“Nidorino, stop!”
The command meant nothing.
Nidorino charged, claws scraping against the concrete as it accelerated through the narrow passage between the crates, horn lowered directly toward Croagunk’s chest.
Adrian reacted.
“Right!”
Croagunk threw itself aside.
Nidorino thundered past, missing by less than a foot.
It couldn’t stop quickly enough and slammed shoulder-first into a wooden crate, shattering several boards and sending packaged food spilling across the floor.
Adrian’s expression tightened.
That alone told him everything he needed to know.
The Rattata they’d fought had been dangerous because they possessed teeth and attacks capable of hurting Croagunk.
Nidorino was different.
Its physical strength was on another level entirely.
Six levels.
More importantly, an entire rank separated them.
Baby.
Beginner.
The games had conditioned Adrian to think of levels as gradual increases.
A level twelve Pokémon was stronger than a level six Pokémon, but not so overwhelmingly powerful that victory was impossible.
Reality didn’t care about game balance.
Nidorino ripped itself free from the broken crate and turned.
Croagunk remained crouched several meters away.
Adrian considered retreating.
The warehouse door was behind Nidorino.
There were other exits, but he didn’t know where they were, and running blindly through a warehouse while being pursued by an enraged Beginner-rank Pokémon wasn’t much safer than fighting it.
They needed to create distance first.
“Nidorino!” The Poison-type charged again.
“Poison Sting!”
Croagunk fired.
Nidorino didn’t dodge.
Purple needles struck its shoulder and face, but the larger Poison-type simply continued forward.
Adrian’s eyes widened.
“Move!”
Croagunk jumped.
Nidorino changed direction.
Too fast.
“Double Kick!”
The first kick caught Croagunk in the stomach.
The second struck its side.
Croagunk flew across the warehouse and crashed into a stack of boxes.
“Croagunk!”
The Poison-type fell onto the concrete.
Adrian’s stomach tightened.
Nidorino turned toward it.
“Get up!”
Croagunk’s hands pressed against the ground.
It forced itself upright.
Adrian’s Scan activated.
Pokémon Scan
Species: Croagunk ♂ Level: 6.
Rank: Baby Potential: Blue Ability: Anticipation Moves: Poison Sting · Mud-Slap · Fake Out (Egg Move) · Cross Chop (Egg Move) Status: Injured.
Moderate Bruising Evaluation: Extraordinary Individual
One attack.
That was all it had taken.
Adrian understood.
They weren’t winning a straightforward fight.
Nidorino possessed more strength, more speed, more durability, and probably more battle experience.
Croagunk’s superior potential didn’t matter here.
Potential was what Croagunk might become.
Rank was what it was now.
“Don’t trade attacks,” Adrian said.
Croagunk glanced toward him.
“We can’t beat it like Machop.”
Nidorino charged.
This time Adrian watched its feet.
Straight-line speed.
Poor turning.
“Behind the crates!”
Croagunk jumped behind a stack.
Nidorino followed.
“Now!”
Croagunk changed direction.
Nidorino tried to follow, but its larger body clipped the corner.
“Fake Out!”
Croagunk surged forward, its palm striking Nidorino across the face.
The larger Pokémon recoiled.
“Eyes!
Mud-Slap!”
Croagunk kicked a spray of dirt directly into Nidorino’s face.
“NIDO!”
It stumbled backward, shaking its head.
“Run!”
Croagunk didn’t hesitate.
Adrian sprinted after it.
They moved between the crates, putting as many obstacles as possible between themselves and Nidorino.
Adrian wasn’t embarrassed.
There was nothing brave about fighting something twice Croagunk’s level for thirty TRP.
They’d completed the actual mission.
He had six captured Rattata.
Leaving was the intelligent decision.
A furious roar echoed behind them, followed by crashing wood.
Adrian looked back.
Nidorino smashed straight through one of the smaller crates.
“Of course.”
Croagunk croaked sharply.
“I see it!”
They turned another corner.
Adrian spotted daylight.
A loading entrance.
Closed.
“Dammit.”
Nidorino appeared behind them, its eyes still partially covered in mud.
But it could see enough.
Adrian looked around.
Metal shelves.
A forklift.
Loose rope.
No miracle escape.
He reached toward Croagunk’s Poké Ball.
He could recall it.
But then Nidorino would turn its attention to him, and a human couldn’t outrun it.
They needed to stop it.
Not defeat it.
Stop it long enough to escape.
Adrian’s eyes moved upward.
Several large wooden crates were stacked three levels high beside Nidorino.
Heavy.
Unstable.
An idea formed.
“Croagunk.”
The Poison-type looked toward him.
Adrian pointed.
“Get it over there.”
Croagunk followed his finger, then looked at Nidorino.
For half a second, its expression seemed to ask whether Adrian had lost his mind.
“Trust me.”
Nidorino charged.
“Fake Out!”
Croagunk rushed toward it.
Adrian’s heart nearly stopped.
At the last second, Croagunk shifted sideways, its palm slapping Nidorino across the snout before it jumped away.
Nidorino spun.
Croagunk hopped backward.
“Croa!” It slapped its stomach.
Adrian blinked.
Was it…
Nidorino roared.
Yes.
Croagunk was taunting it.
“Keep going!”
Croagunk retreated toward the crates.
Nidorino followed.
Ten meters.
Eight.
Six.
Croagunk stopped directly beside the stack.
Nidorino lowered its horn.
Adrian waited.
Five.
Four.
Three.
“Move!”
Croagunk dove aside.
Nidorino missed.
Its horn punched directly into the bottom crate.
Wood exploded.
The entire stack shifted.
Nidorino looked upward.
Too late.
Several hundred kilograms of crates collapsed.
The crash shook the warehouse.
Dust exploded through the aisle.
Adrian raised an arm across his face.
For several seconds, he couldn’t see anything.
Then everything became quiet.
“Croagunk?”
A shape emerged through the dust.
“Croa.”
Adrian released the breath trapped in his lungs.
Croagunk limped toward him.
“Good.”
He looked toward the collapsed crates.
Something moved beneath them.
Nidorino wasn’t unconscious.
Of course it wasn’t.
But it was trapped.
“Time to go.”
Croagunk didn’t argue.
They found a side door less than two minutes later.
The warehouse owner nearly fell out of his chair when Adrian emerged.
“What happened in there?”
“Nidorino.”
The man’s face went pale.
“Nidorino?”
“You said there were only Rattata.”
“I didn’t know!”
Adrian stared at him.
The man raised both hands.
“I swear.
I’ve never seen it before.”
Adrian believed him.
Mostly because lying wouldn’t accomplish anything.
“Call whoever posted the mission.
Tell them there’s a Beginner-rank Nidorino trapped inside.”
“Did you kill it?”
“No.” Adrian removed the six captured Rattata from his bag.
“I did what I was hired to do.”
He scanned his Rocket ID against the mission terminal beside the warehouse entrance.
The owner confirmed completion.
A moment later…
Mission Complete
Base Reward: +30 TRP Captured Pokémon: 6 Capture Bonus: +18 TRP Total Reward: +48 TRP
Adrian’s balance updated.
TRP: 77
Seventy-seven.
Normally that would have been satisfying.
Right now, he barely cared.
“Return.” Croagunk disappeared into its Poké Ball.
Adrian headed straight for the base.
The Rocket Pokémon Center was busier in the afternoon.
Adrian handed Croagunk’s Poké Ball across the counter.
“Nidorino.
Double Kick.”
The nurse’s eyebrows rose.
“What rank is yours?”
“Baby.”
That earned him a look.
“You fought a Beginner with a Baby?”
“Not intentionally.”
“Obviously.”
She placed Croagunk’s Poké Ball into the examination machine.
Several lights flashed.
“Nothing broken.
Heavy bruising along the ribs and abdomen.
It’ll be fine.”
“How long?”
“Several hours for treatment.
No serious training until tomorrow.”
Adrian nodded.
The nurse looked at him again.
“You got lucky.”
“I know.”
“Good.” She turned away.
Adrian found an empty chair, leaned back, and closed his eyes.
The battle replayed itself.
Double Kick.
Croagunk had been thrown like it weighed nothing.
Poison Sting had barely slowed Nidorino.
Fake Out had worked, but mostly because of its disruptive nature.
Their strongest accomplishment had been dropping boxes on their opponent.
Adrian smiled faintly.
A win was a win.
Except.
They hadn’t won.
They’d escaped.
That distinction mattered.
He opened his eyes.
For the first time, he truly understood the rank system.
Baby to Beginner wasn’t simply a title attached to a level range.
There was a genuine physical difference.
A Beginner-rank Pokémon possessed a developed body, greater reserves of energy, and enough combat experience to make most Baby Pokémon helpless in a direct confrontation.
Croagunk’s Blue potential hadn’t erased that difference.
And it shouldn’t.
If talent alone determined battles, training would be meaningless.
Adrian looked toward the treatment rooms.
Croagunk needed to reach Beginner.
Soon.
Several hours later, Croagunk emerged from treatment, walking normally again.
Adrian crouched beside it.
“Feeling better?”
“Croa.”
The Scan confirmed it.
Pokémon Scan
Species: Croagunk ♂ Level: 6.
Rank: Baby Potential: Blue Ability: Anticipation Moves: Poison Sting · Mud-Slap · Fake Out (Egg Move) · Cross Chop (Egg Move) Status: Healthy Evaluation: Extraordinary Individual
Adrian dismissed the screen.
“Come on.”
Instead of returning Croagunk to its Poké Ball, he let it follow him.
They headed toward the Rocket Market.
Seventy-seven TRP wasn’t enough for anything exceptional, but Adrian wasn’t looking for exceptional.
Not yet.
He needed fundamentals.
The training section occupied almost an entire floor.
Weights, targets, protective equipment, move-training tools, food, supplements.
Adrian ignored most of it.
Then he found what he wanted.
Adjustable Pokémon Training Weights Price: 50 TRP
He stared at the price.
More than half his balance.
Croagunk examined the weights.
“They’ll help your legs.” Croagunk looked at Adrian.
“And your balance.”
Another stare.
“Cross Chop.”
Croagunk looked back at the weights.
That explanation was acceptable.
Adrian purchased them.
TRP: 27
Watching seventy-seven become twenty-seven hurt more than he’d expected.
But TRP existed to be used.
Hoarding resources while remaining weak defeated the purpose.
As they left the market, Adrian checked the countdown displayed above the central plaza.
26 Days Until Trial Two
Yesterday he’d wanted to earn as much TRP as possible.
That hadn’t changed.
But now he understood something else.
TRP wasn’t the objective.
Strength was.
TRP was merely the tool that helped him obtain it.
Adrian glanced down at Croagunk.
“Tomorrow we start again.”
Croagunk flexed one arm.
Adrian smiled.
Twenty-six days.
By the time that counter reached zero, he didn’t want Croagunk merely approaching Beginner rank.
He wanted it standing firmly inside it.
And the next time they encountered a Pokémon like Nidorino, Adrian had no intention of running.