Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

Just eating a matching berry doesn't make a Pokémon immune to super-effective damage. It's just a berry—it's not some god-tier item. At best, it boosts resistance. Type advantages still apply.

If a tanky Pokémon eats the right kind of berry, it might become a lot tougher to deal with, though. As long as it doesn't do something reckless like rushing into a bad type matchup, then even non-STAB moves from opponents barely hurt.

"Buu… buu…" Caterpie's big eyes were filled with tears—it had literally been brought to tears by the spicy flavor.

Reiji could tell instantly that the little actor was faking it.

But he didn't call it out. Instead, he pulled out the honey they found earlier today and dunked the second Charti Berry into it. Then, using chopsticks, he fished it back out and held it up to Caterpie. "Now can you eat it?"

"Buu!" Caterpie nodded wildly. The moment it caught the scent of flowers from the honey, it was totally drawn in by the spicy berry again. As soon as it saw the honey-coated fruit, it didn't hesitate at all and chomped right into it.

Even if it had to suffer the heat, eating sweet honey was totally worth it.

But this time, the berry didn't set its mouth on fire—the thick sweetness of the honey completely drowned out the burn.

Once Reiji saw Caterpie swallow the fruit, he quickly sealed the bottle and stashed the honey back inside the treehouse, just in case the floral scent attracted other Pokémon.

While feeding Caterpie, he noticed Poliwag was drooling a little out of the corner of his eye. As their Trainer, of course he wasn't going to play favorites.

After toning down the fire, he carried the stove into the treehouse and called out to his two Pokémon. "Come on in, Poliwag, Caterpie."

"Yoyo." Poliwag knew exactly what was about to happen and quickly hopped inside.

Smart little Caterpie figured it out too and followed right behind.

Under Reiji's direction, the two little guys obediently sat in their respective spots.

He shut the wooden door and brought out their bowls.

Poliwag's was a small frying pan, Caterpie's was a plastic bowl.

Then he opened the honey jar again—the floral aroma instantly filled the room, and both Pokémon were practically drooling.

He poured a full metal cup—about half a kilogram's worth—into Poliwag's pan.

Then another full cup into Caterpie's bowl.

"Alright, go ahead and eat."

"Yo!" Poliwag dove in right away. That floral scent had been tormenting it. If Reiji hadn't been standing there, it probably would've already dug in.

"Buu." Caterpie also wasted no time—lowering its head and slurping up the honey.

They both finished in seconds. Then they licked the sides of their mouths and let out massive belches, their faces beaming with happiness—the sweetness filled both their mouths and hearts.

There was still a bit left in the bowls, so the two of them looked at each other, then bent back down and licked them completely clean.

"Don't rush, there's more where that came from." Reiji filled each bowl with another half-cup from his metal mug.

Afterward, he poured the hot water from the stew pot into his own cup, diluted some honey into it, and drank it like honey water.

He couldn't handle the syrup-thick raw honey by itself—just too sweet. But when mixed with hot water? Totally manageable.

Once the two Pokémon had licked their bowls clean again, they flopped down on their beds—completely stuffed and unwilling to move.

Today's meal had been way too indulgent. They were on the verge of indigestion. Never in their lives had they eaten this well.

Leftovers? No problem. Meat could be smoked and dried above the fire pit on the roof.

"You full? The rest of the honey's for tomorrow," Reiji said, picking up the plastic bottle. There was still more than half a cup left—just enough for breakfast.

"Yoyo, yoyo." Poliwag, seeing the bottle still mostly full, quickly pointed with its tail at Reiji's metal mug.

"You want more?" Reiji asked.

Poliwag shook its head, then picked up its own bowl and placed it behind itself, pointing at Reiji's cup again with its tail.

"You mean... you want me to eat?" Reiji guessed.

"Yoyo." Poliwag nodded, wanting Reiji to enjoy some too. It didn't feel right if they hogged all the good stuff.

"I already did, Poliwag. Look." Reiji raised the mug and held it up.

Poliwag peeked inside and saw the diluted honey water, along with a few sticky streaks along the rim.

Only then did it realize—Reiji really had eaten, just not as much as they had. Just like they licked their bowls, he drank from the mug and had a little leftover honey too.

Caterpie crawled over curiously and peeked at the cup. "Buu buu?"

Poliwag shook its head and told Caterpie everything—it explained that Reiji had saved the best for them, and didn't eat much himself.

"Yoyo, yoyo…"

"Buu?" Caterpie listened, then burst into tears. Reiji had given them all the delicious honey without keeping any for himself…

"Buu buu buuu…" It wanted to crawl over and snuggle into Reiji's arms—but it was so full it could barely move. When it tried to leave the bed, it flopped over and fell flat.

Reiji had no idea what they were talking about, but he laughed out loud at Caterpie's clumsy tumble. It had gotten so round it could barely crawl and still insisted on moving. What was the rush?

He hurried over, picked Caterpie up, and tucked it back into bed.

"Alright, it's late. Time to sleep. We've got training tomorrow—especially you, Caterpie. I'll be watching."

"Buu…" Caterpie promised with determination that it would take training seriously tomorrow.

But then…

Snore—snore—snore…

Wow. Not even one minute later and Caterpie was already fast asleep.

If it weren't for the honey, it would've passed out long ago. No way it could've waited until now.

Reiji just smiled helplessly. He poured hot water from the stew pot to rinse off his feet, rewrapped his cloth bandages, and lay down in bed.

"Sleep tight, Poliwag…"

"Yoyo…"

Today, all three of them—Reiji, Poliwag, and Caterpie—were completely wiped out. They'd either been running around or training nonstop. Reiji especially had been moving all day with an injury. He was beyond exhausted and ready to sleep.

As the trio drifted off, the fire slowly burned out.

And just then—on Caterpie's bed—a brilliant flash of white light suddenly burst out.

Reiji and Poliwag, sound asleep, didn't notice at all. They completely missed witnessing Caterpie's evolution.

But that brilliant light lit up the entire coastline for just a moment before disappearing.

Yet even in that instant, countless nocturnal Pokémon had seen it…

[End of Chapter]

[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]

[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]

[[email protected]/BellAshelia]

[Thanks for your support!]