~200 PS Goal Completed, Here is Bonus Chapter! Let's go for 600 PS and I will Upload 3 bonus chapters on Sunday!
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Six days passed.
Flickering light seeped through the stale, damp air of the prison. A dim yellow glow pooled on the concrete floor, like the first rays of dawn cutting into a room still smothered by shadow.
The silence was broken only by the faint buzz of insects battering against the lamp, the thud of something unseen against the ceiling, and the steady drip of water echoing from somewhere in the dark.
Then—thump, thump.
Like drums in the deep, a heartbeat pounded through the cell. Blood surged through veins with the force of a raging river.
Two scarlet lights pierced the dark, blazing like twin beacons. In an instant, they drowned the shadows of the cell in crimson.
The air reeked of iron and malice. The musty rot was swept away by a suffocating aura of bloodlust.
Those lights were eyes.
Eyes with no white or black, only a field of endless red. Within, the faint outline of crystalline pupils shimmered, as if carved from blood-stained glass.
Exhale.
Hot breath hissed out, stirring dust into the air like a storm. The motes hung, then drifted back down like rain.
Kael rose slowly, the cold stone biting into his bare feet. He stepped toward the iron bars, crimson eyes glinting in the dim glow.
After more than ten experiments, he was no longer the same Machop who had been thrown into this cell nearly a week ago.
The changes were obvious.
The three crests on his head, once gray, had darkened to a sinister red, like fresh blood hardened into stone. His skin, once slate gray, had turned pitch black, the mark of Ghost-type energy woven into his flesh.
His body was leaner now, his muscles compressed and taut, giving him the sleek, dangerous look of a predator.
Wisps of ghostly mist curled from his frame, vanishing into the air as if he weren't entirely tethered to this world.
And then there were his eyes. Crimson lanterns burning in the shadows, radiating an oppressive aura that made even the bravest heart falter.
But the real change was deeper.
The endless surgeries had filled him with Ghost-type power. Not only could he withstand it he could now draw more of it from the very air around him. His Fighting spirit and the spectral energy no longer tore at each other; they coexisted, entwined.
Kael had become something new: a dual-typed Machop, Fighting and Ghost.
And the experiments hadn't only changed his body they'd given him experience, too. Even as the returns diminished with each infusion, the gains had been enormous.
Opening his system, Kael read the panel:
[Species: Machop]
[Level: 20 (↑ from 8)]
[Ability: Steadfast]
[Moves: Low Kick, Leer, Focus Energy, Confuse Ray, Revenge, Grudge, Low Sweep, Knock Off, Scary Face, Shadow Punch]
[Items: Terrakion's Fortress Shoulder [Guard, Zamazenta's Heart (Fragmented)]
Evaluation: A strange Machop whose body now resonates with Ghost-type energy. (Close-Combat Mage?)]
From Level 8 to Level 20 in less than a week. And four new moves. If the Kael of today fought the Kael of six days ago, he could crush ten of his old self without breaking a sweat.
Still, something about this place unsettled him.
During his time here, he had been watching and learning. The facility was staffed with researchers, but its security seemed shockingly thin.
That fact both thrilled and puzzled him. Thin defenses meant escape might be possible. But why would a site this important be left so vulnerable?
He had seen no Pokémon partners here. None on the belts of the guards, none by the sides of the scientists. The only Pokémon he had ever encountered inside were the test subjects themselves.
That wasn't normal.
In every world Kael knew, Pokémon weren't just companions they were essential. For daily life, for combat, for survival itself. Even a single guard would normally keep at least one by their side.
But here? Nothing. Not a single Poké Ball.
The thought gnawed at him.
"Strange…" Kael muttered, rubbing his chin.
Either these people had developed some new, hidden way of carrying Pokémon or there was something deeper at work.
Because for all his time here, he had yet to see a single living partner Pokémon. Only experiments.
And that, more than anything, made his instincts scream.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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