The first order of business upon returning to Naranja Academy was a tour of the Pokémon training facilities.
These kinds of modern training rooms were not something that appeared often in either the anime or the games.
The anime had always centered on the bond between Trainer and Pokémon.
The deeper that bond ran, the stronger a Pokémon could become.
Bond was an almost entirely spiritual force.
It could produce sudden surges of power in the heat of battle, keep a Pokémon standing when it should have fallen, and in certain moments amplify the strength of a move beyond what should have been possible.
This was not just an anime concept either.
The games reflected it too.
Pikachu hung on so as not to worry you.
Amoonguss managed to cure its own poisoning so as not to worry you.
The training wing turned out to be quieter than Naoki had expected.
Only a handful of students were present.
Perhaps the fees put most people off.
Or perhaps the Trainers of this world simply preferred to train outdoors alongside their Pokémon rather than working through drills in a room.
Naoki was not particularly surprised either way.
A row of modern-looking doors stretched down the corridor ahead of him, each marked with a sign.
He read through them as he walked.
Gravity Training Chamber.
Fire Conditioning Room.
Ice Conditioning Room.
Electric Training Room.
The gravity chamber was exactly what it sounded like: a room that subjected Pokémon to increased gravitational force during training, producing results that outpaced conventional methods considerably.
The elemental rooms simulated real environmental conditions, making them well suited to Pokémon of the corresponding types.
A few rooms were also equipped with treadmills and weight equipment, clearly intended for Fighting-types like Machamp.
Naoki checked the posted fees.
For non-students, one hour cost 10,000 League Credits.
For enrolled Academy students, the same hour ran 2,000 Credits.
Students from low-income backgrounds paid only 1,000.
“Wuu?”
Zorua looked around at the row of identical-looking doors with open curiosity.
“This is where humans train their Pokémon.”
Naoki stepped into the gravity chamber, reading through the posted instructions and safety guidelines while talking to her.
“Training in here makes Pokémon grow faster than they would otherwise.
Zorua, do you want to become stronger?”
It was not a question Zorua had ever thought to ask herself.
Years of wandering the city had never given her reason to.
She looked at Naoki’s face.
Those same years had also taught her to read people. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
She could feel that he wanted her to grow stronger.
The concept of a Trainer was not unfamiliar to her.
She had heard about it from other Pokémon over the years.
Trainers caught Pokémon with Poké Balls, put them through rigorous training, made them stronger, fought alongside them, and climbed together toward the top of the world.
If Naoki wanted her to be stronger, then she would train.
She would get stronger.
For him.
The thought settled in her chest like something warm and decided.
Zorua lifted her head, met his eyes, and gave a firm little nod.
“Wuu!”
“Good.
Then today we start by getting familiar with what these rooms can do.” Naoki smiled and rested a hand briefly on her head.
Once he had finished reading the instructions, he fed 2,000 League Credits into the machine, navigated the control screen, and set the room’s gravity to one and a half times the normal level.
A low mechanical hum filled the room.
Then both of them felt it.
The floor seemed to press upward with more insistence than before.
Naoki lifted a foot experimentally and found it required noticeably more effort than usual.
Zoroark, the Pokémon Zorua would eventually become, was built for speed and special attack power.
Its ability to project elaborate illusions, combined with movements that were difficult to predict or track, gave it a natural talent for catching opponents completely off guard.
Naoki’s training plan for Zorua would prioritize three areas above everything else: speed, raw power, and energy control.
Alongside those, he intended to develop her Illusion ability, pushing it until she could transform into other people and Pokémon with complete, convincing accuracy.
He understood what a fully mastered Illusion could become.
The Zoroark in the film had transformed into Entei, Raikou, and Suicune and then used the actual power of all three.
The ability was not merely cosmetic.
A perfected Illusion meant channeling the genuine strength of whatever form was taken.
That was the crucial point.
The hour passed quickly.
Naoki spent most of it walking Zorua through the training goals, the methods he had in mind, and the reasoning behind each of them.
Zorua listened with more focused attention than he had expected.
“The problem is that I still have to work at the Paldea League during the day,” Naoki said, frowning slightly.
That identity meant the majority of his waking hours were spent behind a desk.
“Wuu…”
Zorua picked up on his frustration.
She blinked slowly, and something behind her pale blue eyes suggested she was turning a problem over in her mind.
Naoki lay on the dormitory bed scrolling through his chat panel.
Moon: Larry!
I made it to Paldea safely.
Where are you?
Can I meet you?
He thought about it for a moment.
His situation was not the same as a normal player’s.
With no way to log out, he was in practical terms an NPC who had crossed into this world with a player interface attached.
That was not something he wanted to advertise.
Larry: Rest up tonight.
I’m currently stuck in a hidden map and can’t meet you in person.
Tomorrow, come to Mesagoza and look for an NPC called Naoki.
I’ll explain everything once you arrive.
Moon: Got it, Larry!
He closed the chat panel and pulled up the current Trainer strength leaderboard.
He had not been among the first wave of players to enter this world, and the gap was showing.
The top spot still belonged to the player called Ichiyo Chishu, who had now collected six Gym Badges.
At that pace, his strength had in all likelihood already reached Gym Leader level.
Naoki, by comparison, was a new Trainer with a single Pokémon.
“We’re already pretty far behind,” he muttered with a resigned sigh.
“Wuu?”
Zorua, who had been lost in her own thoughts beside him, lifted her head at the sound.
“We got a late start, Zorua.
The gap between us and the other Trainers is pretty wide right now.” Naoki rested a hand on her head.
Zorua listened with an expression somewhere between understanding and uncertainty.
“It’s fine.
Don’t worry about it.
As long as we keep working at it together, we’ll close the distance eventually.” He ran his fingers through her fur.
“Alright.
Time to sleep.”
Since staying close to both the League and the Academy made more practical sense than commuting from the apartment, Naoki had brought his bedding to the dormitory room that day.
He reached over and switched off the light.
The room went dark.
Once his breathing had steadied into sleep, Zorua rose quietly to her feet.
She had thought of a way to help him.