Shen Yu, leaving Liuling University, headed north along the road. She planned to visit the northernmost part of the Minglong Kingdom first. Having grown up in the south, Shen Yu rarely had the chance to experience snow. Although she remembered a year when Jinghai City was thoroughly drenched in snow, it wasn't enough. What was the point of seeing snow once and then yearning for it for a decade?
However, before Shen Yu had traveled a hundred meters from Liuling University, her mind changed. It was only October. While the northern part of the Minglong Kingdom was a bit cold, it shouldn't be snowing in October.
With this thought, Shen Yu decisively changed direction, shifting her target from the northeast to the northwest of the Minglong Kingdom. If she remembered correctly, Xia Hunan found Diancie, the sole princess in their team, in the northwest.
Having made up her mind, Shen Yu went straight to the airport, bought a ticket, and departed. Fortunately, due to the recent events involving Arceus, the continental plates of various countries had fractured, causing international flight operations to completely collapse. Domestic flights had been greatly increased, making flying by plane simpler than by motorcycle if one wished to.
Shen Yu boarded the plane with her backpack. The vast aircraft was empty, making it seem as if Shen Yu had chartered the entire plane.
This was not strange. The passenger plane Shen Yu was on belonged to Big Bird Airlines, an established airline. However, perhaps because their chosen symbol Pokémon wasn't very auspicious, they hadn't been popular for decades, as if forgotten by the whole world.
Taking advantage of the fragmentation of the Lingyao Star, Big Bird Airlines decided to go big, touting a service that flew anywhere in the Minglong Kingdom. Thus, this situation came about.
To be honest, the captain was very happy with this flight; it was finally a flight mission. The flight attendants were also happy; without flights, there would be no bonuses. Shen Yu was also happy; traveling alone meant she wouldn't encounter other troubles. Only the management of Big Bird Airlines wished they were dead.
Good heavens, do you know how much it costs to fly a plane from Liuling City to Xuedian City? Including fuel, labor, maintenance, what kind of ticket price and passenger load rate would be needed to make a profit? A single passenger buying a ticket and deciding to leave on a whim like this would be a huge loss! But the routes had been approved, the tickets had been sold, and the plane was about to take off. Could they possibly kick the person off?
Alright, the people at Big Bird Airlines had indeed considered such a thought. But upon a closer look, the person on the plane was Shen Yu, and they immediately lost the courage to act.
Recall that Xia Hunan had taken a Big Bird Airlines flight to Xuedian City and returned the same way. On the way back, he chatted happily with the flight attendant and particularly recounted a small story about how to damage an airline's image. Who would believe that he hadn't told this story to his girlfriend?
And so, Big Bird Airlines spread its wings and flew, taking Shen Yu, who was in pursuit of Xia Hunan's footsteps, to a distant land.
...
In the sky, the cabin, with only one person, was exceptionally spacious. If Xia Hunan or Zhang Hong were on a chartered flight like this, they might have been jumping around excitedly. Shen Yu, however, was relatively restrained and did not roam around the cabin. The flight attendants were also very relaxed, forming a group and coming to Shen Yu's side to chat.
Since no one was watching, even the chief flight attendant was chatting next to Shen Yu. If the captain had the nerve, he would have come out of the cockpit!
The girls hadn't chatted for long before a voice came from the tail of the plane: "Nobody move, I'm hijacking this plane!"
Hijacking? Hearing these words, everyone in the cabin froze. The flight attendants had undergone background checks; there was no reason for them to hijack. Shen Yu was sitting among the passengers. Where did this hijacker come from? How did he get on the plane?
Everyone looked towards the tail of the cabin. The plane was empty. Could it have been auditory hallucination? Just as they were thinking this, a person walked out from between the seats and onto the aisle in the middle of the cabin. The flight attendants struggled to suppress their laughter.
Why? The man was only about 1.45 meters tall, with a beautiful receding hairline dyed a ridiculous white. His deep-set eyes, coupled with rough skin and numerous wrinkles, made it difficult to determine whether he was prematurely aged or on the verge of old age.
The short man, somehow brandishing a knife, walked towards everyone with a unique aura, repeatedly threatening them: "Don't think I only have this knife. I have other means, a means that can blow this entire plane to smithereens with a 'duang' sound."
With his words, how could the people on the plane not understand what he was talking about? The only thing that could instantly destroy a plane was a massive explosion, a move that killed eight hundred enemies at the cost of a thousand of one's own.
"Don't, don't be impulsive. That knife of yours is quite formidable," the chief flight attendant said, trying to dissuade him.
The short man was very pleased with the chief flight attendant's compliance: "I think so too. Just sit there obediently. I need to have a good talk with the captain..."
After saying this, the short man immediately knelt on one knee, his face pale, slapped himself twice forcefully, and then stood up: "You all behave yourselves."
After speaking, the short man swaggered past the crew members. During this process, the crew had countless opportunities to subdue him, but no one made a move. Similarly, it would have taken Shen Yu only a moment to deal with this kid, but she also calmly did not act.
It was clear that this guy could hide on the plane with the help of some illusion-type Pokémon. This meant there might be a Pokémon capable of self-destruction at the tail of the plane, coupled with a Pokémon for invisibility, and possibly a second human. They couldn't casually act against the short man without dealing with them first.
However, on second thought, the flight attendants felt there was no need to act. This guy, who was clearly carsick, dared to hijack a plane? This was a surefire way to court death. In just the distance from the middle of the cabin to the cockpit, he had suppressed the urge to vomit three times. Could his body handle it?
Amidst this absurd concern, the short man arrived at the cockpit door and knocked politely...
Seeing the short man enter the cockpit, the people outside glanced at the cockpit and sighed.
Inside the plane's cockpit, the captain and the co-pilot listened to the short man declare his intention to hijack the plane with extreme calmness, showing no panic at all. Not only were their expressions normal, but their hearts were also undisturbed. The captain unscrewed a bottle of water: "So, where do you plan to go?"
The short man blurted out without thinking: "Anywhere is fine. I think the Lixing Kingdom would be nice."
The co-pilot sighed: "Buddy, you're hijacking a plane, not a rocket. Do you think any plane has enough fuel at this time to fly to the Lixing Kingdom? You can't even leave the Minglong Kingdom right now. Do you have any reasonable suggestions? Let's consider each other."
The short man thought about it. He was right. The international route from the Minglong Kingdom to the Lixing Kingdom was already long, and with the fragmentation of the Lingyao Star, it had more than doubled in length. No passenger jet could handle such a route.
... The battle of wits and courage in the cockpit continued, while outside the cockpit, no one was idle. They were all trying to figure out if there were any accomplices outside and how to deal with them without provoking them.
Before they could come up with a plan, they saw the co-pilot emerge from the cockpit and wave to the chief flight attendant: "Uh, could you come here for a moment? The passenger in question is feeling carsick and has fainted. Please provide emergency treatment."
As soon as he finished speaking, two thudding sounds were heard from the tail of the plane. Everyone turned to look. Two Pokémon had collapsed on the ground, with no other Pokémon or people around.
Shen Yu didn't know what to say upon seeing this scene. While it was true that as the training time increased, Pokémon would gradually develop similar traits to their trainers, this was the first time Shen Yu had seen a trainer lead their Pokémon astray to the point of infecting them with their own carsickness.
However, this also indirectly confirmed that there was only this one fool on the plane and no accomplices. A group of flight attendants quickly subdued the short man and his two Pokémon. Then, while watching him, they continued to chat: "I've seen many stories about drunk driving, but I suspect this might be the first case of drunk hijacking on the Minglong Kingdom, no, the entire Lingyao Star."
"Drunk hijacking? What kind of term is that?"
"She must have been drunk. Otherwise, how could she have done such a ridiculous thing?"
The cabin once again regained its cheerful and lively atmosphere. As for whether the short man, who was now subdued, was truly "drunk hijacking" or simply foolish, that would have to wait for an official investigation report.
Fortunately, the captain and co-pilot, having resolved the hijacking incident, had already begun preparing for a nearby landing: "Captain, this is the first time I've seen such an unreliable criminal."
"Indeed. Acrophobia, carsickness, plus being overwhelmed with emotion. Fortunately, you administered aid in time; otherwise, he wouldn't even have the right to confess and be punished. Why are people like this out and about instead of staying home? By the way, did you contact the ground?"
The co-pilot paused: "Oh, I forgot. I was too preoccupied with that..."
So, the co-pilot urgently contacted the ground. After the plane landed, staff from the Pokémon Alliance boarded the plane to conduct a safety inspection and took away the short man, who was difficult to categorize.
A storm arose and then subsided. The Big Bird Airlines plane soon took off again, and Shen Yu continued her journey in pursuit of Xia Hunan's footsteps. However, this tumultuous and error-prone journey was far from over, not only for Shen Yu but also for Big Bird Airlines, which had been losing popularity for decades.