Pokémon: I have no choice but to do this old thing?

The aftermath of Gastly's prank was that Zhang Jianying appeared at the breakfast table the next day with two faint dark circles under his eyes. He sipped the calming herbal tea brewed by Gardevoir while looking around in confusion.

He had a feeling that something was wrong. The subtle noises he heard while half-asleep last night made him uneasy.

"Am I just hallucinating because I've been too tired lately?" He rubbed his forehead.

Before they could investigate further, Dr. Yamanashi's research institute sent a message stating that the communication exchange equipment needed a day for routine maintenance and energy calibration, so Gastly's evolution schedule was postponed by one day.

Well, this is a good opportunity to rest. Zhang Jianying thought to himself, perhaps we can still find out where the strange noise is coming from.

……

Rewind to late the previous night, after Gastly's prank succeeded and Zhang Jianying fell asleep again.

In the warehouse area of ​​the scenic spot, the three little ones swam aimlessly across the narrow bay separated from the residential area, and struggled to climb ashore from the waves.

New Leaf Cat's beautiful green fur was matted and covered in sand from the seawater. It shook itself, splashing water droplets everywhere, but its exhaustion left it with no energy to even elegantly lick its fur.

They cautiously scanned the unfamiliar surroundings, their ears darting around alertly, catching any possible signs of danger. The long transoceanic voyage brought not only physical exhaustion but also mental tension.

Next to it, a pair of mice were in an even worse situation.

The two mice huddled together tightly, trembling slightly from being immersed in seawater for so long.

They huddled together, offering each other warmth and courage with their tiny bodies. Their little eyes strained to open in the moonlight, surveying this unknown land.

The sea breeze carries the fresh scent of plants and the sweet aroma of food!

The three hungry little creatures raised their heads almost simultaneously, sniffing intently.

Hunger overcame his wariness of the unfamiliar environment.

They looked at each other and, without a word, reached a consensus: follow the scent! Along the coastline, through a grove of trees, they were somewhat stunned by the sight before them when they parted the last clump of bushes.

The moonlight, like quicksilver, gently spilled across the land.

In the distance lies the deep blue sea, with the gentle sound of its waves.

Nearby is a neatly planned orchard, its branches laden with fruit. The fruit trees rustle in the night breeze, emitting an enticing sweet fragrance.

Next to it is a well-arranged and meticulously maintained garden, with a small fountain faintly visible.

Further away, a villa, unlike the architectural style of the Padiya region, stands quietly, with warm yellow light shining through several windows.

There were no dangerous roars of wild Pokémon fighting, no jarring noises or chaotic pollution from human cities. The air was filled with an atmosphere of peace, abundance, and tranquility.

"Meow~" Xin Ye Miao unconsciously let out a soft meow, as if the fatigue of the past few days had been dispelled by the beautiful scene before her.

"Squeak!" A pair of mice whispered excitedly, pointing their little paws at the orchard and then at the warm and sturdy-looking villa.

The three little ones didn't rush over immediately. Although they were hungry, they still maintained basic caution.

They lowered their bodies, using the shadows and bushes for cover, and began to silently infiltrate that territory.

Once inside the territory, the abundance and friendliness exceeded all expectations.

In the orchard, several nocturnal walking grasses were leisurely photosynthesizing under the moonlight, their bodies emitting a soft glow.

Sensing the unfamiliar presence, the Oddish simply turned around out of curiosity, their leaves swaying gently as they saw the three disheveled little ones.

Without being chased away, a Gypsy pointed with its leaf to several ripe tree fruits neatly arranged on the ground beside it, and made a friendly "please have some" expression.

Newleaf Cat and the pair of mice hesitated for a moment, but ultimately succumbed to hunger and the temptation of the delicious food, each grabbing a tree fruit and wolfing it down. The Oddish didn't seem to care, continuing their mysterious dance a short distance away, creating a peaceful atmosphere.

After a hearty meal, they became bolder in their exploration.

A pair of mice immediately displayed their racial talents. They quickly and carefully surveyed the base of the villa's outer wall, their little noses twitching and their tiny paws tapping and touching here and there.

Soon, they located the base of the wall outside the kitchen, near the drainpipe, where a clump of lush plants provided some cover.

There is a natural gap between the stone panels in the wall here, and it is located in a blind spot.

"Squeak!" The two mice looked at each other, perfectly in sync.

The sharp front teeth began to work efficiently.

They dug at extremely tricky angles, making use of existing gaps to widen them while perfectly avoiding any load-bearing structures. They even dug the inside of the hole into an arched shape with carefully polished edges.

A classic, hidden entrance to a miniature underground lair quietly takes shape under the moonlight.

Inside the cave, they began to line their homes with the dry, soft grass and scraps of cloth they found, and a warm, secluded "home" began to take shape. The orchard was nearby, and food was plentiful, which was more than enough for them.

Xin Ye Miao's attention, however, was drawn to the villa itself and the wider space.

It nimbly leaped onto the windowsill, its eyes curiously surveying the cozy interior. Finally, it slipped inside through a slightly ajar ventilation window and began its "indoor adventure."

It passed by the fragrant kitchen, went through the quiet study, and was then drawn by the chill emanating from a crack in a door.

After pushing open that door.

"Meow!"

It shivered! Inside was a frozen wasteland! A Pokémon it had never seen before was fast asleep, hugging a block of ice. The chill almost made it flee, but it still remembered to gently close the door behind it.

Shin-Ye-Nyan wandered into the courtyard and was attracted by the Earth-Based Tortoise, which slept like a small mountain under the moonlight.

The rich life force emanating from the giant tree on the turtle's carapace made it feel comfortable and warm. It couldn't help but want to get closer…

But a strange feeling came over me, not a clear malice or warning, but a deep, dark fluctuation that swept over me silently.

The fluctuation wasn't directed at it; it was more like some kind of unconscious emanation, yet it made Xin Ye Miao feel instinctively uncomfortable and slightly dizzy, as if her thoughts had been stirred by an invisible force.

It stopped in surprise and looked in the direction from which the fluctuation came. In the shadows, the Greatsword Demon stood quietly, seemingly immersed in some kind of deep rest or meditation.

That dark fluctuation emanates periodically from it.

Newleaf Cat dared not approach any further, its tail tucked between its legs, cautiously retreating step by step until it was out of the area affected by the fluctuations before finally letting out a sigh of relief. This huge blue creature felt even more terrifying than an ice house!

It slunk back to the villa's exterior wall and found the "masterpiece" of a pair of mice.

The entrance was a bit small for it, and it struggled to squeeze in for quite a while before finally managing to enter the dry and warm temporary nest.

The three little ones huddled together, exhausted as a tide washed over them, and they fell into a deep sleep.

Unbeknownst to them, Gastly, who had only slept for a short while and was now full of energy, had discovered them the moment Newleafy sneaked into the villa.

Gastly blinked its large white eyes, hiding in the shadows and watching everything with great interest.

Gastly looked at the three unfamiliar little creatures. It didn't sense any malice from them; instead, it found them quite amusing.

It silently drifted closer, mobilizing ghostly energy to lay a layer of shadowy film around the cave entrance, subtly interfering with waveguide perception and general mental scanning.

This membrane offers no defense whatsoever, acting like a "cognitive filter" on the entrance, causing Zhang Jianying, who habitually scans the environment with waveguides, and Gardevoir, who senses with psychic power, to subconsciously categorize the subtle movements here as the presence of Gastly.

"Hehehe~"

Gastly covered its mouth and chuckled, keeping its accomplishments hidden.

I'm going to give the boss a "surprise"—his expression when he finds out is going to be priceless! As for when he'll find out? That depends on my mood! Gastly floated away happily.

The peaceful days lasted for less than a day.

Plenty of food and a safe environment helped the three little ones quickly regain their energy.

A pair of mice are natural-born architects and storage masters.

Using that small opening as a base, they began to efficiently expand the underground network, creating narrow but interconnected passages that led to "resource respawn points" such as under the kitchen storage cabinets and at the base of specific fruit trees in the orchard.

They are very restrained, taking only a very small amount of food each time, which is almost negligible to their owners.

The two mice are even quite "civilized," carefully burying the leftover fruit pits back into the soil.

The walking grass and shuttlecocks noticed these little actions, but instead of chasing them away, they would sometimes deliberately push the ripe, fallen fruit closer to the entrance of the cave.

The peace was broken the following evening.

New Leaf Cat basked in the sun in the grass, grooming its restored fur with an elegant posture.

Suddenly, it saw one of the two mice running past quickly, carrying a golden bead that it had picked up from the path in Gardevoir Gardens and that glittered in the sunset.

That rolling, flashing little gadget instantly triggered its instincts as a feline Pokémon!

Its beautiful eyes narrowed, its pupils contracted, and the tip of its tail began to wag rapidly involuntarily.

"Meow! Stop! That's mine!"

With a push of its hind legs, it lunged forward like an arrow released from a bow!

"Squeak! No, we found it first! Run, partner!"

The mouse holding the golden pearl was startled and immediately darted towards the hole! Another mouse rushed in from the side, trying to distract New Leaf Cat.

The chase game begins again!

At first, they remembered to be careful, only engaging in "attack and defense" in areas such as bushes, corners, and under furniture.

But the excitement of playing around quickly clouded their judgment. Their movements became increasingly exaggerated, and their routes increasingly unrestrained.

He chased her from under the sofa in the living room to the kitchen counter, knocking over an empty spice jar. Then he slipped into the half-open training equipment room through the hallway, knocking over several unused Poké Balls.

"Meow!" "Squeak squeak squeak!"

Excited shouts and the rustling of running began to echo through the villa.

Zhang Jianying was studying the dojo route on a map in the study, looking puzzled: "What the hell is going on? Gui Gui, what are you up to now?"

"Hehehe~"

Gastly peeked halfway out of the shadows, seemingly innocently shaking its head, its large eyes gleaming with an excited light that seemed to thrive on chaos.

Just now, it secretly used its shadow to make things a little more difficult for Xinye Miao, causing it to trip during a pounce and crash into the door frame, allowing a pair of mice to escape. This made Xinye Miao meow loudly in anger.

Haunter was so happy that it rolled around in the air.

This increasingly out-of-control chase eventually spread to the outer room of the ice goose's snow-covered room.

The two mice, who had somehow been chased here, fled in panic and hid behind a small snow machine that was buzzing and making snowflakes and ice crystals.

Xin Ye Miao blocked the only exit, her eyes fixed on the back of the machine.

But it was quickly drawn to the black power cord on the side of the snow machine that was constantly vibrating slightly. In its eyes, that cable seemed to transform into the most charming and irresistible "ultimate cat toy" in the world.

"Meow~?"

It spared the mouse for the time being, and stretched out its paw to tentatively tug at the power cord.

The cable bounced.

Let me fiddle with it a little more.

It bounced again.

This is so much fun!

It got playful, took two steps back, and assumed a standard pouncing stance.

"Meow!"

It pounced suddenly, its two front paws gripping the power cord tightly, its body swaying with the vibration of the cable.

"Squeak! No!"

A pair of mice hiding behind the machine screamed in fright.

"Sizzle—!!!"

A piercing flash of electrical sparks erupted! The snow machine emitted a muffled hum, then came to an abrupt halt!

The outer sheath of the wires at the connection point was completely torn off, the exposed wires touching each other and emitting a small puff of black smoke. The indicator light on the machine flashed wildly a few times before going out completely.

The temperature in the igloo began to rise rapidly.

Ice-built Goose: ? ? ?

Startled awake by the loud noise and temperature change, the ice goose rushed out of the inner room with a "quack quack" sound! It saw the precious machine that could create an ice and snow environment smoking, and the ahoge on its square ice head stood up straight in shock!

It glanced at the smoking machine, then at the green kitten clinging to the broken wire, frozen in front of it, and at the white mice huddled together, trembling with fear behind the machine…

"Ice Cream!! (▼皿▼#)"

The little penguin's eyes sharpened!

The temperature in the room plummeted, and countless tiny ice crystals suddenly condensed, crackling and popping! A small hailstorm seemed to be brewing!

"Meow?!" "Squeak?!"

New Leaf Cat and the pair of mice realized they had caused a huge disaster and turned to flee the scene of the accident, away from the little penguin that seemed to have gone berserk.

However, they froze as soon as they turned around.

The entrance was now filled with "people".

Zhang Jianying and Gardevoir looked bewildered, filled with doubt about their own sensory abilities.

Baby Dragon hugged the Everstone, its scarlet pupils filled with the excitement of watching a show; Earth Tortoise moved over from the courtyard, its huge head peering through the window at the little ones inside, Pot Pot perched on Earth Tortoise's head, and Bean's eyes were full of curiosity.

Meanwhile, Gastly, the instigator and number one spectator, was floating directly above Zhang Jianying's head, its paws covering its mouth, spinning excitedly.

The Greatsword Demon appeared to have just been awakened from some deep state, with a trace of dark fluctuations still lingering on its body.

That was a strategy it had recently developed with its trainers to deal with some villainous organizations' Psychic-type Pokémon.

It is attempting to develop a special technique for releasing [Evil Wave] to block skills such as [Teleport].

The technique is still far from perfect, occasionally leaking out slightly out of control, forming those dark, wavy rings that can subtly interfere with mental perception.

At this moment, the unconscious fluctuations caused Gardevoir to frown slightly, as her psychic perception was somewhat interfered with.

The little penguin, who had never been wronged before, ran up to the big guys in a huff, gesturing with its little wings and calling out, like a wronged child who had met a parent who could stand up for him.

Gardevoir pulled herself out of her reverie, gently cradling the Ice Goose in her arms, conveying a soothing emotional response.

Zhang Jianying looked around and found that there were no injured Pokémon, only damaged equipment wiring, and breathed a sigh of relief.

He glanced at the pair of mice and the new leaf cat in the room and was speechless. Could someone explain this to him?

Why are the starter Pokémon and the gatekeeper Razor from the Padilla region sitting in Sinnoh's home, and even dismantling their own Penguin's snow machine? Does that make sense?