"Illumina is so big, where do we even start looking for him?"
"That's a good question."
Iono already had a large group of die-hard fans. They were long used to her doing things on a whim during her streams, so they asked what she planned to do next.
After all, the person in question wasn't anyone famous. He had a Meowscarda and was going to compete in a tournament; such limited information was basically no help at all.
The only official large-scale tournaments were the Regional Conferences and the World Championships, but beyond those, no one can keep track of all the scattered entertainment events.
"Iono just wants to go on a trip and use it as an excuse to pad her streaming hours... As if! Every one of Iono Zone streams is done with full sincerity! First, let's start by process of elimination.
This year's Illumina Conference just wrapped up, and the World Championships haven't started yet. Currently, the biggest upcoming tournament in Illumina should be... the 'Pangoro Academy Cup'!
That uploader is a college student, right? Then it's settled, we're heading out right now. Target: Illumina, Tianfu!"
As she said this, Iono pulled out a suitcase shaped like a square Bellibolt from who-knows-where, and began packing on stream in front of her massive audience.
"What if we don't run into him? Then we'll turn it into a tour of the world's largest Pancham breeding center! I heard the people over there can all breathe fire—it's gotta be super fun~"
Iono was a woman of action and had already bought her plane tickets, planning to fly straight to her destination. As for the Levincia Gym…
Well, since the Gym Leader was away on a side hustle, of course it was temporarily closed~
According to the "six degrees of separation" theory, under optimal conditions, you only need to go through six people to meet anyone you want to know.
But that was just a theory. At least, among the members of Iono's livestream, no one actually knows a nobody like Rowan.
Iono even joked before setting off that maybe she'd run into him at the airport.
But that would never happen—unless it was a city where the train station and airport were built together, Rowan was never going to show up near an airport.
At this moment, Rowan was still on the bullet train listening to a Pingshu*. [TN: *It's a folk art where a single performer narrates stories from history or fiction.]
Normally, he didn't listen to such things, but the historical and cultural content in this world… was different from what he knows.
In Rowan's earphones, something played that felt familiar and yet foreign.
"Zijing, did you know that Liang encountered an ancient divine beast in the Nanping Mountains, called 'Suicune'? This creature is the essence of the north wind, commanding wind and rain as easily as reaching into a pocket!"
Then he led the crowd up to the Seven-Star Altar, where Zhuge Kongming lit three incense sticks and raised the jade pendant at his waist high above his head. In an instant, a dazzling blue light erupted from the sea of clouds!
A dragon's roar shook the heavens as a colossal azure beast came treading upon the waves!
Its tail billowed like rolling clouds and crashing waves, while the crystal on its forehead cast a frost-like glow over the Yangtze River even in broad daylight. Zhuge Liang bowed deeply and said, "May Suicune lend us the east wind for three days!"
The divine beast raised its head and let out a long howl. Suddenly, a thousand swirling whirlpools rose on the river's surface, and the northwesterly wind turned midair, transforming into a fierce southeastern gale!
Huang Gai's fire ships, carried by the wind, charged straight into Cao Cao's camp, and Suicune further stirred the angry waves of the Yangtze to aid the assault...
As the saying goes… if Suicune hadn't stirred the raging waves, how could a thousand ships burn at Red Cliff?
Ah, the Battle of Red Cliff and borrowing the east wind—such a familiar tale. Except here... the east wind was brought by Suicune!
As for why Suicune would exist in this region, Rowan didn't know. The official Pokémon lore never mentioned anything about Illumina either.
And when you think about it, over such a long stretch of time, it doesn't seem all that unreasonable for these special Pokémon to be roaming around.
Aside from that, there were all sorts of strange things. Like the Hegemon-King marching west into the underworld of Fengdu, and on the snowy plains, obtaining Spectrier as a steed.
Or the Emperor Gaozu of Han winning Meloetta's favor, and thus the "Songs of Chu on All Sides"... [TN: Songs of Chu on All Sides is a Chinese idiom that means "surrounded by enemies" or "isolated and without help." It originated from the Battle of Gaixia, where the Han army surrounded the Chu army and sang Chu songs on all sides. This tactic demoralized the Chu army and contributed to their defeat. ]
Originally, auspicious omens were just a way to express the will of gods, but here, these omens seemed to take the form of mysterious Pokémon. It appears that every renowned figure is invariably connected to some powerful Pokémon.
However, history had changed quite a lot. After the Three Kingdoms period, it transitioned into the Beast Era of the Illumina League, and the League system had continued ever since.
"Meow~ (Is it really that interesting?)"
At this moment, Nekomi was curled up in the airline seat, licking the pudding that the store owner had given them earlier.
Watching Rowan laugh out loud from time to time, Nekomi couldn't quite understand. What was so amusing about that tongue-twisting stuff?
At first, she and Rowan were sharing the pair of earphones, but she got bored and stopped listening.
"Actually, it's kind of interesting, but there's also a lot of abstract stuff."
History can never escape unofficial accounts. They may not be accurate, but they're certainly wild.
An eleven-hour train ride wasn't short. The scenery outside changed constantly, but it got boring after a while too.
After a while, Nekomi lost interest in looking out the window.
The perk of a business-class seat was getting a free meal at mealtime. Of course, considering how overpriced business-class tickets were, the meal didn't seem all that worthwhile.
It was only worth it because it would be reimbursed. Otherwise, Rowan would probably be sitting in second class.
"Meow… meow~ (It's not tasty. Not as good as the stuff that spiky-haired guy made.)"
Nekomi was holding a colorful portion of Pokémon food. Most of the time, she ate the same food as Rowan or just snacked on Berries, then used the Synthesis move unique to Grass-type Pokémon to restore her stamina.
But she didn't reject custom Pokémon food either. Occasionally, she treated it like cookies or chips.
"He's a professional Breeder, after all. If we run into him again, we'll buy some more from him."
You couldn't expect anything special-made on a bullet train. Brock, after all, was someone who took care of a bunch of younger siblings and Pokémon; his skills were far better than this mass-produced stuff.
"If you don't like it, then forget it. Want to eat mine?"
"Meow~ Meow? (It's not that bad. Still edible. What are you looking at?)"
Nekomi leaned over from the other side of the seat, staring somewhat bored at Rowan's scrolling screen.
"Just browsing. Want me to buy you a phone too?"
"Meow~ (No, I want to watch with you.)"
Nekomi flatly refused the offer. What mattered to her wasn't the watching, it was watching together. But then she suddenly saw a topic she was interested in and raised her paw to stop Rowan from scrolling past it.
[Everyone knows that literary works contain many fictional elements, such as Lü Bu, but the incident where Lü Bu shot an arrow at the halberd at the gate is actually true.
Why was he so powerful? According to my research, his mother might not have been human, but a Decidueye from beyond the Great Wall…
He inherited this talent, as well as some of the habits. Which means Diao Chan was likely not human either, but rather...]
Hmm, this one's pretty good, Nekomi found it quite entertaining.
Though the journey was long, business class was still decent. When he started feeling drowsy, Rowan handed his valuables to the still-energetic Nekomi, put on his eye mask, and took a short nap.
Meanwhile, back in the second-class carriage, Old Liu, who had paid his own expenses, wasn't having such a good time. Two people beside him were arguing over seat adjustments, and their shouting scared a nearby child, whose incessant crying filled the air.
Old Liu could only rub his temples helplessly and stare at his watch, hoping time would pass a little faster.