"Yo, Auron, back from school? What's got everyone crowded around?"
Ashen Vale stepped out just then, having just finished a round of data tests on the interaction between a Pokémon and a Mega Stone. He stretched as he came out and found a whole circle of Pokémon gathered around Auron as if they were watching something.
The moment Gengar saw Ashen appear, it panicked—then hurried to a spot out of Ashen's line of sight and gave Auron a pitiful little look.
Auron understood at once. He smiled and rubbed Gengar's head.
"Relax. I'm not ratting you out."
"Geh~"
Gengar squinted happily, then—copying Kommo-o's habit—gently scooped up Charmander with both hands.
It tiptoed over to Ashen like it was carrying a priceless treasure and lifted Charmander up for him to see. In Gengar's hands, Charmander kept giggling; the gentle bounce of Gengar's jog had him delighted.
"Charmander? The lord of the Mystic Realm's Pokémon Egg hatched? And it's a Shiny?"
Ashen pushed up the glasses on his nose for a better look at the little lizard.
"Auron, that's some luck you've got. Your old man's been at this for years and still hasn't had a Shiny of his own."
Auron came over as well and handed Gengar a bottle of Moomoo Milk. Gengar, quick on the uptake, took the bottle and, like a nervous babysitter, began feeding Charmander.
Watching Gengar's clumsy technique, Auron couldn't help but laugh.
"Suiyan's egg hatched alongside mine—and that one's a Shiny, too."
"Dad, do you think Shiny Pokémon are already Shiny while they're still in the mother's belly? Or are they normal until they're born? Or maybe they only turn Shiny as they break out of the shell?"
Ashen didn't answer. Auron glanced at him curiously and realized Ashen was staring off at Gengar, lost in thought. Auron waved a hand in front of his eyes twice.
"Dad?"
Ashen blinked back to the present and looked at him.
"Mm? What is it, Auron?"
"Nothing. You just zoned out for a second."
"Zoned out… huh."
What had snagged Ashen's mind was the way Gengar's hands trembled and its eyes tightened with nervous focus while feeding Charmander that Moomoo Milk. It pulled him straight back to the day Jangmo-o had just been born.
Back then, smack in the middle of his rebellious phase, he'd heard Auron's grandfather say he hadn't prepared a starter for him and that he'd have to pick one himself. Furious, he'd blown up at Grandpa Ashford—then stormed off to a Pokémon supply shop determined to choose a powerful partner and prove himself.
Because at the time, he'd decided the only reason Grandpa Ashford hadn't prepared him a starter was because he didn't believe in him—that after moving out, Ashen wouldn't have the means to raise his own Pokémon. So of course the old man hadn't prepared anything.
Even after the store clerk guided him to select an Egg and he hatched Jangmo-o, he still refused to rely on his family to raise his Pokémon.
He chose to earn his own money. First, he used the red-envelope cash he'd saved over the years to camp outside a Pokémon Mystic Realm. He'd buy materials brought out by people exiting the realm, then resell them at school. The high school he attended was full of rich kids and the well-connected, so he made a decent pile off that alone.
Later, a cousin mentioned that he'd put together a C-grade Pokéblock recipe and had made a tidy profit. That planted a seed.
Ashen took part of the profit from flipping Pokémon items, bought a mountain of Berries, and went to Grandpa Ashford's research institute.
He consulted a professor specializing in Berry studies. After a period of learning—and after failing so many times he was almost out of money—he finally managed to improve a B-grade Pokéblock formula.
That sent him strutting. Every time he ate with Grandpa Ashford, he'd brag. Grandpa didn't complain; he just listened quietly while Ashen preened.
Until, about half a month before the college entrance exams, one chance early morning, Ashen overheard Grandpa Ashford talking with Grandma. Only then did he learn that, back when he'd been told to choose his own Pokémon Egg, the batch he'd gone to pick from had already been pre-selected by Grandpa Ashford.
They were basically all high-potential Eggs—some even for pseudo-legendary lines. Grandpa had calculated precisely when Ashen would show up and had someone guide him to that particular room to "choose."
Later, he learned that the folks selling him items outside the Mystic Realm also mostly knew who he was. They recognized him as Ashford Vale's son—and that was why they'd chosen to deal with him at all.
Otherwise, those regulars who frequented Mystic Realms already had their own go-to merchants. Why would they bother trading with some random kid?
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In the end, even the person he'd consulted about improving Pokéblocks was a close friend of Grandpa Ashford's. Without being Ashford Vale's son, Ashen might not have even been allowed into the institute to ask those researchers questions. And the B-grade Pokéblock formula he "improved" had been deliberately set aside for him by Ashford in the first place—otherwise, where would he have gotten a proper base recipe to tinker with?
Standing on the stairs that morning, Ashen had felt… a little heartsore, and something else he couldn't quite name.
He'd quietly gone back to his room and shut himself in. He didn't come out again until evening. When he did, he still wore that confident smile—only his eyes were a little puffy.
That was the experience that ended his rebellious phase. He stopped thinking the sky was big and he was second only to it. He truly settled down—raising his Pokémon seriously and studying in earnest.
What he didn't know then was that Grandpa Ashford had wanted him to hear that conversation.
The reason was simple: with the college entrance exams looming, Ashen had grown more and more full of himself. Ashford worried that arrogance would cause him to stumble, so he decided to puncture him a little.
The moment Ashen stepped out the door that morning, Ashford sensed him with Aura. Then he timed his conversation with Grandma to fall within earshot—speaking for Ashen's ears.
Ashen would later suspect that even that "chance" early wake-up had been Grandpa's doing.
Ashford had been waking up early those days anyway, but Ashen's schedule was too regular—he never woke early. Straightforwardly scheduling a chat with Grandma right at Ashen's wake time would have been too contrived; it had to seem natural.
So, that morning, Ashford had quietly brushed Ashen's Aura with his own—nudging him awake without leaving a trace.
Everything after that was simple. Ashen calmed down, prepped for the exams seriously, and earned his admission to Shangqing University.
…
Ashen rubbed Auron's hair and sighed.
"It's nothing. I was just remembering when Kommo-o was born. I was just like Gengar—feeding Jangmo-o Moomoo Milk so carefully I barely dared to breathe."
"Hard to believe, right? Blink of an eye and that tiny Jangmo-o's grown this big."
Auron smoothed his own bangs and picked up the thread.
"Yeah, it's been years. How come he still hasn't found himself a mate? I've been craving little Jangmo-o babies forever."
Kommo-o had been heading over the moment he noticed Ashen looking his way. He'd lifted a foot to stride closer—only to hear Auron bring up, yet again, the fact that he didn't have a partner. That did it. He was livid.
He didn't go to Ashen after all—he spun on his heel and stomped toward the waterfall out back. He was going to find Lucario for some comfort.
Watching Kommo-o huff away in a temper, Ashen couldn't keep a straight face.
"Who knows? The ones who joined earliest never found partners, and somehow it's the later recruits who already have kids."
Gengar's hands froze for a second as he fed Charmander, but he couldn't bolt like Kommo-o—he was still on baby-feeding duty. He had no choice but to pretend he hadn't heard a thing.
…
(End of Chapter)