"Grandma, I'm back~"
"Welcome back~ Sit tight, dinner's almost ready."
Liu Xiangjun answered from the kitchen.
The students had break from school, and as a teacher, so did she.
Having learned her grandson was coming home today, Liu Xiangjun had been busy since noon.
Grocery shopping, washing vegetables, cooking — a full afternoon of work.
"Smells amazing."
Auron Vale lifted the lid on a dish at the dining table, carrying Tsun-yuki.
"Braised pork! Perfect."
"Just a moment — your parents should be back soon, then we eat."
Liu Xiangjun said, placing the last pot — pig stomach and chicken soup — onto the table.
"Dad should be home any minute. He went to find Mom when I left."
"We're back."
Before Auron Vale finished speaking, his dad had already arrived with Mom, plus Mini Dragon, Eevee, and Blissey.
"Chirru~"
"Hehe, Mini Dragon, did you have fun this afternoon?"
Auron Vale took Mini Dragon with a smile. Now he had Tsun-yuki in his right arm and Mini Dragon cradled in his left.
"Chirru~"
"Her and Eevee watched movies all afternoon."
Mom said, pulling dishes and chopsticks from the kitchen and setting the table.
"Alright — time to eat."
After Mom said that, Dad went upstairs to call Lu Xing Guo.
Auron Vale released all his Pokémon.
"Do you guys want to eat inside or in the backyard?"
Between Grandpa and Grandma plus Mom and Dad's Pokémon, plus a few large ones, the house simply didn't have enough space.
So long ago, Lu Xing Guo had specifically prepared a dining area in the backyard for the Pokémon — quite a large one.
"Pikachu~"
Snorlax squinted at Auron Vale, then pointed outside. He was going to find Bewear. They hadn't seen each other in a while.
Crobat nudged Auron Vale, then followed Snorlax out.
Charizard looked around, then grabbed the Slowpoke that had been drooling over the food on the table. With a look of surprise and indignation, Slowpoke was dragged after Snorlax.
Crawdaunt didn't need to be told twice — no pool inside, but the backyard had one.
Farfetch'd watched his companions head to the backyard, hesitated, then followed Crawdaunt.
Looking at his Pokémon heading off to the yard, Auron Vale asked the Mini Dragon on his arm: "What about you?"
"Chirru~"
Mini Dragon coiled around Auron Vale's arm, indicating she was eating inside.
"Alright then. And Tsun-yuki, aren't you going to eat?"
"Osho~"
Tsun-yuki happily nuzzled Auron Vale's cheek, threw a provocative look at Mini Dragon, then hopped down and bounced toward the backyard.
"Chirru!"
"Hehe, there, there — don't be mad. Want me to let you nuzzle too?"
Auron Vale hastily comforted the furious Mini Dragon, pressing his cheek against hers.
"Chirru~"
Mini Dragon nuzzled backrevenge-style twice before brightening up again.
Soon, the whole Lu family sat down at the table and began dinner.
"Xiao Ze, your paper on Milotic's evolution conditions is going to be published tomorrow. You sure you want to stay anonymous? You can still change it."
Between bites and casual conversation, Lu Xing Guo suddenly said to Auron Vale.
Auron Vale swallowed his food and nodded. "Yeah. I'd rather not put my name on it. I'm still in school, and Mini Dragon's already getting enough attention."
Lu Xing Guo nodded at that. "Alright, makes sense."
Listening to the grandfather-grandson exchange, Dad felt a pang in his heart. The paper wasobviously written by him, but why did no one bring it up?
"Once the Milotic paper drops, the others won't be far behind. But those other Pokémon all involve 통신 evolution — so are there any ideas? Maybe we publish them together so other countries can't jump the gun."
Lu Xing Guo finished, and Ashen Vale nodded in agreement. "Right — let's just get everything out at once. No loopholes for them."
"Mm, actually, there really are a few. Clambeau has two evolution lines, Rhyperior does too, and there's also Misdreavus. Oh — and when would these 통신 evolution papers be published?"
Right — they used "Telekinetic Evolution" here too, because the naming authority belonged to Auron Vale, so he stuck with the terminology he knew.
As for why the naming authority belonged to Auron Vale? Lu Xing Guo and Ashen Vale's naming ability was frankly unbearable. Mo An Guo simply handed the naming rights over to Auron Vale.
"Probably won't be for a while. You know, Mo Un Guo just secured his spot as the world's top Steel-type Elite with Steelix. So probably after you research and confirm those three evolution conditions — Steelix, Rhyperior, Misdreavus — they should publish all together."
"Alright, fine. I'm not signing my name anyway, so I'm not in a rush."
With the father-son discussion wrapped up, Lu Xing Guo spoke again.
"The national reward for that paper — you still haven't claimed it. Why haven't you gone to pick it?"
At that mention, Auron Vale suddenly remembered — he still had a national reward waiting.
"Uh, I'll do it in the next day or two."
Ashen Vale gave him a suspicious look. "You didn't forget, did you?"
"No way!"
After Auron Vale and the others wrapped up their conversation, the two women took over the speaking rights.
When Auron Vale and the others talked, if it was serious business, Mom and Liu Xiangjun generally didn't interrupt.
But once they were done — it was the two women's time to shine.
After dinner, the family sat on the sofa with Mom and Liu Xiangjun, watching TV and chatting.
"You're the school freshman battle champion, right? What's the reward?"
"Besides points, the champion's reward is two attribute Gems, or three items from the school treasure vault — I chose the vault."
Auron Vale finished, and Dad sighed. "Man, you kids have it good. My championship reward back then was just a Pokémon egg."
Auron Vale smiled and nodded. "Right — the second-place reward is a Pokémon egg."
"Fine, keep going. So what'd you pick from the vault?"
"An Ability Capsule, an Ability Patch, and a Comet Shard."
"Comet Shard?"
Ashen Vale and Lu Xing Guo both turned to look at Auron Vale at the same time. "The first two are fine, but what does a Comet Shard do?"
"Comet Shard."
Auron Vale smiled at Lu Xing Guo. "The last one is related to the legendary I told you about."
(This chapter is complete.)
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