She saw her best friend's name on the caller ID.
Sonia's pretty face now wore a mask of distress.
Should... should she answer this call or not?
The ringtone continued for about half a minute.
Sonia finally bit her lip and picked up the phone.
Answer it!
Nothing really happened between her and that guy anyway, so what was there to be afraid of!?
"Hello~ Sonia."
Lurina's voice on the other end hadn't changed from before.
She probably didn't know that Sun Wuming was here.
Sonia let out a long sigh of relief.
"What's up, Lurina?"
Sonia tried to keep her voice as normal as possible when responding.
"Do you know where that Wuming guy went? He hasn't been back for several days."
Hearing Lurina's question, Sonia's heart pounded heavily in her chest.
She had always felt she had nothing to hide, and logically should just tell the truth.
But when the words reached her lips, Sonia didn't know why... but she chickened out.
"No, I don't know. Given his personality, he's probably gone off somewhere to train."
Sonia hesitated for two seconds, her voice slightly trembling.
Fortunately, Lurina on the other end didn't seem to notice anything unusual in her friend's tone and replied:
"Sorry for bothering you so late then."
"It's fine, it's fine, um... if there's nothing else, I'll hang up now."
Sonia wanted to end the call immediately, as if trying to escape.
"What's going on? We sisters haven't had a good phone chat in ages, why are you in such a hurry to get rid of me?"
At the Water Gym on the other end of the call.
Having finished a day of training, Lurina lay on her bed, her body completely exhausted and sunk into the bedding, as she teased her friend.
Unfortunately, there was no one else present to appreciate such a beautiful sight.
Lurina held the phone to her ear and joked:
"Could it be you're getting cozy with Dandee?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? There's nothing between me and that guy!"
Sonia suddenly raised her voice, startling the smiling Lurina, who quickly apologized:
"S-sorry, Sonia, I shouldn't have said that."
While apologizing, Lurina also wondered to herself.
Had she somehow stepped on a landmine with her friend?
"No, no, Lurina, I should be the one apologizing..."
Sonia suddenly realized she had lost control of her emotions and hurriedly apologized too.
The two formerly inseparable friends ended their call in this awkward atmosphere.
...
...
Early the next morning.
Sun Wuming, Sonia, and Mary gathered in front of the research institute.
"The technology in this world is really amazing."
Sun Wuming said while looking at Sonia's small shoulder bag and Mary's small travel backpack, stroking his chin.
Tents, cooking utensils, medical kits... all these essential items for long-distance travel.
In this Pokémon world, they all had the same auto-expand and shrink functionality as Poké Balls.
A large pile of items could all fit in that tiny bag.
"Where should we go first?"
Mary asked Sun Wuming.
Sonia fixed her hair, her eyes sparkling with anticipation as she looked at Sun Wuming.
It had been many years since she'd traveled, wow cool wow cool!
"Stow-on-Side."
Sun Wuming replied:
"I heard from Sword Dog and Shield Dog that the battlefield where they fought to the death with Eternatus was in that area, let's go check it out first."
"Stow-on-Side is the second largest city in Galar after Wyndon, it's a good choice."
Sonia smiled.
"There's a gym there, I want to go too."
Mary also expressed her agreement.
[We have names]
Zacian's voice suddenly echoed in the three people's minds.
It was protesting about Sun Wuming always using nicknames like "Sword Dog," "Shield Dog," and "Training Dog" to refer to itself and its siblings.
...
The distance from Postwick to Stow-on-Side was considerable.
Taking the train would get them there quickly.
But that would take away the fun of traveling.
Walking, however, meant crossing Galar's premier wild Pokémon habitat—
The Wild Area.
A vast wilderness covering grasslands, forests, lakes, and various historical ruins.
Many wild Pokémon made their home there.
Many trainers came here to catch wild Pokémon, and each year, countless trainers also lost their lives here.
...
...
"Let's spend the night here."
As dusk fell, Sun Wuming led Sonia and Mary to Lake of Outrage in the Wild Area.
According to Lurina, she had once encountered a Milotic here that evolved from a Feebas she knew as a child while shooting a commercial at this lake.
"I'll set up the tent."
Sonia said as she started to unzip her backpack.
"No need for all that trouble."
Sun Wuming raised his hand to stop Sonia's action, reaching into his chest to take out a small box.
Under the curious gazes of Sonia and Mary, he took out a capsule with numbers printed on it.
As the two girls watched in confusion.
Sun Wuming casually tossed the capsule from the box toward the lakeshore.
Poof~
A cloud of smoke spread out and dispersed within seconds.
On the previously empty lakeshore, a small villa had appeared!
It couldn't compare to the Magnolia Research Lab where Sonia lived, of course.
But compared to a tent, it could definitely be described as "luxurious."
And unlike regular angular houses, this small house was hemispherical.
The girls found it quite cute.
Even Mary, with her typically expressionless demeanor, widened her eyes in shock.
This, this was incredible.
"How many more secrets do you have?"
Having spent some time with Sun Wuming, even Sonia was quite shocked by this display.
Sun Wuming smiled slightly, "Ladies first, please choose your rooms."
***
T/N: Did you enjoy reading? If you're interested in more, check out my main profile, MrBlackWing, and read plenty!
And on my Patreon, for just $1 you can access all the extra content of my main novels, descriptive images, and the smuts costs only $2!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
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