A Froakie That Looked Just Like a Ninja

The poisonous barb shot toward Cheng Tian's face at incredible speed, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

I'm done for. My handsome face is going to be ruined.

You had to admit, this idiot really was an idiot. Even at a time like this, he was still full of himself.

Just as the Poison Sting was about to hit Cheng Tian, a Bubble shot over and intercepted it by a hair's breadth.

Cheng Tian waited and waited, but the pain he expected never came. Unable to resist opening his eyes, he discovered another clump of white foam on the ground.

Nidoran♀ froze, clearly unsure who had stopped her attack.

Just then, a ball of water shot from the tree behind Cheng Tian and struck Nidoran♀.

The water ball burst, releasing wave after wave of Water-type energy. Nidoran♀ was injured, and a figure leaped down from the tree.

"Froak, froak!"

"This is..." Information about the Pokémon quickly appeared in Cheng Tian's mind.

Pokémon: Froakie

Gender: Male

Nature: Naughty

Ability: Torrent

Level: 12

Egg Moves: Mind Reader (lv1), Power-Up Punch (lv1), Ice Punch (lv3).

Natural moves: Leer (lv3), Bubble (lv6), Round (lv2), Pound (lv4), Growl (lv3), Lick (lv3), Water Pulse (lv3)

Tutored moves: Water Gun (lv4), Cut (lv6)

"Froakie?" Cheng Tian was astonished. What was a Froakie doing out here in the middle of nowhere?

Then he froze and immediately swore. "Holy shit! Goddammit! What the hell are these Egg Moves?"

The reason was simple: while looking at Froakie's panel, Cheng Tian had spotted a special move.

Mind Reader (lv1)

Is your dad Articuno? How did you learn this move???

Froakie was a pale-blue, frog-like Pokémon. He had large yellow eyes, with pupils that were sometimes oval and sometimes narrowed into slits. A dark-blue stripe ran across his head. His hands and the junctions between his hands and arms were white, as though he wore a pair of white gloves. White frubbles covered his muzzle, back, and neck, with those on his back and neck resembling a bundle.

Froakie released bubbles from his chest and back, wrapping his body in fine bubbles to protect his skin.

This Froakie was a little different from the others. His face was wrapped in his own foam, leaving only his two large yellow eyes exposed.

Cheng Tian found the sight familiar. If he remembered correctly, Ash's Froakie had first appeared like this in the XY series. He looked as though he wore a face mask, just like a ninja.

Froakie looked at Cheng Tian with a somewhat complicated expression.

I never thought I'd end up stepping in after all.

Froakie had started following Cheng Tian when he encountered Rattata. Seeing Cheng Tian defeat Rattata without dealing a killing blow, and instead hide the Pokémon away, had surprised Froakie.

Defeat in the wild meant death. To Froakie, Cheng Tian's actions showed compassion. That had earned Froakie's approval.

But the human had let a Rattata go, and those held serious grudges! When Froakie wanted to help Cheng Tian deal with it, he remembered his master's words.

Ninja rule number 10: do not involve yourself in matters unrelated to your mission.

While he was hesitating, Cheng Tian had already left with Yamper. Froakie paused.

He's heading the same way as me anyway, so I'll tag along for a little while. All I need to do is complete Master's mission.

As expected, Cheng Tian was hunted down. Froakie did not intervene, but followed after him.

When Froakie saw Cheng Tian risk himself to provoke a fight, a gleam sprang into his eyes.

Such courage-even he might not have been able to do something like that. Yet the human before him had not only done it, but escaped too!

Unfortunately, Cheng Tian's luck clearly wasn't very good. A late-arriving Beedrill spotted him. At the critical moment, Froakie still threw out two clumps of foam, then quickly concealed himself.

Doing good deeds is also an essential quality for a ninja. This doesn't count as breaking the ninja rules Master gave me.

That was how Froakie reassured himself.

When Cheng Tian left, Froakie chose not to follow him again.

He still had his own mission. He had to get those things-his master really needed them right now!

After traveling for quite some time, Froakie arrived at this place.

Several Oran Berry trees grew here, and his mission was to pick plenty of Oran Berries to take back.

But there was a Nidoran♂ below. Froakie was very patient, and there were plenty of berries, so he chose to wait until Nidoran♂ had eaten his fill before picking them himself.

Ninja rule number 5: avoid unnecessary conflict whenever possible, unless it conflicts with your mission.

Yet just then, Cheng Tian actually appeared again and launched an attack. Froakie was surprised to encounter this human once more. Did he want these Oran Berries too?

What happened afterward was already known. Seeing the other side gang up on the outnumbered pair, Froakie could not resist stepping in.

Cheng Tian was startled, but this clearly wasn't the time for surprise. Nidoran♀'s Poison Sting attacks were already coming one after another.

"Watch out!" Cheng Tian could not help warning him, but Froakie reacted much faster than he did. He quickly pulled a clump of foam from his neck and threw it out, blocking Poison Sting again.

Then Froakie swiftly sprang forward, bounding across the grass and closing the distance between himself and Nidoran♀.

Two spikes formed from condensed water had already appeared in his hands. It was Cut. (Please don't complain. Ash's Greninja did something similar too. Although this Froakie is modeled after him, he definitely isn't a straight copy! He'll have his own characterization.)

Nidoran♀'s horn took on a purple glow as she used Poison Jab, choosing to fight Froakie at close quarters.

As far as she was concerned, Froakie was so skinny that he wouldn't withstand even two of her attacks.

Utterly fearless, Froakie crossed his two water spikes and struck Nidoran♀'s horn. But Nidoran♀ was a level higher than Froakie, after all, and clearly stronger. Her horn, charged with Poison Jab, slowly pushed closer to him.

Suddenly, a Water Gun shot from the white foam covering Froakie's face and sprayed Nidoran♀ in the face.

Caught completely off guard, Nidoran♀ lost much of her strength in an instant. Froakie seized the opportunity to pull away, formed a ball of water between his two small white hands, and blasted it at her.

Water Pulse!

This Froakie had plenty of battle experience. Despite being at a lower level than his opponent, he fought with effortless ease.

Nidoran♀ cried out as the attack hit her. Froakie unleashed Cut again, intending to press his advantage.

Just then, a Poison Sting suddenly flew over and struck Froakie. He flinched in pain, his move was interrupted, and he was poisoned as well.

Looking back, he saw that it was Nidoran♂, who had just been paralyzed. Although he was paralyzed, paralysis did not prevent movement one hundred percent of the time.

This is getting tricky. Froakie found the situation troublesome. Suddenly, a bolt of electricity struck Nidoran♂-Yamper had used Thunder Shock.

In the meantime, Cheng Tian had hurried over and used an Antidote on Yamper, curing the poison.

Although Yamper's stamina was still low, the Pokémon could now serve as a ranged turret and fire off moves.

Froakie was not alone! Seeing this, he did not hesitate, forming Cut again and slashing forward.

Nidoran♀ used Poison Jab again too. This time, Froakie chose to go on the offensive. His two water spikes attacked furiously, one after the other, while Nidoran♀ had only one horn and clearly could not keep up.

Yamper fired another Thunder Shock. Unable to dodge in time, Nidoran♀ was struck, and Froakie followed up, slashing her with Cut as well.

"Nido!" Nidoran♀ fell to the ground, but she had not yet lost the ability to fight. She stared fixedly at Froakie as she crawled toward Nidoran♂, inch by inch.

Seeing this, Froakie did not attack again. He was clearly moved by Nidoran♀'s actions. No matter what happened, she would always stay with her mate!

Cheng Tian's hands did not stop, though. He took out another Poké Ball and threw it at Nidoran♂. Red light flashed, and the Poké Ball landed on the ground and began to wobble.

A gleam flashed in Cheng Tian's eyes. Only a bastard would pass up a freebie!

This time, the Poké Ball shook three times. Just as Cheng Tian thought he had successfully caught Nidoran♂, there was a pop, and Nidoran♂ broke free again.

Cheng Tian's face was plastered with question marks. What kind of luck was this? Nidoran♂ was in that state and still wouldn't stay inside!

Cheng Tian felt that heaven really was targeting him. What left him even more speechless was that after entering a Poké Ball again, Nidoran♂ emerged with his paralysis gone.

Nidoran♂ quickly ran toward Nidoran♀, intending to escape with her. Cheng Tian fumbled out another Poké Ball, but just as he was about to enlarge it, both Pokémon had already fled.

There goes my future frontline damage machine! Cheng Tian wanted to cry, but had no tears.

The foam-faced Froakie did not pursue them when they escaped. Instead, he walked toward the fruit trees, picked one blue Oran Berry after another, and stuffed them into the foam around his neck. Thanks to the foam's stickiness, the Oran Berries did not fall out.

Cheng Tian took out a Potion and treated Yamper's injuries, then took several Oran Berries from his backpack and fed them to Yamper.

Oran Berries could restore a small amount of a Pokémon's stamina, and Cheng Tian had brought plenty this time.

He gave Froakie, who kept stuffing away Oran Berries, a curious look. Does he really like this kind of berry? After thinking for a moment, he walked over.

When Froakie saw Cheng Tian approach, the foam on his face-or rather, his mask-grew thicker, as though he was afraid Cheng Tian would see his face.

Ninja rule number 3: do not remove your mask lightly. This prevents others from seeing your face and hunting you down.

"Thank you," Cheng Tian said sincerely. Froakie nodded in reply, and then Cheng Tian called out his name without thinking.

"Thank you, Froakie."

"Froak, froak?!"

What the hell??!! Froakie turned pale with shock. I've actually been recognized! When did it happen? During the fight just now? But I clearly never took off my mask!

Froakie carefully counted. In this one day alone, he seemed to have broken three ninja rules!

I'm sorry, Master! I've let you down!

Completely unaware of this, Cheng Tian poured all the Oran Berries from his backpack in one go. "Thank you for stepping in to save us just now. And that Beedrill earlier-that was you too, wasn't it?"

"Woof, woof!" Yamper wagged a little tail and barked at Froakie, expressing gratitude too.

Froakie's eyes lit up at the sight of so many Oran Berries. The mission his master had assigned him was now a complete success.

But he soon ran into a problem.

I can't carry this many Oran Berries. What should I do?

As though he had noticed Froakie's difficulty, Cheng Tian chuckled. "They're awkward to carry, right? I'll pack them up for you." He then put them back into his backpack and told Froakie that he could help carry them for now.

Seeing this, Froakie gestured for quite a while before Cheng Tian roughly figured out what he meant. "You mean you're getting these berries for someone else, and someone really needs them?"

Froakie nodded. "That person is still waiting for you to come back?" Cheng Tian did not think much of it. "No problem. Wait while I pack up, and I'll help you deliver them."

"Froak, froak!" Froakie nodded gratefully.

This person really is incredibly good-hearted!

Cheng Tian clearly had something else in mind. I've already gotten on good terms with this Froakie. I'll help him deliver these first, and maybe I can sweet-talk him into becoming my first Pokémon!

At that thought, Cheng Tian secretly rejoiced.

I'm just too clever!

New author, new book-please recommend and bookmark.