Auron didn't know what to do with himself, his hands hanging awkwardly at his sides.
Fortunately, Serena only hugged him for a brief moment before letting go, turning instead to fuss over her Milotic. But hidden beside Milotic's face, her own cheeks were burning red—though no one noticed.
The tips of Auron's ears flushed as well. He stammered, flustered,
"Girls shouldn't just go hugging people all willy-nilly like that…"
Serena grew even shyer, ducking her head against Milotic's long, graceful neck. She didn't know what had come over her—her mind had gone hot, and she had just hugged him without thinking.
Auron rubbed the back of his head helplessly.
The atmosphere between them felt off—far too charged—but he couldn't think of any way to break it.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Jace and Tim, watching the whole scene with gleeful amusement. His eyes lit up.
"Right! Tim, how's your Swablu doing?"
Tim blinked, then blurted out without thinking,
"Why are you asking me? You two should just keep going!"
"Pfft—HAHAHAHA!"
Jace doubled over, unable to hold it in. It was obvious Auron had only asked to change the subject, yet Tim had called him out immediately. Jace could already imagine what was about to happen.
Sure enough, Auron's face darkened with embarrassed fury. He lunged forward, hand outstretched.
"You bastard! Hand that Skrelp Egg back!"
"No way! You already gave it to me, and you've got the gall to try and take it back?"
Tim twisted away, clutching the incubator tight.
As the two of them squabbled, Serena, her face still bright red, muttered, voice barely above a whisper,
"Um… you guys talk, I… I'm going home first."
Without waiting for them to respond, she recalled Milotic and bolted out the door.
"…Uh. What was that about?"
Auron scratched his head, looking genuinely puzzled.
Jace clamped a hand over his mouth, struggling not to burst out laughing, but still managed to answer his hopelessly dense childhood friend.
"Nothing. Her mom just called her home for dinner."
"Oh, oh."
Auron nodded earnestly, completely buying it. Jace nearly choked holding back his laughter.
"Uh, Auron… my dad's calling me home for dinner too. I'll head out first."
Jace had no choice. If he stayed any longer, he was sure he'd crack and laugh out loud—and then Auron would clobber him for it.
Tim grinned.
"I'll head back with him then."
"Alright. Bye."
"Bye."
As he watched the two of them leave, Auron still couldn't figure out what had been so funny.
Back in his cabin, the image of Serena hugging him flashed unbidden into his mind again, making his face heat up all over.
He shook his head quickly, slapping his cheeks.
"Quit thinking about that. I need to focus on Gliscor and Politoed."
Ever since yesterday, when he remembered that a Razor Fang could evolve Gligar into Gliscor, the thought had stuck with him.
He had spent most of the previous night searching, but found only scattered mentions—barely any real information, no practical guidance whatsoever.
Tonight, he was determined to dig up something about Politoed instead.
Firing up his computer, he searched through article after article.
"This doesn't make sense. The Dragon Nation has thousands of years of history—there's no way no one ever discovered these alternate evolutions."
"Unless… they were discovered, but dismissed as anomalies, with no effort put into studying how or why they occurred?"
He flipped through research papers, historical records, even local folklore and old myths.
At last, buried in a dubious chronicle of legends, he found a single passage that mentioned Politoed:
'A Poliwhirl crowned with a mark upon its head emerged from a hidden valley, its form transformed. Wherever it passed, wetlands sprang to life. Because it resembled a frog, the locals worshiped it as Politoed, the bringer of rain and the ender of droughts.'
That was it. Barely two sentences. Nothing more.
Auron scoured for other references, but no further trace of Politoed appeared in domestic records. He checked foreign databases too—nothing.
With a sigh, he pushed back from his desk. It was getting late. He still needed to drag his father, who was no doubt buried in his Mega Stone research, home for the night.
The next morning, he awoke sprawled across Snorlax's soft belly as usual.
After breakfast, Snorlax and Golbat went with Ashen to the breeding house for training and lessons. Auron carefully placed Charmander's Egg, still in its incubator, into his backpack.
By his calculations, today was the day it would finally hatch. No way could he let his first Fire-type partner come into the world without him there.
He packed a bottle of Moomoo Milk and the custom-made Pokéblocks he had prepared, then set out for school.
Bidding farewell to his parents and the three Pokémon, he headed out.
As he descended the stairs, he let out a long sigh.
"Ugh, school again. So much to do, so little time."
Walking along, he tallied up the tasks still hanging over him.
First, the Pokéblocks to boost Pokémon potential. He hadn't had time to make any yet, and each batch required three to four full days of free time. With ingredients so scarce and the margin for error razor-thin, everything had to be perfectly prepared beforehand. A simple weekend wasn't nearly enough.
Then there was his father's Mega Evolution research. At the rate Ashen was working, they might not see results for years. After all, Mega Evolution wasn't as simple as handing a Pokémon a Mega Stone and leaving a Key Stone lying around.
And now there was this new matter: Gliscor with the Razor Fang, Politoed with the King's Rock, and Slowking.
He wanted to be the one to crack these evolutionary mysteries on his own. If he could publish the discoveries, he'd earn at least a doctorate's recognition. But if he did the research with his father, the credit would undoubtedly go to Ashen.
The problem was obvious: unlike his father, he didn't have the resources. Ashen could say, "Let's study Poliwhirl's alternative evolution," and immediately have a batch of test subjects delivered. Auron couldn't manage that alone.
It was a deadlock. To claim the recognition, he had to work independently. But to conduct the research at all, he needed his father.
And he couldn't exactly release findings with no evidence or process—even if, thanks to his abilities, he already knew the results.
"Haah…"
"What's this? Looking all gloomy and sighing now?"
Jace emerged from his building just in time to see his usually irrepressible friend downcast.
"Well, life's rough. Even little Auron's got things to sigh about."
Jace chuckled. "Come on, spill it. Maybe I can help."
Auron gave him a sideways look.
"Gliscor, Politoed, Slowking—ever heard of them?"
Jace blinked. The king of the Gligar line? The emperor of the Poliwhirl line? The monarch of the Slowpoke line? What nonsense was this?
Auron sighed, trudging forward again.
Jace scrambled to catch up.
"Wait, wait—what the heck are you talking about? You're not pulling my leg, are you?"
Auron muttered weakly over his shoulder,
"Think what you want."
(End of Chapter)