(beginning)
Elven calendar year 999, late summer.
A chase was taking place late at night in the back hill of Zhenxin Town.
(one)
"Quickly - run - ah -"
"Wow, Xiaozhi, you stepped on my foot!"
"Who told you to run so slowly!"
"What did you say……!"
"You two! You two! It's time for you to stop arguing!"
"Xiaoyun, you have the nerve to say that it wasn't your bad idea... Wow!"
There were teammates who were fighting among themselves in front of them, and there was an angry ghost throwing a shadow ball behind them. Xiaoye, who was running at the end of the team, couldn't help but sigh, and looked at her silver-haired classmate with the same helpless expression.
Everything starts from Xiaoyun's sudden whim——
Wait, does this scene look familiar?
…
In any case, regardless of how many random thoughts Xiaoyun posts every day on average, or whether the dangerous incident at the Houshan ruins taught the people involved a lesson - after school that day, Xiaoyun, who was full of weird ideas, quietly told his classmates , she and Lulucao discovered a treasure while playing in the back mountain and invited everyone to go treasure hunting together.
The good news is that her discovery was correct. Under the leadership of Zukuocao, she crossed the valley and climbed the hillside and then pushed through the dense vines. She saw that there were indeed a lot of sparkling gems and metals hidden in the cave.
The bad news is, this is the lair of the Wandering Eidolon.
(two)
"Hooooooooo!"
This wandering night spirit obviously has the characteristic of "loving money as much as life". When he saw his treasure being held by a strange human being, he immediately lost his mind with anger and was bombarded by a barrage of shadow balls on the spot. Xiaotian originally wanted to try Pokémon battle, but when he saw this scene, he immediately realized the huge disparity in strength, so he had to take Charmander back and choose to escape.
"Xiaotian—let the fire-breathing dragon save—"
"I just returned it to my father yesterday."
"What, I am going to die!... Wow, is this a pun? I am simply a genius!"
"...Xiaoyun, I beg you, please stop telling cold jokes..."
The young people in Zhenxin Town have been jumping up and down in the mountains all year round. They have long developed their agile skills and managed to find a way out under the bombardment of wandering night spirits. Seeing that the intruder was as slippery as a monkey monster, the ghost's one eye suddenly ignited with terrible anger.
The children only felt a strange strong wind blowing from behind, blowing them upside down and falling into the grass pit unable to move.
The next moment, the shock wave was released and then closed, turning into suction.
The force was as overbearing as the tornado created by Dr. Oak's Kuailong. The children almost flew into the air on the spot and quickly hugged the tree trunk to save themselves. Taking a closer look, they were immediately frightened out of their wits - the wandering night spirit opened its huge mouth at some point, revealing a gloomy black hole and spiritual fire!
Even Xiaozhi, who has the worst grades, remembers his teacher telling him that the black hole in Wandering Eidolon's body can ruthlessly suck away a person's soul. The fear of death came unexpectedly, and what was even worse was that their bodies began to lose strength and their vision became blurred. Xiaozhi tried his best to turn his head and seemed to see a hazy double image of his friend.
Could it be...that his soul is really going to be sucked away?
(three)
Xiao Ye knew that neither fists, kicks nor the power of waveguides had any effect on the ghost-type Wandering Eidolon.
Then, all that's left is...
Her eyes fell to the side. The poor walking grass was struggling hard, trying hard to splash out the highly toxic solution, but it couldn't touch the body of the wandering eidolon at all.
The next moment, she let go amid the exclamations of her companions.
The powerful suction force made humans rush forward uncontrollably, and this played into their own agenda - the long vines were roughly torn off and soaked in the solution, making a tooth-piercing sizzling sound; and she didn't care that the poison eroded the skin of her hands. With the severe pain, he rushed forward with the help of the wind, and severely strangled the throat of the wandering night spirit with the poisonous vines!
The ghost screamed. The pain aroused all the ferocity in its bones. For a moment, strong winds and rolling air waves were blowing. The huge shock wave overturned everyone, and then turned into endless black mist, completely swallowing up the last light in the field of vision.
(Four)
I don't know how long it took before the smoke and dust slowly dispersed.
The injured Wandering Eidolon seems to have left. The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only the vague chirping of insects echoing in the distance, awakening the children's precarious consciousness.
"It hurts so much..."
"Your Xiaoye...is everyone okay?"
"Hat, where's my hat?"
At this moment, Xiaoye felt extremely awkward all over her body, and her head was as dizzy as if there were eight electric mice running in a circle. She reluctantly stood up and looked at her friends with concern - and then her heart suddenly sank.
The person leaning against the trees not far away clearly has his own face.
…
If it's broken, wouldn't his soul still be out of body?
(five)
As a result, when I turned around again, my newly sinking mood suddenly stagnated.
Xiaozhi just staggered and sat up, cursing: "Xiaozhi, are you an idiot! You stepped on my hand just now!"
Xiao Mao, who was next to him, was not to be outdone, and immediately responded with the same level of self-humiliation: "Xiao Mao, you are the idiot! You actually pulled my ankle, do you want me to be eaten?"
Night:"……"
She lowered her head and looked at the long, light-colored hair that fell naturally; then she looked at the equally stunned "self" next to her, and her expression suddenly became as dull as the original owner of this body.
"Xiao Zhi, Xiao Mao. I have a question to ask."
The "silver-haired boy" said a series of strange words with a cold face.
"Who do you think I am?"
"ha?"
Xiao Mao—perhaps we can no longer call him Xiao Mao—answered confusedly, “What are you talking about, Xiao Tian?”
"Take a look at who you are?"
The two young men looked at their clothes blankly, and both screamed - and then let out a second scream when they saw the appearance of the person opposite.
...So maybe Xiaoyun is safe?
Xiaoye looked around and finally found the walking grass behind the bushes that was spinning all over the ground anxiously, and Xiaoyun who was sitting there silently for some reason.
"are you OK?"
The green-haired girl looked at the visitor innocently and said happily:
"Eaa!"
Night:"……"
Night:"……"
Night:"!?"
(six)
"Ahem, let's summarize the current situation first."
The person with Xiaozhi's face put on a barely calm demeanor and stretched out his hand to point from the far left.
"Night?"
The silver-haired boy responded happily, smiling so hard that he wanted to take out his phone and take a picture.
"Xiao Tian?"
The purple-haired girl nodded silently, her expression more solemn than if she had failed the end-of-month quiz.
"...Xiao Zhi?"
Xiao Mao looked at his face and twisted and shouted, "Yes, I am Xiao Zhi", and suddenly felt even more dizzy.
"And... uh."
He hesitated for a while before speaking in fear to the last person.
"Walking grass?"
Xiaoyun: "Hey!" (Happy)
Walking grass: "Aaaa——" (screaming)
Xiao Mao's vision went dark, and he slammed the head that belonged to Xiao Zhi onto the tree trunk.
(seven)
"What should I do?"
"What should I do?"
"I only know that the wandering night spirit can suck away souls. I have never heard that it is so blind that it can give people the wrong soul..."
"Hey."
"Go to the Wandering Eidolon to get us back?"
"Forget it, we just broke into someone else's territory, it would be nice if they didn't beat us to death."
"Then bring some food and apologize to it! Or borrow a Pokémon from Dr. Oak to defend yourself..."
"..."
The conversation stopped. The unlucky children realized one thing at the same time.
"Um...did the doctor just say that if we go into the mountains after sunset again, we will be punished by copying the text a thousand times?"
"You remembered wrongly, it was three thousand times."
"No, no, five thousand times!"
"Ea na ea na!"
"The mastermind wants to double up... Uh, if you don't have hands, can you copy the text?"
"Aaaaaa——!?"
The five of them looked at each other in confusion. At this moment, no matter whether their grades were high or low, their relationship was good or bad, they all reached a consensus in a tacit and silent understanding.
cannot be discovered.
At least I have to muddle through tomorrow!
(eight)
The children chattered for a while and decided to change places first before discussing the tactics in detail.
The dense forest at night is full of dangers. If you accidentally step on the tail of a unicorn worm, I'm afraid there will be another marathon scare——
No. Judging from the crooked steps of the human cub with the soul of a walking grass, and the way he doesn't recognize his relatives, perhaps it would be faster to just surrender.
"Let's go down the mountain first, and then we'll talk in town... Hey, Xiaotian? Are you okay?"
As soon as these words came out, children and grass immediately came rushing over.
Their vision was unclear at night, and it was only now that they saw Xiaotian - although she looked like a girl with purple hair - her face was not very good-looking, and there were beads of sweat on her forehead, as if she was enduring some kind of pain.
The owner of this body ten minutes ago, Xiaoye, recalled his actions in the battle, especially the feat of soaking his hands and vines in the dissolving liquid, and his expression suddenly froze.
"Uh, I'm sorry! I didn't expect..."
The confused relationship between soul and body left Xiaoye speechless. She didn't know how to explain it for a moment, so she simply rummaged through her bag for the medicine bottle. Only then did the others see the hideous burns on his hands, and they all turned pale with shock.
"Xiaoye... no, Xiaotian! Why didn't you say a word for such a serious injury?"
"And there is no reason to touch venom with your hands! Although I am very grateful to you for saving us, please don't do this kind of thing again——"
Xiao Tian:"……"
Being slapped with misplaced accusations, the young man suddenly fell into a situation where he was speechless. Fortunately, the other person acted quickly enough and quickly took out the bandage spray and performed a set of standard emergency procedures.
The wounded man sighed.
He still remembered the last moment of the battle. Even though he had to touch the dissolving liquid with his bare hands, the man's expression was still incredibly calm, as if he didn't feel any pain at all; and now he looked at her pressing her face against him, and she still twisted... With an embarrassed expression amid hesitation, which was 10,000 times more vivid than when "self-inflicted", Xiaotian decided to swallow the comforting words he had originally planned.
"If you must do this kind of thing..."
"Let me do it next time."
(Nine)
The expression of the "silver-haired boy" suddenly became more hesitant.
She pointed at herself and then at each other.
"Which one counts as 'you'?"
Xiao Tian:"……"
After dealing with Dr. Oak, go find the Wandering Eidolon, immediately, immediately.
(ten)
A small town at the foot of the mountain, next to a street lamp.
The five of them sat on the ground beside the road, chattering for dozens of minutes, and finally finalized a plan of action.
Tomorrow is Friday. As long as you survive this day, you will have plenty of time to go to the back mountains to find the Wandering Eidolons over the weekend. After ruling out unreliable suggestions such as pretending to have food poisoning and taking a collective leave of absence, or bombing the school without doing anything else, they finally unanimously decided to do only one thing.
——Pretending to be the original owner of the body.
The children are convinced that this is not difficult - they grew up together in a white town, wrote the same homework in the same class and received the same scolding, so they should know each other's personalities well. Just imitate your friends, it's easy!
After explaining to each other the "key points of playing themselves", the young people were ready to try it out first.
"Then let's start with me."
Xiao Mao cleared his throat, and his calm expression suddenly collapsed, becoming innocent, clear and a bit stupid.
"I'm sorry, doctor, I'm late! ... Well, homework, of course I've finished my homework a long time ago. I copied the attribute resistance table! The electric system defeats the ground system, and the fairy system defeats the steel system. I have memorized them all!"
"..."
After a moment of silence, everyone couldn't help but applaud, and even Xiaoyun, who had turned into a walking grass, shook his leaves.
"It's great, no flaws at all."
"Uh uh uh... I'm so angry. Although it looks like me, I'm so angry!"
Xiao Mao sat back down with his chin raised, signaling with his eyes that the next person would come on.
"Okay, look at me!"
Xiaozhi stood up menacingly, placing his hands on his hips in a pose with his nostrils pointing upward.
"Thank you friends, thank you to my girlfriends - as the grandson of Pokémon researcher Dr. Oak, I will definitely become a Pokémon master and make the name of Zhenxin Town famous all over the world!"
Xiaomao smashed the can in his hand with a click.
"Xiao Zhi! What are you talking nonsense? I won't talk like this!"
"Huh? That's obviously what you said to me!"
"And what are girlfriends talking about in their sleep? When did I have a girlfriend! Has your head been confused by the Wandering Eidolon?"
"You will! Absolutely!"
Seeing that a scolding battle was about to take place, Xiaoyun, who was walking in a straw shell, bravely rushed forward and rewarded each of them with a flying leaf and a sharp knife, and finally got the situation back on track.
Xiaoye, who was pushed into the field by the grass leaves, blinked and joked: "I think as long as I don't speak or make any expression, it will be fine -"
Seeing the client's faint gaze falling over her, Xiaoye thought about it and suppressed her smile.
"The Moru moth swarm will start to move after twelve o'clock, and it is very dangerous to stay in the mountains. We must return in another hour."
She reproduced Xiaotian's speech before entering the mountain exactly, unifying everything from the tone to the punctuation. The fakeness was so convincing that her soul was in a trance, and she began to think about philosophical issues such as who am I if she is Xiaotian? .
"Wow, it's Xiaotian. You guys didn't exchange at all, right - eh."
Halfway through Xiaozhi's enthusiastic compliments, he was stopped by the very innocent smile shown by the "silver-haired boy", and all the words flew away.
"Then the next one——"
Xiaoyun, the walking grass card player, always used his headbutt against those who were about to play. Xiaoye watched "himself" being pushed forward by a ball of grass blades, and suggested with interest: "Smile first?"
Under the eyes of five piercing eyes, Xiaotian tried hard to recall how this new classmate, whom he had just met, usually smiled, and tried to imitate her expression.
"..."
The air froze for a moment.
"Xiaotian, you better stop laughing." Xiaomao couldn't help but raise his hands to cover his eyes, "If you don't smile, you can still be regarded as an 'unhappy Xiaoye', but now you are like an 'Xiaoye who has a facial nerve disorder after taking poisonous powder'."
Xiao Tian:"……"
The "smile" that was finally concave suddenly became a shape of self-doubt. The other client was not worried about his image being damaged at all, and laughed happily, "It's okay. I even dare to eat tomato tomatoes raw. It makes sense to try the poisonous powder and paralyzing powder."
Xiaotian ate another kind of powder out of thin air: "..."
Walking Grass was so happy that its leaves were trembling. After finally calming down, it ran to its original "self" and gave him an encouraging pat.
Everyone became nervous and turned their expectant and anxious eyes to the last person.
"Come on, Walking Grass, you can definitely do it!"
"It's very simple, just repeat 'Good morning, teacher'——"
The green-haired girl who attracted everyone's attention took a deep breath and opened her mouth with a look of determination on her face.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey-"
children:"……"
Grass:"……"
How about confessing to Dr. Ohki as soon as possible and seeking leniency.
(eleven)
"That's right. How could a Pokémon learn to speak overnight..."
"Hey..."
Seeing that her friends were dejected and wished they could bury themselves in the soil with the walking grass, Xiaoye raised her hand in thought.
"I have an idea. Maybe we can do this..."
"..."
"Oh, maybe that will work!"
(twelve)
Early next morning.
Dr. Oki walked into the classroom with the bell ringing and looked at the students who looked a little strange in surprise.
Everyone has opened their books and got ready for class, and Xiaozhi, a habitual latecomer, is also sitting in his seat. Not only that, but some of them also have strange and unique styles.
"What's wrong with Xiaoyun?"
The green-haired girl wore three thick masks in a row, covering her face like a mummy.
"Report to Dr. Oak - we went to help an injured walking grass yesterday, and Xiaoyun inhaled poisonous smoke and was temporarily unable to speak!"
After listening to Xiaozhi's explanation, Dr. Oak nodded and turned his confused eyes to Xiaoye.
The "purple-haired girl" raised her hands wrapped in rice dumplings and said calmly: "I accidentally touched the venom of the walking grass."
"That's it."
The young people in Zhenxin Town are very warm-hearted, and rescuing injured Pokémon is commonplace. Dr. Omu did not doubt his presence, and after a few simple instructions to pay attention to safety, he started teaching.
Seeing that the first level was successfully passed, the children quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Although there is no way to learn to speak overnight, it is not difficult for a smart walker to just sit at the table. It imitated the movements of its deskmate and flipped through the textbook. It looked decent and there was no flaw in it at all. The human cubs also used their smart minds at full speed, and even when they were suddenly called on by the doctor to ask questions, they were able to cope with it without any confusion about their identity.
Maybe... the whole day today will go so smoothly?
(Thirteen)
Dr. Oki: "Okay, that's the end of the class - next we have to take a quiz! Oh, Xiaoye has an injured hand, so she doesn't need to take part. Everyone else should sit down and don't look around!"
Poor students Xiaozhi and Xiaoye: "..."
Top students Xiaomao and Xiaotian: "..."
Humanoid walking grass: "0v0?"
Finished.
————TO BE CONTINUED————
Hello everyone.
Before entering the next large dungeon, let's read some light-hearted stories to change your mood!
The extra chapter has a total of 12k words and is expected to be released in two parts. It roughly tells a series of adventures that the travelers experienced in their hometown of Zhenxin Town before setting off. Although the beginning of the matter was bizarre—well, the process was also bizarre—it strictly followed the timeline and background of the original volume of Volume 1, and there was no problem at all reading it as the main text!
Above, I wish you all a happy reading.
