"W-we're sorry! We were wrong! We won't rob you again, we swear!"
The three Team Skull delinquents were on their knees, hands clasped, trembling.
Before them stood Bai Chen — calm, unblinking — and behind him, the ruins of yet another training match.
Even their Pokémon—Salandit, Yungoos, Zubat—all cowered pitifully beside their trainers, bruised and trembling.
They had joined in the begging too.
After all, they were the ones taking the beatings.
"Where's your backbone?" Bai Chen asked flatly. "It's only been five matches. You're giving up already?"
"Only five!?"
Their voices cracked in unison.
"You try getting beaten into the ground, healed instantly, and then beaten again five times in a row!"
"We really get it now! Please—no more! We swear, we'll never rob anyone again!"
Bai Chen eyed them in silence. His level still read 18 — barely halfway to where he wanted to be.
He crossed his arms.
"Fine. I can let you go."
The three looked up, eyes brightening with desperate hope.
"But," Bai Chen continued calmly, "each of you will go bring me three more Team Skull grunts. Fail to do that, and you'll stay here… training."
For a brief second, Bai Chen actually thought they'd refuse. That maybe, deep down, they had some sense of loyalty.
He was wrong.
Before he'd even finished speaking, the trio had already whipped out their phones and started dialing.
"Yo, Morikawa? Yeah, I found something big at the Pokémon Center. Bring two guys. You'll wanna see this."
The other two repeated almost identical lines, voices shaking.
When they hung up, they looked back at Bai Chen like guilty children.
Their eyes pleaded, "That's enough, right?"
Bai Chen gave them a slight nod.
"When they arrive, you can leave."
Ten minutes later, the distant rumble of engines filled the street.
Nine motorcycles roared into view, their riders honking obnoxiously as they tore straight into the Pokémon Center parking lot — completely ignoring the horrified Nurse Joy at the counter.
They dismounted at the battle court behind the building.
The leader, a boy with bleached hair and too much confidence, grinned as soon as he saw the long black blade strapped to Bai Chen's back.
"Hey! Nice sword you got there! Hand it over, and maybe we'll go easy on you!"
Bai Chen blinked.
The line.
The tone.
Even the smug grin.
It was the same as before.
The three earlier delinquents, still kneeling in the corner, couldn't help smirking through their bruises.
They'd been waiting for this moment.
"Sir," one of them asked timidly, "can we go now?"
Bai Chen smiled faintly.
"You've done well. You can leave."
They didn't need to be told twice.
They scrambled to their bikes and vanished down the road at speeds that would've made Rapidash jealous.
Meanwhile, the nine new arrivals were still swaggering, blissfully unaware of what they'd just walked into.
Bai Chen raised a hand, motioning them closer.
"If you want my blade," he said, "come take it. Prove your strength."
"Hah! Cocky bastard!" the leader spat. "Go, Grimer! Show him what happens when he mouths off to Team Skull!"
"Trubbish, you too!"
"Garbodor, don't hold back!"
Nine trainers.
Twenty-seven Pokémon in total.
Bai Chen's eyes flickered as they appeared.
Among them, one caught his attention — the Grimer.
"Grimer… they have the move 'Minimize,' don't they?"
A plan clicked instantly in his mind.
If he could get Nergigante to learn that move, she could shrink down enough to travel with him unnoticed.
No more worrying about her size — or terrifying everyone within a kilometer.
He scanned the Grimer's status bar through his system overlay.
Sure enough—
[Skill Detected: Minimize (★2)]
Perfect.
The battle began.
Bai Chen didn't hold back.
He took a breath — deep, controlled — and the fighting aura within him ignited, coating his blade in a burning red haze.
"Spirit Blade Secret Art—Great Arc Slash!"
He swung.
The red blade carved through the battlefield like lightning.
[EXP +43]
[EXP +57]
[EXP +47]
...
When the dust finally settled, the entire arena was in ruins.
By the time night fell, every single Team Skull grunt was on the ground, groaning in defeat.
The leader trembled as he watched Bai Chen twist a steel pipe into the shape of a bowtie.
That was all it took.
"C-call more people! Call everyone!!"
And so they did.
Within an hour, twenty-seven more unsuspecting Skull members arrived at the Pokémon Center, all drawn by promises of an "easy score."
They, too, joined the slaughter.
Meanwhile, inside the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy's face had gone completely pale.
The battlefield outside was a warzone — and every few minutes, more Pokémon were being dragged inside on stretchers.
"Chansey! Audino! Hurry!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks as she and her team worked overtime.
By midnight, four nearby Pokémon Centers had sent backup.
Five Nurse Joys and their partners were now working side by side, frantically reviving the endless line of injured Pokémon.
It went on all night.
When dawn finally came, the city's early risers gathered in confusion around the Pokémon Center.
And what they saw left them speechless.
Five exhausted Nurse Joys lay slumped against the counter, asleep on their feet.
Dozens of Chansey and Audino were sprawled across the floor, utterly spent.
And outside the building…
A ten-meter tower of twisted motorcycle parts gleamed in the morning light.
"What… in Arceus's name happened here last night?" a bystander whispered.
Nurse Joy, half-awake, burst into tears.
"Th-there's a devil in the Pokémon Center! I'm not joking, QAQ!"
That very same morning, sunlight filtered into the grand dining hall of the Aether estate.
Today was the day Lillie's mother was scheduled to meet Bai Chen to personally test his strength.
Lillie, still in her pale green pajamas, descended the stairs, rubbing her eyes.
When she stepped into the dining room, she froze.
Bai Chen and Nergigante were already there — eating breakfast.
"Mister Bai! You're back!" she exclaimed, running up with a bright smile. "How did the training go?"
Bai Chen, mid-bite, mumbled through a mouthful of food.
"Not bad."
He swallowed and stretched, feeling the faint soreness of muscle recovery.
After last night's chaos, he'd gained more than just experience.
He had solved the biggest problem he'd been facing — how to carry Nergigante around.
From one of the Grimer he'd defeated, he'd copied Minimize (★2) — a move that allowed the user to shrink their body drastically, improving evasion.
After a little experimenting, he confirmed it:
Nergigante could now compress herself to the size of a small dog.
A perfect travel companion.
Even better — Bai Chen himself had picked up two new moves, and his level had skyrocketed from 15 to 22.
Lillie studied him curiously.
His hunter armor was still scuffed and singed, the metal plates bearing fresh claw marks and dents.
Whatever he'd fought last night, it had clearly been brutal.
"You really trained hard…" she murmured softly.
After breakfast, Bai Chen asked her for a few spare Poké Balls.
"Are you planning to capture a Pokémon, Mister Bai?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "I want to form a proper team. Something that can help me in combat."
He glanced out the window, eyes distant.
To him, this world — the world of Pokémon — was a training ground.
A place to sharpen his strength before returning to the hunt.
His true goal remained the same: to face the monsters that once only existed on screens — the ancient titans, the forbidden dragons that could erase kingdoms.
Creatures like the one that destroyed the old Shrade Empire.
That was a true hunt. That was the dream of a hunter — the romance of a Star of the Azure Sky.
"What kind of Pokémon are you hoping to catch?" Lillie asked, eager to help.
Bai Chen thought for a moment.
In the Monster Hunter world, hunts were done in squads — four hunters and four Palicos.
But with Nergigante at his side, that wasn't an option anymore.
He would likely fight alone from now on.
For offense, he and Nergigante already made an unstoppable frontline.
With both of them possessing Super Regeneration, they had little need for a healer.
That left only one role missing.
"I need a Pokémon that can apply status effects — poison, paralysis, sleep — and one that can control the field."
Something that could weaken opponents, make capturing easier, and increase his hunt success rate.
Lillie tilted her head, thinking deeply.
"Status effects… control…"
Her eyes brightened.
"What about Grimer? They're good at poisoning enemies — and they can use Disable! That would give you both status and control."
Bai Chen blinked.
"Grimer, huh?"
He chuckled.
Of course.
He'd fought a few just last night.
And he didn't care much for appearances anyway — he already had an Elder Dragon by his side.
Even a sludge monster couldn't lower his team's style points.
He smiled.
"That'll do. Once today's test is over, I'll head out tomorrow to catch one."
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