After the hearty meal, Nova sank into the soft leather sofa with a satisfied sigh. His whole body felt heavy in the best possible way.
It was, without a doubt, the finest meal he had eaten in all his years in this Pokémon world.
But then again, for someone as influential as Mr. Charlie, and for a privileged young woman like Thelma Tucker, a meal like this was nothing out of the ordinary. They could eat this well any day they pleased, without a second thought.
Nova quietly mulled over the glaring gap between the haves and the have-nots in this world.
Thelma had stepped away to the front counter to settle the bill. The two men sat across from each other in silence. Nova had braced himself for an awkward wait, but Mr. Charlie surprised him. The moment his daughter was out of earshot, he leaned forward slightly and spoke.
"Nova, Thelma mentioned that your Nidorino's venom is specially bred — apparently several times more potent than that of a regular Nidorino. I happen to have a few Poison-type Pokémon of my own. Would you be willing to share how you did it?"
The comfortable haze left by the meal vanished instantly. Nova sat up straighter, his mind suddenly sharp.
Wait — what exactly is Mr. Charlie asking?
A Pokémon trainer's breeding methods were among their most closely guarded secrets. Even within the Norlandia Alliance, many trainers had built entire careers — running Gyms or even independent dojos — off the back of one or two unique breeding techniques. That kind of knowledge was a trade secret. No one gave it away for free.
And besides, given Mr. Charlie's standing, if he truly wanted to improve a Pokémon's toxicity, he could find far more experienced specialists than Nova. Nova hadn't even properly started his journey yet. What could someone like him possibly offer that a veteran of Mr. Charlie's caliber would want?
Nova studied the man across from him. Mr. Charlie's eyes were calm and direct. He didn't seem to be testing him or trying to provoke a reaction. He was simply asking.
And that was when Nova understood.
This is a chance.
Nova had never planned to keep his breeding knowledge locked away forever. His methods had been drawn straight from the breeding system, after all — they weren't something he had sweated over for years. Sharing them with Mr. Charlie would cost him nothing in terms of effort. What mattered was what he might receive in return.
If things went well, perhaps — just perhaps — Mr. Charlie might offer him the chance to choose a Grass-type Pokémon Egg.
Nova cleared his throat.
"Mr. Charlie, have you ever studied general biology?"
A look of mild embarrassment crossed the older man's face. Mr. Charlie rubbed the back of his neck and gave a short laugh. "Well, Nova... the Luma Gym has been in the family for generations. You know how it is with that sort of upbringing..."
Nova filled in the rest himself. So he never went through a standard middle school curriculum. No general biology classes, then.
Perfect. Let me explain from the beginning.
The world Nova had been transported into was quite different from the Pokémon world he had known through games and anime in his previous life.
The setting had shifted in ways that the games themselves had hinted at over the years. In the early generations, the Pokédex had catalogued creatures alongside real-world animals — elephants, rhinos, rats, fish. But as the series progressed, those ordinary animals faded into the background, until the world seemed to consist of nothing but humans and Pokémon.
Of course, that worked well enough in a game. But in reality, a thousand-odd species of Pokémon could never fill every ecological niche on their own.
So ordinary animals still existed here. They always had. But because wild Pokémon had claimed so much of the natural world for themselves, ordinary creatures were under constant pressure. Many species had already gone extinct. Many more were struggling.
In response, Pokémon Leagues across every region had worked general biology and paleontology into their standard middle school curricula. The goal was simple: to help the next generation understand and care about the creatures that shared their world, and to slow the tide of extinction where they could.
It was from one of those general biology textbooks that Nova had found his starting point.
"There's a venomous snake called the tiger keelback," Nova began, keeping his voice steady and matter-of-fact. "It doesn't just produce its own venom — it also eats highly toxic toads and stores their poison inside its body for its own defence. I came across it in a book at the library."
Mr. Charlie listened, his arms folded, his expression thoughtful.
"When I read that, I started wondering — could the same principle be applied to Pokémon? So after I caught my Nidorino, I began adding trace amounts of venom from other Pokémon to its food."
Mr. Charlie nodded slowly. He might not have studied biology formally, but he had seen far more of the Pokémon world than most. His years of adventuring had taken him into secret realms and uncharted territories, where he had encountered rare regional forms and even ancient Pokémon that most trainers only ever read about.
"Your thinking is sound," he said. "There's an old account that the ancient form of Qwilfish developed its Poison typing by feeding on toxic aquatic plants over generations."
He was referring to Qwilfish's Hisui Form — a regional variant that Nova had only ever seen in passing during his previous life, and which was considerably rarer here in the real world.
"So you've been feeding Nidorino the venom of other Pokémon," Mr. Charlie said. It wasn't quite a question.
"Yes. I started with very small amounts — just Arbok's venom at first. As Nidorino built up its resistance, I gradually introduced more. Now its diet includes five different types of venom: Ariados's spider venom, Toxicroak's toad venom, Beedrill's stinger venom, Scyther's—"
Mr. Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Wait. Did you model this after the Five Poisons?"
Nova paused, then nodded. "I did. Honestly, it wasn't something I planned from the start. When I first thought about how to increase Nidorino's toxicity, the concept of the Five Poisons just came to mind naturally. It was more intuition than strategy, at the beginning."
He sat back slightly. "The whole thing was experimental. Nidorino is a Poison-type, so it wouldn't be harmed by another Pokémon's venom in the way a normal creature would. If the method hadn't worked, the worst outcome would have been wasted time and resources."
Mr. Charlie was quiet for a moment. Then he spoke again, his tone measured.
"I'll be honest with you. Plenty of trainers use venom-based feeding when raising Poison-type Pokémon. Your formula has its own character, but the approach itself isn't entirely unique. The level of toxicity your Nidorino has reached — that's something else entirely. There has to be another factor."
Nova looked at him with a quiet respect. The man's reputation for being on the same level as the Elite Four was clearly not just rumour.
"You're right," Nova said. "Six months of the venom diet made a difference, but nothing dramatic. Nidorino's poison was stronger, but not to the degree it is now. Then, one day, I bought something at an auction. A rare Poison-type material — I wasn't entirely sure what it was at the time."
He paused, recalling the moment clearly.
"Nidorino reacted to it the second it was nearby. It wouldn't stop pressing against its Poké Ball, crying out — Nido! Nidorino! — until I let it out. It was fixated on that material. Since it seemed harmless, I let it have it."
Nova met Mr. Charlie's gaze steadily.
"That was what changed everything. Whatever was in that material, it was the key to the real transformation in Nidorino's venom."