Chen Yan

In a courtyard in a residential neighborhood near the outskirts of Twinleaf Town.

An elderly woman with a full head of silver hair sat in a rocking chair beside a grayish-white stone table, gently waving a palm-leaf fan.

She watched the Pokémon playing in the little yard with a kindly smile.

A young man stood with his arms spread, blocking the Gengar in front of him from reaching the Pokémon behind him. A Growlithe had its teeth clamped around his trouser leg, while a Pachirisu behind Growlithe tugged on its tail. Behind Pachirisu came Ambipom, then Kricketune, Teddiursa...

According to the boy, the game was apparently called Eagle Catches Chicks.

The rocking chair beneath Grandma swayed gently as she watched Gengar try to leap into the young man's shadow, only for him to swiftly stick out a foot and kick Gengar back out.

When Gengar came running over to complain, clutching its cheek, Grandma reached out to pat its head and comforted it.

"He's such a meanie, isn't he?"

Gengar nodded vigorously.

"Gengaa-"

He's not playing fair! He kicked me!

"It's all right, it's all right. I'll tell him off for you."

Although Grandma couldn't understand Gengar, she knew it had to be complaining about the young man.

After all, in the two months since he had arrived at her courtyard, Gengar had come tattling to her almost every day.

"Chen Yan," Grandma called.

Chen Yan looked back at Grandma beside the stone table and found Gengar sitting at her feet, hugging her leg and looking smugly at him.

"Grandma."

He hurried over, pulled a face at Gengar on the ground, then sat on the round stone stool beside Grandma. Taking the palm-leaf fan from her hand, he fanned them both.

Seeing Chen Yan and Gengar leave, Growlithe shook its head and followed them over. It sat down in front of them with its tongue hanging out, its eyes darting between Chen Yan and Grandma.

Grandma took Chen Yan's free hand and gently patted his arm with her other hand, scolding him with feigned annoyance.

"Why were you bullying Gengar again?"

At Grandma's words, Chen Yan glanced at Gengar sitting on the ground, pretending to be the victim. He stopped fanning and said softly,

"Grandma, you've got me wrong again. Gengar's clearly making things up. Can't you tell?"

"Nonsense. Gengar came over holding its face to complain. How could that be fake?"

Grandma shot him a stern look.

Chen Yan watched Gengar pulling faces at him from the ground. The instant Grandma turned her head, it went right back to looking like a victim, summoning tears on command. What a waste that it wasn't an actor.

"I'm innocent, Grandma! It was the one that rammed its head into my foot. How did that become my fault?" Chen Yan sniffled, sounding utterly wronged.

Gengar's leg had gone numb from sitting awkwardly earlier. It had just shifted into a more comfortable position and hugged Grandma's leg again when Chen Yan's words made it freeze, its mouth hanging open.

Gengar: ???Σ(ﾟ∀ﾟﾉ)ﾉ

How can you even say that? I might not be human, but you're a real piece of work!

Growlithe tilted its head beside them and blinked in confusion.

"Arwoo?"

Why would Gengar ram its head into his foot? Is that a new game they invented?

That's so weird...

"You..."

Grandma could do nothing about Chen Yan's talent for twisting the truth. Chen Yan silently shot Gengar a quick glance, then continued,

"Besides, Grandma, you saw it too. It hit my foot with its head. But look at it now-it's holding its cheek. If that isn't lying, what is?"

"You've always told us children shouldn't lie. Look, it's lying right now. I think it needs to learn a lesson. No lunch for Gengar, and an extra helping for Growlithe. Just look at our Growlithe-so obedient, so sensible, so well-behaved."

Although Growlithe was thoroughly confused, it understood one thing.

It would get extra food at lunch!

Hehe, Chen Yan's such a good guy.

Just as Gengar stood up, ready for a no-holds-barred fight with Chen Yan, Grandma interrupted him. "Honestly, child, can't you see Gengar can't reach its own head? That's why it had to come over holding its cheek. How does that make it a bad child? Our Gengar is the sweetest, most obedient child of all, aren't you, little Gengar?"

Seeing Grandma looking at it so kindly, Gengar hurriedly nodded.

"Gengaa-"

Exactly! I'm the sweetest, most obedient child in the whole courtyard!

At Gengar's proud expression, Grandma and Chen Yan exchanged a glance, their eyes crinkling with amusement.

Grandma patted the young man's hand. "All right, it's time to get lunch ready."

"Okay, Grandma. I'll go cook now."

Chen Yan returned the fan to Grandma and looked at Growlithe. "Growlithe, keep Grandma company here. I'm going to cook."

"Arwoo."

Leave it to me!

With its tongue hanging out, Growlithe nodded repeatedly, then got up and sat beside Grandma. It rested its head gently on her lap and narrowed its eyes, enjoying her strokes.

Chen Yan stepped around Growlithe and nudged Gengar, still sitting on the ground, with his foot. "Still putting on an act? Get up and help me already. Do you want lunch or not?"

"Gengaa-"

Coming! Hehe.

Gengar sprang up into the air and floated after Chen Yan into the kitchen to cook.

The summer afternoon sun showed no mercy, especially in the Sinnoh Region. The entire courtyard suffered beneath its relentless beating.

Grandma's courtyard was a typical Japanese-style courtyard. She sat beside a low table near the entry hall inside the house, with wooden floorboards beneath her and wooden doors opening onto the yard. The yard's lone large tree shielded the people and Pokémon indoors from the sun with its leaves, casting dappled shadows across the doorway. Wearing reading glasses, Grandma was stitching something that looked like a waistband.

Chen Yan sat beside Grandma with a tablet on his lap, his hand constantly swiping across it. A short electric fan stood beside them, whirring away.

Despite having only one small fan, neither felt hot. Gengar sat beside Chen Yan, its eyes glued to the tablet. Its presence lowered the surrounding temperature by a few degrees, which, combined with the fan's breeze, made it pleasantly cool.

Chen Yan tapped upload, sending his edited video to an app called PokéVideo.

Watching the video upload, Chen Yan lifted his head to glance at Gengar, who was waiting eagerly beside him. With a smile, he reached out, grabbed its cheeks, and pulled them apart, stretching the corners of its mouth into a grin.

Letting go, Chen Yan picked up a ball sewn from scraps of cloth and gave it a gentle toss. Growlithe dashed out, caught the cloth ball in its mouth as it landed, then ran back and returned it to Chen Yan, watching him with its tongue out and tail wagging.

Chen Yan flicked his wrist again. The cloth ball flew out once more, and Growlithe raced after it.

After he had played with Growlithe for a while, Grandma stopped her sewing too. She snipped the thread with scissors, put everything away, then looked up at Chen Yan with a smile.

"Finished uploading?"

Chen Yan shook his head. "Not quite."

He yawned. Listening to the cicadas calling in the courtyard, he simply lay back on the floor, wriggling over to Grandma's lap. Grandma reached out affectionately, her aged palm gently stroking his forehead.

Worried he might feel hot, she also picked up the palm-leaf fan to fan him.

Chen Yan, who had never experienced a grandmother's affection before, couldn't help drifting into a daze. He realized it had apparently been more than two months since he had arrived in this world.

Grandma had found him by the sea and brought him home. According to her, he had been lying unconscious on the beach, with a camera beside him.

It was rather ridiculous, really. While exporting photos from his camera, Chen Yan had gotten bored and lain on his bed to play the recently released Pokémon Champion. Then his Switch 2 had fallen onto his face, knocking him straight into the Pokémon world.

After recovering at Grandma's house, he had spent several days confirming and accepting that this was a real Pokémon world.

At first, he had planned to find a Pokémon partner after he recovered, then set off on a journey toward becoming a Pokémon Master.

There probably wasn't anyone who could come to the Pokémon world and resist traveling with Pokémon, was there?

Unfortunately, Grandma had suddenly fallen seriously ill not long ago. She had no children, and her husband had passed away more than a decade earlier. Seeing her lying in a hospital bed with no one to look after her, Chen Yan couldn't bear to abandon the woman who had saved his life just to set off on a journey. So he stayed to care for her.

After learning that Grandma loved Pokémon, he took his camera out with Gengar and Growlithe, who had already been living in her courtyard, to take photos and videos of Pokémon and bring them back for her to see.

Miraculously, Grandma's health really did improve, and she was discharged from the hospital.

Chen Yan also received something he had always dreamed of.

He summoned his panel.

[Chen Yan]

[Gender: Male]

[Occupation: Photographer]

[Pokémon owned: None]

[Skills mastered: Photography lv5, cooking lv3, musical performance lv2.]

[Items: Pokémon Camera]

[View count: 3821]

[Introduction: You aspire to become an outstanding photographer, so what are you waiting for? Set off and photograph more Pokémon-rarer, more eye-catching Pokémon! You can edit your photos and videos and post them online. Viewers who watch your videos and look at your photos will provide you with view count. So get going, young man!]

[???]

He gained view count when people watched the Pokémon videos he uploaded to PokéVideo. But despite trying repeatedly, he had never found a way to use it. It seemed purely decorative.

He had only chosen the photographer occupation when he first photographed Pokémon, after the suddenly appearing cheat's introduction said it could greatly improve his photography skills.

All in all, this cheat didn't seem to be of any use.

Whatever.

Chen Yan let out a soft breath and closed the panel.

He liked his life as it was, anyway. He had Pokémon beside him, family who weren't related by blood but were closer than relatives, and the freedom to do what he loved without working nine to nine, six days a week.

I wonder if that lovable idiot exists in this world. I wonder where he is on his journey now. I wonder...

As his thoughts wandered, Chen Yan fell asleep.

Growlithe shuffled across the floor into Chen Yan's arms and fell asleep too.

Gengar slept on Chen Yan's other side.

Watching the sleeping Chen Yan and the two Pokémon, Grandma's smile deepened. She began softly humming a song she had learned from him.

"Rock, rock~ rock all the way to the fifteenth, when the spring equinox comes, to Grandma's bridge..."