The next morning while I was having breakfast with my parents, Shino/Yanmega and the others were having their breakfast as well, and Shino used the moment to share that he had already completed his limit breaking, eliciting a round of congratulations after he confirmed that I verified it.
Due to that, they ended up staying together even after they finished their breakfast, and none of them were surprised to see me appear once I was done eating outside.
Still, even though all the main cast was there, I still announced that Shino was breaking through to the gold stage and that those that wanted to see it should move to his habitat, in case some of the extras wanted to witness the moment as well.
We collectively headed there too, and the Furret, as well as Spinda quartets, along with Shedinja and Hypno, ended up coming over as well. They were welcomed warmly by everyone and joined the circle the others had formed around Shino.
I was still in the center with him and encouraged as well as praised him for having reached this point. It had been close to 2.5 years since he had reached the (high) silver stage. Now, that might seem a bit long compared to others, especially since Enji, who broke through yesterday, did the same in a bit more than 2 years, but Shino had, or rather had wanted to make up for his rather sad move pool, so he spent a lot of time learning and training/improving moves.
The amount of work he did, training his parameters, while simultaneously working on move after move was really extraordinary, which was why I was currently praising him and telling him that he did it. Shino was happily buzzing and eye-smiling in a way that would make Kakashi shed tears of joy.
I gave the top of his head a final scratch, just in front of his black plate, before moving to the circle. Once I had joined the others, I gave him the signal and he started his breakthrough after landing on the ground. The whole thing went pretty smoothly, without any additional effects or delays, and as soon as he was done, I went up to him while he was taking off the ground again.
I naturally congratulated him for joining the gold stage group and for straight away joining the ranks of the (high) gold-stage ones at that, since I knew that his Ancient Gene, along with the boosts that came from the completion of his limit-breaking, should have pushed his parameter average into the (high) sub-grade. Shino was positively beaming with happiness and I did not blame him since I got why he was this happy.
Anyway, I was definitely not the only one that wanted to congratulate him, and the others under the leadership of Mothra/Butterfree swiftly came over to congratulate Shino as well. I let them squeeze me to the side and simply checked his status screen while they were busy talking.
'Name: Shino
Species: Yanmega
Gender: Male
Age: 12+ years
-
Type: Bug, Flying
Potential: Deep Purple (35.27%)*
{Light Purple (69.96%) -> (75.27%) -> Deep Purple (35.27%)}
Genetic variation: Ancient
Abilities: Speed Boost, Tinted Lens
Talents: Danger Sense
Affinities: Bug, Flying
-
Bond: Mikail (strong)
Quirks: None
----
Parameters:
Stage: Gold Stage (high)
Vitality: C
Strength: D
Endurance: C
Agility: C
Energy Capacity: B
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) -> (Advanced),
Flying/Air E. Manipulation (Proficient) -> (Advanced)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
U-Turn, Super Screech (C, new)
-
Beginner:
Tackle, String Shot, Pursuit
-
Proficient:
Foresight, Gust, Quick Attack, Hypnosis, Wing Attack, Screech, Double Team, Steel Wing, Sonic Boom (+), Crunch (+), Leech Life (+), Night Slash (new), Uproar (+), Supersonic (new), Bug Bite (new), Slash (new), Giga Drain (new), Shadow Ball (new), Hyper Beam (new), Swift (new), Psychic (new), Sunny Day (new), Solar Beam (new)
-
Advanced:
Aerial Ace, Ancient Power, Detect, Silver Wind (+), Signal Beam (new), Hurricane (new)
-
Mastered:
Bug Buzz (+), Air Slash (+)
-
Combo moves/Custom moves:
Super Screech (Novice)'
The limit breaking once more did its incredible thing and raised Shino's potential straight to deep purple. Furthermore, a third of the way to light aurora had been covered as well, which meant that, as long as nothing absurd happened, Shino would attain light aurora potential upon reaching the dark gold stage.
We all knew that he would unlock a third ability when that happened, but to be honest I was not really happy with the ability he would unlock at that moment. Frisk was one of the three abilities in the Yanmega line's natural ability pool, and the one Shino thankfully did not have right now.
While being able to tell if a Pokemon was under an effect coming from an external source was not that bad, it was not something I thought much off, so I was really hoping that some miracle would happen, and Shino would unlock something else.
Still, I decided to set the far-fetched dreams of the future aside and continued to check Shino's status screen. His modifiers and talent were completely unaffected by his breakthrough, but that was not surprising since I had expected that after witnessing his smooth breakthrough.
Likewise, I had expected him to have reached the (high) gold stage in one leap, but seeing it with my own eyes/mind was really gratifying. His energy capacity really made up for the weakness in his energy density. If not for that one carrying the other, Shino would have been short of the necessary parameter average by just a tiny bit.
Everyone was really happy to hear that Shino had attained deep purple potential and reached the (high) gold stage. Not that the last one was hard to sense since Shino simply had to flex his "aura" a bit to display his prowess for everyone to sense that part.
The rest of his status screen was unaffected by his breakthrough, though I did take a moment to look at the fruits of his hard work. Seeing the much more expansive and impressive move pool, I could definitely say that his hard work had truly paid off.
In more than one way, since his energy manipulation masteries had both advanced as well as a result. However, that was only par for the course for me who had seen the work he put into this. He even asked Moka to teach him her custom move since he took a liking to its usefulness.
Anyway, after I was done with his status screen, I decided to directly start the celebration since I had already promised Enji that I would be doing it today, so I directly said that it was a party for them all. The party went on until lunch and the rest of the day was spent as usual.
The following days were relatively quiet. I did some delivery/fetching missions, but aside from that, nothing unusual happened. Even the missions ended up being pretty uneventful. It was only on Palkiday that something big happened.
Well, big for some, less so for others. Still, on Palkiday, Jade/Gyarados finally reached the (high) gold stage as well, which meant that all six members of the Slythering Six had officially reached the (high) gold stage. The Slithering Six were really ecstatic when that happened and I could not help but throw a small party to celebrate the occasion. By small, I meant short, as in just about two hours.
The last three days before my week back at the lab did not disappoint either, or rather Kyoday gave me another pleasant surprise. Gible officially started his limit-breaking that day, and he was not the only one to do so.
While my week at the lab did not miraculously end with the production of the Mystic Cryo Gem, I did receive a batch of happy news on the Pokemon front. Buneary and the four Eevee joined Gible throughout the week and started their limit-breaking as well. Also, while we did not produce the Mystic Cryo Gem, we managed to raise the synchronization/fusion rate between the materials to 70%, which was not bad.
Anyway, after that week, the second month of 2182 began and with it the last month of my long break. I did another two missions during the first week, and both involved combat. Well, that was not really surprising since both were bounty missions, but neither involved anything big like the war during the first mission batch. They simply involved some Pokemon battles against a few Pokemon.
Still, the battles did prove helpful since two of the Pokemon involved did make some progress shortly after going through them. Osiris/Marowak finally raised the last parameter that had been lagging behind and officially finished his second round of limit-breaking. Not only that, but he already had two of his parameters at SSS, so he had a great head start for his final round.
The other one to gain something was Ali/Kirlia, who raised two of his parameters to SSS in quick succession after recovering from a hard battle against a (mid) silver-stage Haunter, which the creep I was catching had in his team.
Regardless of the difficulty of the battle, Ali managed to beat that Haunter while suffering some serious injuries that would have resulted in him laying in a hospital bed for a week or so if not for Utopia's uber-useful healing ability.
Yet, he quickly recovered thanks to Utopia and in the end, only needed to raise one last parameter to SSS to complete his limit breaking and break through to the silver stage.
That was also the last mission I did for a while since we went on a two-week-long family vacation on Arcday of the second week. This time around we did not invite anyone else along.
Our hotel was on Pummelo Island, but we did visit a few others during the 2 weeks we spent at the Orange Archipelago. Mom wanted to see Pinkan Island so we spent more than half a day there. Tangelo Island was naturally also one of our destinations and we did join a tour that had a stop at both Professor Ivy's lab as well as the Mikan Gym.
Also, dad wanted to visit Kumquat Island for their hot springs, so we went there as well. The Island I wanted to visit was Shamouti Island for obvious reasons, but it ended up being a rather bland experience since there were no islands of fire, ice, or lightning.
Neither did they have any myths involving any world-destroying events or legendary Pokemon. Honestly, I had expected it, but I still could not help but feel a bit disappointed when it happened. That disappointment aside, overall the vacation was pretty great and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Mom and dad said the same when we left.
Still, for me, the highlight of those two weeks was not really related to the Orange Archipelago, but to Mothra. Three days before the end of our vacation, Mothra managed to reach the limit with all her parameters, which meant that she had officially started her limit-breaking. Not only that but just two days later her energy capacity rose to S.
We returned back to Hope Town on Arcday morning of the fourth week. That was the final week of my break since I was, as previously agreed upon, returning to the lab a week early. I only did a single mission during that week, which involved some good old electroshock therapy by Thor/Raichu, who was happy to help.
He even managed to finish his first round of limit-breaking exercising a bit, and considering how 2 of his parameters were already at SS-value, he had covered a third of the work necessary to complete the second round.
Anyway, that one mission aside, I spent some more time working on the Rattata project and I was happy with the results my work over the break had brought. The number of Rattata with an extra standard affinity had more than doubled/nearly tripled. Moreover, I was expecting that number to increase even further during the next few months.
That was pretty good news for me and the cherry on top of a pretty fruitful break, so it was a pretty happy and satisfied Mikail that went to the lab on Arcday morning of the fifth as well as the final week of the second month of 2182.
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