Jace's outstretched hand froze, then grabbed at empty air a couple times.
"Where's my super-sized Auron? He was just here a second ago!"
While Jace stood in a daze, the audience who'd seen Auron disappear through the big screen also erupted in an uproar, standing up one after another to look toward the stage.
How could such a large person suddenly vanish in front of everyone? What was going on?
"Why does this seem familiar somehow?" On the main platform, Dax stroked his chin and muttered, completely ignoring the old chancellor beside him who'd suddenly stood up and then nearly blacked out.
"Little Ze!"
Liu Xiangjun was also shocked. Her grandson had just won first place—she hadn't even had time to feel proud yet—and suddenly, her grandson had disappeared?
After her initial shock, Liu Xiangjun immediately pulled out her phone and called Ashen. Though she'd always been the one making decisions at home, in emergencies she still instinctively relied on Ashen.
"Pick up the phone!"
Liu Xiangjun anxiously stared at the stage while stomping her feet, waiting impatiently for Ashen to answer.
On the other side, in the small storage room at Ashen's house—
"Uh, son, your mom's calling. What do we do?" Ashen looked at his phone with an awkward expression. Don't tell me Little Ze told his grandmother about Lu Zhengjie?
"Tsk~ Wait a moment. Let me find the family tree first—otherwise it'll be hard to explain."
Dad also had a headache. What you fear comes to pass. Right now, both of them were most afraid of Liu Xiangjun and Mom finding out. If they couldn't explain clearly and were thought to have illegitimate sons, that would be a disaster.
"You dead man! Still not answering the phone!"
Liu Xiangjun was about to explode with anger. She was already anxious, and Ashen still wasn't answering his phone.
With no other choice, Liu Xiangjun had to call Dad instead.
"Tsk, where exactly have I seen this before?" Dax was still pondering. He'd definitely seen Auron's disappearing act before—why couldn't he remember?
After recovering a bit, the old chancellor's blood flow to his brain finally returned to normal. He hurriedly prepared to go on stage to see why Auron had suddenly disappeared.
"Uh, Dad, Mom's calling me. Should I answer?" Dad also looked at the incoming call display on his phone with a headache.
"Don't answer yet. Quickly find the family tree first. Dammit, where did I put it?" Ashen rapidly searched through his small storage room, so anxious that sweat kept dripping from his forehead.
"What are you standing there for? Help me look!"
"Oh, oh."
Only then did Dad react. He looked at his phone, steeled his heart, then put it on silent and set it on the table before joining Ashen in searching through the storage room.
"Where's Auron? How did he suddenly disappear?"
After coming off the field, Jace looked at Serena's anxious expression and helplessly spread his hands. "How should I know? Suddenly a circle appeared under his feet, then he fell in, and the circle disappeared too."
"Ahhhhh!" Serena clutched her head in frustration. "What circle? Where did he fall to?"
"Could Master have been taken by some Psychic-type Pokémon?"
"Impossible." Su Tingxi pointed at the protective barrier over the battle field. "That has Dark-type energy. Psychic-type Pokémon's psychic powers can't get through that energy barrier at all."
"Then how did Master disappear?"
"How should I know?!" Su Tingxi couldn't explain it either. A perfectly fine person just disappeared—how was he supposed to explain that?
"Don't worry. Your master's the type who can thrive anywhere." Jace patted Fugui's shoulder consolingly. He'd always had some inexplicable confidence in Auron.
After hearing Jace's consolation, everyone didn't feel reassured—they felt even more worried.
But in this situation, worrying seemed useless. Without knowing the circumstances, there was nothing they could do.
On the competition stage, the old chancellor stubbornly stomped his foot where Auron had disappeared, but nothing came up. Everything remained the same as before.
"Uh, Chancellor, what are you doing? Dancing?"
Hearing the voice beside him, the old chancellor turned to look and erupted in anger. "You little punk, you finally decided to come back? School started almost two weeks ago—where have you been?"
Li Shuqing awkwardly rubbed his head, his sky-blue eyes showing a trace of helplessness.
"Uh, what if I said I accidentally entered a secret realm again? Would you believe me?"
"Like hell I'd believe you!"
The old chancellor roared. This Li Shuqing had also been specially recruited by him. If not for that reason, someone who showed up almost two weeks after school started would have been expelled long ago.
"Forget it, forget it. Your timing is perfect—where's Gardevoir? Have her come out and try something." The old chancellor waved his hand, no longer pursuing the matter. Right now, Auron's situation was more important.
"Gardevoir? Try what?" Li Shuqing looked at the old chancellor puzzled, while the Poké Ball containing Gardevoir in his hand directly opened.
"Have Gardevoir teleport you outside the field." The old chancellor raised his hand and pointed to the ground outside the battle arena.
Li Shuqing looked up at the energy barrier overhead, then at Gardevoir who was pressed against him, slightly shy. The corner of his mouth twitched.
"Chancellor, aren't you making things difficult for me? That Dark-type energy is so obvious—I'm not blind. How am I supposed to get out?"
The old chancellor's expression froze. He pointed at the ground again. "What about going underground?"
Li Shuqing sighed helplessly. "You set up the energy barrier yourself—don't you know? There's Dark-type energy underground too."
"Just as I thought..." The old chancellor felt slightly dejected. "Then why would a hole appear out of nowhere here, and then a student disappeared?"
Hearing this, Li Shuqing immediately perked up. "Ha! Don't tell me that student is like me—just walking along and fell into a secret realm?"
"Get lost! You think I can't tell the difference between a Pokémon secret realm entrance?" The old chancellor glanced sideways at Li Shuqing, then turned and walked outside. "Follow me."
"Ah, yes sir!"
The entire venue had now fallen into uproar due to the sudden disappearance of champion Auron.
But it had to be said—Skyspire's security weren't slacking off. They quickly stabilized the situation, then evacuated the audience in an orderly fashion.
"What are these two doing? Neither of them is answering their phones?!" Liu Xiangjun was about to explode with fury. She was so angry she wanted to smash her phone, but neither Ashen nor Dad was answering her calls.
"Hoo~ Don't be angry, don't be angry. Think of another way." After taking two deep breaths, Liu Xiangjun tried her best to calm her emotions before continuing to search for people.
Meanwhile, aside from being startled by the sudden weightlessness, Auron didn't feel much else.
After quickly passing through a pitch-black passage, seeing the circle of light appearing ahead, Auron felt the Poké Balls in his pocket and the backpack on his back before jumping directly out of the circle.
"Tini~"
"Yo, Victini—long time no see~"