Pokémon: I picked up a reborn Eevee at the start of the game.

Xia Chen wasn't a stingy person. He opened the pot lid, ladled a small bowl of tenderly stewed beef brisket with tomatoes into a bowl, and shared it with his future neighbors.

The fireflies drew a peculiar pattern in the air with their fireflies, as if to express their gratitude, before swarming towards it like moths to a flame.

A bowl full of tomato beef brisket, enough to feed a small to medium-sized elf, was devoured in an instant.

The wild elves were not simple-minded. Seeing that Xia Chen had no intention of serving them another bowl, the electric fireflies immediately dusted themselves off and flew back to the flower field to continue their great breeding business.

Only one Sweetfire, unburdened by lust, remained, watching the elves frolicking in the camp with curiosity, seemingly quite interested in these uninvited guests.

Sai Fuhao is an enthusiastic guy who is very keen on making new friends.

Under the charm of its sunny and cheerful smile, Sweet Firefly surprisingly started chatting with this elf from outside the archipelago.

Where are you from?

The first of the three philosophical questions is: Which province are you from?

This is a very philosophical question. Doronchi comes from Dragon Island, Saifuho's hometown is Padia, and Zoroark comes from Carlos. They all come from different places.

If we really want to delve deeper, the best answer seems to be "born of a mother".

However, the elves lacked wisdom and did not expect this answer that struck at the depths of their souls. They simply replied, "Zhijiang, we come from Zhijiang, east of Yunze Lake."

This principle is similar to the saying "marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog." If the trainer is from Zhijiang, then naturally the animals are from Zhijiang too.

"Oh--"

Sweet Firefly let out a long "Oh," and then said, "Never heard of it."

Although they are spirits with extraordinary powers, their understanding is limited by factors such as time and geography.

From this perspective, it's not without reason that humans, who allocated all their skill points to technology, were able to become the masters of this world.

…………

Although she knew nothing about the river that the fairy had mentioned, Sweet Hotaru still kindly reminded her new friends.

"You'd better leave first thing tomorrow morning, the circly bears here really don't like humans."

Doronchi nodded in agreement. He was the only Pokémon who had participated in the conflict during the day and felt the impact of it deeply.

Xianbu then pressed on, "Do you know why?"

Being indifferent to humans and hating humans are two different things; something must have happened to cause this change.

Sweet Firefly cautiously looked around, as if worried that someone might be listening. After finding nothing unusual, she approached Fairyclops and whispered, "I heard it from someone else, but the leader of the Circular Bears here was apparently tamed by humans before!"

"It was abandoned and then came here?"

Gardevoir added instinctively.

If a Pokémon has been captured and is now a wild Pokémon, the only relatively normal reason, aside from the extreme case of its trainer dying, is that it was "abandoned".

Sweet Firefly shook her head. "Then I don't know."

Calls came from the flower field in the distance, seemingly from her companions urging her to return to the party. Sweetie responded and prepared to fly back.

Before leaving, it emphasized, "Don't say it was me who said this. They really don't like this being mentioned, and their leader is incredibly powerful! He can shake the whole island with a stomp of his foot. You'd better leave now."

Watching Sweet Firefly return to the flower field, Fairy Cloth seemed lost in thought.

She wasn't too worried about what Sweetie Ying said about the powerful leader of the Circle Bears.

The story of the little horse crossing the river illustrates that the current might be an insurmountable barrier for the squirrel, but for the water buffalo it might just be a stream.

Xianbu didn't consider himself a water buffalo, but the team did have water buffaloes. No, they should be called true dragons soaring through the clouds.

She wasn't worried if a full-scale war really broke out.

…………

On their first night on Circle Island, Xia Chen and the elves spent their time by the dreamlike Forest of Fireflies.

With the two ghosts, Sai Fuhao and Duolongqi, taking turns keeping watch at night, even those who are afraid of ghosts can feel at ease.

Silent all night.

The next morning.

Perhaps because she was sleeping on her own island, Xia Chen, who is usually a light sleeper, had a very good night's sleep last night.

To his surprise, no native elves on the island caused trouble all night long, not even the kind of harassment that was just meant to annoy people. They were quite virtuous.

On the other hand, perhaps the leader of the Circle Bears is confident in his own strength.

Ignoring this, since there was no intention to take the initiative, Xia Chen continued to lead the elves on a leisurely stroll around the island in the morning.

Enjoy the flowers, admire the scenery, and chat with the island's wild creatures. On this island, everything seems quite pleasant.

He took many beautiful landscape photos and sent them to Cynthia and Mingyi, and their replies were quite different.

"Is this the place you want to build your dojo?"

"Wow, it's beautiful! Life here must be wonderful!"

Quite coincidentally, Xia Chen could even use the same template to reply to both of them.

"You guessed right! And I'm planning to build a new home/gym here."

"Ding dong~"

The two messages I sent were replied to almost instantly.

"That's great. Let me know if you need any help."

"Congratulations! Your dream has come true! I'll work hard to catch up with you too! [Snivy cheering]"

Xia Chen smiled knowingly.

After chatting with the two for a while, Gu Leton suddenly reminded them, "They're coming."

It goes without saying who "they" Gu Leton was referring to; it must be that group of circly bears.

Xia Chen released his Aura to sense that several Ursarings were leading a group of Pokémon towards him directly ahead, and there were no more in other directions.

That's good. At least these circle bears are relatively upright and won't resort to underhanded tactics.

Xia Chen greatly admired the character of these future neighbors and decided to go easy on them later.

…………

Before long, the figures of the circle bear and the other elves appeared on the horizon.

The bear with the green fur at the front was quite eye-catching.

It's not exactly ugly, but it's certainly quite unique.

Undoubtedly, if it hadn't dyed its hair, it would be a noble Shiny Pokémon, just like its Gardevoir.

Judging from its position within the group of spirits, it appears to be the leader.

So, is the Circular Bear that Xianbu mentioned last night, which was once tamed by humans and then abandoned, the same one?

What kind of wealthy family would just abandon a heterochromatic elf like that?

While he was pondering, the army of elves, led by the Circular Bear, had already arrived in front of Xia Chen.

The two armies faced each other, and the leader, a bear with green circles on its head, stepped forward.

"Kuma? (I heard you want to be the boss of this island?)"

Judging from its fierce and domineering expression, it seemed as if Xia Chen's words of "yes" would be followed by a fist the size of a casserole dish coming at it the next second.

Xia Chen didn't rush to respond, but instead probed the strength of the group of elves.

Senior-level Nidoking, Elite-level Nidoqueen, Elite-level Rhyhorn, Elite-level Crocodile

Xia Chen was shocked. Were all the elves on this island this strong?

Generally speaking, the strength of wild Pokémon that have not been bred is mostly between the beginner and amateur levels. The senior level is already one in a hundred, and the elite level is even rarer.

On this small island, why are elite-level wild Pokémon as common as cabbages?

Even if they are all elite soldiers brought in by the circle bear to help, isn't this a bit abnormal?

The leading Oddityrum bear was even more astonishing; judging from its aura, its strength was no less than that of Milotic, the strongest member of the team besides Gullardon.

That is, it is definitely a gym-level Pokémon.

Would anyone abandon a Gym Leader-level Pokémon?

Absolutely not.

Trainers below the Gym Leader level are reluctant to part with it, while trainers above the Gym Leader level have no reason to do so.

Therefore, this circle bear must have grown to such strength after being abandoned, or rather, after arriving on this island.

After analyzing the situation, Xia Chen came to a conclusion—there must be some secrets hidden on this island.

…………

"Kuma! (Are you scared, you coward? If you don't dare fight, then get out of here. You're not welcome here!)"

Xia Chen's contemplation made the heterochromatic bear think he was backing down, so it continued its arrogant provocation.

Its underlings roared and howled, cheering and encouraging their green-clad leader.

Xia Chen pulled himself out of his thoughts and decided to deal with the troublesome matter at hand first. Anyway, the island was right here and wouldn't run away, so it didn't matter if he investigated it later.

He looked up at the ferocious-looking bear in front of him and asked seriously, "You are the strongest of all the Pokémon on this island. If you lose, does that mean I will become the new boss here?"

The Circly Bear roared, "Kuma! (That's right, this is something all the elves here agree on: whoever wins is the boss, it's that simple!)"

The rules of the elf world are very straightforward: the winner takes all, that's all. So, the Circular Bear readily agreed.

However, it immediately revealed a sinister and cruel smile, "Kuma—(If you lose, I hope I never see you again!)"

In other words, if Xia Chen loses, he will have to leave the island and never be able to come back. Naturally, the money he spent on buying the island will be wasted.

It was a very fair and equal bet, so Xia Chen agreed.

"A word is settled!"

Xia Chen turned his head and looked around at the Pokémon behind him. "Sai Fuhao, it's up to you now."

He didn't intend to send out Gullerton just to secure a win.

To send Gullardon to fight a mere Gym Leader-level wild Ursaring isn't just a matter of distrust; it's downright disrespectful to one's own Pokémon.