Auron Vale picked up another sweet Poffin. Just as he reached to reclaim the sweet-and-spicy Poffin from Victini's hands, the little Pokémon cocked its hips, hid the round cake behind its back, and widened its innocent eyes at him.
Auron couldn't help laughing. "Alright~ fine. You can have both."
Victini's eyes curved with delight as it accepted the sweet Poffin from Auron.
Then it went right back to the sweet-and-spicy one—take a bite of Poffin, then slurp milk with a little "huff-hah, huff-hah." It was like those extra-spicy instant noodles: hot enough to sting, yet a sweetness rolled back in after, the kind that only made you want more.
In no time, Victini polished off the entire sweet-and-spicy Poffin and took another pull of the milk.
But the bottle was empty. Victini sucked at the straw for a moment, realized nothing more was coming, and found its mouth still burning.
No helping it—time to beg Auron.
Perched on Auron's shoulder with its little face flushed red, Victini bounced in place, "huff-hah, huff-hah."
Auron burst out laughing. "Okay~ hold on. I'll grab you another one."
He popped open another bottle of milk in front of him, stuck in a straw, and held it up to Victini. If someone had snapped a photo at that moment, the scene would have been perfect.
Auron turned his head slightly, his fine profile caught in the light, holding the milk bottle at his shoulder with one hand, smiling warmly at Victini as it drank. Victini clutched a pink sweet Poffin in one hand and craned its neck to catch the straw between its lips, sipping milk in little mouthfuls.
Ahead of them, Simon Greaves, Lena Greaves, and Serena Elm watched with amused smiles while Tim Wynn and Jace Rowan bickered endlessly over some trivial point.
Beside them, Milotic and Dragonair ate in serene silence; noise couldn't touch the elegance of those two Pokémon.
A cluster of Pokémon had gathered noisily around the looming bulk of Snorlax. Snorlax, unfazed, squinted at the crowding little ones and happily stuffed its face, its expression uncannily similar to Victini's when it ate.
After a few big gulps of milk, Victini finally recovered.
It patted its chest with both hands in relief, then lifted the other round Poffin, took a bite, and smiled in deep satisfaction.
Slowly, Victini seemed to decide Auron really was a good person. Its guard dropped around him; it happily ate the Poffins he handed over.
Auron moved Victini's spot, setting it on a box placed atop the picnic blanket in front of him.
Victini didn't mind the change of dining location at all; it kept right on happily munching Poffins.
When Auron shifted it, though, Snorlax did glance over at Victini once—but quickly turned back to its own food.
After passing one more Poffin to Victini, Auron suddenly remembered he hadn't checked Victini's information yet.
Pokémon: Victini
Sex: —
Type: Psychic, Fire
Ability: Victory Star (Raises the accuracy of all allied Pokémon on the field by 10%. Victini can also infuse a target with Victory Star's energy to boost the target's stats.)
Potential: Gold
Base Moves: V-create, Quick Attack, Flame Charge, Confusion, Work Up, Focus Energy, Incinerate, Stored Power, Headbutt, Endure, Zen Headbutt, Inferno, Reversal, Searing Shot, Double-Edge, Flare Blitz, Overheat, Final Gambit…
Egg Moves: —
A flicker of doubt passed through Auron's eyes.
Victory Star? In the games, Victory Star only raises allies' accuracy—that's all it says. The latter part must be from the anime's setting, right?
He smiled and rubbed Victini's ears.
Whatever. The system says so; maybe his earlier assumptions were wrong. The real world wasn't just governed by the games—there could be anime rules mixed in, and maybe even manga rules to discover later.
No one knew for sure, and there was no point overthinking it now.
After finishing another Poffin, Victini wiggled happily, then bent over and pulled out yet another one from the box beneath it.
"Auron, what are you doing? Why are you grinning at that box like an idiot?"
Jace and Tim's argument had paused for the moment, and everyone's gaze followed Jace's words over to Auron.
Auron blinked. "Huh? You guys can't see it?"
Tim glanced around in confusion. Suddenly, as if a thought struck him, he shivered and blurted at Auron with a look of horror, "Auron, don't you dare scare me. I just finished a horror novel—I can't handle jump scares right now."
Tim's words put everyone on edge. Serena Elm even took two small steps back and crouched behind Lena Greaves.
Auron, a little exasperated, looked from Victini—sitting on the box and eating—to his friends' puzzled faces.
When he realized they really couldn't see it, Auron was puzzled too.
"Victini can turn invisible, sure. Them not seeing it must be because of that. But why can I see it? Is it my Aura? Although… I remember Snorlax glanced this way as well. Can Snorlax awaken Aura too?"
He turned his gaze to Snorlax. "Snorlax, can you see the Pokémon on the box?"
Snorlax shook its head. It couldn't see the Pokémon on the box, but instinctively felt that something should be there—that the space shouldn't be empty.
At the phrase "a Pokémon is on the box," everyone exhaled at once.
As long as it wasn't a real ghost, they were fine. If it was a Ghost-type Pokémon, well, they had two Ghost-type Trainers here.
"But… my… my Haunter just told me there's nothing there. No Pokémon at all."
Simon Greaves's quiet words ratcheted the tension right back up.
"This Pokémon should be invisible. Crobat, can you sense it?"
At Auron's prompt, everyone eased a little and all turned to look at Crobat.
Crobat parted its jaws and released a wave of ultrasonic sound.
A moment later, based on the returning echoes, Crobat gave the group a gentle nod: there was indeed a Pokémon there.
Only then did everyone truly relax. Tim, still curious, asked, "So why can't we see it, but you can?"
"It's a long story—not worth getting into. Once we're back on the bus, I'll have Jace explain."
"Then… can I see what it is?" Serena Elm poked her head out from behind Lena Greaves, asking with cautious hope.
"I need to ask if it's okay with him. If he doesn't agree, I can't force it."
Auron spread his hands to the group.
Their interest spiked. They shifted around to circle the box in front of Auron.
Victini had never seen anything like this. It was so startled that its Poffin almost slipped from its grasp.
At the last second it caught the Poffin, then readied itself to take off—flee this encirclement and get back to its safe little nest.
Seeing that, Auron quickly reached out a hand to block its path.
Victini tensed immediately, but because of the trust it had just built with Auron, it still hesitated and looked at him, uncertain.
Auron sighed at how the little guy had edged away.
He offered his palm as a perch and spoke helplessly to the others. "You're all too eager—you scared the little one."
Victini glanced at everyone upon hearing that, then slowly drifted onto Auron's palm.
Standing there, it planted one hand on its hip and pointed its Poffin at Auron with the other. Its tiny mouth opened and closed as if making a complaint; if you looked closely, there was a touch of grievance and fear on its face.
Auron couldn't understand the words, but he understood the meaning. He lowered his voice to soothe it.
"It's okay, it's okay. They're my friends. Nobody means you any harm—they just want to see you. Would you be willing to let them look? Don't worry—everything will go the way you want. No one will force you."
Victini listened, then turned to face the group's expectant faces.
(End of chapter)