The sea churned below a gray sky as the black van rumbled onto the ferry's cargo deck.
Kai sat inside, silent, staring through the narrow, wire-screened window. Saffron was already fading behind them—a concrete graveyard swallowed by distance and sea mist. He didn't look back. There was nothing left for him in that city except corpses and the lingering memory of blood-slick alleys.
This was a new chapter. A second rebirth.
The air smelled of salt and fuel, the tang of ocean air battling against the reek of metal and rubber. The ferry groaned beneath them as it left the dock and pushed toward the horizon. The man across from Kai, dressed in the familiar black of Team Rocket, tapped a finger against a data slate.
"You'll disembark at Facility 9," he said without looking up. "You'll be assigned a unit. Fail to survive three weeks, you're discarded."
"Discarded?" Kai asked. His voice was hoarse. First words in hours.
The Rocket officer glanced at him. "Dropped. Lost. Dead. Doesn't matter. You don't get a name unless you live long enough to earn one."
Kai nodded once. No emotion showed on his face.
He'd already died twice. What was a third time?
Two hours later, the ferry slowed as it neared landfall. The island came into view—at first just jagged rocks and thick mist, but then the shape of a mountain, dark and high, rising behind dense forest.
It looked nothing like the pristine Pokémon islands from the anime he used to love.
No beaches. No friendly wildlife.
This place looked like it wanted you dead.
As Kai stepped onto the dock, he saw others—dozens of people, young and lean, dressed in plain black, corralled into lines. Some looked terrified. Others tried to act tough. A few looked at home.
He fell in behind them without a word.
A siren wailed, and a woman in a crimson Rocket coat strode forward. Her boots crunched on gravel, her voice cutting through the wind like a blade.
"I am Supervisor Ines. You are now property of Rocket Island."
No welcoming speech. No introduction to a 'new home.'
She pointed toward the concrete facility behind her. Barbed wire. Steel walls. Guard towers with mounted cannons—meant not for invading armies, but escaping recruits.
"This is a prison disguised as a training camp," she said. "You will either walk out of here in one piece, trained and useful—or you'll be fertilizer. That's not a threat. That's the program."
Kai scanned the group. Around thirty recruits stood in uneven lines. Ages ranged from maybe thirteen to twenty. A few looked like street rats like him. Others had military posture, upright and stiff. One girl had a confident, practiced sneer, like she'd been through this before.
He took mental notes. His system flickered in his mind again.
________________________________________
[Target: Human – Unknown]
Age: ~16
Body condition: Malnourished. Fighting spirit: High.
Threat Level: Medium-Low
Recommendation: Non-hostile until further data.
________________________________________
The system wasn't omniscient. It could only assess basic physical traits or psychological cues. Still, it gave Kai a head start others didn't have.
Knowledge. Not power. Not yet.
Inside the facility, they were stripped of belongings. Kai's clothes were incinerated. He was handed a plain black uniform, stiff and coarse. Numbers replaced names. He became "Subject 37."
The first night brought no rest.
At 2:00 a.m., alarms blared. The dorms lit red.
"Out. Now!" came the bark of Rocket officers.
Kai stumbled from his bunk, heart pounding. Rain lashed the compound. Thunder cracked.
They were herded outside, shivering in the storm.
Supervisor Ines stood beneath a spotlight. Behind her, a metal gate creaked open. Beyond it lay forest. Darkness. The wild.
"This is your first assessment," she said, voice cold. "You have twenty-four hours to reach Checkpoint C. Coordinates are embedded in your bracelets. No maps. No help. Survive."
Someone raised a hand. "What about food?"
A Rocket grunt shot a warning blast at the dirt near the boy's feet.
Ines didn't blink. "Food is for survivors."
The gate opened fully.
The forest beyond was alive. Trees moved slightly—not with wind, but with eyes.
________________________________________
[Wild Zone Detected – Threat Level: Orange]
Tide Risk: 3% – Night Activity: Elevated
Common Pokémon Types: Bug, Poison, Grass. Wilds may attack unprovoked.
________________________________________
No one said go. They just… started running.
Kai didn't run immediately. He watched. Twenty-nine others bolted, some alone, some forming groups. He hung back, calculating.
Mistake.
Something shrieked in the dark.
A Butterfree, its wings torn and stained red, slammed into the nearest recruit and sent him tumbling into the mud. The boy screamed as a pair of Beedrill burst from the brush and descended on him like wasps on meat.
The screaming stopped quickly.
________________________________________
[Species: Beedrill – Wild]
Level: 18
Potential: Light Yellow
Move Mastery: Twin Needle (60%), Agility (42%), Focus Energy (Low)
________________________________________
Kai took off.
He didn't run randomly. His system pointed northeast—toward a slope, and a stream beyond it.
He moved with purpose. He kept low. He thought.
By dawn, seven recruits were dead. Kai counted bodies as he passed. Some were torn, others poisoned. One looked like she'd been suffocated by vines.
He found a cave near the stream and collapsed inside. Exhaustion burned his muscles. His mind flickered again.
________________________________________
[Status: Fatigued – Physical Strain Level 4]
Mental Stability: Stable
Advice: Rest minimally. Wilds are more passive at daybreak.
________________________________________
He closed his eyes for thirty minutes.
When he woke, there was someone at the cave entrance.
A boy, maybe fifteen. Lean. Pale. Holding a sharpened stick.
"Who the hell are you?" the boy demanded.
Kai didn't move. "No one."
"Yeah? Then get out of my cave."
Kai's mind worked fast.
________________________________________
[Target: Male-Human]
Condition: Starved. Aggression: High. Logic: Deteriorating.
Threat Level: Low if unarmed.
Recommendation: De-escalate or incapacitate.
________________________________________
Kai didn't speak. He picked up a handful of mud and flung it directly at the kid's face.
While the boy screamed and wiped his eyes, Kai tackled him, twisted the stick from his hands, and threw him out of the cave.
"Don't come back."
The boy didn't.
By nightfall, only seventeen recruits remained.
Checkpoint C came into view—a tall fence, blinking lights, a gate guarded by two Rocket officers and a fearsome Houndoom.
Kai approached slowly, covered in dirt and scratches. The Houndoom growled once, then turned away.
The guards didn't even speak. They scanned his bracelet and waved him through.
Inside, he found a barracks. Bunk beds. Water. Food.
He ate like a starving man. Because he was one.
He sat on the corner of the bed later, staring at his reflection in a cracked mirror.
Not the same boy from Saffron.
Not the boy who dreamed of catching a Charmander and being a hero.
Not even the one who died in the wastes.
This… was something else.
Someone else.
His thoughts stirred. The system whispered.
________________________________________
[New Trait Recognition: Adaptive Instinct – Triggered by Extreme Pressure]
[Cognitive Sync: 8%] – System Integration Rising
New Function Unlocked: Pokémon Bond
Awareness (Untrained)
________________________________________
He stared. His breath caught.
He didn't have a Pokémon. Not yet.
But the system was preparing for it.
And he would be ready.