Pokémon: I’m Really Not a Team Rocket Spy

As for why Maki chose Cottonee as his second Pokémon, the answer lay in its terrifying Ability.

Prankster—aside from the overpowered Wonder Guard, Prankster was undoubtedly among the top-tier Abilities in the Pokémon world. The reason? Priority moves.

However, perhaps because its effect wasn't immediately obvious, people had always associated Prankster with mischievous Pokémon without realizing just how powerful it truly was. It had long been dismissed as a "useless" Ability.

Only Maki, as a transmigrator, truly understood its potential. Well, now there was one more person who knew.

Back when he was with Team Rocket, Maki had specifically tested this Ability with a Murkrow, proving its effectiveness beyond doubt. He had even shared this information with Giovanni.

Yet, despite collecting a large number of Prankster Pokémon, Giovanni chose to keep the information under wraps.

For Cottonee, Prankster wasn't just about annoying opponents—it also allowed it to learn a very special move: Nature Power!

Nature Power changed depending on the environment and terrain effects.

For example:

Under normal conditions, it transformed into Tri Attack.

In sandy terrain, it became Earth Power.

Inside caves, it turned into Power Gem.

On grassy terrain, it could become Energy Ball, Moonblast, Psychic, or Thunderbolt.

If that were all, Nature Power would still be strong, but many Pokémon could learn it. There wouldn't be a compelling reason to choose Cottonee specifically.

But here's the key—Nature Power isn't classified as an offensive move; it's a Status move!

That meant it could benefit from Prankster's priority boost!

"This booklet contains the information for each available Cottonee."

A staff member handed Maki a small booklet that had been hanging on the wall, detailing the stats and abilities of each Cottonee.

There were only eight Cottonee in total. Since they weren't particularly popular Pokémon, the breeding facility wouldn't have too many available at once.

The first one had Nature Power and Encore as its Egg Moves, which perfectly met Maki's needs. Unfortunately, its Ability wasn't Prankster—it had Chlorophyll instead.

To be fair, Chlorophyll was the more commonly preferred Ability for Cottonee trainers. After all, boosted Speed under sunlight was a tangible advantage, whereas Prankster was often misunderstood as a "blank slate" Ability, and Infiltrator, the third possible Ability, was rarely useful.

Still, since Cottonee could naturally learn Nature Power through leveling up, this one was a pass.

The second one? No Egg Moves at all, and its Ability was Infiltrator, the least useful option. Another pass.

Looking through the rest, Maki quickly noticed that only two had Prankster—likely because the breeding facility didn't see much value in that Ability and hadn't specifically bred for it.

Examining them more closely, one had Worry Seed as an Egg Move, while the other had Tickle.

To be honest, neither was exactly what Maki was looking for.

After another round of checking, he found that both of these Prankster Cottonee were just average in terms of potential—nothing particularly outstanding.

"Do you have any Cottonee eggs?"

Since none of the available Cottonee were suitable, Maki figured he might as well check the eggs. Though, truth be told, he wasn't feeling too optimistic.

Would he have to go searching in the forest instead? But wild Cottonee lived in colonies, and unless Maki wanted to be swarmed by an angry mob of Whimsicott, that wasn't a great idea.

While Whimsicott were generally friendly toward humans, that was only if mutual trust had been established. If someone waltzed in and tried to steal their young, they wouldn't just stand by and watch.

Besides, finding a lone Cottonee in the wild was extremely difficult.

Hearing Maki's request, the staff member immediately assumed this deal was a bust. After all, if none of the available Cottonee met his standards, the unhatched eggs probably wouldn't either.

However, as a dedicated employee, he wasn't about to give up on such a valuable customer.

"If the Cottonee here don't meet your expectations, perhaps another Pokémon might?" he suggested, leading Maki to the egg storage room.

Before they entered, the staff member gave a final warning:

"These Pokémon eggs are extremely delicate, so please be careful."

Maki nodded in understanding. If he accidentally broke a few eggs, he wasn't sure his current finances could cover the cost—League-certified eggs were top quality, but they came with an equally high price tag.

"These are the records for our Pokémon eggs," the staff member explained, handing over another document. "However, we can't guarantee that the Pokémon inside will meet your exact requirements. Breeding isn't an exact science, after all."

There were significantly more eggs available than the previously listed Cottonee, but the descriptions were vague at best.

For example, "This egg might have Chlorophyll" and "This one may inherit Fake Tears."

Nothing was confirmed.

Still, at least the League breeding facilities were trustworthy. In private facilities, breeders often exaggerated the potential of their Pokémon eggs—claiming they carried rare moves, only for buyers to hatch ordinary Pokémon instead.

"Charmander, why don't you hop off my backpack for a bit?"

Maki glanced through the records before looking back at his starter Pokémon with a sigh.

It wasn't that he lacked physical endurance—he might not be on Ash Ketchum's insane level, but he was still in pretty good shape.

But carrying a Charmander around for so long was starting to take its toll.

"Char!"

Charmander nodded obediently, unzipped Maki's backpack, and jumped down with a soft 'plop'.

"Be careful," Maki warned. "If you break anything, I'll have no choice but to leave you here as payment."

"Char?!"

Charmander visibly panicked at the idea, immediately becoming extra cautious.

However, as it climbed out of the backpack, another object unexpectedly floated out alongside it…

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