Scyther lowered its head, avoiding Xiu's gaze, the damaged scythes resting limply at its sides. It looked up briefly at the offered bowl of food, then back down at the floor, clearly wrestling with the harsh words, the undeniable truth of its recent performance.
After a long, tense silence, it seemed to reach a decision. It looked up, meeting Xiu's eyes directly. Though it couldn't speak human language, the determination, the apology, and the acceptance in its multifaceted gaze was unmistakable.
"It says it will stay," Abra's voice echoed calmly in Xiu's mind, translating Scyther's unspoken commitment. "It says… it will not be lazy again."
Xiu didn't immediately break into a smile or offer effusive praise. Instead, he maintained his serious expression, nodding slowly. "Good," he said, his voice firm but no longer harsh. "This world… it's chaotic. Dangerous. It doesn't allow for complacency. If we want to move forward, if we want to survive, let alone thrive… we have to be united. We have to work harder than everyone else."
He held out his hand, palm open, towards Scyther and Abra.
Scyther hesitated only a moment, then reached out with its one relatively intact scythe, gently tapping the sharp edge against Xiu's palm in a gesture of agreement. Abra glanced at Xiu, then slowly extended its small, three-fingered hand, resting it lightly atop Xiu's and Scyther's.
Xiu looked at their joined hands (and scythe), a faint, genuine smile finally touching his lips. "Alright then," he murmured. "Together…"
"Hap-pi! Pi! Happi!" A cheerful interruption came from beside his leg. Happiny, curious about the solemn huddle, had waddled over and was now tugging insistently at Xiu's trousers, wanting to be included.
Xiu chuckled, scooping up the small pink Pokémon. "You too, little one," he said, holding Happiny up so it could see the joined hands. "All of us. Together. We'll survive this world!"
— — —
Later that evening, back in the small apartment, Xiu sat at the wobbly table, examining one of the objects he'd salvaged from the Raticate's corpse.
"Incredible hardness," he muttered, tapping the large, curved incisor against the tabletop. It made a sharp, resonant clink, like striking ceramic or dense stone, not bone. "Wore down several sharpening stones just smoothing the edges." He ran a finger along the surprisingly rough texture of the finished object – a crudely fashioned bone knife, heavy in his hand. 'Whatever biology governs Pokémon in this world… it's truly amazing.' No bone he knew from Earth possessed this kind of density and resilience.
"Here," He said, tossing the other Raticate tooth across the small room towards Abra. The psychic Pokémon didn't open its eyes, but the tooth stopped abruptly in mid-air, enveloped in a blue telekinetic field. Xiu had spent some time shaping this second tooth into a rough, triangular arrowhead, sharpening the point and edges. "Practice with that. See if you can control its rotation, increase its speed." He envisioned it as a potential psychic projectile, far deadlier than the sharpened branches they'd been using.
He then took out the other salvageable item from the previous night's encounter: the intact primary stinger from the defeated Beedrill, a sharp, yellow, cone-shaped spike. "Pity the poison sac was ruptured during the fight," He sighed, turning it over in his hand. Intact poison could have been useful – maybe analyzing it, synthesizing an antidote— valuable Breeder knowledge. Still, the stinger itself might have some utility. He set it aside for later consideration.
These few morbid trophies were the only real 'gains' from the encounter with the two thugs. Their pockets had yielded barely a few hundred Poké Dollars combined – not even enough to cover a day's worth of lost wages from the Rescue Station. 'Crime really doesn't pay, well... at least not for incompetent criminals.'
He turned back to the Stationmaster's notebooks, continuing his studies. The deeper he delved into advanced Breeder knowledge, the more fascinating and sometimes bizarre information he uncovered – details about Pokémon physiology, behavior, and even genetics that were never mentioned in the standard Pokédex entries or introductory texts. Some concepts were complex, counterintuitive, perhaps even technically questionable by his old world's standards. This world operated under different rules.
A faint whistling sound drew his attention. He looked up. Abra was practicing with the Raticate-tooth arrowhead, sending it spinning rapidly in circles around the small room, the speed constantly increasing, the air disturbed by its passage.
'Hmm,' Xiu mused, watching the arrowhead's flight. 'I should have shaped it more like a spindle. More aerodynamic. Reduce wind resistance, less noise at high speed, less psychic energy wasted in maintaining momentum…' He mentally filed the design improvement away. No time to reshape it now; other priorities pressed.
He glanced towards the corner where Scyther usually rested. It wasn't there. Looking out the window towards the nearby woods, he saw the green Pokémon diligently practicing the speed and agility drills they'd worked on earlier, weaving through the trees even now, long after their official training session had ended. The exhaustion and near-defeat from the previous day's battle seemed to have lit a fire under it. Witnessing the consequences of its arrogance, the very real danger they had faced, had clearly left a deep impression. 'Good.' Its attitude was finally correcting itself.
"Alright, Scyther, that's enough for tonight!" Xiu called out the window. Seeing its dedication was positive, but pushing too hard, especially after a recent battle, risked injury. "Cool down properly!"
He sighed, turning back to his books. The pace of life felt relentless. Days blurred into a cycle of training, studying, and survival. Train the Pokémon, study the manuals, analyze their progress, adjust the plans. Eat, sleep (when possible), and repeat. He barely had a moment for himself, his mind constantly occupied. He was even dreaming in training sequences and nutritional charts now.
But it was necessary. He felt the pressure of the dwindling funds constantly. He had to pass the Breeder exam, and soon. Failure meant facing this world penniless, responsible for three dependents, with potentially dangerous enemies still out there. The thought was terrifying. Luckily, his past life's intense academic experiences had prepared him for this kind of high-pressure learning environment. He could handle it. For now.
— — —
"Skills… what are they, fundamentally?" Xiu muttered, staring blankly at a page in one of the Stationmaster's notebooks. "How are they learned? How are they activated?" He slammed the book shut in frustration, rubbing his tired, dry eyes. The headache that had been lurking behind his temples all day intensified.
Away from the structured information of the books, his mind filled with the frustrating gaps in his knowledge, the unanswered questions. His Pokémon were improving, yes, but their physical development was hitting a plateau. Basic training could only take them so far. They'd reached the natural limits of their current bodies. Further significant improvement would require either slow, painstaking conditioning over a long period, or waiting for natural growth and evolution.
'Or… learning new skills, powerful techniques that could bypass physical limitations.'
'But how?' The books he had, focused on breeding, nutrition, and basic care; barely touching upon skill acquisition. He had no mentor, no experienced friends to ask, no access to the resources of a formal training academy. His understanding of this world, despite his progress, still felt desperately incomplete. He felt like a blind man groping in the dark.
"Aargh! Why aren't there Skill Learning Machines like in the games!" he groaned, flopping back onto his rudimentary bed, staring up at the stained ceiling tiles. The frustration felt overwhelming.
'Maybe I need to get out more.' He'd been hiding away, focused entirely on training and study since the factory incident, wary of attracting attention. But maybe that was counterproductive. Maybe he needed to engage with the city, find resources, find answers. 'I can't learn everything from theory and practice alone.'
He sighed, rolling over, deciding to sleep on it. 'Tomorrow. Time for a walk… maybe visit a proper bookstore.'
— — —
"Seven hundred Poké Dollars? For this?" Xiu held up the slim volume titled "An Overview of Pokémon Skills," his eyebrows raised in disbelief at the price tag stickered on the back.
The bookstore clerk, a young man with an air of intellectual superiority, sniffed disdainfully. "Knowledge, my friend, is the ladder of human progress. Books are its rungs. Naturally, valuable knowledge commands a premium. Especially," he gestured vaguely around the well-stocked shelves, "information pertaining to Pokémon studies. The works of renowned Professors and Researchers do not come cheap."
"But seven hundred for an introductory overview? That's outrageous," Xiu grumbled, flipping through the pages. It looked comprehensive, exactly what he needed, but the price…
The clerk seemed personally offended by Xiu's haggling. "Perhaps," He said haughtily, pointing towards a dusty clearance section near the back, "you might find something more suited to your budget over there. However," His tone turning sharp and proprietary, "all official Pokémon-related materials in this establishment are priced accordingly. This," he tapped the sign above the aisle proudly, "is the Light Red City branch of the Ōto Bookstore chain."
Xiu blinked. He hadn't paid attention to the store's name when he walked in, just picked the largest, most official-looking bookstore he could find near the city center.
Seeing Xiu's lack of reaction, the clerk puffed up with indignant pride. "Do you even know what that represents?" he demanded.
"Uh… the store name?" Xiu offered uncertainly.
"Wrong!" the clerk practically shouted, attracting glances from other customers. "It represents the single most authoritative channel for Pokémon information in the entire Kanto region! Ōto Books is the largest, most comprehensive bookstore chain in Kanto! Researchers, Doctors, Professors – they designate our associated journals and publications for their cutting-edge papers and reports! Any new discoveries, any breakthroughs in the academic world – we hear about it first!"
Xiu was genuinely surprised. He'd stumbled into the regional hub of Pokémon knowledge? Impressive. But… "Does that," he asked dryly, holding up the expensive book again, "have anything to do with the price of this introductory text? Can't you do any better? Maybe a used copy?"
The clerk looked as if Xiu had just insulted his mother. "Used copies?" he sputtered, aghast. "Of scholarly materials? Preposterous! If you desire cheap reading," he gestured dismissively towards the exit, "perhaps the public library would be more to your liking. Our prices," He finished stiffly, "are firm."