Fang Yan

It was a sunny afternoon.

A plane streaked across the horizon, its long white contrail dividing the sky in two.

The plane entered Sinnoh Island.

Fang Yan was sleeping soundly when he vaguely heard someone calling him.

"Mr. Fang Yan, Mr. Fang Yan, we're here."

Fang Yan opened his eyes groggily. A figure came into view, bending over to look at him. Her beautiful red hair spilled over her shoulders, a few unruly strands falling against his face and tickling him.

Seeing that Fang Yan was awake, Xia Lan smoothed her hair and smiled at him. "We're here, Mr. Fang Yan."

"We're here?" Fang Yan rubbed his eyes, then followed Xia Lan off the plane.

Unlike the Donghuang League with its four distinct seasons, Sinnoh Island had a distinctive chill that Fang Yan felt the moment he stepped off the plane.

"Mr. Fang Yan, this way. We're heading straight to Twinleaf Town."

Xia Lan walked up to a car and waved at Fang Yan.

Fang Yan dragged his suitcase over. "Miss Xia Lan, you don't have to call me Mr. Fang Yan. Just Fang Yan is fine."

Xia Lan nodded with a smile. "All right, Fang Yan. You can just call me Xia Lan, too."

Fang Yan addressed her as Xia Lan with a respectful "sis," put away his luggage, and got into the car with her.

The car drove from Jubilife City toward Twinleaf Town.

Fang Yan looked out the window as buildings sped backward until they entered a road through the woods.

"Is that a Bidoof from Sinnoh? What big teeth! And that one, is it a Bibarel? There's Kricketune, too, and Pachirisu? So fluffy..."

Watching the various Pokémon slip past outside the window, Fang Yan named them one by one, voicing his thoughts as well.

"You know a lot about the Sinnoh League's Pokémon, Fang Yan."

Sitting in the front passenger seat, Xia Lan listened to Fang Yan reel off the names of the various Pokémon. She glanced at him in the rearview mirror and spoke with a smile.

"Just a bit. I really like Pokémon."

Fang Yan rested his head lightly against the window, watching the scenery and Pokémon flash past as he spoke softly.

Three days ago, he had been lying in bed playing Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, only to inexplicably end up in this Pokémon world.

At first, he had been filled with confusion and uncertainty about having crossed into another world.

He had spent a day accepting it and was just about to find himself a Starter Pokémon, planning to set off on a journey like in the anime and games.

Then Xia Lan had come to his door. She introduced herself and said his late great-aunt had entrusted her with coming here so that Fang Yan could accept the inheritance his aunt had left him.

From her, he learned that he was the only blood-related descendant of his great-aunt, who had lived in the Sinnoh Region, so the inheritance had fallen to him.

The will stipulated that he would inherit a plot of her land in the Sinnoh Region and... just the land.

Xia Lan said his great-aunt had tried opening service businesses such as a Pokémon Center and a Pokémon Day Care, but they had all closed for certain unusual reasons. This had also left her with considerable debts. To repay them, she had mortgaged the various houses and shops in her name, leaving only a plot of land in Twinleaf Town.

He had originally planned to complete the paperwork after arriving in Sinnoh, then ask Xia Lan to sell the inherited land. He would use the money to buy a powerful Starter Pokémon, go traveling, challenge Gyms, and dominate the League.

But the situation before him had put all those plans to rest.

Fang Yan gazed out the window, his attention focused on the lines of illusory, transparent text before his eyes.

[Inherit the land left by your great-aunt, then choose another identity.]

[Available identities: Trainer, Breeder, Coordinator, etc.]

[Successfully inheriting it will grant "generous rewards."]

Fang Yan sighed inwardly, then closed the text before his eyes and continued watching the Pokémon outside.

The car traveled along the forest road, occasionally rolling over dry, rotten branches. The noise startled the Pokémon in the bushes, sending them fleeing.

Several Starly and Staravia flew alongside the car, then soared upward. Immediately afterward, several more descended from the sky and flew ahead of the car.

A few bold Bidoof even ran after the car, only stopping when they could no longer keep up and standing there to watch it drive away.

As the car drove steadily along, Fang Yan closed his eyes again.

"Fang Yan, we're here."

Xia Lan woke Fang Yan.

Fang Yan got out of the car, stretched, and looked at the dilapidated house before him.

Behind the house was a large vacant plot overgrown with weeds. It looked as though it had been abandoned for a long time.

"Is this the place my... great-aunt left me?"

Fang Yan gazed at the shabby house with mixed feelings, let out a breath, and asked.

"Yes."

Standing beside him, Xia Lan nodded.

The driver took Fang Yan's luggage out of the car and handed it to him.

"Are you planning to stay at a hotel tonight, or spend the night here?"

Xia Lan glanced at him and asked.

"Are the facilities inside still intact?"

Fang Yan frowned as he asked. The house looked so shabby and probably hadn't been occupied for a long time. He didn't know whether it was still habitable.

"Well... as you know, no one has lived in this house for a long time, and a lot of things are broken. But we went inside to take a look a little while ago, and the living quarters are still fine."

Fang Yan nodded. After all, houses easily fell into disrepair if left unoccupied for a while.

As people in the Donghuang League put it, it lacked a human presence.

"Then I'll stay here today. It should be livable after some cleaning, right?"

Fang Yan asked. After all, this was a house in his name, so he could familiarize himself with it in advance.

"Yes. I'll go buy you a few sets of bedding in a bit, then help you clean up, and you can move in. The other things will probably take some time to repair, though."

Xia Lan said.

"I'll bring the agreement over then, too. Once you sign it and affix your fingerprint, this place will belong to you."

"All right. Sorry for the trouble."

Fang Yan nodded and thanked Xia Lan beside him.

"It's only right. This is my job."

Xia Lan replied politely.

"Oh, right, didn't you say all the houses in her name had been repossessed? Why is this one..."

Suddenly remembering this, Fang Yan asked.

"Your great-aunt used to run a Pokémon Day Care here. There are also a lot of Pokémon Day Care facilities behind the house, so this house is part of the land. That means they had no right to repossess it."

Xia Lan pushed up the glasses on her nose and answered.

"A Pokémon Day Care? I see."

Fang Yan nodded and replied.

"Well then, Fang Yan, I'll go buy you some bedding and daily necessities, then bring the agreement over."

After saying that, Xia Lan handed Fang Yan the keys, got into the car, and left.

While Fang Yan had been talking to Xia Lan just now, a scarlet gaze had lit up in a window inside the house.

"Gengar~"

Fang Yan knew nothing of this. Dragging his luggage, he stepped forward and cleared some vines from the fence in front of the house's door. Then he opened the gate, walked up to the door, and unlocked it with the key.

Creak~

A heavy, grating sound rang out as the front door opened.

The shabby floor was covered in dust, and opening the door stirred up a great deal of it.

"Cough, cough~"

Fang Yan waved his hand a couple of times, then looked around.

There were a few sets of footprints on the dust-covered floor, probably left by Xia Lan and the others not long ago.

The first thing Fang Yan saw was a counter directly opposite the front door, along with the many cabinets beside it, some of which had fallen apart and toppled onto the floor.

There was a door behind the counter that had originally been covered by a curtain, but the curtain had now fallen to the floor.

To the right was a once exceptionally ornate staircase, now equally dilapidated.

Overhead hung an equally magnificent, colorful chandelier. Half of it had already come away from the ceiling, and the remaining half looked ready to follow, giving the impression that a gust of wind could bring it crashing down.

"Such fancy furnishings, but hardly any of the tools a Pokémon Day Care needs. No wonder it went out of business."

Fang Yan glanced around and said.

Looking at this place, although it was somewhat shabby at the moment, it might become his home in the future-a house in his own name, no less. He felt rather pleased.

It also helped that the original owner of this body had been alone, too, leaving him without parents to worry about.

Fang Yan patted his cheeks, looked at the place that might become his home, then smiled and said, "I'm home!"

With that, he dragged his luggage inside, stirring up more clouds of dust.

Avoiding the chandelier overhead that was about to fall, Fang Yan stepped onto the stairs, preparing to take a look at the second floor.

Just then, he felt the temperature around him drop several degrees. Goosebumps instantly rose on his arms, and the chandelier overhead behind him creaked, accompanied by gusts of chilling wind.

"Don't tell me this place is haunted on my very first day?"

Fang Yan's legs trembled a little.

Then lines of text appeared before his eyes again.

[Gengar]

[Types: Ghost type, Poison]

[Sex: Male]

[Ability: Cursed Body]

[Known moves: Mean Look, Shadow Punch, Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray, Psychic, Lick, Will-O-Wisp, Hypnosis, Hex, Destiny Bond, Phantom Force.]

[Mood: Apprehensive, excited]

[State: Lonely, playing pranks]

[Friendliness: 0 (You have never met.)]

[Description: A Gengar who arrived here at an unknown time. After spending a long time alone, he could no longer bear the loneliness and began playing pranks on every person and Pokémon who came here. This made other people and Pokémon even more afraid of this place and drove them away.]