The words felt clumsy, like a child wearing a suit three sizes too big. The nurse gave me a long, searching look, her head tilting slightly as she processed my sudden mobility. Without a word, she stepped forward and pced a steadying hand on my shoulder, guiding me back toward the room I had just escaped. Her touch was warm, a sharp contrast to the cold, antiseptic air of the hallway, and I felt a strange jolt where her fingers met my skin.
"Well, considering you’ve been asleep since I started my rotation here five years ago, I’m fairly surprised to see you standing at all, let alone looking for snacks," she said. Her voice was melodic but carried a weight of professional exhaustion.
"Five years?" I asked, forcing a note of shock into my tone. I needed to py the part of the confused patient. If the people running this facility thought I was fully aware of the "System" or Cryo, I might never get out of here. "The st thing I remember... we were on a trip. My parents and I. We came to see Aether Paradise."
"You really don't remember the rest?" The nurse’s expression softened into pity as she helped me back onto the high-tech bed. The sheets were crisp and smelled faintly of vender. "A rockslide. You were exploring the lower grottoes. It was a miracle the recovery team found you at all, but the trauma to your nervous system was... extensive."
She spent the next few minutes checking my vitals, her fingers dancing over holographic interfaces that hummed with a soft blue light. As she spoke about the decade I had lost, I pretended to listen, but my mind was elsewhere. Cryo, the shimmering Pokémon currently invisible to the nurse, hovered near the ceiling. This wasn't an AI—it was a living creature that had somehow tethered itself to my very soul, and it was watching her as intently as I was.
"What happens now?" I asked. My eyes drifted, catching the way her uniform fit. It was a strange design, arguably too form-fitting for a high-level research facility, and it stirred something in me that felt entirely new. Ten years of puberty had apparently happened while I was out cold, and my body was reacting to her proximity with a sudden, distracting intensity.
"I have to alert the director," she expined. She gave me a look that wasn't entirely clinical—a slow, appreciative sweep of her eyes over my rejuvenated frame that made my heart hammer against my ribs. "They’ll want to run tests. But for now... rest. You’ve earned it."
Before she left, she leaned in, her scent—a mix of sterile soap and something sweet and floral—filling my senses. She gave me a pyful, lingering wink that sent a jolt of electricity straight down my spine, leaving me breathless.
I stared at the door for what felt like an eternity after it hissed shut. My skin was humming. It wasn't just the disorientation of waking up after ten years; it was as if every nerve ending in my body had been turned up to the maximum setting. I looked down at my hands—they were calloused, thick-knuckled, and steady.
"Optimized," I whispered. The word felt heavy.
When the door opened again an hour ter, the clinical atmosphere of the room evaporated. Nurse Joy didn't come in with a tray or a tablet. She walked in with a deliberate, slow sway, her b coat unbuttoned just enough to show the strain of her uniform underneath. The air in the small room suddenly felt thick, like the moments before a massive lightning strike.
"I’ve spent five years looking at you, Landon," she said, her voice dropping into a low, husky register that vibrated right through my chest. "Five years wondering what it would be like when those eyes finally opened. You have no idea what it does to a woman, watching a man grow into himself while he's trapped in a dream."
She didn't wait for an invitation. She sat on the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping under her weight, and reached out. Her fingers were cool against my neck, but where she touched me, it felt like a brand. She leaned in, her breath hot against my ear, and I could feel the frantic, heavy thud of her heart matching mine.
The second our lips met, the "System" didn't just flicker—it roared.
It was a collision of ten years of suppressed energy and her five years of mounting obsession. I reached up, my hands found her waist, and the sheer strength in my grip made her gasp into the kiss. My body wasn't just functioning; it was dominating. Every movement felt reinforced by the system Cryo had installed, giving me a stamina and a raw, physical presence that felt legendary.
We moved together in a fever of heat and friction. I felt the silkiness of her skin against the rougher texture of mine, the way her body arched and molded itself to me as if she were finally being completed. Every muffled cry she let out against my shoulder felt like a victory, a testament to the power surging through my new frame. I didn't just feel like a patient anymore; I felt like a king ciming his first tribute.
The room was filled with the sound of heavy breathing and the rhythmic creak of the medical bed as I gave her everything I had, driven by a primal instinct that Cryo had carefully cultivated. By the time the sun began to bleed through the window shutters, we were both spent, yered in a fine sheen of sweat, the silence of the room now heavy with the scent of our union.
[Connection Successful,] Cryo’s voice cut through the afterglow, sharp and cold as ice. [The Paradise Poké Ball System is now operational. You have successfully anchored your first node.]
Joy kissed me, a deep, lingering mark of ownership, before she gathered her things. Her eyes were different now—no longer the tired nurse, but a woman who had been fundamentally changed by what we’d shared. She slipped out of the room, leaving me alone with the glowing holographic screen.
[PP System Menu]
: Standard capture devices can now be modified.
: (LOCKED - N/A)
: (LOCKED - N/A)
: (LOCKED - N/A)I stared at the "Sex TM" option. It sounded like something designed to turn pleasure into a weapon, a way to ensure total loyalty.
"Cryo," I muttered, sitting up and feeling the explosive power still coiled in my muscles. "Who is the woman arriving today? And how do I get my hands on a Poké Ball in this pce?"
[She is the daughter of the President,] Cryo replied, its wings shimmering with a predatory blue light. [She carries the key to the Ultra Wormholes. And as for the Poké Balls... the Nurse left a gift in the supply cabinet. You have the strength now, Landon. Use it.]
I stood up, my bare feet silent on the floor. I didn't need a mirror to know I looked like a threat. I found the pants and the scout jacket Joy had hidden for me. As I pulled them on, I felt the weight of a single, customized Poké Ball in the pocket.
It was time to go to work.