I caught a Pokémon

She glanced at Xia You across from her.

This guy already has too many women; there's no risk of adding any more!

Zhu Lan stuffed the last piece of fried egg into her mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it, already having made up her mind.

Xia You didn't know what Zhu Lan was thinking, so he looked at Jia Deliya and changed the subject.

"By the way, does Unova have any arenas where you can compete for rankings?"

Gadriya was slightly taken aback: "The arena?"

“The World Championship points.” Xia You shrugged. “After I finish the Raven Dojo, I want to find a place to improve my ranking. The Masters Tournament is about to start, but I’m still far from enough points. I don’t want to miss it.”

Cattleya put down her teacup, thought for a moment, and said, "Then let's go to my castle."

Xia You looked at her.

“I can use the castle’s arena to spread the word and invite people to challenge you.” Cattleya’s tone was calm, as if she were saying something perfectly normal. “With your current reputation and record, there should be quite a few people who want to give it a try.”

Xia You smiled: "Then it's settled."

"Hmm." Cattleya picked up her teacup, took a sip, and said, "It's settled."

Zhu Lan listened without saying a word, but her gaze lingered on Jia Deliya's face for a moment before shifting away.

After breakfast, the group packed their things and prepared to leave.

Zhu Lan and Cattleya saw them to the door.

The morning sun shone into the courtyard, and dew still clung to the newly planted seedlings in the flowerbed. The sea breeze blew in from afar, carrying a faint scent of the sea and the fragrance of flowers.

Xiao Guang walked in front and turned back to wave to the two of them: "Sister Zhu Lan, Sister Jia Deliya, see you next time!"

Makomo nodded and said "Goodbye".

Yami bowed to the two of them, then smiled gently and followed the group.

Xia You walked last.

As he passed Zhu Lan, he paused and whispered something in her ear.

The voice was very soft, and Gadriya next to her didn't hear it clearly, but Zhulan's ears turned red again.

Then he straightened up, nodded to Cattleya, and without any hesitation, turned and left.

The group walked along the tree-lined path, their figures gradually disappearing behind the palm trees and flowerbeds.

Zhu Lan stood at the door, watching the figure grow smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely before turning her gaze away.

Caldelia stood beside her, still holding the half-finished cup of black tea.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

Zhu Lan was silent for a few seconds, then said, "I'm going out for a bit."

Cattleya glanced at her, but didn't ask where she was going or what she was going to do. She simply nodded.

"I'll go as well."

"You're going too?" Zhu Lan asked in surprise.

“Of course,” Gadriya laughed. “Actually, I knew even if you didn’t say it. You just want to go to the Raven Gym, I guessed it.”

Seeing that she couldn't hide it from Gadriya, Zhu Lan didn't try to conceal it anymore. Instead, she placed her hands in front of her chest and a cold smile appeared on her lips.

"If I don't go and keep an eye on things, do you believe me? That woman named Xiaoju'er will be taken by him sooner or later!"

Cattleya hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped herself.

Actually, what she wanted to say was that if Xia You were to ask, she would also like to offer herself as a bedmate.

But obviously, this shouldn't be said in front of Zhu Lan.

Chapter 1408 The Ghost of the Fantasy Bridge

It was still early when we left Lianyi Town.

Xia You and her group of four walked southwest along the coastline. The sea breeze blew from the right, carrying the salty and damp scent unique to the morning.

Xiao Guang walked at the front, clearly in a good mood, humming an unknown tune, while Bogaman swayed his head to the rhythm on her shoulder.

Yami walked beside Xia You, occasionally glancing back at Makomo, who was lagging behind. Makomo kept her head down, looking at her phone, probably researching something.

After walking for about two hours, the coastline began to turn north, and they left the seaside and entered the inland.

Gradually, patches of woodland appeared on both sides of the road. They were not the kind of dense, impenetrable primeval forests, but rather sparse, broad-leaved forests. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting golden patches of light on the ground.

“The White Forest is just ahead.” Makomo finally looked up from her phone screen and pushed up her glasses. “After passing through it, you’ll go through Black City, and then you’ll reach the Fantasy Bridge.”

"White Forest? Black City?" Hikari turned around. "The names are interesting. What kind of places are they?"

“There are many wild Pokémon in the White Forest, which is a great place for new trainers to catch and capture them.” Makomo paused. “Black City… well, it’s just an ordinary city, except the houses are a bit dark and the name sounds scary.”

Xiao Guang said "Oh," looking somewhat disappointed.

Just as Makomo had said, the White Forest was teeming with wild Pokémon. The forest paths were covered with fine wood chips, making them soft and quiet underfoot. The air was filled with the scent of leaves and earth. Occasionally, you could see new trainers peeking out from behind bushes before quickly disappearing into the distance.

Xiao Guang tried to greet a babysitter bug perched on a leaf, but was politely ignored.

They walked through the White Forest for a day, and emerged from the forest at dusk, arriving at Black City.

As Makomo said, it's just an ordinary city, but for some reason, all the high-rise buildings here are black, which does look a bit depressing.

But people in the city live normal lives, which is no different from other places.

The next day, they continued their journey, crossing the hilly area west of Black City. They traveled for another whole day, and by the morning of the third day, the sky had begun to darken.

The clouds were low and gray, obscuring the sun, but it didn't look like it was going to rain either. It was the kind of weather that was neither sunny nor cloudy, making people feel listless.

The trees along the roadside grew shorter and shorter, gradually turning into shrubs, and eventually even the shrubs disappeared, leaving only bare grass and a gloomy sky.

"We're almost there." Makomo glanced at the map on her phone. "The Fantasy Bridge is just ahead."

In the distance, they saw the bridge.

The Fantasy Bridge is very long, spanning a wide river. The bridge is made of steel and is quite high above the water. It's unclear how long it has existed. There is a small rest stop at each end of the bridge, both lit with dim yellow lights. There are few people on the bridge, only a few blurry shadows moving about, probably travelers passing by.

Xia You walked at the front, and when she stepped onto the bridge, the steel beneath her feet emitted a dull echo.

The bridge was longer than it appeared from a distance. It took them quite a while to reach the middle section. A breeze blew across the river, carrying moisture and coolness, causing the hems of their clothes to flutter.

Just then, Xia You suddenly stopped.

About twenty meters ahead of the bridge, a girl was standing.

She was wearing a white dress, and her long hair reached her waist, fluttering gently in the wind. She stood in the middle of the bridge, facing them, but they couldn't see her face clearly. It wasn't because she was too far away, but because her face seemed to be shrouded in a mist, making it impossible to see clearly.

Xiao Guang saw it too.

She opened her mouth, about to say something—

The girl's figure swayed slightly, like a reflection on water being scattered by the wind, and then a voice drifted over.

It was very light and faint, as if it came from a very far place, or as if it were right next to someone's ear, but no one could hear what it was saying.

Xia You frowned.

He took a step forward.

The figure disappeared.

As if it had never existed, the bridge was empty, with only the steel bridge surface, the gloomy sky, and the churning waves of the river remaining.

Xiao Guang stood there stunned for a long time before finally managing to stammer, "That...that was..."

"I saw it," Xia You said calmly. "And I heard it too."

Yami instinctively gripped Xia You's arm, her face turning pale.

Makomo pushed up her glasses, and although she was also puzzled, her tone remained calm: "It might be... light refraction, or some kind of natural phenomenon."

"A natural phenomenon of standing on a bridge?" Xiao Guang raised his eyebrows, his expression the same as Xia You's.

No one answered her.

The group quickened their pace and walked across the remaining part of the bridge. When they passed by, they stopped to take a look, but they didn't see anything.

The rest stop on the west side of the bridge is a bit bigger than the one on the east side. Inside, there is a small supermarket selling drinks and snacks, as well as a few plastic tables and chairs. A woman wearing an apron was wiping the tables and greeted them warmly when she saw them come in.

"What would you like to drink? We have hot tea and coffee—"

The group stopped there for some tea and snacks. Seeing that the woman seemed quite talkative, Xiao Guang asked curiously, "Um... we just saw a little girl on the bridge, but she disappeared in the blink of an eye. Do you know what happened?"

The woman paused for a moment, glanced at Xia You, then at the girls behind him whose faces didn't look too good, and sighed.

"You saw it too?"

"Ah."

The woman put down the rag and sat down on the chair next to her: "That happened many years ago."

Her voice was slow and leisurely, as if she were telling a story from long ago: "Back then, this bridge was still under construction. There was a little girl from a nearby village who often came here to play. She had a Pokémon named Casey, who followed her around every day. The two of them would run around here together."

"And then?" Xiao Guang couldn't help but ask.

"Later, the bridge was repaired, but the girl fell ill." The woman paused. "It wasn't a serious illness, but it just wouldn't get better, it dragged on for a long time, and then..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood.

"Then why would she..." Yami asked softly.

The woman glanced at her: "Some people say that it was Casey who couldn't bear to let her go. Casey has superpowers; she can sense people's thoughts and can also... do things that people can't understand. It's probably that Casey who left her here."

The rest stop was quiet for a while, then the sound of wind whistling through the bridge arch came from outside, like someone crying in the distance.

"So just now..." Xiao Guang's voice was very soft, "was she asking us for help?"

Chapter 1409 The Girl's Soul

With Gengar not around, no one could answer Dawn's question.

Makomo took out her phone to look up information, and after flipping through it for a while, she looked up.

“There isn’t much information available online; it’s mostly just fragmented legends.” She paused, “But one story is quite credible: a girl did die of illness in this area back then, and the time coincides with the year the bridge was built.”

“What about Casey?” Yami asked.

Makomo shook her head: "I don't know, it wasn't mentioned in the information."

Xiao Guang held his teacup, bowed his head in silence for a long time, then suddenly looked up and said, "Shouldn't we let her rest in peace?"

Everyone looked at her.

“I mean…” Xiao Guang’s voice was hesitant, “If it really was Casey who left her here, and she herself didn’t want to, then has she been waiting? Waiting for someone to help her?”

Yami gently held Xiaoguang's hand without saying a word.

Makomo pushed up her glasses and looked at Xia You: "From a folklore perspective, these kinds of legends often have a basis in reality. If that girl's soul was really left here by superpowers, theoretically it can be freed."

Xia You remained silent, simply sitting there with his gaze fixed on the gray sky outside the door.

It's going to rain...

“Meeting her will make things clear.” He finally spoke, his voice calm. “A person who has been dead for many years is still frequently seen standing on the bridge. No matter how you look at it, something is very wrong. Maybe she really needs someone to help her.”

Xiao Guang blinked: "But... how do we find it? We're not ghosts, we can't just stand on the bridge and shout, can we?"

Xia You smiled and reached into her waistband to take out a Poké Ball.

"Of course, we'll use Pokémon to find it."

A flash of blue light, and Gardevoir appeared in the open space outside the rest stop.

It tilted its head slightly and glanced at Xia You. Its red eyes were as calm and gentle as ever, as if it would not hesitate in the slightest no matter what Xia You asked it to do.

"Gardevoir, help me sense if there are any unusual energy fluctuations around here." Xia You walked to its side, his tone casual. Actually, he didn't have to say the command, but he did it so that Xiao Guang and the others would know what he was doing. "Soul, a Psychic-type Pokémon, something that's not normal."

Gardevoir nodded and closed its eyes.

The surroundings became quiet.

The wind was still blowing, and the clouds were still hanging low, but there seemed to be something indescribable in the air, as if an invisible string had been gently plucked. Xiao Guang subconsciously held his breath, and Ya Mi and Makomo also stood quietly to the side, not daring to make a sound.

A few seconds later, Gardevoir opened its eyes. It didn't look at the bridge or the sky, but turned to the area behind the rest stop—the one leading to the riverbank.