Early the next morning, Chen Shi stood quietly in the training grounds with his eyes closed.
In front of him, Florges watched him with a puzzled expression.
After getting up that morning, Florges had planned to tend to her little garden, which she had not visited in quite some time.
But the moment she stepped outside, her Trainer had hurriedly dragged her here.
Then he had told her to stand still, without explaining what he wanted to do.
Nearby, Dragapult, Swampert, and the others looked just as confused.
The backyard door suddenly opened, and Cynthia and Steven stepped out, one after the other.
"Oh, Old Chen's up early!" Steven muttered, moving to greet him.
But before he could take a step, Cynthia caught his arm. "Wait!"
"What is it?" Steven asked in confusion.
"Something seems off. We'd better not disturb him yet!"
Only after Cynthia's warning did Steven notice the layer of pure white light flowing around Chen Shi as he stood there.
The glow was faint. In daylight, it was practically invisible unless someone looked closely.
Once he noticed it, Steven nodded and followed Cynthia quietly over to Dreepy without interrupting.
The reason Chen Shi had brought Florges here so early was that he wanted to see whether he could let her undergo the Bond Phenomenon too.
At first, Chen Shi had thought it would be simple.
After all, the being within him could make fifty thousand Pokémon undergo the Bond Phenomenon with a wave of his hand. Surely getting one Pokémon to transform would be no problem?
Unfortunately, his expectations were beautiful, but reality was cruel.
After he channeled psychic power along the thread connecting him to Florges, she showed no reaction at all.
At most, it eased the hunger she had felt after waking up. That was