"No! Please, don't! We're just an ordinary student and a wild Pokémon!"
Pinned facedown on the couch, Shen Qi felt searing pain from behind him, as though every joint in his right arm had been dislocated. The intense pain shot through his entire body like an electric current.
Crack.
"Aah-!"
The joints in his left arm cried out too, and the pain, combined with his exhaustion, made Shen Qi pass out.
Before he lost consciousness, that script keyword surfaced in his mind: Tendon-Splitting Bone-Dislocating Technique.
An unknown amount of time passed before sensation gradually returned. Still dazed, Shen Qi pushed himself upright. The blanket slipped from his chest, and his shirt and pants were nowhere to be found.
Outside the window, it was pitch-black. His phone screen showed 18:46.
All Shen Qi remembered was Chansey pinning him to the couch and subjecting him to the Tendon-Splitting Bone-Dislocating Technique before he lost consciousness.
Now...
He moved his arms, then the rest of his limbs. They felt a little loose and tingly. He still vaguely remembered that earth-shattering pain, but all that remained was a sense of ease throughout his body.
It felt like soaking in a hot spring after an exhausting day, then enjoying a good, comfortable sleep.
"Burp."
Feeling slightly full, Shen Qi rubbed his stomach. He clearly hadn't had time to eat dinner before passing out, yet his current state made it obvious he had eaten.
That meant Chansey had fed him something while he was unconscious.
A powerful, complex flavor lingered at the back of his tongue. There wasn't much left, but its intensity still blasted straight to the top of his head.
It was an egg!
Shen Qi would never forget that complex flavor from Chansey's eggs for as long as he lived.
"Chansey knocked me out with the Tendon-Splitting Bone-Dislocating Technique, then fed me an egg... What kind of alien invasion plot is this?!"
"Jili."
Outside the door, a round pink figure entered the room carrying a tray.
Shen Qi felt a little scared. Fortunately, that shadowy look had disappeared from Chansey's face.
On the tray she brought over was a bowl of plain millet porridge.
Shen Qi was already quite full. A little porridge would be enough.
"Chansey... earlier..."
[Earlier, I gave Shen Qi my special massage. It's a treatment I developed myself, combined with my own dietary therapy.]
"You... how can you call that a massage? It was practically a grappling hold."
Chansey wriggled.
[It does hurt a teensy-weensy bit, but the results are wonderful.]
In all honesty, as sensation gradually returned to his body, Shen Qi really did feel a hint of the progress that came from giving his muscles plenty of rest after a workout.
The problem was that the process was simply too terrifying. Even if Shen Qi knew what to expect and tried it again, that level of pain would almost certainly knock him unconscious.
["Crazy Quack," Romance Scenario completion: 21%]
"You really developed this treatment yourself... Didn't anyone teach you?"
[No. I don't have a Pokémon Trainer, but... Shen Qi invited me, and I was very touched.]
When he had driven after Lilligant before dawn, Shen Qi had asked Chansey whether she had a Pokémon Trainer.
At the time, Chansey's answer had been that no one wanted to be her Pokémon Trainer.
Since he had been fully focused on driving at high speed, Shen Qi hadn't asked further. He had then said he was willing to become Chansey's Pokémon Trainer.
After experiencing that Tendon-Splitting Bone-Dislocating Technique, Shen Qi had a pretty good idea why no one wanted to partner with Chansey.
"Of course... I wasn't lying to you. But right now, I need a little rest."
He set the empty bowl and spoon on the tray and handed it all back to Chansey, then washed his face.
"I probably can't take you back to Ruins Valley today."
[That's all right. I'll impose on you for one more day.]
Chansey bowed politely, gentle and adorable.
"Hiss."
Shen Qi rubbed his little finger. A faint streak of blood marked the spot where the nail met the skin.
He had been so sleepy at school today that he had accidentally struck it against a desk leg.
"It's just a tiny cut. Never mind, I don't need a bandage."
[Injured!]
Just like the word "sick" earlier, the intensely emotional text burst across the game interface, and a shadow fell over Chansey's innocent smile.
"No... it's just a flesh wound! Not even a flesh wound, just a tiny bit of broken skin-!"
Before he finished speaking, Shen Qi had already been hoisted up and thrown onto the bed.
"No, what are you... Aah-!"
Crack.
"Aah!!!"
Crack, crack.
"Aaaaaah-!"
Under the night sky, heart-wrenching screams kept ringing out from the little farmhouse. Fortunately, there were no other homes nearby, or someone might have called the police.
Only Bellsprout and Oddish were there beside the path, clinging to each other and trembling.
Chapter 19: No Wonder It's Hard Difficulty
A Pidgey flew past the window, leaving a string of chirps in its wake.
The first faint rays of sunlight spilled into the room. Shen Qi slowly opened his eyes, feeling as though a lifetime had passed.
He had slept exceptionally deeply and woke before his alarm was due to go off.
"Was I... really not taken apart by Chansey?"
After getting out of bed and moving around a little, Shen Qi felt energy coursing through the muscles of his arms, legs, waist, and abdomen. A slight post-workout ache lingered, but he was in excellent shape.
It seemed Chansey's Tendon-Splitting Bone-Dislocating Technique massage really did have something to it. The process was excruciating, painful enough to make him pass out, but the final result was unexpectedly good.
Besides relieving fatigue, it provided an excellent workout. According to Chansey, the procedure could also treat illness and injury.
But... it hurt far too much. It was only a massage. Surely he couldn't get anesthetized for it.
The whole experience felt a little like the eggs she laid.
Eating an egg was an immense ordeal. The complex flavors hit so hard that his head spun, but in exchange, he ultimately received abundant nutrition. Occasionally, an especially potent egg could even improve the eater's perception of type energy.
The game interface.
["Crazy Quack," Romance Scenario completion: 25%]
"I get it... I know why this emotional script was rated hard!"
With Lilligant, being considerate and sincere, along with a few conversational tricks, was enough to raise his completion percentage.
Chansey was different. Kind words made her happy, and his willingness to become her Pokémon Trainer made her happy too, but neither increased his completion percentage.
Every noticeable increase had come either from Shen Qi eating an egg or undergoing that inhuman Tendon-Splitting Bone-Dislocating Technique massage.
There was a clear way to increase his completion percentage, but that method... was pure torture.
The hard difficulty rating was well deserved!
Since he had gotten up early today, Shen Qi inspected the Little Sheep. It was a sorry sight. With his limited tools, the damage was already beyond what he could repair at home.
Fortunately, the Little Sheep still held out, creaking and rattling all the way to the market.
At the Local Produce Warehouse, Dev stared in disbelief.
"How did you get the car into this state?"
"Someone provoked me yesterday, so I went for a mountain run."
"The Little Sheep is tough. Even tearing around mountain roads shouldn't..."
"Uh." Shen Qi gave an awkward chuckle. "A Pokémon happened to be riding with me and boosted its power beyond its limits."
"Good grief, you're so young. Do you have a death wish?"
Dev sat in the driver's seat and tested the controls, finding all sorts of things wrong. Then he opened the hood. The problems inside were already beyond the scope of his routine maintenance.
"Safety first. Going for a drive is fine, but don't risk your life chasing thrills."
Leaving the Little Sheep with Dev, Shen Qi caught a ride home on a farmer's tractor.
"Chansey, I've taken the car in for repairs. If it's fixed by tonight, I'll take you back to Ruins Valley."
"Jili!"
As long as he didn't mention keywords like sickness or injury, Chansey remained in her normal, innocent, gentle state.
Once he mentioned them, a shadow would fall over her smiling face, and she would become what the script called her: Crazy Quack.
"Do you live in Ruins Valley? It doesn't seem like anyone lives there."
Thanks to games and anime, thinking of Chansey brought places like Pokémon Centers or cafés to mind.
Chansey could also be encountered in the wild in the games, but her appearance in a nurse's uniform was still the most memorable.
[I'm going there to train! I want my treatments to gain recognition!]
That explained where the keyword "Ascetic Training" came from.
The question was... she was only practicing medicine. Did that really require retreating into the remote mountain wilderness to train?
It inevitably brought to mind a wandering martial hero training hard to master their skills.
Before you continue