Torrential rain came crashing down.
Fat raindrops joined into a white curtain of water, pelting the wasteland with a deafening patter.
The dry soil became saturated at a visible rate, and the cracks in the ground slowly closed under the rain's nourishment.
Even the wilted weeds straightened up again in the rain, showing a hint of green they had long lacked.
Meanwhile, inside Professor Oak's Laboratory.
Professor Oak stood by the window, watching the exaggerated weather outside, and said instinctively:
"Why did the weather suddenly change?"
Outside the window, the rain clouds covered almost half the sky over Pallet Town, with sheets of rain pouring from their undersides.
The Rattata in the laboratory's yard had long since scattered. Only a few Psyduck that had already been soaking in the pond seemed delighted, tilting their heads up and quacking nonstop.
Only then did Professor Oak catch on and look toward the distant area beneath the rain clouds.
"Could this be Rain Dance from Lu Chen's Pokémon? That range is a bit excessive."
That wasteland covered no small area. An ordinary Rain Dance would have done well to cover even a fraction of it.
Yet this rain covered not only the entire wasteland, but also several kilometers of the surrounding area.
Professor Oak caught a few drops splashing from the eaves and held them beneath his nose for a sniff, raising his eyebrows slightly.
There seemed to be a faint trace of life energy in the rainwater.
"Though if it's Lu Chen, perhaps it isn't so strange."
Professor Oak turned and walked back to his computer desk. On the screen was the email he had sent to the Pokémon League.
In the email, Professor Oak had described in detail what had happened when he met Lu Chen, emphasizing Lu Chen's strength.
A suspected Champion-level powerhouse.
Having finished all this, Professor Oak leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers rhythmically against the desk.
"I wonder who the Pokémon League will send to investigate. At least two members of the Elite Four, surely?"
After muttering that, Professor Oak added:
"I just hope it isn't Agatha."
His expression was rather peculiar. Clearly, he had some complicated psychological baggage concerning that elderly Ghost-type specialist of the Elite Four.
Then, looking at the farm under the distant downpour, Professor Oak suddenly remembered something and said:
"Oh no, Delia's house is over there. It could be trouble if Delia goes over to greet Lu Chen as a new neighbor. What if Lu Chen isn't a good person..."
Professor Oak hurriedly called Delia, but all that awaited him was the ringing of the phone.
Elsewhere, at Delia's house in Pallet Town.
Delia stood in her yard, looking up at the sudden downpour.
Raindrops struck the yard's flagstone path, sending up tiny splashes.
"This feeling... is this rain caused by a Pokémon?"
She reached out, letting a few raindrops fall into her palm.
"Isn't Professor Oak's farm over there? Doesn't he usually leave that place alone?"
Delia tilted her head. A few strands of hair fell beside her ear, swaying gently in the wind.
"Could Professor Oak have sold that land? Do we have a new neighbor?"
She hesitated for a moment, then looked down at Mr. Mime beside her with a gentle smile.
"Shall we go take a look?"
Mr. Mime had been concentrating on folding the laundry just brought inside, but immediately nodded at her words.
"Mime..."
"But we probably shouldn't go empty-handed on our first visit to a neighbor..."
Delia took a gift and decided to visit this new neighbor.
As she left, Delia had no idea that the phone at home was ringing away...
Meanwhile, back with Lu Chen.
Lapras's Rain Dance was still going. The somewhat barren, desolate land had already regained quite a bit of vitality thanks to the rain.
An ordinary Rain Dance certainly wouldn't have had this effect.
This was because Lu Chen's Lapras possessed healing power that no other member of its species had.
Through a chance encounter, Lu Chen and Lapras had once rescued a Shaymin and received its blessing.
As a result, Lapras's healing energy had surged. Since then, Lapras's Rain Dance had carried a special life energy, reviving all things wherever it reached.
Simply put, Lapras's healing ability ranked among the very best even at the Champion level.
But as he looked at the land gradually regaining its vitality, Lu Chen was considering a more practical question.
What to plant.
Long ago, countless times in that hell of an ultra-ancient battlefield, Lu Chen had imagined starting a little farm after retiring, tending crops every day, basking in the sun, and living in peace.
But now that he actually had to farm, Lu Chen couldn't quite decide what to plant.
To put it plainly, although Lu Chen had been a devoted Pokémon fan in his previous life, more than a decade spent in the ultra-ancient era had blurred many of his memories.
His knowledge of Berry combinations, training directions, and farm management had largely been washed away by the bloodshed and smoke of the battlefield.
"If only I had a phone," Lu Chen muttered.
He wasn't asking for much, just something he could use to look up information online.
At the same time, Lu Chen was a little curious about where he was in the Pokémon timeline he had now transmigrated into.
Still, Professor Oak looked fairly old, so this was probably the timeline Lu Chen vaguely remembered.
Just then, Delia approached from the distance with Mr. Mime.
The downpour had eased considerably. Holding a light-colored umbrella, Delia walked lightly through the rain-soaked grass.
From a distance, she spotted Lu Chen standing in the middle of the wasteland, along with the Pokémon beside him, each more frightening-looking than the last.
"Are you the one who bought this land?"
Delia's voice was soft and gentle, like a sudden ray of sunshine falling into the downpour.
Yet the instant Delia drew near, several Pokémon beside Lu Chen moved at once.
Aerodactyl reacted fastest.
Almost reflexively, it flung its wings open with a low roar and shot toward Delia like a cannonball!
Its blood-red eyes were filled with wariness and killing intent. Clearly, it had taken Delia for an enemy who had suddenly appeared on the battlefield.
Mr. Mime had already found the Aerodactyl before it terrifying. Now, seeing it charge, the Pokémon froze in place, its face draining of color.
"Mime-!!!"
To Aerodactyl, which had spent years fighting on the battlefield, any target that suddenly approached was an enemy.
No exceptions.
At the critical moment, just before Aerodactyl reached Delia, Lu Chen's voice rang out:
"Come back, Aerodactyl! This isn't a battlefield!"
Lu Chen lunged forward and clamped down on Aerodactyl's neck, his fingers gripping its black rocky protrusions tightly.
"This isn't a battlefield anymore. Do you hear me? This isn't a battlefield."
Aerodactyl was still trembling slightly, its wings half-spread and low growls rumbling in its throat.
Only after realizing that the person stopping him was Lu Chen did Aerodactyl relax a little.
Its eyes remained fixed on Delia, every muscle in its body taut as a bowstring.
Lu Chen kept soothing it, patting its hard, rocky skin over and over, his voice calm.
"Don't worry. It's all right. You don't need to be so tense. I'm here."
Under Lu Chen's constant reassurance, Aerodactyl finally calmed down, slowly folding its wings as the growls in its throat subsided.
Only once Aerodactyl returned to normal did Lu Chen let out a small breath of relief, but looking at Aerodactyl before him...
Lu Chen still couldn't help frowning.
Clearly, Aerodactyl had yet to leave behind the battlefield environment of the Monster War and was overly tense about everything around it.
Any unfamiliar approach would trigger a reflexive attack.
In human terms, Aerodactyl very likely had battlefield PTSD.
"Go rest for now." Lu Chen first sent Aerodactyl off to rest nearby.
Then Lu Chen turned to Delia and Mr. Mime, both of whom had been badly frightened.
"Sorry. It hasn't adjusted to the environment here yet."
Although Delia was a little pale, she still managed a smile and waved her hand.
"I-it's all right. I startled it by coming over so suddenly."
She took a deep breath to steady her heartbeat, then put on her gentle smile again.
"I came to introduce myself to our new neighbor. My name is Delia, and I live in Pallet Town."
Delia blinked as she looked at Lu Chen.
"I heard from people in town that someone had bought this plot of his that's been lying unused all this time. I was wondering what kind of person it would be."
Hearing this, Lu Chen paused briefly, then nodded.
"Yes, that's right. I'm your new neighbor. Just call me Lu Chen."
Delia smiled, took a cloth-wrapped bundle from the basket she carried, and offered it to him.
"This is an apple pie I baked myself. Consider it a housewarming gift. I look forward to being neighbors."
Lu Chen accepted the apple pie.
Warmth seeped through the cloth into his hands, accompanied by a faint scent of apples and cinnamon.
That long-absent warmth of everyday life left Lu Chen momentarily dazed.
"Thank you," Lu Chen said, his expression unchanged.
Delia looked around, then her gaze settled on the little dilapidated wooden house behind Lu Chen, and her eyes immediately filled with concern.
"Mr. Lu Chen, do you have somewhere to stay tonight?"
"Somewhere to stay?"
Lu Chen followed Delia's gaze and looked back.
Then he saw it.
The already ramshackle cabin, after being battered by that violent wind and rain, could no longer hold on.
Under Lu Chen and Delia's shared gaze, it gave a desperate creak.
Then...
With a crash...
It collapsed on the spot into a pile of wreckage.
Lu Chen: "..."
Delia: "..."
Mr. Mime: "..."
The two people and the Pokémon could only watch as the cabin shattered into wooden fragments scattered across the ground.
Delia looked at Lu Chen with even greater concern.