m sorry, Chen Ou. Something’s come up in Twinleaf Town that I need to handle. I won’t be able to accompany you to Baidai City."

With that, she took out Togekiss’s Poké Ball, preparing to leave.

Startled by the mention of "Twinleaf Town," Chen Ou quickly called out, "Wait!"

Shirona looked back at him, somewhat displeased. She’d had a good impression of Chen Ou—though quiet, he was reliable. But now, every second was precious, and she didn’t have time to waste.

Just as she was about to speak, Chen Ou said, "I might know what's going on. Please, you must take me with you."

Shirona looked at his earnest face, countless thoughts flashing through her mind. Then she said, "All right, grab hold of Togekiss’s leg with me."

Chen Ou shook his head. Under Shirona’s puzzled gaze, he opened his suitcase and retrieved a Poké Ball from a hidden compartment. From it emerged a powerful Charizard.

"Didn’t you say you didn’t have a Pokémon to ride?" Shirona asked, puzzled, watching as Charizard affectionately nuzzled Chen Ou’s head.

Chen Ou smiled wryly, stroking Charizard’s long neck. "This is Green’s Charizard. I just knew he’d sneak it into my luggage."

He patted Charizard’s back, and the Pokémon obligingly crouched down. Chen Ou swung himself onto Charizard’s back and extended his hand toward Shirona. "Come on. Trust me—if this is what I think it is, then it can be resolved."

Shirona, gazing up at the young man bathed in sunlight atop Charizard, unconsciously reached out her hand, only to be pulled swiftly onto Charizard’s back.

"Charizard, take off!"

With a mighty leap, Charizard soared into the sky, flying northeast under Chen Ou’s direction.

"Do you know where Twinleaf Town is?" Shirona asked, unable to help herself as Charizard took flight.

Chen Ou nodded, indicating that he did.

Of course he knew—Twinleaf Town was a name dredged up from the depths of his childhood memories. It appeared in one of the Pokémon movies, the one featuring Palkia and Dialga. That was precisely why he was so concerned about this town.

Heaven above, must parallel worlds be so unreasonable? Ash’s journey wasn’t supposed to start for several more months, and yet the plot of that Ash-centered movie was already unfolding?

He really couldn’t catch a break…

Now he could only hope the incident hadn’t yet reached the stage where the town was sucked into a temporal rift. Otherwise, he’d have missed an easy chance to meet the gods of time and space.

With that thought, he glanced back at Shirona, suddenly uncertain whether he should involve her in all this. With the story speeding ahead of schedule, who could guarantee everything would work out perfectly?

If they got caught in a space-time rift and couldn’t calm the gods’ wrath before vanishing…

All would be lost.

Shirona, sharp as ever, noticed his odd look and said sternly, "Don’t even think about leaving me behind. This is my duty!"

Chen Ou could only turn away, helpless, and stop looking at this perceptive woman.

Good heavens, I haven’t even said anything and you already know what I was thinking…

Still, Shirona was right—this was her responsibility. Chen Ou had no grounds to stop her.

As the wind roared past his ears and the forest sped by below, Chen Ou could only pray that this incident wouldn’t spiral out of control. It wouldn’t matter much if he died, but dragging others down with him would be unbearable.

Charizard carried them swiftly toward Twinleaf Town.

They sped toward an uncertain future.

Toward the hope of making up for the regrets buried deep within their hearts.