I don't know how long I stood there thinking, but it had to have been a few minutes. It was Mr. Cameron that pulled me out of my considerations.
"So, have you made a decision?" was the question that pulled me out of my musings.
"Yeah," I hesitantly began with a nod. "I think I did," I finished more resolutely, deciding to go with my feelings this time.
"I'll go with this little guy," I told him while pulling out the last Pokeball I placed back just a few minutes ago.
"He clicked the best with me out of the three," I informed Mr. Cameron and he gave me a gentle smile. The kind a fond grandfather would give his grandson.
"It's a good choice," he said with a nod. "His ability if used correctly will make him an even more impressive close-range fighter, and as long as he is treated with care, I'm sure he'll return it with unwavering loyalty and friendship."
"Yes, I think so too," I fully agreed with him.
"So, make sure to be nice to him. He seemed a bit lonely," Mr. Cameron finished and I pat my chest while telling him to leave it to me. He closed the briefcase after that and placed it back below the table.
"Alright, now you just have to register the Pokeball in front of me, and then you may go," he said once he was done putting away the briefcase.
I pricked my finger and did the blood registration before putting the ball away. I was about to wish him a good evening and leave when a thought came up.
"Mr. Cameron, would you like to join me and my parents for dinner? My mom is making stuffed Pidgeotto, so if you have the time, you could join us," I inquired/offered and he warmly chuckled a bit.
"Did you clear that up with your mom beforehand, or is this more of a spontaneous invitation," he asked.
"I'm sure she won't mind," I indirectly admitted that it was a spontaneous idea on my part and he nodded. "I'm sure she won't," he agreed.
"She's a good person after all from what I've seen, but little Mikail, let me share something with you that I've learned through my long life. Always consult with the cook first before inviting others to eat. Even if you think or know that there is enough, talk to the cook first to avoid causing him or her any unnecessary stress or pressure.
Believe me, your mom might tell you that it would be no problem if I suddenly join you, but in the background, her stress levels will go through the roof with her contemplating if the food is enough, and what she should add to the menu, and so on," Mr. Cameron shared some wisdom with me.
"I'll make sure to keep that in mind," I assured him, scolding myself a bit for not thinking of that myself, before still asking for an answer. "So, how about it?"
"Thank you for the invitation, but I can't since I'm busy with something else," he declined and I let it go.
"That's okay," I nodded. "Then please thank the alliance staff for me for their hard work and have a good evening. Also, good luck with whatever you have to do later," and with that, I made my way back home.
Since I spent about 10 minutes at Mr. Cameron's office, it was only 6:30 p.m right now, but I still decided to hurry home since I saw no reason to delay any further just to make my parents wait for longer. I decided to jog on the way back and was back home in a bit more than 5 minutes.
"I'm back," I greeted mom as well as dad after unlocking the door and stepping inside.
"Welcome back, honey/son," mom and dad greeted back at the same time and I saw them sitting in the living room. I noticed that the table was set, or rather the tableware was ready, but the food was still in the kitchen.
"I bring greetings from Mr. Cameron," I told them before changing the topic. "Mom, let me help you bring over dinner," I offered, but she waved me away.
"Go and wash your hands and face. I'll have your dad help me while you do that," she said, shooing me to the washroom.
Being the obedient son that I was, I quickly went to wash my hands. I hurried a bit so that I could help them finish setting the table. Well, as much as I could without compromising cleanliness. However, when I made it to the table after drying my hands, they were already done and waiting for me.
"Come on honey, sit down," mom told me before she began to distribute the food. Seeing how there was nothing left for me to do, I could only sit down in my place.
"So, son, how did it go?" Dad asked once everyone had their food, and mom looked at me curiously as well.
"Well, you already knew I was going to pick a Gible," I said with a shrug.
"The 3 they let me choose from were pretty good, but I ended up choosing the one I sympathized the most with. He seemed a bit lonelier than the other two, due to the talent he has, so I decided it would be good for him if he joins my family.
I'm sure Horus, Mothra, and the others will welcome him with open arms, and I'm sure we'll find a way to deal with his talent," I shared with them and they listened attentively.
"That's good," mom said, and dad nodded in agreement.
"So, what's his talent? Seems a bit troublesome, if it caused Gible to feel a bit lonely," dad asked doubtfully.
"His talent amplifies his Rough Skin ability, causing more damage and possibly bleeding wounds to anyone touching his skin. Not sure if it makes his skin simply sharper, or if he subconsciously applies energy on the edges of his scales, but that is the effect," I shared with them, and they had a look of realization on their faces.
"Yeah, that would do it," dad said full of sympathy for the little guy. "He probably had a hard time finding playmates," he finished with a nod, and I saw mom nodding along sadly.
"Well, at least he has Mika now. I'm sure my darling will find a way to solve that problem," mom said full of conviction, throwing big expectations on my shoulders out of nowhere as if it was nothing.
After dinner, I introduced Gible to my parents, and as I had promised, I streamed the movie we watched inside Utopia as well, so that everyone could watch it with us. I naturally provided them with snacks and drinks for the occasion as well.
It was close to 10 p.m, when I made it back to my room, so I decided that we would do Gible's welcoming party tomorrow instead. However, I still entered Utopia after locking the door, so that Gible could go through the optimization, and also finish the whole introduction talk today so that I only had to introduce him to the others tomorrow.
I called out Gible and he still seemed to be feeling pretty happy that I chose him. I saw that he noticed something happening to him since he curiously looked at his hands while Utopia was doing its optimization. That meant that something noticeable was happening, which was good news for me.
Looking at the optimization protocol confirmed that as well. I moved his new habitat beside that of Gaia/Nidoqueen and Seb/Nidoking before I began explaining to Gible what just happened. I naturally also checked out his new status screen while doing so.
'Name: None
Species: Gible
Gender: Male
Age: 4+ years
-
Type: Dragon, Ground
Potential: Deep Blue (97.86%) -> Purple (57.86%)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Sand Veil, Rough Skin
Talents: Lacerate -> Scale Control
Affinities: Dragon, Ground
-
Bond: Mikail (artificial, weak)
Quirks: Slightly Reserved
----
Parameters:
Stage: Iron Stage (mid)
Vitality: E
Strength: D
Endurance: F
Agility: F
Energy Capacity: F
Energy Density: F
----
Immunity:
Electric
-
Resistance:
Fire (Minor), Poison (Minor), Rock (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Ice (Major), Dragon (Minor), Fairy (Minor)
----
Condition: Healthy, Happy, Curious, Hesitant, Anxious
----
Masteries:
Dragon Energy Manipulation (Beginner)
Ground Energy Manipulation (Beginner)
----
Techniques:
-
(In-progress) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
Slash, Dragon Claw, Take Down
-
Beginner:
Tackle, Sand Attack, Dragon Breath, Bulldoze, Twister
-
Proficient:
Sandstorm, Dragon Rage, Sand Tomb
-
Advanced:
N/A
-
Mastered:
N/A'
Well, that was a really pleasant surprise, or should I say as expected from a Pokemon called an elite descendant. To think his potential had been borderline light purple before the upgrade.
He was already more than halfway through with purple right now, so he would straight away reach light aurora potential after breaking through to the bronze stage if he did so with a complete limit break.
This was rather impressive, and definitely great news. Also, while I'm sure this big increase in potential was part of what Gible felt/noticed, I'm just as sure that it was not the only thing.
While he did not unlock any modifier during the optimization process, something just as rare did happen. Gible's talent upgraded or rather mutated, depending on how one looked at the change.
His Lacerate turned into Scale Control, which not only retained all of Lacerate's properties but also gained many new ones. In the future, Gible would be able to suppress, and even turn off the harmful effect of Lacerate whenever he wanted.
Not only that, he would even be able to suppress or turn off the effect of Rough Skin, taking care of the problem of skinship without me having to do anything. That was obviously not all Scale Control could do, just the part that would handle Gible's loneliness problem.
Anyway, he should also be able to shoot out his scales, kinda like the natural version of the move Scale Shot. The best part was that the "scale bullets" would retain the properties of Lacerate, so Gible's natural version would be even stronger than the regular move version.
Moreover, thanks to Scale Control, Gible could to a certain extent rapidly regrow his scales, meaning that as long as he did not go overboard with his Scale Shot Mk.2, his defense/endurance would not be reduced, as it happened with the move version.
Another use of Scale Control that I could think of, off the top of my head, was to use it to deal with/negate the recoil damage during self-harm one moves, by temporarily padding the contact area with extra scales. He should also be able to learn most if not all scale-related moves if he worked hard enough.
However, those were all uses that had to be trained first and not things that he could do from the get-go. Even suppressing Lacerate and Rough Skin, were things that Gible had to train first, but I did not doubt that he would manage to do so.
I was certain that he had the necessary motivation and potential to get that down as fast as possible. Moving on to the next part of his status, his quirk made sense.
His inability to touch others without hurting them is most likely what caused his reservation, and the reactions he showed to me so far support that line of thought.
I was sure that this would solve itself now that he could learn to control his talent and even ability. The rest of his status was within my expectation as well, especially his condition/emotions, which had to do with the worries caused by his talent.
Even the fact that he seems to have neglected his physical contact moves made sense from what I had seen from his behavior. Still, he had an impressive move pool/list for his strength, and his mastery of some of those moves was not bad at all, so I was satisfied with that as well.
Anyway, while I finished checking his status, I also finished introducing Utopia to him, as well as the change it caused in his talent. When Gible learned that he would be able to learn how to control his cutting skin, he began to openly cry out of happiness, showing that it had started to cast a shadow in his heart, and stress him quite a bit.
He ran up to me and hugged my legs, which I protected with aura to make sure he did not accidentally hurt me since I knew that it would have made him sad.
Once I made sure that my skin and clothes were safe, I crouched down and gave him a proper hug while he led out all his hidden sadness thanks to the happy news.
I rubbed his back as well as his head and at some point, Gible became emotionally exhausted and began to doze off. I told him I would bring him to his new home, and carried him to his new habitat. I carried him straight to his home/cave and laid him down on the area designated as his bed.
Before I left I gave him a last soft pat on the belly and wished him good night. Afterward, I went to Gaia and told her about Gible, before I asked her to keep an eye on him tomorrow morning. She told me to leave it to her, and I left Utopia without disturbing anyone else.
I then went to bed as well, happy that Gible's problems had practically solved themselves. All I/we now had to do was treat him well and help him train his talent.
-----------------------------
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