Ding-dong.
System Notification:
"Because the tactics you developed have been further disseminated within the Pokémon world, you have earned a reward — Pokémon Skill Learning ×1."
An emotionless, AI-like voice suddenly echoed in Serena's mind.
Who's talking?!
Seated in the stands and waiting for her next match, Serena snapped her eyes open.
Ah—right. It was her system. All good then.
"I honestly thought your script had expired or crashed beyond repair," Serena complained inwardly, communicating with the system through sheer thought.
She had never seen a system with such an absurdly low sense of presence.
To be fair, the Pokémon Editor in its complete form was outrageously tempting.
Move pools, abilities, base stats, individual values, effort values, shininess…
Nearly every factor that defined a Pokémon's battle strength could theoretically be modified.
If one could freely alter a Pokémon's power model from the backend,
that was basically playing as a disciple of the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect—full-on god-mode cheating.
But the problem was obvious.
This "cheat" was missing too many functions.
Serena didn't even know how to activate it, let alone how to use it properly.
Until now, it had felt like a system stuck in permanent maintenance mode.
Only at this very moment did it finally awaken and send its first proper message to its host.
"To gain something, one must first contribute something.
Equivalent exchange is an inviolable law of all worlds.
Even the Pokémon Editor cannot transcend it."
"All things arise from conservation;
if source energy is broken, balance is lost.
Think not that one grows as another falls—
reverse heaven and earth, and collapse follows."
The Pokémon Editor replied impartially.
"…You're a poet now?" Serena muttered internally.
"Alright, alright. I get what you're saying."
She nodded to herself.
The Pokémon world might not seem overwhelmingly high-tier at first glance,
but it possessed Arceus—a multiversal existence with countless avatars,
overlooking all creation from the Hall of Origin.
If Legendary Pokémon—so-called "Tier-One Gods"—were merely world-level bosses,
then Arceus alone forcibly elevated the entire power ceiling of this universe by several orders of magnitude.
Arceus's true form was a hard T0 existence, completely out of scale.
Only several tiers below came beings such as:
Arceus's avatars
Ultra Necrozma, the Radiant Deity
Mega Rayquaza, the Sky God
Primal Groudon
As a transmigrator—an outsider to this world—Serena could not afford to act without restraint.
In a universe watched over by a multiversal guardian like Arceus,
overly extreme behavior was simply not an option.
If someone tried to treat Pokémon like disposable tools—
brainwashing them, exploiting them, or worse…
Then Arceus wouldn't even wait until the next day.
A hoof like a pillar holding up the heavens would descend from above, delivering immediate divine judgment.
Arceus:"Doesn't matter. I will absolutely step in."
Fortunately, Serena had never planned to do anything that insane.
So she wasn't particularly worried about being smote from above.
"Equivalent exchange, huh… That's fair enough."
Then another thought crossed her mind.
"But wait—my tactics spreading through the Pokémon world and earning me a reward…
Who exactly picked up my signature build?"
…
The Pokémon Editor did not respond.
Apparently, viral dissemination across networks lay outside its detection scope.
Serena stopped worrying about who had copied the
Alolan Ninetales + Loaded Dice Baxcalibur strategy.
What mattered more was how to use this newly acquired Pokémon Skill Learning opportunity.
Should she use it on Gible again?
Or save it for the second Pokémon she would eventually catch and train?
Before she could think further—
"Quarterfinals, Match Two.
Business Administration Department's Serena
versus Pokémon Battle Department's Tang Jinyu.
Please report to the field immediately."
The stadium announcement interrupted her thoughts.
At present, Serena only had one Pokémon—Gible—
so there was no real need to overthink it.
But if she truly intended to become a top-tier Pokémon Trainer,
raising just a single Dragon Dance Gible from start to finish was never going to be enough.
Once the Sprout Cup ended,
it would be time to seriously consider capturing and training her second Pokémon.
"Let's go, Gible," Serena said calmly.
"The semifinals are already waving at us."
Of course—
"Making Top 4 counts as success"
had always been nothing more than a joke.
Her goal in entering the Sprout Cup had always been singular:
Champion.
In any competition—large or small—
only the champion is remembered.
"I'll be using Wartortle. Please take care of me."
Her opponent, Tang Jinyu, adjusted his black-rimmed glasses.
He looked intelligent and earnest.
Wartortle was a Water-type Pokémon.
Thanks to Gible's Dragon typing, Water-type damage was partially mitigated,
so Serena wasn't overly concerned about standard Water attacks.
However—
Water and Ice were, in essence, two states of the same substance.
Most Water-type Pokémon were either proficient in
or capable of covering Ice-type moves.
That Water–Ice coverage was a genuine threat.
If Tang Jinyu's Wartortle knew Ice-type techniques…
Then for Gible,
this battle would be far from trivial.
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