It was evening at the Chen family farm in Verdanturf Town.
"Food's here!"
Chen Shi carried the Pokémon food his grandparents had prepared to the table outside the villa.
A whole crowd of Pokémon cheered in unison and settled into their seats.
Chen Shi smiled. "This definitely won't fill you all up, so make sure you have plenty of meat and Pokéblocks too!"
Then he gave each Pokémon enough food for its size, along with a cup of Threefold Honey.
Togepi and Eevee could hardly wait and dug right in.
"Toge~ priii~" (This is so delicious!)
"Vee~" (It really is!)
The two little cuties were practically fainting with happiness.
Even Florges began wolfing down her food.
Dreepy had already buried its head in its bowl, leaving only a length of tail sticking out.
As for Swampert... the less said, the better.
Chen Shi glanced at his grandparents' Pokémon and couldn't help swallowing hard.
Salamence, Sceptile, Venusaur, and Garchomp were all at the peak of Elite King level.
Swampert and Empoleon were at mid Elite King level.
Gengar and Breloom were at early Elite Four level.
Roserade and Gardevoir were at the peak of pseudo-Senior Elite King level.
Four Pokémon at the peak of Elite King level alone. They were ridiculously powerful.
Their long lists of moves made Chen Shi's head spin.
His grandparents were definitely hidden powerhouses of the League.
The mid Elite King-level Swampert and Empoleon were the parents of Chen Shi's own Swampert.
Something suddenly occurred to Chen Shi. He ran up to his grandma's Garchomp and asked:
"Bro Garchomp, it's been seven or eight years now, hasn't it?"
"You and Sis Salamence still haven't made a baby?"
"I'm still waiting, you know!"
Nearby, his grandpa's Salamence-Garchomp's wife-gave a soft snort, puffed two streams of white vapor from her nostrils, and turned away, refusing to acknowledge those two idiots.
Garchomp scratched his head with a huge claw and barked a couple of fierce retorts.
"Chomp~ chomp~"
(What's the rush? I've been working hard at it! Just wait a little longer!)
Chen Shi smiled, not taking it seriously. Dragon-type Pokémon had pitiful birth rates to begin with, let alone purebred dragons like Garchomp and Salamence.
With both of them at the peak of Elite King level, Chen Shi had never really held out any hope.
He was only saying it to tease Garchomp.
Back when Chen Shi was nine, Garchomp had stolen a bottle of his grandpa's liquor and unexpectedly gotten completely drunk.
He had even declared that he would work harder with his wife and have a baby to travel with Chen Shi.
He had assumed Chen Shi couldn't understand him, never imagining that Chen Shi had an unfair advantage: he could understand Pokémon speech.
Perhaps it was because he had transmigrated, but Chen Shi had been able to understand Pokémon since childhood and was also a born psychic.
Although he couldn't compare with freaks like Sabrina and Caitlin, Telepathy and moving small objects with Confusion were no problem.
So Chen Shi had remembered Garchomp's promise and often used it to tease him.
"Here, Bro Garchomp. I've got something good for you!"
Chen Shi took a bottle of liquor from his pocket and held it out.
Garchomp's eyes instantly lit up. He hurriedly took it, then patted Chen Shi on the shoulder.
You little rascal~
You know what's up~
Just then, Grandma Chen called out, "All right, Shi, stop messing around with him. Come sit down."
Chen Shi chuckled, ran over to sit beside his grandparents, and grabbed a piece of roast meat in front of him to gnaw on.
Ordinary animals existed in this world too, but they were all raised in captivity for food.
Grandma Chen asked with concern, "Shi, how was your year in Sinnoh?"
"Did you run into any danger?"
Beside her, Grandpa Chen also pricked up his ears, eager to hear about his grandson's travels.
Chen Shi smacked his lips and said, "What danger could I possibly run into?"
"You know I wasn't planning to challenge any Gyms. I was just wandering around and seeing the sights."
"But Sinnoh really is a beautiful place, and I met three companions there."
Chen Shi gave Florges, Leafeon, and Togepi a gentle look.
Chen Shi continued, "Florges was still a Floette back then."
"Poachers had caught her in the Kalos Region and taken her to Sinnoh to sell her. I happened to rescue her."
"I originally wanted to hand her over to the International Police so they could send her back to the Kalos Region."
"But she insisted on sticking with me and wouldn't leave."
"You should've seen her face back then. She looked so pitiful!"
"So she ended up joining my traveling party."
Togepi and Leafeon gave Florges strange looks.
Who would have thought the caring big sister of their group had a story like that?
The two little ones exchanged a glance, snickered, and went back to eating.
Florges's face had already turned bright red, but she pretended she hadn't heard a thing.
The two elders smiled knowingly and asked, "What about the other two little ones?"
Chen Shi glanced at Leafeon and Togepi and said regretfully, "I found them in an underground cavern."
"I'd heard about a Shiny Beldum at the time, so I thought I'd go look for it."
(The author has set the Shiny Metagross that appeared in the anime as still being a Beldum at this point in the timeline.)
"But after two months of searching, I never found Beldum. Instead, I came across these two little ones."
"They were in much worse shape than Florges had been."
"They'd lived in that dark cavern ever since they hatched. Since they couldn't beat the other Pokémon, they usually survived by eating moss."
"When I found them, they'd both already passed out from hunger."
Hearing this, Dreepy immediately puffed up with pride.
"Dree~"
(I was the one who found them!)
Leafeon and Togepi buried their heads even deeper in their food.
Florges gave a soft snort and shot the two little ones a glance.
And you two had the nerve to laugh at me?
Grandpa Chen asked, "Shi, do you really like Metagross?"
"Would you like me to speak to the Stone family and trade for one for you? You still have room on your team."
"Forget it." Chen Shi waved a hand. "Metagross only looks good when it's Shiny!"
"I was only interested because I'd heard that Beldum was Shiny."
"I see." Grandpa Chen thought for a moment, then said, "A Shiny one wouldn't be a problem either. The Stone family must have some."
"If you want one, I'll just have to pay a little more. I promise I'll trade for one for you."
Chen Shi asked in surprise, "Are Shiny Metagross really that cheap now?"
"I heard the Stone family's young master has a Shiny Metagross as his ace too."
"How many do they have?"
Grandpa Chen replied with a chuckle, "The Metagross species is rather unusual."
"They're genderless, and they reproduce by splitting."
"So a single Shiny Metagross can split off two or three Beldum over its lifetime."
"Really?" Chen Shi's eyes lit up.
A Shiny Metagross-who wouldn't be tempted?
The sight of Steven making his entrance atop a Shiny Metagross in the anime he'd watched in his previous life had been insanely cool!
But on second thought, Chen Shi decided to forget it. He already had a Shiny Dreepy, so there was no need to fixate on Metagross.
Trading for one would surely cost his grandparents a great deal.
It wasn't worth it.
So Chen Shi still shook his head and declined Grandpa Chen's offer.
"No need, Grandpa. I don't like it that much."
"Let's leave it at that!"
The two elders exchanged a glance, and Grandma Chen gave a slight nod.
Understanding his wife's meaning, Grandpa Chen knew what to do.
He made up his mind. Since his grandson liked it, he would trade with the Stone family for a Shiny Beldum, whatever the cost.
Suddenly, something occurred to Chen Shi, and he said excitedly, "Grandpa, what if I traded them the location of a place full of ancient Pokémon?"
Shiny Metagross
Before you continue