"But is Uncle Dax available? Could you call him over and have him try an experiment?"
"Sure, I'll call him right now."
The moment Flint heard this, he excitedly pulled out his phone and called Dax Jonas.
Meanwhile, Ashford asked curiously: "What's your idea?"
Auron smiled and shook his head. "It's just a thought. I'm not certain yet. Let's wait for Uncle Dax to arrive and give it a try."
"Alright."
After Ashford acknowledged this, he pulled Auron over to sit on a bench, and together they waited for Dax to arrive.
"Your mother has been looking for a location to open a Pokémon shop lately. Did you know?"
Auron was taken aback. "I had no idea. She didn't tell me."
Ashford laughed heartily. "It's fine. By my calculations, she should have found the spot I prepared for her by now. Can you guess where it is?"
"How would I know? I'm not familiar with this area."
Auron felt helpless. No wonder his mom wasn't home when he got back today. But thinking about it, with her restless personality, wanting to open another shop was perfectly normal.
"Next to our research institute's courtyard, there's an unused plot of land. I've already spoken with the officials—they'll have something built there in the next few days. When it's done, the back of her Pokémon shop will connect directly to our institute's Pokémon habitat. What do you think?"
Upon hearing this, Auron immediately gave Ashford a thumbs up.
"So thoughtful. Grandpa, you're amazing."
Hearing his grandson's praise, Ashford happily squinted his eyes and turned to watch the busy researchers.
After the grandfather and grandson chatted for a while longer, Dax arrived in a hurry with Ji Qianyi in tow.
"Dad, what's so urgent?"
After the two entered, Dax asked with some annoyance. He really hadn't expected that Flint, in order to get him there faster, had directly pulled strings to grant him aerial flight privileges.
That was the only reason Dax had arrived so quickly. Otherwise, given Shangjing's traffic, he probably wouldn't have gotten there until closing time.
"Oh, Qianyi came too! Come, sit, sit. Have a seat here and wait for a moment. I need to talk to him about something."
The moment Flint saw that Ji Qianyi had tagged along, his face immediately blossomed into a chrysanthemum-like smile. He quickly ushered her to sit down.
Then he turned to look at Dax, his expression instantly becoming stern.
"It's so windy up in the air. How could you let Qianyi get buffeted by the wind like that? So inconsiderate. Hurry up and take Qianyi somewhere to rest."
"Uncle, it's fine. If you have business with Dax, just go ahead and start. Don't worry about me."
Ji Qianyi quickly gave Dax a little push, then waved at Flint, indicating she could take care of herself and didn't need special attention.
"Ah, alright then. Just sit here for a bit, okay?"
Flint turned back to Ji Qianyi with that same chrysanthemum smile, then faced Dax again with a stern expression.
"Hurry up. Everyone's waiting for you."
As he pulled the exasperated Dax toward Auron and the others, he didn't forget to turn back and smile at Ji Qianyi.
"Just sit tight, okay? Just sit."
"Mm-hm, okay, Uncle. Don't mind me."
Ji Qianyi replied obediently.
Then, seeing Flint turn and lead Dax toward the center of the area, she finally patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew~"
Then Ji Qianyi noticed Auron waving at her. Her eyes lit up, and she walked over to him.
Come to think of it, she had Auron to thank for being able to get together with Dax. After all, without him, with Dax's dense, straight-guy brain, who knew when he would've noticed her feelings?
"Auron, why are you here too?"
Ji Qianyi excitedly sat down beside Auron and asked.
"I'm the main character here, of course I'm here."
Auron looked at Dax in the center of the area and spoke to Ji Qianyi with pride.
Ji Qianyi teased him with a smile. "You're the main character? I thought Dax was the main character."
"Just watch—we're both main characters."
With that, Auron stood up and walked toward Dax.
"Uncle Dax, did you bring your Steelix?"
"Of course I did. I'm combat personnel—I always carry my Pokémon with me."
Dax spoke to Auron with evident pride.
Auron nodded. "Good. As long as you brought it. Hold this."
As he spoke, he pressed the Key Stone into Dax's hand.
"What are you standing there for? Release your Pokémon!"
Seeing Dax frozen in place, Flint grew irritated and gave Dax a light kick on the rear.
"Oh, oh."
Only then did Dax snap out of it, releasing all of his Pokémon.
"You... ugh, never mind."
Flint pressed his palm to his forehead in exasperation. Seriously, how had his son inherited none of his intelligence? What a headache.
"It's fine. Releasing all of them works too."
After Auron offered some consolation, he attached the Steelix Mega Stone to Steelix's tail, then addressed Dax.
"Uncle Dax, summon the confidence in your heart and make Steelix evolve."
"Mm, hm?"
Upon hearing this, Dax turned to stare at Auron in shock.
"Didn't Steelix just evolve recently? How can it evolve again?"
Auron froze. Ashford froze too. Both simultaneously turned to look at Flint.
Under their gazes, Flint awkwardly rubbed his nose.
"Uh, well, he's been busy with his relationship lately, so I haven't really told him about it."
"Alright then."
Auron had no choice but to explain the whole Mega Evolution situation to Dax. Only then did Dax brim with confidence.
"Don't worry. You came to the right person. Steelix, Mega Evolve!"
Dax gripped the Key Stone and called out toward Steelix.
"..."
Unfortunately, Steelix showed no reaction whatsoever. He simply tilted his head in confusion, looking at Dax.
"Hm? Why isn't there any response?"
Dax also looked puzzledly at Steelix, then at the Key Stone in his hand.
"Idiot! You have to say it like this: 'Respond to my evolution, Steelix.' That's the correct way."
Seeing no response, Flint immediately began coaching Dax on the proper phrasing.
Dax listened, nodded, and with an expression of sudden enlightenment, called out again:
"Respond to my evolution, Steelix!"
Auron watched this scene helplessly but didn't intervene. He simply waited quietly for Dax to finish the whole routine.
"Pfft—"
Still nothing happened on the field. But after watching Dax's embarrassingly theatrical performance, Ji Qianyi couldn't help but burst out laughing.
In the quiet setting, even the smallest sound was amplified. And now everyone turned to look at her.
Ji Qianyi quickly waved her hands, suppressing her laughter as she said:
"Sorry, sorry. Please continue."
Dax's face flushed red as he shouted:
"What Mega Evolution?! You called me here just to make a fool of me, didn't you?!"
He said "you all," but his eyes were fixed on Auron. He knew full well that despite Auron's honest appearance, the kid was full of little schemes.
"Huh? Am I that kind of person? Really now."
Auron glared right back at Dax, responding with complete confidence.
Without waiting for Dax to say more, Auron grabbed an Aggronite and attached it to Dax's Aggron, then turned to address him.
"Now try again."