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A Zigzagoon lay hidden beneath the shadows of the forest floor.
Its layered fur, patterned in alternating brown and gray stripes, formed perfect natural camouflage. Combined with its still-small body, the recently matured Pokémon looked almost identical to a patch of shadow among the shrubs.
Motionless.
Silent.
Its brown eyes locked onto the small, water-blue Pokémon within its sight.
Excitement flickered in its gaze.
Five days earlier, after reaching a certain stage of maturity, it had been driven out of the nest by its parents and forced to begin life on its own.
It didn't have much hunting experience yet.
But even if it had never done the hunting itself, it had watched its parents do it countless times while growing up. Instinct buried deep in its blood made navigating the forest feel natural.
So despite leaving the protection of its parents, these past few days had been fairly comfortable.
And now, the tiny blue Pokémon in front of it had become its newest target.
It was a species Zigzagoon had never seen before.
But that didn't concern it.
From the opponent's thin, fragile body and the faint energy emanating from it, Zigzagoon could easily judge that the little Pokémon was weak.
Possibly even freshly hatched.
With the hunting techniques it had learned from its parents, dealing with such prey should be effortless.
A trace of pride swelled in the predator's eyes.
Hunger clawed at its senses like a demon. Saliva gathered between its sharp teeth.
"I can't wait any longer."
The primal urge to devour overwhelmed its restraint.
Its four short but powerful legs suddenly tensed—
Rustle!
The dense bushes shook violently.
The brown-gray body burst forward with chilling killing intent, moving so fast that a human would only see a blur as it lunged toward its prey.
Kael had already determined the rough direction of the nearby water source, but he had never lowered his guard.
From the moment the disturbance erupted behind him, he reacted.
His powerful soul granted him keen perception, and he instantly felt the murderous intent locking onto him.
"Damn!"
There was no time to turn around.
Acting purely on the combat instincts accumulated over multiple lifetimes, Kael kicked off the ground with both slender legs.
Bang!
His blue body shot sideways toward a patch of grass in the forest.
His veteran reflexes saved him.
While he was still airborne, he caught sight of his attacker.
Forward-thrusting claws.
Glinting fangs.
Ring-patterned fur.
"A Zigzagoon?"
Clearly, the attacker had not expected Kael to dodge the strike at the last possible moment.
Because of the momentum from its hunting style, Zigzagoon could not stop immediately after missing.
It continued charging forward until it nearly collided with another patch of bushes, only managing to halt after scraping its claws against the ground.
Kael's experience played a part.
But the bigger factor was that this newly independent Zigzagoon was simply too reckless and inexperienced. It lacked patience.
If it had been more cautious—just a little more careful—the outcome might have been completely different.
Still, from Zigzagoon's perspective, the situation was far from bad.
During the brief moment it passed Kael, it had already confirmed something important.
This strange blue Pokémon was absolutely a newborn.
Why it had no parents nearby to protect it didn't matter.
A creature this young had no chance of resisting.
In a direct fight, it would lose, and speed was Zigzagoon's natural advantage.
In its eyes, Kael had already become lunch.
A bright white glow suddenly gathered around Zigzagoon's head, covering its ears and skull.
Headbutt.
It had no intention of wasting time.
This was simply a hunt.
A lion doesn't negotiate with a gazelle.
Whoosh!
The brown-gray blur shot forward again, even faster than before.
Meanwhile, Kael stood with the sail-like yellow crest atop his head raised high, his blue eyes fixed on the approaching blur.
"What do I do?"
"Run?"
"No."
The enemy's speed had already surpassed what his newborn body could react to.
Although the Cosmic DNA from Deoxys boosted his agility significantly, his base stats were still too low for the percentage bonus to matter much.
The earlier dodge had been a stroke of instinct born from countless battles in previous lives.
Repeating that miracle with his fragile body was impossible.
Through his sharp perception, Kael could feel the energy gathering on Zigzagoon's head.
Not overwhelmingly powerful.
But lethal.
The difference in age and level meant even a simple claw or bite from Zigzagoon could kill him.
And this Headbutt, amplified by speed and momentum, was far worse.
Time seemed to slow.
The charging body appeared frozen in a distorted frame.
Faced with death, Kael's mind raced desperately.
"System?"
"Everything useful has already been used. The system only helps with long-term growth, not immediate combat!"
"Moves?"
"Pound and Growl are useless here. Aqua Ring heals, but if that Headbutt lands I'll probably lose consciousness instantly. No help either!"
Frustration twisted across Kael's face.
Did he really have to use Origin Pulse?
With his current energy reserves, even if he managed to fire the weakest version and defeat the Zigzagoon, he would die from energy exhaustion immediately afterward.
He had just finished gathering all those system items.
He had no desire to end this new life so soon.
But at this moment, it seemed like the only option left.
"Damn it!"
Kael clenched his teeth.
Having already lived through multiple reincarnations, he was no stranger to death.
If death truly became unavoidable, he would accept it.
But he would never forgive the cause.
If he had to die—
Then Zigzagoon would die with him.
His will moved, preparing to unleash the devastating Origin Pulse before the enemy could collide with him.
And then—
At the very moment life and death hung in the balance—
Something strange happened.
A bizarre sensation welled up in Kael's eyes.
Pokémon, for all their intelligence and power, were still creatures of nature.
Over millions of years of evolution, each species has developed unique survival mechanisms.
Some Pokémon screamed loudly to scare away predators.
Others released foul odors to repel enemies.
And the species Kael had been reborn as possessed its own defensive instinct.
Kael's mind had not fully adapted yet.
Even after several lifetimes, much of his thinking still followed human patterns.
That helped him see things other Pokémon might miss.
But it also meant he didn't fully understand certain instincts his body possessed.
Suddenly, a stinging sensation filled his eyes.
His tear glands reacted violently.
Water pooled in his eyes.
And then—
Something utterly absurd happened.
Kael who had once achieved a legendary one-versus-three victory in a championship final, who had saved an entire nightmare world—
Started crying.
Against a Zigzagoon barely even level ten.
Tears burst from his eyes like a fountain.
His Water-type body produced enormous amounts of liquid, and the crystal-clear tears sprayed outward in a graceful arc before scattering into countless glittering droplets.
Those droplets broke apart in the air like shining powder, filling the surrounding space.
And something strange happened.
The Zigzagoon charging toward him suddenly slowed the moment it entered the mist of shimmering tears.
The airborne droplets carried powerful irritants.
They affected Zigzagoon instantly.
It… started crying too.
Tears streamed uncontrollably from its eyes.
The sudden flood of tears left the young predator confused and disoriented. Its attack halted as it wiped helplessly at its face.
Sobble tears were infamous.
According to Pokédex descriptions, they had the tear-inducing power of a hundred onions.
When threatened, Sobble instinctively produced these tears to make enemies cry uncontrollably, allowing it to escape.
Kael had no idea what exactly had just happened.
But he knew one thing.
This was his chance.
He ignored the embarrassing fact that he was crying.
If a few tears meant surviving, then crying was absolutely worth it.
But Zigzagoon wasn't completely foolish.
Even if its intelligence was roughly that of a small child, it wasn't going to abandon prey that was right in front of it.
Snarling through tears, it lunged forward again.
And that was when it noticed something shocking.
The blue Pokémon that had been standing right in front of it—
Had vanished.
The clearing they stood in had no tall bushes and no obstacles blocking the view.
Yet somehow, in the single moment, Zigzagoon's vision blurred with tears—
Kael had completely disappeared.
How was that possible?
The answer lay in another natural survival ability of Sobble.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!