Chapter 1 – Reunion
The moon hung high in a sparse, starry sky, casting its gentle glow over a dense, forested island in the middle of a vast ocean.
A frail, sickly-looking boy sat alone on the beach. His sunken eyes and pale, thin cheeks told of long-term malnutrition. His clothes were tattered and worn, yet one could still guess that he was about fifteen years old.
With a complicated expression, the boy stared at the creature beside him. It stood about knee-high to a child, its entire body cloaked in pitch-black feathers without a hint of any other color. If not for the moonlight, it would have been almost invisible in the darkness.
His trembling hand slowly reached toward the creature. Just before touching it, he hesitated, but then, as if steeling himself, gently laid his hand upon it.
Feeling the real sensation beneath his fingers, he let out a slow breath, the weight of his emotions evident in his eyes.
“Never thought… I’d be back here,” Aoki murmured to no one in particular.
Everything still felt vivid in his mind.
As a once-powerful trainer with near-Elite Four strength, Aoki remembered how he had survived a brutal trial after being captured by Team Rocket. Thanks to the skills and knowledge from his previous life, and a mysterious ability, he rose through the ranks of the organization. Even in the criminal underworld, he had earned a reputation.
But in an ambush launched by the Pokémon League, his overconfidence after advancing to near-Elite status had led to his downfall. He believed he could survive the raid, unaware that the League had sent not one but two Elite-level trainers just to take him down.
They hadn’t even used their strongest Pokémon, yet he still couldn’t hold his ground.
With no way to escape, Aoki managed to kill two of their second-tier Pokémon. But the fury of the two trainers led them to bury him beneath the earth in a combined attack.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in this moment—reborn.
He raised his arms with effort. All the scars and wounds from battles and hardship had vanished. His malnourished arms were so thin he could clearly see the outlines of veins and bone.
He clenched his fists as hard as he could, unaware of how his fingernails began to dig into his palms.
“Kraa…” the Murkrow croaked softly, eyeing him curiously, as if sensing something had changed.
Hearing its call, Aoki tried to force a smile. The muscles on his face, unused to expressing joy, seemed to have forgotten how to move.
He reached out to stroke Murkrow’s back again. Its feathers were coarse—another sign of poor nutrition, just like his own condition.
“Murkrow… I’m glad you’re here,” Aoki said, his voice filled with conflicting emotions.
In his previous life, Aoki had struggled with relationships. Even though he improved over time, it was too little, too late. But Murkrow—his very first Pokémon—had stayed with him from the beginning. It was his closest companion and most loyal protector. Even in his final moments, it never abandoned him.
The others—those powerful Pokémon he had captured, bought, or stolen—had left him when things turned grim. Only Murkrow remained, unwavering. And it was the one he regretted the most.
“Kraa!” Murkrow called again. Though it didn’t understand why, it felt a deep kinship with the human before it.
It should’ve been their first meeting. It shouldn’t have felt this way. But Murkrow didn’t attack or flee when released—it merely watched him with quiet curiosity.
Aoki was momentarily stunned. In his previous life, he had struggled immensely to capture Murkrow, spending considerable time and effort to understand its nature and quirks.
So much time had been wasted—time he now mourned.
He had once only known Pokémon through a few anime episodes—some vague notion of a boy named Ash and his mysterious Pikachu. He couldn’t even name most species, let alone understand their abilities, moves, or training techniques.
In this world, it was said: a Pokémon’s potential depends on its innate talent, but its minimum achievement depends on the trainer.
Aoki had wasted so much of Murkrow’s talent simply because he didn’t understand it. Though it eventually grew powerful, it came at a heavy cost—and by then, it was too late.
He had forced Murkrow to surpass its limits too early. And in the end, even he began to forget its worth.
“Murkrow… In this life, I’ll never abandon you again.” His hand trembled slightly as it caressed Murkrow’s feathers.
“Kraa!” Murkrow responded, sensing the emotion in Aoki’s heart.
A faint smile finally formed on Aoki’s lips. Slowly, his body began to remember what it meant to smile.
But a sense of unease soon crept into his heart.
If this rebirth followed the same path as before, then this island should be the same deserted one where he had been brought—where all new trial participants were given their first Pokémon.
If he remembered correctly, it was thanks to Murkrow that he had survived this trial.
Team Rocket distributed Pokémon to all trial participants—mostly common and aggressive species like Zubat, Koffing, or Ekans. Murkrow, as far as Aoki knew, was a rare exception.
After receiving their Pokémon, the first task was to subdue it. But this wasn’t the world of a children’s cartoon—this was real. The Pokémon given by Team Rocket were wild, untrained, and aggressive. Many would attack their “trainers” the moment they were released, some even killing them and escaping.
He remembered clearly—there were 300 trial participants, all between 15 and 18 years old. After the first trial—subduing their Pokémon—only about 150 to 160 survived.
Half of them were eliminated. And elimination meant death.
By the end of the entire trial, only 50 participants would remain. These 50 would be absorbed into Team Rocket’s various squads, treated as expendable recruits. Only the top ten could choose which squad to join. And only the top three would be allowed to report to their assigned divisions as squad leaders.
The first-place winner would receive a rare starter Pokémon.
Yes—starter Pokémon were considered a luxury. Outside of the League’s elite families, they were nearly impossible to obtain in the wild. The ones awarded by Team Rocket were not only rare, but highly talented.
He recalled that in his past life, the trial’s winner chose a Bulbasaur. Thanks to that exceptional Pokémon, he rose quickly to become a regional leader within Team Rocket, with strength just shy of Elite Four level. He was seen as a potential successor to one of Team Rocket’s Four Generals.
Though Aoki performed well, the gap between them was vast. He had eventually become that man’s direct subordinate, and thus knew his rise in detail.
Brushing the sand off his tattered clothes, Aoki stood up. Then he suddenly froze.
If everything was repeating itself—if this was truly a rebirth—then thatthing should also exist.
He whispered, “System, activate.”
“Beep… Initializing chip…”
Ten seconds passed. Just as Aoki was about to give up, a mechanical voice echoed in his mind—emotionless, like a lifeless machine.
“…As expected,” he murmured.
