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Chapter 57: Bill: You Came from a Fossil?!
🕑 Added 2025-08-14 13:03:20 +0000 UTCAfter capturing Wingull and checking its information, Cynthia immediately took action.
She began challenging nearby NPCs with her other Pokémon. Luckily, plenty of NPCs were waiting for battles in the surrounding grass.
Twenty minutes later, after defeating the last opponent, every member of her team had reached the current level cap of 30—except Wingull, which had climbed to level 25.
The moment Wingull leveled up, rainbow light burst from its body. Within the glow, its form rapidly expanded, reshaping into a completely different Pokémon.
Broad wings. A massive beak dangling in front of its head—so large it dwarfed the head itself.
The sight was a little comical, but the transformation granted abilities most Water-types could only dream of: it could unleash torrents of water from its mouth, sustaining the flow for long periods.
That enormous beak also served as a “storage pouch” in the wild, useful for carrying food and other items.
With Wingull now evolved into Pelipper, Cynthia first used the interaction feature to congratulate her new teammate. After receiving Pelipper’s cheerful response, she immediately checked its abilities.
A single line of text made her eyes widen—
[Drizzle: When this Pokémon enters battle, the weather automatically changes to rain.]
Cynthia froze.
She set Pelipper as her lead Pokémon, switched to the info screen, and ran her character back and forth through the grass until a wild Pokémon appeared.
The moment Pelipper emerged, the sky darkened, and rain poured down.
[Due to Pelipper’s Drizzle ability, it started raining!]
[Water-type move power increased! Fire-type move power decreased!]
The chat exploded.
[Holy crap? Rain on entry? No side effects at all?]
[Don’t you need a move to change the weather? What does automatic weather even mean? That’s busted!]
[GG, this bird is hacking!!]
While chat buzzed with disbelief, Cynthia’s thoughts raced.
No wonder!
In reality, Pelipper learned Rain Dance so effortlessly… it wasn’t a coincidence. This wasn’t a learned skill—it was a natural ability.
If this was the case, then real-world Pelipper evolving from Hydration Wingull might already possess “Drizzle” in some form, just far weaker than in the game.
She quickly dismissed the idea. No, “Rain Dance” and “Drizzle” were fundamentally different.
Real-world trainers didn’t even know Pelipper could have Drizzle. They trained them to use Rain Dance, a long, roundabout method… without realizing there was a direct, effortless alternative.
If a trainer instead focused on developing Drizzle… training efficiency could skyrocket tenfold or more.
And if cultivated fully, it could work just like in the game: Pelipper enters, rain begins—no energy cost, no delay.
That was leagues apart from using Rain Dance mid-battle.
Champions and Elite Four members had recently evaluated weather tactics. They agreed that weather moves offered huge tactical benefits—but with serious drawbacks: massive energy costs and slow startup.
Even the best-trained Pokémon needed more setup time for weather than for stat boosts. In most battles, finding a chance to use such a move was nearly impossible.
But if you skipped that setup stage entirely? If your field was instantly favorable the moment you sent out Pelipper?
That was a completely different ballgame.
The more Cynthia thought, the more excited she became. And with Drizzle Pelipper, she could make it the heart of a rain team.
For now, she kept Pelipper in the lead, battling wild Pokémon to explore the area’s species and raise its level. If it was going to enable Ludicolo’s Swift Swim, it had to keep pace with the rest of the team.
Thankfully, the game seemed to boost XP for a lone under-leveled Pokémon when the rest of the team was capped. Soon, Pelipper hit level 30, and Cynthia opened its move panel.
As a Special Attack-focused Pokémon, “Water Pulse” was a natural choice for its STAB Water move. Lacking any Special Flying moves, she reluctantly slotted “Wing Attack” for a secondary STAB.
The third move: “Supersonic” for confusion—unreliable at 50% accuracy, but a useful control option.
The final choice: “Tailwind.”
In-game, Tailwind doubled team speed for five turns. While Ludicolo in rain hardly needed more speed, Grovyle and Spinda would benefit, strengthening Pelipper’s support role.
But then it hit her—speed in real-world battles wasn’t just a stat. Tailwind plus Swift Swim could push Ludicolo’s speed to absurd levels, making it virtually impossible to dodge or counter.
And if a team ran multiple Swift Swim users? With Drizzle and Tailwind maxed out?
Even Cynthia admitted—facing that team would be a nightmare.
A tempting thought crossed her mind: Should I train a Drizzle Pelipper in real life?
But she quickly shook it off. As a top-tier trainer, she chose her partners carefully; each required huge investments of time, resources, and care.
In the game, though? No such limitations. She could freely shape her team. Even with the 15-Pokémon capture cap, it was more than enough.
With Pelipper ready, Cynthia took a deep breath and started toward Meteor Falls—only to spot a man at the entrance.
Messy-haired, unkempt, muttering to himself as he studied a stone on the wall:
“These patterns formed from geological shifts about 800 years ago. That means no active fossils in a 500-meter radius—but sedimentary fossils should be here.”
Pokémon fossils? An absurd thought flashed in Cynthia’s mind—Could this be Bill?
Before she could decide, the man clapped his hands and released a Primeape.
“Primeape, Close Combat that rock!”
A blinding impact shook the mountainside. Rocks rained down, one rolling to Cynthia’s feet.
She picked it up—it bore skeletal patterns.
[You found an “Ancient Pokémon Fossil (Sedimentary)”! Sell for 100,000 yen? Hide it?]
Cynthia chose “No” without hesitation and handed it to the man.
“I wondered where it went! Thank you!”
He looked at her, blushed, and stumbled over his words.
“Ah, um… I’m Bill. You’re not from Fallarbor, right? Your clothes—uh, I mean, they’re nice! Sorry, I don’t talk to people much…”
Cynthia smiled.
“It’s fine. I’m Strawberry Ice Cream. And you?”
Bill’s eyes lit up.
“I’m a researcher. I study fossils—thousands of years old, the last traces of ancient Pokémon. My goal is to restore their appearance… or better—bring them back to life!”
Cynthia blinked. Fossil revival?!
Bill explained: sedimentary fossils couldn’t be revived—their cells were long dead. Only “active fossils,” whose cells were dormant, could be restored.
She remembered the strange fossil from Granite Cave… could it be one?
Bill pulled out a handheld scanner. The fossil in his hand didn’t react—but when he pointed it at Cynthia’s character, it lit up green, beeping wildly.
Bill’s jaw dropped.
“No malfunction… it only reacts to active fossils… Wait… could it be?”
Then, eyes wide with shock:
“My God! You’re actually transformed from an active fossil?!”
Cynthia: ?
