Chapter 89. Natsume's Test
Celadon City, Pokémon Center.
"Nurse Joy, how is center-parted doing?"
"Mm… this Pikachu's condition is very strange." Nurse Joy looked a little troubled.
Between them, on a tray, lay an unconscious Pikachu that twitched from time to time.
"Physically, there's no injury at all, but its mind is very unstable. I've never seen anything like it."
Nurse Joy sighed.
In truth, she had seen this kind of state before, but mostly in Pokémon with psychological trauma.
If Natsume hadn't produced a researcher ID, she'd almost called Officer Jenny to come take Natsume away.
"Pika—" Center-parted let out a strange cry, did a kip-up, and snapped awake.
It sat blankly on the tray, its unfocused pupils slowly gathering into focus.
"It woke up!" Nurse Joy brightened and beckoned Chansey over.
"Chansey, use Heal Bell."
"Laki!"
Chansey chimed a melodious bell, and center-parted's condition improved a little, enough to communicate with Natsume.
"Pika pi, pika pipika!"
Center-parted gestured wildly, telling Natsume what it had encountered in its dream.
"You're saying you had a terrifying nightmare?"
"You dreamed that your favorite honey-leaf pancakes came to life and lashed you with Vine Whip?"
"Pika pika!" Center-parted nodded, and Natsume opened his telepathy to the max.
"Not just Vine Whip. It also smashed you with honey-leaf pancakes while forcing you to eat foul sludge pancakes?"
Natsume paused.
Why did that sound exactly like Weepinbell's one-hour assault on center-parted?
Judging from center-parted's description, Weepinbell's attacks didn't simply dissipate.
They seemed to have been transferred into center-parted's dreams.
What kind of ability is that?
Natsume had never heard of it.
If it were something documented, Natsume would definitely have been able to find a clue.
What can't be found is probably only Divinity—things of which people know only the tip of the iceberg, sometimes only the name.
Natsume narrowed his eyes and scooped up center-parted.
"Nurse Joy, please let me borrow the backyard battlefield."
"Oh—okay, no problem."
Soon, Natsume reached the backyard.
"Pika?" Center-parted tilted its head, looking at Natsume in confusion.
There wasn't anyone here. What kind of battle?
"Gengaa!" A Gengar, a stick of spicy mud clamped in its mouth, appeared opposite center-parted.
"Pi?" Center-parted glanced back at Natsume.
You want me to fight this?
Battlefield, activate!
Trainer Natsume sent out Pikaremon, "center-parted"!
Stirring music blared, and center-parted knew it had to go.
"You're absolutely more than just a renamed entry. With a chunk of Divinity that big, your body must have changed."
Opposite, Gengar didn't move.
Natsume had told it this was just cooperating to run a "checkup," not a real battle.
"Center-parted, do what you did before—fall asleep."
The Trainer's command brought center-parted to tears.
It flopped down and slept without hesitation.
Pikaremon's Divine Trait: Land of Eternal Sleep activated!
A Divine Trait?
Natsume blinked, then broke into a delighted grin.
"As expected. I knew it. With a Divinity fragment that big, it couldn't just be a simple rename card!"
Natsume was moved to tears.
"Gengar, pound it!"
"Gengaa!" Gengar raised a chubby hand, and a dark-purple orb condensed.
Boom— The Shadow Ball flashed out and struck center-parted.
Due to Land of Eternal Sleep, Gengar's attack was diverted!
The HP above center-parted didn't budge.
"Pika!?" Center-parted jolted awake.
Because its willpower was weak, center-parted woke up, and Land of Eternal Sleep faded!
"It's tied to willpower?" Natsume rubbed his chin.
"Center-parted, try falling asleep again."
Center-parted fell asleep.
This time, the so-called Divine Trait did not trigger again.
"Gengar, Confusion."
"Pika!" Center-parted was hit and sprang up.
Only a sliver of HP remained. When the turn ended, there was no auto-heal effect common to Divinity.
"Looks the same as last time…" Natsume pondered.
After the previous test, Natsume had suspected that the Divinity fragment in center-parted wasn't lingering inside to exert effects like in the giant Dragonite or the giant Tentacruel.
The Divinity fragment in center-parted had truly been absorbed by it.
The moment that thought occurred, Natsume wondered whether center-parted might condense a Divinity of its own.
For now, that Divinity is in its early stage and linked to sleep.
With a wave, Natsume lifted the rules battlefield.
Ding! SSS-rank long-term task—"Grand Compendium of Divinity"—has been issued!
In his mind, the system's voice followed.
Natsume blinked and opened the task, finding portraits of many Legendary Pokémon inside.
The portraits were grouped by region.
Each portrait had a text field waiting for him to fill in.
Natsume casually tapped the first one—Mewtwo.
Mewtwo.
Divine Trait: ???
Divinity-exclusive: ???
Very short, but enough for Natsume to see that possessing Divinity comes with an extra Divine Trait and an extra Divinity-exclusive skill.
He kept scrolling and found that, aside from each Divinity's unique Divine Trait and Divinity-exclusive, things like a second HP bar, damage boost, damage reduction, and auto-heal were standard.
Soon, in a special section that belonged to no region, he found center-parted's portrait.
Pikaremon.
Divine Trait: Land of Eternal Sleep.
Divine Exclusive: Insufficient Divinity authority.
Insufficient Divinity authority?
In other words, center-parted's Divinity is only halfway born.
Natsume paused, then felt relieved.
Makes sense. Center-parted only swallowed a fragment of Divinity. Getting even a single Divine Trait is already winning the lottery.
Curious, Natsume tapped center-parted's Divine Trait.
Land of Eternal Sleep.
In each battle, the first time Pikaremon falls asleep, Land of Eternal Sleep activates.
While Land of Eternal Sleep persists, all incoming attacks are converted into nightmares, and all incoming buffs are converted into sweet dreams. If Pikaremon is startled awake, Land of Eternal Sleep ends.
The above effects are from battlefield tests; actual combat is for reference only.
"Tsk…" Natsume's eyelids twitched.
A trait like this… yet another team's rising star.
If a half-born Divinity already has a busted trait like that, what about those true Divinity-bearing legendaries?
No wonder that even for the overpowered Poké Ball Rotom, the system can only say "outmatched" when facing Legendary Pokémon.
And they also have their own Divinity-exclusive skills.
Some studies do record skills that only a legendary species can use.
But that's at the species level. A Divinity-exclusive is unique to the individual Legendary Pokémon that possesses Divinity.
Natsume figured Divinity-exclusive skills and legendary-only moves are not the same thing, with the former only stronger.
"Pika?" Center-parted looked up at Natsume.
He'd been dazed for a long time and still hadn't come back to his senses.
Suddenly, Natsume lowered his head, and center-parted's fur stood on end.
Because, in its mind, a "Natsume" appeared!
"Center-parted, you need to train your willpower. Understand?"
"I just stepped into the Inner World yesterday, and I happen to need a sparring partner."
"In the days ahead, I'll 'spar' with your will every day. Got it?"
"Pika pi—" Center-parted was resigned to its fate.
It had thought that mastering the skill of dozing off anywhere would make its Trainer's iron fist no longer a threat.
But now it seemed Natsume could punch its "brain" directly.
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