The group casually walks back through the forest while fighting the pokemon that catch their eye. When the group arrives at the lake, they confirm that Clanton City isn't too much further.
Booth's team follows the road from the lake to the city until they reach their apartment.
Booth and Damon begin cleaning the gear, and storing the food from the trip as soon as they get back. Since they only stayed for one night, there isn't much to clean. The amount of meat they brought back, however, is enough for the three of them to share for over a week.
Since there's not much to do, Ben begins working on the new ancient art from the art stone. Booth and Damon hand their pokemon to Ben, and look forward to using the art for themselves.
In the meantime, Damon makes a post to sell the Chieftain. With the pokemon's abilities as good as they are, Damon thinks the Mismagius will sell for at least 4000 credits. Booth is surprised about the amount, but he doesn't doubt it.
"That's just the minimum amount. The Loup City Cup is coming up in two months and I'm sure we can make a thousand more for Mismagius." Damon says.
"Is that another competition? What's it like?" Booth asks.
"I'd say it's the second biggest competition in the country. Unfortunately the main event doesn't allow tiered trainers. So if you wanted to go, you wouldn't be able to use an integrator in the event. However, there are a couple side events that allow them. Their prizes are still pretty good, and they're a lot of fun to watch."
Booth has a few goals he wants to achieve, but nothing planned so far in advance. He decides to think over the competition and make a decision later.
"Awesome, I'll look into it. Thanks Damon."
"No problem."
Booth spends the rest of the day leisurely, while looking online for more information on tier 2 trainers.
---
Feeling well rested, Booth makes his way to the Tiered trainer center to get some practice. Ben stays busy with the ancient Art, while Damon takes the Mismagius from Booth to send it off for testing.
Booth left his Pansear with Ben, but his training today didn't need Pansear anyway.
Lately, Booth hasn't just gained new senses, but has been able to tell the differences between pieces of power just by looking. His most recent achievement was being able to tell apart moves with the same type by their power. From subtle changes like magnemite's body getting a brighter sheen to a pokemon's hair standing up, Booth can guess which type of move is coming out.
As he is training, Booth is able to sense something faint in the air. Like finding a polar bear in a snowstorm, looking away for a second would make it difficult to find again. The faint energy looks like thousands of threads running between him and his pokemon.
Booth stands in awe of the sight. He is hesitant to look away for even a second. He identifies the energy as his link.
'I never thought I would get a good look at my link, it makes me curious as to how an integrator is made. When I look at the energy, it seems to share a lot of similarities to the art stones I've seen so far.
The energy in the link and Art stones doesn't seem to come from pokemon, yet it seems very compatible with pokemon's power. If this is true then it means there's more than just a pokemon's power. It reminds me of the moss rocks in the games. Though, instead of moss rocks, a pokemon domain may be something like a special area for pokemon.'
Booth works on a couple theories while experimenting with the threads.
Booth waves his hand through the threads, but his hand simply goes through them. He moves around and the link threads follow him. Booth tries numerous different methods to take control of this energy, but he fails each time.
'It feels like I'm trying to get a foothold, but I keep slipping. The energy isn't moving. It keeps rejecting my attempts to make use of it. It doesn't help that I can barely see what I'm working with.'
'I'm interested in this new energy, but this is probably something that I should leave for later. I love to explore new powers, but I don't think I'm going to get anything but frustrated.'
Booth spins the bone club around in Cubone's hand for a while until deciding what to do.
'Alright, my main plan for today was to advance further through tier 2 anyway. My Arts are looking better, but they still need some work. Additionally, I need to adapt my Arts to each of my pokemon's strengths.'
'Since I unlocked almost 70% of Rebound, I'd like to learn the rest of the Art before trying anything new. The Zoroark fight was a great test to see how far I've come with the Art. One of the things I noticed in the battle was the improved longevity of the Art. Although, I had to add more power to the Art mid-battle. Even if I don't supplement the Art with more power, the time I can use the Art is certainly longer than before.
What I need to learn is a faster strike with Rebound. The rebounds are great for building up damage already, so I would like to increase the speed as much as I can. Rebound's Art manual only details ways to increase the power. They might increase speed as well so I don't want to count them out, but the fact that they expend power faster puts it a little above my current skill level.'
No one ever got anywhere without taking risks, so Booth picks up the bone club and begins to focus. Rebound's familiar power comes into action. Rebound's power is thicker than glue, but feels like fire. Attempting to control the power rashly can be painful.
Booth has gotten used to the process, so even after being stung he manages to shake it off and keep the power in line. He has Cubone walk towards a training machine, while he turns it on from the side. A row of stone-like targets is slid forward on a pair of rails.
Booth brings the club down on the first target, while carefully watching his power and footwork. He maintains his balance as he brings the club down and back.
"Crack! Thump!" The sound of the bone beating against the targets repeats like the steady rhythm of a drum. Booth goes through multiple sturdy targets as he works on improving his Art. Before he takes a break, he uses almost 20 Solid and Liquid power ups trying to get just a little faster.
Booth starts up again once he's cleared his head. Booth remembers how Rebound's strikes bounce and determines the next best angle to aim for.
'The knowledge I've gained is great for predicting where my hits will fall after a rebound. For now I think I have a good method to get more hits. By having my punches and strikes follow a certain path and order I can make them combo into each other reliably.
I still need to find what first hits I can use to start my combo, but I'm thinking this method could work. The issue is that the combo strikes need more power than a regular attack with rebound does. If I don't put enough power in the attack, the rebound will be weak and the hits won't connect well.
At the very least I want to make it so the first hit doesn't cost so much. My first hit can be pretty flexible, so it shouldn't be too hard to do.'
Booth rotates through different attack patterns with Cubone and then Magnemite. He is ecstatic when he finally gets the Art to connect well. He is so satisfied with the sequence that he gives a name for the techniques.
He calls the set of attacks for Cubone, Rebound Bone Rush. While he names Magnemite's combo, Rebound Barrage. He has an idea for Pansear, but it will have to wait.
Booth has been feeling mentally tired for a while now. Seeing the evidence of his work, he is filled with a sense of accomplishment. A part of him wants to test his combo attacks against a real opponent, but he thinks it's better to rest first.
After leaving the training room, Booth briefly records his new discoveries in his notebook. Afterwards Booth thinks over his time.
'Things are coming together nicely. Making moves was fun, but something about making a technique is so much better. Creating moves are more like creative experiments. However, without a clear purpose they aren't as fulfilling. Techniques, on the other hand, put moves, Arts, and a pokemon's abilities together as one.'
Booth closes his notebook as he wraps up his thoughts.
"Being a trainer is amazing."