Traitor of the Earth

Despite its name, a double bed was really better suited to one person. There was no telling what someone might do in their sleep.

With two people, or one person and one cat, some strange positions were bound to happen.

Xin Mu was actually a fairly heavy sleeper. Had he woken up a little earlier, he would have found Meownei lying sideways across his stomach, apparently using him as a body pillow.

That was also how her invisible flower stem had ended up pinned beneath him.

Meownei thought yanking it out would wake Xin Mu, so she had simply stayed there watching him.

"Sorry, did I hurt you by lying on you?"

"Meow. (No, I'm pretty tough.)"

Pokémon had rather unusual bodies. Although Meowscarada was a Grass-type Pokémon, lightning strikes, fire, explosions, and freezing would only cause severe stamina loss.

This was mainly because Pokémon all possessed the same kind of energy within their bodies, with variations depending on their species, type, and level.

When they were attacked, that energy would automatically protect their bodies, greatly reducing physical damage and improving their ability to survive in the wild.

As a result, Meownei's flower stem was far tougher than an ordinary plant. Calling it a steel cable would hardly have been an exaggeration.

"There's only raw sliced meat left in the fridge. I made all the Berries into Pokéblocks yesterday. Want some?"

"Meow, meow~ (No thanks, I'm not hungry. A little sunshine will do~)"

This was why Grass-type Pokémon cost less to raise. Although they needed food like other Pokémon, they could sometimes meet part of their daily needs simply by basking in the sun. It was remarkably convenient.

There was still a box of Hybrid Cattle meat in the fridge.

The name did not mean the meat was synthetic. It referred to a kind of cattle unique to this world.

As regulations across the various regions became more comprehensive, hunting Pokémon for food had been declared illegal.

Pokémon-derived ingredients still existed, but they were all collected without harming the Pokémon, such as Slowpoke tails, naturally shed Corphish claws, and Tsareena's bathwater.

Eating Farfetch'd outright was no longer permitted, which had also saved the endangered species.

In the past, these Pokémon that came with their own seasoning had long been considered delicacies.

Only as the regulations gradually improved had the Farfetch'd population begun to recover.

Hybrid Cattle were the offspring of bovine Pokémon such as Tauros and Miltank bred with ordinary cattle.

They no longer possessed the near-human intelligence of Pokémon or any special abilities, becoming ordinary livestock instead.

Their meat was relatively expensive compared with similar products, but that was simply how Xin Mu lived. He owned only two sets of clothes to wear in rotation, and if they tore, he just stitched them up.

All his remaining money went toward better food. Now he also had to prepare an extra portion for Meownei. He could hardly make her live on photosynthesis every day.

"Let's get ready to go. Let me see where this Gym is..."

The subway sped through the city's underground tracks, and before long, Xin Mu arrived at... a construction site.

The weather was still fairly cool, and the workers were rushing to get things done. Members of the Machoke evolutionary line could also be seen carrying heavy loads.

These Pokémon needed to train their bodies by carrying heavy objects, so they often appeared at construction sites, moving companies, gyms, and similar places.

"Sir, is there a Gym around here?"

The in-game map had not been revealed yet, while Doduo Maps showed that the Gym was right here, leaving Xin Mu to ask someone for directions.

"That's right. Go around that way, and you'll find it behind the construction site. See that tall tower? It's right below it."

"Is the Gym under construction? Why is there so much work going on?"

"More or less. The old Gym Leader's son came back recently and started putting in some newfangled things. He set up that tower for bungee jumping. Said something about wanting to experience soaring through the sky."

Xin Mu had the feeling that the older man was quite familiar with the Gym Leader. After a few more questions, he learned that this construction crew was actually one of the Gym's businesses.

More precisely, these days, everyone from Champions to Gym Leaders liked having a side business.

Professional celebrities, online streamers, underground miners, flower shop owners-their occupations ran the gamut.

Sometimes it was hard to tell which job was their main one.

From the look of things, this Gym's Leader might well have been a construction contractor.

"This Gym... really lives up to its name..."

Watching the excavators start working at the construction site, Xin Mu could not help making that remark.

Meanwhile, inside the Gym, a father and son seemed to be discussing the philosophy of life.

"You little brat! Are you still determined to follow this Flying-type path to the bitter end?"

A middle-aged man in his forties stood there in construction-site workwear and a safety helmet. He was Rong Lei, this Gym's Leader.

The person before him bore a strong resemblance to him. This was his son, Rong Fei, the "unfilial son" in Rong Lei's eyes.

A Trainer who raised Flying types instead of Ground types.

"Dad, everyone gets to make their own choices. You can't force me to raise Pokémon I don't like, can you?

"I don't like pouring concrete on construction sites. My dream is to soar through the sky!"

"It's not like I'm insisting you study civil engineering, but our family has specialized in Ground types for four generations. We rooted ourselves in the earth, one step at a time, and only reached where we are today after laying a solid foundation.

"How am I supposed to feel comfortable handing the Gym over to you when you're like this?

"I was going to wait until you officially inherited the Gym to tell you, but it looks like I'll have to do it early. Let me ask you something.

"Do you know... why our Gym is called the Blue Sky Technical Academy Gym?"

"Because Great-Grandpa believed his descendants would soar through the blue sky like birds. That's also why I like Flying types!"

"Wrong! Because your great-grandfather wasn't originally a Trainer. One day, by chance, he dug up a Trapinch with an excavator, and that was how he became a Trainer.

"If he hadn't learned his trade there, your great-grandfather wouldn't have known how to operate an excavator.

"Our Gym got its name to commemorate that excavator school after it closed down!"

Hearing his father's explanation, Rong Fei felt as though his entire worldview had collapsed.

A Gym's name did not necessarily need to mean anything, and plenty of Gyms were simply named after their cities, but the meaning behind his own Gym's name... was still a little hard to accept.

"That's why our ancestral motto is: the earth holds boundless opportunities! That's what your grandfather told me, so you have to follow it too."

"I won't! I'm going to challenge the Elite Four someday, become Champion, and become a powerful Trainer like Mr. Lance..."

"Isn't he a Dragon-type Elite Four member?"

"That's not important! What matters now is that when I become Gym Leader, I absolutely don't want people finding out the Gym was named to commemorate an excavator school!"