By evening, the sky was still overcast, but the sound of rain had already faded from the campus.
As the dismissal bell rang, this long day of substitute teaching finally came to an end. Overall, it had gone pretty well.
All the students stood up in unison, their voices loud and clear, shouting together, "Goodbye, teacher!"
"Mhm, you've all worked hard too. Remember to review properly~"
Lumiere finished putting on an act for the final moment, then walked out holding Rowlet and Eevee, leaving behind only a dignified, much-respected silhouette.
After walking some distance, he let Rowlet fly up to perch on his shoulder, freed one hand, and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Now that class was over, it was time to ask Teacher Fanma for the commission payment—this was the important part. He sent a message right away…
"Class is over~"
"Nothing went wrong, right?" Teacher Fanma replied quickly.
"Nope. The students were all very well-behaved, and the classroom atmosphere was great. Thanks to having such a good teacher like you guiding them usually—otherwise I really wouldn't have known what to do."
"Oh no, no, it's just that the students are obedient. I didn't really teach them anything that useful. I've already settled your payment—check your notifications."
"I see it. Then I'll head off first, I still need to go eat."
"Wait."
"Something else?"
"While you were teaching, did any other teachers come by, or did anyone give you trouble?"
"There was indeed one…"
"Who?"
"I heard from the students that it was probably the dean, but he was way too weak. I suspect he was a fake."
"???"
"He suddenly barged into the classroom asking to battle me. After I one-shot him, he's still squatting in the corner questioning his life."
"???"
Before Teacher Fanma could send another message, Lumiere exited the commission chat. This was what true hand speed looked like.
"Five hundred Pokédollars… how should I spend it?"
Lumiere fell into slight hesitation. Should he buy snacks for the two little cuties at home, or save it to pay off debts?
After all, he still owed that guy Volo tens of thousands. It had been two months already, and he hadn't paid back a single cent.
After thinking for a long time, Lumiere finally made a decision. Tomorrow was the weekend anyway—he'd go take a look at the Ginkgo Guild.
Then he'd buy two Poké Balls and put both little cuties inside.
Otherwise, with one sitting on his shoulder and one in his arms every day, after a while he really would become strong enough to wrestle Pokémon barehanded…
Seeing that it had stopped raining outside, Lumiere put away his umbrella. At that moment, Cynthia came jogging up with her schoolbag on her back, still calling out politely as before, "Teacher!"
"I'm not a teacher at all. You calling me that makes things really awkward—just call me by my name like usual."
"…Alright." Cynthia understood, then asked, "Then can I ask you questions sometimes?"
"When I'm free, maybe. Don't get your hopes up too high."
"I won't! What you taught today feels like something I could comprehend for a lifetime!"
"…Then study hard. And remember—don't say I taught you, okay?" He really didn't want Volo coming after him, accusing him of corrupting a good cabbage.
That night, after taking a shower, Lumiere, Rowlet, and Eevee sat together on the bed, discussing a certain issue.
It was about Eevee wanting to grow stronger. It didn't want to be a mere mascot, good only for being cute and nothing else.
But it had a congenital genetic defect and couldn't evolve—unless they found the legendary Ho-Oh!
Only by using Sacred Ash to reconstruct its body could that problem be solved. Otherwise, there was almost no way.
But according to what was said online, the last suspected sighting of Ho-Oh was years ago, at Bell Tower in Ecruteak City, within the Kanto region…
(Note: To avoid misunderstandings, a quick aside—within the Arceus region, the Kanto region is a stitched setting combining the original Kanto and Johto regions with Mt. Silver at the center. The two sides were never split apart, so they're collectively called Kanto.)
"Ecruteak City… that's way too far. Even flying would take a full day, and the nearest airport is in Goldenrod City. After that, you'd still have to transfer…"
Lumiere checked briefly on his phone and decided to give up on this method for now. The difficulty was too high, and the conditions simply weren't feasible.
Looks like he could only choose that other method.
He didn't know where to start, nor how exactly to proceed.
But this method should be viable. And if Eevee managed to learn it, its strength would undergo a qualitative leap—it would become the kind of all-rounder with no weaknesses.
"Rowlet, is everything prepared?"
"Row!"
"Eevee?" Eevee lifted its head, looking at them with gem-like bright eyes. It felt like something important was about to happen.
Suddenly, Rowlet took out a brand-new battle outfit. It had been made in the afternoon, from some fur picked up after it had smacked Flareon so hard with its tail that the fur went flying.
〔Pokémon: Rowlet (Flareon) ♀〕
〔Type: Grass + Flying (Fire)〕
〔Ability: Flash Fire
(Absorbs fire to boost Fire-type moves, but because it absorbs the flames, it does not thaw when frozen)〕
〔Moves: Quick Attack, Fire Fang, Fire Spin, Scary Face, Flare Blitz, Flame Charge, Dig, Protect, Superpower〕
〔Status: Living Plush
(Cannot evolve, has no innate ability, cannot learn additional moves)〕
〔Affinity: 100 (Your bond is practically overflowing)〕
Rowlet transformed into Flareon's appearance. Aside from the body structure, it was basically a full-on bootleg in every other aspect.
Seeing her sister turn into a Flareon, Eevee froze for a moment with a silly expression, then excitedly ran over and rubbed against her. This delighted Rowlet immensely.
Though it looked somewhat incomprehensible, this was the only way Lumiere could think of to help Eevee grow stronger.
That's right—he planned to raise it into a Partner Eevee.
Needless to say, the difficulty was extremely high.
It was practically unprecedented—no one had ever succeeded in cultivating one. Even so-called Eevee experts had never even heard of such a thing.
But Lumiere was a transmigrator. He knew of the only two Partner Pokémon in existence: Pikachu and Eevee.
Partner Pokémon cannot evolve, but they possess power far beyond their normal forms and can wield many absurdly strong moves.
Eevee has nine Partner moves in total, each corresponding to one of Eevee's nine elemental types. If Eevee could learn all nine Partner moves, it might truly become a Partner Eevee.
To learn such moves, simply finding a specialist of that attribute wouldn't work. It had to be taught by other Eevee evolutions themselves!
That was why Lumiere had Rowlet pick up Flareon's fur. There was no way they'd have a second Eevee at home—so the older sister would just have to cosplay and fill in.
Eevee's Fire-type Partner move was called Sizzly Slide, a physical move with power comparable to Flamethrower, and it always inflicted burn. Incredibly strong.
Thus, this would be Eevee's very first training course. With no prior experience, everything would have to start from zero—collecting data and recording results along the way.
Lumiere gently rubbed Eevee's head and said with a smile,
"Since you want to grow stronger, starting tomorrow, things might get tough for you."
"Eevee!"
Eevee nodded firmly, eyes full of resolve. Though it was only a month old and had nearly died at birth—
It was precisely because of that that it wanted to become stronger. It didn't want to be looked down upon because of its congenital defect, and it wanted to grow strong enough to protect its sister!
"Good! Worthy of being my Pokémon." Lumiere nodded in satisfaction, then looked at his little princess and continued, "And you too—when you're guiding your little sister's training, no slacking off."
"Row!" Rowlet flapped its wings, signaling that everything was under control.
"Alright then. Get a good rest tonight. Tomorrow we'll head out early to the Ginkgo Guild to buy some things, then come back and train!"
With the plan set, Lumiere had the two Pokémon go to sleep early, then lay down himself.
As he continued thinking through and simulating Eevee's training in his mind, he waited with anticipation for tomorrow to arrive—and gradually drifted off to sleep…