"Fennekin!"
Fennekin, a fox Pokémon.
It has an easily excitable personality; after eating a twig, it becomes energetic, bursting with courage to fight strong enemies. Its body temperature also easily rises too high, so it uses its ears to cool down.
A later senryu poem praises it: "Looking closely at the Fennekin, one sees it in the firelight of the twig, a vision of the future."
Link, of course, recognized this distinctive starter Pokémon from the Kalos region. But he was in the Hoenn region! How could mere Team Aqua minions possibly obtain such a rare Pokémon egg in Hoenn?
Could these pirates not only traffic in people but also engage in smuggling?
He couldn't figure it out, but now wasn't the time to dwell on that. For now, he'd just assume the Team Aqua had a preference for dog-type Pokémon.
"Fox, I'm Link, a trainer passing by. The situation is unusual; both you and I are in danger. I hope you can come with me for now."
Link thought he could hand it over to Officer Jenny or Nurse Joy later; perhaps this Fennekin's egg belonged to one of the passengers on the ship.
"Fen?"
Fennekin tilted its head, puzzled. It didn't quite understand what Link was saying.
Link chuckled. Even with the system's translation function, he couldn't communicate normally with a newly hatched Pokémon whose worldview hadn't yet developed.
"Fen…"
Just then, Fennekin stomach rumbled; it was hungry.
Link shook his head, setting aside trivial matters unrelated to the current situation, and rummaged through the room for some pre-prepared food, mixing it with fresh milk from the Miltank brand.
Fennekin immediately perked up and began eating its first meal ever.
During this time, he subconsciously glanced at the [Breeding] section; Fennekin's information wasn't there… something he had already expected.
In just a short while, the newborn Fennekin had finished its food and curled up into a ball, sleeping peacefully under the watchful eyes of the Trainer .
Eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating—life is so good!
Unfortunately, before Link could even utter a word of praise, the rocking of the ship and the frequent sounds of battle outside woke the Fennekin, causing it to look at him pleadingly.
"Aren't you being a little too familiar? You've been in the egg for so long, why don't you come out and move around a bit to digest your food?"
"Fen?"
The fire Fennekin's eyes were still blurry, and it had already started nodding incessantly.
At this rate, it might become a chubby magical girl.
No, the sex ratio of fire foxes is 7:1, so it's more likely to be a cute boy (fat, like a middle-aged woman).
The Fennekin, vaguely sensing the Trainer 's thoughts, changed its expression slightly, forced itself to stand up, but was still a little sleepy.
Link suddenly had a guess, rummaged through the supplies he had just scavenged, found some chew sticks, tore open a packet, and handed it to the sleepy fire fox, waving it around.
The latter perked up, leaping up to snatch the chew stick from the other's hand and munching on it with gusto, but without swallowing a single bit, leaving crumbs all over the floor.
[The Fire Fox has an easily excitable personality; eating twigs makes it energetic.]
Soon enough, having finished the entire chew stick, the Fennekin became as excited as he had predicted.
"Fen!"
"Why? Actually, I've been searching for the answer to that question myself." Link tentatively ruffled the Fennekin's hair. "Time is of the essence. Show me your abilities—scratching, fire-breathing, hypnosis, telekinesis, remote control—anything goes. We need to maximize our chances of survival."
Hearing this, the Fennekin proudly raised its head.
Fighting is an innate instinct for Pokémon.
It focused its attention, opened its mouth towards the wall, and shot out several streaks of bright red light, leaving a charred mark on them.
"Spark," a basic move for Fire-type Special Attack Pokémon.
"Impressive!" Link clapped to encourage the Fennekin, then asked, "Anything else?"
The Fire Fox nodded excitedly, its jewel-like red pupils flashing with azure light.
Suddenly, the enormous double bed in the room flew into the air before its eyes, carrying a human who had fainted!
Was this "Psychic"? Could the Fennekin learn "Psychic"?
Could a newborn Pokémon's "Psychic" reach this level?
If it wasn't "Psychic," could this move be…?
The proud little Fennekin was pleased with Link's speechless expression of shock, maneuvering the double bed to circle in mid-air before placing it back on the ground.
"Looks like you're quite the genius, little fox. Most Fennekins probably can't even use Psychic-type moves when they're first born. Anything else?"
Before the words were even finished, Link felt dizzy and drowsy, his eyelids drooping uncontrollably, on the verge of falling asleep.
The inherited move "Hypnosis"! But he couldn't sleep now!
"Stop, stop, stop! Our situation is dangerous, this isn't the time to sleep!"
A moment later, the drowsiness vanished, saving him from almost becoming a Pokémon's test subject.
Now the Fennekin really had no other moves.
"Scratch" and "Tail Whip" were theoretically moves it should have mastered at birth, but whether they could even be considered moves was debatable.
Incidentally, while the Fennekin's Psychic power was strong, its explosive power wasn't very high.
Its strength lies in precision; it can effortlessly manipulate its psychic powers to instantly retrieve a Learning Crystal from a pile of similarly sized objects, pluck a single hair from Link's head with constant force, or remotely manipulate the Poké Ball's switch to steal objects as small as a hair.
Therefore, Link reasonably suspects this Fennekin's ability is—"Magician."
However, it could simply be due to its exceptional psychic talent and high Special Attack IV.
Without time to delve into the underlying principles, he immediately devised numerous tactics for Fennekin's psychic ability, given its limited range of only 15 meters, allowing it to exploit mechanics to defeat opponents in surprise attacks and first-encounter kills.
These included stealing enemy Poké Balls to retrieve their Pokémon, using "Hypnosis" to attack trainers unexpectedly, and using "Psychic" to lock the Poké Ball's switch after an enemy throws it, preventing them from releasing their Pokémon.
While the newborn's absolute strength isn't high, its psychic-based abilities, purely reliant on skill in the game, prove far more useful in reality than imagined.
By the end, even the Fennekin, who had been excitedly chewing on its chew toy, started to feel a buzzing in its head, as if it had been hypnotized and was falling asleep again.
Seeing this, Link was speechless, thinking that it was best to let the Fennekin take a nap first; there was no need to make things too difficult for a newborn Fennekin.
Unfortunately, fate was not on his side—a rhythmic knocking sounded at the door.
Someone had come, but Link wanted to say that he had no expectations whatsoever of actually participating in combat.
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(End of Chapter)