During the week Rosaria's group camped near Arthur's house, most of their time was spent battling Pokémon—namely, Ponyta, Beedrill, and Butterfree. However, Butterfree's popularity hit an all-time low thanks to Anna's infuriating strategy: ignoring both offense and defense to focus entirely on provoking her opponents with a disgusting tactic.
Both Beedrill and Ponyta flinched at the mere sight of Anna, whose enthusiasm for more Pokémon battles was nothing short of terrifying.
Beedrill fared slightly better due to its Poison typing, but attacks like String Shot, Sleep Powder, and Stun Spore remained a constant headache—especially when it kept crashing mid-flight and hurting itself due to the drowsiness and paralysis.
Still, that kind of one-track, status-spamming tactic only worked in the beginning.
Gradually, Hector and Rosaria figured it out. For now, the best way to deal with Anna's disgusting tactic was to defeat Butterfree as quickly as possible. The longer the battle dragged on, the worse things became. After a few battles, both Beedrill and Ponyta no longer feared Butterfree and eventually claimed easy victory.
Meanwhile, thanks to the accelerated incubation provided by Royal Ash Incubators, both Arthur's and Lena's Pokémon eggs hatched one after another.
Arthur's yellow egg revealed a Pichu, while Lena's blue one brought forth a Squirtle.
And with that, all five of the Kanto starters had finally hatched safely!
Technically, Pichu wasn't even a Gen 1 Pokémon, and Eevee wasn't a starter in the traditional sense—but in Arthur's eyes, Pikachu absolutely deserved starter status, and Eevee had earned a place right alongside it.
After all, both Pikachu and Eevee were iconic mascots of the Pokémon world. For many fans, their popularity even surpassed that of Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle.
In any case, just like with Pichu and the Eeveelutions, he intended to include their full evolution lines—even if some of them weren't originally part of the earlier generations.
That meant Pokémon like Mankey could evolve into Annihilape, and Chansey would have both a pre-evolution—Happiny—and a full evolution into Blissey.
Leaving them stuck in their Gen 1 forms just felt... incomplete.
Anyway, Arthur's Pichu had managed to inherit the Hidden Ability Lightning Rod and an egg move, Charge. Meanwhile, Lena's Squirtle received the Hidden Ability Rain Dish, but without any egg moves.
What luck!
Arthur swore he didn't rig the gacha!
Rain Dish, in particular, was a nice bonus. In a real-world setting like this, as long as there was water nearby, Squirtle could recover its stamina and heal injuries, though it wasn't as effective as soaking in rain.
At first, Arthur felt lucky with his Pichu's abilities, but a question from Reden snapped him back to reality: "So... would your Pichu attract lightning during a storm?"
Anxious, Arthur immediately dropped everything and began installing lightning-resistant magic circles all around his house, including the roof. Perhaps when Pichu evolved into Pikachu, it might be able to control its lightning attraction, but for now, he wasn't willing to take any chances.
On the seventh day, just before Rosaria left, she disregarded her royal status and began pleading for another Fire-type Pokémon egg, her eyes wide, pitiful, and full of tears.
Arthur, however, stood firm in his refusal.
Although a royal family like hers had the resources to raise six Pokémon without issue, that was only in terms of growth, not proper training.
Until Rosaria could prove she was capable of training both Ponyta and Charmander to become strong—rather than lazy creatures that ate and slept all day—he wouldn't give her another egg.
In the future, Arthur envisioned a world where Pokémon would roam freely in the wild, but for now, Pokémon were still a new addition and required extensive care to ensure they grew up healthy. That meant the first group of trainers—like Rosaria—had to take special responsibility for their Pokémon.
Besides that, there was also the issue of evolution. Before he could hatch more eggs, he needed to confirm that the five non-Bug-type Pokémon could successfully evolve.
Once that success was confirmed, he would move on to phase two of his plan—officially introducing Pokémon to the world, starting with Rastor Village.
Before Rosaria left, Arthur gave her two additional Pokédexes that he had recently crafted—one for Wentia and the other for Reden.
The process of creating a Pokédex was most challenging at the beginning due to the sheer amount of data that had to be inputted. To save himself from the tedious task of adding each Pokémon individually later, he decided to include Pokémon from all generations into the prototype before creating several backup copies for future Pokédex creation. Of course, as time passed, the Pokédex would need updates, but those would be minor fixes at most, with additional information being added at worst. It was much easier to manage than updating a new generation of Pokémon.
Since the world had no internet yet—and he couldn't create one himself—Arthur could only manage to create an unstable wireless signal to update old versions of the Pokédex. But that was only feasible if the data was extremely small. That's why, to avoid future headaches, he decided to include all the Pokémon from every generation upfront.
For now, Pokémon from other generations were 'hidden' in the Pokédex, and as long as the mages of this world couldn't crack English and Japanese magic runes, they wouldn't be able to decipher the Pokédex.
Thanks to the pre-made backups and copied data, the Pokédex could be mass-produced easily, so he also gave one to his dad, mom, and sister.
In any case, the baby Pokémon grew quickly. By the seventh day, just before Rosaria had to leave, their newly hatched Pokémon had already reached level 5, meaning they were no longer babies.
Although it only took a week to reach level 5, that was by design.
After level 5, it would be much harder to level up.
Arthur had accelerated the leveling process from 1 to 5 by supplying the eggs with excess energy and nutrients, which were stored in the Pokémon's bodies upon hatching and gradually absorbed as they quickly grew to level 5.
However, the real bottleneck began at level 10—but that was a topic for another time, as it was tied to the fundamental laws of Ocasia itself.
Arthur was no exception to those laws, just like many other living beings.
Anyway, right now, Lena was feeling a little down after Rosaria's departure.
Aside from Arthur, she had no one her age to call a friend until Rosaria came into her life.
The reason was simple: she was just too talented with Water Element magic... well, not exactly. That wasn't the main reason. Honestly, it was partly Arthur's fault.
Although she truly was talented, talent alone could only go so far. Without creativity, even the most gifted mage would remain mediocre. So, Arthur taught Lena a more inventive approach to water manipulation magic.
He said: "Water holds tiny bits of air inside it, that's how fish can breathe. A mage who controls water could pull that air out, leaving it dead and heavy. If someone breathes in this airless water, they can't take in any breath. It would be like drowning, even without being in a river. The body needs that hidden air, take it away, and you can make anyone suffocates."
Lena, being as talented as she was, successfully pulled it off. She used the technique once to make a monster suffocate mid-air and crash to its death—right in front of the other village kids.
After that, they became afraid of her.
Lena grew withdrawn and gloomy. It took a lot of effort from Hector, Anna, and Arthur to lift her spirits again.
Thankfully, the arrival of Pokémon helped a lot with that too.
Arthur, who had seen his older sister fall into depression once before, immediately held back from teaching her any more "creative" water techniques—like manipulating the blood inside a living body…
In hindsight, he was secretly relieved he hadn't started with that. If she had learned blood manipulation first, it wouldn't have ended with simply suffocating a creature—it would've been something far more gruesome.
Although Lena never blamed him for what happened, Arthur still carried the guilt. Especially considering all the money she had quietly saved up and given him to fund his Pokémon research.
But now, at long last, he had something to give her in return—Squirtle. It felt like fate that her first Pokémon was a Water-type.
Arthur smiled at the thought—then his expression shifted, a small frown forming. "I feel like I forgot to tell Rosaria something again... what was it?"
---
As Rosaria's group departed and Arthur's family returned to their usual peaceful life, things didn't feel quite the same anymore. Not with all these wonderful Pokémon now sharing their days.
Originally, Arthur had planned to dive right back into creating more templates for Gen 1 Pokémon—but witnessing Pichu's evolution conditions made him pause and reflect.
He thought back to Beedrill, Butterfree, and Ponyta—all of whom had chosen to leave him for someone else.
It was a little heartbreaking… but if that was what his Pokémon truly wanted, he should be happy for them.
Even so, it made him realize something unpleasant: maybe he hadn't taken as good care of them as he thought.
Only Beedrill had seemed reluctant to leave.
Perhaps that was because Beedrill was the one he spent the most time with. While Caterpie had been his first creation, he'd been too focused on gathering data—observing, recording, testing—trying to ensure its safety and healthiness.
That might sound like the behavior of a responsible trainer at first glance… but that was all he did.
Would a newly hatched Caterpie understand the purpose behind his pens, notebooks, and measuring tools?
It was like bringing a pet to the vet.
In his view, most veterinarians cared deeply about the animals they treated, often more than the average owner—because they understood more. Their actions were guided by knowledge and a desire to help, even if the pet never realized it.
But to the pet, the vet was terrifying.
In fact, most pets were terrified of the vet—so much so that the only time you'd see them act so dramatically out of character and so full of fear—shaking, hiding, trying to escape—was during a trip to the vet.
And in this case, Caterpie was the pet… and Arthur had played the role of the vet.
He hadn't injected Caterpie with needles or done anything physically painful. But through his detached, clinical behavior, he might have seemed cold… even indifferent—to a newly born Caterpie that only wanted warmth and connection.
Beedrill—well, Weedle, his second successfully created Pokémon—hadn't received as much attention in terms of observation and data collection, allowing Arthur more time to actually bond with it. As a result, their connection was much stronger than the one he had with Butterfree.
Yet, even then, most of his time had still been consumed by research, so the bond he shared with Beedrill still wasn't as strong as it could have been.
The same was true for Ponyta, who had bonded more with Lena.
To make matters worse, he had to keep most of them inside their Poké Balls for the majority of their lives, hidden from others. While it may not have caused resentment, it had certainly kept him from forming deeper bonds with them.
"I'm really not a good Pokémon Trainer," Arthur mumbled to himself, a bitter smile curling at his lips.
"Chu~?" Pichu, perched in his lap, tilted its head cutely, confused by Arthur's words.
The little Pokémon was a small, yellow, mouse-like Pokémon with large, pointy ears that are black at the tips. It has rosy cheeks, big round eyes, and a short tail shaped like a jagged lightning bolt. Its overall look was cute and playful.
His gaze softened as he gently played with Pichu's small arms.
"Pichu~" it giggled, its eyes forming crescent moons as it played a game of cat-and-mouse with his hand.
That's it. From now on, instead of always locking myself away in my room to do research and experiments, I'll spend more time with my Pokémon! Arthur found a new resolve, smiling down at Pichu, the little electric mouse bringing a fresh sense of purpose to his heart.
He silently added to himself, At least until I have six main Pokémon...
But just as that thought crossed his mind, he frowned and shook his head.
What's wrong with me? I've never been this obsessed with study when I was on Earth... Arthur smiled in self-deprecating
He could sort out his mindset later, but for now, he decided to wholeheartedly focus on spending time with Pichu.
But just as he was lost in thought, Pichu suddenly cried out.
"Pichu!"
Arthur turned and saw Lena, his older sister, approaching.
"Are you alright? A moment ago you were smiling, then you suddenly frowned, and now you're smiling again," Lena asked, her tone laced with concern.
Arthur was just about to feel touched—until she added, "Hitting puberty? Mood swing? Or did your memory short-circuit and you just forgot to smile for a second? Want me to bring you some Memora Potion?"
"Shut up!" Arthur muttered with an annoyed glare, brushing the dust from his pants as he stood up.
"What is it?" he asked, his expression shifting to curiosity. He wasn't actually mad—it was just the usual banter between them.
Lena grinned and tapped her Poké Ball. With a burst of light, Squirtle appeared, calm yet focused, locking eyes with the Pichu nestled in Arthur's arms.
"Let's battle!"
Her Pokémon—Squirtle—was a small, blue turtle-like creature with a round body, short limbs, and a curled tail. It had large, expressive eyes and a hard, reddish-brown shell with a pale yellow underside. Its whole vibe was cool-headed and composed.
"You're on!" Arthur grinned back. Pichu's cheeks sparked lightly, picking up on the challenge.
As for the Poké Ball that housed Squirtle—Arthur had finally tested both the old and new versions on all the newborn Pokémon after the seventh day.
They worked exactly as intended!
The old version couldn't capture Pokémon with Harmonite—but the new one could.
The key was the addition of Remnora—a rare material capable of recalling a past state of being. By setting the Poké Ball's anchor point to before the Pokémon's soul had been infused into its egg, Arthur effectively recreated the functionality of traditional Poké Balls.
Though the Pokémon emerged fully alive when summoned, the Poké Ball only recognized the empty shell state from before the soul's presence. That allowed it to function as though capturing something non-sentient.
The new version was also far more comfortable for the Pokémon. Unlike older prototypes—where the soul was forcibly detached and bound to the Poké Ball—this design allowed them to retain full awareness and freedom of movement inside. It wasn't just a containment tool anymore; it was a space they could safely rest in.
Thanks to Harmonite, Pokémon were now more complete—body and soul deeply intertwined—which made separating them far more difficult. But by targeting the Pokémon's previous, soul-less state with Remnora, the Poké Ball bypassed that limitation.
This also meant stronger, high-level wild Pokémon would be harder to capture. As a Pokémon's body and soul fused more deeply with experience and growth, Remnora's function to revert them weakened. As a result, the Poké Ball's effectiveness would drop—just as it did in the games.
Arthur was thoroughly pleased with the results. Both the Pokémon system and the updated Poké Ball mechanics were coming together perfectly.
He looked up at the sky, now tinged with shades of orange from the setting sun, then turned to Lena with a nod.
"Let's go to the village square."
Now that Ponyta wasn't around to accidentally expose Princess Rosaria's identity, this was the perfect opportunity to publicly showcase Pokémon battles to the people of Rastor Village.