The next day.
Early morning.
Natsuhiko rubbed his bleary eyes, lifting Abra out from under his duvet, looking at the damp patch on the sheets with a sense of resignation.
Why can't you sleep without drooling so much?
Looks like I'll need to get Abra a bed, see how obedient Beedrill is napping on the wall.
"Buzz?"
As soon as Beedrill saw Natsuhiko awake, it flew down.
The result was a few distinct holes left in the wall from its legs poking out.
Natsuhiko: "...."
Alright, forget what I said.
Flint and the gang should be coming to pick him up soon; yesterday's late-night chat with Sakuragi left his spirit a bit wilted.
If he hadn't kept reminding himself of today's plans, Sakuragi might have really pulled him into an all-night talk.
Such a chatterbox, and it was all about Pokémon research—taxing on the brain.
"Abra, wake up."
"Abra?"
Breakfast time?
Abra sleepily opened its eyes.
Natsuhiko noticed his Abra was a bit different from others.
Firstly, its eyes were blue, a kind of light blue—it was hard to tell because its eyes were always closed, but he was certain regular Abra's eyes weren't blue.
Also, Abra's psychic abilities seemed quite strong. He originally worried it might suffer from psychic overload like Yujira did, but it seemed fine now.
This might be the talent Yujira passed down to Abra.
After a quick wash, he gave the two Pokémon Energy Blocks and headed to the backyard.
"Abra, we didn't have time yesterday, I want to see what techniques you know now," Natsuhiko said.
"Abra..."
Abra tilted its head in thought, and then a large amount of psychic power started to gush from its body.
Whoosh—
In just a flash, Abra moved from in front of Natsuhiko to behind him.
"Instant Movement, anything else?"
One reason why it's so difficult to capture Abra is because they're almost born with the ability to use Instant Movement—once sensing danger, they use it to escape.
Even asleep, Abra can still do it.
And Yujira tends to look after young Abra, regardless of whether they're its own children.
If Abra only knew Instant Movement, its effectiveness in field combat would be quite limited.
Abra was trying to remember, it didn't know what techniques it had and could only explore slowly.
"Abra!"
Suddenly, it slowly clenched its little fist and raised it.
Crack crack crack—
Bits of ice crystal began to appear on Abra's fist, accompanied by wisps of cold air, until a Frozen Fist cover slightly larger than its fist enveloped its hand.
Natsuhiko's eyes brightened.
"Farmer's Three Punches: Frozen Fist."
"Abra?"
What's Farmer's Three Punches?
"Don't mind these details, it's just that your physical attack and physical defense are weak points, physical attacks aren't really suitable for you."
This Frozen Fist has unfortunately inherited a bit awkwardly.
But it's still better than nothing.
"Anything else?"
Having one inherited technique means Abra's talent is okay, even if Frozen Fist isn't highly effective for it.
Abra nodded.
It was starting to grasp the concept of what techniques were.
Twisting its little head, looking for something.
Finally, Abra's gaze locked onto Beedrill nearby, its little eyes brightened.
"Abra!"
It waved at Beedrill.
Beedrill was confused, but approached Abra and Natsuhiko.
Soon, Abra's psychic power swelled rapidly, enveloping itself and Beedrill, as something magical seemed to be happening between the two Pokémon.
Then.
Then, nothing happened afterwards.
Abra called to Natsuhiko, indicating it had finished the demonstration.
"Not Exchange Arena, nor a trick technique—Beedrill, any feelings?"
Beedrill touched its head, it felt strange...
Extending its long needle, it lightly rubbed itself, not very forcefully but still leaving a scratch on its body.
With this demonstration, Natsuhiko understood.
"Defense Swap, right?"
This technique seemed far more effective than the previous Frozen Fist, allowing swap of defense and special defense changes between oneself and the opponent.
Given Abra's extreme species value bias, it can completely nullify a tank-type opponent that keeps boosting defenses, combined with Beedrill's attack power and Deadly Needle Stab for harvesting effect.
Though it might not be that impactful alone, in a wild setting or a two-on-two Pokémon battle, it could be surprisingly effective.
"This is good, really good."
Hearing Natsuhiko's praise, Abra's already small eyes squinted even smaller.
"So, anything else?"
This time, Abra showed more determination.
"Abra!"
A low shout came from Abra and abundant psychic power poured out from its body, instantly covering the entire backyard.
Misty, the light became refracted—wisps of psychic power lingered around, concentrated and persistent.
Abra's body also floated gently, its psychic power seemed to condense more under the effect of the arena.
"Psychic Arena!"
This truly surprised Natsuhiko.
He didn't expect Abra to inherit the Psychic Arena—an arena-type technique.
Similar to Foggy Arena and Grass Arena, this arena-type technique boosts psychic-type Pokémon, enhancing their technique strength while avoiding some low-priority techniques.
Arena-type techniques are quite demanding for Psychic-type Pokémon, many Pokémon might never master them in their lifetime.
For Abra that battles with psychic power, it's like getting a home field advantage.
Early on, it might not help much, but later, as Abra gets stronger, the effect of Psychic Arena will increase.
"Abra..."
Soon, the Psychic Arena dissipated, leaving Abra briefly weakened.
Opening the Psychic Arena for long periods with its current strength was indeed taxing.
However, Abra's visibly apparent talent, Natsuhiko had noticed.
This was already its third inherited technique.
Looks like Yujira's care for it was not wasted.
"So... anything else?" Natsuhiko asked with a bit of anticipation.
Abra bit its finger, thought for a moment, then shook its head.
No more techniques.
Natsuhiko wasn't disappointed; inheriting Frozen Fist, Defense Swap, and Psychic Arena was already quite enough.
Though now it might struggle to fight alone, its effectiveness in the wild would undoubtedly be greatly enhanced.
Giving him greater confidence for the upcoming exploration.
"Abra Abra!" Abra waved its little hand eagerly at Natsuhiko's satisfied face.
No more like those, but I have something else.
Abra gestured up and down with its hands, its expression turned rigid, becoming a stiff, mechanical expression.
Then it laid flat on the ground, all fours touching, licking its fur like a puppy, making sounds that slightly resembled "Buyi Buyi".
"You're saying you learned something from Flint's Shiny Metal Monster or Hilona's Eevee yesterday?" Natsuhiko raised an eyebrow.
Abra nodded repeatedly.
It raised its small hand, a swirling black sphere spun in its palm.
"Shadow Ball...."
Indeed, letting Abra interact with Flint and Hilona's Pokémon yesterday was the right call—Eevee wasn't investing in it for nothing, it really did pick up a trick?
Natsuhiko's expression turned a bit peculiar.
"So, anything else..."