Well, the reason for his change became apparent as soon as I looked at his new status screen.
'Name: Horus
Species: Xatu
Gender: Male
Age: 9+ years
-
Type: Psychic, Ghost
Potential: Light Purple (3.76%) -> Deep Blue (73.76%) -> Purple (33.76%)
Genetic modifiers: Ghost-type variant, Ancient Gene
Abilities: Keen Eye, Synchronize, Magic Guard
Talents: Energy Sensitivity V.1+
Affinities: Psychic, Flying, Ghost (weak) -> (standard)'
Horus's typing had changed, with his flying type being replaced by the ghost type. Taking a look at his modifiers section verified as much, but apparently, Horus also unlocked his Ancient Gene during his breakthrough.
That was a really welcome development, and the 25% overall bonus it gave Horus was definitely great news. Now, the question was whether his conversion to a ghost variant happened due to the Ancient Gene, or if it happened due to his previously weak ghost-type affinity.
If it was the first, then all ancient Xatu had the psychic/ghost typing, but if it was the second, then either his breakthrough, the unlocking of his gene, or a combination of both had caused the transformation.
I'm unsure if I had some knowledge pertaining to that in my super library since I did not know if humanity at some points had studied the ghost variation of Xatu or one with an ancient gene. However, I had not come across any such knowledge while looking up information for Horus's training and care.
Regardless, I could make some deductions of my own regarding the visual changes he had gone through. I was pretty confident that his color change was due to his new ghost typing, while the other changes were due to his Ancient Gene.
Speaking of the Ancient Gene, looking at the potential section one can see that Horus first lost 30% for the unlocking of the gene, which actually reduced his potential back to deep blue.
Thankfully, the limit-breaking bonus was added directly afterward, propelling his potential straight to purple. Horus would have been quite sad if he had truly fallen back to deep blue for more than a moment.
An obvious change was the increase of his previously weak ghost affinity to the standard grade. I mean he had a ghost typing now, so it would have been questionable if that had not been the case.
Something that was less obvious was his new ability. Early Bird got replaced by Magic Guard, which was a much better ability in my opinion, and I was attributing that change to his new ghost typing, not his new gene. At least that was what my gut feeling told me.
Anyway, a regular Xatu would start at the (low) gold stage after its breakthrough, even if it did not get any deduction due to breaking through too early.
Horus on the other hand would have directly started from the (mid) gold stage even without the limit-breaking bonus, thanks to the 25% boost he received to his racial value (BS) from the Ancient Gene. Sure, it would have been at the lowest rung of the (mid) gold stage, but it would still have been the (mid) gold stage nonetheless.
'Parameters:
Stage: Gold Stage (mid)
Vitality: D
Strength: D
Endurance: D
Agility: C
Energy Capacity: C
Energy Density: D'
Yet, after adding the limit-breaking bonus, Horus's parameters were already at the limit of the (mid) gold stage, with two of them being already at C, which meant that he needed only two more to advance to the (high) gold stage.
I honestly doubted he would manage to do so before the competition, but (mid) gold was already more than enough to deal with anything there, especially since I still had Mothra/Butterfree.
Well, this next bit threw off one of our ongoing projects, since neither of us two had expected him to undergo a type variation. In some ways, Horus's new type-relations were an upgrade but in others, they were worse as well.
'Immunity:
Normal, Fighting
-
Resistance:
Poison (Minor), Psychic (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Ghost (Major), Dark (Major)
-
Standardized:
Electric (in-progress/?)'
Two immunities were definitely welcome, especially since he was still pseudo-immune to ground-type moves. Well, as long as he did not get hit, I mean Horus could still fly after all. In case he got hit, he received regular damage, but that had also been the case when he still had the flying type.
His grass resistance got replaced by poison, but that was no big loss. It was his new weaknesses that were the sore point. While going from four weaknesses to two might sound great, going from four minor weaknesses to two major ones sounded less great.
Doubly so, if you had been working on your resistance towards one of those weaknesses but then suddenly lost said weakness. I was not sure how much our previous resistance training would help Horus if we decided to keep at it in hopes of him gaining a minor resistance towards the electric type.
We'd probably have to shelve it in favor of trying to reduce one of his major weaknesses to a minor one, which was going to take a long ass time considering how long it took most of my Pokemon to standardize a minor weakness.
Ghost would probably be the one we were going to choose since it was kinda embarrassing to have such a major weakness as a ghost type, and while we were on the topic of being a ghost type, thanks to Horus becoming one, his ghost energy manipulation jumped straight to proficient mastery.
He already had the necessary factors for that, his previous weak affinity just had not been able to make full use of it.
'Masteries:
Psionic E. Manipulation (Advanced),
Flying/Air E. Manipulation (Proficient),
Ghost/Spectral E. Manipulation (Novice) -> Proficient
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
Destiny Bond (new)
-
Beginner:
Guard Swap, Power Swap, Swift (+), Zen Headbutt (+), Aerial Ace (+), Heat Wave (+), Giga Drain (+), Thunder Wave (+)
-
Proficient:
Reflect, Light Screen, Wish, Psycho Shift, Confuse Ray, Leer, Peck, Night Shade, Gust, Flash, Miracle Eye, Rest, Steel Wing, Tailwind, Air Cutter, Double Team (+)
-
Advanced:
Shadow Ball, Air Slash, Protect, Calm Mind, Cosmic Power, Psychic, Roost, Future Sight (+), Ominous Wind (+)
-
Mastered:
Stored Power, Teleport'
Plus, I noticed that his new type brought along a new move, and while Destiny Bond was not that great, it was not bad. Besides, it was free, so "come on in".
Aside from that one, I did not think I would have Horus learn any new moves. Well, maybe Phantom Force, if he can learn it, or Shadow Claw, but other than that, I'll have him focus on his current moves. Combining Air Slash and Ominous Wind sounded like a great idea or raising his mastery over Heat Wave and Thunder Wave.
Well, that was pretty much it on his status screen, so I turned to the others and told them that it was time for the photos. Horus had a new look, so we had to do our traditional photo shoot. On the first one, he was on his own, then we took one with me, followed by one with Mothra, and another one with the main team.
After that, we took a photo with everyone, and once we were finally done with the photos, the celebration started. We moved to the central area, and I pulled out a lot of snacks as well as soft drinks/juices while thinking about another thing that happened after the breakthrough.
Horus's breakthrough had been the final step, and Utopia finally underwent an "update" in its capabilities. First, its energy storage increased which allowed for a higher productivity.
Second, and more importantly, Utopia could now replicate and produce C-Class materials. I had collected and stored quite a lot of different materials for this moment, so I could now start to amass more of them.
Finally, Horus's habitat increased in size, but that kinda was the least important change. Yet, it was something that had to be mentioned.
Anyway, I just enjoyed the festive air with everyone for roughly an hour, before I told them to continue without me since I had to go home. On the way there, I thought about the reaction everyone was going to have once they saw Horus's new look.
I mean I literally showed him off live on TV, and now he looked distinctly different. There was no hiding that, and I was not planning to do so either way. No way was I going to act all hush-hush now that Horus had changed types.
If they asked, I'll just say that he/we had gotten lucky during his breakthrough and that it was really unexpected. It's not like they would truly expect me to know how it happened.
I had to admit that I was curious what the reaction of my parents was going to be when I showed them Horus. Oh, the reaction of the chat group would be interesting as well, when I told them about it.
Back to the present, mom asked me how my day was after I greeted her upon entering our home, and I decided to be a bit mischievous.
"Yeah, it was great, we worked on our usual stuff, right until Horus broke through to the gold stage," I answered in a blase voice as if I was talking about something mundane like the weather.
"Honey, congratulations!" Mom exclaimed in excitement before she crushed me in a hug. She really liked to express her affection physically.
"What's this I'm hearing about the gold stage?" Came from behind me, and tilting my head a bit I saw dad entering from the terrace. It seems he had been in the garden when I came home, but he seems to have heard at least part of our short exchange, so he might have been about to come inside.
"Yeah, Horus broke through, and I came back home after everything settled down," I told him and dad came up to me.
He patted my shoulder a bit, before patting mom on the back, which made her reluctantly release me from her hug.
"Alright, call out the man of the hour so that we can congratulate him," dad said and mom echoed his request.
I had to suppress the grin that threatened to appear on my face and pulled out Horus's ball. I acted as if I was calling Horus out while bringing him out of Utopia after giving him a heads-up. The ball had a nifty little visual feature I added to all my balls that masked their exit from Utopia.
"Waa!/Oh!" were the surprised sounds mom and dad made when they saw the different-looking Xatu that appeared instead of the regular green Xatu they had been expecting. I naturally took a pic of their look with my trusty smartphone.
They obviously recognized that it was Horus that stood before them, especially since he was cheekily waving at them, so they turned toward me in a show of surprising synchronicity before blurting out a question.
"How did that happen?/What happened?" The two asked simultaneously, but my superior mental faculties and hearing allowed me to perfectly understand them.
"Don't know," I replied with a shrug. "It happened while he was breaking through, so all I can say is that he got really lucky. Well, all that hard training might have helped as well," I added, and they accepted that since there was not much else that they could do.
"Honey, I think it's safe to say that your luck has surpassed that of your dad, and that is really impressive since luck is your dad's greatest trait," Mom jokingly said and I had to laugh a bit at that.
"Hey, I've more good points than just my luck, but son your mom's right, you're seriously lucky. First Mothra, and now Horus, that your Pokemon can transform even during breakthroughs is as lucky as it gets.
A lot of people are going to get really jealous, and jealous people can say as well as do a lot of mean things because of their jealousy. Try to ignore them if you can, but don't hesitate to lay into them if they go too far," dad mock-complained at first before giving some sound advice.
"Yep, don't hesitate to take care of anyone that goes too far," mom agreed with dad before she patted her chest and added, "mom's got your back."
"I will," I assured them, and we moved on to other topics. I also placed Horus back inside Utopia so that he could return to the ongoing celebration.
Roughly half an hour later, mom and dad got back to their chores, and I posted a photo of Horus's new look on the group chat with the caption "Horus broke through to gold and struck gold". I know, not the great of a pun, but I thought it was a good one while I was writing it.
Still, as I had thought the group chat exploded with everyone expressing their surprise and congratulating me. Naturally, some were a bit jealous of my dogshit luck as Yu called, but they dealt with it by teasing and annoying me a bit.
I did not mind since it was a natural/human reaction and it was all in good humor since their wills were firm enough not to lose control of their emotions.
Anyway, I spent some time writing/talking with my friends and the rest of the day went by as usual except for dinner. Mom prepared a celebration dinner for Horus, just like she had for Mothra, and it was a great meal. I knew that Horus felt happy at the gesture, so it was a complete success.
The last few days of the month, as well as the term, I spent breezing through the term exams, and except for going to the Fight Club twice a week, so that Tyson/Machoke could work on his evolution condition, the break was spent mostly relaxing.
-----------------------------
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