Chapter 84. We Must Reform It with Love
"Go straight along this road and we'll reach Celadon City."
"Wow, it's so great having Natsume with us."
"For real—no walking! Even if it's only ten minutes every hour."
On the road, Natsume walked at an easy pace while everyone else was wrapped in a faint blue glow, lifted by his telekinesis and floating through the air.
This was one of Natsume's telekinesis training methods.
Each time, he could only keep it up for about ten minutes, and it took an hour to recover.
But the effect was obvious—Natsume's IQ was at 280 points.
It was steadily rising by one point per day.
Natsume felt this metric represented the strength of his mental power.
Its growth was proportional to the growth of his telekinesis, and at worst it served as a reference.
"Phew."
Reaching a big tree, Natsume set everyone down.
"It's noon already.
I'll make lunch," Brock said after glancing at the sky.
Natsume leaned against the tree, and Honora sidled right up as soon as he sat.
"Natsume, I want a drink of your water," Honora pleaded pitifully.
"Ask Ash's Squirtle to spray you," Natsume said without turning his head, eyes locked on the Ultra Ball in his hand.
Hearing that, Honora let out a breath of relief—same familiar flavor, yesterday's same Natsume.
Obviously, learning telekinesis hadn't given Natsume any side effects like a personality shift.
Natsume had a bit of a headache now.
After reaching the Outer World level, he could easily permeate every bit of space inside an Ultra Ball with his telekinesis.
He even felt like there was a deconstruction machine in his head showing every component layout of an Ultra Ball.
Yet even so, he still couldn't find the optimal circuit solution for the Ultra Ball.
There was no helping it—compared with a Great Ball, an Ultra Ball's internal space was far more stable.
He could easily find room where circuits could be etched, but even after he filtered possibilities with telekinesis, too many options remained.
Natsume could find infinite circuit solutions, but finding the optimal one was truly difficult.
Was there a way?
There was—build an Ultra Ball circuit model and send it to Aunt Delia.
Have her borrow the computing power of the superintelligent computer at Professor Oak's Laboratory to run circuit simulations and find the optimal solution.
But that wasn't what Natsume had envisioned at all.
He'd thought that once his psychic power reached the Outer World level, he would directly complete the Ultra Ball–Rotom development.
In the end, he was still limited by the lab and its instruments.
"System, I had a dream yesterday," Natsume said inwardly.
"I dreamed I'd scratch off a ticket today—wow!
A portable laboratory with a deconstruction machine, a superintelligent brain, a gravitational differential device…"
After making his wish, Natsume scraped through all the scratch-offs the system space had stockpiled recently.
[Poké Ball +8, Great Ball +2, Ultimate Laboratory Model +1.]
Whether the system was teasing him or not, he really did reveal something lab-related.
But it was just a plastic toy.
Natsume's mouth twitched and he tossed the thing back into the system space.
The plastic model was exquisitely made; without a doubt it had every instrument, and he couldn't even fault the placement.
But it was still a plastic toy—utterly useless.
"Ahhh—my hat!"
Not far away, Ash yelped.
Everyone looked over and saw a round, stubby monkey standing on Ash's head, waving Ash's cap in its hand.
[Mankey, the Pig Monkey Pokémon.
Agile, with a vicious temperament.]
"Hey, give my hat back!"
Ash didn't care what the Pokédex said and reached to snatch his cap.
"Hoo-hoo!"
The Mankey screeched, plopped Ash's hat on its own head, and then started punching and kicking Ash.
One punch landed and Ash was fine, which seemed to enrage Mankey further; its cries grew even shriller.
One punch, two punches—after three minutes, Mankey started spacing out, its punches losing steam.
Five minutes later, Mankey began to panic.
"Hoo-hoo!"
Mankey turned to run.
"Get back here!" Ash's furious shout came from behind.
"That hat is a limited edition—Natsume secretly took me to a League tournament raffle last year to win it, and there were only a hundred of them!"
"It's full of memories for me and Natsume, you jerk!"
Mankey froze as this Trainer, shouting about bonds and memories, charged at it.
Ash used super strength!
Bang!
Mankey shot skyward, flew for several minutes, and finally crashed into some grass nearby.
"Eee-ahhh!"
Mankey roared as white light flared over its body and it began to swell in size.
Half a minute later, it had grown rounder, with more developed muscles on its limbs.
"It actually evolved in its rage!" Brock exclaimed.
"Ash, be careful," Misty warned.
[Primeape, Mankey's evolved form.
It is angry at all times; once it sets its sights on you, it will hound you until death.]
"Primeape looks like a very strong Pokémon."
Ash murmured, and Primeape sprang into the air and charged at him.
"Eee-ahhh!"
Primeape, furious and ferocious, swore to tear Ash apart and rushed in to grapple.
Three minutes later—
Bang!
With a resounding crash, Primeape flew backward, slammed into a big tree, and its head lolled to the side—it had clearly burned itself out.
"What, that's all?
I thought it'd be really strong."
Ash stood there, the hem of his shirt a little dirty.
"Ash, this Primeape might have something on its mind," Brock suddenly stepped up.
"Huh?
What could it have on its mind?"
Ash adjusted his cap and looked at Brock, puzzled.
Smiling, Brock walked forward and spoke as he went.
"No Pokémon would attack us for no reason.
I think this kid must have its own troubles."
"We have to reform it with love!"
He stopped in front of Primeape and held out his hand.
His palm opened, revealing Pokémon food inside.
"Here, Primeape.
Eat."
Brock smiled at Primeape.
Primeape blinked, looked at Brock, then at the food, its gaze flicking back and forth.
"Ash, see?
You need patience with Pokémon, not always thinking about battling—ah!"
Without warning, Primeape sprang onto Brock, one arm cinching his neck, the other windmilling a stockpot-sized fist into Brock's face.
"Ash!
Pound it!
Pound it now!"
Brock yelled for help.
"So embarrassing…"
Misty covered her face.
Suddenly, a blue glow rose from Brock's body, prying him and Primeape apart.
"Hoo-hoo?"
Primeape stared, baffled, then locked onto Natsume.
"Hoo-hoo—!"
It challenged Natsume.
A first brush of mental contact gave Natsume a rough sense of what it meant.
"You're asking where we're from?" Natsume blinked.
"We're from Kanto, and we're headed west on a pilgrimage," Natsume said offhandedly.
"Why are we so strong?"
Natsume frowned—this Primeape had a lot of questions.
"Because we have the power of a team—that 'bond' and 'friendship' thing he keeps talking about."
Natsume pointed at Ash.
"You're asking what his name is?"
Natsume glanced at Ash and said casually:
"He's called the Monkey King."
With that, Natsume gave a light flick—and Primeape flew.
Up in the air, Primeape rubbed its chin.
It would go find a team.
It would call itself Monkey King.
It would become as strong as that human!
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