The Pokémon world.
Sinnoh region.
Veilstone City. Veilstone Gym.
Inside the Gym’s training hall, a teenage boy had tied his bright pink hair into a high ponytail. Bandages were wrapped around his hands, and he was throwing punch after punch, kick after kick, at the sandbag in front of him.
The sandbag swayed gently.
Somehow, it looked as though it was mocking him.
Hit harder. At this rate, all you’re doing is making me damp.
Julian Veyne let out a breath and lowered his fists.
He had never had a strong body. Years of martial arts had helped, but only to the extent that his immune system was better than before. At least he no longer caught a cold every time the seasons changed.
His parents had named him Julian, probably hoping he would rely more on his mind than his fists.
After all, there was no rule saying the heir of a Fighting-type Gym had to be a martial artist himself.
Unfortunately, Julian had discovered that being a transmigrator came with no guarantees.
His body was weak.
His talent as a Trainer was ordinary.
And to make matters worse, he had inherited the Veyne family’s pink hair.
Julian caught his reflection in the training room mirror and sighed.
There were many respectable colours a man could be born with.
Black. Brown. Silver, even.
But no.
The Veyne bloodline had looked at dignity and chosen pink.
When he was ten, his father had given him a Jangmo-o as his first Pokémon.
Eight years had passed and Jangmo-o was still Jangmo-o.
Julian had arrived in the Pokémon world when he was eight. Since then, his supposed cheat had been loading in the background. Not long ago, the progress bar had finally reached 99/100.
After all these years, he was finally about to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
His mother had passed away not long after giving birth to his younger sister. The birth had been difficult, and her body had already been too weak to recover.
After that, his father had started spending most of his days at the Veilstone Game Corner, numbing himself with slot machines and arcade games.
A gambling father.
A dead mother.
A baby sister crying to be fed.
And him, already cracked before he had even grown up.
A perfect tragedy, Pokémon-world edition.
Of course, even Jangmo-o had been obtained by his father from the Game Corner, exchanged as a prize after who knew how many hours of gambling.
Nearby, a pink-haired girl turned sideways and kicked.
It was only a simple side kick, yet the sandbag in front of her spun all the way around the metal bar.
A muscular man in a karate gi stared at it and let out a low whistle.
"Maylene’s strength has increased again. She’s only ten, and she’s already this strong?"
"Last time, a Tauros cart suddenly lost control in the street. The Tauros broke free and started rampaging, but Maylene grabbed its tail and dragged it back."
The girl scratched her cheek, embarrassed.
"I’m not as amazing as everyone says."
"Ri! Ri!"
A Riolu stood beside her, raising both paws as though cheering her on.
Julian, dressed in a martial arts uniform, shook his head.
The pink-haired girl everyone was praising was his younger sister, Maylene Veyne.
The same little sister he had practically raised himself.
He had only been eight back then. His own health had been poor, but he had still learned how to mix formula, change diapers, and keep a newborn alive.
Somehow, Maylene had grown up well.
Thankfully, Veilstone Gym had continued operating normally. Otherwise, Julian would never have had the money to raise her.
Even Maylene’s name had been chosen by him.
He still found it hard to believe that their father had nearly let a girl live her entire life with a name like Lee!
Fortunately, his father was not completely indifferent to the siblings. Once he had numbed the grief enough, he would still come back and fulfil his duties as Gym Leader.
He also bought the daily necessities Julian and Maylene needed.
And when he occasionally forgot, the Fighting-type specialists training at the Gym would step in to help.
"Julian, you need to work harder!"
Julian waved weakly.
"I know, I know."
"Jang!"
Jangmo-o tapped its scales with its tail, cheering for its Trainer.
Julian glanced at it.
"I’m already going full speed."
Just then, a notification sounded beside his ear.
Julian’s expression sharpened.
[Pokémon Simulator loading complete: 100/100]
[Starting system. Please wait...]
[For the first simulation, the host may designate one type to simulate]
[Please select the type you wish to simulate. The system will generate a simulation based on the chosen type and the simulation results]
[Rewards will be issued accordingly]
[Rewards are divided into attribute rewards and item rewards]
[Attribute rewards apply only to the host]
[Item rewards may be used on humans or Pokémon]
The eighteen types appeared in front of Julian one by one.
Each type had a number beside it. The number represented Julian’s compatibility and training efficiency with Pokémon of that type.
The higher the number, the better the training effect.
For example, Dragon: 0.59 meant that whenever Julian trained with Jangmo-o, the result was only 0.59 times as effective as normal.
Attribute rewards would not only increase Julian’s compatibility with the corresponding type, but could also grant him some traits connected to that type.
For example, Fighting-type rewards might strengthen his muscles and martial talent.
Dragon-type rewards might grant him powerful vitality.
Psychic-type rewards might give him abilities like telekinesis, precognition, or Heal Pulse.
After thinking it over briefly, Julian made his choice.
For his first simulation, he would choose Dragon.
It was not only because Jangmo-o was currently his only Pokémon. Increasing his Dragon-type compatibility would naturally help him raise Jangmo-o better.
More importantly, what Julian truly wanted was the powerful vitality of Dragon types.
His body was too frail. It seriously affected his chances of becoming an excellent Trainer and inheriting Veilstone Gym.
He had just turned eighteen, but his father was becoming more and more careless with his work as Gym Leader. The Gym Leader’s duty was supposed to be guiding challengers and helping them grow.
His father treated it like a chore.
Sometimes, when no one could find him, Julian had no choice but to use his father’s Pokémon and stand in as a temporary Gym Leader to handle challengers himself.
Julian’s talent for raising Pokémon might have been poor, but after ten years of constant study, his knowledge and command ability had already been sharpened.
The challengers never even realised that the Gym Leader in front of them was an impostor.
"Maylene, stop playing around. Take Riolu and go train."
Maylene finished with one last spinning kick, sending the sandbag turning three and a half rotations in the air.
Then she puffed out her cheeks.
"I know! Riolu, let’s go!"
"Ri! Ri!"
The girl and her Riolu rushed out of the training room like a gust of wind.
Following the training plan Julian had made for her, she took Riolu outside to practise Aura Sphere.
Julian shook his head.
Maylene might have been a girl with monstrous strength, but she was not especially good at training Pokémon. Her talent was better than Julian’s, but only by a limited amount.
She had no choice but to rely on her natural strength and work harder in the Fighting type.
Julian knew who Maylene was supposed to become.
In the original story, she was the Veilstone Gym Leader whose confidence was broken by Paul, another Trainer from Veilstone City. She had been beaten so badly that she started doubting whether she was suited to be a Gym Leader at all.
Maylene, like Ash, did not possess the conventional talent people expected from a traditional Trainer.
But her extraordinary physical ability could make up for the difference.
After all, she was the kind of girl who could kick away an Aura Sphere.
At least, that was how the anime had framed it.
Julian had never taken that part too literally.
If the Aura Sphere had come from a young Riolu, then fine. With Maylene’s strength, reflexes, and years of conditioning, maybe she could knock it aside without shattering every bone in her leg.
But an Aura Sphere from even the weakest Lucario?
There would not be enough of her left to send to a hospital.
Julian put the equipment back in place, then smiled at Jangmo-o.
"Jangmo-o, let’s train too."
Once Julian realised that walking the path of a pure Trainer probably would not work for him, he had chosen to study breeding and Pokémon care as well.
If one path was not enough, he would walk two at once.
Because of that, although Jangmo-o still had not evolved, its physical strength and move proficiency had been improving quickly.
"Jangmo-o, same as usual. Let’s warm up with Dragon Dance."
"Jang!"
Jangmo-o’s eyes sharpened.
Then it began swaying its tail from side to side.
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