Kael bent down and lifted the unconscious Sneasel into his arms, letting out a soft sigh.
That final reversal… it had earned his genuine respect. To be honest, he had no desire to take advantage of someone already on the brink. But if he simply left things as they were, a Sneasel so gravely injured would never survive more than three days in the wild.
Glancing at the Geodude still lingering nearby, clearly unwilling to disperse, Kael curved his lips into an amused smile. He snapped the fingers of his right hand with a sharp pa.
"Lulu, I'll leave this to you."
"No problem at all~!"
Ralts' small, delicate body slowly floated up into the air. She stretched out both hands, left and right, and above each palm five steel pellets hovered in place. Then—with a sharp flick of both arms—
Puff, puff, puff…
Accompanied by a series of piercing airbursts, ten Geodude surrounding them instantly lost their combat capability. The few remaining small fry, seeing their companions all drop like flies, immediately used Rollout and fled deeper into the ravine.
After two full years of psychic training, Lulu had long since met the conditions to evolve into Kirlia. But in order to help her build a stronger foundation, Kael had deliberately suppressed her urge to evolve, waiting until her psychic power reached its absolute limit. Only then would evolution bring her the greatest long-term benefit.
Backed by such powerful psychic strength, Lulu's Confusion and telekinetic attacks were roughly three times stronger than those of others of her kind—something Kael had confirmed through repeated data comparisons.
With psychic force acting as the launching mechanism, the kinetic energy of those steel pellets was no weaker than bullets fired from high-caliber handguns.
Kael gently examined Sneasel's shattered right arm. Though already unconscious, Sneasel's body trembled faintly, letting out a pained whimper.
The injury was far too severe. Without human medical technology, even if it survived, this Sneasel would be crippled for life.
And even a Pokémon Center alone would not be enough to treat wounds of this level. Kael would need rare bone-setting and bone-strengthening medicinal materials as auxiliary treatment—only then could Zorua fully recover without any lasting aftereffects.
In truth, the Rock Slide from Onix alone wouldn't have caused such catastrophic damage. At worst, it would have been a fracture or severe crack—something a Pokémon Center could handle easily.
The real problem was that suicidal follow-up strike Sneasel inflicted on itself afterward.
...
He hadn't slept all night.
At around three in the morning, the intensive care ward of the Pokémon Center in Viridian City received a Sneasel suffering from a pulverized fracture of its right arm.
"Honestly, that guy is a strange one," Nurse Joy said, yawning as she stepped out of the ICU. More than three straight hours of surgery had taken a heavy toll on her. "It's clearly an un-captured wild Pokémon, yet he didn't hesitate to spend that much money on such expensive medicinal materials."
"That handsome young man… I think his name was Kael," she murmured to herself.
She had seen him several times at the Pokémon Center before—a local from Viridian City, an orphan. Though he often came to accept bounty missions, his family circumstances clearly weren't well-off.
"But to be willing to spend that much on a wild Pokémon…" Nurse Joy smiled faintly. "He must be a kind-hearted child."
Thinking that, even her exhaustion seemed to ease a little.
...
Marowak bone club.
Dragon bone.
Bone-strengthening succulent herb.
Looking at the three medicinal ingredients laid out before him, Kael felt his heart bleed.
None of them were cheap.
Even a Cubone's bone club was relatively affordable—but a Marowak's bone club cost three times as much: a full 150,000 Pokédollars.
Dragon bone was even rarer—bones left behind after the death of a Dragon-type Pokémon. And not just any bone would do; it had to be a vertebra.
Fortunately, this dragon bone wasn't something Kael had bought. He had obtained it by chance while completing a mission in a cave. It was extremely precious—perpetually out of stock on the market. He had never been willing to sell it.
A two-kilogram piece like this would easily be worth no less than 800,000 Pokédollars.
As for the bone-strengthening succulent herb, although it could be cultivated artificially and was cheaper by comparison, Kael had purchased a wild specimen. Even with Evergreen Apothecary giving him a friendship discount, it still cost him fifty thousand Pokédollars.
All told—nearly one million Pokédollars.
As he slowly brewed the medicine, Kael glanced toward the dark figure lying in the room. Perhaps because the injuries were so severe, there was still no sign of Sneasel waking up.
The Marowak bone club was ground into powder and mixed with the succulent herb to make an ointment for external application. The dragon bone, meanwhile, was simmered with meat and other medicinal ingredients into a nourishing broth for internal consumption.
...
Kael carried two bowls of freshly brewed medicinal soup into the room. Seeing Lulu sitting on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs in boredom, he said,
"Lulu, go play in the garden for now. I'll take care of it."
"No! Lulu wants to stay with Kael!"
She shook her head vigorously, then used psychic power to float herself down to Kael's feet, tugging on his pant leg with both hands—clearly determined not to leave.
Setting the bowls on the bedside table, Kael affectionately rubbed her bowl-shaped head.
"You can stay, but don't cause trouble."
"Lulu knows already—Kael, you're so naggy!"
Lulu shook her head, swatting away the hand on top of it, and huffed:
"If you keep rubbing my head like that, I won't grow taller!"