Chapter 361: Shut-In Delphox, Reporting In!

The video continued playing.

Aurelia stepped forward and explained why they had come.

"Solgaleo and Lunala gave us two special Pokémon Eggs."

"We’d like to know what Pokémon they contain and how we’re supposed to hatch them."

Professor Sycamore rubbed his chin.

"Solgaleo and Lunala..."

"Alolan mythology, huh..."

"I’m admittedly not very familiar with that field."

"But you’re in luck."

"Professor Kukui has been doing research here recently. He’s in the laboratory out back."

"Come with me."

The three followed Professor Sycamore down the corridor and through the door to the rear laboratory.

Every light in the room was on.

At least forty stacks of documents covered the tables.

And sprawled face-down across the stack in the middle was a man in a white lab coat.

His hair looked like a bird’s nest.

His face was completely buried in the paperwork, leaving only the back of his head visible.

Selene walked over.

She extended one finger and poked Professor Kukui in the back.

"Is this uncle still alive?"

"We were organizing data together until four in the morning."

Professor Sycamore yawned, clearly having gotten very little sleep himself.

"He said he wanted to wait for an experiment result."

"The result still hasn’t come out, but he fell asleep first."

After saying that, Professor Sycamore walked over and patted Kukui’s shoulder.

"Professor Kukui."

"Some Trainers brought in two unusual Pokémon Eggs."

"Apparently, they were gifts from Solgaleo and Lunala."

Kukui’s face remained buried in the documents.

He mumbled sleepily:

"Solga-what...?"

"Luna-what...?"

Professor Sycamore repeated himself.

"Solgaleo and Lunala."

"Oh, Solgale—"

Professor Kukui shot upright.

His chair flew backward and crashed straight into the wall.

"WAIT!"

"SOLGALEO AND LUNALA?!"

The thunderous crash startled Selene so badly that she immediately ducked behind Aurelia.

"Big Sis!"

"That uncle just came back from the dead!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry!"

Professor Kukui scratched the back of his messy head.

"Did I scare you?"

"Are you the ones who brought the Pokémon Eggs given to you by Solgaleo and Lunala?"

"Yes."

Aurelia nodded.

Then she placed the gold-patterned Egg and silver-patterned Egg side by side on the laboratory table.

Professor Kukui and Professor Sycamore leaned in almost simultaneously.

Their noses nearly collided.

"Oh..."

"I think I’ve actually seen patterns like these on some ancient stone walls."

Professor Kukui pulled out a magnifying glass and examined the shells for a long while.

"But as for the actual species inside these Eggs..."

"It’s too early to make any conclusions."

Professor Sycamore leaned closer and listened for several seconds.

"Mm."

"The internal energy field is stable, but the frequency is extremely unusual."

"I’ll need to check some references."

"Please give us a little time."

"Of course."

Aurelia nodded.

"Thank you for your help, Professors."

Selene immediately leaned over.

"Professors, the Sun-Moon Group can provide the most advanced research equipment available!"

"Invest now and we’ll even throw in two lifetime memberships to Cosmic Park!"

"Selene."

Aurelia grabbed her sister by the collar again.

Professor Sycamore smiled and waved his hands.

"No need, no need."

"Our institute’s equipment is more than sufficient."

"While we’re working, why don’t you take a look around the institute?"

"Sophie, could you show our guests around?"

"Of course, Professor."

A young female assistant wearing glasses poked half her head through the doorway and waved toward the three of them.

"Guests, please follow me."

The three left the laboratory with Assistant Sophie and headed deeper into the institute.

As they walked, Sophie introduced the various areas.

"This side is the Pokémon living area."

"Over there is the data-monitoring room."

"Farther inside are the incubation room and nursery."

"We currently have more than twenty Pokémon at the institute."

"Most of them are intended to become first partners for new Trainers."

Selene’s eyes immediately lit up.

"More than twenty?"

"Do you have any that are especially good-looking, photogenic, and perfect for becoming promotional Pokémon?"

Aurelia placed one hand against the back of Selene’s head and gave Sophie a small nod.

"Sorry."

"Please ignore her."

The three continued onward.

But as they passed the Pokémon living area a strange laugh suddenly came from inside.

"Fwo-ho~" (Hehehe... This villain actually wants to fight the protagonist head-on? Doesn’t he know the protagonist has cheats? How pitiful. How pitiful...)

Aurelia and Selene stopped at exactly the same time.

Selene slowly turned toward her sister.

"Big Sis."

"You heard that too, right?"

"Mm."

The moment Aurelia nodded—

Selene decisively pressed herself against the glass window and peered inside.

"Whoa!"

"There are so many little guys!"

"Huh?"

"What’s that red fox doing?"

Assistant Sophie followed Selene’s gaze.

An extraordinarily complicated expression appeared on her face.

"Ah..."

"That’s Delphox."

"It was originally supposed to become a first partner for a new Trainer."

"But because of certain... special circumstances..."

"It has now become our institute’s..."

"Veteran shut-in."

"Shut-in?"

Selene’s eyes lit up.

Sophie led the three of them inside.

The Pokémon living area was warm and comfortable, filled with all kinds of Pokémon snacks, toys, and training equipment.

Only the corner surrounding one particular sofa looked completely out of place with the rest of the institute.

Delphox lay sideways across the sofa.

One hand supported its head.

The other held up a light novel.

Its tail hung lazily over the edge.

At least twenty more light novels were stacked across the coffee table in front of it.

Their covers all bore titles like:

Reincarnated as Ho-Oh, and Now I’m Invincible

Please, My Champion!

Pokémon Adventures in Another World

Selene leaned closer and glanced at the book in Delphox’s hands.

My Cold and Aloof Trainer Would Never Choose a Useless Shut-In Like Me

"...What even are these titles?"

Delphox simply rolled over and turned its back to her without raising its head.

"It’s been like this for several years now."

Assistant Sophie sighed.

"Whenever new Trainers came to choose their first Pokémon, Delphox wouldn’t even look at them."

"It would stare at its light novels the entire time."

"Professor Sycamore said that forcing a Pokémon to do something it doesn’t want to do will only make it resist even more."

"So we decided to let it stay here until it eventually figured things out for itself."

"And then it just completely gave up on life?"

Selene crouched beside the sofa and studied the shut-in fox from close range.

[VIP Chat Group]

[May]: My Cold and Aloof Trainer Would Never Choose a Useless Shut-In Like Me... Why do I actually kind of want to read that?

[Dawn]: I think I remember Please, My Champion! I was waiting for food at a Pokémon Center in Hoenn once and randomly picked it up from the bookshelf beside me. I only read a few pages, but I think the story was—an ordinary Trainer accidentally rescues an injured Champion. Then the Champion moves into her house to repay the favor, and eventually the two of them fall in love.

[Johanna]: Dawn. You’re already married. You should read fewer things like that.

[Dawn]: Mom, I don’t normally read those... I just happened to flip through it that one time.

[Johanna]: You just recited that entire premise without missing so much as a punctuation mark.

[Dawn]: ...

[Viola]: So this Delphox got addicted to light novels and completely stopped wanting to leave the house?

[Valerie]: I can sort of understand it. Curling up on the sofa every day, reading novels, never having to go outside or socialize... that does sound rather comfortable.

[Iris]: I used to love these kinds of light novels too! There were tons at the old bookstall near my house. Reincarnated as Magikarp, Yet I’m Still Invincible, Groudon Doesn’t Want to Fly, After My Trainer Abandoned Me, I Chose to Become Strong Alone

...

[Fantina]: Are light novels all like this nowadays? Back when I was following The Art of Becoming a Contest Master, it was still a perfectly serious instructional guide.

[Ash]: What are you guys talking about? You keep saying things like "becoming stronger" and "invincible." Are these books some kind of secret training manuals?

[Pikachu]: Pika... (Facepalm.)

[Brock]: ...Ash. It’s better not to force yourself into circles you don’t understand.