Pokémon: My Titles Know No Limits! [102]

Releasing Gardevoir from its Poké Ball, August sat down on the sofa, turned on the television for background noise, and absentmindedly stroked Eevee, who was curled up watching a drama. Meanwhile, he stared at the system panel, lost in thought.

He had no particular interest in collecting hats, so [Ash’s Limited-Edition Hat Collection] was immediately ruled out.

Besides, if he really wanted those, he could just ask Lance to grab him a bunch anytime.

That left [Aura Powers] and an [Elite Four-level Pidgeot].

[Aura] made sense—after all, Ash would eventually learn to wield aura in the future. So getting it as a reward for defeating Ash wasn’t surprising.

But system, what’s the deal with the Pidgeot? Are you trying to say something about Ash?

Between the two, choosing was actually pretty simple.

First, he already had a Pidgeotto.

Even though Pidgeotto didn’t have a major presence in his team, it was gentle-natured, and August was quite fond of it. If he chose the Pidgeot, his focus would inevitably shift toward training it, leaving Pidgeotto with only two options—either being released or sent into permanent storage.

That didn’t sit right with him. It didn’t make sense to bench one of his own Pokémon just because a stronger, unfamiliar one appeared.

Second, August was curious to see what would happen if [Viridian Power] and [Aura] were combined.

[Aura] was a spiritual force, capable of communicating with Pokémon much like [Viridian Power]. However, unlike [Viridian Power], which had healing capabilities, [Aura] granted heightened perception and minor offensive and defensive abilities.

As an international police officer who frequently found himself in dangerous situations, August knew he couldn’t always rely on Gardevoir for protection.

Who knew when an enemy might restrain Gardevoir, leaving him defenseless? Strengthening his own survival abilities was the smarter move.

So…

System, I choose [Aura Powers].

A brilliant blue light enveloped August.

Gardevoir, who had been quietly reading nearby, immediately stood up and looked over.

She could sense a power that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

But after realizing it was just August’s own transformation, she relaxed and sat back down, acting as if nothing had happened.

Though the lingering traces of psychic energy in the air betrayed her continued vigilance.

Eevee, nestled in August’s lap, had a much more direct reaction.

"Bui?"

The little Pokémon lifted its head, staring at its now-glowing trainer with wide eyes, utterly baffled.

The blue light faded as quickly as it had appeared.

When August came back to his senses, he immediately noticed the presence of a strange new force within him.

Extending his hand, he attempted to activate his aura.

A small, glowing sphere of blue energy materialized in his palm.

Eevee’s jaw dropped.

August ruffled Eevee’s fur before casually dispersing the fledgling aura sphere.

Then, he tried using aura to communicate with Eevee.

After some simple testing, he discovered that communicating through aura felt very different from using [Viridian Power].

If [Viridian Power] was focused on direct communication, then [Aura] was more like Gardevoir’s telepathy—it allowed him to sense the emotions and thoughts of his target rather than simply exchanging words.

More importantly, [Viridian Power] required close proximity—at the very least, within visual range—to take effect.

[Aura], on the other hand, worked across any distance, as long as he could perceive the target through his [Aura].

For example, at this very moment, he could sense that Blue’s Chansey was happily playing next door with Jigglypuff and Clefable.

If I combine these two abilities…

August experimented by merging [Viridian Power] with [Aura].

A glowing blue-green orb materialized in his hand.

From it, he could feel the healing energy of [Viridian Power] and the destructive force of an [Aura Sphere].

What is this…? A heal-then-hurt attack?

The thought of hurling this [Aura-Viridian Bomb] at an enemy flashed through his mind—first severely injuring them with aura’s power, only for [Viridian Power] to instantly heal them right after.

This is so messed up… August shook his head.

Still, this was just an early-stage experiment. There was potential for refining it into a new technique in the future.

Setting that thought aside for now, he picked up Eevee and called out to Gardevoir.

"Come on, to celebrate today’s successful Pewter Gym evaluation, let’s go out for a feast!"

"Bui!"

Hearing the word feast, Eevee’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

Through his aura, August could also sense a wave of delight radiating from Gardevoir.

August didn’t linger in Pewter City for too long—who knew when Giovanni might decide to take a “casual stroll” around Mt. Moon…

And then “coincidentally” run into him.

That would be troublesome.

So, for his own safety, staying as far away from Giovanni as possible was the best course of action.

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Saffron City

As the largest metropolitan area in Kanto, Saffron City boasted:

• The highest population density in the region

• The most developed commercial district in Kanto

• The highest tax contributions to the Pokémon League

At the moment, Blue was skimming through information she had gathered online about Sabrina, the Saffron Gym Leader.

"It’s said that Sabrina is known as the ‘Psychic Prodigy,’ and aside from having incredibly strong Psychic-type Pokémon, she also possesses psychic powers herself."

"Most of the negative reviews about Saffron Gym seem to revolve around how ridiculously difficult it is to defeat her—apparently, winning against her is next to impossible."

"Other than that, Sabrina rarely leaves Saffron Gym, and she seems very hands-on with gym operations. That should mean there’s nothing suspicious about her, right?"

From the information collected so far, Sabrina seemed like a Gym Leader who combined Brock’s work ethic with the Cerulean Sisters’ beauty.

No issues at all?

There were huge issues.

On the surface, who would suspect that Saffron City’s Psychic Prodigy was actually one of Team Rocket’s Three Executives?

To keep Blue from letting her guard down, August cautioned, "You can’t blindly trust online information. The internet is full of fake news—there’s no way to tell what’s real and what’s not."

Blue fell into thought.

"So… you’re saying you suspect something’s wrong with Saffron Gym?"

"Should we bring in some auditors?" she suggested.

Blue had a natural talent for causing trouble—she loved leading inspections into gyms.

However, August shook his head.

"Saffron Gym has a whole group of Psychic trainees. That kind of opponent isn’t easy to deal with. If we bring people with us, we might end up being the ones getting intimidated instead."

"Besides, Saffron Gym isn’t like Cerulean Gym. They’re powerful enough to establish themselves in Kanto’s largest city—if they do have anything shady going on, they’d definitely know how to cover it up well enough that we wouldn’t be able to find anything wrong."

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This is a fan translation of 人在实教，一之濑你会后悔的 by 作者：白良. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!