Chapter 91: 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

There are actually a few ordinary Pokémon that can produce an invisibility effect.

Like Sliggoo, or Dratini—no wait, that’s not right... ah, or rather, Pokémon that can conceal themselves in various ways. Still, before chasing unknown answers some people tend to imagine the best-case scenario.

Kaede was one of those people.

He found himself daydreaming: what if it were Victini, the Victory Pokémon, full of infinite energy? With that, a single Pokémon could do so much...

Wait — when did he become a capitalist? He shook his head hard and pushed that thought away.

So far, aside from Gardevoir doing many jobs, the others weren’t overworked. Kaede was still figuring out how to avoid making Gardevoir shoulder everything.

More Psychic-type helpers would be ideal.

Latias and Latios — now those two would be nice to have. Kaede’s mouth watered at the thought. But he didn’t actually suspect Latias and Latios being the culprit. Victini was sealed behind a barrier, while Latias and latios, as he remembered, was closer to the Water Capital in the Kanto region. Still, for such fast Pokémon the travel time wouldn’t be long.

Pocketing the Water Stone, he headed to the Plantation and began feeding every Pokémon. He also called down the Pidgeotto and Pidgey from the pine tree and gave them their energy blocks.

"Pidgeotto~" (Food’s here~)

"Pidgey~" (Yay~)

"Pidgeotto~" (Smells so good~)

"Pidgeotto~" (I’m so clever — I figured out how to get these energy blocks~)

Watching them feast, Kaede nodded in satisfaction. The birds had taken the delivery-training seriously; after only two days most of them could find targets within fifty kilometre without error. Once they learned Aogiri City more thoroughly they’d be ready to start the delivery service.

As he watched, Kaede’s brow twitched. He remembered there being ten Pidgeotto and ten Pidgey the day before — why were there eleven Pidgeotto now? Another Pidgeotto had shown up on its own?

"Huh?"

He counted again. The Pidgey total was unchanged — still ten. No Pidgey had evolved into a Pidgeotto overnight. Had the Pidgeotto been recommended by Pidgeot? Kaede was about to check with his Eye of Exploration.

Gardevoir suddenly drifted over to him, holding a glass bottle. "Gardevoir?" (That energy block is finished.)

Kaede put the thought aside. "Ah, right — I forgot to tell you. Don’t save them — we made a bunch of energy blocks these past two days." He fetched Gardevoir’s share from a storage ball.

"Gardevoir~" (Thanks~)

Gardevoir glanced down at the Pidgeotto and Pidgey eating and then froze. "Gardevoir?" (There’s an extra Pidgeotto?)

If a new Pidgeotto kept appearing every night, even she couldn’t keep up.

"No... wait, let me check."

Sensing Gardevoir’s worry, Kaede gave an awkward smile and peered at the flock. Something clicked in his head: the past few days, plus this extra Pidgeotto, plus the recent Mewtwo... the pieces connected.

A hairless little cat-like image flickered in his mind. Could it really be that legendary Pokémon?

He opened the Eye of Exploration and inspected every Pokémon carefully. With this scan, his mouth twitched with surprised.

[Pokémon: Mew]

[Gender: Genderless]

[Ability: Synchronize]

[Tier: Mythical]

[IVs: HP(31) ATK(31) SpA(31) DEF(31) SpD(31) Spe(31)]

[Level: ???]

[Moves: Pound, Mirror Move, Baton Pass, Aqua Ring, Guard, Aura Sphere, Amnesia, Calm Mind, Gravity, Light Screen, Psychic, Psybeam...]

[Affection: 25 (A pretty okay human~)]

[Happiness: 50 (Hehe, fun — hide-and-seek...)]

[Notes: Guardian of the World Tree. Apparently came searching for "kin"...]

Why that human has been staring at me? Has he found out about me? Impossible.

The Pidgeotto, sensing that someone had been watching it, blinked with some suspicion and then settled back into eating. It told itself its transformation looked perfect — after all, as a Pokemon that can transform perfectly to any other Pokemon it knows, it was confident no legendary would notice it. Maybe the human simply had a good memory for faces.

Kaede’s eyes lingered on Mew’s profile and he fell into thought.

He hadn’t been checking the daily happiness rewards lately. Now, when he checked his inventory of Rare Candies and fertilizers, he found a surprise: another Rare Candy had appeared, along with eight packs of premium fertilizer. A system message filled in the rest.

[System: Congratulations — increasing Mew’s happiness from 40% to 60% rewarded one Rare Candy and three premium fertilizers.]

So Mew had come looking for Mewtwo’s aura, but had been attracted by Kaede’s energy blocks... and had been playing around.

Should he expose it? Or let it play? Kaede looked at the extra Pidgeotto, thought about how harmless this game seemed, and sighed.

"...Let it be," he finally decided.

If it wanted to play, let it.