The group and Ramon charged to the Pokemon center. Axel was feeling horrified while watching Nidorina's wound. He didn't expect that 'horn drill' would be so devastating. Axel apologized to A multiple times but it seemed like A didn't take it to heart.
A also knew that Axel didn't do it intentionally. The nurse was checking Nidorina's condition and the group was waiting for the result. After 30 minutes the nurse came out and said,
"There is no need to worry. Nidorina is an uncommon ranked Pokemon so its defense is high. But it would need 4 days of complete rest to recover fully."
Axel and A sighed in relief when they heard it. The crazies were just dining and drinking at their usual place. Axel had felt he would be left out of the conversation after the incident but the 3 brothers were very chill.
"Damn! How is your Nidorino so powerful? It just evolved. What did you do? Did you feed it some energy drinks?", said B after taking a big gulp of beer.
"Axel, I already told you that you don't have to feel sorry for this. It was an accident, that happens to the best of us. And Nidorina is fine. She would be up and running after 4 days.", said A. A felt that Axel was still feeling bad about it.
"But seriously, what did you exactly do to Nidorino? Why is it so powerful?", asked K this time. He also wanted to know this as Nidorino is almost a rare rank Pokemon now.
"You have seen me training Nidoran in the past. I know as much as you do. I just trained it to its maximum potential.", said Axel.
Axel knew what made Nidorino so powerful. All of its stats were S ranked and he had also let it bathe in the liquid to strengthen its bones.
Plus he added 'Poison barb' in the mix when it was evolving. The group knew about the bath but A, B, and K had not cared about it. Now they were rethinking their decision on it.
Axel could not tell them about his system and getting all the ranks to S. It was his secret and he thought that there would be some major repercussions if he revealed it. MEW also had slightly warned it with its tone before.
But he did say this, "I don't know why, but my Pokemons seem to evolve at a much slower rate. Kakuna still has not evolved and I feel Nidoran also took its sweet time. So, since the evolution time is longer, they could strengthen their body stats more and the increment of their powers after evolution is massive."
"Maybe we could get an 'Everstone' and test this theory.", said B. "We could do that, but we need a higher quality 'Everstone' for it. Lower quality has many impurities and could stop Pokemons growth too.", said A after thinking for some time.
"You are forgetting something. 'Everstone' is a one-time-use item. It automatically dissolves then it touches the Pokemon's head. A Pokemon could never evolve after that. Besides 'everstones' are costly. We could not afford them."
"Really? Damn! Nobody uses 'everstone' nowadays, so I didn't know.", said A.
This was also a piece of new information for Axel. Most of the items in the games are held items, 'everstone' being one of them.
Axel may have studied a lot when he came to this world, but he had left out basic things thinking that he already knew about them. But he was now realizing that it was wrong. He planned to study the basics again now.
'System, can I see other trainer's Pokemon stats?' Axel asked in his mind.
---
Ding!
It could be done after the host's skill 'Identify' level-ups.
---
'Well that's not happening soon.', thought Axel.
He had thought that, if he could see other trainer's Pokemon stats, then he could help the trio.
The atmosphere had gone downhill now as the group could not find out the reason for Nidorino's hidden powers.
But Axel broke the ice, "There is one thing that we could try."
###
"So, you want me to buy 2 'everstones' for you so that you could verify this theory.", said Mark. 4 of them nodded their head.
"You guys are not doing this to get more points from me, are you?", asked Mark with a questioning gaze.
"No, you saw how powerful Nidorino is. If we could verify this theory, it would be a huge boost for Venu family. We are doing this for the family.", stated A.
"But how could you prove this theory? Everstone is a one-time-use item. Your Pokemon would never evolve.", said Mark.
"That is another reason why we came to you. We want you to make something so that 'everstone' would not dissolve and could only be used temporarily. Just make a locket with 'everstone' as a center and put some protective barrier on it. It should not be so hard right?", said Axel
"Hmm… that would be easy for me. I could do that in 5 minutes. But Axel, do you really think that this theory could be proved? I mean, I am not questioning your intelligence. You have some bizarre imagination and all of them have shown results. But this seems way out of line even for you.
The discovery of 'everstone' was done before our great great great great great great grandfathers were born. I think at least some of them have come up with this theory and failed."
"Mark, even you know that everything has a grand purpose. From air to light even poisonous gases. Why can't 'everstones' have one too? I don't think its only use is to stop the evolution for a lifetime.
Doesn't this tickle your fancy? Besides, it is just 2 'everstones'. It is not much of an investment and you know it.", said Axel.
"Hmm… alright I am hooked. I would contact the leader about it. You would have your 'everstones' by 2 days.", concluded Mark.