"System! You bastard! Why didn't you tell me they react that fast?!" Hora cursed under his breath as he scrambled backward, clutching the egg to his chest with one hand and gripping his knife tightly with the other.
The System didn't reply verbally. Instead, a new prompt popped up in his vision:
[Danger Detected. Temporarily unlocking 'Escape Route Optimization'—Proceed 10 meters North inside the tunnel. There is an abandoned passage leading toward the riverbank.]
Hora didn't have time to overthink it. He crawled in the suggested direction. Behind him, the Beedrill had already entered the hole. The vibration of their wings grew louder, and their stingers thudded rhythmically into the tunnel walls.
He squeezed the egg tighter, terrified of dropping it—he had risked his life to steal this thing. If it broke, not only would the task fail, but he might lose his life for nothing.
After crawling about ten meters, a narrower passage appeared, lined with dry straw—likely an old Rattata nest. As Hora squeezed through, the straw scratched his face painfully, but the buzzing grew distant. The Beedrill were too wide for this passage; they could only buzz irritably outside, unable to follow.
He kept crawling until he heard the familiar sound of flowing water. Only then did he stop to catch his breath.
Parting the weeds at the tunnel's exit, sunlight flooded in. He saw the creek where he'd been fishing; his washed-away bamboo rod was snagged between some rocks downstream.
"Phew... I'm alive."
Hora collapsed onto the grass. The egg in his arms was safe. He touched the shell; its cool surface finally allowed his frayed nerves to relax.
Just then, the System's voice rang out again, this time with a hint of "lightness":
[Congratulations to the Host for completing the temporary task. Rare Individual Pokémon Egg obtained. Task Reward: Random HM Skill 'Flash' has been issued.]
"Flash?" Hora blinked. He realized that while it wasn't a combat move, it was a godsend for dark caves or dense forests.
He looked down at the egg. The pale purple spiral patterns were strikingly clear in the sunlight. Even though he knew what kind of Pokémon would hatch from it, the words "Rare Individual" were enough to keep him excited. Compared to that mythical Golden Magikarp, this egg felt like his true "Protagonist Start" after ten years of transmigration and three years of waiting.
As the buzzing of the Beedrill faded into the distance, Hora stood up and walked toward his snagged fishing rod. The sun was bright, the wind carried the scent of grass, and he suddenly felt that three years of waiting and today's narrow escape were worth it.
"I guess you're somewhat useful after all, Dog System," he muttered to the air, his lips curling into a smirk. Next step: hatch the egg, get his Trainer ID, and officially set off for the Kanto region.
As for the Golden Magikarp... Hora glanced at the creek and thought: Once I have powerful Pokémon, I'll come back and deal with the mess you've made, System!
It was evening when Hora finally returned home with the Beedrill's egg.
Seeing her son cradling an egg, his mother didn't ask many questions. She naturally took it from him, pulled a household incubator from the storage shelf, and expertly filled it with nutrient solution. Her movements were fluid and practiced.
Watching her, Hora couldn't help but say, "Mom..."
She finished the task and turned to him with a smile. "You're just like your father when he was young. Back then, he always brought home random eggs, claiming they were gifts for me. After all these years, I've had plenty of practice."
Her tone shifted as she looked him up and down. "But seriously, coming back with a Beedrill egg with only some torn clothes and a bit of mud... you're already more capable than your father was back then."
"Uh..." Hearing his mother tease his father made Hora's face flush. He quickly changed the subject. "By the way, Mom, how did you know it was a Beedrill egg?"
She walked over, brushed some leaf debris off his head, and patted his shoulder. "Any egg you find would be from the nearby forest where you fish. That place is mostly Pidgey, Rattata, or Bug-types. This egg has pale purple spirals—a classic trait of Poison-types. And looking at the state of you... heh, if you weren't raiding a Beedrill nest, what else would you be doing?"
Hora was stunned. After a long pause, he sighed. "Mom... it's a waste for you to be a housewife. Have you considered becoming a Pokémon Detective?"
"Sigh, I thought about it once, but... forget it. Go wash up for dinner. Your father accepted an invitation from Professor Sycamore and went to the Kalos region. It'll just be the two of us for a while."
"Professor Sycamore?!"
The name made Hora's heart leap. Professor Sycamore (Platane) was a titan in the Pokémon world—the guide for new trainers in Kalos and the pioneer of Mega Evolution research. Without him, the secrets of Mega Evolution wouldn't have been unlocked so quickly.
Hora always knew his father was talented, but he never imagined he had a direct connection to Sycamore. This was a massive advantage! Mega Evolution was the future trend. With this connection and his own future knowledge, staying ahead of his peers would be easy.
"Oh, one more thing," his mother's voice called out, "that egg should hatch in about a week. As your mother, I must remind you: prepare plenty of Antidotes."
But Hora, lost in his dreams of grandeur, didn't hear a word she said.
It wasn't until the day the Weedle cracked its shell—and Hora found himself foaming at the mouth from its poison—that he suddenly remembered his mother's warning. Unfortunately, by then, it was already too late.