On a nameless shore, white waves lapped against golden sand, where a half-built raft lay on the beach.
A young boy emerged from the nearby forest, dragging a thick log.
Heave-ho, heave-ho, heave-ho!
"Damn it, I'm exhausted!" Halfway through, the boy threw the log to the ground and plopped down on top of it, panting heavily, "Ugh — what sins did I commit to deserve this torment!"
"Coo coo coo~" — Useless! Useless!
{T/N: I will use sentences like this to show what the Pokémon are saying.}
A Pidgey swooped in, perching on a branch and mercilessly mocking him with strange "daba daba" noises, looking quite pleased with itself.
"Keep talking! Keep talking! I haven't found my lunch yet!" The boy snatched up a stone and hurled it at the Pidgey.
"Coo~" The Pidgey gracefully took flight, the stone not even grazing a single feather.
To add insult to injury, it circled once above the boy's head, and only after thoroughly teasing him did it fly away with satisfaction.
"This island is unbearable — I can't stand it for even a minute!" With that, the boy angrily stood up and continued dragging the log toward the shore.
By the time he reached the half-built raft, he was nearly collapsed from exhaustion.
"What torture~ I'm just a child!"
This boy is our protagonist, Cole Sage. He's eight years old (probably — he's too young to remember exactly), and as far as he knows, he has lived on this deserted island his entire life.
As for how he came to this island, sorry, he doesn't remember.
Cole spent his first eight years in a daze. Having never lived in the human world or received human guidance, his knowledge, habits, and intelligence hadn't properly developed — he lived almost like a fool.
Until recently, when he was watching two Tropius fighting in the forest. The battle grew too intense, and the giants went berserk.
While other watching Pokémon knew to stay away, Cole — this little fool — stood still and was caught in the battle's shockwave, hitting his head on a rock.
That hit brought back his memories from his previous life.
He was a transmigrator who had lived on Earth in his previous life. One day while walking down the street, he heard someone yell "thief!" and saw a man running toward him with a woman's handbag.
With the thief headed straight for him, Cole decided to be a good Samaritan and try to stop him.
But he wasn't the only one with heroic intentions — a girl nearby also rushed to stop the thief. They collided with each other by accident.
The impact knocked Cole from the sidewalk onto the road, where an electric bicycle struck and killed him instantly.
What a way to go! It brought tears to his eyes just thinking about it. Even dying while fighting the thief would have been more honorable than getting hit by an electric bicycle…
How frustrating~
Perhaps because his death was so unfair, heaven granted him another chance — reincarnating him into the world of Pokémon.
Cole resignedly tied the new log to the raft, hoping to finish it soon and leave this lonely island.
Halfway through his work, Gardevoir appeared beside him holding an armful of berries, calling out tenderly:
"Garde~ Gardevoir~" — Come eat, sweetie!
"Coming, coming!" Cole walked to Gardevoir's side, sat down on the leaves she had laid out, and picked up a Pecha Berry. He casually wiped it on his clothes before taking a bite.
His simple clothes, made by Gardevoir from Ariados silk and leaves, served only to cover the essential parts.
Fortunately, the island's climate was warm, so he wouldn't freeze even without proper clothes. Otherwise, his survival to age eight would have been questionable.
Seeing him eating enthusiastically, Gardevoir asked:
"Garde~ Garde~" — Sweetie, do we really have to leave this place?
Gardevoir had noticed that since her son had fainted and woken up a few days ago, he had been acting strange — not only giving himself a name but also insisting on leaving this place.
Wasn't life here good enough before? Why must they leave?
Gardevoir, perfectly content with their current life, couldn't understand. Looking at the endless ocean outside, she felt afraid.
Hearing her words, Cole couldn't help but sigh.
Speaking of Gardevoir, it was another tale of woe. Heaven knows how shocked he was after regaining consciousness and learning that his mother was a Gardevoir.
But don't misunderstand — he was a genuine human, not a Pokémon or half-human-half-Pokémon, and Gardevoir was just his adoptive mother. (Probably? After all, neither he nor Gardevoir knew where he came from.)
According to her, she had found him on the beach.
As for why Cole could understand Pokémon language? Having been raised by Pokémon and growing up surrounded by them, it was only natural that he learned their way of communicating.
Before regaining his consciousness, his simple way of living had given him a pure heart, allowing him to communicate with Pokémon.
"The outside world is amazing, staying here forever would be boring. Once you see it, you'll understand how wonderful it is." He replied.
Gardevoir looked puzzled, "How do you know the outside world is amazing?"
"Oh, I just know!" Unable to explain, Cole changed the subject, "Are you done eating? If you're done, let's start training!"
Although Gardevoir had evolved to her final form, she had always lived a relaxed life. Her personality was a bit... well, if one had to describe it, she was like a "silly, sweet, and naive mother".
So after Cole returned to normal, he began training her according to plan.
Initially, the laid-back Gardevoir was unwilling to cooperate with his training plans, but he persuaded her.
"The outside world is dangerous. If we don't have the ability to protect ourselves, what will we do when we encounter danger? Mom, don't you worry about your precious son being bullied by bad people?"
How could that be acceptable!
Gardevoir didn't want anyone else bullying the son she had worked so hard to raise — if anyone was going to do the bullying, it would be her! Hmph~
So she tearfully accepted the training.
Although this was a deserted island, it had one advantage — there weren't any powerful or dangerous Pokémon, so Gardevoir had always lived quite casually. But no one knew what the outside world was like, and if they encountered danger without any means to deal with it, wouldn't that be terrible?
At any rate, Cole couldn't leave without being prepared.
If his "dear mother" wanted to leave with him, she needed to have some ability to protect herself. If she wasn't willing to go, he would convince another Pokémon on the island to travel with him.
Fortunately, although the heavens had cruelly abandoned him on this deserted island, they had given him some compensation.
After regaining consciousness, he discovered he had a special ability. This ability wasn't something he gained after recovering — he had it from the beginning, but he had been too simple-minded before to know how to use it.
It was precisely because of this ability that Cole felt confident about surviving in this unknown world. After several days of exploration, he had figured out its main functions.
Hearing his words, Gardevoir obediently lay down on the leaves spread on the ground.
Although the training was hard, Gardevoir really enjoyed the "special treatment" before and after training.
After she settled down, Cole placed his hand on her back, and Gardevoir felt a warm current flow from his palm into her body.
As this warmth spread, she felt all her cells begin to tremble, and an intense feeling of pleasure coursed through her entire body.
"Garde~ de~ de~"
She couldn't help but squint her eyes and let out soft and strange moans.
This was Cole's special ability — what Gardevoir considered her special treatment.
After regaining consciousness, he had discovered a unique energy within his body. This energy originated from his heart and could be controlled to flow throughout his body or guided outward.
Through experimenting with different Pokémon on the island, he discovered this energy could help Pokémon recover from fatigue and also purify and compress the energy within them.
Each species of Pokémon had its own unique energy circuit — this was what Cole discovered when examining their bodies with his ability. He could easily observe the structure and real-time changes of these energy circuits within Pokémon.
Normally, these energy circuits would automatically absorb a special energy from the air, storing it in the Pokémon's body to make them gradually stronger.
Pokémon could use moves because this special energy within them resonated with another type of energy in the air, which Cole called Attribute Energy.
For example, Water Gun formed when a Pokémon's internal special energy resonated with Water-type Energy in the air. Water-type Moves became more powerful during rain because the rainfall concentrated Water-type Energy, making this resonance stronger and easier.
Cole named the energy within Pokémon "Source Energy" because it determined their strength. Though "strength" wasn't quite accurate — it was more about their Level. A Pokémon's strength wasn't determined by Source Energy alone.
Source Energy affected Pokémon Levels in two ways: quality and quantity. Under equal conditions, Pokémon with more stored Source Energy had higher levels, as did those with higher quality Source Energy.
Additionally, a Pokémon's mastery over their internal Source Energy affects their battle power, which is why Cole distinguished between a Pokémon's Level and their actual combat ability.
The most valuable aspect of his ability was helping compress a Pokémon's Source Energy, enabling their limited energy circuits to store more of it.
His ability could also purify Source Energy by removing impurities. The purer a Pokémon's Source Energy became, the stronger it resonated with external Attribute Energy, resulting in more powerful moves.
When Pokémon's energy circuits absorbed energy from the air, they inevitably collected impurities — making it impossible for their Source Energy to reach 100% purity.
Through Cole's observations, he discovered that pure Source Energy appeared light blue, like a clear sky. Impure Source Energy showed traces of cyan, purple, red, or green.
Take Gardevoir's Source Energy — it contained various color impurities, though he was thankful its purity reached 60%.
As Cole guided his ability through Gardevoir's energy circuits to compress and purify her Source Energy, he maintained complete focus. One wrong move could severely damage her circuits.
Each Pokémon species possessed unique energy circuits, with individual variations even among the same kind. Gardevoir's circuit flowed from the red sensory organ on her back to the one on her chest.
After completing one full circuit, Cole was drenched in sweat, while Gardevoir had nearly dozed off from comfort.
These purification sessions served as training for him too — each "special treatment" improved his control over his ability.
"Alright, get up, time to start training!" Cole shook Gardevoir awake.
She rose reluctantly from the leaves, her eyes pleading.
"As a mother, shouldn't you protect your child properly? You're so weak now, how will you protect me in the future?" His sun-tanned little face scrunched up, "I'm so pitiful, having to worry about so much at such a young age — what if I don't grow tall?"
Hearing this, Gardevoir's expression changed immediately, her maternal instincts igniting as she clenched her fists.
"Garde~ Garde~" — Don't worry, baby, Mama will become stronger!
"Fine, I'll trust you this once — we'll see how you perform." After speaking, he skillfully climbed onto Gardevoir's back, "Alright, let's begin — today we'll run ten laps around the beach!"
"Garde? Garde de~" — Ten laps? Wasn't it only eight yesterday?
Cole replied firmly, "Today you're stronger than yesterday. No arguing — start running!"
Gardevoir had no choice but to resign herself to running lap after lap on the beach.
After physical training came move training — she didn't get a moment's rest all afternoon.
Whenever Cole had the chance, he would work on his raft.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
Just like that, a week flew by, and his raft was finally complete.
He chose a bright, clear day to set sail.
✲✲✲
T/N: If you want more chapters like this, check out my Patreon! Take a look at my other translations too, you might like them!
For just $1.50 you can access all the extra content, and descriptive images, costs only $2!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
https://www.patreon.com/mrblackwing