Nova looked at the stat readout and took a slow breath.
Species: Riolu
Level: 4
Ability: Inner Focus
Hidden Ability: Prankster
Traits:
Iron Guard — A natural blocker. When using Detect consecutively, the chance of failure is reduced by 80%.
Steel Fist — Has awakened Steel-type energy ahead of schedule, hardening its strikes. Bullet Punch deals a small bonus of additional damage.
Born Fighter — Has carried a fighter's spirit since birth. Fighting-type moves deal a power bonus.
Unbreakable — Not easily knocked out in a single blow. When using Endure consecutively, the chance of failure is reduced by 80%. If bond with its Trainer reaches a sufficient level, there is a chance this trait activates automatically when the Pokémon is about to lose the ability to battle, locking its HP at 1 for one turn.
Moves: Detect (Egg Move), Crunch (Egg Move), Cross Chop (Egg Move), Bullet Punch (Egg Move), High Jump Kick (Egg Move), Endure, Quick Attack, Feint...
Exceptional. Genuinely exceptional.
Just from the talent panel alone, this Riolu ranked a full tier above Nova's Corviknight in raw potential. It had also inherited five moves — the same number as Corviknight — but the traits were both more numerous and more powerful. And two of them, Unbreakable and Iron Guard, did something very specific: they addressed the one real weakness of Riolu's best defensive moves.
Detect was one of the strongest counters in the game — a move that, used correctly, could completely nullify an opponent's attack. Endure could prevent a knockout by locking the user's HP at one when hit with a fatal blow. Both were extraordinarily useful. Both also shared the same drawback: use them consecutively, and the chance of failure increased sharply each time.
Except that with Iron Guard and Unbreakable in play, that failure chance dropped by eighty percent for both moves simultaneously.
Nova stared at the readout for a moment.
This thing is going to give people nightmares.
He could already picture it clearly. An opponent throws everything they have at Riolu. Detect blocks it. Bullet Punch hits back, fast and first. They switch tactics, try to wear it down — and just when it looks like the last hit will land, Endure activates. Then it does it again. And again. And Riolu just keeps standing there, calm and completely unmoved, with a look on its small face that said it could do this indefinitely.
Nova had played enough competitive games in his previous life to recognise an ability set that would have earned someone a report and a temporary ban.
Aresdra, of course, couldn't see any of this. She didn't have access to the scan, and she hadn't spent the last several months learning to read talent tiers and movesets. From where she was sitting, the Riolu was simply a very small, very soft blue puppy that had curled up in her arms and was refusing to wake up fully. She stroked its ear carefully with one finger. Ri... it murmured without opening its eyes.
"Why are you giving it to me?" she asked, looking up at Nova. "Your team is still short on coverage, isn't it?"
Nova watched the two of them for a moment — Aresdra carefully holding the sleeping pup, candlelight catching the side of her face — and smiled.
"You told me once that you like Pokémon that are both powerful and make you feel genuinely safe," he said. "Lucario fits that exactly. Give it a few days and I'll take you to find a Torchic as well. Raising two at the same time isn't much harder than raising one, and when they're grown, a Lucario and a Blaziken together will be able to look after you properly."
The image that formed in his mind was satisfying in a very practical way. Aresdra, walking down a street with a Lucario on one side and a Blaziken on the other. Nova had encountered more than a few people who were flashy, overconfident, and far too comfortable approaching people who had given no indication of interest. The thought of any of them trying that with two fully evolved Fighting-type Pokémon nearby was, honestly, quite a comforting one.
Nova spent a lot of time in Uninhabited Areas where there was no signal. Two or three months could pass without contact. The last thing he wanted was to be deep in some unmapped zone worrying about whether anyone was giving Aresdra trouble back home.
The Iron Guard trait had been the detail that settled it for him. A Riolu that could block physical attacks with near-perfect consistency — that could intercept a blade or a strike with its bare paws and not flinch — wasn't just a battle partner. It was a reliable, devoted guardian. Even if something as extreme as the Original Team organisation ever came looking, Aresdra would not be unprotected.
This Riolu was the right choice.
The pup in Aresdra's arms stirred. Having apparently decided that the warmth and softness of its current position was superior to continuing to sleep, it opened its eyes fully, blinked once, and looked up at Aresdra with a small, curious expression. Then it tucked its chin against her arm and looked around the room, taking stock of where it was.
Nova watched and felt, briefly and absurdly, envious of an infant Pokémon.
He pushed the thought aside firmly.
He released the Hisuian Growlithe from its Poké Ball.
The effect was immediate. The Growlithe took one look at Aresdra, completely forgot Nova existed, and launched itself at her with the single-minded enthusiasm of a Pokémon that had identified a preferred human and intended to be held by them. Groowl! It bounded across the room, ricocheted off the sofa cushions, and made a spirited attempt to insert itself between Aresdra's arms and the Riolu currently occupying them.
The Riolu, small as it was, did not appreciate this.
Ri! It sat up straight in Aresdra's arms, fixed the Growlithe with an expression of pointed displeasure, and held its ground. Four levels old, barely the size of a house cat, and already staring down a Pokémon twice its size without any apparent concern.
Nova leaned back and watched with quiet amusement. It was protecting its Trainer already. That instinct, showing up this early and this naturally — yes, the choice had definitely been right.
The Growlithe, undeterred, attempted a second approach. In doing so it stepped firmly on the hem of Aresdra's skirt and pulled it sideways. Aresdra grabbed it quickly, shot Nova a look that was equal parts laughter and exasperation, and said, "Are you just going to sit there? Your Pokémon are causing chaos."
The phrasing landed in a way that Nova hadn't entirely expected. It sounded — comfortable. Natural. Like something said in a home that had been a home for a long time.
He caught the Growlithe firmly by the scruff, got a face full of enthusiastic Groowl! for his trouble, and held on.
For a moment he let himself sit with the thought that had just surfaced.
Why go anywhere? He had a house now. He had a Pokémon that wanted to destroy furniture, which was apparently just part of the package. He had a Lapras Egg on the table and a Riolu making itself comfortable in Aresdra's arms. He had candlelight and leftover Klawf, and someone who had looked him over for injuries the moment she saw him and told him she didn't need a big house as long as they were together.
Challenging the Pokémon League. Chasing titles. Running into Uninhabited Areas for months at a time.
What was the rush?
He held the thought for exactly as long as it deserved. Then he put it away, because he already knew the answer — and so did the part of him that had been building toward something since the day he arrived in this world.
But for tonight, at least, there was nowhere he needed to be.