"X-Scissor!"
"Slash."
Not long after finishing his high school entrance exams, Su Wen lazily leaned against the railing, watching the Scyther and Zigzagoon battle below.
As the fierce clashes intensified, waves of air flowed through the arena, leaving behind faint marks on the battlefield.
"Scyther, huh? Must be rich," Su Wen mumbled as he looked up and down at the well-trained Scyther.
Being a top-tier Pokémon among bug-types, obtaining a Scyther wasn't easy at all.
Su Wen's love for Pokémon could be said to be innate.
From the age of four or five, he would often have strange dreams filled with scattered, bizarre occurrences—experiences that felt real but left no memories to associate them with.
By the time he reached seven or eight, he dreamt of battling through the college entrance exams, buried under stacks of papers with names like the Yellow River Test and the five-year college entrance exam, three-year simulation; the piles were higher than himself, and he looked like a panda with dark circles under his eyes.
In that moment, he recalled the fear of being overwhelmed by the forces of language, math, and science in his past life. He remembered everything!
Such a complete and vivid experience couldn't simply be explained as a dream; it could only be the remnants of his not-so-long life on Earth.
Su Wen had no idea how he bid farewell to Earth; he only remembered his last memory was completing the first playthrough of Pokémon Sword and Shield.
Sigh, he ultimately became part of the talent army Earth sends to other worlds; the only difference might be that most people had their souls directly transported, while he experienced a proper reincarnation.
If he could tell his past self he would reincarnate, Su Wen would definitely have called the authorities—such nonsense!
Now he realized how wrong he was. Every time he thought about his reincarnation, Su Wen couldn't help but chuckle.
Turns out reincarnation really exists... The question is, when did Meng Po start adding water to her soup?
Weren't we supposed to forget all past grievances the moment we drank the bowl down?
What should he do now that he remembered? Can he apply for after-sales service?
The King of Hell must be pocketing employee wages; what a shady business!
On this planet called Blue Star, things were somewhat similar to Earth. The White Eagle Federation and the Xia Country, where he lived, constantly clashed, while the West formed a large federation—the Western Europe Federation.
In terms of technology, things weren't much different from his previous life; high-speed trains and planes were quite usual, and the technological tree was fully developed.
However, due to the presence of Pokémon, a large number of talents were diverted into Pokémon research.
Thus, Su Wen had yet to hear about nuclear bombs, weapons of mass destruction.
After all, the strength of those high-tier Pokémon was not much different from a nuclear bomb; they were still controllable. You wouldn't want to study a nuclear bomb, only to have a Dragonite fly in and obliterate it with a Dragon Breath the moment it launched.
Speaking of Pokémon, they had fully integrated into this world; no matter the aspect of life—daily activities, work, entertainment, or exploration—various Pokémon could be seen everywhere.
You might find that takeout was delivered by a Pidgeotto, a Chansey assisted the doctor during surgery, or a Sudowoodo was used as a decorative piece at the entrance.
"Speaking of which, I was hoping to enter a world where I could eat and drink for free at every Pokémon Center just by becoming a Pokémon Trainer, not one where I had to experience nine years of compulsory education after crossing over!" Su Wen thought about recently finishing middle school and about to enter high school, feeling a bit hopeless.
Jokes aside, Su Wen quickly accepted reality and successfully clung to his father's leg.
The trainer controlling Zigzagoon was none other than Su Chuan, Jinming City's normal-type Gym Leader and Su Wen's father.
The trainer of Scyther was just a temporary trainer asking Su Chuan for guidance and wasn't a long-term student.
Since Su Wen's memories began resurfacing at the age of six or seven, his favorite activity every day had been watching various challengers at the gym getting soundly beaten by his father.
Although more often than not, it was a guidance battle like this one; a fight that could've been resolved in one or two minutes was dragged out to almost ten by Su Chuan to adequately observe the student's shortcomings and provide advice. This was the duty of every Gym Leader.
As Su Wen wondered when the battle would end, Zigzagoon seized an opening under Su Chuan's command, delivering a hellish lunge that sent Scyther flying to the edge of the battlefield.
"Scyther!"
With the challenger's surprised exclamation, Su Wen lazily raised the red flag with his right hand, confirming Scyther had fainted.
"Scyther is unable to battle; Zigzagoon is the winner."
Before the challenger could recall his Scyther into its Poké Ball, Su Chuan had already strode up to address him.
"Great battle! Your Scyther is well-trained; however, its focus seems a bit scattered. Scyther's greatest strengths are speed and attack, yet you've trained its defense. That's a bit superfluous…"
While Su Chuan corrected the challenger's training issues, Su Wen stifled a yawn in boredom.
Su Wen's disinterest in the battle wasn't due to the challenger's lack of strength; he had simply seen too many high-level battles fought by his father.
This Zigzagoon couldn't even enter Su Chuan's top-tier battle ranks; it was simply brought out for novice trainers to practice against.
Su Chuan's strongest Pokémon was his Slaking, one that had nearly overcome the downsides of its Truant ability, standing at the pinnacle of Gym-level Pokémon.
According to game data, Slaking had a base stat total of 670, rivaling legendary Pokémon like Groudon and Kyogre, but its ability, Truant, greatly limited its performance.
Although this world wasn't as data-driven as the games, it was still possible to reference those game values. Slaking was extremely gifted, yet incredibly lazy, meaning it had little desire to battle due to its ability.
Even if a trainer could spark Slaking's fighting spirit, controlling its attack pace was challenging—sudden halts in battle or resistance to instructions due to Truant often became the key to victory or defeat. Thus, very few trainers used Slaking as their main Pokémon.
Moreover, in this world, Slaking's ability couldn't be negated by abilities that switch traits or those like Chemical Gas, so rather than treat Slaking's laziness as a trait, it was more accurate to call it an instinct.
Given such extreme limitations, no matter how strong Slaking was, few trainers would choose it.
However, Su Chuan's Slaking could utilize the energy from the item "Life Orb" to overcome its ability, allowing it to battle like an average Pokémon.
The Life Orb boosts a Pokémon's attack but significantly increases energy consumption.
So, in gaming terms, while other Pokémon spent "mana" when using their moves, Su Chuan's Slaking not only used mana but also drained its health.
Therefore, Su Chuan's Slaking battles were very "fast." While other gym-level Pokémon battles could last hours—even those like Chansey that were tanky enough to take on the national team and win the World Cup—Su Chuan's Slaking finished within fifteen minutes.
In fifteen minutes, either the opponent's Pokémon was flattened, or Su Chuan's Slaking drained its health to zero, ending the match amidst laughter.
Hence, Su Chuan's Slaking almost always lost when it exhausted its own health.
However, correspondingly, a Slaking unaffected by its ability was extraordinarily powerful. When Su Chuan participated in the prestigious tournament "Ho-Oh Cup," he faced a Champion-tier Tyranitar under a Sandstorm condition, defeating it with his Slaking. Su Wen nearly lost his mind watching that battle; even if that Tyranitar had just reached Champion status, it was still considered on another level and managed to squash it.
This victory propelled Su Chuan to stardom, making him Jinming City's top trainer.
However, Su Chuan's Slaking had been stuck at the Gym-level pinnacle for four to five years; no one knew when it would finally advance to Champion-level.
Su Wen wished for Slaking to break through soon; that way, he could become a second-generation trainer—referred to as "Trainer II."
Moreover, based on his past life's memories, Su Wen had specifically researched the history of this world and discovered all legendary Pokémon, whether classified as Divine or Sub-Divine, had not been seen for a long time.
As for why, Su Wen didn't know; he only knew that history had almost broken off during a great disaster six to seven hundred years ago, and around that time, those legendary Pokémon also vanished.
But the absence of legendary Pokémon was a good thing; otherwise, if the two clowns, Groudon and Kyogre, had nothing better to do than bicker in the Pacific Ocean, the coastal cities of Xia Country might vanish.
As part of typical transmigrator features, Su Wen also had a talent: Aura Power.
In theory, everyone possesses their aura, but very few can utilize it. People like Su Wen, who can harness their aura without systematic training, are even rarer.
Originally, Su Wen thought he was a definite protagonist template with a special ability. However, not long after, he watched TV and realized that others had even better abilities.
Some could communicate with Pokémon telepathically right from birth.
Others could wield psychic powers to arm wrestle with Alakazam.
There were even those who could directly connect with the spirit world, maxing their affinity with ghost-type Pokémon and automatically capturing Totem Gengar upon appearance.
Excuse me? I thought I was the protagonist, but it turns out you're all overpowered characters, and I'm the one who's unworthy.
In comparison, Su Wen's supportive Aura Power felt a bit underwhelming.
However, over the years, he had become more skilled at using his aura, developing numerous applications, one of which involved sensing a Pokémon's condition.
As of now, Su Wen had refined his aura to the point where he could generally assess a Pokémon's abilities at a glance.
Of course, this was provided the target Pokémon wasn't significantly stronger.
For instance, Su Chuan's moderately strong Zigzagoon was laid bare to Su Wen's sight; its ability, level, and skills were all transparent.
But for his father's Slaking, his aura completely failed to penetrate; it was as if Slaking's aura resisted his probing.
As for Champion-tier Pokémon, Su Wen had yet to attempt; it was certain they would be impossible to gauge as well.
Additionally, in this world, there was no limit to the number of skills a Pokémon could learn; as long as the Pokémon could manage it, they could learn two or three dozen skills without issue.
However, Su Chuan had told Su Wen that generally, top-level trainers wouldn't have their Pokémon train that many skills together.
They would typically choose five or six, or even seven or eight skills to focus on, treating the others as backups.
After all, much like humans, Pokémon have limited stamina; children will want everything, but adults know their limits.
"Xiaowen, go hang the 'Closed for Today' sign at the entrance; we're leaving early today to celebrate your birthday," Su Chuan told Su Wen after finishing his explanation to the trainer with Scyther.