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Clusters of milky bubbles, like a bunch of balloons knotted together, rose through the viscous green nutrient.
Kael floated in the life-support capsule, eyes shut as if sunk in a deep dream. Strangely, Machop's normally slate-gray skin carried a faint, eerie black-violet sheen.
The glass reflected Dr. Darr's thin figure outside.
Hands clasped behind his back, chin slightly lifted, he watched Kael in the tank with rapt attention as though admiring a work of art smiling, almost blissful.
"Doctor, the attribute-fusion data collection is complete," the assistant reported from behind.
Darr gave a small nod but didn't look away.
"It's just that..." the assistant hesitated.
Darr's brow creased; he turned.
"Doctor, this dataset... doesn't seem practically useful. The 'fusion' of Fighting-type and Ghost-type energies inside the Machop looks like a vanishingly unlikely coincidence. No matter how we replicate the setup, we can't reproduce that rger. It's not actionable for our research."
The disappointnt in his voice was unmistakable. Understandably, two years were poured into this project.
After failure upon failure, they had finally glimpsed dawn... only to learn the hard-won numbers couldn't be used at all as if the last two years were a joke.
"It's all right," Darr said, shaking his head as he patted the assistant's shoulder. "Data isn't the most important thing.
What I want isn't lifeless numbers."
He turned back and set his palm against the cold glass, as if stroking the subject's cheek through it.
"I only want to prove that my hypothesis is correct and realizable. Two 'opposed' attributes can coexist within a single Pokémon."
His tone ward, then burned; his gaze went glassy, adrift in fantasy. "Just imagine a Charizard that fires Hydro Pump... or a Larvitar with the Flying type..."
"Heh, heh, heh... How delightful!"
The madcap laughter rang around the empty room.
The young assistant shivered, missing the contradictions in the doctor's words; he only lowered his head further.
"All right. Headquarters has acknowledged the project's success," Darr said suddenly, as if a switch had flipped mania vanishing into stiff, professional calm.
"Pack up. In a few days, we move to the Sinnoh branch."
"Then... this Machop?" the assistant asked, tentative.
Darr's mouth curled with a chill. "If it survived the Gengar Saliva Extract, its body should have so tolerance to Ghost-type energy. Don't stop. Once it stabilizes, proceed with deeper trials.
Let's extract as much experintal record as possible before we leave."
"Understood."
Clack.
Bright lights snapped off. Two sets of footsteps receded down the hall.
Silence took the dark.
Inside the tank, fragile bubbles drifted up through the thick green fluid and popped like dreams.
Warm, sticky like being sunk in a muddy bog.
Kael opened his eyes. Darkness pressed in on all sides.
"Where... am I?"
...That line sounded familiar.
He'd said sothing like it before.
A heavy, sour throb filled his head; he winced. Truth be told, he still had no idea what had happened.
His mories were like a blackout after too much drink only stray fragnts remained.
He recalled falling from the Reincarnation Space into a starry gulf...
Then, at a speed beyond light, plunging toward so uncanny planet.
After that...
His last image was of an iron table like an operating bed with white-coated, doctor-like humans around him?
"Whatever."
He shook his head. If it wouldn't co, he'd stop forcing it.
He swept a sturdy arm through the liquid around him.
Warm currents slid past; the fluid's drag was thick and sluggish.
...This feels...
Back in his Ampharos life, Dark Star had used sothing similar.
"This goo has to be for bodily repair," Kael decided.
A sting pricked his wrist mory flared, sharp.
On that table, his wrists and ankles had been clamped in steel.
"Wait..."
Instinct prickled a Pokémon's sixth sense rising.
This was less dical treatnt and more scientific experint.
A faint unease rippled through his chest.
But most important of all...
A spark lit in his eyes.
He focused and a translucent Poké Ball icon blinked into being at the bottom of his view.
"Haaah."
He exhaled in relief. As long as the System was here, nothing was unsalvageable.
Whsssk—
At his ntal nudge, the icon expanded into his familiar status and system panes.
"Huh!"
He'd spotted sothing interesting.
A few scattered ssages dotted the log:
[EXP 328]
In his last life, Kael had spent ages studying the System's habits.
He knew that even doing nothing would trickle in EXP—
But barely: roughly one point per day.
So the trickle didn't surprise him. What did was that chunk [EXP 328].
He'd just arrived... took a nap...
How had he pocketed a windfall like that?
The question sprouted like weeds, tangled and stubborn.
He thought it over and ca up empty.
Still, free EXP was free EXP.
He shelved the mystery for later.
For now, the priority was confirming his typing.
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