Most people know Chansey from Pokémon Centers, always seen as Nurse Joy's gentle assistant.
To other Pokémon, it's practically an angelic figure.
No matter how fierce a Pokémon is, if it's injured, Chansey will always offer healing.
But looking at this same Chansey, Caleb flashed a disturbingly twisted smile.
No one knew better than him what Chansey was truly capable of.
"Caleb, are you okay?"
Fiona asked with genuine concern.
"I'm fine, why?"
Caleb quickly wiped the smile off his face.
"It's just… the way you looked just now—it scared Chansey," Fiona said, pointing toward the pink egg-shaped Pokémon.
Raised in the comfort of a greenhouse-like environment, Chansey had never seen such a terrifying expression. It had been so happy to see its trainer again, but now it had curled up tight, looking more like an actual egg than a Pokémon.
"Was I really that scary?" Caleb asked.
"Not scary exactly, more like… uh..." The word "perverted" was stuck in Fiona's throat. She just couldn't bring herself to say something so rude.
A well-raised girl like her would never speak in such crude terms.
"Maybe it's just the stress getting to you," Fiona offered gently. "Ever since you heard that my cousin was coming to inspect the gym, you've locked yourself in your room for three straight days and nights."
"Three days and nights?!"
Caleb was stunned.
No wonder he felt like crap—he thought the original body's weakness was from overindulgence or something, but turns out he was just starving.
Man, the guy really had talent. Who locks themselves up for three whole days?
Like father, like son, huh?
Wait—no, that's not the point!
"You said inspection!?" Caleb raised his voice.
"Yeah. The gym's been getting way too many bad reviews. The League sent my cousin to inspect it. If it doesn't pass, it might get shut down."
Fiona looked suspicious now, narrowing her eyes at him. "Wait... don't tell me you're not even ready?"
Caleb didn't respond.
And Fiona instantly panicked.
"Oh no, oh no, she's coming this afternoon!"
She looked even more anxious than Caleb, as if it were her family's gym that was on the line.
"Alright, alright, I know you're panicking, but calm down," Caleb said, steadying her before her energy sent him spiraling too.
"How can I calm down? My cousin's super strict! If we fail the inspection, the gym is done! Do you get that?"
Fiona was almost fuming now.
"But we've got Chansey, don't we?"
Hearing its name, Chansey slowly uncurled and peeked at Caleb, only to remember that twisted smile from before and quickly hid its head again.
"Chansey?" Fiona looked at it too, completely confused.
You want to use Chansey... in battle?
Seriously?
Chansey doesn't even know how to fight! As a Joy, she knew that better than anyone.
Faced with her confusion, Caleb didn't even know where to begin.
People in this world were just... too straightforward.
That's right—straightforward. A battle was a battle. One side fires a Hydro Pump, the other zaps back with Thunderbolt. Whether it's gym challenges or League matches, most moves used are raw offense. Rotation or defensive tactics? Practically nonexistent.
Some Elite Four members even rely on pure power-move steamrolling, and everyone follows suit.
In this environment, status or utility moves were considered weird or even dishonorable—outright shunned.
But that ends now.
I'm going to shake this straight-laced world with some real cursed energy.
"Fiona, do you have a Pokédex?"
"Yeah, but it's not from a Professor—it's a market knockoff," she said, pulling out a pink Pokédex from her pocket.
The Pokédex was a piece of high-tech gear originally invented by Professor Oak, later shared with other regional professors to hand out to chosen trainers.
Of course, knockoffs were common too—but compared to the official versions, they were way less powerful. Other than basic info scanning, they had no real functions.
(Like, they couldn't send a cancel-evolution pulse when you hit the B button.)
Caleb took the Pokédex and scanned his Chansey.
Took the bootleg thing half a minute to spit out the data.
"Beep~ Chansey. Normal-type. Egg Pokémon. Ability: Natural Cure
Moves: Baby-Doll Eyes, Pound, Defense Curl, Life Dew, Helping Hand, Sing, Heal Pulse, Egg Bomb
Egg Moves: Seismic Toss, Heal Bell
Description: A gentle Pokémon that brings happiness. Known to share its eggs with the injured."
"...This is Chansey?"
He almost didn't recognize it. This sweet, wholesome entry had nothing to do with the pink demon he remembered.
He scanned Fiona's Chansey too.
The result? Even worse—it didn't even know Seismic Toss.
"What's wrong? Something missing?" Fiona asked, puzzled. She glanced at the screen and smiled. "They're such good kids, right?"
Heal Pulse, Life Dew, Heal Bell—all excellent traits for a Pokémon nurse.
"Lucky!" "Lucky!"
Both Chanseys were delighted at the praise.
But Caleb was anything but happy.
Wait a sec!
He suddenly remembered—his dad's old storage shed had a whole bunch of TMs.
Maybe the move he needed was in there.
Without hesitation, Caleb grabbed Fiona and headed for the backyard warehouse.
This place had more stock than a department store.
There were twenty-two separate sections.
Medicine section, Poké Ball section, item section...
They headed for the TM section.
TMs, or Technical Machines, were discs that let Pokémon instantly learn moves. Super convenient, but single-use and expensive as hell.
Even something basic like Swift could sell for tens of thousands. The powerful ones? Some needed rare items to even function.
That's why most trainers preferred to teach their Pokémon naturally.
But not Caleb. If there was one thing his family wasn't short on—it was money. Back in his day, his dad had been obsessed with collecting TMs, just like James with bottle caps.
"Caleb, aren't these your dad's personal collection? Should you really be taking them like this?" Fiona tried to stop him.
But Caleb, ever the loyal son, only grabbed more with gusto. That old man had ditched him, after all—time for payback.
Arms full of TMs, Caleb returned to Chansey.
"Come here, Chansey. Got something real good for you~"
He called out with a wide grin.
"Lucky…"
Chansey was curled up in a corner, eyes full of fear.
Even without having the Anticipation ability, its instincts screamed: if I go over there, I'm done for. No doubt about it!
"Hehehe…"
When Chansey didn't move, Caleb simply pounced on it, caught it off guard, and immediately started slapping TMs onto it.
"This one, and this, and definitely this... oh, can't forget that..."
Fiona watched as Chansey went through a complete transformation—like Frankenstein's monster with a Poké Ball twist. She wanted to intervene, but there was no stopping Caleb now.
Finally, after a long while...
"Phew, I'm beat." Caleb stretched, wiping sweat from his brow, admiring his masterpiece with a proud grin.
"Lucky~"
Chansey slowly got up, letting out a creepy, deranged little chirp.
Just moments ago, it had been bombarded with a flood of knowledge. At first, it resisted—but the more it absorbed, the more it understood.
And the more it understood, the more... excited it became.
So this is what moves can do.
It was like a door to a whole new world had opened—and what lay beyond that door filled it with exhilaration.
Fiona could tell something was off. She scanned Chansey again with the Pokédex.
...
It took her a while to recover from the shock, but her face twisted with confusion.
"...Is this thing still Chansey?!"
"Wrapped edition," Caleb replied with a bright, sunny smile.