Chapter One: Celebi, Wait for Me
The moon climbed higher and higher, and the number of people on the streets dwindled. The little shops lining the street were preparing to close, including a small pet shop. Surviving in a big city was no easy task, but with a friend’s help, Cheng Cheng had found a job as a caretaker at this pet shop.
From a young age, Cheng Cheng had been fond of animals, and during his time as a caretaker, he fully experienced the joy of being around them.
On this particular evening, as he was about to lock up and head home, he suddenly heard a strange sound. Following the noise, he realized it was coming from the back room where the small animals were kept.
"Maybe some little critter got out?" he thought.
He opened the door to the room and saw a small green creature eating dog food. Upon closer inspection, Cheng Cheng was astonished to realize it was a Celebi.
Though already in his twenties, Cheng Cheng was a devoted fan of Pokémon, and he immediately recognized the little green being before him as Celebi, the traveler through time.
Just as Cheng Cheng was about to cry out in surprise, Celebi was startled first.
“Bii~” Celebi’s call tore open the portal of time and space. Startled, its power surged unexpectedly, and Cheng Cheng was swept into the vortex of time as well.
Within the time tunnel, Cheng Cheng remained conscious. He realized he might be taken years into the past or the future. Suddenly, he felt something rush into his mind, then he crashed into something, pain flaring in his head as he lost consciousness.
When Cheng Cheng awoke, he found himself lying on a bed.
Rubbing his aching head, he quickly sat up and surveyed the unfamiliar room. He soon noticed that he seemed a little shorter. Hurriedly, he found a mirror—and was shocked to see a completely different face staring back at him.
“Doesn’t Celebi only have the power to travel through time?” Cheng Cheng wondered. “By rights, I shouldn’t have changed at all!” He remembered from the anime that when Celebi took people to the past, they didn’t change appearance.
Opening the window, he looked outside. Rows of small, detached houses and the frequent sight of Pokémon told him he was indeed in the world of Pokémon.
Cheng Cheng sat back on the bed, trying to piece together what had happened. He remembered traveling through time and space with Celebi, but according to the anime, Celebi could only take people to the past or future—yet here he was in a different body entirely, which baffled him.
He suddenly recalled that something had entered his mind during the crossing, and he’d collided with something as well. Searching the room, he found nothing unusual—perhaps it was just his imagination.
As he tried to recall further, he discovered within his mind memories that were not his own—memories belonging to the original owner of this body.
The former owner was also named Cheng Cheng, full name Cheng Cheng Hatake, and he was the heir to this breeding house. His father had built it, but shortly after its completion, his father died in an accident, leaving him alone. Though Cheng Cheng inherited the breeding house, without a source for Pokémon, it had never officially opened.
“Ding-dong~”
Suddenly, Cheng Cheng heard the doorbell. Someone was knocking downstairs.
He was living on the second floor, where he and his father had resided; the ground floor was the actual breeding house. The two floors were separate, with an outside staircase leading to the second story.
As Cheng Cheng was about to answer the door, a graceful woman had already unlocked it and entered.
“Cheng Cheng, I rang the bell and no one answered. I thought you were sleeping, so I let myself in.”
Quickly, Cheng Cheng matched the woman before him to the memories in his mind—he remembered who she was.
“Aunt Meixuzi, what brings you here?”
“I came to cook for you. I know you’re not good at taking care of yourself, so I thought I’d come check on you.”
Cheng Cheng then recalled more about Aunt Meixuzi. She was their neighbor; when Cheng Cheng and his father had moved here, they had soon become acquainted and their families grew close. The reason she had a key was simple: her husband had passed away years before, and Cheng Cheng’s mother had died before they moved here, leaving both families incomplete. Though friendship blossomed between the two adults, out of consideration for Cheng Cheng, his father never remarried. Even after his father’s death, Aunt Meixuzi often came over to look after him.
Recalling these memories, Cheng Cheng felt a bit awkward. Both his parents were gone, and now he had a stepmother who wasn’t really a stepmother—an indescribable feeling lingered in his heart.
Watching Aunt Meixuzi move about the kitchen with practiced grace, Cheng Cheng couldn’t help but feel like a stranger in his own home.
“Don’t mind me,” she said. “Go play for a while. When dinner’s ready, I’ll call you.”
“Oh… okay.”
Cheng Cheng returned to his room and approached the desk, where he noticed a few photographs. One was of him as a child, another showed him with his parents, and a third included his father, Aunt Meixuzi, and himself.
“They really do look like a family,” Cheng Cheng sighed.
He pulled open a nearby drawer and spotted a small red-and-white ball inside. He remembered there was a Chimecho in it.
“Come on out, Chimecho.”
“Chiiing~”
A wind chime-shaped Pokémon appeared before him.
This was Chimecho, the Pokémon his father had given him. Once, it had only been a Chingling, but under Cheng Cheng’s care, it had evolved into Chimecho.
“Ding~”
“Psychic-type Pokémon Chimecho detected. Psychic Breeder System initializing.”
A voice sounded in his mind, and a series of data appeared before his eyes.
Chimecho
Type: Psychic
Level: 34
Rank: Yellow
Rarity: Rare
Ability: Levitate
HP: 37/65
Attack: 18/50
Defense: 30/70
Special Attack: 67/95
Special Defense: 40/80
Speed: 47/65
Total: 239/425
Held Item: None
Moves: Bind, Growl, Astonish, Confusion, Tackle, Uproar, Yawn, Psywave, Double-Edge.
“So these are Chimecho’s stats? Its attack power is really low!” Cheng Cheng thought, seeing the value of 18 and feeling speechless.
As a Pokémon fan, Cheng Cheng understood what these numbers meant. Chimecho’s stats needed improvement, but first, he had to figure out what this system was all about.
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(Here, a brief explanation about Pokémon base stats: for values like 20/50, 50 represents the maximum base stat value for a particular attribute, while 20 shows the current developed value for that attribute. It does not represent combat power.)