"Ugh, too much! It's all over me!"
Mira wore a gloomy expression as she dejectedly stared at her white dress, now stained with big purple spots as a result of the machine going awry and splattering its contents.
"It's sticky," Mira said blankly, tasting a bit of the liquid that had spilled on her face. She made a funny expression at the taste.
Normally, Kai would have teased her at this moment, but his attention was entirely preoccupied with the machine in front of them—specifically, the dozen small purple cubes inside it.
"Did it work?" Kai picked up one of the cubes and brought it close to his face to examine it.
It was translucent purple with a jelly-like texture and exuded a peach-like fruity aroma.
Mira popped one into her mouth and chewed. "The machine probably got overloaded because we added a bit too much Blosum Fruit, but the end product is still... quite decent."
She packed the energy cubes into a small box and handed them to Kai. "Here."
"Thanks." Kai glanced at the palm-sized box and added, "I'll transfer the money to you. The raw materials aren't cheap."
"No need," Mira shook her head lightly before her expression turned serious. "Just promise me one thing."
"What?" Seeing her unusually serious expression, Kai straightened up and listened attentively.
"Go with me to the shopping mall tomorrow afternoon," Mira's eyes shone with invisible brilliance. "You'll be my bag carrier."
Kai looked at her with a blank expression, disappointed. "I thought you were going to ask me for something else."
"What did you think I'd ask for?" Mira said playfully. "Oh, were you thinking of something naughty?"
"Probably a thousand times worse than what you're imagining," Kai replied without skipping a beat.
Mira's face turned bright red. "Pervert!"
After being shooed out by the blushing Mira, Kai returned home, showered, and spent the rest of the night studying.
'The stronger a Pokémon is, the more moves it might pass on to its offspring,' Kai thoughtfully stroked his chin as he delved into Pokémon heredity.
Time flew by, and as midnight approached, Kai closed his book and went to bed.
The next morning, after breakfast, he made his way to the Pokémon Center and started warming up.
Charmander was beaming with energy and enthusiasm, and Kai noticed a significant improvement in his stamina, which allowed him to extend their jogging phase by an extra 15 minutes.
Regardless, he was left sweaty and panting heavily by the end. Kai reached for the box Mira had handed him the day before and took out several energy cubes before giving them to Charmander.
"Gah!" After consuming the cubes, Charmander's body emitted a faint red glow, and his fatigued expression gradually eased, replaced by vigor once again.
"Quite effective," Kai said, slightly surprised. No wonder energy cubes were so expensive and popular. With such immediate effects, the high price seemed quite justified.
After warming up, Kai took Charmander to the training room and resumed their moves training.
Since Charmander had chosen melee combat over long-range, Kai aimed to have him fully master Dragon Dance before the entrance exam.
Until yesterday, Charmander could sustain it for about 10 seconds before his energy reserves were depleted.
Dragon Dance required immense energy, but Kai believed Charmander's low proficiency was the reason. As he continued practicing, his mastery would improve, allowing him to maintain it longer with less energy consumption.
After pondering for a bit, Kai pulled out his phone and started the timer. "Charmander, use Dragon Dance!"
"Roar!" Charmander's body shone, and streaks of intertwined purple and red light appeared all over it!
After a while, the light faded, and Charmander collapsed on the ground, sweating profusely.
"16 seconds." Kai looked at the timer and thought for a moment. Perhaps due to the energy cubes or the results of their intense training, Charmander's proficiency with Dragon Dance had increased.
"Good job." Kai smiled and fed Charmander more energy cubes to help him recover.
After a few minutes, Charmander stood up, seemingly recharged.
Once checking everything was fine, Kai decided to begin melee training.
"Boom."
Another wooden post fell to the ground, torn and battered. Kai noticed that Charmander's Scratch had become sharper, even showing a slight metallic sheen.
"Could it be…" Kai, sensing something, pointed at a new wooden post. "Don't stop, Charmander! Keep using Scratch!"
Charmander immediately rushed toward the post and attacked. The metallic sheen on his claws continued to sharpen as he threw one scratch after another.
After a dozen attacks, the metallic luster became almost palpable!
*Shing!*
The wooden post crumbled, and its cleanly severed head fell to the ground with a thud.
"Metal Claw?" Kai stared at the clean-cut, completely entranced by the power.
He couldn't be mistaken. This was definitely the Steel-type move, Metal Claw!
To be able to learn such a move so early—Kai felt he had heavily underestimated Charmander's talent for learning new moves.
"If that's the case, then perhaps... we can experiment with some other moves as well," Kai thought, deep in thought.
"Alright, Charmander, let's take a break."
At 12:30 PM, Kai looked at the pile of broken wooden posts and smiled with satisfaction. He felt like the money he had spent on the monthly pass was worth it.
At that moment, Kai set another goal for himself: destroy as many posts as possible to truly get his money's worth.
"Let's grab a bite at a nearby restaurant for lunch," Kai said, turning to Charmander beside him.
Originally, he had planned to train until around 5 PM like yesterday. However, since he had promised Mira to accompany her to the mall, he had to cut training short and could only train till 2 PM.
While considering what to eat, his phone suddenly rang.
Seeing that it was Mira, he immediately picked up.
Could it be she wanted to go shopping now?
"Hello?"
"Kai, where are you? Are you still at the sports center?"
"In the Pokémon training room. I'm about to go and have lunch at a nearby restaurant," he replied, but the call abruptly ended, leaving Kai staring at the screen in confusion.
Before he could figure out why Mira had hung up on him, a petite girl wearing a light porcelain dress and a straw beach hat appeared at the entrance. She looked around with narrowed eyes until her gaze landed on Kai.
When she saw him, her eyes lit up, and she ran over excitedly, her long black hair flowing behind her like silk.