Before long, the group had gathered in the downstairs living room, sitting on the couches and waiting for Auron and Jace to wake up.
They were genuinely curious—how had Auron vanished into thin air? And where had he gone that kept him out until this morning?
They waited and waited. Finally, close to noon, Auron emerged from his room with a yawn.
"Mm, morning."
Spotting everyone in the living room from the second floor, Auron blinked in surprise before recovering and greeting them.
"It's not morning anymore—it's noon. So where'd you go yesterday? Coming back this late?" Tim couldn't hold back and spoke first. His curiosity was killing him.
"Mm, long story. Let me eat first. I'll explain over the meal." Auron looked at everyone's expectant faces, rubbed his stomach helplessly, and headed downstairs.
"Where's Jace?"
"Still sleeping, probably. Should we wake him up?"
"Yeah, wake him. He can sleep again after eating." Auron scratched his head and turned to Tim. "Are we on break? I heard there's a three-day holiday after the freshman tournament."
"Yep. Three days off, then one more week of classes before National Day." Tim nodded, then watched as Lucas charged straight into the downstairs bedroom. Jace's startled yelp followed shortly, and Lucas emerged looking very pleased with himself.
"Hehe, he's up now."
Auron chuckled. He didn't know what Lucas had done, but judging by Jace's scream, it hadn't been gentle.
"Let's just order delivery. Don't feel like cooking."
"Sure, I want charcoal-grilled ribs."
Auron nodded. "Works. Rice bowls it is then. How about some Big Plate Chicken too?"
"Sounds good. A couple veggie dishes? Spicy cabbage and braised eggplant?"
"I want stewed pork belly with preserved vegetables!" Lucas piped up.
Auron eyed Lucas's little belly with amusement. "Fine, adding it. Anything else?"
Serena counted on her fingers—basically one dish per person now. "Let's round it out with a soup. Hot and sour tripe soup?"
"Sure."
"No complaints here."
"Auron! I want chopped chili fish head!"
"Done! Added! Now get out here!"
Jace's shout came from the bedroom, and Auron hollered right back, urging him to stop lazing around.
"Alright, order placed. When the delivery gets here, you guys grab it. I need to go upstairs, wake up my team, and get their lunch ready."
"Sure, go ahead."
Everyone waved him off and started preparing meals for their own Pokémon too. They'd let their Pokémon out when they arrived that morning. Luckily, the student apartments at Skyspire University were large—otherwise they'd never fit this many Pokémon.
"Rise and shine, everyone. Time for lunch~" Auron called out to the room full of Pokémon.
Charizard and Clawitzer woke up first, followed by Electabuzz, who stumbled groggily to Clawitzer's pool. After Clawitzer sprayed water in his face, Electabuzz finally came to, and used the splash to wash up while he was at it.
With those three awake, that left only Snorlax and Dratini—the two chronic oversleepers.
Crobat didn't need mentioning. She typically woke earlier than Auron, and even after last night's late return, she'd been up when he got up. So only Snorlax and Dratini remained asleep.
"Snorlax, there's yummy food~"
"Snor... lax..."
At the mention of food, Snorlax immediately lifted his head slightly and looked toward Auron at the bedside.
"Really. Come on, get up. Lunch is ready."
"Snor~lax~"
With Snorlax up, Auron turned his attention to Dratini with an indulgent look. The little dragon was curled up on top of the incubation pod containing Deoxys's energy core, sleeping soundly.
"Dratini~ Get up and eat lunch first. You can sleep more after, okay~?"
"Nii~"
Dratini cracked one eye open, glanced at Auron, gave a tiny shake of her head, and closed her eyes again.
Auron looked at her helplessly. "That won't do. You need to eat properly."
He lifted Dratini off the incubation pod.
"Deoxys, when you're born, you can eat too."
After taking Dratini, Auron touched the incubation pod and spoke to the Deoxys core inside.
The energy core in the pod wobbled slightly, then flashed twice at Auron, as if responding.
It had started a few days ago, on the third morning of the freshman tournament. Auron had woken up to see Deoxys's energy core give a faint glow. That was when he realized—Deoxys might be developing consciousness.
Since then, he'd been talking to the energy core every day, and Deoxys's core actually responded. This thrilled Auron. If this was happening, Deoxys must be close to being born.
So he committed to chatting with the energy core daily. The nutrient solution in the incubation pod had gone from needing replacement every three days to just over one day now. All signs pointed to an imminent birth.
What Auron didn't know was that the nutrient solution wasn't actually Deoxys's primary energy source.
Its real fuel came from the three Arceus Plates beneath it and the Aura energy Auron carried.
Only after absorbing enough of both could Deoxys reach the threshold for birth—and only then could it begin converting the nutrient solution into usable energy.
Without the Arceus Plates' energy and Auron's Aura, the core could soak in that incubation pod forever and never convert a single drop of nutrient solution into the energy needed for birth.
After watching the energy core wobble, Auron carried the still-sleeping Dratini downstairs, satisfied.
He'd recalled Snorlax into his Poké Ball—the staircase definitely couldn't handle Snorlax's weight.
As for the rest: Charizard went outside to call Crobat back for lunch, while Electabuzz and Clawitzer followed Auron downstairs.
Auron could've just projected his Aura to signal Crobat—she'd sense it and return immediately. But Charizard insisted on going himself every time, so Auron stopped bothering with Aura summons.
The reason Charizard insisted on fetching Crobat? On the way back together, Charizard would push himself to keep up with her speed.
This had resulted in Auron's Charizard being slightly faster than Jace's Charizard now.
Having discovered this, Charizard made a point of going to call Crobat back for every single meal.
(End of Chapter)