A New Pokémon

Tetsuya really was a great person, he mused.

The Shorts Kid, surrounded by a gloomy air, recalled Geodude into its Poke Ball. He walked over to Tetsuya, set down the shattered fossil, and ran off without saying a word.

"Don't go venturing into the forest if you've got nothing to do. This isn't a game." Tetsuya offered the friendly warning, though he had no idea whether the boy had taken it to heart.

Every year, plenty of rookies like this entered Viridian Forest and lost their lives.

After all, every Trainer initially believed their Pokémon were the best. They had no grasp of their opponents' strength and charged in foolishly, just like that boy had.

"Alright, Combusken. Back to training."

Tetsuya did not take it to heart. It was merely a minor interruption during training. This place was already remote enough that it was rare for anyone to come by.

He only told Pidgeot to keep an eye on the surroundings while training in the air and made no other arrangements.

What had just happened was an exception. Normally, he kept watch himself as well.

Combusken and Pidgeot trained hard while Tetsuya remained busy at the side.

After preparing supplements to restore the two Pokémon's nutrition, he began studying and reviewing all sorts of knowledge himself.

Nothing in this world came without effort. Tetsuya's current abilities and strength did not rely solely on Zero's capabilities.

If he had not persisted in studying over the years, Zero would not have been able to provide him with so much information.

Once training ended, Tetsuya did not rest as usual and instead headed toward Pewter Gym.

He needed to prepare training materials for his third Pokémon partner.

As for why Pewter Gym, it was because he could buy materials there at half price.

That would save him at least several million. How could he not take advantage of that?

After preparing everything, he returned to his room.

He checked the time. Fourteen hours had passed since the incubation had officially begun. The little guy should hatch after fifteen hours under normal circumstances.

Tetsuya took out the incubator and secured it on the table, then continued studying.

After an unknown amount of time, the egg inside the incubator began to emit a White Light.

Tetsuya calmly set down his computer. As an experienced Pokémon midwife, he was already thoroughly familiar with this scene.

He quickly organized everything and prepared the supplies a newborn Pokémon would need.

He crouched in front of the incubator and quietly waited for the new member to be born.

"Dangoro."

A crisp yet dull, strange sound rang out, and a smile gradually spread across Tetsuya's lips.

"Hello, Roggenrola."

"Dangoro!" Roggenrola swayed the horn on its head, and the same sound came from its body once more.

Roggenrola was different from ordinary Pokémon.

Its entire body was a stone-like dark blue mass, while its feet were two multifaceted chunks of rock. A conical brown stone stood upright atop its head, which research had determined was its horn.

There was a pale yellow hexagonal hole at the very center of its body. This was actually its ear, not an organ such as a mouth or eye.

The core at the center of the hole was black. It was Roggenrola's Energy Core, located in the middle of its body.

It also fed by using its core to absorb energy from objects.

Tetsuya placed the specially prepared nutritional material before its core. Hearing the movement, Roggenrola cautiously shifted its body and began absorbing the energy it needed.

This was another unusual trait of Roggenrola. It moved entirely by hearing. During its early stage, it walked toward the direction where a Voice Sounded, but once the sound stopped, it would become disoriented and fall over.

You also could not put your hand into its core, or it would fly into a rage.

Only after watching Roggenrola finish "eating" everything did Tetsuya take out a Luxury Ball. "Roggenrola, come into the Poke Ball first. Go in and get some rest."

"Dangoro." Roggenrola quickly agreed to the capture request from the Owner of the Voice, which it found so friendly.

A Red Light flashed, and Roggenrola entered the Luxury Ball to rest.

This was the third Pokémon Tetsuya had chosen in the Breeding Room at Pewter Gym.

Originally, Roggenrola had not been within his considerations because Boldore only had one evolution stage.

However, after learning some of the information Pewter Gym had sent him regarding Pokémon evolution methods, he discovered that Boldore could evolve into Gigalith through the recently introduced method of Trade Evolution.

So-called Trade Evolution involved placing Boldore inside a Poke Ball and transmitting it through a specialized Pokémon Transfer Instrument. Under the influence of an unknown force, Boldore would evolve into Gigalith during the process.

Many Pokémon evolved this way, and some even needed to be Paired With items.

It was only after reading information related to Gigalith that Tetsuya chose Roggenrola as his third Pokémon.

After evolving, Gigalith's offensive and defensive performance was in no way inferior to Aggron, his original choice for a tank.

While Aggron focused more on defense, Gigalith's offensive and defensive capabilities were more or less evenly matched, and both were outstanding.

The two were not much different in speed. Gigalith was more agile over short distances, while Aggron was faster when charging.

Its only drawback was that it could not undergo Mega Evolution. However, only one Pokémon could Mega Evolve at a time, and Mega Evolution was destined to belong exclusively to Blaziken, so that drawback was no longer a problem.

Furthermore, Pokémon in Roggenrola's evolutionary line were extremely sensitive to sound, allowing them to serve as sentries in the wilderness.

On top of that, this Roggenrola possessed Elite Four Level potential and had tremendous training potential and value.

Tetsuya had originally thought that if there were no Roggenrola, raising an Onix and having it undergo Trade Evolution while holding a Metal Coat to become a Steelix would also be a good choice.

But with Roggenrola available, it was naturally his first choice. Otherwise, he would Still Need To spend money preparing a Metal Coat. Those things were rare and expensive as hell.

Though because of Roggenrola's unique nature, the cost of raising it was not exactly cheap either. Its materials were simply not too rare.

Fortunately, Pewter Gym had an incredibly complete range of Rock- and Ground-type Pokémon. Aside from ancient Fossil Pokémon and a few pseudo-legendary Pokémon of the appropriate types, such as Gible, the Incubation Room had Pokémon Eggs in storage.

"With this, the team's basic composition is complete."

Tetsuya said to himself.

By the time Roggenrola evolved into Boldore, Combusken would probably have evolved into Blaziken as well. Together with Pidgeot, this lineup could be said to excel in every aspect of wilderness survival and would be enough to handle the vast majority of situations.

Now, all they needed was more time to grow.

After giving it some thought, he could easily stay in Pewter City for another month.

During the remaining fifty days, he would make full use of Pewter Gym's Training Ground, complete missions, buy materials, and set out only after reaching his goals.

As for the reduced time, he could spend less time in places like Celadon City and Cinnabar Island, leaving as soon as he obtained the badges.

What a shame. Tetsuya Sighed. He had originally wanted to spend that time wandering around malls, soaking in hot springs, and resting a little.

Looks like that was not happening.

Plans could never keep up with changes, after all.

Tetsuya never imagined those words would come true so quickly.

Please invest, bookmark, recommend, and send Monthly Passes!!!

I'm asking for everything!!

P.S. It took me a while to figure out what this thing was supposed to sound like. It seemed like nobody had written about it.

Then I listened to it for a while and realized I simply couldn't write a Chinese onomatopoeia for it, so I used this weird sound effect directly. I really tried...

A reader actually made a post mentioning it before, which I honestly didn't expect, hahaha. After all, when it comes to defensive types, people's first reaction is probably Aggron and the like because they look cooler.

I really had planned to use Steelix at first, since its Physical Defense was so high. But then I found out it needed a Metal Coat, which would raise the cost, so I gave up on it.

And Sand Stream Gigalith really does fit a lot of tactics, such as sandstorm teams and Trick Room strategies.

Besides, if you look closely, it is actually pretty cool. It has the feeling of a Rock Dragon.