Shiro walked carefully across the Florio Plain, Shinx clinging to his leg and Gastly floating a few feet from his shoulder, like an obedient shadow. The breeze carried the scent of freshwater from the streams and a resinous tinge from the trees; farther on, Crystablooms shimmered among the grasses. After a series of simple encounters, small, nervous birds, curious insects, scattered rodents, he spotted something different.
A litter.
Not three or four. Dozens.
Rattatas spread across the field like purple waves, alternating between nibbling seeds and scanning the horizon. Shiro crouched at the edge of the tall grass and watched, keeping his weight on his toes so as not to bend the vegetation. His heart beat faster, not from fear, but from alertness. It was the kind of situation where one misstep could lead to trouble.
In the corner of his vision, a golden glow. He adjusted the angle, squinting.
"…It's not possible."
He murmured.
A few meters away from the flock, a shiny Rattata with golden fur was absentmindedly pulling seeds from the ground. It stood apart, clearly segregated. In the wild, a glaring difference in color often became a sentence: the group rejected anyone who drew too much attention.
Cruel, but true.
Shiro let his breath settle into the rhythm of the wind and thought:
"Scan."
The interface flashed, minimalist.
---
📜 Status — Rattata (Shiny)
Level: 8
Level Rating: 🟧 Beginner
Type: Normal
Sex: Female
Potential: 🔵 Blue (cyan)
Personality: Alert and suspicious
Ability: Run Away
Nature: Jolly (↑ Speed / ↓ Sp. Atk)
Health: Excellent
Moves: Tackle · Quick Attack · Tail Whip · Focus Energy
Trainer Affinity: — (Wild)
---
Blue (cyan). Exactly what he expected from a shiny: a step above the ordinary, not perfect, but excellent. And he really liked the idea of an orange Raticate on the team.
The plan took shape: the shiny was outside the main perimeter, distracted. The perfect opportunity.
Shiro glided across the lawn like someone opening a zipper: precise, silent, and low. His right hand was already on Gastly's Luxury Ball, his left ready to ward off any loud stalks.
He stopped at the ideal distance, felt his own pulse slow down at the mental command that had already become a reflex.
"Gastly, low field."
He whispered, without looking back.
The ghost sank its aura almost flush with the grass, floating like icy mist.
"Mean Look. Silent."
Gastly's eyes lit up in an obsidian circle. Thin, almost invisible lines closed around the shiny, a shackle of pure intent. Rattata pricked up its ears, its entire body springing. Too late to flee.
"Hypnosis. Short, pulsed."
Gastly advanced two feet, smiled, and released a concentric wave of drowsiness. Rattata tried Quick Attack in a flash of nerve and instinct, a golden blur, but it passed through the gas without touching the core; Gastly froze for a microsecond, and the pulse picked up. The glow in the shiny's eyes wavered, its paws losing their grip. One second. Two. The body relaxed.
Sleeping.
Shiro nodded, his shoulders sagging. Clean win, no injuries, the right way.
"Friend Ball."
He whispered to himself, pulling the green capsule from his inventory.
He twirled it between his finger and thumb like a coin trick. He aimed. He threw. The arc was low, true; the sphere touched the golden back, opened with a gentle shhht, and swallowed the Rattata in an emerald beam. It rattled once. Twice. Three times—
clack.
> [Capture successful! — Friend Ball: Initial friendship raised]
Shiro released a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding and slapped his palm against his side in a dry gesture of restrained celebration.
"Good job, partner."
He said to Gastly, who responded with a satisfied spin and a deep, round laugh.
The moment lasted the length of a blink.
Gastly's aura tightened and he tensed. Shiro felt his blood run cold.
He turned around.
The entire litter was facing him. Dozens of pairs of violet eyes in the grass. And, ahead, a massive, vibrating Raticate with a scarred snout and chewed-off ears. Shiro lifted the interface out of pure reflex.
> Raticate — Level 44 | Classification: Sub-Gym | Type: Normal | Ability: Guts | Potential: 🟢 Green
The stomach turned.
"You must be kidding wit— Come back, Gastly!"
The Poké Ball pulled the ghost back in a red beam.
Shiro ran.
The tall grass turned to foam at his ankles. Behind him, a sea of paws and squeaks; the purple mass took over the ground like a flood. Shiro darted between trees, jumped over a root, nearly slipped on a damp bank, and swore loudly, completely unashamed of his heroism.
"How beautiful, Shiro, 'stealth capture', he said…"
He gasped, dodging a log.
"What's next? Tea with an Ursaring?"
The surrounding Pokémon scattered away from the commotion; a Bidoof dove into the stream as if the devil had awakened, a Doduo disappeared like a spring. The Raticate's guttural roar came too close; Shiro felt the ground vibrate under the impact of its leap. A branch lashed his face. The air began to burn in his lungs. His thighs burned.
He saw salvation at the last moment: a cave on the other side of a shallow river.
Shiro didn't think. Think later.
He crossed the water, splashing stones, slipped, steadied himself, climbed the opposite bank on all fours, and plunged into the cool darkness of the entrance.
Outside, the horde was approaching, a sound like a raging sea on a gnawing scale.
And then, something Shiro didn't see: the small blue Pokémon, which had been following him since his arrival, hovered over the river. Its eyes lit up with a clean light. A vertical, elegant, psychic pressure. Rocks around the cave mouth trembled as if summoned by gravity and tumbled forward in perfect alignment, sealing the passage. The sound of the collapse reverberated through the valley and fell silent, inside, in a distant bass.
The little blue creature disappeared without a sound, as if it had never been there.
Shiro, already a few meters into the cave, stopped when the echo of the collapse echoed through the corridors. He turned around in slow motion, staring into the darkness. The silence that followed was almost sweet.
He collapsed into a sitting position with his back against the wall, drawing in long, disciplined breaths until his chest stopped hammering against his ribs.
The cave wasn't completely dark. Small bioluminescent flowers in the cracks, white with blue centers, shed soft light like a veil of moonlight. Water dripped at a comfortable rhythm, and the smell was cool, mineral, and clean.
Shiro rubbed his face, took a deep breath, and spoke to himself, laughing humorlessly:
"Plan update: fewer nests, more awareness."
He opened his inventory, pulled out a compact flashlight, and turned it on to a dim beam, just enough not to blind, yet wide enough to scan the ground. Then he released his two partners.
"Go, Gastly. Go, Shinx."
The ghost floated from the red beam like vapor against the light; Shinx leaped lightly, landing with his ears perked. They both knew, they had already sensed everything from inside their Poké Balls. The posture said: we are ready.
"We need an alternative exit. No panic, keep your pace short, and keep your eyes open. Gastly, you take the vanguard; Shinx, take the left flank with me. Let's go."
They advanced.
The cave breathed. The ceiling formed a relief of needles (stalactites), and the floor offered pillars here and there (stalagmites), which the flashlight outlined in theatrical shadows. The initial corridor split into two paths: on the left, a narrower, earthy-smelling tunnel; on the right, a passage where a trickle of water ran, irrigating moss and a carpet of smooth stones.
"To the right. Water runs somewhere."
Shiro decided, hearing his own reasoning take shape.
Gastly hovered a meter off the ground, its aura restrained so as not to distort the droplets in the air. Shinx walked almost silently, its paws instinctively finding a firm path between the stones.
The bioluminescent light thickened in patches like snow gardens; dot flowers marked the entrances to small chambers, where Shiro noticed gnawed bones, remains, nothing recent, he assessed, and among them, fragments of crystal embedded in the rock. The flashlight touched the crystal, and a blue spark ran through its inner veins, as if the cave itself winked at them.
"Beautiful…"
Shiro whispered, half to himself, half to the two of them.
In a larger room, an underground lake occupied the center, the ceiling reflected in its black mirror. Small ripples formed where water dripped from a crevice. Shiro approached the edge and felt a cool breeze coming from somewhere, a sign of air circulation, good news.
"Exit. Somewhere in there."
He pointed to a half-submerged passage on the other side.
Before continuing, he raised his hand:
"Quick scan. Gastly, ceiling check; Shinx, scent check."
Gastly zigzagged his way up to the ceiling, skimming the aura to detect air currents and presences; Shinx lowered his head and inhaled in gulps, his nose alert, not as refined as a canine's, but enough to pinpoint immediate problems.
Nothing hostile in the vicinity. The trio skirted the lake's drier edge, crossed a natural stone bridge, and entered the narrow passage.
The corridor stretched out in a two-meter-high zigzag, demanding measured steps. At a bend, the ground sank half a foot without warning; Shiro braked reflexively, arms outstretched, Shinx grabbing his ankle; Gastly anchored, ready to hold on if need be.
"Good."
He whispered, and they continued.
Further ahead, a faint noise scratched at the back of his hearing. It wasn't water. It was a very faint metallic clang, repeated, rhythmic, like… like an echo from outside, perhaps wind passing through something. Shiro tilted his head and gave a half smile.
They were on the right track.
In a subsequent gap, they stumbled upon life: a pair of Zubat crossed the lantern and disappeared, irritated by the light but unwilling to confront it. Gastly lowered his aura to avoid arousing aggression; Shinx remained on guard, but without growling.
"Great workout, huh?"
Shiro lightly punched Gastly's invisible shoulder out of habit.
"Lesson of the day: stealth + status > exchange of punches."
Gastly laughed, a hollow "hoho"; Shinx responded with a satisfied mrrp.
The corridor finally opened up into a steep slope, and the bioluminescent light gave way to a brighter white invading the rock. Fresh air hit Shiro's face. He quickened his pace, climbed the last uneven step, and emerged into a side mouth of the cave, hidden by undergrowth and a set of flat rocks.
Outside, the Florio sky remained a washed-out blue; the plain below unfolded green, crisscrossed by rivers and patches of flowers. Silence. No sign of the horde.
Shiro closed his eyes for a second, let the sun hit his skin, and let out a short, incredulous laugh.
"We are alive."
Shinx rubbed her head against his knee. Gastly made a wide circle, as if blessing the perimeter with good luck.
Shiro placed his hand on the newly occupied Friend Ball on his belt and felt the click of the mechanism under his thumb. A golden Rattata, blue potential, now part of his beginning. The thought came clear, almost comical, but true: playing Pokémon is one thing; surviving Pokémon is another.
"We follow the plan."
Shiro said, more to confirm the route than to explain.
"Constant training, selective capture, no heroism against swarms. And... be grateful when the universe gives a mysterious helping hand."
He reflexively looked back at the cave that had "closed by itself."
And somewhere above the treetops, blue eyes watched silently, satisfied and… curious.
Shiro adjusted the strap of his backpack, checked the direction on the System's mental map, and pointed toward the valley.
"Come on, team. Florio is big. And Soulrest won't build itself."
Shinx responded with an excited yip. Gastly, with a wink of gas.
They descended the slope like a small promise in motion, and Florio, vast and luminous, waited to see what kind of trainer Shiro Tamashii was becoming.
----
Shiro advanced cautiously. Gastly hovered beside him, listening for every sound, while Shinx walked ahead, ears flicking restlessly as he picked up any suspicious sounds.
After rounding a wider bend, Shiro found a narrow exit that opened onto a small clearing deep within the island, surrounded by tall, dense trees. For a moment, he breathed a sigh of relief; it was a respite from the subterranean claustrophobia.
But then, his gaze locked.
Leaning against the trunk of a gnarled tree, a Primeape watched him. Its crossed arms and slightly inclined body gave the impression of calm… until its eyes, fierce and filled with simmering rage, fixed directly on Shiro.
There was silence for a second. A second too long.
The Primeape slowly uncrossed its arms, as if just waiting for an excuse to attack. Shiro's heart sank instantly.
"Ah… shit."
He whispered, already feeling the adrenaline kick in. And cursing his damn luck.