When Auron and Jace arrived in the classroom, they saw that Serena was already there.
"Morning," Auron mumbled weakly, lifting his hand in greeting.
Serena remembered yesterday's impulsive hug. Her cheeks warmed as she replied softly,
"Morning."
After the brief exchange, Auron dropped onto his desk, burying his head in his folded arms.
His mind was crowded with problems he couldn't solve, leaving him utterly drained.
Seeing him like this, Serena turned to Jace in confusion.
"What's wrong with him today? Why does he look like that?"
Jace scratched his head, equally puzzled.
"No idea. On the way here he was rambling about some 'king of the Gligar clan' or something. Maybe he's brooding over that."
Serena blinked. "King of the Gligar clan?? What's that supposed to mean?"
Jace shrugged. "Beats me."
Neither of them had any clue what was going on with Auron. With no answers, they returned to their seats and waited for class to start.
Two periods later, during the long break, Auron finally sorted out his thoughts. He decided to shelve the Razor Fang and Gliscor issue for now.
If he wanted to pursue that line of research, it would have to wait until after the entrance exams, when they moved to the capital.
Otherwise, if he brought it up now, Ashen would probably summon a batch of Gligar for study, and before Auron made any progress, he'd have to drag them all to the capital again.
As for crafting potential-enhancing Pokéblocks, the process was simply too time-consuming. He would need three or four uninterrupted days just to prepare the rare materials properly. It was only feasible either during the pre-exam vacation or after the exams, when he'd finally have the freedom to work without distraction.
Neither task belonged to the present. For now, he'd focus on helping his father unravel the mysteries of Mega Stones.
Once he stopped bottling up worries, his mood naturally lifted.
The four friends gathered, laughed, and chatted for a while before returning to their own classrooms.
None of them had brought their Pokémon along—each creature was at home, training hard, mastering new moves, preparing for the exams. After all, the entrance exams were no trivial matter.
So, instead of battling each other, they could only watch others' matches during the break.
By afternoon, after enduring a relentless barrage of lessons, Auron's brain refused to think about anything else.
The closer the exams drew, the more desperately the teachers crammed in last-minute knowledge.
"When will this torture ever end?" Jace groaned after lunch, sprawled across his desk in the same defeated posture Auron had worn that morning.
Auron shuffled through his next set of books and papers, saying,
"Maybe the last week will be better. They'll ease up the pressure right before the exams."
"Ugh. Now I almost can't wait for the exams," Jace muttered.
Serena chuckled quietly beside them.
"Instead of complaining, why not think about where we'll go to celebrate after the exams? Someone did promise to cover the trip, remember?"
"After we do a little local trip," she added with a hopeful gleam in her eyes, "why don't we go to the seaside? I've never been."
Auron thought it over. In truth, his last life had been rather pitiful—over twenty years spent either in school or at work.
When he was studying, he was too busy to travel. After joining the workforce, he had even less time.
"Sure, I've got no objections. But we should ask the guy paying for it, right?" He grinned, turning toward Jace.
Serena giggled as she looked at him too.
"Well? What do you say?"
Jace's expression tightened. A seaside trip? That sounded expensive.
Catching the look on his face, Auron couldn't resist teasing,
"No way, no way. Since when did the great Young Master Jace get stingy? That's not like you."
"I'm not stingy!" Jace shot back. "I was just thinking about other stuff. Besides, we made enough selling loot from that secret realm trip to afford the seaside several times over. Why would I care?"
Auron and Serena burst out laughing.
"Alright then, it's settled. You'd better treat us more than once!"
Jace smirked wickedly.
"Pfft. Once is enough. Money doesn't grow on trees, you know. If you want more trips, keep dreaming."
Ding-ling-ling—
Before Auron could cook up another scheme to wring more out of him, the class bell rang. The teacher walked in right on cue.
"Alright, everyone," the teacher said briskly. "Let's review some key exam points. First…"
Thus began another riveting history lecture.
Halfway through, just as Auron was musing whether Lü Bu's Red Hare horse or Hua Xiong would win in a fight, he felt a strange stirring from inside his backpack.
He froze. At the same time, Jace turned, equally stunned, his gaze locked on Auron.
They both lunged for their bags, opening them in a hurry.
Sure enough—the incubators inside were trembling violently.
Moving in perfect sync, the two pulled them out and set them on their desks.
Their commotion instantly drew every eye in the classroom.
"Everyone stay seated!"
The middle-aged female teacher snapped sharply. The students, craning their necks to see, immediately shrank back under her fierce glare, cowed by the aura of authority radiating from her.
"You two—what's going on?" she asked, her tone clipped.
"Teacher," Auron said, voice brimming with excitement, "our Pokémon are about to hatch."
His words detonated like a bomb. The classroom's atmosphere ignited, students whispering and squirming, struggling to keep still.
The teacher's expression darkened. Her presence surged again, sleeves and hair lifting though no wind stirred.
"I said—sit. Down."
The class fell silent at once.
In that heavy hush, the only sound was the faint crack, crack of eggshells breaking on Auron and Jace's desks.
They didn't make their classmates wait long. Within moments, the eggs split wide, and two newborn Pokémon emerged.
The entire room went dead silent again.
"…"
Then, with a soft cry, the two hatchlings leapt forward, each one tumbling straight into the arms of Auron and Jace.
Gasps exploded.
"Wh—what the hell? That's… Charmander?!"
"Wait—shiny Charmanders?! BOTH of them?!"
"Two shiny Charmanders! Holy crap!"
"Holy—!"
Even the teacher, usually so composed, let slip an unfiltered curse of shock. Her class had just witnessed the hatching of not one but two shiny Charmanders.
She quickly slapped a hand over her mouth, remembering her role, but none of the students cared. The classroom had erupted in chaos.
Auron and Jace's hearts pounded as wildly as anyone's, but they forced themselves to focus. Hastily, they fished out bottles of Moomoo Milk to feed the newborns.
Pokémon: Charmander ★
Gender: Male
Type: Fire
Ability: Solar Power (In harsh sunlight, Special Attack is boosted by 1.5×, but HP is drained each turn.)
Potential: Gold
Moves: Growl, Scratch
Egg Moves: Metal Claw, Belly Drum, Counter, Dragon Rush, Dragon Tail
Auron stared at the data that flashed before his eyes, muttering under his breath,
"You've got to be kidding me. What is this, some kind of game system? Why is the shiny marker a star?"
At first, he hadn't thought much of the "★" symbol. He assumed it meant the egg had come from the secret realm's ruler, hence the special mark.
Never in his wildest dreams had he expected it to mean shiny.
(End of Chapter)