Chapter 33: My Heavenly King Uncle (Patreon)

Renan shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

Whether Ralts actually existed or not, he had no intention of staying deep in the forest any longer, for safety's sake.

"Let's go. To Saffron City."

…

Only Route 7 lay between Saffron City and Celadon City, and Renan wasn't Ash and his gang, who got lost every other episode in the anime.

Once he was back on the main road, it took him less than three days to reach his destination.

Along the way, he drew on the memories shared by his other selves and made his first batch of Pokéblocks.

The original Renan hadn't awakened the core memories all the Renans shared, but at heart he was still the same person.

From the age of six, when he entered Viridian Academy, until just before graduating at nine, he had worked hard enough to earn the League's official Beginner Breeder certificate.

He now had a range of skills: Pokémon massage, treatment of minor illnesses and status ailments, Berry identification, food preparation, and more.

Pokémon food was his strongest area in particular. Using the collection in the Viridian Academy library, the original Renan had fully mastered the intermediate energy cube recipes, which still covered only 17 type categories.

As for the advanced and master-grade Pokéblocks made for specific species, their recipes were the core secrets of breeding houses, Gyms and League families. Short of marrying into one of them or signing an extremely harsh contract of servitude, there was no way to learn them.

Of course, that didn't mean a Pokémon that never ate advanced-grade cubes or better had no way to grow stronger.

It just took a bit longer to reach the limit of its potential through training, and once it got there, the chance of pushing its combat strength further was a bit smaller.

The starter Pokémon the League handed out all had potential of Elite grade at the very least. Converted to the levels in his previous life's games and the Pokédex entries, that meant levels 31 to 40.

As for Renan's Charmander, going by what the original Renan had learned at school, it had been born with two egg moves already awakened. As long as he didn't train it recklessly, and no accident drained its potential, the little guy's strength would almost certainly reach Gym-leader grade (levels 41 to 50). It might even go a step further and break into the Pseudo-Elite Four grade (levels 51 to 60).

And above that: the Elite Four grade (levels 61 to 70), the Champion grade (levels 71 to 80), and the Master grade (levels 81 to 90), which had one foot in the realm of myth…

Renan certainly wasn't going to think about those for now. There was no point.

Compared to Charmander, whose future was so bright, Pidgey and Nidoran didn't have bad potential either.

Both little ones had been born in the wild less than half a year before. By the time the original Renan caught them, they were already a good bit bigger than others of their species at the same age.

Nidoran was the standout. Its ability was the extremely rare Hustle, and once it evolved into Nidoking, that would change into Sheer Force.

Sheer Force Life Orb Nidoking. Even Renan, who had only played PvE in his previous life and rarely touched PvP, had certainly heard that name.

Of course, reality wasn't a game.

Apart from a few abilities tied to the body, like Thick Fat or Sturdy, plenty of abilities only worked properly after training and development.

The best example was Ash's Infernape, the one Paul threw away. It was naturally able to draw out part of Blaze's power, which was why Paul had pinned such high hopes on it. But his training methods were flawed, and the two had surprisingly poor compatibility, so Ash ended up benefiting.

It was a pity, though. After the Sinnoh League, Ash ruthlessly "released" Infernape into the hills behind Professor Oak's lab, just like Charizard, Sceptile and the rest of his future aces.

After all, Renan wasn't a native of the Pokémon world.

How other Trainers got along with the Pokémon under them was something he never planned to meddle in.

If possible, he even meant to use his foreknowledge to snatch up one or two of the high-potential Pokémon Ash would "release" in the future.

"Nurse Joy, please take care of my kids."

In the Pokémon Center in Saffron City, a black-haired boy in a blue jacket recalled the Charmander, Nidoran and Pidgey that had stayed at his side since the wilds. He held out the three corresponding Poké Balls and his Pokédex, which served as his ID.

Behind the counter, Joy took the Poké Balls and Pokédex with a smile, set them on a machine beside her and tapped through a couple of quick operations.

Then she turned back to Renan. "Trainer Renan, I've received your Pokémon. Please come back to the counter at three this afternoon to collect your Poké Balls. And here's your Pokédex. Please keep it safe."

Renan nodded. "Thanks."

He was about to leave when Joy suddenly called him back. "Also, your uncle… um, Mr. Lance, left a message at the Pokémon Center. He'd like you to call him as soon as you see it."

Joy's expression was a little odd as she spoke.

It was understandable, though. The Mr. Lance she meant was a household name across the Kanto region. Even people who had nothing to do with Pokémon had heard of this Trainer, one of the Elite Four.

Renan froze at that. He remembered the original Renan hadn't told the man before leaving Celadon City, and gave a dry laugh. "Got it. Could I borrow the Pokémon Center's phone?"

Joy smiled again, her tone noticeably warmer than before. "Of course."

The Pokémon Center's phone sat in a corner of the lobby, and no one was using it at the moment. Renan walked over and quickly dialed Lance's communicator number.

The call connected after two rings.

Then a red-haired young man in a cape appeared on the videophone screen.

"This is Lance… Ren?!"

Just as Renan saw Lance, Lance naturally saw the boy on the other end.

The man had started out perfectly calm. A second later, his voice shot up an octave.

"Where are you right now?"

Renan scratched his cheek and didn't lie. "Uncle Lance, I'm at the Pokémon Center in Saffron City."

Lance had seen plenty of storms in his time, and he calmed down quickly. On the screen, he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Didn't you tell me before that you planned to wait until Charmander, Pidgey and Nidoran had all reached their second stage before taking on the other seven Gyms? Why couldn't you wait to set out? And you didn't even call before you left. I almost thought something had happened to you."

Renan looked away, his gaze drifting.

It was the original Renan's blunder, but the two of them were fundamentally the same person, so he had no choice but to take the blame honestly.

"Sorry, Uncle Lance."

"I actually heard Ralts had been spotted near Route 7, and I just couldn't hold myself back. I ran off."