After bidding farewell to the clan leader, Xiaoye was finally able to cross out the task of "Being a conscientious intelligence-providing NPC—talking to the clan leader about the Eclipse Rebellion" that she had been thinking about for several days, and returned to Yang Yu's house with peace of mind.
The boy wearing a scarf had already finished the party and was playing with a large group of Pokémon in the yard. Not long after Xiaoye joined, some of the well-fed Pokémon had already begun to yawn. The two humans took advantage of the situation to say good night to their friends and returned to their respective rooms to prepare for rest.
Probably because they played too hard at the dinner, Pichu and Riolu, who usually stayed close to each other, were fast asleep in the yard and could not follow the trainer upstairs. Therefore, the girl rarely had a quiet night alone.
——But, are you really alone?
Xiaoye sat by the window, spread out her notepad to a blank page, and held a pen in her right hand. The smile that usually hangs on her face has faded from her face. The moonlight penetrates into the room through the window, and the silvery white light reflects on the girl's eyebrows, showing an almost cold and mysterious color.
"I'm sorry to be talking to you in this way - you can hear me, right."
She said softly to the stagnant air under the moon.
The speculations hidden in the fog finally turned into reality. If the feelings during the battle on Red Lotus Island could be explained by hallucinations, then what happened a day ago proved without a doubt that there was another will hidden in this body.
That may be a living soul that is no different from a normal person——
Or maybe it's "something else."
"I heard your voice then." The traveler from another world said extremely calmly, as if what he was doing was not the absurd thing he was talking to. "I heard you say, 'The bond between man and God should not Cut off' - I agree with your point of view and thank you for taking action in an emergency. As a small compensation for occupying your body, if I encounter something similar in the future, I swear to do my best."
"Excuse me, besides that, is there anything else I can help you with?"
The moonlit room was silent, with only the faint chirping of insects ringing in my ears.
The girl paused for a while and then said: "I'm very sorry that I haven't been able to do anything for you all this time. I will finish what I want to do as soon as possible, and then..."
“Find a way to give your life back.”
She seemed not to know what this meant to herself, and her tone of voice was calm and determined. But the hand holding the pen remained motionless, and no thoughts that did not belong to him crossed his mind.
The will hidden in her body did not answer her.
Xiaoye waited patiently for a while, then closed the book and stood up.
She didn't know whether the hidden will could only take over control of the body "in an emergency" or if it simply didn't want to respond. As an outsider who knows nothing about the memories, emotions and determination of "Starry Night", all she can do is wait.
The bright moon hung high outside the window, and the most energetic Fire People were already on their way home. Xiaoye, who had slept for more than thirty hours in a row, felt no sleepiness at all, so she simply started working on the work she had planned to leave until tomorrow.
She picked up the notepad that the elite member from Team Rocket had provided with clues about the plan to capture Celebi, and was later used by her to record what she saw during her travels, and quietly walked out of the house.
Stretching torches stand on both sides of the road, still burning brightly - it is said that this special torch can burn for more than twenty hours.
Xiaoye put the notepad close to the torch. The high-temperature flames immediately devoured the paper products mercilessly, destroying together with the writings left on them for half a year. After a while, only a puddle of black ash remained in place, which was quickly blown away by the breeze passing through the valley.
When talking to the clan leader just now, Ye said that it was unsafe to record information such as the Eclipse Rebellion in a notebook. It was better to transfer it to an electronic device to prevent it from being read by others. But compared to typing slowly on the mobile phone with a hand speed comparable to that of an elderly person, Xiaoye felt that there was a faster and even absolutely safe method.
She returned to the room, took out a brand new notepad, and wrote down the content that had been engraved in her mind word by word.
It was not written in Alliance language, but in a form that was far more complex than alphabetical symbols and that only she could understand now——
Words from another world.
After completing her dictation homework as seriously as a primary school student, Xiaoye finally found a hint of sleep. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she picked up her phone and saw the dark screen. Then she remembered that her phone had automatically shut down after not charging for two days.
As soon as she plugged in the charging cable and turned on her phone, Xiaoye's trace of sleepiness was suddenly wiped out.
An endless stream of messages and missed calls appeared on the screen, making Xiaoye wonder if she had really slept for ten years. She couldn't finish reading the dense messages at the moment - especially when there were too many chatter from the golden retriever brothers and sisters - so she opened the call list and clicked on the most recent missed call from Xiaotian. When she was about to call back, she glanced out of the corner of her eye. When it reached eleven o'clock in the upper right corner, he quickly stopped.
She thought for a while, opened LINE and sent a message to Xiaotian.
【Is it ok to accept phone call? 】
Xiao Ye thought that Xiao Tian, who was used to going to bed before ten o'clock, would reply tomorrow morning. Unexpectedly, less than half a minute after the message was sent, the other party called, which shocked Xiao Ye.
She quickly picked up the phone and apologized, "Xiaotian? Am I disturbing..."
"How are you?"
The young man's voice from the microphone rarely interrupted Xiaoye's words, and there was a hint of urgency in his tone. Xiaoye was stunned and answered confusedly, "Very good?"
Recalling the long list of missed calls, Xiaoye felt that she might have missed some important news while she was asleep, and quickly added, "Sorry, I didn't check my phone before - what happened?"
The voice on the other side of the phone was silent for a while before replying: "This is what I want to ask you."
Xiao Ye sighed, and suddenly thought of a certain Fire People who mentioned "this matter has been on the news", and suddenly it dawned on her - she did say in the group that she had plans to play a game on Xiangju Island, "You mean the Valley of Flames" What's going on? Don't worry - although I haven't seen what the news said yet, everything is fine here, and everyone just had a party."
Xiaotian seemed a little worried because Xiaoye had lost contact for two consecutive days, and asked a few more questions about the situation in the Valley of Flames. Xiaoye answered one by one, finally proving to her friends that both Lieyan Valley and herself were still alive and well, and had not been burned by the flame bird's fire.
Probably considering that it was late, Xiaotian did not prolong the conversation too long. The two quickly said good night to each other and hung up the phone. Xiaoye didn't dare to fall asleep, so she went to the group to report to the golden retriever brothers and sisters that they were safe.
Unlike Xiaotian, who has a healthy schedule, Xiaojie and Xiaoling never go to bed before twelve o'clock. As expected, they use a very night owl reaction speed - Xiaoling directly clicks on the group chat quickly.
The two of them seemed to be together, howling into the mobile phone, which only made Xiaoye's eardrums hurt, thinking that some layman had beaten the Upe drum - according to them, if Xiaoye didn't reply today, they planned to form a group to buy tickets. I flew to Xiangju Island to look for my missing friend.
Xiaoye explained and sent photos of the banquet food she had taken before, finally calming down the anxious brother and sister. While Xiaoling was accusing Xiaoye of poisoning her late at night, she kept asking, "Are you really okay? Are you okay even if you have a rock cannon on your face?"
"Really... Hey, wait a minute." Xiao Ye answered smoothly before she realized something was wrong, "Are the news articles so specific...?"
"Of course it's not news. Xiaoye...you don't know, right?" Xiaojie's doubtful voice came from the phone.
"What do you know?" Xiaoye responded with double doubts in her tone.
Xiaojie said "Wait a moment" and then lost his voice. Half a minute later, he sent a link in the group.
Xiaoye clicked the link to enter the live broadcast room in confusion, and recognized that it was the trainer anchor whom Xiaojie had recommended. Then, she glanced at the title of the most popular video below, and an unpleasant premonition suddenly arose in her heart.
The girl who had not been online for two days opened the video cautiously. As the progress bar progressed, her expression gradually became dull.
so……
The entire battle at Mount Aso was broadcast live! ?
Early next morning.
The breakfast venue was chosen as always at Yongzhen’s house. The five people gathered together lively to eat and chat - the hot topic was naturally the battle two days ago.
"Live broadcast??" Yongzhen was so shocked that he dropped his chopsticks and his eyes were as wide as Kentero's.
The Fire People were busy with post-war repair work and had no time to read what the Internet said about the matter. They even learned about the live broadcast of the battle later than Xiao Ye. Even Yongzhen's parents looked dumbfounded, and the restaurant fell into a rare brief silence.
Yang Yu was a little worried that such a video would have a bad impact on the Flame Bird if it became known to everyone, so he muttered that he wanted to talk to Jing Mu. Yongzhen didn't think so much. He excitedly searched for the live video and clicked on it, but he was quickly disappointed.
"I can't see people clearly at all. I can only see moves flying around... I still want to see everyone's heroic appearance." The brown-haired boy said dissatisfied.
"After all, it was very dark at that time." Xiaoye replied with a smile.
The figures in the video were blurry and difficult to identify. Even the stranger's purple hair, which was supposed to be very conspicuous, was reflected in the firelight and turned into a blurry crimson. He looked no different from the Fire People. The golden retriever brother and sister can identify their little friends, presumably by the color of the plumage of the big bird that makes a brilliant appearance on the way.
Yongzhen was so addicted to watching videos that he forgot to continue eating for a moment, which prompted his mother to give him a lesson, from the eight dangers of not paying attention to eating to the eighty possibilities of sudden death when he quietly ran to the wind thief's base camp yesterday. It was brave to say Zhen begged for mercy again and again, and quickly ran away after breakfast.
Jingmu sent a message yesterday, asking those who wanted to participate in the battle to gather in the auditorium early in the morning. So, after breakfast time, a large group of people flocked to the square - it was said that they wanted to cooperate with the police in collecting evidence.
The Fire People were all determined to write reports all night like Jing Mu. Unexpectedly, the police's interview was short and fast, and did not take much time. Not only that, representatives of the police department also held a simple commendation meeting with those who personally prevented a terrible disaster.
The alliance has complete post-war medical and life support measures for those who "act bravely for justice", but the substantive rewards are not generous. However, the Fire People obviously preferred another kind of reward to material rewards, and they were beaming with joy as they held the freshly baked Iron Cross.
And Xiaoye... felt that there was something subtle in her happy mood.
The Artificial Phoenix King Project, the terrorist attack on the eve of the top 16 of the Quartz Alliance, and the battle in the Valley of Flames - only half a year after embarking on the journey, she has already obtained three symbols that symbolize "being a free trainer and being brave in danger." "Stand up and make a contribution" received the Iron Cross, and even couldn't help but start to reflect on whether he was traveling and training Pokémon properly.
Next, maybe we should find a quiet place and organize a training camp for the Pokémon? After all, if you lose due to neglect of training, you will lose not only your honor, but also your wallet.
And the thickness of your wallet is the thickness of your life!
Xiao Ye was thinking wildly and returned to the guest room of Yang Yu's house to start packing her luggage.
She didn't have many belongings. Since she had been eating and drinking at Yongzhen's house, all the cooking tools were lying intact in her backpack, so it took almost no time to pack them up. The loose ethnic-style robe that she was temporarily wearing was washed and dried by Xiaoye and put back into the closet. Then, she looked at the only set of spare sportswear left in her backpack. She hesitated seriously and heartbrokenly, and finally just wore it. A T-shirt without taking out the jacket.
The symbolic hair accessory of "Honor the Flame People" given by the patriarch was casually tied by Xiao Ye's ears and tied into a small braid. The short hair that was already curled up irregularly suddenly became even more disheveled. She didn't care at all, letting the bright fire color blend into her hair.
Little Pichu knew that his master was currently a disabled person who "cannot carry it on his shoulders", so he consciously got into the backpack pocket, leaving only his furry head exposed. Xiaoye smiled and rubbed it, picked up her backpack and walked out the door.
She originally wanted to say goodbye to the clan leader first, but as soon as she passed an intersection, she bumped into Yang Yu and Yong Zhen, and she took the opportunity to say goodbye to her two friends briefly.
"What, you want to leave!?" Yongzhen roared, causing Pichu's ears to fall down, "Why so soon... Well, you should feel tired after staying for more than a week, but this is too much. Suddenly!"
The brown-haired boy rolled his eyes, said "My mother just steamed some snacks, you must take some with you" and ran away without a trace. Inspired by this, Yang Yu had a sudden realization, and then set his sights on home-made jam.
Xiao Ye was covered in smoke and dust from the two of them. Before she could say anything, a passerby who happened to be passing by shouted in disbelief, "What, you want to leave!? You saved my brother." I haven’t thought of a thank you gift for you yet!!”
Seeing the noisy crowd starting to gather, Xiao Ye quickly announced "I want to go to other islands to play games and make money, so I have to go" and "I really don't need to thank you for your gratitude" several times. Fortunately, there were not many pedestrians on the path, and we were not surrounded like yesterday. Knowing that the stranger had decided to leave, the red-haired people dispersed in aggrieved manner. Xiaoye wiped her sweat and ran towards the clan leader's house, carrying Pichu that was turned into a ball of hair by the heat.
The upward-facing ice edge still stood at the door, angrily emitting air-conditioning, like a small air conditioner. Xiaoye put her backpack up and paused for a while. Seeing that Pichu was finally resurrected with full health in the air-conditioning, she reached out and knocked on the door.
She was lucky. Ye didn't go to negotiate with the police station like Jing Mu. She stayed at home and quickly opened the door for Xiaoye.
"Good morning, Xiaoye. Is it hot outside? Come in quickly, I'm turning on the air conditioner." The young patriarch greeted the stranger cheerfully.
"Good morning, Mr. Ye." Xiaoye put her backpack on the floor in the corridor and said with a smile, "It's really rare that you know how to turn on the air conditioner."
Before, she had only seen the air conditioner in the patriarch's house standing in the corner like a sculpture - after all, the people of the Fire were not afraid of the heat, and she didn't know why he would buy an air conditioner specifically to put it in the house.
"Mr. Ye, I'm here to say goodbye today... Huh?"
Halfway through her words, she realized there was someone else in the back room.
That back figure was so familiar that Xiaoye was stunned as soon as she poked her head around.
"Xiao Tian……?"
The familiar figure turned her head after hearing the call. It was indeed the face in her memory.
The silver-haired boy was sitting at the table, with tea on hand and opposite him. He was obviously talking to Ye. Xiao Ye looked in surprise at her friends who had just been separated for more than a week, and then looked at the clan leader - Ye didn't seem surprised by the acquaintance of the two. He naturally took a step back and motioned for you guys of the same age to chat first and ignore him, this boring adult. .
Xiaoye walked into the back room and asked doubtfully, "Xiaotian, why are you here...are you here for a trip? When you called yesterday, you told me in advance that I could pick you up."
She guessed that Xiaotian came for the Flame Bird - ever since the battle on Aso Mountain was broadcast live, there has been a steady stream of trainers wanting to go to the island to see the Flame Bird. However, the port of Xiangju Island is just because of this. Things were strictly controlled, and the mountain road leading to the Flame Valley was also blocked, and almost no one was allowed to pass.
Of course, judging from the familiar look on the clan leader's face, he probably knew Xiaotian, so it would not be difficult to enter the Valley of Flames.
Xiaoye paused for a while but couldn't wait for a reply, and looked at Xiaotian blankly.
The silver-haired boy looked at his friend - his head and shoulders were covered with bandages, and his left arm was still hanging on his chest - his expression gradually solidified.
"...We have only been separated for less than two weeks." He was stunned for a while before saying in a difficult voice.
Xiaoye followed Xiaotian's gaze and looked at her own "respect", and felt that the image contrast was a bit big. She smiled awkwardly and said, "I didn't expect it to be like this... I feel like all the Pokémon are..." Gonna have volcanic PTSD.”
After she finished speaking, she realized that her expression was inappropriate. She quickly turned around and explained to the patriarch who didn't really care about the casual joke, "I'm sorry, Mr. Ye, I didn't mean to dislike it here. It's just that I didn't like it twice in a row. Encountering dangerous battles in the volcano..."
"Twice?" Ye was stunned and seemed to think of something quickly, "Were you also on Honglian Island in April this year?"
"'Yes'?" Xiaoye and the clan leader were stunned at the same time, looking at each other. Perhaps seeing that the atmosphere was too solid, Xiaotian on the side added: "We were fighting Team Rocket underground at that time."
The clan leader said in astonishment: "I fought against the fake Phoenix King on the ground with Senior Xinghai..."
The three of them were stunned by this amazing coincidence, and even the air was silent for a moment. The name "Xinghai" circled in Xiaoye's mind, suddenly triggering a guess.
She already knew that Xinghai himself was the captain of Canglong Fang, so...
The Soryu Fang exhibition match in Joban City that I had watched a long time ago flashed through my mind, and the image of the memory was fixed on the little player using the Flame Chicken. Xiaoye asked tentatively, "Mr. 'Yehuo'?"
Industry:"!?"
Under the direct gazes of the two ten-year-old children, the young patriarch froze for a few seconds before waking up from a dream and showing an extraordinarily innocent smile, "Are you talking about the karmic fire of Canglong Fang? Our names It does look a bit like—"
Night:"……"
Xiao Tian:"……"
Ye: "...I'm sorry, that's a terrible excuse."
After realizing that the secret could be revealed with just one poke, he didn't worry about it anymore and just said in a dumbfounding way, "Xiaoye, is this your counterattack?"
He had only recognized Xiaoye's hidden identity after a battle a few days ago. Unexpectedly, things had turned around and now it was his turn to be exposed.
The topic was confused by one after another accidents, and after the three of them chatted for a long time, Xiaoye remembered her original goal and said goodbye to Ye.
The patriarch seemed a little worried about Xiaoye's physical condition - she actually looked a little bad now. However, seeing that Xiaoye already had her next trip plan, he didn't insist on staying.
After completing a task, Xiaoye secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that she could finally end this ungrateful trip of eating and drinking. She turned to her friend who suddenly reunited and asked casually, "So Xiaotian, are you actually Are you here to visit your father’s friends?”
After guessing the "vest" of the industry, Xiaoye recalled what he had said before, "Beidou played against his friend's son in the league competition", and immediately understood that this was talking about Xiaotian. Since the two of them are familiar with each other, it makes sense for them to come to visit after the incident in the Valley of Flames.
The silver-haired boy nodded, "Yes - and, come to see you."
Xiaoye was stunned. Before she could say anything, she suddenly heard a noise outside the door, as if something hit the door.
The three of them walked to the corridor and opened the door, and were immediately startled by the crowd gathering outside.
The paths in the Valley of Flames were not very spacious to begin with, and there were seven or eight people crowded in front of the clan leader's house, almost suffocating Bing Ling. The guy who accidentally banged his head on the door smiled sheepishly, apologized, and slipped into the crowd.
Yang Yu and Yong Zhen stood at the edge, holding large and small boxes in their hands like everyone else. Xiaoye's eyes swept across the crowd - except for the two teenagers, everyone else's faces were very familiar.
"Um... I heard you were leaving, so we thought we should come and say thank you." Standing at the front was the young man on horseback who almost died.
"We have all been saved by you, and I thought we must find a chance to express our gratitude to you." The straightforward young man rarely showed a shy look, "Unfortunately, the time was too short, I didn't even think of what to say. Order something... Anyhow, this is my thank you gift to you!"
People thanked him one after another and piled their objects aside. Xiaoye was startled by the size of the boxes and was about to refuse when a kind-hearted middle-aged man smiled and said, "Just accept it - we thought about it, you must not be comfortable with the gift being too heavy. These are all Our homemade snacks.”
"Of course these snacks are not much of a reward, so just like what the clan leader said -" the young man on horseback said in a loud voice, "don't be polite if you need help, remember to ask us for help! Take the 'Chicken Feather Arrow' given by the clan leader You can command our entire clan!”
Night:"……"
The stranger's sincere emotions were all suppressed by the surprising "chicken feather arrow". She hesitated for a moment between "seriously pretending not to hear" and "correcting that it was not a chicken feather, but a bird feather". In the end, she couldn't bear it anymore and laughed together with the other red-haired people who also failed.
Yang Yu and Yong Zhen were last in line, quietly placing their boxes on top. Yang Yu also conveniently stuffed two fire stones with carved flowers into Xiao Ye, claiming that there were so many of them in the Valley of Flames that it was annoying, so it would be better to give them away if they were kept there.
"How can you be so embarrassed? I didn't even give you the meal and accommodation expenses for this week..." Xiao Ye waved her hands repeatedly.
"Don't stop, if people know that the people of our flames let the tourists rush to the front line and do not fight and kill them, and if they want to accommodate the cost, no one dares to come to the Flame Valley. Our tourism industry has been hit hard!" Yong Zhen waved his hands three times faster than Xiao Ye, with a frightened expression on his face at the right time, making Xiao Ye dumbfounded.
"There is a reason why we gave you a gift." Yang Yu said warmly.
The red-haired boy released his fingers from holding the end of the scarf, and smiled with squinting eyes at his purple-haired friend.
"Thank you for giving me my fire back."
A group of people gathered around the narrow path and reluctantly ended their chat until noon approached. Before leaving, they emphasized to their friends several times that they would "come back often when you have time in the future." After receiving a positive answer, they left with peace of mind.
After a lot of effort, Xiaoye and Xiaotian finally stuffed the large and small bags of snacks into their backpacks. Then, she bid farewell to the clan leader and set foot on the familiar gravel path leading outside the valley.
"What are you going to do next?" Xiaotian turned slightly sideways and looked at his friend, "Go to Fengxue Mountain to participate in the competition?"
"Yeah." Xiaoye nodded.
Haruna recommended the "Wind and Snow Battle" to Saya, a competition held on the Snow Mountain on Naipuru Island. This competition with some special rules was hosted by the Himami branch who lived in the Snow Mountain. It was moderately difficult, novel and interesting, and the rewards were generous enough to fit the organizer's aristocratic status - this last feature immediately attracted the poor free trainer. Jia Xiaoye’s attention. After hearing that she had the intention to go to Fengxue Mountain, an enthusiastic middle-aged man said that his eldest daughter happened to run a hot spring hotel on Naipuru Island, so he called his daughter on the spot without any explanation and told her that an important guest was about to come. When you go to check in, you must treat Yunyun well.
He also drew several free coupons for strangers on the spot, apparently to encourage them to continue the behavior pattern of "eat, drink and stay". But now that the matter has come to this, Xiaoye can only gratefully accept the kindness of the Fire People.
"It's nearly half a month before the competition starts. I'll probably stay at a hot spring hotel first." Xiaoye said, casting her smiling eyes at the silver-haired boy, "Where are you, Xiaotian? Do you want to go play together for a few days? Listen. It is said that August is the peak tourist season on Naipuru Island.”
The young man nodded slightly - or in other words, that was exactly what he came for.
"my pleasure."
====================
small theater:
Ye: (pretending to be calm) He probably has purple phobia, don’t worry about it, just go in.
Ye: (Hurrying to explain) Speaking of which, the friends of Himi’s family helped us a lot during the previous earthquake, so much so that I’m embarrassed to ask them for help now…
Ye: (Pretending to be innocent) Are you talking about the karma fire of Canglong Fang? Our names do look a bit like--
Xiao Ye was shocked by all kinds of weird and bad excuses:…………
Xiaoye: (worried) Xiaotian, do you think Mr. Ye has lied no more than five times since he was a child?
——After returning home late at night——
Karma: (with tears streaming down his face) Niwa-sama actually believed the lie I told today - this is the first time in my life that I have successfully deceived people, ah no, I lied to a bird!
