"Personally, I want to catch a Pokémon no one has ever seen before—with love!" declared King Gadeon, raising his head and clenching his fist to the sky. His booming voice echoed through the forest, scattering not only Pokémon but every creature in the vicinity.
At that moment, he was aggressively rolling up his sleeves, clearly preparing to 'lovingly' wrestle a wild Pokémon into submission with his bare hands.
"Gad, please calm down... Unless the Pokémon initiates the challenge, we're not allowed to use force..." said Ingrid, visibly troubled. He did his best to pacify the king, but deep down, he knew it was a losing battle.
With a sigh, he turned to Queen Lavinia, silently pleading with his eyes, hoping she could help rein in her husband's boundless energy.
"Are you giving up on that worm already?" Lavinia asked, glancing toward a tree where a Caterpie was timidly hiding among the leaves.
Gadeon clutched his chest dramatically, wiping away an imaginary tear. "Only because of the rules! If it weren't for them, I'd have already challenged that green worm—and then thrown the first punch to seize the initiative! Wild creatures respect strength above all!" His voice rang with absolute confidence.
If he had brought his sword, he would have gladly crossed blades with any Pokémon brave enough to accept the challenge. Sadly, he doubted any of them carried swords—so fists would have to do.
Lavinia shook her head with a soft sigh. She truly wished there was a Pokémon bold and reckless enough to willingly trade blows with her spirited husband.
Mage Commander Lorelia, who had been silent until now, murmured in her usual dull tone, "I want a cute one..." She blushed faintly and tugged her witch's hat down to hide her face.
Lavinia smiled gently. "Many Pokémon possess charming appearances; even that green worm seemed far more appealing than a typical insect."
Lorelia remained silent, though inwardly, she quietly disagreed. No insect is ever charming!
Lavinia simply smiled, well aware of her Mage Commander's thoughts but choosing not to call her out.
Ingrid sighed and offered some practical advice. "This would be a lot easier if we had a map. But Gad, if you want a fistfight with Pokémon, rocky or mountainous areas might be your best bet."
He reasoned that such terrain would be scattered with boulders—perfect for training fists. They had even seen humanoid Pokémon among the Bloodthorn's before, which was quite fascinating.
While others still hesitated, Ingrid had already decided he wanted to catch a Fire-type, though he planned to wait until the end. For now, his priority was keeping a close eye on King Gadeon—otherwise, he knew he wouldn't sleep a wink. If he blinked even once, he wouldn't be surprised if the king punched a hole through a mountain just to prove his strength to some unsuspecting Pokémon.
That would be a disaster.
Though nothing quite that extreme had happened before, Gadeon's reckless spirit made it feel all too possible. Ingrid couldn't afford to let his guard down.
As they neared the rocky mountain area, Gadeon's eyes lit up. His gaze settled on a Machop—punching a boulder with sweat beading on its brow and fierce determination burning in its eyes, completely oblivious to their approaching group.
Machop was a small, gray-blue humanoid Pokémon with red eyes and a muscular build. Three ridges crowned its head, and its fists radiated impressive strength.
Ingrid glanced around and spotted several more Machop scattered nearby, each diligently training to build their power. He nodded appreciatively.
"Wait a moment, Gad. Let me check this one with the Pokédex," Ingrid said, pulling out the device to scan the Machop before them.
He had once borrowed a Pokédex from one of the Bloodthorn and knew how to use it. From his observations, he realized that each newborn Growlithe possessed different potential thanks to varied abilities—some even had extra moves, which he later discovered through the Pokédex were called Egg Moves.
Depending on luck, the Pokémon they captured could be either exceptionally strong or disappointingly weak, so it made sense to focus on capturing the best Machop available.
People like Ingrid were exactly what Arthur worried about—that's why he had hidden EVs and IVs from public Pokédex access without admin clearance.
Otherwise, Ingrid would never be satisfied until he found the absolute best Pokémon, and he might even convince Gadeon to abandon the Machop altogether if their stats were too poor.
Before Ingrid could finish scanning, Gadeon pretended not to hear and dashed forward, punching the very boulder the Machop was training on.
Boom!
His iron-like fist shattered the boulder into a spiderweb of cracks before it collapsed. The sudden noise startled all nearby creatures, who scattered in every direction.
"How's that?! I'm strong! I'm the best! Be my partner, muscular kid!" Gadeon beamed, extending his hand with a charismatic grin, fully expecting the Machop to shake it and agree.
The Machop, frozen mid-punch, stiffly turned to face him. Then, its expression drained of color as it bolted away in a panic.
"Wai—ouch!"
"I told you not to scare the little ones off!" Lavinia's face turned stern as she pinched Gadeon's ear and gave it a sharp tug. Then she turned to smile apologetically at the fleeing Pokémon and forest creatures.
But now they were even more frightened, watching Lavinia effortlessly subdue Gadeon—the same man who had just shattered a boulder with ease.
Seeing their reactions, Lavinia's smile faltered as she watched the creatures flee farther away, leaving the clearing around them empty—except for her own group.
Ingrid sighed and shook his head, while Lorelia, who hadn't seen a single cute Pokémon yet, let out a bored yawn.
Just then, to their surprise, a Pokémon suddenly emerged from behind a rock, its face twisted with anger, clearly ready to fight.
It was a small, monkey-like Pokémon covered in cream-colored fur, with a round body, a pig-like nose, and a long, thin tail.
The Pokémon hopped nimbly from rock to rock before stopping in front of Gadeon and Lavinia. Its eyes locked onto Gadeon, a red vein bulging on its forehead in irritation, then shifted toward Lavinia—signaling for her to step away from the foolish human before its patience ran out and it decided to lunge at her too.
The Queen looked at the fiery little creature with curiosity, then nodded and stepped back toward Ingrid and Lorelia, releasing Gadeon's ear.
"Oh? Finally, someone with a proper temper!" Gadeon grinned, wagging his finger in playful challenge. The Pokémon's forehead vein throbbed even harder in response, its irritation visibly spiking.
Ingrid quickly raised his Pokédex and began scanning the creature.
---
[Mankey]
[Types: Fighting]
[Ability: Defiant (Hidden Ability)]
[Level: 5]
[Mankey have explosive tempers and can fly into a rage at the slightest provocation, attacking wildly without thinking. They live in groups in treetops, and if one gets angry, the whole colony may join in. In their fury, they can't tell friend from foe and may even fight each other. Agile and social, they become furious if separated from their group and may attack out of loneliness, even waking from rage-filled dreams only to get angrier.]
[Base stats: -Redacted- (Total: 305)]
[Moves: Counter, Curse, Covet, Scratch, -empty-, -empty-, -empty-, -empty-, -empty-]
---
He skimmed through the information, and his eyes lit up with excitement.
The Defiant ability was incredibly powerful—perhaps even too powerful. With proper training, it had the potential to grow into a true powerhouse. On top of that, the Mankey had two Egg Moves! One of them was Counter—a phenomenal technique that allowed it to turn an opponent's strength against them, provided it could withstand the hit. Even more impressive was Curse, which could synergize exceptionally well with Defiant.
This Mankey could definitely take on foes far stronger than itself!
But something in the move list gave him pause.
Only Covet and Scratch? Where are Focus Energy, Leer, and Fury Swipes? Ingrid frowned and double-checked the level—Level 5, just as he thought. That only deepened his confusion.
He had always assumed Pokémon naturally learned new moves upon reaching the correct level. But clearly, there was more to it than that.
Coincidentally, this was something Arthur had recently discovered while raising a batch of semi-wild Pokémon in the Safari Zone.
With further research, he came to a realization: these Pokémon had no guidance—and no Pokédex to monitor their own progress.
Most Trainers took it for granted that when a Pokémon leveled up, it would simply learn the appropriate moves. They could easily open the Pokédex to check a Pokémon's move list or even show it to the Pokémon directly, giving it awareness of what it was capable of learning.
But wild Pokémon didn't have that privilege.
They had no idea what moves they could learn as they grew. No one was there to show them. No one was there to teach them.
Arthur had designed his approach to creating Pokémon much like the mechanics in an RPG: when a character reached a certain level, they'd automatically unlock a new skill. Simple, straightforward—no complications. In games, the UI practically shoved those new abilities in the player's face.
But the wild Pokémon here didn't have that luxury.
At best, they might feel a vague sensation—a stirring deep within, an instinctual urge to release some new form of energy. If they were lucky or focused enough, they could act on that feeling and successfully awaken the move.
But without guidance or knowledge, even a brief distraction could cause them to miss that critical moment. If too much time passed, they might never unlock that latent move at all. The opportunity could be lost.
Take this Mankey, for example. When it was born, it had the chance to learn four different moves right away. That might not seem like much, but for a newborn Pokémon, it was overwhelming. In the end, it only managed to grasp Covet and Scratch, completely missing Focus Energy and Leer—simply because it had no idea those moves even existed.
Arthur was surprised when he discovered this. But rather than fix it, he decided to embrace it.
In fact, he wanted to make it a feature of his system. It made perfect sense: wild Pokémon, lacking trainers or structured guidance, would naturally fail to learn some things on their own.
Over time, of course, this could be corrected. As these Pokémon reproduced and formed small communities, their offspring could begin to learn from them, gradually passing down knowledge generation by generation.
By comparison, wild Pokémon adapted differently from those raised by Trainers. Since they couldn't rely on learning a wide range of moves, they trained their bodies instead—honing their physical strength and instincts. Given the same resources and time, a wild Pokémon might develop greater raw power, while a Trainer's Pokémon would gain a more diverse and refined moveset.
Take this Mankey, for example. It had only recently reached level 5, yet it had already missed the chance to learn Fury Swipes. It didn't even realize it had failed. When that instinctual 'trigger' channeled energy into its hands, it simply assumed its Scratch had become stronger—not that it had actually mastered a new move.
If its level rose beyond 5, the chance of learning Fury Swipes would diminish significantly—not impossible, but certainly much more difficult.
Ingrid snapped out of his trance as he realized Gadeon was about to clash fists with the Mankey. Judging by the Pokémon's posture, it didn't seem to be challenging Gadeon to a test of strength—rather, it looked more like it was angered, disturbed by the earlier commotion.
It just wanted to beat Gadeon up!
Sensing that Gadeon had already restrained his power significantly and both side was ready to fight, Ingrid stayed calm and chose not to intervene.
Technically, it could still be considered a challenge from the Pokémon, right?
"Man~!!"
"Hah!"
Bam!
The impact of their fists crashing sent a small shockwave through the air. Mankey was blasted backward, tumbling across the ground like a leaf caught in a storm, while Gadeon's arm snapped back uncontrollably, his eyes wide with shock.
Mankey used Counter—striking back with double the force!
Gadeon felt no pain; his shock came from realizing that this small monkey packed more punch than it appeared, unaware of its Counter move.
The Mankey barely showed signs of injury, its body trembling uncontrollably before springing back up. A red vein pulsed on its forehead, nostrils flared wide, and with a fierce snarl, it lunged at Gadeon once more—unleashing a relentless storm of claws.
Fury Swipes!
The battle had ignited something within it. The Mankey had successfully learned Fury Swipes!
But Gadeon's calm was unbreakable. He met each swift swipe with steady precision, holding his ground without flinching.
"Hey, little guy. Be my partner, and I'll teach you how to throw a punch like a real man!" Gadeon grinned, trying to win the monkey over.
However, Gadeon's attempt to convince the Mankey backfired. The monkey's anger reached its peak, and it threw a direct punch—no mana, no special move—just a simple, ordinary punch.
Gadeon effortlessly intercepted the blow, catching the fist in his palm. With a wide grin, he raised his other fist and delivered a clean, downward punch that sent Mankey crashing onto the rocky ground.
"Kii!" the Mankey cried out in pain as the impact cracked the earth beneath them.
Yet, there wasn't a single visible wound on Mankey. All the force had been absorbed and redirected into the ground, a testament to Gadeon's refined—and almost inhuman—control over his strength.
Still smiling, Gadeon reached out his hand. "Be my partner, and I'll personally train you to become the strongest!"
The Mankey glanced at Gadeon's outstretched hand, then at the cracked ground beneath them, and finally at the shattered boulder. It hesitated briefly before nodding. "Man~"
Gadeon's grin grew even wider as he pulled Mankey to its feet, hugged it tightly, and spun around happily. "Haha! My first Pokémon! We'll reach the top together!"
The Mankey felt its rage simmer once more but then sighed, letting the human play around. It believed the man's words—it would definitely become stronger under his training.
Clenching its fist, the Mankey dreamed of the day its punch could shatter a boulder just like Gadeon's.
After some back-and-forth—mostly Gadeon bragging about himself under the guise of introducing himself to his new partner—the Mankey was captured in the Poké Ball, both willingly and with a hint of resignation.
Still, it couldn't deny that it looked forward to the future ahead.
"Congrats," Lavinia said gently, clapping as she approached Gadeon with Ingrid and Lorelia.
"See? Lavi, fists are the best way to communicate!" Gadeon said proudly, holding the Poké Ball close. For once, his lips softened into a gentle smile.
Lavinia nodded, thinking that Gadeon seemed well-suited to raise a Pokémon with such an uncontrollable temper—after all, both were muscleheads.
"Lavi! Your turn!" Gadeon suddenly called, looking at his wife.
The Queen paused thoughtfully, then shook her head. "Let's start by finding Pokémon for Grid and Relia. As for me, I'll walk with patience—trusting the right Pokémon will find me when the time is right."
With that, the four began their journey deeper into the Safari Zone.