Pokemon Chronicles of Darkness

Chapter 2

"As expected, the system came with me when I first arrived in this world!" thought Cain, with a hint of satisfaction. It was this system that had allowed him to reach the level of a quasi-elite trainer in his previous life, though by the time he had stumbled upon it, he had already fallen far behind his peers. Still, he knew its potential, and with renewed hope, he focused his thoughts upon his companion, Murkrow, as he commanded the system to scan it.

'Ding!' and a screen of data, visible only to him, appeared before his eyes. Pokémon : Murkrow (Green)

Gender: Male

Level: 8

Type: Dark + Flying

Ability: Prankster

Held items: None

Egg moves: Punishment, Feint Attack, Roost

Basic moves: Peck, Astonish, Pursuit

Taught moves: Snatch, Tailwind

Technical Machines (TMs): None

Cain's eyes shone with excitement as he read the detailed information on Murkrow. In his previous life, when he had first activated the system, the screen had been blank, and all this information had been obtained through various means, gathered and sorted into different categories before such a detailed screen had finally appeared. He had accessed almost all the databases of Team Rocket available to him, even those that exceeded his authority, and had risked much to obtain this knowledge. There had been times when he had even hacked into the Pokemon Association database, narrowly avoiding detection.

As a civilian trainer, knowledge was of the utmost importance. Only through knowledge could a pokemon be trained in a targeted manner and its full potential be brought out.

So after seeing the detailed information about Murkrow on the system, Cain couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. To his surprise, all the data stored on the system had been brought back along with him, giving him an invaluable advantage.

The 'Green' next to the Pokemon's name indicated its talent, and his Murkrow possessed the same green aptitude. The rankings of talents went as Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, and Black, and Green ranked in the middle of them all. But this did not mean that a Green aptitude was bad, for most of the Pokemon found in the wild possessed only Red or Orange aptitudes, with the occasional Yellow aptitude Pokemon quickly caught.

Therefore, Green aptitude Pokemon were already a rarity.

Cain guessed that among all the Pokemon assigned by Team Rocket for this trial, there should be no more than 10 Pokemon with a green aptitude. Even so, they were all carefully selected by Team Rocket in advance to invest in for this trial.

In his previous life, even with a green-aptitude Murkrow, Cain had only reached 34th place in this trial, and that was largely due to Murkrow's talent. His own abilities as a trainer had not been reflected at all.

Taking a deep breath, he allowed himself to calm, for in this life, he would not wallow in weakness. For on this trial island, there was only one law: Survival of the fittest. And the first step in this process was to treat Murkrow's malnourished state. A normal Murkrow stood around 50cm tall, whereas his Murkrow barely reached 40cm. Only by replenishing its weakened body, could he train it better, and not waste its potential.

"Come on, Murkrow! Let's go find something to eat," Cain said, patting his shoulder, gesturing for Murkrow to stand upon it.

Murkrow hesitated briefly, glancing at Cain, who appeared scrawny due to a lack of nutrition. But after a moment of contemplation, it listened and flew onto Cain's shoulder.

Feeling the weight on his shoulder, Cain left footprints on the sand as he trudged towards the woods.

As a member of Team Rocket, Cain may not have been proficient in many things, but his wilderness survival skills were unrivaled. He knew which berries were edible, which ones were poisonous, which ones could quickly restore strength, and which ones could remove abnormal states, they all were familiar to him.

After offering a few ripe yellow berries to Murkrow, he bit into a green berry in his hand. Its sour juice slid down the corner of his mouth, but he ignored the taste, and continued to munch away at it. This berry was one of the most common found in the wild that could restore strength, but because many wild Pokemon lived here, ripe berries were scarce. So after giving all the ripe ones to Murkrow, he ate the raw ones, which were less effective.

"Caw!" Murkrow looked at the berry in Cain's hand, a trace of warmth in its eyes, it didn't understand why this person he had only met for a short time gave him the delicious berry while eating the unripe berry himself. It hadn't felt this way since it left its parents, a sense of being cared for.

"Murkrow, eat some berries first. Although I know you eat meat, this is all I have right now," Cain's slightly apologetic voice sounded.

"Caw..." Murkrow gently rubbed its beak against Cain's cheek, indicating that it was alright.

With a slight smile, Cain slowly overlapped the figure in his mind that would guard him even unto death with the figure of Murkrow now standing on his shoulder, and an emotion called bonding slowly flowed into his heart. What he had neglected in his previous life, was the thing he wanted most in this one.

He walked slowly through the forest, his feet leaving a line of deep and shallow footprints, before finally stopping in front of a dense bush. In his experience, there were often small animals, and of course, some Pokemon, hidden in these types of bushes.

Animals existed in this world, and it was they that most people and Pokemon ate. Generally in this world, Pokemon were not considered food.

'Whoosh!' As Cain predicted, a grey hare darted out of the bushes.

"Looks like that's our dinner for today!" With the corners of his mouth slightly raised, Cain immediately instructed, "Murkrow, Peck!"

Seeing food appear and hearing Cain's voice, Murkrow didn't hesitate for a moment, and flew out, its sharp beak pecking viciously at the hare. The hare could not withstand Murkrow's attack and was killed instantly.

Just as Murkrow was pleased, a purple creature dashed across the ground, snatching the hare along with it.