Wintergreen City.
Inside a luxurious manor.
"Here—eat another one."
Joji peeled back the wrapper in his hand, pinching a round, rainbow-colored candy between his fingers.
"Mii~~"
The Dratini in front of him stretched its upper body forward, leaned in, opened its mouth, and gulped the candy down in one bite.
A burst of green light rose from Dratini's body.
Its size visibly increased by a full notch.
Only, what should have looked sleek and slender now looked strangely bloated.
"Keep going."
Joji nodded, a faint smile forming on his face.
He took out another candy,
peeled it, and handed it to Dratini.
A lot of wrappers had already fallen to the floor.
Dratini had eaten quite a few already.
Bang!!
Right then,
the door to the room was suddenly slammed open with force.
A bearded, middle-aged man strode in from outside.
His brows and eyes resembled Joji's a little.
"Brat! I told you—stop raising Pokémon with Rare Candy!"
Akio's eyes swept over the wrappers on the floor,
his expression darkening.
With a flick of his arm,
he smacked the candy out of Joji's hand.
"Mii~~"
Dratini lowered its body,
slithered forward a short distance,
and ate the candy that had fallen to the ground.
Another ball of green light rose from it.
Its body became even more bloated than before.
"Otō-san, is it really necessary to get that angry?"
Joji looked utterly unimpressed.
He leaned back in his chair,
squinting at Dratini.
"Forget it."
Akio sighed,
too tired to keep arguing.
"This Pokémon tournament concerns our entire family. You must win. You absolutely cannot lose. Understand?"
Akio's face hardened,
his tone turning serious.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it."
Joji yawned, picking at his ear with his pinky.
"Aren't I working at it right now?"
As he spoke,
he peeled yet another candy and fed it to Dratini.
"With this Dratini, what are you even worried about?"
"Besides, with those two Pokémon in my hands, I could take on ten by myself."
He pointed at two Poké Balls resting on the table.
On Joji's sinister face,
a surge of intense confidence appeared.
"It'd better be."
Akio stared hard at his son and that Dratini.
After leaving those words behind,
he snorted
and turned to leave the room.
Silence returned once more.
"Himeko is in Wintergreen Forest, right? Tomorrow, go investigate for me—see how her Charmander is being raised."
Joji suddenly spoke toward a corner of the room.
"Yes!"
The moment his words fell,
a tall, gaunt man in a black robe stepped out from the shadows.
"If she poses a threat to me… then her Charmander…"
Joji's voice turned icy.
He drew a throat-slitting gesture across his neck.
"Understood."
The man bowed.
His figure flashed—
and vanished back into the darkness.
…
Wintergreen Forest.
When Shiko woke up from the soft grass,
the sky was already turning to dusk.
[Ding! All daily quests completed. Congratulations to the host: Experience points +50. Lucky Day buff triggered—additional 50 Experience points gained!]
One hundred experience points!
He leveled up again.
Shiko nodded in satisfaction.
Sure enough, leveling up by doing tasks while lying down was the most comfortable method.
And,
every time he leveled up,
it wasn't just the energy inside his body increasing—
the strength in his limbs was growing too.
Even
his battle instincts and experience increased accordingly.
The feeling
was like every single point of experience
had been earned through hard training.
But!
His experience really had been earned through hard training.
It was just that—
his way of "training" was a little special, that was all.
Shiko thought to himself.
Only he was left in the camp.
Himeko had taken Buneary into the forest for special training.
When Himeko first suggested it,
Buneary absolutely refused,
clinging to Shiko and refusing to leave his side.
Later, Shiko had no idea how Himeko talked to her,
but Buneary's attitude flipped all at once,
and she obediently followed Himeko off to train.
"No idea how training went this afternoon."
Shiko muttered as he stood up.
As soon as he finished speaking,
he saw one person and one rabbit
emerging from the forest in the distance.
"Shubi, shubi!"
When Buneary saw Shiko,
she sped up,
charging straight toward him—
then hopped up and jumped into his arms.
She tilted her head up
and rubbed affectionately against his cheek.
(End of Chapter)
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[[email protected]/Zukooo]
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