Chapter 1

A boy stands in a snowscape. Manually pulling a lever at his side, a ball shot out towards a Snorunt. Jumping over the ball, the Snorunt waited for another. As the boy increased the intensity of the machine, more and more balls shot out of it. Yet, the Snorunt was gracefully dodging and weaving between each of them. Using her tiny body to its advantage, it could quickly jump and duck under each ball that came at it. When the machine ran out of ammunition, a small mountain of balls was gathered behind the Snorunt. What was most remarkable was the lack of any bruises on the Snorunt. Under fire, the Snorunt remained calm and achieved a perfect result.

For her efforts, she was significantly rewarded with a Pokeblock specially made by the boy. As it feasted upon its meal, the boy rubbed the Snorunt's head tenderly and said, "Good job, pal. You have done well." After cleaning up their mess, the pair made their way out of the snowscape. It was hard to navigate it as the area looked practically the same no matter where they looked. But, their sense of direction was so sharp that it took about 30 mins of walking through heavy snow to reach their home. Their home was a pretty large bungalow.

It consisted of 8 rooms of varying sizes. Each had its uses.

But it felt empty. It always felt so for the boy without his grandfather around often. Shaking away that thought, he entered his home using his keys. It was so quiet that only the breaths he took could be heard. The lively place it had once been was replaced with a desolate wasteland. Sensing his emotions, the Snorunt jumped into his shoulder and patted his back comfortably. They were partners, partners ever since they made their vows.

A sudden growling sound from the boy's stomach cut short their moment together. Awkwardly, the boy asked, "Early Dinner sounds about right, right, Flakes?" She gleefully cheered; her desire for food had increased due to her growing body.

Minutes later, the aroma of sizzling meat lingered in the kitchen air. The boy was there, whipping a simple meal up for himself as Flakes looked at him with curious eyes. For Flakes, the act of cooking seemed alien. Her diet usually consisted of high-quality ice and snow for meals, as that was what her body required. However, she was slowly becoming more accustomed to other meals, such as Pokeblocks.

Suddenly, something dawned upon Flakes as she raced out of the kitchen. Undisturbed by her sudden actions, the boy continued to cook his food. He had grown accustomed to her sudden swings and knew she was doing something important. Moments later, the room became warmer.

So that was what it was. I had forgotten to add fuel to the heater of the house. Thanks, Flakes.

As the boy placed his plate of food on a table, Flakes came running in, perhaps noticing that the boy had finished cooking. Remembering that about Flakes's food, the boy knelt and opened a secret compartment. It contained a mini fridge suited for frozen foods or, in this case, retaining the quality of Ice Stones. Reaching for an Ice Stone, the boy gave it to Flakes, who accepted it readily. With two bites, she ate the whole Ice Stone and looked at the boy with pleading eyes.

Unfortunately, the boy ignored her pleas and flatly said, "Remember what to do. Circulate your energy to absorb it better. I would rather you not be punished by my grandfather."

Upon hearing those words, Flakes froze up, closed her eyes, and began circulating its energy. Flakes had once wasted the Ice Stone's energy by running amok, causing the boy's grandfather to punish it severely by ruthlessly training her for a week. After that incident, she never again disobeyed his grandfather's orders.

After eating an Ice Stone or, instead, any Elemental Stone, it is paramount to circulate its energy throughout its body. This ensures that the body's cells can absorb as much energy as possible, allowing them to flourish in the future. Along with that, it carries many other benefits, such as possibly increasing the talent of a Pokémon. A Pokémon's talent affects how strong, intelligent, fast, adaptable, and durable one may be. Not many know this, but each Pokémon has a talent when they are born.

Simply put, the better the talent, the high class a Pokémon is. Talents are determined by the density of energy that a Pokémon has.

Of course, there are exceptions to this rule but generally, a higher density of energy results in better talent.

Talents are divided into two categories, color and the darkness of it. Every Pokémon has its talent color, which consists of 6 colors, Yellow, Green, Orange, Blue, and Purple. Yellow is the weakest colour, while Purple is the best. So far, no Pokémon has ever reached a higher talent than Purple. The darkness of the colour is also a determining factor in a Pokémon's talent. In short, the darker the colour, the better the quality of talent.

The table of talents looks like this.

Light Yellow, Bright Yellow, Dark Yellow.

Light Green, Bright Green, Dark Green.

Light Orange, Bright Orange, Dark Orange.

Light Blue, Bright Blue, Dark Blue.

Light Purple, Bright Purple, Dark Purple.

Light Gold, Bright Gold, Dark Gold.

Usually, the species type also affects talents. For example, a Weedle usually is of talent level yellow to green. Only in extreme cases does Orange Talent Weedles appear. Even so, they are still weaker than their peers. Although largely unknown to scientists, they speculated that it was the species limit. Their hypothesis is supported by Pseudo-Legendaries are usually born with Blue talents or higher.

For the boy, all these talks about talents were boring, having heard of them from his grandfather countless times. Despite thinking nothing much of it, he still understands the importance of raising the talent of Flakes, his partner Pokémon. Currently, Flakes has a Light Blue Talent. Quite remarkable for its species but not enough to truly call it fantastic. Thus, he asked his grandfather for Ice Stones that would increase the talent of Flakes. Of course, his grandfather was reluctant but still gave in after some promises. First of all, only one Ice Stone per week could be fed. Overeating of Ice Stones, significantly higher qualities, could have dire consequences for the young Snorunt. Second, the circulation mentioned above of energy was taught to her.

Flakes managed to irk out a spot in Dark Blue through Ice Stones.

After finishing his meal, the boy went to wash his plates while Flakes played around with a snowball she made with Powder Snow after finishing her absorption. As the boy finished washing the dishes, he turned on a heater and placed the dishes above it. In the cold place he lived, heaters like this were paramount for daily life. One by one, he closed the kitchen windows, which he previously opened to allow the smoke to leave the room, and made his way to his room. It was already dark by the time he finished his dinner, and thus, he wanted to head off to bed. But the sudden sounds of a gate turning caused him to backtrack. His grandfather had arrived from work.

Racing towards the front door, the boy and Flakes waited patiently for his grandfather. Clad in his signature blue coat and white swarf, his grandfather, Pryce, greeted them.

"I come bearing good news, Haku; you have been accepted for the Pokémon Trainer Course and will be homeschooled by me."

"Thank you, grandpa. But what about your Gym? How are you going to protect the city when you are teaching me?"

"Don't worry. I am not so senile to leave my city unguarded. I have dispatched my Gym Trainers to secure the city for the next two years or so. However, I still have to do my duty as a Gym Leader and answer the call for duty. I trust you will not fail my expectations as I will be harsh on you."

"Of course not. I will work hard."

With a small laugh, "That's my boy. Go and sleep; you have a long day ahead of you."

"OK, Grandpa." Haku gleefully said as he headed off to bed with Flakes in tow.

Seeing the boy run to his room gave Pryce a sense of comfort.

At least his energy was still there despite that incident all those years ago.

A few years ago, the Yanagi family suffered a tragedy that left two members left. Pryce could only barely save the city from being flattened by a furious Mamoswine horde at the cost of his daughter, son-in-law, and wife. But to his anger, a few Pokémon poachers stole a few eggs from a Mamoswine nesting grounds, which caused them to rampage. As a result of this incident, Haku was an orphan at the ripe age of 5. Of course, they were eventually caught and brought to justice. But his family could never come back.

Pryce remembered delivering the news to Haku, who did not cry or be enraged at his failure. The boy said, "At least you tried your best."

It broke Pryce's heart as he knew the boy was broken. He failed his daughter and wife but now with his grandson. He would not fail him. He will raise him to be one of the best Trainers in Johto, nay the world. Every preparation to groom his grandson was in place. His partner, Flakes, was carefully chosen to suit Haku, allowing him to have a friend and not be alone when he was not around. Fortunately, it panned out as Haku improved over the last three years.

This road would be long and hard, but it would be worth it. As long as Haku would grow, it did not matter.

It took a few years of negotiations, but he finally convinced the Johto League to allow him to take a small break between his duties to teach Haku. Pryce reasoned that he was getting old and needed a successor. Luckily, they agreed and allowed him to do so.

Now, with all the time in the world, Pryce sets his sights on training Haku to protect himself. No, more than that, he wanted him to surpass him. It would be arrogant to say that Haku's potential was among the best. But that was what Pryce truly believed. He only needed time.