My parents left a week after Rayquaza's Ascent and I focused on training those that were not too far off from breaking through. That obviously did not mean I forgot the others, far from it, but I oversaw the training of the group that had yet to breakthrough more actively.
One such member was Optimus/Butterfree. A month after our arrival in Rota he had successfully created Powder Bomb, and the move had proven to be pretty strong since it could inflict three status conditions at once. The only "big" problem had been the time it took to execute the move but that time was shortened with higher mastery.
Another "disadvantage" was the slow speed of the powder cloud, but that was something all powder moves had in common, and we already had ways to deal with that, like using Gust to propel the cloud.
Nonetheless, after raising the Powder Bomb to proficiency, we began combining String Shot with the individual powder moves, since the flying speed of String Shot was much faster and the move could additionally slow down the target.
That String Shot reached advanced mastery along the way was a welcome side-effect. Sleep Shot, Stun Shot, and Poison Shot were successfully learned shortly before the current holidays.
However, instead of raising their mastery or trying to create a superior shot, we began doing the same with Electroweb, or rather we used it as the basis for the three new moves.
The reason for that was that the new Sleepweb, Stunweb, and Poisonweb could target a wider area than String Shot, and it was easier to use in traps than String Shot as well.
Moreover, the duration of the move itself was much longer than the standard cloud moves which were important when laying traps. That was also the reason we created Stunweb despite Electroweb also paralyzing the target on top of causing damage.
The electricity of Electroweb just did not endure as long as the powder version. If it did not become obvious with all these status conditions and trap moves, I was kinda planning to turn Optimus into a master of guerilla warfare and trap-making.
This was in preparation for our journey through the wilderness more than for our official journey. Anyway, we spent the rest of the holiday on the web variants. The electricity was the first to go since it fried the powder, but what we wanted was the web form either way so that was no problem.
The experience gained from the string variants proved useful and Optimus managed to successfully create all three variants nearly two weeks before the end of the vacation.
After that, he changed his focus to raising the mastery of all 6 new moves, which was going to keep him busy for quite a while in the foreseeable future, at least on the move front.
I, obviously, did not allow him to disregard his parameter training, so he kept that up as well for a few hours a day. His diligence was rewarded when he managed to reach the (high) silver stage just three days before the Academy resumed and the 4th term began.
I was really happy that happened since I was sure that it would soothe the pain he was going to feel when he found out Mothra/Butterfree had recently learned all three of his String Shot variants through observation.
I had asked her to refrain from actively learning his self-made moves, at least for a while, to let him bask in his success, and she had agreed. Her being busy with her own training helped in that regard.
However, in the end, her cheat-like talent had gone and deciphered the principle as well as the method behind the moves through snippets and glances.
Well, at least we had delayed the inevitable for quite a few months. Still, while she had yet to learn the web variants, I knew that was inevitably going to happen as well.
I was not going to tell him that it happened, we were going to let him discover it on his own. Hopefully, that way some more time would pass and he would believe it took her some time to learn his moves.
I did not want him to experience another shock as with Whirlwind, where Mothra managed to unintentionally learn the move before him despite him actively trying to learn it. It had taken me nearly two weeks to get him out of his slump, and I wanted to avoid a repeat. Heck, I was afraid of it being worse this time since those were his self-made moves this time around.
Anyway, after he reached the (high) silver stage I was able to a lot more time for those that had yet to improve stage-wise. Optimus joined the others in doing mostly self-training with the occasional advice and guidelines.
During the first week, I received the results of my exams. I obviously forwarded to my parents that I aced them all. The rest of the month was pretty boring, at least until now. Today was Kyoday, which meant we stopped our training session much earlier than usual, weekend bonus and all that.
It helped them relax, which was why we did half our usual regime every Kyoday to cool down a bit. Grouday On the other hand was a full free day to give our bodies, mostly that of my Pokemon, a break.
Anyway, I checked up on everyone to see if any changes had occurred, and saw that Enji/Growlithe, who had been one of those that I had focused on, finally completed his limit breaking.
This meant he was ready to break through to the silver stage, and I immediately told him as much. He jumped me in excitement and my face received a wash, puppy-style.
Once I managed to calm Enji down enough to get him down from me, I stood up and glared at the others who had surrounded us. They had been simply watching while laughing at my predicament.
Actually, Thor/Pikachu, Nyx/Umbreon, and Mothra looked as if they had been thinking about joining Enji. Only Horus/Xatu's intervention had saved me from being doggy piled, so I shot him a grateful look.
Anyway, I told Enji to do it, and he initiated his breakthrough to the silver stage. The energy of his habitat got attracted to him and got absorbed into him. He briefly shone in the telltale white that accompanied each limit-breaking breakthrough while his body adjusted to its new strength.
Once it was over I hugged him and congratulated him. The others quickly joined in and I decided to check his new status while they were chatting with each other.
'Name: Enji
Species: Growlithe
Gender: Male
Age: 4+ years
-
Type: Fire
Potential: Light Purple (54.86%) -> Deep Purple (17.02%)
Genetic modifiers: None
Abilities: Flash Fire, Justified
Talents: None
Affinities: Fire
-
Bond: Mikail (weak)
Quirk: Lively
----
Parameters:
Stage: Silver Stage (mid)
Vitality: E
Strength: E
Endurance: F
Agility: E
Energy Capacity: E
Energy Density: F
----
Immunity:
Fire
-
Resistance:
Grass (Minor), Ice (Minor), Bug (Minor), Steel (Minor), Fairy (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Water (Minor), Ground (Minor), Rock (Minor)
-
Standardized:
Water (in progress)
----
Condition: Healthy, Excited, Proud
----
Masteries:
Fire Energy Manipulation (Proficient)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
Wild Charge
-
Novice:
N/A
-
Beginner:
Helping Hand, Retaliate, Reversal, Play Rough, Flare Blitz (+), Leer (+)
-
Proficient:
Ember, Bite, Fire Fang, Endure, Quick Attack, Iron Tail, Crunch, Take Down, Roar (++)
-
Advanced:
Flame Wheel, Agility, Flamethrower, Howl (+)
-
Mastered:
N/A'
The limit-breaking bonus had pushed Enji's potential to deep purple and now Enji had joined the club of my Pokemon that only needed one more step to enter the realm of legendary potential, aurora.
There were no changes on either the modifier/gene front or the talent section, but that was not unexpected. Still, I was actually working on an idea of mine that pertained to the talent section.
After Enji had raised Flare Blitz to beginner mastery, I got the idea that I might be able to help Enji unlock/create a talent that mimicked the effects of Intimidate since that one is an ability ingrained into their DNA.
To that end I had him focus on Howl, Roar, and Leer, in that order. While we had yet to succeed, I was hoping that raising all three to advanced mastery might help, if not then Enji might need to master them, which would take a long, long time.
Thankfully, the moves themselves were somewhat useful, so training them up like this was not too wasteful. Still, knowing that he might get bored and want to learn something cool/damaging, I had Enji work on Wild Charge whenever he had enough of the project trio.
Since Wild Charge was of a completely different type from any of his other moves, due to being an electric-type move. That being the case I had Thor help him.
Not only because Thor was an electric type, and could thus help Enji get a feel for the energy, which might have involved a bit of mild shocking, but also because Wild Charge was kinda like a weaker Volt Tackle which Thor was proficient in.
Actually, while Enji had yet to successfully learn Wild Charge, Thor had managed to learn it despite not actively trying to do so, simply by the virtue of helping Enji. Still, as I mentioned before it was practically a weaker Volt Tackle, so I was not sure how much use it was going to see.
Nonetheless, I was suspecting that Volt Tackle's mastery might improve by the time Enji learned Wild Charge, so that was nice.
Anyway, back to Enji's status screen. Our bond had yet to reach Stage 2 (strong), but now that he had broken through to the silver stage, it was only going to take a week or two for that to happen.
At least, that was what had happened every time one of my Pokemon reached the silver stage, and I saw no reason why it should be any different this time around.
Another thing that was probably going to speed up and finish now that he was at the silver stage was his resistance training.
I was not sure how much longer it would take, but I was hoping that he would have standardized his relation to the water type before he reached the (high) silver stage.
Last but not least, Enji's parameters were such that he had immediately reached the (mid) silver stage, which was due to the limit-breaking bonus he received.
We obviously followed our personal tradition and celebrated his breakthrough with a celebration. Nonetheless, the days that followed still followed the same routine as before.
However, this time around Enji had joined the mostly off-hand group, which most of the time followed certain training plans and got occasional direct guidance/supervision.
This left only Parvati/Beedrill, Ali/Ralts, and Swablu in the full focus group, with the last two being pretty much newcomers. So, I mainly focused on those three during the next four months, whenever I came back home from the academy.
Unfortunately, none of them had improved stage yet, but at least Parvati was not that far off from doing so. I estimated that she would manage to reach the (high) silver stage in another two to three months.
That would be sometime around the first half of the 5th term, seeing as the 4th term holidays were going to start next week. Speaking of the holidays, the Senior League Tournament was going to start at the beginning of the second week of the holidays.
Dad had been going around challenging the Gym Leaders and Major Gym Leaders to 3-star battles for training purposes and due to him winning enough 3-star S-rank Badges he was exempted from the preliminary round.
Mom on the other hand had to participate in the preliminary round, which would be held from Arcday, 07.08.2179, until Kyoday, 12.08.2179. I only had to finish the exam week, and then enjoy my vacation until Kyoday, 05.08.2179. My parents were going to arrive at that time, and we would travel to Indigo City where the preliminaries were held.
Apparently, all participants received free lodging in one of the few alliance-owned hotels for the duration of the tournament, and we were going to live there until the tournament was over. To be honest, I was excited to see Indigo City, and hopefully, later on, Indigo Plateau.
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