Beedrill, born from the flames

"Good!"

Watching Cyndaquil battle, Tomoya drew a deep breath, feeling as though the conviction in his heart had caught fire too. "Cyndaquil, then attack Kakuna with everything you've got!"

Cyndaquil began darting around Kakuna, the flames on his back burning ever more fiercely. Sparks drifted into the air, seeming to raise the temperature all around them.

"Could it be?!"

Dian's gaze grew a little more serious at the sight of those airborne sparks, but a smile immediately curled his lips.

"That's more like it. This is the perfect entrance."

The longer the poison lingered, the worse Cyndaquil's condition became. Yet his fighting spirit burned brighter than ever. All his pain turned into strength as he readied the final blow that would decide the match.

"Cynda!!"

Cyndaquil stopped abruptly, faced Kakuna, and opened his mouth wide.

Boom!

A thick torrent of flame erupted, sweeping straight toward Kakuna.

"Flamethrower?!!"

Tomoya cried out at the sight, then began trembling all over, overwhelmed by his hunger for victory and the excitement he could no longer contain.

"Flamethrower... no, it should just be Ember boosted by Blaze."

Even Dian grew uncharacteristically excited.

Watching the flames surge toward them, he shouted, "Rise from the flames, Beedrill!!"

The moment his words ended, countless dazzling rays of white light shot out of the flames, instantly outshining everything else.

"What?!"

Tomoya froze.

Bzz!

A yellow figure flashed past and appeared behind Cyndaquil with incredible speed, thrusting three stingers at him.

Several sharp swishes cut through the air as Beedrill unleashed Fury Attack.

"Cynda..."

Cyndaquil gave a pained cry as he was sent flying. After tumbling several times, he collapsed on the ground, his little eyes spinning.

"Come back, Cyndaquil."

A flash of red light swept over Cyndaquil as Tomoya recalled him, his expression calm. But his tightly pressed lips and clenched left fist betrayed his unwillingness to accept defeat. "I lost this time, but next time I won't. I absolutely won't!"

After adding that, he pulled a Pokémon Pokédex from inside his clothes. "Come on, I'll transfer it to you."

"No need. Just give me an equivalent amount of Pokéblocks. I'm not leaving the forest for now."

Dian shook his head, recalled Beedrill, then turned to speak.

"All right!"

Tomoya emptied every Pokéblock in his backpack onto the ground. "This is definitely enough. Dian, was it? I'll remember you! We'll settle this on Mt. Silver!"

With that, he turned and walked away.

Dian watched Tomoya disappear into the forest before packing the Pokéblocks into his backpack. He finally had supplies again.

Over this time, he had lost count of how many Pokéblocks he had smeared onto Kakuna. On top of that, Misdreavus seemed to have awakened a gluttonous streak and kept demanding extra meals. If not for his plentiful haul in the Misty Forest and the Pokéblocks he had won by constantly seeking out Trainers to battle lately, he would have run out of supplies long ago.

Dian shouldered his bulging backpack again, breathed a sigh of relief, and headed deeper into the forest.

"Ratta."

A Rattata scurried out of the bushes and onto the grass, searching for stray Pokéblocks.

Dian returned to a small river. After sitting on the ground to rest briefly, he let his Pokémon out.

"Misd!"

As always, Misdreavus came over and grabbed Dian's hair, laughing happily.

"Misd?"

She suddenly noticed a yellow bee Pokémon beside her. White, venomous stingers tipped his two arms, their surfaces densely patterned with rings.

A yellow stinger gleamed coldly at his rear, twitching now and then. His cool eyes watched silently ahead, though a closer look suggested he was keeping an eye on his surroundings too.

Sure enough, the information in Dian's right eye refreshed again, but he was already used to it.

This ability seemed of little use when it came to wild Pokémon or other people's Pokémon. It was merely a hidden version of a Pokémon Pokédex.

To bring up detailed information on a Pokémon, he had to catch them first. Still, it was extremely useful.

He gave it a quick look.

Beedrill — Bug, Poison. Poison Bee Pokémon.

Ability: Swarm.

Moves: Poison Sting, Fury Attack, Focus Energy, Twineedle, Swords Dance.

Dian read through them in order. The first four moves came as no surprise, but the last one, Swords Dance, left him both thrilled and astonished.

By rights, Beedrill should not have been able to awaken that move through inheritance. He should only have been able to learn it through a Technical Machine.

"Swords Dance!"

It was an incredibly powerful move. In the games, it raised physical attack by two stages at once—in other words, it doubled it.

Three consecutive uses of Swords Dance meant a six-stage increase in physical attack. It could hardly get more reliable than that.

Focus Energy was likewise a boosting move, increasing the chance of landing a critical hit. Dian, however, saw it more as a way of concentrating the mind. After all, this was reality, not a game.

Dian was not surprised by the Swarm ability either. Sniper might have been better, but Swarm had its own advantages. In reality, it might even prove more useful than Sniper.

A living opponent would not foolishly let someone strike their weak points, especially an experienced one.

By comparison, an ability that could sense danger and strengthen Bug-type moves would be better.

"Good!"

Dian nodded in satisfaction. "A new round of special training starts now!"

"Misd!"

Misdreavus seemed to have finally satisfied her curiosity about Beedrill. She grabbed Dian's hair again and began playing with it.

Though he called it special training, it mainly involved honing Misdreavus's illusion-making ability and Shadow Sneak. She had since learned another Ghost-type move, Screech, but she disliked it and almost never used it.

Dian did not force her. Screech was not his priority either, so he left the choice to Misdreavus.

Unlike in the games, Pokémon here were not restricted to keeping only four moves, but they would still rely primarily on just a handful.

After all, Pokémon had limited energy. They could only devote their full attention to a few moves.

Besides, some of the more willful ones might not even like combat moves at all.

As for Beedrill, Dian had some special training planned for him.

By the small river.

Misdreavus controlled a shadow holding a small pair of scissors, trimming the branches on the ground bit by bit. She also had to find suitable branches and cut them down.

Yet she continued working with undiminished enthusiasm, deeply curious about what all these things would be used for.

Meanwhile, Beedrill followed Dian's instructions, using his moves one after another.

"Twineedle!"

Beedrill immediately jabbed forward twice in succession. Dian noticed a faint trace of blue light flash over his white stingers.

Venomous, then...