Team Rocket's Second-in-Command!

December Double Drop!

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As a seasoned lottery enthusiast, Luo Yuan approached the system's gacha with ease.

Soon, the familiar mechanical voice echoed in his mind.

[Drawing reward... please wait...]

[Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have obtained "Psychic Affinity."]

[Psychic Affinity: Boosts the Host's closeness with Psychic-type Pokémon, significantly reduces damage from Psychic moves, and increases the power of Psychic moves when commanding Psychic Pokémon.]

"...."

Following his acquisition of Fire Affinity, Luo Yuan now had a second ability in the same category: Psychic Affinity.

"Why couldn't it have been Ghost Affinity? Even Dragon Affinity would have been nice...."

Luo Yuan muttered, unable to hold back his disappointment.

It's not that he was greedy, but if he'd drawn one of those two—especially Ghost Affinity—he'd have headed straight to the Sevii Islands to challenge Deoxys right then and there.

After all, his Dragapult and Gengar were no joke.

But, unfortunately, it was Psychic Affinity...

It felt like such a waste. After all, he didn't even have a single Psychic-type Pokémon in his lineup right now.

"Maybe it's because I'm challenging a Psychic-type Gym," he speculated.

Since he'd already drawn it, though, there wasn't much he could do to change the outcome. Luo Yuan could only console himself with the thought that Deoxys was still a Psychic-type Pokémon, so maybe this Psychic Affinity would help against it.

With that in mind, Luo Yuan selected to accept the ability.

Yet, the moment he did, his expression turned peculiar.

"This... affects me too?"

He hadn't anticipated this.

When he received the Psychic Affinity, he felt an intense surge of psychic energy flowing through his mind, the quantity and quality of it rapidly increasing.

It only stopped after his abilities had grown by nearly fifty percent.

It seemed that he, too, received the enhancement of Psychic Affinity.

For the first time, he could tangibly feel the power boost granted by a type affinity.

Testing it out, Luo Yuan casually raised his hand. In the training area, his Gyarados, who was sparring with Dragonair and was just about to execute Aqua Tail, was suddenly lifted into the air.

Gyarados, now airborne, looked angry at first, but then it realized this familiar feeling—it had felt this before.

Turning its gaze downward, Gyarados spotted Luo Yuan and looked at him with a questioning expression, as if wondering what antics its Trainer was up to now.

Lost in thought, Luo Yuan didn't notice the look from his Gyarados.

He didn't keep Gyarados suspended for long and soon set it back down.

After experiencing the change, Luo Yuan had to admit that while he'd been able to do this before, it had always required considerable effort. Now, it was practically effortless.

"Are humans considered Pokémon, too...?" he mused.

Luo Yuan felt a sense of excitement at the possibilities.

Would his psychic powers now have the potential to surpass Sabrina's?

Just then, Sabrina walked up, holding a freshly squeezed glass of juice.

She studied him carefully, her nose twitching as she frowned slightly. "Did you put on some kind of cologne today? For some reason, I feel completely drawn to you."

Luo Yuan was speechless. "You know me—I never wear cologne..."

Sabrina's reaction seemed to confirm one thing, though. Psychic Affinity affected psychic humans as well.

It seemed the system really did categorize humans as Pokémon.

But, in a way, that wasn't so far-fetched. People in the Pokémon world shared many similarities with Pokémon.

Ignoring Luo Yuan's answer, Sabrina pressed closer and nuzzled him affectionately, almost like a cat wanting to be petted.

"Hey, you look way too... cat-like right now," Luo Yuan couldn't help but tease.

"I just feel like there's something about you that's really attracting my psychic power," Sabrina said, rolling her eyes. "And, by the way, you didn't seem to mind it last time...."

"....."

At this, Luo Yuan chose to fall silent.

Never argue with a woman.

---

In the end, Luo Yuan had to leave the Saffron Gym.

He'd originally intended to stay for a couple more days.

However, his Psychic Affinity had thrown him a curveball, causing Sabrina to cling to him every day. She'd claimed that her psychic training progressed twice as fast around him.

It got to the point where Luo Yuan hadn't dared to call Misty for days.

With no other choice, he decided to leave Saffron Gym early and head toward Celadon Gym.

Walking down the streets of Saffron City, Luo Yuan received a call from Matori.

"Hello? Matori!"

"Congratulations, youngest board member of Silph Co."

It seemed Matori was aware of his recent promotion at Silph Co.

"You didn't call just to say congrats, right?" Luo Yuan asked.

After knowing Matori for so long, he understood her well.

Matori was highly efficient and would never call just to chat without reason.

If she was on the phone, there was definitely something important.

"Hmph, it's about that thing you asked me for!" Matori scoffed. "I've already handled it for you!"

"That thing... Oh! I remember now. You managed to get it done this fast?"

It took Luo Yuan a moment to recall what she was referring to.

After receiving Charmander from Professor Oak, he had asked Matori to enlist Team Rocket's researchers and programmers to create a dynamic Pokémon data model.

This model was linked to Team Rocket's Pokémon database.

By periodically scanning and uploading data on his Pokémon, it could cross-reference it with the database's top models at the same level, easily pinpointing weaknesses and areas that needed improvement.

In internet terms, it was essentially "big data meets Pokémon training."

Compared to the traditional approach of relying solely on experience and intuition, this method was far more scientific.

Luo Yuan had expected that the model would take a while to develop; he hadn't anticipated it being completed so soon.

"I took a risk on your behalf," Matori replied. "If Boss Giovanni finds out, I'll be held accountable."

"Thank you," Luo Yuan replied earnestly.

Considering that Team Rocket's members were all tied up with the Mewtwo project, Matori had taken a big risk in sparing people to help him.

"I don't have time for chit-chat. The scanner and the computer with the model data are at Team Rocket's Celadon City base. You can pick them up there."

With that, Matori abruptly ended the call, skipping her usual banter with him—a rare occurrence that showed the Mewtwo project was reaching a critical stage.

Luo Yuan understood.

"This will make training a whole lot easier."

With this model system, he wouldn't have to worry as much about basic training for his Pokémon. Now, he could focus solely on tactics.

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T/N: Deoxy's is gonna get one hell of a drug when Luo Boy catches it

I hope you'll enjoy my Triple D's this week!

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