I caught a Pokémon

Xiao Guang stood with his back to her, motionless, his breathing still even.

But Makomo noticed that the tips of her ears were red.

This girl isn't asleep either!

Makomo quickly turned back, pretending not to have noticed anything.

An eerie silence fell over the tent—of course, only on their side; the sounds from next door continued unabated.

Makomo closed her eyes, trying to let her thoughts drift elsewhere.

For example, tomorrow's research plan, Team Plasma's motivation, the source of Mewtwo's power...

But those voices always managed to pull her back.

I don't know how much time passed, but finally it became quiet next door.

Makomo let out a long breath, feeling her heartbeat finally returning to normal.

She glanced quietly to the side; Xiao Guang was still in the same position, but his breathing seemed a little shallower than before.

Tomorrow... let's just pretend nothing happened tomorrow.

She said to herself.

Then close your eyes and force yourself to fall asleep.

……

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the gaps in the tent, casting dappled shadows on the sleeping bags.

Makomo opened her eyes wearily.

She didn't know what time she fell asleep last night, but she had a very... strange dream.

I dreamt of myself...

Xiao Guang, who was sitting up next to her, was fixing his hair. When he saw that she was awake, he greeted her casually.

"Good morning, Makomo-neechan."

"morning."

The two looked at each other for a moment, then simultaneously looked away.

They tacitly kept silent.

Stepping out of the tent, a breath of fresh air greeted them, carrying the scent of grass and trees and the moisture from the distant stream. The campfire had been relit, and Yami was squatting beside it cooking breakfast. When she saw them come out, she smiled gently.

"Good morning, the water for washing up is ready, it's over there."

Makomo looked at Yami and saw that her face was rosy, her expression was calm, and her movements were light. She could not see anything unusual at all and could not help but admire her.

After all that effort, to still have this kind of spirit is truly impressive.

And when she thought about the spirit, she remembered what Xia You had told her before.

Within him... lies the power of the Phoenix King.

This also led Makomo to fix her gaze on the pile of garbage wrapped in plastic bags outside Xia You and Yami's tent.

Chapter 1374 A Study on Blushing Faces

Maybe……

As she thought this, her gaze unconsciously drifted to the other side.

Xia You was sitting on a rock, looking down at his phone with a calm expression. Noticing her gaze, he looked up and nodded slightly to her.

"morning."

"Good morning...good morning."

Makomo quickly looked away and walked to the dining table.

Breakfast consisted of simple sandwiches and hot milk. Several people sat around the table, eating and chatting about the day's itinerary. Around them, the Pokémon were also leisurely enjoying their breakfast.

Xiao Guang ate quickly, finishing a sandwich in no time, and then took his Pokémon to do their morning exercise.

Yami seemed to be enjoying her life, smiling gently as she slowly drank the milk in her hand.

Only Mako seemed somewhat distracted while eating.

Her gaze kept drifting towards the entrance of the tent where Xia You had stayed.

Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

She remembered what Xia You had said yesterday—'My body was blessed by the legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh, not only does it possess incredibly strong vitality, but it also has many wondrous abilities.'

Ho-Oh's blessing!

Legend has it that Ho-Oh possesses the power to revive Pokémon. What kind of blessing would it bring?

Will it bring Xia You a tenacious vitality?

How can we make him unafraid of the cold?

If we could look into it...

Makomo lowered her eyes and nonchalantly finished the last bite of her sandwich, but her mind had already wandered elsewhere.

"I'm going to take care of the trash."

She stood up and began to tidy up the tableware and tissues that everyone had used.

Yami wanted to help, but she stopped her.

"You're already tired from cooking this morning, so I'll do it."

She put all the trash into a plastic bag, then picked it up and, as she walked past Xia You's tent, naturally picked up the bag of trash as well.

Despite trying her best to appear normal, her heart was racing and her eyes kept glancing behind her, afraid of being discovered.

Fortunately, no one noticed her.

Xiao Guang was still practicing with his Pokémon in the distance, Ya Mi was clearing away the dishes and preparing to wash them, while Xia You remained seated at the table, staring at her phone, seemingly chatting with someone.

Taking a deep breath, she walked outside the camp and came to a corner where few people could see her.

Generally speaking, when camping in the wild, take your trash with you as much as possible and don't let it damage nature.

But not everything has to be taken.

For biodegradable waste from natural sources such as food scraps, fruit peels, and paper, if it cannot be taken away, it can be buried deeply to avoid attracting wild Pokémon and polluting water sources.

Xia You and the others basically handle garbage in the same way.

This time, after dealing with the kitchen waste, Makomo put on a pair of white gloves and slowly... opened the tightly tied garbage bag that Natsumi had been holding.

It was filled with common, random things. Makomo rummaged through it with her hands.

At the same time, he reached into his pocket with his other hand and took out a small test tube from his inner pocket.

This is something she carries with her at all times. As a researcher, collecting samples is instinctive; she has these little gadgets in almost every pocket. Originally, her plan was to collect plant seeds or special minerals, but unexpectedly…

She opened the cap of the test tube.

The whole process took less than half a minute, but it felt like an eternity to Makomo.

and……

After the extraction was complete, she put the test tube back into her pocket and immediately buried all the evidence to ensure that no trace or flaw was left.

Once everything was in order, she stood up and breathed a sigh of relief.

Despite constantly reminding myself not to be nervous, not to be nervous.

but……

My heart is beating very fast.

My cheeks were burning.

What am I doing?!

She said to herself.

But another voice is saying – this is scientific research!

Ho-Oh's blessing—that's a legendary power!

If any findings are made, the contribution to the Pokémon science community will be enormous!

Moreover... Xia You herself said it wasn't a secret.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.

When she returned to the camp, she still looked nonchalant, but Xia You still glanced at her from afar.

It was this one glance that almost made Makomo's heart skip a beat.

Even so, Makomo tried her best to remain calm.

"W-what's wrong?"

When she opened her mouth, Makomo was startled. How could her voice be so hoarse and... trembling!

Xia You was naturally puzzled by her unusual reaction.

Why... do you look like you've done something wrong?

However, since they were companions after all, he thought that Makomo might be on her period or something, and it was inconvenient for her to mention it in front of him.

Without giving it much thought, he casually asked, "Is your luggage all packed?"

"Not yet." Makomo shook her head. "I'll go get ready now."

As soon as she finished speaking, she walked directly into her tent and disappeared from Xia You's sight.

As soon as she put down the tent flap, Makomo couldn't wait to go to her backpack, which contained some simple instruments that could be used to do some basic research.

We have to hurry!

Although she didn't understand it very well, she knew that the things in the test tube seemed to lose their vitality and gradually become inactive a few hours after leaving the human body.

So much time has passed, so we must seize this last opportunity!

Thinking this, she practically ran to her luggage and hurriedly began rummaging through it.

In that instant, she began to conceive a research plan in her mind.

First observe the most basic form, then analyze the composition, and then check for any abnormal energy reactions. If there is still time, then go further!

Thinking this, she first took out a mini microscope, put some 'liquid' from the test tube on the microscope, added some reagents, and then put her eyes on the microscope's observation lens.

Just then, a voice sounded behind her.

"Sister Makomo?"

Makomo was startled and quickly turned around to see that it was Hikaru!

"Hikari... Hikaru? Weren't you training? Why... why did you suddenly come back?"

Hikaru was somewhat surprised by Makomo's startled reaction, especially when she saw that Makomo was intentionally covering her back, which made him even more curious.

"I came back to pack my things." Hikaru took a step to the side, walked past Makomo, and came to the microscope. "Makomo-neechan, what are you doing?"

"N-nothing!"

Makomo was completely at a loss; by then, it was too late to put the microscope away.

She could only bite the bullet and say, "It's just some experiments."

"Doing experiments so early?" Xiao Guang asked, puzzled. "Aren't we supposed to be leaving?"

“That’s right.” Makomo tried to appear calm. “It’s because I suddenly remembered that I still have an experiment to do, so I wanted to hurry up and finish it before I left.”

Hearing her say that, Xiao Guang looked at the microscope with suspicion.

After all, before this, Makomo's experiments all used high-tech equipment, such as rudimentary things like microscopes...

"Magomo-neechan, I've only ever used a microscope when I was in school. Could I borrow it to take a look?"

Makomo wanted to say no.

After all, what you see under a microscope these days is not something a young girl can look at.