As the Maple Leaves Fell

One day around noon, a handsome guy and the little girl he had taken under his wing were enjoying lunch, but he had no idea something terrifying was about to happen to him...

"Xiao Yan, do you think my cooking has gotten better?" Xiao Lan asked.

"It has, but it tastes a little sour." Then Xiao Yan's expression went through a spectacular transformation, and he threw up both his lunch and breakfast all over the ground.

The Pokémon beside them were eating store-bought Pokémon food, so they escaped the disaster. Eevee jumped into Xiao Yan's arms and looked at him with concern.

"Xiao Lan, where did you get the vegetables this time?" Xiao Yan wiped his mouth with a tissue, his face a little pale.

"I bought them from a farmer. He said there was a river on his farm, a really clear one with a school of Magikarp. The soil on the riverbed was mixed with fertilizer that came out of the Magikarp's buttholes. He said it was really precious fertilizer, and he used it all over his farm. I thought I'd give it a try, but then you got diarrhea." Xiao Lan stuck out her tongue sheepishly.

"Wait here. I'll look for some medicinal herbs nearby." Xiao Yan then headed off to find herbs with Eevee and the Pikachu on his shoulder.

"Do you know what medicinal herbs look like?" Xiao Yan asked. Both Pokémon shook their heads.

I just remembered I brought a phone from my old world. I could ask the almighty Google, but I don't know if it still has any battery left. Xiao Yan took a black phone out of his backpack. As expected, nothing happened when he pressed the power button.

"I guess I'll just have to try eating every plant here that looks like a medicinal herb."

As they walked, a very large farm and a small pharmacy came into view up ahead.

"A farm deep in the mountains probably keeps its own medicinal herbs. That pharmacy next door looks really old, so the stuff inside might not be safe to eat anymore. I'll skip it and go straight to the farm."

There wasn't a single living creature on the farm's pasture apart from Xiao Yan and his companions. The river was murky, with several dead Magikarp floating on the surface. A stench hung in the air, and the whole place felt deeply unsettling.

"There's only one farm on this mountain. Xiao Lan said at lunch that she bought the ingredients from a nearby farm with a clear river and Magikarp swimming around. Why is this place completely different from what she described...?"

"Dear customer, the surroundings here are quite lovely. Please look at the pasture over there." An old man with a white beard suddenly appeared behind Xiao Yan.

"That's strange. There weren't any creatures in the pasture just now, but now it's full of Miltank. The murky river suddenly turned clear, too, and those dead Magikarp are swimming around like nothing happened." The more Xiao Yan thought about it, the more unnerved he became.

"Sorry, sir. I think I'd better buy some medicine from the pharmacy next door." Xiao Yan cautiously backed away from the old man who had appeared out of nowhere.

"I own that pharmacy, too. Why don't I take you there?" Xiao Yan noticed that the old man had no feet and was floating in midair. Terrified, he took Eevee and Pikachu and ran desperately toward the exit.

After he ran through the gate, Xiao Yan's vision went black. When he came to his senses, he found himself back on the same farm.

"I established this farm, so I'm its master. No one is allowed to leave without my permission."

"Then what will it take for you to let us go back?" Xiao Yan asked.

"Play hide-and-seek with me." The old man stroked his long beard, smiling with confidence.

"All right. What are the rules?" Xiao Yan readily agreed.

"It's noon now. If you can find me before the sun sets, I'll let you go back. If you can't, you'll stay here with me for the rest of your lives!"

The white-bearded old man gave a light wave of one hand and vanished.

"Pikachu, Eevee, let's hurry and find him so we can get back."

"Pika!" "Vee~~~"

But finding one old man on such a huge farm was far too difficult!

"Damn it! Where did that old man hide?" Large beads of sweat seeped from Xiao Yan's forehead. With the sun about to set, he was growing frantic.

Pikachu and Eevee were already so exhausted that they had collapsed on the ground. Xiao Yan gently placed them on his shoulders and kept walking.

Just then, Xiao Yan noticed a little wooden cabin amid a vast stretch of green pasture.

"Let's look inside."

Xiao Yan pushed open the brown wooden door, letting the daylight stream in. Frightened by the sudden light, the creatures living inside scrambled into whatever cracks they could find.

A thick layer of dust covered the floor. No one had cleaned the place in a long time.

The cabin was crammed with clutter. Xiao Yan covered his nose and moved carefully through it.

"What's this?" Xiao Yan picked up an old mirror lying in a corner, but instead of his own face, another scene appeared in it.

Beneath a maple tree, a man was painting a woman's portrait. The man in the mirror was the owner of the farm-the very old man Xiao Yan was looking for!

"Could it be?!" Xiao Yan put the mirror back where he had found it, then burst through the door and sprinted toward the little hill.

"You're quite impressive, young man!" The white-haired old man sat beneath the maple tree, looking at the boy as he panted for breath.

"This place means a lot to you, doesn't it?" Xiao Yan looked at the tall, sturdy maple tree before him. Its great age had left many weathered marks on its trunk.

The old man said nothing. He turned to look at the maple tree, tears glimmering in his eyes.

An autumn breeze blew gently past, sending a few golden leaves drifting down. Xiao Yan stood quietly beside him, not wanting to interrupt his memories, while Pikachu and Eevee ran and played in the piles of maple leaves.

The golden sunset and the red maple leaves tinged with yellow made everything feel so warm, so harmonious. If I could, I'd freeze time at this very moment and let the world remain at peace forever.

"You won this game. As promised, I'll let you go back!" Using some kind of power, the old man sent Xiao Yan and the two Pokémon to the farm's front gate.

Xiao Yan looked back. The old man's body was gradually turning into light and scattering into the sky. At that moment, a kindly smile appeared on his aged face.

"Young man, I believe you'll become a great Pokémon Trainer."

Night soon fell quietly. Eevee lay peacefully on a rock, bathing in the moonlight as the night breeze gently caressed his fur.

"All right, going back to camp at night would be a little dangerous. We'll sleep here tonight."

By then, Pikachu was already asleep nearby.

Xiao Yan lay in his sleeping bag, thinking back over everything that had happened that day.

"I think that old man has been reunited with the person he loved somewhere by now."

"Vee~"

Just then, white light enveloped Eevee's entire body. Within it, his body kept changing.

When the white light faded, a black-furred Umbreon stood there. Umbreon fired a Shadow Ball at a nearby rock, blasting it to pieces in an instant.

"Eevee, no... Umbreon. Here's to our journey together!"