Qinggu House

In the northeast of the Hoenn Region lay Fallarbor Forest.

A gloomy, dense sea of trees formed a vast natural maze, separating Mt. Chimney at its center from Fallarbor Town on its outskirts.

With the rise of the trainer profession, the Pokémon League had begun placing increasing importance on developing the wilderness to create a safe environment for traveling trainers. Even so, many desolate areas remained "awaiting development," and Fallarbor Forest was one of them.

These places possessed abundant natural resources, but their dangerous, unknown terrain and environments, as well as aggressive Pokémon, were all reasons people shied away from them.

Fallarbor Town, outside the forest, was a farming town with a dozen or so households. Because it was close to Mt. Chimney, volcanic ash from the mountain would drift there whenever a breeze blew, providing abundant nutrients for the local plants.

At Qinggu House.

Terrance walked out into the yard, wrinkling his nose slightly with a helpless expression.

Beside him, a butterfly with aqua-blue compound eyes kept beating its beautiful wings. Under its control, a sea of silk shimmering with golden electric currents sang like a thousand birds in unison, a breathtaking sight.

The light from the sea of silk shone on Terrance's face, making his youthful features beneath his short, golden-brown hair look exceptionally handsome.

This was the move Electroweb that Beautifly was practicing.

The boy's name was Terrance, and he was a member of the Qinggu House orphanage. In this small town with its sparse population, Qinggu House was a rather distinctive building. A group of children often gathered there to laugh and play together.

Watching Beautifly flutter beside him, Terrance said with some emotion, "It's been almost a year, hasn't it?"

"Coo~" Beautifly nodded at his words.

A year ago, to escape a flock of Taillow hunting for food, Beautifly, still a Wurmple then, had crawled out of the grass and forest where it lived. After wandering from place to place, the little one had ended up at Qinggu House.

The lively children had then caught the timid Wurmple and made it the target of their teasing. Fortunately, Terrance had noticed in time, stopped the children, and rescued Wurmple.

The children weren't bad at heart. Before long, Wurmple received a sincere apology and became close friends with them, getting along with them very happily. In the end, even Terrance hadn't expected the little one, which had wandered alone for so long, to stay on and so naturally join the big family at Qinggu House, becoming one of its members.

Terrance had been responsible for caring for Wurmple throughout that year.

Training with Beautifly had taken too long, and it was already noon. Looking at the dust that had accumulated on the unswept ground, Terrance sighed.

"Beautifly, come help me out!" Terrance dusted off his clothes, set his backpack aside, and picked up the broom in the corner, intending to clear away the fallen leaves first.

Just then, a clear voice suddenly called out beside him. He instinctively looked up and saw a little girl running over happily.

"Little Rina." Terrance smiled at the sight of her. Rina was also an orphan at Qinggu House, though they had met before either of them came there.

Thinking of the innocent little Rina who had clung to his side back then, and of his own awkward actions at first, Terrance suddenly froze, struck by the illusion that he had traveled through time and space.

Time flew, and four years had passed.

Terrance was originally from Cerulean City. He had lost his family four years ago and been adopted into this orphanage.

Those four years had been full of tedious, monotonous days. Fortunately, Terrance had gradually adapted to this life and slowly pulled himself together in this world that was both familiar and strange.

But no one knew that Terrance had already been "switched" four years ago. The Terrance here now came from another blue world, Earth!

"Terrance... why are you spacing out?" Little Rina walked up and stared at him quizzically, blinking her bright, big eyes.

Only when Rina spoke did Terrance come back to his senses. Feeling somewhat dazed and sad, he said, "It's nothing. Are you hungry? I'll go make lunch first."

Seeing Terrance smile, Rina felt delighted. She looked at the ground around them and said sheepishly, "Sorry for the trouble, Terrance. Kota and I went exploring by the cave this morning... so we didn't help you clean." She pressed her palms together and grinned apologetically. "Can you and Beautifly manage on your own now? Let me help."

Rina was about to get to work, but Terrance shook his head and stopped her. "No need. Leave this to Beautifly. It can handle it."

"Then... let me help you make lunch?" Rina wanted to do something for Terrance.

"I'll do that too. But do you know how dangerous it was to go to the cave without permission?" Terrance's tone grew stern. "How many times have I told you? Don't go running around. Stay in town!"

"But you're always running off yourself," Rina muttered under her breath, pouting. She glanced at Beautifly with some envy. "It's not that dangerous out there, and lots of friendly Pokémon often help us."

"You've just been lucky." Terrance sighed. "Looks like I'll have to get Grandma Oran to give you all a talking-to. Go call everyone for lunch. We're having your favorite Balm Mushrooms today, and this is also the last meal I'll make for you." As Terrance went on, his tone suddenly grew a little subdued.

"The last meal?" Rina paused, noticing the implication in his words. "Terrance... what do you mean?"

Before Terrance could answer, an elderly woman came out and affectionately patted little Rina's head. "Silly girl, haven't you figured it out? Terrance has decided to leave."

Leave?

Rina stared blankly at Terrance. "L-leave Qinggu House?"

Terrance met Rina's eyes without speaking.

In League Year 206, on adoption day, Terrance and Rina, both orphans from Cerulean City and unable to care for themselves,

were adopted by Oran into the Qinggu House orphanage.

Ever since coming to Qinggu House, Terrance had acted remarkably mature and considerate, nothing like a child, in order to repay Grandma Oran's kindness. He volunteered to take on any of the many tasks at Qinggu House that were within his ability. Because of this, Terrance was very much like a big brother to the children there.

And for Terrance, being someone the children relied on had become perfectly natural.

Now that Rina had heard Terrance was leaving, it was only natural for her to feel reluctant to part with him and panic.

After a moment's silence, Terrance nodded. "Grandma Oran, I'm planning to leave for Qishui City tomorrow. Thank you for looking after me these past four years."

"What are you going there for? Is it because we didn't behave?" Rina's eyes were already beginning to redden as she interrupted Terrance.

"No. I just want to see the outside world. Besides, I'm planning to take the breeder examination. If I pass, I'll be able to help shoulder some of Qinggu House's burdens." Terrance spoke calmly.

Grandma Oran sighed. "Terrance, you need to think this through. The children here all grew up in poverty. They don't even qualify to register as trainers. Going out on your own when you're so young-you'd be better off staying here and helping Grandma take care of Qinggu House."

"I know all that, Grandma Oran, but I've got arms and legs. Can't I take care of myself? This is the day I've been studying for these past four years." Terrance's answer was unexpectedly firm.

During his four years here, Terrance hadn't spent his time playing like the other children. Instead, he had studied hard every day, spending those dull yet novel days in the company of tedious books, all so that one day he could leave and see the outside world.

To be honest, once Terrance accepted the fact that he had transmigrated, he was unwilling to spend his whole life in one place. But reality had dealt him a heavy blow.

Even so, Terrance hadn't given up. Knowledge was an extremely important path he had found for building a bridge to the outside world!

Unlike Earth, although this world had technology, information about it was precious. Advanced knowledge was monopolized by certain organizations, including the League and major financial conglomerates!

Knowledge of technology was a high-end field of study and an important means by which the League maintained checks and balances. Technology in this world had developed rapidly, but it had not reached the point of being openly available and eagerly seeking talent on a large scale as it was on Earth.

By contrast, the mainstream of this world was a kind of wondrous creature: Pokémon!

They had taken the place of technology and were sought after by people. All kinds of industries revolved around them and were built around them. They were indispensable partners in human life in this world.

What Terrance studied was knowledge about Pokémon.

Although the knowledge publicly available on the continent was vast and complicated, Terrance had, over four years, methodically built a system of study of his own for the sake of his dream.

Hearing him say this, Grandma Oran knew Terrance had thought it through. She could only sigh and say no more.

Terrance had been exceptionally sensible ever since coming here four years ago. Not only had he given her no cause for worry, he had also been helping take care of Qinggu House all along.

But Oran could also see that Terrance's mind was not here. Although he helped care for the children, Oran had lived most of her life and could naturally tell that Terrance was fundamentally different from them.

It was as though Terrance found it hard to fit in with the other children.

Though he was still young, Terrance had already been very independent-minded back then. Perhaps, alongside his books, his heart had long since flown to broader horizons.

Perhaps, from the adoption day four years ago, Grandma Oran should have recognized how different this child was from his calm, composed gaze and his introduction.

It really wasn't very realistic to keep someone like Terrance in little Fallarbor Town forever, and Grandma Oran didn't want to see that future either.

But even so, she didn't know why Terrance was so insistent. It was hard to imagine that a child of only ten could have such determination and make such a bold decision.

This may be the best choice... Terrance sighed inwardly.

This world was full of dazzling wonder and magnificent splendor! For him, someone from another world, every place here drew Terrance, making him want to explore and traverse it.

Terrance also understood that Qinggu House's development had fallen into a slump over the years. Relying on Grandma Oran's savings alone, the orphanage would have great difficulty continuing to operate for long.

So it wasn't just for himself; Terrance also didn't want to add to Qinggu House's burden anymore. Even knowing the road ahead would be difficult, Terrance had no thought of backing down.

Since he had encountered transmigration, Terrance wanted to see the outside world too. If he didn't even have that much courage, he'd be unworthy of the title "transmigrator." How would he be any different from a salted fish?

There was no reason. He simply wanted to see the wonders of this world!!