"No!!"
The moment Serena heard her mother say she wanted to beat Ash up, she instantly flared like an angry little leopard, glaring fiercely at her.
"Hehe~ don't get mad, Serena," Grace laughed mischievously.
"Mom was just teasing you~"
"Hmph! I'm ignoring you!"
Refusing to continue the topic, Serena grabbed the plate of almond cookies from the small table in front of her and stormed back toward her room without looking back.
"Hey—! I haven't eaten enough yet!" Grace called out.
"Hmph~ I'm not giving you any!"
"Bleh~!"
After sticking out her tongue and making a face, the girl slammed the door shut.
Bang!
…
"Serena, how was your day today?"
"Did you help Fennekin with its dance training?"
"I did!" Serena replied happily.
"And besides training Fennekin, I also learned a new almond cookie recipe today~"
"Next time, I'll bake them for you to try, Ash."
"That sounds great," Ash smiled warmly through the screen.
"Cookies baked by Serena herself must be delicious."
"Oh, right," Ash continued,
"Daisy Oak's Clefable is about to give birth. I've already asked her to let you take care of one of the Cleffa when the time comes."
"Really?!"
Serena's eyes instantly lit up with joy.
Back at Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp, Serena's assigned partner had been a Clefairy.
At the time, she had noticed that Ash, Green, and Jeanette all chose to keep their camp Pokémon as their starter partners.
But Ash had advised her otherwise.
Clefairy's potential was simply too low, and Serena lived far away in the Kalos Region.
Ash had no practical way to use Viridian Blessing to improve Clefairy's potential from such a distance.
If they were traveling together in the future, Ash could still rely on Source Cleansing to improve a Pokémon with ordinary potential and a suitable temperament.
But right now, that simply wasn't convenient.
Although Serena aspired to become a Pokémon Performer, and thus didn't demand extremely high potential from her Pokémon—
There were still 4 full years before turning ten and officially setting out.
If her initial Pokémon had low potential and hit a strength bottleneck during those four years, stalling her growth completely, the loss would far outweigh the gain.
That was why Ash had suggested she give up Clefairy and instead choose a Red-potential Fennekin as her true starter.
Even so, the Clefairy that had witnessed her transformation during the Summer Camp held a very special place in Serena's heart.
Now, hearing that Ash would be giving her a Cleffa, Serena was absolutely overjoyed.
…
"Oh, right, Serena," Ash added.
"My mom has been reviewing courses for horticulture and floral arrangement recently."
"In a while, she plans to open a flower shop in nearby Viridian City, together with Gary's mom, Auntie Miho."
"I'm planning to catch a Pokémon and give it to her—but the Pokémon I have in mind only exists in Kalos."
"So… could I ask you to help me tomorrow and catch one for me in the wild?"
"A Pokémon for Aunt Delia?" Serena nodded without hesitation.
"No problem at all!"
After chatting for a while longer, Ash finally ended the video call.
…
"Ash! The last of the five Pokémon from today's afternoon orders—Drowzee—has been transferred over~ Loto!"
Rotom's voice rang out from the computer on the desk.
"Alright, got it," Ash replied.
He glanced over and saw a red-and-white Poké Ball resting inside the portable Poké Ball transfer unit on the desk.
Without thinking much, Ash picked it up and released it.
Pop!
"Drow~zee~"
A Pokémon appeared before him—
its upper body yellow, lower body brown, the dividing line wavy like ripples.
It had a short, elephant-like trunk and perpetually squinted eyes that gave it a somewhat… sleazy look.
Looking at the Drowzee in front of him, Ash didn't feel any particular dislike—
though its appearance was undeniably questionable.
"System, scan this Drowzee's data."
[Pokémon: Drowzee]
Level: 32
Type: Psychic
Nature: Cunning
Ability: Insomnia
Hidden Ability: Inner Focus
Stats:
HP: 60
Attack: 48
Defense: 45
Special Attack: 43
Special Defense: 90
Speed: 42
Total: 328
Potential:Red
Moves (Copyable):
Grandmaster: Hypnosis, Dream Eater
Mastered: Confusion, Psybeam, Psychic
Proficient: Pound, Meditate, Disable, Poison Gas, Headbutt, Nasty Plot
…
Seeing that Drowzee was already LV.32, Ash wasn't particularly surprised.
After all, this was a Pokémon raised by a Trainer—not a wild one.
And considering that Frogadier had already reached LV.27, and Ash's Viridian Blessing was at LV.29,
this level didn't feel especially intimidating.
However—
When Ash's gaze moved to Drowzee's move list, his pupils shrank slightly.
Its move pool wasn't especially large or flashy.
In fact, many Pokémon Ash had received recently possessed far more extensive move sets.
But those Pokémon usually had low proficiency across their skills—most stuck at Proficient at best.
This Drowzee, on the other hand—
Every single move it knew was at least Proficient, with several at Mastered and even Grandmaster level.
That was something Ash had never seen among previous orders.
Staring at the move list, Ash couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.
Because once he copied these moves using the system, their proficiency would be reset to zero.
If only he could copy the proficiency levels along with the moves…
"Drowzee," Ash said gently, patting its shoulder,
"your Trainer sent you here so I can help you learn Teleport."
"You'll be staying with me for a while, so let's get along."
At the same time, Ash issued a command internally:
"System, copy this Drowzee's moves."
"…"
"Drow~zee~"
Drowzee nodded in response.
But within its half-lidded eyes, a flash of cunning and malicious light flickered past.
Its Trainer had indeed sent it here to learn Teleport—
But beyond that, it carried a far more important mission.
One that Ash knew nothing about.
--------------
T/N:
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