"Phew… what even was today?"
It was nighttime. Satoshi turned off the room light, plunging everything into darkness. Lying in bed with his eyes closed, his thoughts began to wander.
Next to him, Froakie and Raichu lay quietly.
The air was still, almost frozen. The only sounds were their soft, steady breaths.
Because of the whole Taki situation earlier, he hadn't gone to the Gym with Anon. He'd decided to sort things out with Takamatsu Tomori first before visiting again.
Honestly, his mind was still a mess.
Ever since he hit his head and awakened his past-life memories, everything had been jumbled. His memories of this life were strangely patchy—some things he remembered, others were just blanks.
For example, he knew he had a fiancée… but couldn't remember her name.
Apparently, his family was loaded—cars, property, even a little sister. And if he couldn't become a Pokémon Trainer, he'd be forced to inherit the family business.
No way.
Absolutely not.
Becoming the heir meant giving up travel—and that was half the reason he wanted to live in the Pokémon world in the first place!
He refused to accept that outcome.
That said, he genuinely liked this world. And his memories of school were surprisingly intact. He clearly remembered the classes, the teachers explaining Pokémon traits and typing—all of it.
It wasn't exactly like Naranja or Uva Academy in Scarlet and Violet. It felt more like a real-world school fused with the world of Pokémon.
That wasn't a bad thing.
What was important now was what Chihaya Anon had said—forming a team.
Sitting beside him were Anon and Tomori. Neither were particularly strong, but judging from what he'd seen today…
His entire class was kind of a joke.
Caterpie pretending to be a Rayquaza. Kricketune cosplaying as Toxtricity. Rattata, Weedle, Pidgey… and a Kangaskhan that couldn't[Mega Evolve]…
Not to mention the so-called "Four Weaklings," the endless Rain Team wannabes—none of them were viable.
Could any of these Pokémon even fight? Outside of a Butterfree or a 490-base stat Kangaskhan, the rest were filler-tier.
Satoshi was starting to suspect that his class was just filler too—like they were selected purely to pad the Pokédex count.
"Time to build a real team. Max size is ten, minimum is three. But… do I even know that many people?"
He absentmindedly replied to messages on his phone while mulling it over.
[Host, what am I, chopped liver?! Aren't I a person too?! Ugh—you actually ignored me…]
"You're really not."
Satoshi groaned, rubbing his forehead as the events of the day replayed in his mind.
Miss Furiko… was too much.
She was chaotic and loud, but admittedly useful—especially when it came to issuing tasks and handing out rewards.
Like the [Ability Patch] he got for beating the teacher.
[Ability Patch]: A rare item that changes a Pokémon's Ability to its Hidden Ability.
From what he'd learned, [Ability Patches] were a big deal in this world.
Unfortunately, both of his current Pokémon—Froakie and Raichu—already had their Hidden Abilities, so it wasn't useful right now.
Still, worth keeping for later.
"Only 500 points for beating a teacher? That's kinda stingy…"
Looking at his 1,500 points, Satoshi suddenly felt like going back and dunking on the teacher a few more times.
But next time… it probably wouldn't be so easy.
He had to get stronger.
He'd thought a lot about ways to power up. It boiled down to two main categories:
One: Improve raw strength.
Two: Use cheats.
[Mega Evolution], [Z-Moves], [Dynamax], [Terastallization]—these external mechanics had massive impact in battle.
Aside from [Mega Evolution], the others had already started appearing in this world—people were gradually discovering them.
Satoshi, being both a Kanto native and technically a Galarian, figured:
If he were in Galar, he'd go with [Dynamax], no question.
Why? Because it was simply too strong—double HP, three turns of enhanced max moves? Broken. Leon's undefeated streak wasn't just talent—[Dynamax] carried a chunk of that, too.
But this wasn't Galar. This was Kanto.
Here, his options were limited to [Mega Evolution] and [Z-Moves].
And some [Mega Evolutions]? Absolutely meta-breaking.
Kangaskhan, Gengar, Salamence, Blaziken—those were top-tier in terms of battle disruption.
Still, that wasn't Satoshi's real concern.
After all, he already had Ash-Greninja—his own form of [Mega Evolution].
What he wanted… was for his opponents to get stronger too. That's what made battles fun.
"Furiko, do task rewards include [Mega Stones]?"
[Ugh… Miss System is support-only! I can't give you powerups—I can only enable them! I'm really sorry!（＞人＜）]
"Ah… that's too bad."
Satoshi sat up slightly, stretching. He wasn't too disappointed.
Would've been nice to spread [Mega Evolution] around… battle some actual powerhouses.
[But~ if you get close to some cute girls, I might get super jealous and explode with tasks. Like with Anon and Tomori today~ (┬＿┬)]
"They're not going to fall for me…"
What a mess. Satoshi really didn't want to hear this nonsense.
Still, he had picked up on a few things today.
Apparently, after school, someone had been following him.
He did a little digging and found out it was… Nagasaki Soyo.
They were acquaintances—maybe even friends. They'd talked the day before, even played around a bit and arm-wrestled.
So… why was she following him?
Maybe… she wanted to battle?
That made sense, actually. Today's match against the teacher probably got her attention.
Soyo was a student in the Pokémon Breeder Track, and they often ran into each other. Satoshi knew she was passionate about battling.
So, of course she'd want to challenge him.
"Yup. She totally wants to battle me."
[This dumb boy…]
"Furiko, you really need to work on your people skills. How can you not get what Soyo's thinking?"
[I'M MAD.]
Satoshi ignored her tantrum and started messaging Soyo.
He used the universal opener for high emotional intelligence.
[Satoshi]:Are you there?
---
On the other end, Soyo's ocean-blue eyes widened. Her whole body trembled slightly, overwhelmed with emotion.
Beside her, her Whimsicott tilted its head, clearly confused.
"Fufu"
"Don't bother me, Whimsicott. I'm messaging my boyfriend right now."
"Fu? (Boyfriend? Since when??)"
Soyo stared at her phone, agonizing over her reply.
This was the first time he had messaged her. She had no idea how to handle it.
Usually, she was chatty and confident. But when it came to Satoshi… she turned into a stuttering mess—just like her friend Wakaba Mutsumi.
What should I even say…?
Cold sweat beaded down her forehead. Talking to her "boyfriend" was too much pressure.
In the end, she managed to type something out:
[Soyo]:Yes… I'm here. Um… is there something you need?♡
She even added a heart—hoping, just maybe, to get her feelings across to that dense boy on the other end.
Why does she always use hearts in messages?
Is her favorite Pokémon Luvdisc or something?
Satoshi rolled his eyes. Still, he now knew a bit more about her—not that he cared.
[Satoshi]: "Tomorrow. Will you go with me?"
Soyo read the message.
"Go with me"…?
Go where?
Wait—go with me… as in… go out? Like a d-date?! Is he confessing?!