We made it to the restaurant 15 minutes after I rejoined the others, and booked a corner of the restaurant for ourselves, promising to pay extra since the restaurant did not have any private rooms big enough to accommodate all of us.
The restaurant staff shifted the tables as well as chairs around and ended up forming something that resembled a hexagon while leaving gaps between the tables so that a person could still pass through them.
I saw some of the staff stealing glances at me, probably recognizing me, or at least thinking that I resemble, well, myself. Before they left one "courageous" soul approached me after getting prodded by the others.
"Excuse me," she began hesitantly. "Are you Mikail Geo? You know the one that won the global championship a few hours ago because you look a lot like him," she asked looking expectant by the time she finished.
"Yes, that's me," I replied with a nod, and she looked excited at that.
"Wow, this is the first time I'm talking with a champion," she said and I had to chuckle a bit. "Can you give me an autograph, please?" she then asked.
"Sure, I don't mind, but I don't have a pen at hand, or any paper for that matter," I told her and she told me to wait a moment. She quickly went to the back, probably to get a pen and some paper, and while she was gone the others, who had already settled, began to tease me a bit, but they stopped when the staff lady returned.
She handed over both the pen and the paper and asked me to sign it, so I simply wrote "just won my first global championship" and signed it with my name, before handing it back to her. She thanked me and went back to near her colleagues. I heard her brag a bit thanks to my improved hearing.
"Heh, I got an autograph, and he even penned something on it. I bet it's going to be worth a fortune in the future," she said to her colleagues who expressed their envy.
I on the other hand had the urge to face-palm a bit, and considering the snickers, I was hearing around me some of the others had heard what she said as well.
"Mika, how is it to be treated as a jackpot by someone else," Ace teased causing those that also had improved hearing to laugh. The others explained what he meant to those that did not hear what happened.
"I guess I'll have to get used to it," I waved him off before giving him a cheeky smile. "What do you think Ace, should I buy some autograph cards and sign them, to have some generic autographs at hand whenever someone asks for one?"
That made everyone, including Ace laugh and I joined in as well. "Sounds like a good idea," he said seriously before chuckling a bit. After that small episode, I sat down as well, and a minute after I did, some of the staff came over and asked us if we had decided what we wanted to order.
While I was still checking out the menu I had found on the table, the others began ordering and I ordered a Starly salad along with some sparkling water.
"Say Mikail, we've practically not seen you give any commands to your Pokemon during the competition, so does that mean your Pokemon are the champions instead of you," Ace joked, and Yu was the first to retort before I could say anything.
"Don't be dumb," he said while faking disappointment. "Mikail was the one who trained them and taught them those strategies, so he earned that champion title," he finished with a satisfied nod, theoretically not denying that my Pokemon were the ones that handled the Pokemon battles.
"You're both forgetting that Mikail has telepathy," Jessie reminded them and the others nodded at that.
"Yeah, I'm sure he gave the orders that way, cause winning silently is way cooler," Rose chimed in confidently.
"He did speak up a few times," Aaron pointed out, and the others threw in some tidbits as well.
"Well, I did leave most of the battles to my Pokemon, and only occasionally gave a command just like Aaron pointed out, but I did take an active part in the semifinal as well as final battle, so there's that," I answered with a shrug.
"It's the mark of a great trainer if their Pokemon can battle autonomously to such a degree," mom spoke up to "defend" me, and the other "adults" nodded at that, fully agreeing with her.
"Yep, in the eyes of a lot of experienced trainers, the strategies and reactions his Pokemon displayed while fighting without his input showcased his talent as a trainer," Mr. Gold said and Ace mock whined saying that he should be on his side, causing some more laughter to erupt.
The food arrived shortly after that and everyone focused on eating while making some idle small talk with their seat neighbors. The rest of the dinner went like that and after we were done, the payment wars began among the "adults".
My parents argued that they should invite the others since I won and this could be considered a celebration dinner. The others argued against them that they should pay since I won and they wanted to invite us to dinner to congratulate me.
Neither side was willing to give up, so they decide to split the bill in the end. They did not forget to pay some extra as they had promised, and they also added some tips for the staff.
We headed for the teleportation hub and made it in time for Yu's appointment. He bid everyone goodbye and hugged me last.
"Once more thank you for making me rich, I meant, congratulations on becoming the global dual champion," he joked before he left.
We sat around at the hub for another 30 minutes until it was time for the others to leave as well. They all congratulated me one last time as well before they left.
Once everyone was gone, we slowly headed back to the hotel. It was around 10:15 p.m, by the time we made it there, so we went up to our rooms. Thankfully this time my parents had their own room, so I had my room for myself.
I did a general sweep, locked the door, switched the sign to "do not disturb", and entered Utopia. I appeared inside the mansion first since I was planning to deal with the Eevee and Aron first.
I decided to start with Aron, so I pulled out his ball and called him out. I gave him some generic Pokefood I made while he was going through the optimization process. He ate without care and only briefly stopped when his potential rose before he resumed eating.
Meanwhile, I checked his new status after Utopia was done with its process.
'Species: Aron
Gender: Male
Type: Steel, Rock
Potential: Green -> Light Blue
Stage: Bronze Stage (low)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Sturdy, Rock Head
Talents: Solid Body
Affinities: Steel, Rock'
His potential rose to light blue, so I did not have to keep him for a while to boost his potential. That also explained how he noticed the change since upgrades in grade could be felt by conscious Pokemon. I would hand him to mom on Arcday after we were back home.
Also, he unlocked a talent that was practically another version of the ability Solid Rock, just with a different name. Solid Body also reduced damage taken from super-effective attacks by 25%, which was identical to the effect of Solid Rock. I'd say he was going to make a good addition to mom's team.
While I waited for him to finish his food I moved the newly generated habitat to the outskirts of Utopia. Beside the other unused/unoccupied areas, and recalled him the moment he was done eating. I put the Pokeball into stasis mode and put it away.
Afterward, I pulled out the Pokeball of the first Eevee and went through the registration process before I called Eevee out. While he went through the optimization process, I gave him some special Eevee food, that he ate with relish.
By now I had some privileges/degree of control concerning the optimization process and used it to make sure to suppress the talent unlocking. I wanted to wait until they had evolved before they unlocked their talent so that a more fitting talent could be unlocked.
Stopping the relocation process was also one of those privileges, but I had that one for a long time already, unlike the talent suppression privilege which was a recent addition.
Anyway, I checked his status and saw that his potential got upgraded from deep green to blue. The rest had remained unchanged, so I left him to his food and pulled out the next one. I went through the registration process with that one as well and called out Eevee afterward.
Just like before I gave this one some special Eevee food as well while she went through the optimization process. This time something interesting did happen during the process.
'Analyzing...., Eevee analyzed.
Start improving potential...., potential successfully improved.
Start optimizing genes..., genetic optimization failed.
Optimizing abilities...., ability adjustment succeeded, a mutated ability gained.
Unlocking talents...., unlocking talents possible, admin order present...., talent enabled but unlocking temporarily suppressed.
Checking available habitats....., suitable habitat found, relocating to habitat, relocation blocked by admin.
Optimization process complete.'
I checked her new status after the optimization process was complete to see what her new ability was, and to see if there was anything else that was interesting.
'Name: None
Species: Eevee
Gender: Female
Age: 2+ years
-
Type: Normal
Potential: Deep Green (72.42%) -> Blue (32.42%)
Modifiers: None
Abilities: Adaptability, Normalize*
Talents: None
Affinities: Normal
-
Bond: Mikail (artificial, weak)
Quirk: None
----
Parameters:
Stage: Iron Stage (mid)
Vitality: E
Strength: E
Endurance: F
Agility: E
Energy Capacity: F
Energy Density: D
----
Immunity:
Ghost
-
Resistance:
None
-
Weaknesses:
Fighting (Minor)
-
Standardized:
None
----
Condition: Healthy, Excited, Hungry
----
Masteries:
Normal E. Manipulation (Proficient)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
Bite
-
Beginner:
Baby Doll Eyes, Wish*, Sand Attack, Double Kick, Swift, Refresh
-
Proficient:
Yawn*, Growl, Helping Hand, Tackle, Tail Whip, Quick Attack
-
Advanced:
None
-
Mastered:
None'
Ok, that was impressive. To think that her new ability was Normalize. Changing all her moves to normal-type ones, while boosting the power of offensive moves by 20% was a great ability for Eevee, especially since Adaptability raised the STAB bonus from 1.5 to 2 times, so the STAB bonus ended up being 2.4 times after the effect of Normalize.
That was pretty darn impressive. Well, that did open up the question of what would happen after Eevee evolved. Was Normalize going to be swapped by another ability?
Because if not, then Normalize would be disadvantageous for any Eeveelution. The only exception to this was if I managed to find a normal Eeveelution somehow. I would have to see how that developed and maybe start thinking about how to trigger an Eeveelution no one else seems to have triggered until now.
Aside from that bit, her talent got raised to blue as well, and it looked like she had two egg moves, Wish and Yawn. The rest of her moves were the same as those of her brother.
Anyway, I left her to her food as well before pulling out the Pokeball of the final dark green potential Eevee. I repeated the previous steps with her as well, but just like her brother, she did not trigger any special changes.
Her potential rose to blue just like the two before her, and she also had an egg move, but nothing else changed, so I left her to her food as well and pulled out the last Pokeball, this one containing the light blue Eevee. I called him out and gave him his food while keeping track of the optimization process. He actually managed to trigger something as well.
'Analyzing...., Eevee analyzed.
Start improving potential...., potential successfully improved.
Start optimizing genes..., genetic optimization succeeded.
Optimizing abilities...., ability adjustment failed.
Unlocking talents...., unlocking talents possible, admin order present...., talent enabled but unlocking temporarily suppressed.
Checking available habitats....., suitable habitat found, relocating to habitat, relocation blocked by admin.
Optimization process complete.'
Unlike Eevee no2, this one unlocked a gene, so I directly checked his status to see which gene he had unlocked, which was what I would have said if I could not see what had changed, and I was not the only one that had noticed the change.
The other Eevee stopped eating when they noticed that their brother suddenly changed colors turning pale grey. They asked him if he felt fine and only then did he stop eating and check himself, noticing the color change.
When he found out that he felt fine, great even, they all shrugged and returned to eating their food.
'Name: None
Species: Eevee
Gender: Male
Age: 2+ years
-
Type: Normal
Potential: Light Blue (6.92%) -> Blue (66.92%)
Modifiers: Shiny Gene (Overall +15%)
Abilities: Adaptability, Anticipation
Talents: None
Affinities: Normal
-
Bond: Mikail (artificial, weak)
Quirk: None
----
Parameters:
Stage: Iron Stage (mid)
Vitality: E
Strength: E
Endurance: F
Agility: E
Energy Capacity: F
Energy Density: D
----
Immunity:
Ghost
-
Resistance:
None
-
Weaknesses:
Fighting (Minor)
-
Standardized:
None
----
Condition: Healthy, Excited, Hungry
----
Masteries:
Normal E. Manipulation (Proficient)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
Bite
-
Beginner:
Baby Doll Eyes, Stored Power*, Double Kick, Swift, Refresh
-
Proficient:
Growl, Helping Hand, Tackle, Tail Whip, Sand Attack, Quick Attack,
-
Advanced:
None
-
Mastered:
None'
In the end, his potential also turned to blue, even if he was closer to deep blue than his siblings. Still, all four of them had blue potential at this point, which was good enough for me. I had no problem with them joining Nyx/Umbreon's Eeveelution Squad.
Also, I noticed that he also had an egg move, but his was Stored Power unlike those of his sister. Wish, Yawn, and Stored Power, made me think that one of their parents must have been a Musharna. Could have been a grandparent as well even if that was a bit unlikely.
Anyway, after I was done releasing and checking all Eevee I called over Nyx, and introduced her to her new family/squad members. She beamed when she saw them and tackled me into a hug, before chatting up the Eevee while they were finishing up their food.
After they were done we left the house and I, or rather Nyx introduced them to the others, and we then threw a private party celebrating our success at the global competition. We took some photos at the end, not only to commemorate the day but also to adhere to the tradition of taking pictures with the newcomers.
I kept the whole thing a bit short since it was already late, so everyone went to sleep around 00:00 a.m. I had made sure that the Eevee's habitat was squeezed beside that of Nyx, and she decided to sleep at their place.
The next day, my parents and I spent Grouday exploring Fontaine City, and we had a lot of fun even if a part of the stores were closed due to it being Grouday.
I also had to wear a cap to keep the people recognizing me to a minimum, but I did not mind that. That would settle in a few weeks, at least it had the last time I became "famous".
Anyway, the day went by pretty fast, and after eating dinner at "Sushi Paradise", we made our way to the teleportation hub for our appointment at 8 p.m. We left Fontaine City at point 8 p.m, and by the time we were back in Rota, and at home, it was already close to 11 p.m, so we wished each other goodnight and went to sleep.
-----------------------------
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