Early the next morning.
"Zzz—zzz—"
The sound of machinery echoed beside Silas's ears.
He subconsciously adjusted the position of his earbuds.
Looking up into the distance, he saw a steel rail structure suspended halfway in the air, still under construction.
This was the Magnet Train track connecting Violet City and Blackthorn City.
For a brief moment, Silas felt dazed.
Thinking back, the last time he had seen this under-construction Magnet Train track in Saffron City seemed to have been only seven or eight months ago.
But from his own perspective, that period of time had felt extraordinarily long—probably because he had experienced far too many things during it.
He glanced at the construction notice nearby. According to it, this section of the project would still take about half a year to complete.
Come to think of it, this seemed to be the only elevated segment of the entire line.
The rest of the track either hugged the ground or ran underground.
Perhaps it was because of his destination that morning.
"Whoosh—"
A purple shadow silently streaked through the air.
Its massive claws glinted sharply, clearly unnaturally sharp.
However, its attempt at stealth was somewhat self-deceptive, because it launched straight from a tree directly at Silas's face.
Faced with this sudden danger, Silas remained exceptionally calm.
The attacking Pokémon felt something was off.
Whenever it hunted like this before, its targets would panic, then get struck by its poison stinger and become its food.
So why wasn't this human reacting at all?
Had he been frightened stupid?
The purple Pokémon had already begun planning several days of hearty meals in its mind.
A red flash burst forth as the Luxury Ball at Silas's waist automatically opened.
"Blaziken!"
Blaziken's cry rang out.
Bang!
In the next instant, the attacking Pokémon was kicked flying.
"It's just an ordinary Gligar."
There was a trace of regret in Silas's voice.
One reason he didn't keep a Pokémon out to guard him was that there weren't many wild Pokémon along the way, and he was confident in his Pokémon's reaction speed.
Another reason was that he wanted to see whether he might encounter something rare or at least something that suited his preferences.
If Blaziken stayed by his side, forget rare Pokémon—even within a hundred meters, no other Pokémon would dare show up.
After all, his ace's presence was far too oppressive.
It practically screamed don't mess with me.
Gligar was actually a Pokémon type that suited Silas quite well.
That was exactly why he felt disappointed by this particular, ordinary Gligar.
A Ground/Flying-type, Gligar could evolve into Gliscor at night while holding a Razor Fang, retaining the same typing, a very solid Pokémon.
Especially given Silas's current team composition.
Gliscor's standard Abilities—Hyper Cutter and Sand Veil, were both extremely strong.
The former meant that Gliscor could fully develop into an assassin-type Pokémon.
Charging straight at someone's face doesn't count as an assassin?
Don't be ridiculous.
Terrifying physical strength, silent winged flight, innate poison, precision strikes, and proficiency in stat-boosted attacks—
Put together, it was the textbook definition of a deadly assassin.
If it had Sand Veil instead, that wasn't bad either.
Although it lacked the brute physical edge, when paired with Gigalith, a Sand Veil Gliscor would actually perform even better.
One focused on single-target offense, the other on team synergy neither was strictly superior, and both suited Silas extremely well.
Its typing advantage also gave Gliscor excellent sustained combat capability.
And that wasn't even mentioning the possibility of a high-potential Gliscor possessing the Hidden Ability Poison Heal.
Poison Heal restoring HP instead of losing it while poisoned was practically a massive enhancement for Gliscor.
As long as it held a Toxic Orb, which inflicted poison on its holder, Gliscor would become a perpetual-motion assassin.
Unfortunately, Gliscor with truly outstanding potential was extremely rare.
Setting aside the wild, Silas had deliberately researched families and settlements within the League that specialized in raising Gligar.
There was only one nearby—Gligar Town, close to his current location.
Compared to Pokémon like Mareep or Sunflora, Gligar was astonishingly rare.
With such a small population base, obtaining an exceptional Gligar Egg was incredibly difficult.
"Come back, Blaziken."
With that thought, Silas casually recalled Blaziken.
Although the odds of encountering a high-potential Gligar in the wild were even lower, one still had to have dreams.
What if?
As for the Gligar that had just been sent flying, it clearly wasn't promising.
Its pincers were noticeably smaller than average, the toxin in its stinger lacked potency, and its wings weren't sturdy enough.
Those flaws, when added together, were more than enough to prove its mediocre aptitude.
On top of that, judging by its hunting technique, it was already experienced.
Yet it still only possessed ordinary-level strength, which further confirmed the point.
Silas's figure gradually faded into the distance.
Only after he was completely out of sight did a young man, clearly an inexperienced rookie emerge from behind the tree.
His outfit was strange, resembling a humanoid Gligar, as if he were a Pokémon cosplay enthusiast.
His eyes were filled with delight.
Looking at the unconscious Gligar, he immediately pulled out two blue, orange-shaped berries from his pocket—Oran Berries, which restored HP.
After slicing them, he fed the segments one by one into Gligar's mouth.
Juice trickled from the corner of Gligar's mouth, making it look oddly cute.
"Gligar…"
Slowly, Gligar opened its eyes.
That red Pokémon… was terrifying.
That was the only thought in its mind.
The instant it was kicked, Gligar had genuinely believed it was about to die.
The overwhelming disparity in power left its entire body trembling even now.
Then it saw a magnified version of itself.
"Gligar!"
It scrambled backward, tumbling across the ground.
What was going on?
Its small mind was filled with confusion and fear.
Was it dead or not?
"Don't be afraid. I saved you."
The young man spoke hurriedly.
He didn't want Gligar to misunderstand him.
Gligar blinked, glanced at the remaining Oran Berry in the man's hand, then licked the juice off its cheek.
"Gligar~"
Its eyes curved into crescent moons.
"If you want… how about another one?"
The young man cautiously offered the Oran Berry.
To be honest, this was still somewhat dangerous.
Gligar was a predator in the Pokémon food chain, not prey, and it was highly aggressive.
However, as intelligent beings, Pokémon were often far better than humans when it came to repaying kindness.
Gligar obediently reached out with its pincers, took the Oran Berry, and ate it.
To avoid frightening the human, it deliberately lowered its poisonous tail.
The young man finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This Gligar seemed to have a fairly normal temperament.
"This might be a bit sudden, but… would you be willing to become my first and only—partner?"
He cautiously voiced his wish.
That was why he had risked his life to come out of hiding.
The powerful Trainer from before had Pokémon that were far too strong, of course he wouldn't be interested in this Gligar.
But he was different.
As a die-hard enthusiast of Gligar and Gliscor, being able to have a Gligar as his own Pokémon was simply wonderful.
What's more, the purpose of this trip was to obtain his very first Pokémon and if it turned out to be a Gligar, that was joy upon joy.
"Gligar—"
This time, Gligar didn't give a positive response. Hugging the Oran Berry, it backed away several steps, its expression filled with caution.
For wild Pokémon, entering a Poké Ball is a deeply frightening experience, so they are naturally unwilling to be captured.
"I've got lots of tasty food—like this, and this too!"
Well-prepared, the young man hurriedly pulled out various kinds of Pokémon food from his pockets.
A rich aroma spread through the air.
Gligar sniffed instinctively.
Seeing that the food tactic was working, the young man spared no effort in selling himself.
Gligar began to feel a little dizzy, it suddenly seemed that entering that unknown little ball wasn't completely unacceptable.
Nothing makes a wild Pokémon give up its love for freedom, except full meals and shelter.
From this perspective, the young man wasn't as reckless as he looked. At the very least, he had a decent understanding of wild Pokémon habits.
Of course, there also had to be a bit of goodwill—otherwise, someone might lose their life.
Soon, accompanied by the sound of a Poké Ball successfully capturing a Pokémon, the young man could no longer suppress his joy.
Human laughter filled the small forest.
Fortunately, this area happened to be Gligar's territory—otherwise, the young man would have already been attacked by other Pokémon.
"Then, from now on, I look forward to working with you."
The young man released Gligar and placed it on his shoulder.
"Gligar~"
Gligar still seemed somewhat resistant, but since it had already agreed, it had no intention of backing out.
"From now on, we're the Gligar Duo. You're called Gligar, and I'll be called Gligar Man."
The young man—no, Gligar Man said excitedly to the Gligar on his shoulder.
"Gligar."
Clearly, Gligar was unimpressed by the name.
"You think it's great too, right? I think so as well."
Gligar Man said enthusiastically.
There seemed to be a slight misunderstanding between human and Pokémon.
"Pretty nice, don't you think?"
Watching the scene, Silas chuckled and spoke to the partners at his waist.
The six Luxury Balls trembled in response.
All of his training hadn't been for nothing.
And in the wilderness, maintaining maximum awareness of one's surroundings was only natural.
Because of that, Silas had noticed the young man hiding behind the tree long ago.
Since the man showed no hostile intent, Silas pretended not to notice.
After realizing that the man had taken an interest in Gligar once Silas left, he kindly returned to check things out.
If anything went wrong, he could still intervene.
Instead, he witnessed this scene.
Silas's mood instantly improved.
Perhaps because his unintentional actions had helped someone else.
"Tch—if I'd had some savings back then, maybe I could've been like this guy too."
Jumping down from the tree, Silas mused with a faint smile on his lips.
"But why does this guy's outfit feel strangely familiar…?" he muttered to himself.
Probably just his imagination, Pokémon cosplay outfits were everywhere in the Pokémon world.
Silas shook his head, tossing the feeling aside.
Light footsteps rang out again as he continued onward in one direction.
By a riverbank, after finishing breakfast while sitting on a rock, Silas stared at the water, lost in thought.
He couldn't understand why someone would still be watching him here, he clearly hadn't even sent out Ampharos to fish.
Sensing a distinct presence hiding behind a tree not far behind him, Silas let out a barely perceptible sigh.
At first, following him could still be dismissed as coincidence.
But now that Silas had stopped to eat and the person was still trailing him, it could only mean ill intent.
Silas stood up and dusted off his pants.
"Blaziken—bring him over."
The sudden command left the person hiding behind the tree completely confused.
At that moment, a claw landed on his shoulder.
The man jolted violently.
"Scyther, Fury Cutter!"
"Scyther—!"
A flash of red light—Scyther appeared, its scythe-like arms slashing wildly.
"Blaziken."
With a leap, Blaziken flew onto a tree branch, looking down at the man and his Pokémon with killing intent in its eyes.
Someone like this dares to harbor thoughts about my Trainer?
"How is this possible?!"
The man stared in disbelief.
"This isn't how it was supposed to go!"
"How could Blaziken be this fast—impossible!"
He muttered to himself.
"I've trained my Scyther's attack speed to the absolute limit. The energy transmission of Fury Cutter is flawless. How could this Blaziken dodge so easily?!"
His tone was filled with disbelief.
Silas, who had already walked closer, nearly laughed upon hearing this.
"My calculations shouldn't be wrong.
This Pseudo-Elite-level Blaziken's base speed is 1.47 times that of its species. With Speed Boost, it should gradually rise to 2.68 times. According to calculation, its reaction time should be—"
The man continued muttering, completely unaware that Silas was already beside him.
Silas raised an eyebrow.
Oh? Came prepared, did you?
....
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