My Pokémon Story of Seasons

Chapter 225 Test of Courage

"Mr. Tong Hua, I knew you weren't asleep yet."

"Are you all awake in your dorms? We're having a really fun event, want to join?"

Tong Hua: "————"

He silently opened the door, showing the two people in their pajamas the deathly silence inside.

Inside the room, on all six beds, lay children and Pokémon, sleeping in all sorts of haphazard ways.

"Bree?"

The sunlight from outside shone directly on Tibrim, who was lying on the edge of the bed, waking the little guy up.

Tong Hua went over and picked her up, then went outside and closed the door.

"What activity?"

"A test of courage!" Huang Yao lowered his voice and mysteriously pointed to the end of the corridor.

"Let's talk somewhere else, everyone's over there."

So Tong Hua, with Tibrim in tow, followed behind Huang Yao and Lu Mei, toward a girls' dormitory.

"It's so slow, Ritsumi."

"We thought you two had run off to meet up and weren't planning on coming back."

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

At this moment, a dozen or so male and female students were sitting in twos and threes on the six beds in the dormitory.

Tong Hua followed the blushing Lu Mei and Huang Yao into the room and immediately spotted the green-haired Mu Mu. He then smiled and nodded to everyone.

"Alright, that's about the right number."

Ritsumi cleared her throat and said softly.

"I'm sure everyone knows why we've gathered here?"

The "Test of Courage" is a long-standing tradition at our school. Anyone who is timid or scared can withdraw now.

Every year at the start of the new school year and during summer camp, students spontaneously organize courage challenges. This year, we decided to explore the legendary "old school building"!

"The old school building?" Tong Hua repeated curiously.

Huang Yao picked up the conversation: "It's that abandoned teaching building on the back hill of the school. I heard it was the dormitory building used when the school was first established."

Later, it was flooded for a period of time due to a flash flood and was therefore abandoned.

However, the water had receded several years ago, allowing the old school buildings to reappear.

Although the school has renovated the old school buildings, it has no plans to reopen them; they are simply kept as memorials.

"Bree!" Tibrim suddenly perked up her ears excitedly. As a witch, she was particularly interested in such supernatural legends.

"I see—this is probably an essential part of campus life. Okay, I want to participate!"

When Lu Mei confirmed again who would be participating, Tong Hua was the first to raise her hand.

"During the day, the two of us took some time to put something in the deepest room on the top floor of the old school building."

Everyone was divided into groups and set off in turn. Each group had to bring back one item, otherwise the challenge would be considered a failure.

Everyone gathered at the back door of the teaching building. Ritsumei took out a small box from her bag, which contained many flashlights and distributed them to everyone.

"Make sure you get the item back, it's very important." The grouping rule is two people per group, "You can bring your own Pokémon. Each group will have a ten-minute break before starting, and everyone will return here to meet up afterward."

Soon, the group assignments were completed. Tong Hua and Tibrim were placed in the third group in the middle, and in the same group as Mumu, who did not bring any Pokémon.

"Junior brother, we must look after each other!" Mu Mu nervously grabbed Tong Hua's arm, her voice trembling slightly.

"I...I'm afraid of the dark—"

"It's okay, senior brother, we have flashlights, there's nothing to be afraid of." Tong Hua gently comforted Mu Mu, and soon it was time for them to set off.

The group walked along the forest path behind the teaching building. The natural scenery, which looked quite pleasant during the day, transformed into a completely different scene late at night.

"Bri~" Tibrim confidently tossed her curly hair and walked ahead to clear the way, seemingly unafraid of the dark and gloomy surroundings.

Moonlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled, swaying shadows along the path. The night breeze rustled through the treetops, occasionally punctuated by the calls of unknown Pokémon.

"Junior brother, did you hear anything?" Mu Mu gripped Tong Hua's clothes tightly, her voice trembling.

Tong Hua listened intently and used waveguide power to probe.

Unfortunately, because the power of waveguides is perceived by sensing emotions, there was someone emanating a strong sense of fear right next to Tong Hua at that moment, interfering with her.

This resulted in Tong Hua's waveguide power being unable to detect anything normally; he could only sense the fear waveguide continuously emanating from his senior brother Mu Mu beside him.

"It's just a rumor, senior brother, don't scare yourself." Tong Hua patted Mu Mu's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

Tibrim, however, was in high spirits. With a wave of her hand, several orbs of magical light floated in the air, illuminating the path ahead.

Bathed in magical light, the surrounding environment no longer seemed so frightening.

"Brie!" she suddenly pointed into the depths of the woods, where several pairs of glowing eyes gleamed in the darkness.

"Whoa! What's that?!" Mumu was so startled that she jumped onto Tonghua's back.

Tong Hua looked closely and saw that it was several Night Patrol Spirits and Floating Balls curiously observing them, these late-night visitors.

These Ghost-type Pokémon didn't seem to have any ill intentions; they were just attracted by their commotion.

"They're just wild Pokémon," Tong Hua reassured her. "They seem quite friendly."

Tibrim even floated over to greet them, and the Ghost-type Pokémon responded in a friendly manner.

With the reassurance of Tibrim and Tong Hua, Mu Mu finally relaxed a little.

"Senior brother, since you're so afraid of the dark, why didn't you back out just now?"

Upon hearing this, Mumu's expression immediately turned somewhat awkward.

"I—I'm too embarrassed to say—"

It's rare for someone to invite me, and I want to be friends with everyone —

Upon hearing this, Tong Hua's heart softened. He gently patted Mu Mu's back: "Senior brother, you still have us, don't you?"

Next time you encounter something like this, don't force yourself; just say no.

Mumu scratched her head shyly, but her other hand still gripped Tong Hua's sleeve tightly.

Guided by Tibrim's magical light, the three continued toward the old school building.

The Ghost-type Pokémon seemed to find them amusing, following them at a distance that was neither too close nor too far, without getting too close or making a sound, just quietly following them.

Soon, a dilapidated three-story building came into view.

Vines climbed all over the mottled walls, and several broken windows swayed gently in the wind, making creaking sounds.

"This is it—" Mumu's voice began to tremble again.

Tibrim excitedly floated to the building and gently pushed open the rusty door with her small hand. A musty smell of dust wafted out, accompanied by a faint musty odor.

Tong Hua gripped his flashlight and stepped into the dark corridor first. Mu Mu followed closely behind him, while Tibrim, like a little explorer, floated ahead with great interest.

Tong Hua followed behind her, protecting Mu Mu behind her.

The corridor was filled with a damp, musty smell, and the beams of flashlights flickered in the darkness, illuminating the cobweb-covered corners of the walls.

With each step, the old floorboards creaked and groaned.

"That's strange. Didn't Huang Yao and the others say that the school had renovated the old school buildings?"

Why does this place look so old? It looks like no one has been here for decades.

C

Tong Hua vaguely sensed something was off, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"I always feel like I'm being watched by countless eyes—"

Is it on the top floor? Senior, let's hurry up and go.

I have a feeling something's off about this place.

"Hmm? Senior brother?"

When Tong Hua came to her senses, she suddenly realized that Mu Mu, who had been following behind her, had disappeared without a trace!

"Bree?"

Without the persistent and overwhelming fear that had been interfering with their work, even the detection of waveguide power suddenly became quiet.

But this tranquility did not last long—

"Ding!"

Tong Hua heard a clear, bell-like sound, followed by a large amount of waveguide energy flooding into his consciousness at the same time!

Then, the light and shadow shifted before my eyes, and the old school building, which was originally dim, suddenly became as bright as day!