Actually, Abilities can be suppressed.

Anyone who's seen the anime knows that Brock once caught a Sharpedo.

And Brock once mentioned that a Pokémon's dominant Ability can be voluntarily suppressed.

For example, Sharpedo's Rough Skin—when Brock petted it, it could suppress the Ability on its own, so it wouldn't hurt its Trainer.

Since Sharpedo can suppress its Rough Skin, then Pelipper's Drizzle should be suppressible too. Just like the move Rain Dance, it should only trigger when used.

"Pelii~" Pelipper nodded in understanding. It got the gist of the training plan and flew back to the top of the courtyard wall to try using Drizzle.

But even after calling out for a while, no rain fell from the sky. It had no idea why.

Reiji knew the reason and quickly reminded it, "Pelipper, it just rained not long ago. The air's moisture level has dropped, so it's harder to bring rain. You need to raise the humidity in the air first."

"Pelii~" Pelipper understood. It immediately lifted its head and sprayed a Water Gun upward while continuing to call for rain. Soon, a light drizzle began falling again.

But after two rounds of rain, Butterfree—who had been sunbathing—was getting irritated. First it's sunny, then it's rainy, back and forth. Who could tolerate such moody weather? "Fwee~ fwee~…"

Butterfree flew over and rubbed its head against Reiji, acting all cutesy. It wanted him to send Pelipper to train farther away. "Fwee~ fwee~…"

"Oh, Butterfree, just the one I was looking for. Starting today, you're resuming your Confusion training." Reiji reached out to pat Butterfree's little head, a grin forming at the corner of his lips. Since it came to him willingly, he wasn't going to go easy.

"Fwee…" Hearing that it had to resume psychic training, Butterfree froze. Not only did the cutesy act not work, it got itself dragged into something worse.

It tried to play it cool, slowly drifting off as if nothing had happened.

But Reiji called out again, "You and Slowpoke both have Psychic powers. You'll train together by levitating each other with telekinesis to build up your strength."

"Fwee~!" Butterfree immediately turned back, pleading desperately. It didn't want to train; it just wanted sunshine and honey water.

"Come on, did you forget about the Sharpedo? If you're too weak, you'll get eaten by a shark," Reiji said gently but firmly.

"Fwee~…" Butterfree shuddered at the memory of the Sharpedo on that island. That thing was a monster. If not for their numbers, they'd all have become fish food.

Just remembering that scene made Butterfree drop the act. It fluttered over to the poolside and relayed the message to Slowpoke, who was still fishing with its tail.

"Fwee~ We're supposed to train our psychic powers together…"

"Yadoon? Is that so?" Slowpoke's eyes glowed blue, and it telekinetically lifted a dopey Magikarp out of the pool.

"Fwee~ That works too," Butterfree's red compound eyes glowed blue, and it pulled out Wishiwashi with its own Confusion.

"Karuuu~" Magikarp thrashed midair and easily broke free of the psychic hold, then retaliated with a Water Gun at Butterfree, rescuing Wishiwashi in the process.

The two flopped back into the water, looked at each other, and instantly bonded as comrades-in-arms. That tail was enticing, sure—but they weren't playthings. They could fight back too.

As it looked like Butterfree, Slowpoke, Magikarp, and Wishiwashi were about to throw down, Reiji didn't bother stopping them. Let them go at it.

He turned to Spinarak hanging from the eaves and set up a training target. He tied a bunch of plastic bottles to a drying rack, so Spinarak could practice accuracy.

"Spinarak, your training is to hit these bottles with Poison Sting and String Shot. Once you can hit a moving target at long range, I'll give you something new to train."

"Yitoh~ yitoh~" Spinarak fired off a Poison Sting while hanging upside down. It found bottle-popping surprisingly fun. Everyone else was training—if it didn't, it'd look out of place.

Poliwhirl was practicing moisture awareness. Krabby was learning Agility. The glutton was combining Rock Polish with running. Pelipper trained Drizzle. Butterfree and Slowpoke worked on their psychic powers. The two dopey fish practiced Water Gun. Spinarak worked on aim…

Only Farfetch'd had no training plan.

Farfetch'd was sitting under the eaves, watching everyone else train hard. It was the only one just lazing around. Naturally, it was getting anxious.

But it didn't know how to train, and it couldn't bring itself to ask Reiji for help. Especially after almost trying to slice him. Asking for help now? No way.

In the end, Farfetch'd sighed and decided to take initiative. It waddled out of the busy courtyard to run laps, figuring running must be the way to get stronger since everyone else was doing it.

Reiji just let it go. He wasn't planning to seriously train Farfetch'd until it was officially his.

As everyone threw themselves into training, Reiji kept up his jog, resting between laps. He had to boost his stamina—everything else would follow.

Without stamina, what's the point? If just calling out commands in battle wears you out, you might as well quit being a Trainer and go to bed.

Time flew by as training continued, and soon it was evening. Reiji stopped running early to prep dinner for his Pokémon, lining their meals up one by one.

Rhyhorn got the most—seventy to eighty pounds of ore, stacked like a mini mountain.

Then came energy cubes for Poliwhirl, Krabby, Butterfree, Pelipper, Slowpoke, and Spinarak.

Next were food portions tossed into the pool for Magikarp and Wishiwashi.

Finally, Reiji set aside his own meal and Farfetch'd's. Since Farfetch'd was still out running laps, he told Poliwhirl, "Poliwhirl, go get Farfetch'd for dinner."

"Yobo~" Poliwhirl, seeing Rhyhorn already munching away, quickly ran outside to call for Farfetch'd.

"Gaa~ Gaa~" Farfetch'd waddled over, and dinner officially began.

To its surprise, everyone had been waiting for it. Farfetch'd had never felt this important to the group before.

But it just quietly ate its share. It still didn't have the pride to say anything to Reiji.

Still, it no longer hated this human. Nor the Pokémon around it. It was starting to understand that not all humans were the same.

"All right, dig in, everyone. After dinner, rest up. We'll train again tomorrow," Reiji announced once everyone had gathered.

As for the big doofus, he couldn't wait any longer and had already started eating.

Reiji's own food was different from the Pokémon's. He'd finally made himself a normal meal—green pepper stir-fry with meat and a big bowl of rice using yesterday's vegetables.

After nearly two months in this world, he finally had a proper, home-cooked meal. And more importantly—freedom with his spices. He could add as much chili as he wanted.

He still didn't know how he'd survived without chili before.

After dinner, while the sun was still up, Reiji used the landline to call a real estate agent and asked them to help him find a breeder willing to do massage services.

He asked for a female breeder, preferably one with knowledge of Water-type Pokémon, to give massages to his team.

The rate was 2,000 Pokédollars for travel expenses, and 10,000 for two hours of massage.

He ended up spending 12,000 total to hire a female breeder to help his Pokémon relax after the intense training.

These kinds of jobs were usually picked up by assistant breeders from small stores, or private jobs taken by aides at the seven major breeding houses. Most were financially tight and lacked fame.

Well-known breeders could do much more—massage, potion and antidote creation… learning all that wasn't easy.

Reiji only wanted to learn massage. Anything more would be too much effort.

Honestly, Joys at Pokémon Centers were basically all breeders themselves. They knew healing and care. Marrying a Joy wouldn't be so bad.

But let's be real, the Joy family probably wouldn't even consider someone like him—a literal orphan. So it was just a pipe dream.

By the time the female breeder arrived at the villa, they'd just about finished dinner. Reiji went out to greet her.

She was a casually dressed young woman in a white T-shirt and jeans, carrying a brown shoulder bag and followed by a Meowth.

Reiji walked up and held out his hand. "Hello, are you Breeder Keiko?"

"Yes, and you must be Mr. Reiji?" Keiko shook his hand politely.

"The Pokémon have been waiting for you. Please, come this way." Reiji led her to the courtyard and gestured to the Pokémon by the pool.

"It's them. Please help them relax after their training."

"Mr. Reiji, which Pokémon would you like me to massage?" Keiko eyed the ten Pokémon and nearly swallowed her tongue—this was a big gig.

"Your shop charges 10,000 for two hours. Massage Poliwhirl for an hour, Pelipper for 30 minutes, Butterfree and Farfetch'd for 15 minutes each. For Butterfree, please focus on the head."

Reiji then looked over at Krabby and added, "No need to massage Krabby—it's a crustacean."

Its whole body was tough as nails. He'd scrub it down himself with a brush or let it take a sand bath.

Same for Rhyhorn. Its keratin shell was way too thick—even brushes were useless. Only rubbing against tree bark would help.

Spinarak, Slowpoke, and the two dopey fish didn't need massages either.

He really just hired the breeder mainly for Poliwhirl. It had trained moisture awareness today and taken quite a few bottle hits. The poor thing was nearly concussed.

"It's now 5:58 PM. The massage should end at 8 o'clock—exactly two hours." Reiji glanced at his watch and did the math.

He pulled out 12,000 Pokédollars and placed it on the table, pushing it toward Keiko. "Here's your fee. Please take it."

"Of course, Mr. Reiji." Keiko accepted the money with no complaints. After all, it was two hours either way. Let the customer assign the time.

She checked her wristwatch, confirmed the time, and got to work. She had Poliwhirl lie on the folding bed and started massaging.

"Meowth, time to work~"

"Meow~ Meow~" Meowth was Keiko's partner and bodyguard, and helped with massages too.

So it was like hiring two breeders for the price of one—not bad at all.

"Yobo~ yobo~" Poliwhirl was a little stiff at first, especially with all the other curious teammates watching. It felt embarrassed.

But as Keiko's skilled hands kneaded away, it gradually relaxed, closed its eyes, and even let out soft sighs of comfort. Eventually, it dozed off completely.

Reiji watched with envy—Poliwhirl looked like it was in heaven. He kinda wanted to swap places.

But he had his own work to do. He grabbed the giant pool brush and started scrubbing Rhyhorn by the poolside. Occasionally, he had Krabby spray off the loosened keratin. Rhyhorn let out contented grunts.

After scrubbing Rhyhorn's whole body—including its belly, feet, and toes—he moved on to Krabby, cleaning the joints, mouth, and claws.

By the time he finished, an hour had passed. Poliwhirl was snoozing happily, and Keiko had started on Pelipper, then Butterfree, then Farfetch'd.

"Farfetch'd is still recovering from its injury—go easy on it," Reiji reminded her when it was its turn.

"I understand, Mr. Reiji, but… it seems this Farfetch'd doesn't want me to touch it," Keiko said as she waved to the duck sulking in the corner. It ignored her completely.

"Farfetch'd, let Miss Keiko massage you. It'll help you heal faster. You want to get stronger, don't you?" Reiji didn't know if his words would work.

But he knew exactly what Farfetch'd wanted most—power. Strength…

(End of Chapter)

[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]

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