'What are you talking about?' The Gible's mental voice carried confusion mixed with the faintest hint of desperate hope.
"I can see something the others can't. Something incredible inside you that's waiting to come out."
I extended my hand slowly, palm up in a gesture of peace. "If you trust me, if you let me help you, I promise you'll never be bullied again. You'll be stronger than all of them combined. Stronger than they could ever dream of being."
The Gible turned its head slightly, studying me with that one amber eye. For a long moment, neither of us moved.
'Why would you help me? What do you get out of it? Nobody does anything for free, especially not for a failed specimen.'
"Honestly?" I smiled despite myself. "You're exactly the kind of challenge I've been waiting for my entire life. Taking something everyone else has given up on and proving them all wrong? That's what I live for."
The Gible stared at me for what felt like an eternity. Then, slowly, it limped out of the burrow entrance and sat in front of me, its amber eyes meeting mine directly.
'Okay. I'll trust you. But if you're lying to me, if this is some cruel joke, I swear I'll bite you before I die.'
"I'm not lying," I promised, pulling up the system interface with a thought.
The Prism Transformation option glowed in front of me, visible only to my eyes:
[PRISM TRANSFORMATION AVAILABLE]
Target: Gible
Cost: 250 GP
Warning: This action cannot be undone. Proceed?
"This might feel weird," I warned the Gible, my hand hovering over the confirmation button. "But I need you to trust me for just a few more seconds."
The Gible nodded, a slight, hesitant movement that spoke volumes about how much courage it was taking to believe in me.
I selected [YES].
The transformation was instantaneous.
Silver light exploded from the Gible's body, so bright I had to shield my eyes with my arm.
The entire tunnel illuminated, shadows fleeing to the furthest corners as the light intensified, pulsed, and then began to change the Gible's very essence.
The dull gray scales rippled like liquid, color flooding back into them, but not the blue-gray of a normal Gible. Instead, a deep, brilliant crimson spread across its body like polished rubies catching sunlight.
The scales hardened, taking on a metallic sheen that caught the light and reflected it like armor plating.
The Gible's body straightened as if an invisible burden had been lifted from its shoulders.
The bent fin snapped back into place with an audible pop. Muscle definition appeared where there had only been weakness and atrophy.
Its eyes, both of them now fully open, blazed with renewed amber fire that burned with intensity and purpose.
When the light finally faded, standing before me was something that had never existed in any Pokémon game I'd ever played.
A Prism Gible.
A shiny variant.
Absolute perfection.
The Gible looked down at itself, flexing claws that now gleamed like steel blades fresh from the forge.
It opened its mouth, revealing teeth that looked sharp enough to bite through iron, and let out a roar that echoed through the tunnels with genuine power.
Not a weak cry. Not a defeated whimper. A challenge to the world itself.
Then it turned to me, eyes wide with disbelief and pure, unfiltered joy, and I heard its voice in my mind again.
'I can feel it! I'm strong! I'm actually strong! My body doesn't hurt anymore! I can move without collapsing! What did you do to me?!'
It jumped, literally launched itself three feet straight up into the air, and landed with a solid thunk that cracked the stone beneath its feet. Then it jumped again, spinning in mid-air, laughing in that guttural Gible way that sounded like rocks grinding together but somehow conveyed pure happiness.
'Thank you! Thank you so much! I don't know what you did, but I've never felt like this in my entire life! I'm not broken anymore! I'm not worthless! I'm something amazing!'
I pulled up its stat screen, and the system displayed the information in clean, organized text:
POKÉMON: Gible
Level: 1
Type: Dragon/Steel
Status: Prism (Shiny Variant)
Nature: Docile
Stats:
HP: 12
ATK: 6
DEF: 5
SP. ATK: 5
SP. DEF: 5
SPEED: 5
Moves: Tackle, Sand Attack
Ability: Rough Skin
Bond Level: ★★★☆☆ (Grateful)
Level 1 with entirely base stats. Its IVs had to be 0.
And yet, with that Dragon/Steel typing and the Prism transformation complete, this Gible already had more potential than anything in that terrarium above.
The defensive typing alone was incredible, resisting ten different types and only being weak to Fighting and Ground moves.
'You made me better than the rest of them,' the Gible said, its mental voice trembling with emotion. 'Better than the ones who laughed at me and called me worthless. Better than I ever thought I could possibly be. I don't understand how, but you saw something in me that nobody else could see.'
"We're just getting started," I told it, standing up and brushing stone dust off my jeans. "This is just step one of your journey. You're going to evolve. You're going to become something incredible that makes legends look ordinary. And no one, absolutely no one, is ever going to make you feel weak again."
The Gible looked up at me, and I felt something click into place in my chest.
A bond.
A partnership.
A promise between trainer and Pokémon.
[CONGRATULATIONS! GIBLE HAS REGISTERED AS YOUR STARTER POKÉMON]
[QUEST COMPLETED: Rescue the Failed Specimen]
[REWARD: +100 GP, Gible Registered, Bond Level Increased]
[NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: First Steps]
Objective: Train Gible to Level 5
Reward: 50 GP, New Move Unlocked
I grinned at the notification. "Come on, partner. Let's get out of here and show everyone what you've become."
I turned and started walking back toward the terrarium, following the path I'd taken down into the restricted tunnels. Behind me, I heard the soft tap-tap-tap of claws on stone.
I glanced back over my shoulder.
The Prism Gible was following me, moving slowly at first as if it wasn't sure this was real or if I might suddenly change my mind.
Then it picked up speed, trotting to keep pace with me, its crimson scales gleaming in the dim light like living rubies.
Just like a starter Pokémon in Pokémon Yellow, following their trainer through Kanto for the very first time.
I smiled and kept walking toward the light of the terrarium above.
Behind me, my Gible followed without hesitation.
And somewhere deep in the system interface, a notification blinked quietly:
[GP Remaining: 350]
[Genetic Optimization Available at 500 GP]
[Continue caring for your Pokémon to earn more GP]