Another ten days passed.
Before you knew it, it was Christmas.
In many Western countries, Christmas is the equivalent of the Lunar New Year—a major holiday where families come together, and everyone prepares for the occasion: decorating with Christmas trees, hanging stockings, and donning Santa hats.
On Christmas Day, Tony's villa was bustling with people. Hill, Pepper, Happy, and Rhodes were all there. Phil Coulson even dropped by.
Counting Pichu and Tony, there was one Pokémon and six people in total.
Everyone worked together to decorate the villa, and each person prepared their own dish for a big holiday meal. After eating, Hill and Phil Coulson lingered for half an hour before leaving—they never truly got to enjoy "normal life," and even a few hours without work was a rare treat.
Soon after, Happy drove off with Pepper—there was still plenty to deal with back at the company.
Stark Industries' headquarters was in Manhattan, New York, while Tony's villa was in Malibu, California. Coast to coast—one was on the west coast, the other on the northeast. Everyone but Tony had to fly out for the holidays; driving would take days.
With Hill and the others gone, the villa returned to its usual quiet routine.
Tony retreated to his lab, working on blueprints for the Mark V and brainstorming new ideas for Mark VI—like the anti-lightning armor he'd been considering.
Meanwhile, Pichu went to his room, powered up the compact reactor generator, and began absorbing converted nuclear energy as usual.
Half a year had passed since he'd started this. While he didn't spend every single day charging, the accumulated energy added up: Pichu had now earned over 8 million evolution points toward his next level.
Getting to 4-Stars required 100 million points. In other words, he was about one-twelfth of the way there.
Pichu wasn't in any rush. He'd already asked the system about absorbing natural lightning with his current 3-Star physique, and the answer had left him speechless.
**System:**
"Master, with your current strength, you could try to absorb natural lightning—but I don't recommend it. The temperature generated by lightning can reach three to five times the surface temperature of the sun. Even with your enhancements, you'd still suffer serious burns.
"In addition, the energy of a typical lightning bolt is around 5 billion joules. Even without accounting for energy loss, that only converts to about 1,400 kilowatt-hours.
"So compared to the risk, the reward is negligible. I recommend sticking with mild, steady energy sources for now."
Pichu's face fell as he read this. Natural lightning was basically useless to him at this stage. In theory, when he got strong enough, he could steal energy from an entire thunderstorm, but for now, the practical benefit was minimal and the risk was huge.
Best to leave Mother Nature's electricity alone.
Why bother, when the small reactor generator let him safely max out his absorption rate every minute—and after Tony built the new-element arc reactor, the system could even absorb the reactor's raw nuclear output directly.
**Why bother with lightning when you have a reactor on tap?**
***
Time passed fast.
Three months later—
It was late March, 2010.
3:25 PM.
Today, instead of staying in his room to power up, Pichu was stretched out on a pool chair by the outdoor swimming pool, enjoying the sea breeze and warm sunlight.
*You stay cooped up every day and you're bound to get moldy. Even a Pikachu needs to catch some sun now and then.*
"Pichu."
Tony's voice snapped him out of his nap, and Pichu opened his eyes, turning around to see Tony walking over. He picked up his translator from the side.
"What's up, Tony?" Pichu asked, noticing something odd in Tony's expression.
"It's nothing."
Tony seemed to forcibly smooth out his expression, putting on a casual smile.
"In three nights, the Stark Expo opens in Flushing Meadows, New York. I'm going. Want to come?"
"Stark Expo…"
Pichu twitched his ears and rubbed his cheek thoughtfully. He knew what was really going on. Tony must've recently realized his palladium core was poisoning him—hence the weird mood.
Still, Pichu responded slowly and lazily,
"Nah, it's too far. I don't feel like being a public spectacle. With looks like mine, I'd steal the show from all the beautiful women—and then you'd never stand a chance."
Tony rolled his eyes.
"Please. Forget wanting to pick up girls right now, but you really think a little cuteness can beat me—a billionaire super-genius Iron Man?"
"Come on. If I wanted, this villa could be filled top to bottom with talents from L.A. tonight."
Pichu just grinned and shrugged.
"Money talks. I know I can't compete with your 'money ability.'"
Tony paused, then smirked and nodded.
"'Money ability,' I like that. I'll make sure to add it when I introduce myself: 'I'm Iron Man—a super-genius, handsome, and powered by my money ability.'"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're blocking my sun. Go play somewhere else."
Tony looked at where he was standing, glanced up at the sun, and could only grimace.
"Blocking your sun? For real…"
"Whatever. Shame you're missing the Expo—this doesn't happen every year. Well, I need to check in at the company anyway," Tony said, shaking his head. "I won't be back for three days, so if you're not coming, suit yourself."
He gave a wave and walked back into the villa.
Pichu watched him go before lying back, lost in thought..
Extra Chapter Visit My Patreon
patreon.com/Feastables
patreon.com/Feastables