The last week of the holidays quickly went by, and my parents resumed their journey while the academy began as well. Except for seeing classmates again nothing outstanding happened the first two weeks. Lessons continued right where they left off and I had no problem shifting to school mode, unlike others who already yearned for the next holiday.
Well, actually there was something to take note of but it had nothing to do with the Academy, but with Ace instead. The lucky bastard got a Chimchar from his parents as a "present" and obviously "humble" bragged about it as soon as we met.
I just had to raise an eyebrow when he did for him to remember my line-up, which made him cough in embarrassment and act as he had not bragged at all. I just smiled at his antics but Weiss couldn't hold in her laugh, which made Ace flush a deep red.
Anyway, as I said the last two weeks were pretty monotone. However, that ended while I was sitting in Math just wishing for the lesson to end. I was surveying the situation inside Utopia since I had no interest in paying attention to the stuff the teacher was mentioning when I noticed that Nyx seemed to be really happy.
She told me she felt her strength increase and after I checked her status, I saw that she reached the (high) silver stage, which meant that she could evolve into Umbreon this evening.
I managed to muddle my way through math and the next two lessons and then quickly went home. After that, I made sure everything I needed for the evolution was prepared. I made a salve for her as well. I used some Umbreon, Mightyena, and Absol blood for the dark energy.
I didn't use the blood of others since their species were he really not known to be nice, while Mightyena were pack Pokemon and Absol were helpful Pokemon with a bad reputation. I do not think it was necessary to explain why I used Umbreon blood.
I also added Clefairy blood because of their association with the moon and their nice attitude, hoping it would mitigate whatever negative influence the change to the dark type would have even further. There were obviously a few more supporting materials, but the total cost was surprisingly much lower than the one for a Nidoking or Nidoqueen.
The total worth of the stuff was 4.000.000 Poke including the Moon Crystal, which was the most expensive one. Still, I only paid about 1.500.000 since I got the rest through Utopia.
After I was done with my check, I had to wait until evening to initiate the evolution. It was going to happen inside Utopia so I went inside with everyone that was outside with me as soon as it turned dark.
Everyone gathered in Nyx's area and I began doing my pre-evolution sequence. I placed D-rank Moon Stones around Nyx, applied the salve on her while she complained about me dirtying her pristine fur, and put the Moon Crystal in front of her before I stepped out of the circle.
She placed her paw on the crystal and began to glow. I was honestly not expecting her to unlock a gene during the evolution, but I wouldn't say no to it if it happened. It took a bit more than a minute for the light to die down and she looked great.
She was much larger than regular Umbreon who were on average 80 cm tall and 100 cm long, 150 cm including the tail. Nyx on the other hand was about 120 cm tall and 150 cm long, 225 cm including her tail.
As soon as the evolution was over she bounded over to me and jumped at me forcing me to catch her. I managed to avoid being bowled over and successfully kept myself from uttering the joke about her weight that came to my mind at that moment.
After that wise decision, I praised her new looks and scratched her behind her ears making her purr. The others chose that moment to surround us to congratulate her. I checked her status before placing her down and let her talk with the others while I went over it.
'Name: Nyx
Species: Eevee -> Umbreon
Gender: Female
Age: 5+ years
-
Type: Dark
Potential: Light Purple (16.98%) -> (47.82%)
Genetic modifiers: None
Abilities: Synchronize, Inner Focus
Talents: Stealthy
Affinities: Normal, Dark
-
Bond: Mikail (strong)
Quirk: Lively, Curious
----
Parameters:
Stage: Silver Stage (high)
Vitality: C
Strength: D
Endurance: C
Agility: C
Energy Capacity: D
Energy Density: C
----
Immunity:
Psychic
-
Resistance:
Ghost (Minor), Dark (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Bug (Minor), Fairy (Minor)
-
Standardized:
Fighting
----
Condition: Healthy, Happy
----
Masteries:
Neutral Energy Manipulation (Proficient)
Dark Energy Manipulation (Beginner)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
Double Edge
-
Beginner:
Growl, Tackle, Tail Whip, Helping Hand
-
Proficient:
Baby-Doll Eyes, Baton Pass, Charm, Sand Attack, Take Down, Refresh
-
Advanced:
Quick Attack, Swift, Shadow Ball, Iron Tail, Endure, Focus Energy, Dig, Bite, Stored Power
-
Mastered:
Copycat, Work Up'
The obvious ones were the species and type change. Her potential increased by a bit more than 30%, which was good considering that her potential was light purple. This was more than 10% more than what the Nido-pair got as a result of their evolution outside of Utopia.
However, I quickly decided that there were too many factors that could be responsible for that difference. It looked like I was going to have to do another species-specific large-scale experiment to study the difference between evolution outside and inside of Utopia. I could focus on different species afterward.
Anyway, her abilities changed to the ones typical for an Umbreon. The interesting bit was her affinity section. This was the first time one of my Pokemon had its typing replaced instead of just gaining a second one, and it seemed Nyx kept her normal affinity.
It did make sense for Pokemon to keep their old affinities. Unlike the type relation chart which changed with the typing due to the body adapting to the introduction of the new type, the old affinity did not need to change.
The same was true for her as well, her type chart changed to the one the dark type had, but thanks to her successful resistance training the (Minor) fighting weakness that came with the dark type was still neutral.
The last change was the addition of dark energy manipulation, and it started at beginner mastery, just it did for Seb and Gaia. I was not sure if that was due to the materials I prepared or because she had raised Bite to advanced mastery before her evolution.
It could have been a combination of both, but I was leaning more towards the latter. I was pretty sure that unlike with Seb and Gaia, who had some heart blood among their materials, Nyx had nothing among her materials that could have led to a rise in her dark energy manipulation.
Anyway, once I was done checking the changes I pulled out a lot of ingredients and we had a little celebration after which it was time to sleep. The next two weeks went by without anything important happening.
I was starting to think the second month would be like that as well. However, during the first week, Mr. Koetsuji announced at the end of our "Combat Preparation" class, that we, the third-year students, would participate in a 1 week-long joint excursion with the Knight Academy.
The excursion would happen during the first week of the next month and participation was obligatory. Those that did not participate would fail the "Combat Preparation" class.
Mr. Koetsuji, Ms. Yu, Ms. Brown, and Mr. Smiles would be responsible for overseeing us during the week. Mr. Koetsuji handed out forms that had to be signed by our legal guardians. He told us that we had to return the signed paper by the last lesson of this month.
I looked it over and the paper mentioned the excursion. That it would be held during the first week of the 28th month, and that the location would be in the outer areas in the southwestern wilderness zone between South and West Rota.
It mentioned that the excursion was mandatory and that failing to participate would result in failing the "Combat Preparation" class. Then it went on to list what we could bring along and what was banned.
Finally, it mentioned that the teachers and academies were not liable for any injuries or worse if they had happened due to the student acting outside of the rules and regulations set by the overseeing teachers and academies.
'Wow, that kinda reminds me of a certain liability waiver that happened in a certain forest during a certain exam.' I thought to myself sarcastically.
*sigh*
Being the only one that would get my references I had no choice but to tell them to myself. Anyway, I put away the liability waiver went to my next class and the rest of the day went normally. The next day after homeroom Mr. Burns told me to stay back.
"Mikail, I know that Akisame, err, Mr. Koetsuji told you about the excursion next month. I want you to know that unlike the others it's not obligatory for you, due to you being both a first-year and third-year student.
You have the option to sit out this as well as any other such excursion and simply make up for them the next year or the year after. IF you do plan to participate, I need your parents to sign the waiver since your agreement is not enough in this case." He told me seriously.
"I thought my parents gave me the right to make the decisions?" I inquired, and Mr. Burns made a so-so gesture.
"They did, but liability waivers are not included in those privileges. The decision concerning skipping a year is not the same as accepting something that may result in bodily harm," was his reply.
I knew that he was right. Besides, I was 100% sure that my parents would allow me to participate because I was definitely going to participate. Mom and dad were going to visit during the weekend in 2 weeks, so I simply had to let them sign the paper during that time.
The days flew by with nothing important happening. The only thing I did besides attending classes and training was occasionally meeting up with Ace and Weiss after the lessons were done. That and chilling once in a while with Marlene, Danielle, and Henry from my first-year class, with Sorrel joining in from time to time as well.
On Palkiday, two days before my parent's visit Shino completed his limit breaking. Coincidentally, he had also managed to raise the mastery of Ancient Power to advanced just the day before that.
That seemed to fulfill the condition for Yanma's evolution, but I decided to wait until he completed his limit-breaking before making a decision, and it happened just a day later.
After thinking for a bit, I decided to have him evolve first before breaking through so that the limit-breaking bonus applied to the racial values of Yanmega, not Yanma. Otherwise, Shino's starting point would be lower by a grade for many of his parameters.
The whole thing went down inside Utopia. He first evolved to Yanmega after I was done with laying out/applying the things I prepared. Afterward, he directly broke through to the silver stage.
Only after that did we congratulate him. We obviously celebrated Shino's success as well, especially since he had a double happy event. Still, I did not forget to check his status screen while all that happened.
'Name: Shino
Species: Yanmega
Gender: Male
Age: 9+ years
-
Type: Bug, Flying
Potential: Blue (84.53%) -> Deep Blue (7.36%) -> Light Purple (67.36%)
Genetic variation: Ancient
Abilities: Speed Boost, Tinted Lens
Talents: Danger Sense
Affinities: Bug, Flying
-
Bond: Mikail (weak)
Quirks: None
----
Parameters:
Stage: Silver Stage (mid)
Vitality: D
Strength: D
Endurance: D
Agility: D
Energy Capacity: C
Energy Density: E
----
Resistance:
Grass (Major), Fighting (Major), Ground (Minor), Bug (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Electric (Minor), Fire (Minor), Ice (Minor), Flying (Minor), Rock (Major)
-
Standardized:
Electric (in-progress)
----
Condition: Healthy, Happy, Excited
----
Masteries:
Bug E. Manipulation (Proficient),
Flying/Air E. Manipulation (Proficient)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
U-Turn
-
Beginner:
Tackle, Sonic Boom, Uproar, String Shot, Pursuit,
-
Proficient:
Foresight, Gust, Quick Attack, Double Team, Detect, Hypnosis, Wing Attack, Screech, Air Slash
-
Advanced:
Aerial Ace, Bug Buzz, Ancient Power
-
Mastered:
N/A'
The most obvious change besides his species was his potential. It first improved to deep blue thanks to the materials I provided during his evolution and then improved once more after his breakthrough raising to light purple.
He did not manage to upgrade his ancient gene, nor did he unlock a second one. However, there was a change in his abilities. While Speed Boost remained the same, which was a relief since the ability was pretty awesome, Compound Eyes changed to Tinted Lens instead.
I personally thought powering up "non-effective" moves was better than raising accuracy, so the ability-change was a welcome one. Other than that only his entry to the (mid) silver stage was worth mentioning. Oh, and the fact that our bond could upgrade to "strong" now.
Anyway, we ate some grilled Magikarp and Pidgey wings, and I told them about a few adventures of a certain straw hat-wearing captain as well as some missions of a blonde knucklehead.
All of them listened attentively, even if some preferred one story over the other. Thankfully, no physical disagreements had happened because of their different preferences and they had not started bashing each other as well.
I took a look at my watch and once I saw that I had been talking for over two hours I stopped much to the discontent of some. Still, I told them that I would continue some other time and everyone went to sleep. The next day went by calmly as well and on Kyoday, right on time for breakfast, my parents showed up.
-----------------------------
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