"Bond Phenomenon?"
The three of them cried out in surprise at the same time, expressions filled with a mixture of shock and sudden realization.
Just hearing the name of the Ability, combined with what Chen Shi had said earlier about Bond Evolution—
It was as though a lightbulb had instantly switched on in their minds.
They immediately understood the rough function of Bond Phenomenon.
Clearly, if nothing unexpected happened—
Then to achieve Bond Evolution, it wasn't enough for Trainer and Pokémon to merely share an extraordinarily deep bond.
Another essential condition was this Ability itself—
Bond Phenomenon.
"So what you mean is…"
"These two can achieve the same kind of Bond Evolution as Dragapult?"
Cynthia stroked her chin thoughtfully while observing the two Froakie.
"Not necessarily."
Chen Shi shook his head.
"That still depends on whether we'll be able to truly synchronize our hearts and minds with them in the future."
"Otherwise, Bond Phenomenon won't be able to activate at all."
"It's like this—"
"Bond Phenomenon is equivalent to the Mega Stone."
"And the powerful bond between Trainer and Pokémon is the Key Stone."
"You can't be missing either one."
Cynthia nodded slightly, understanding what Chen Shi meant.
In other words—
Only if the bond between them became powerful enough to reach complete mental synchronization would they be able to trigger Bond Evolution.
If they failed to achieve that state—
Then Bond Phenomenon would basically become useless.
However, with Chen Shi and Dragapult already serving as a successful example—
Cynthia believed she and little sister Froakie would definitely be able to accomplish it too.
But then, as she thought about Dragapult—
Cynthia suddenly fell silent.
Moments later, she looked toward Chen Shi with a meaningful expression.
"If I remember correctly…"
"Your Dragapult has the Infiltrator Ability, doesn't it?"
The moment those words came out, Steven and Diantha both reacted as well.
Back during the World Championships, Dragapult had appeared many times.
Everyone knew Chen Shi's Dragapult could ignore moves like Protect.
That was obviously the effect of Infiltrator.
But Chen Shi had just explained that Bond Evolution required both Bond Phenomenon and a deep bond between Trainer and Pokémon.
Neither condition could be missing.
Which raised an obvious question.
How exactly did a Dragapult with Infiltrator achieve Bond Evolution?
Feeling the investigative gazes from the three of them, Chen Shi's mouth twitched slightly.
After two seconds of silence, he awkwardly laughed.
"Haha… you all know I'm a researcher, right?"
"So having a Pokémon that's a little special should be pretty normal, shouldn't it?"
As he spoke, he hurriedly changed the topic.
"Come on, eat! Eat!"
"If we wait any longer, the food's gonna get cold!"
Cynthia let out a cold laugh and leaned back against her chair without pressing the matter any further.
"Tsk tsk tsk…"
"Old Chen, your topic-changing skills are still as stiff as ever."
Steven rolled his eyes while picking up his chopsticks and grabbing himself a bite of food.
Diantha nodded in full agreement.
"It really was pretty stiff."
"You should at least come up with a better excuse next time."
"Not to mention the food was literally just served."
Chen Shi: "......"
Wonderful.
This was pure social death.
But what else could Chen Shi do?
It wasn't that he intentionally didn't want to explain.
The truth was—
Even he himself still hadn't figured it out yet!
Back during the World Championships finals, Dragapult had suddenly exploded in strength out of nowhere.
Then afterward, when Chen Shi checked its data—
The Bond Phenomenon Ability had somehow magically appeared.
Although he suspected it had something to do with his psychic powers—
Even now, he still had no idea what exactly those psychic powers truly were.
So regarding this matter—
Chen Shi wasn't trying to hide anything.
He genuinely didn't know.
...…
"Stop staring at me already. Just eat."
Faced with the meaningful gazes from the three of them, Chen Shi coughed awkwardly a couple times.
Then he took out several water-blue Energy Cubes from his backpack and said to the two Froakie still chatting nearby:
"You two stop talking and come eat something first."
"Froa? Froa?"
The two Froakie were very obedient and accepted the Energy Cubes from Chen Shi.
At first, big brother Froakie assumed they were the same as the ones from the laboratory.
But the instant he ate a single cube—
His eyes immediately widened into huge circles.
This was way too delicious!!
Big brother Froakie instantly began devouring them ravenously.
Little sister Froakie was much calmer in comparison.
Although she also thought they tasted amazing—
She still managed to remain composed.
"Shi'er, Jirachi wants to eat too."
At that moment, Jirachi suddenly spoke while staring longingly at the feast on the table from Chen Shi's arms.
"Alright, alright."
"You and Little V can go over there and grab whatever you want yourselves."
Chen Shi smiled and pointed toward the empty seats at the nearby dining table.
"Okaaay~!"
Jirachi nodded enthusiastically like a child who had just received a brand-new toy.
Then it happily bounced onto the table.
Its tiny body looked especially adorable standing there.
Jirachi carefully copied Chen Shi and the others.
It stretched out one tiny hand and worked hard to pick up a pair of chopsticks.
But it had obviously never used them before.
Its little hand wobbled unsteadily, and it took tremendous effort just to barely hold the chopsticks properly.
Then it attempted to pick up food.
Unfortunately—
The chopsticks behaved like two disobedient sticks in its hands.
Halfway through lifting the food—
Its tiny hand trembled.
The food immediately slipped and fell back onto the table with a plop.
"Ahh, it fell!"
Jirachi instantly puffed out its cheeks.
Its big eyes filled with grievance and dissatisfaction.
"Bimi~~"
Seeing this, Victini lightly jumped from Chen Shi's shoulder onto the table.
It walked over beside Jirachi and gently patted Jirachi's body with its tiny paw, seemingly trying to comfort it.
Then Victini directly used psychic powers.
A soft glow wrapped around a chicken drumstick, lifting it steadily into Victini's mouth.
It happily chewed while letting out a satisfied:
"Mmm~"
The little thing looked incredibly content.
"But I want to eat like Shi'er does."
Jirachi blinked its round eyes and spoke with determination.
It didn't want to use psychic powers to move food around.
It wanted to eat properly with chopsticks just like Chen Shi and the others.
That seemed far more interesting to it.
As it spoke, Jirachi picked up the chopsticks again and continued trying earnestly.
But the result was still disastrous.
After only a few attempts—
The food once again rolled off the chopsticks and dropped onto the table.
Seeing itself fail for the second time—
Jirachi's mouth drooped downward.
Its eyes even turned slightly red with grievance.
"Shi'er…"
"These two little sticks are so hard to use…"
Watching Jirachi's adorable yet stubborn behavior, Chen Shi couldn't help but laugh helplessly.
This little fellow was simply too cute.
Afterward, he gently picked Jirachi back up into his arms and grabbed a fresh pair of chopsticks.
"Come here, Jirachi."
"I'll teach you how to use chopsticks."
...…
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