Sketch.Smeargle's signature move.
Relying solely on this absurdly insidious technique, Smeargle—whose base stats rank near the very bottom of the entire Pokédex—has still managed to remain a perennial presence in competitive battling.
The effect of Sketch is simple and brutally effective: it copies the move used by the opponent and turns it into Smeargle's own move.
It can even steal the signature moves of most Legendary Pokémon.
A true, genuine source of all evil.
How can there be a Pokémon as wicked as Smeargle?!
But then again… if his Eevee really learned Smeargle's ultimate move, Sketch—
Then it felt like another "special feature" of the Sunny Gym had just been found.
That said, Qingyu's understanding of Sketch was basically limited to how it worked in games in his past life.
Whether it could really produce effects this outrageous in reality still deserved a big question mark.
And besides… Eevee learning Sketch—Was that even legal?!
While Qingyu was questioning the legitimacy of his Eevee, the special-forces Eevee had already returned to its loyal Sunny Gym.
"Eevee?"
Eevee felt the world spin for a moment. It instinctively closed its eyes, and when it opened them again, Qingyu was already standing right in front of it.
Seeing its Trainer once more, the little one instantly grew excited, calling out "Eevee! Eevee!" nonstop, clearly trying to share everything it had experienced on its trip.
Even though Qingyu couldn't understand Pokémon language, he could still feel Eevee's excitement loud and clear.
"Looks like you really enjoyed this trip."
Qingyu smiled.
Rewards and growth could wait. Making Eevee happy mattered more than anything else.
Those 50 growth points were really well spent.
Next time he managed to squeeze some more points out of the system, he'd let Eevee visit other regions too.
"Eevee~! (≧∀≦)ゞ"
Eevee laughed just as brightly. But in the middle of laughing, its stomach suddenly let out a long, loud growl.
The little one immediately curled up shyly, staring straight at Qingyu with deadly, sparkling puppy eyes.
"Going out really tires you out, huh?"
Qingyu rubbed its fluffy little head. He himself was a bit hungry too after waiting for Eevee to come back.
At this point, they might as well indulge a little and grab a late-night snack.
…
Late at night, Qingyu sat on the bed, gently stroking the Eevee curled up and sleeping quietly beside him. His gaze focused on a few lines of text floating before his eyes.
[For a reborn you, under the influence of your wife from your previous life, training Pokémon is no longer a difficult task.][Under your guidance, Eevee's journey resulted in visible growth.]
Yeah. Very visibly improved.
If not for this travel cultivation system, there was no way in hell he'd believe Eevee could learn Sketch…
This was way too imba!
Qingyu complained inwardly as his eyes moved downward.
[Mission: Use the Travel Cultivation function to accelerate Pokémon training. (Completed)][Reward: Pokémon Breeding Compendium of the Breeder, Green]
Here it comes—the main event!
Qingyu tapped the screen, and a thick stack of notebooks appeared in his hand.
Green—full name Oak Green—the rival of the protagonist in the first-generation Pokémon games, and one of the main characters in the Pokémon Adventures manga.
In the manga, every Pokédex holder (protagonist) has their own specialty. Green, dubbed by Professor Oak as "the Breeder," naturally excelled in Pokémon training.
It was said that he possessed a terrifying breeding ability capable of significantly boosting Pokémon strength, having quickly cultivated an entire main team after taking over as the Viridian Gym Leader.
And that was exactly what Qingyu needed right now.
Looking at the slightly wrinkled notebooks in his hands—clearly something that had been flipped through countless times—Qingyu couldn't help but nod.
Looks like a first-hand copy? Green's personal use? 99% new?
"This is the experience of the Breeder himself. Learning any of it is pure profit!"
Thinking that, Qingyu opened the notebook to the first page.
Just glancing at the table of contents made the care put into it immediately obvious.
Not only were Pokémon thoughtfully categorized, but many species were given extremely detailed breeding guides, covering everything from diet to training.
It was practically a work of art.
Of course, due to Green being from Kanto, the notes only covered some of the Pokémon in the Kanto Pokédex.
Fortunately, since Eevee appears in many regions, Green's notes happened to include a section specifically about Eevee.
Thinking about it, that made perfect sense.
After all, if the system gave him something completely useless for now, that would just be too incompetent.
Flipping to the pages about Eevee, Qingyu noticed a small note Green had added at the beginning. He admitted that he had never personally raised an Eevee, and that this section was the result of long-term observation of Professor Oak and another friend's training methods.
"Green's friend? Don't tell me… Red?"
An image unconsciously surfaced in Qingyu's mind—a boy wearing a cap, with a Pikachu standing on his shoulder.
Red's Eevee… might be even more illegal than mine.
I need to sit up for this.
"Eevee is a very special Pokémon. Its very existence is a miracle."
"Pokémon with branching evolutions aren't rare, but one like Eevee—whose evolutionary potential is still far from fully discovered—exists only this one."
With just a few lines, Green captured Eevee's greatest defining trait—
Because of its unstable genes, Eevee can evolve in different directions depending on its environment, and there may even be undiscovered evolutions yet to be found.
"As expected of Green. Reliable as ever."
Glancing at the peacefully sleeping Eevee beside his pillow, Qingyu nodded and continued reading.
"For most Pokémon, developing combat instincts through battles during their youth is crucial and almost determines their upper limit."
"But Eevee is the exception."
"What determines Eevee's combat strength is not raw power, but a hard-to-describe state."
"From my observations, Eevee's strength is difficult to improve before evolution, yet many cases show significant improvement after evolving."
"More importantly, the bond with its Trainer seems to be a key factor in that growth."
"Therefore, we can draw the following conclusion:"
"For Eevee's Trainer, prioritizing the relationship between the two is far superior to forcing it into battles."
"Hiss—"
After finishing Green's notes, Qingyu couldn't help but suck in a cold breath.
Good thing I didn't send Eevee to grind levels in the wild on its first trip—otherwise I'd be dead, wouldn't I?!
Green's reasoning was extremely solid, backed by detailed data. It was clearly a very scientific conclusion.
But still…
Who would've thought that Qingyu's instinctive choice just happened to align perfectly with Green's thinking?
So the Breeder… was me all along?
After learning Green's Eevee training methods, Qingyu glanced at the little Eevee snoring comfortably on the bed and quickly arrived at the next training plan—
Go with the flow.
Since improving raw strength was difficult, it was better to look ahead and aim for evolution.
Among Eevee's known evolutions, Espeon, Umbreon, and Sylveon are all closely tied to friendship or affection.
If Green's theory was correct, building a deeper bond with Eevee early on really was the best possible choice.
Before evolution, using its newly learned Sketch to pull off some unconventional, dirty tactics should be more than enough to deal with ordinary Gym challengers.
As for what it would eventually evolve into—That choice could be left to Eevee itself.
…
Early the next morning.
Gently prying Eevee out of his arms—somehow it had rolled in there overnight—Qingyu woke up from his sleep.
He instinctively reached for his phone on the bedside table and opened PokéTV, planning to watch something good before getting up.
It wasn't exactly a healthy habit, but if he didn't reward his hardworking self a little before starting the day, it always felt like he had no energy.
However—
The moment he opened the app, he froze.
What the hell?
Why does the top-right corner say 999+?!
Don't tell me I got canceled overnight?!
Advance 60 Chapters available at: patreon.com/Hoshino_Sora