"Leafeon, I'll hang yours up too."
As he spoke, Chen Shi took out another string, carefully tied up Shaymin's flower, and hung it around Leafeon's neck.
"Lea~feon!"
Leafeon looked extremely satisfied. She shot Chen Shi a look that clearly said you know what you're doing, then strutted forward a couple of steps with her head held high.
Chen Shi's face darkened slightly, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he reached into his backpack again and took out another box, handing it to Swampert.
"This one's for you. You're always the one on the front lines—dirty work, hard fights, you do the most. You've worked hard."
"La~pert…"
Swampert had originally planned to just accept it and move on, but after hearing those words, he suddenly became a bit shy, scratching the back of his head with a simple, honest grin.
"Take it," Chen Shi said with a smile, patting his arm. "You've earned it."
"La~pert!"
Swampert nodded firmly, happily took the box, opened it, and grasped the Millennium Geode Stone inside his hand.
Then Chen Shi turned to Dragapult.
"There's also a high-grade secret-realm core fragment. I'll give that to you once we're back home."
Dragapult froze for a moment, then his long eyes widened slightly.
"Dra~pult?"
"Of course you get one. You contributed a lot this time—this is your reward."
"Dra~pult~!"
Dragapult nodded excitedly. Who wouldn't like good stuff?
He'd originally thought there wouldn't be anything left for him—after all, he'd already used so many resources before, including an extremely precious Dragon Fang.
But things took a sudden turn.
As expected, I'm still the Trainer's favorite dragon.
After that, Chen Shi explained to Florges, Charizard, and Metagross:
"You've already each received a legendary-grade resource before, and this time there were only four, so I didn't prepare anything new for you."
He was naturally referring to Xerneas' horn fragment, Moltres' tail feather, and Registeel's body shard.
All three Pokémon knew this already and showed no dissatisfaction. They had indeed received their share earlier, so there was nothing to complain about.
"Alright, eat up. Tomorrow we're going home—and you'll get to eat Combee honey again."
With that, Chen Shi plopped down on the bed, his thoughts drifting to a certain black-hearted cat.
"I wonder how Mew's doing… It disappeared not long after the World Tournament started."
"Left without even saying goodbye."
Thinking of Mew, Chen Shi couldn't help grumbling.
Nearby, Togekiss let out a small snort when she heard that name.
That black-hearted cat had better never come back—otherwise it would just steal her ice cream again.
Just as she happily prepared to continue eating her energy blocks, a voice suddenly sounded beside her.
"Meew~"
(I feel like you're thinking something very rude.)
Togekiss froze and hurriedly turned her head.
Floating beside her was a pink, long-tailed little cat Pokémon.
"To… toge-kiss…"
When she saw it, Togekiss forced a smile that looked more like crying than smiling.
Why did this black-hearted cat have to be so sensitive? It showed up the moment someone mentioned it.
Chen Shi, sitting on the bed, also noticed Mew and immediately frowned.
"Where did you disappear to these past few days? You didn't even leave a message."
Mew acted as if it hadn't heard him. With a flick of its tail, it floated over, curiously examining Victini's egg.
"Meew~"
(It's little V.)
"You know Victini?" Chen Shi asked in surprise.
Mew shook its head.
[Not this one. I know a different Victini.]
That answer didn't really surprise Chen Shi.
Many Mythical and Legendary Pokémon had groups or counterparts—Celebi, the Legendary Birds, the Legendary Beasts, even Lugia.
Their numbers were small, but they weren't unique.
So it made sense that there was more than one Victini.
Then Mew's voice echoed directly in Chen Shi's mind.
[It needs to absorb victory energy to hatch. Otherwise, it will never hatch and will remain an egg forever.]
"Victory energy?" Chen Shi raised an eyebrow, confused.
He'd never heard of something like that before.
But after thinking about it for a moment, he understood.
What Mew meant by victory energy was likely the special energy produced when a Trainer won battles.
And that special energy was the key to hatching Victini.
Realizing this, Chen Shi felt a wave of relief.
Thank goodness Mew had told him—otherwise, he would've tried to hatch it using normal methods.
If that had happened, Victini might have stayed an egg forever.
"Thank you for telling me this, Mew."
Chen Shi thanked it sincerely.
Mew tilted its head, stared at him for a moment, and then its eyes suddenly lit up with excitement.
[Your psychic power has grown much stronger.]
Chen Shi froze for a second, then thought of the final match—his psychic outburst, and Dragapult's bond evolution.
His psychic ability had improved… but only from moving one cup to moving two.
Was that really such a big deal to Mew?
Seeing his confusion, Chen Shi asked, "My psychic power increased—why do you look so happy?"
[Of course I'm happy. If something unexpected happens in the future, your chances of saving others will be much higher.]
Mew spun in the air, clearly in a good mood, and even explained a bit.
"I see…"
Chen Shi suddenly understood.
Wasn't that exactly why Mew had chosen him in the first place—because of this special psychic trait?
"But my psychic power didn't increase by much, did it?" Chen Shi said hesitantly.
"I don't really feel that big of a difference."
"Meew~"
Mew transformed into an Eevee, hopped onto his shoulder, and explained:
[What increased wasn't raw power—it was your heart. The nature of your mind. The strength of your spirit.]
It stopped there.
Chen Shi's mouth twitched.
That's it?
You couldn't explain a bit more?
What exactly is "the nature of the heart"? How did it increase? What does it actually do?
Before he could press further, Mew spoke again.
[Hey, kid—get me something tasty. And I want a full-body massage.]
Chen Shi: "..."
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