"Finally found it." His waist-length black hair cascaded like a waterfall, and he had an elegant, distinguished air. Ash held an Incubator containing a blue Pokémon Egg. Beside him, his shiny Gardevoir stood with small hands folded in front, quietly watching the egg as well.
"Do you think Wei Xing will be happy?" Ash smiled faintly.
"Garde..." Gardevoir gave a soft cry.
His phone rang. Ash answered, and the person on the other end immediately asked where he was.
"Wei Yue, where did you run off to? Why haven't you been answering your phone? The awards ceremony is about to start! You won't make it!" The voice on the other end was frantic. Ash could sense an urgency that suggested they wanted to reach through the phone and drag him back, but clearly Chunghwa Telecom did not permit that sort of travel through its network. "Anyone else can be missing, but not you!"
Ash checked the time, then his current location.
He was in Taoyuan and needed to get to Taipei.
"I'm very close. I'll be right there," Ash said with a smile.
"Okay! I'll stall a little longer, then. Seriously, don't miss it!"
"Okay."
Ash hung up. A red light flashed by his lowered hand, and a Talonflame stirred up a tremendous whirlwind around him, as though it would uproot everything nearby. After beating its wings a few times, Talonflame lowered its head and nuzzled Ash, its affection plain to see.
Ash patted Talonflame on the head. "Let's go."
Talonflame nodded, then-
With a boom, countless waves of air surged like a tide as Talonflame shot into the sky.
Graduation was approaching, and teachers of every subject were mainly helping students review for the entrance exams.
Ash had little interest in that. He already had a university lined up