Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, a full week slipped by.
Morning. The villa. The dining room.
"Kael, Lulu doesn't like Sneasel," Ralts said plaintively, clinging to the top of Kael's head and tattling through telepathy in a soft, childish voice. "Sneasel is a bad kid. She's always stealing Lulu's peaches."
At the other end of the table, Sneasel shot a provocative glance at the Ralts perched on Kael's head. Then, with her sharp, hardened claws, she swish-swish made a few cutting motions at the sweet peach on her plate. In an instant, the peach was neatly sliced into five even pieces.
She skewered the largest slice with a claw, leapt lightly toward Kael, and placed it onto his plate.
...
That gesture made Lulu so angry she practically started steaming. Before Kael could even reach out to taste the peach Sneasel had personally cut for him, the little one immediately used Confusion, floating the peach slice back in front of herself. She opened her tiny mouth and took a fierce bite.
Sneasel rolled her eyes in an unmistakably human way and ignored Ralts entirely, focusing instead on the beef on her own plate. She was a pure carnivore Pokémon to begin with and had little interest in berries or fruit. That earlier move had been nothing more than a deliberate provocation—she'd hoped Ralts would strike first, so she could properly teach a lesson to that little thing who hid behind the human every single day.
Watching the two Pokémon's childish behavior, Kael couldn't help but smile. The two simply couldn't stand each other. One was Psychic-type, the other Dark-type—natural opposites. Every time they met, it felt like their whole bodies bristled with discomfort.
Of course, there might've been another, secondary reason as well.
Same sex rivalry.
Both of them were female.
That's right—this Sneasel was female. Kael had only discovered it during her medical examination. Her ferocious fighting style had made him assume she was male from the start. He hadn't expected her to turn out to be such a hardcore tomboy.
...…
After a week of recovery—backed by medicinal ingredients worth over a million—Sneasel had fully returned to peak condition. In fact, her vigor and presence were even stronger than before.
After all, she hadn't had to worry about food for an entire week. Every meal was the most nutritious, well-balanced Pokémon cuisine available, with premium Wagyu beef added in regularly. She even drank Miltank milk rich in protein.
In the garden, man and Pokémon stood facing one another. Kael carefully removed the bandages from Sneasel's right arm and said gently, "Give it a try. You might be even stronger than before."
"Snrr—"
Sneasel nodded and walked over to a hanging sandbag. She shook her right arm lightly, then raised her claw high. No skills. No techniques. Just a simple, basic claw strike—
Wham—!
A cold flash cut through the air. The sandbag, as thick as a grown man's waist, split cleanly in two, iron sand spilling everywhere. Seeing this, Sneasel scratched behind her left ear shyly and turned back to stare blankly at Kael.
"This one actually knows how to be embarrassed?" Kael laughed, a hint of a grin spreading across his face. He called out loudly, "Lulu, you're up."
"Goooot it~!" Lulu waved her little hand, and under the control of her psychic power, the iron sand rose from the ground like a black whirlwind, slowly drifting into the trash bin in the corner.
"Well then," Kael said, crouching down on the grass so he was eye-level with Sneasel. He raised a yellow-and-black Ultra Ball in his hand.
"Would you be willing to become my Pokémon?"
Sneasel froze for a moment. Then she nodded—only to shake her head immediately afterward. Her emotions flared as she pointed a sharp claw toward Ralts standing nearby.
Kael was left completely confused by the exchange. He frowned slightly and asked, "Lulu… what is she saying?"
"Hmph! She says she can become your Pokémon," Lulu relayed angrily, "but for the honor of the Sneasel clan, she has to fight me first! She wants to prove she's the strongest—and that she's qualified to protect you!"
"I'm gonna explode from anger!" Lulu shook her head furiously.
Kael didn't know what to say. Compared to humans, Pokémon emotions were sometimes astonishingly pure and sincere. They didn't understand deception. Once they acknowledged something—once they chose—it was final.
"Protect me, huh?" Kael smiled softly. "I'm looking forward to it."
...…
At the center of the garden lay a standard battle field paved with stone and packed earth. Sneasel and Ralts stood at opposite ends, the fight ready to erupt at any moment.
"You're so annoying!" Lulu sent her words directly into Sneasel's mind through telepathy.
"Snrr—!"
Sneasel raised her claws, black fur standing on end. The red, three-feathered tail behind her snapped upright like a blade!
Dark-type versus Psychic-type—this matchup was absolute suppression. Dark-type moves dealt double damage to Ralts, while Ralts's only offensive move, Confusion, was completely ineffective against Sneasel.
"Kael," Lulu said seriously through their mental link, rare gravity in her tone. "I don't want to keep holding myself back anymore. I want to evolve."
"Two years already," Kael sighed softly.
"You don't have to suppress yourself anymore. Evolve. I want to see just how beautiful you'll be after you do."