Chapter 73. The Giant Dragonite's Problem
Ash and the others went to train Butterfree, while Natsume brought Honora into the ecological outpost to design a Rotom-integration circuit for an Ultra Ball.
Starting with the Ultra Ball, the difficulty increased a lot.
Inside a tiny Poké Ball lies a pocket of space.
And that pocket of space is also linked to research labs across various regions.
The original circuitry of an Ultra Ball is already complex, and although Natsume could extend a path suitable for Rotom to merge into it and embed a core, the circuit's performance would fall short that way.
That is, unless they had a professional lab's deconstruction machine to flatten the Ultra Ball's interior into a full planar view for micro-manipulation.
Otherwise, they could only go by schematics downloaded online and, like the professor who first created an Ultra Ball in history, do the micro-manipulation by hand.
Obviously, Natsume's hands weren't steady to that degree.
The higher the grade of a Poké Ball, the more stable its internal space becomes, and trying to implant your own components without degrading performance is truly difficult.
He really couldn't imagine how that old professor eight hundred years ago managed to create the first Ultra Ball under such primitive conditions.
Natsume shook his head slightly, thinking perhaps modern researchers' hands have been spoiled by all the convenient precision instruments.
But he had to admit those precise instruments lower the barrier to entry for researchers and greatly accelerate technological progress.
After all, a few hundred years ago, if you wanted to become a researcher, you had to have a well-trained Psychic-type partner who could assist with telekinesis.
Bang!
A thunderous boom came from the sky.
Honora looked up and saw the Team Rocket trio, swinging huge nets and repeatedly capturing paired-up Butterfree.
"Natsume!"
Honora gasped, looking skyward.
"Your job is to hold still."
Natsume shot her a glare.
"Oh."
Honora lowered her head and stopped paying attention to what was happening in the sky.
At the moment, both her palms were cradling an Ultra Ball.
Feeling he'd hit a bottleneck, Natsume had Honora come over to act as a human stand.
That way he didn't need one hand to hold the Ultra Ball and the other to operate tools.
With both hands free, his fine-control precision doubled.
Pop!
The Ultra Ball made a faint sound and split from the center.
Natsume suffered a crushing defeat.
"Looks like that failed, Natsume," Honora said, her face full of sympathy.
"Forget it. We'll just find a way to borrow a lab in the next city."
Natsume picked up the scrapped Ultra Ball.
What could he say—human fingers might still not be nimble enough for some precision instruments.
If only he could be like Muk, with hands that could flow and reshape like liquid at will.
As Natsume let his mind wander, his thoughts started drifting.
"Teacher!"
Honora waved a hand in front of Natsume's face.
"Team Rocket seems to have taken all the Butterfree. Should we intervene?"
She sounded worried.
"It's fine. Ash and the others will handle it."
Natsume stretched and then looked over at the nearby Gastly and the giant Dragonite.
"Wooo—wooo—"
The giant Dragonite seemed delighted, frantically slashing with its foreclaws.
Light flared on its claws—obviously using the move Dragon Claw.
Gastly didn't dare take that head-on and could only keep dodging in the air.
So the giant Dragonite swung even faster.
"Hold it, hold it! Why can't it understand human speech?!"
Gastly turned back and shouted at Natsume.
"Oh, you have to use telepathy," Natsume reminded him.
Gastly did so, and the giant Dragonite stopped, tilting its head at Gastly, beads of cold sweat seeping down its fierce face.
How did this dopey Gastly suddenly start talking?
"I usually only use telepathy when talking to humans—like now."
Gastly retreated behind Natsume with lingering fear.
"How is it? How well does Dragonite control its own strength?"
Natsume asked.
"In your human terms, it's like a three-year-old holding a gun."
Gastly nodded.
Based on what had just happened, he found his analogy extremely apt.
"Then you'll be the one to teach it how to fire the gun from now on."
Natsume smiled, patted him, and handed over a small white box.
He opened the box.
It was filled with spicy paste.
Gastly hurried to stash it away, still looking troubled.
"This is a job that could cost me my life!"
"Two boxes a month."
"Deal!"
"Teach it well, and I'll get you a membership card for unlimited spicy paste in the future!"
"Fssst—hah!"
After tucking away the two boxes, Gastly's form rippled, and he appeared in a full butler uniform.
"Young Master Dragonite, do not slack off—strike me!"
Watching the two Pokémon throw themselves into heated practice, Natsume yawned.
What could he say—before he could do a life-extension modification on Dragonite, he had to find a way to raise its strength.
Especially its control over that strength.
He didn't want Dragonite to send him flying off the operating table with one big kick.
These concerns came from one of the few good bits of news Natsume had discovered about Dragonite—
Perhaps because of long-term suffering, it was now almost insensible to pain, and even conditions like paralysis, poison, and burn didn't make much difference.
Whether the giant Dragonite was afflicted or not, it was basically the same.
So anesthetics and such were useless on this particular Dragonite.
On top of that, it wasn't very smart.
Once it got overstimulated, it would still smack you across the face anyway.
Even Gastly said as much.
By dusk, Natsume recalled Gastly and the giant Dragonite into their Poké Balls.
"Let's go. Ash and the others should be back. We can catch the sight of Butterfree migrating."
Saying so, Natsume headed for the shore, with Honora right behind.
The sun dipped westward.
Gold-red ripples glittered across the sea as thousands upon thousands of Butterfree beat their wings, skimming the crests of the waves.
The wingbeats blended with the sea breeze into a fine, rustling sound.
"Mmm—the wind carries a bitter salt."
Natsume stepped up beside Ash.
"Do you regret it, Ash?"
Natsume turned to look at him.
"This was Butterfree's own choice.
As its Trainer, I have to respect that."
Ash looked up toward the distant cloud of wings.
There, a pair of Butterfree were flying together—one of them a Shiny.
Suddenly, Ash's Butterfree turned back and waved from afar.
"Sigh, who knows when we'll meet again," Misty said, lifting a hand to wave.
"Pikachu!"
Pikachu drooped its head, seeming a bit down.
"In just a year.
I'll take you to find it then, and maybe we'll even see Butterfree's children," Natsume said, patting Ash on the head.
"Really? How would you even find it?"
Misty narrowed her eyes at him, full of disbelief.
"I installed trackers on you," Natsume said matter-of-factly.
"Huh? When?!"
Misty jolted, looking herself over and rummaging around.
"Uh…"
Brock scratched his head, not that bothered.
Sometimes they got out of contact, and it was pretty convenient that Natsume had a way to locate them.
"More precisely, I installed trackers on all of you and on all your Pokémon," Natsume said with great seriousness.
"So silent and sneaky—how scary…"
Misty muttered, at a loss for words.
"Natsume secretly put a tracker on me…"
Honora murmured behind them, cupping her cheeks as a second sunset rose.
Plop!
Honora toppled onto Natsume.
"Huh?"
Natsume looked back and saw her face flushed as she fainted.
What happened?
Natsume blinked, only to see Ash and the others all yawn together.
"Natsume, why am I suddenly so sleepy…
Is this the bitter saltiness of farewell you were talking about?"
As he spoke, Ash squatted and lay straight down on the ground.
"Pikachu~"
In Ash's arms, Pikachu was already asleep.
"We're sleepy too," Misty and Brock said in turn, and then they collapsed.
Natsume's own eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
"I forgot to tell you.
To prevent attacks by natural predators during migration, Butterfree will release Sleep Powder together—"
Right then, the sea breeze blew over.
With that, Natsume also fell sound asleep.
"Pikachu?"
Behind the group, center-parted felt baffled.
Why is everyone asleep?
You can sleep here?
How sloppy!
Enjoyed the story? Support me and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at: Patr*eon*.com/Resium
Free members can read 10+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Paid member can read 150+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Stories Available
Honkai? No, This Is Daily Life
Hogwarts Pet Master
Pokémon: Who Let Him Leave Pallet Town!
Scrolling Yu-Gi-Oh! Shorts