Once I had my confirmation that the Sunshine Bellflower worked as intended and the production issue had been settled, I began writing three interconnected papers. One paper focused on Ursaring and its two possible evolutions, Ursaluna and Ursasol as a species. The part on Ursaluna and Ursasol encompassed, size, weight, type, abilities, racial values, general behavior, and diet.
The other two papers focused on the evolution conditions of the two species. One paper was on the peat block substitute I created along with the additional environmental requirement, namely the full moon, and the other one focused on the Sunshine Bellflower as well as the additional environmental requirement, namely the Solar Flare.
Well, I used Mars/Ursasol, the two involuntary volunteers of mine as reference points for the first paper, so I made frequent trips to the Mt. Moon Mountain Range to observe them. Doing so without giving up their positions to others, including my tail was not easy, but I managed thanks to the power of friendship, or rather Horus/Xatu, our bond, and a telepathic link.
Though I used some info I had in my super library for Ursaluna due to the small "sample size". Unfortunately, that was not possible for Ursasol since it was an evolution uncovered by me, so there was no prior data anywhere.
I tried to write the paper as professionally as possible since there were certain expectations of any paper/thesis I wrote due to the fact that I was interning at Oak Labs. If I could not meet certain standards, it would have a negative impact on the reputation of Oak Labs. Well, and mine as well, but the one on Oak Labs was more important.
Anyway, I managed to finish up the first paper before my parents came back, though I made sure to gather more data, and I kept working on the other two for an hour or so each day after they did come back.
Both were interested in the topic for a while after I told them what I had been up to for the last few days, but their interest in my papers began to die down after a week since Mom and Dad had known about Mars for some time now.
Their waning interest was normal since neither was planning to get an Ursaring just because of my discovery/discoveries. Still, since I was working on the papers I was free to let Mars out of Utopia, and he was certainly happy about having the option even if he preferred staying inside Utopia anyway.
Overall, finishing all three papers took me four weeks, which was pretty good considering that I had been working on them for only an hour or two per day. The rest of the time was spent with either my parents or my Pokemon or both.
It was during the routine check-up on Grouday a week before the end of the month and my vacation that something monumental happened. Well, monumental for me and mine. Prime/Beedrill finally broke through to the gold stage.
It took him a tad bit more than 1.5 years to complete just the third round of his limit-breaking simply because he decided to spread his attention instead of focusing on raising his parameters.
I let him do it because unlike Optimus/Butterfree, who went with a rather lax leading style as far as the other Butterfree were concerned, Prime took his role as head minion/commander extremely seriously. Hence, why he focused on training the other Beedrill as well as ensuring their discipline.
Due to his behavior, the Beedrill Corps was stronger on average than the Butterfree group, and they were actually able to smoothly cooperate to fight a stronger opponent or face a group of opponents.
Well, their smooth cooperation was only one of the reasons they were able to do that. Their focus on a few key moves was another. Prime himself had focused on the same moves as well to teach and guide the other Beedrill.
Anyway, training the Beedrill army in his role as the commander along with his focus on his moves were two of the three main reasons why Prime's breakthrough got delayed. The third one was his focus on his resistance training.
He actually managed to standardize his psychic weakness a few months ago and was currently taking a break from any further resistance training. Still, these three factors were the prime reason Prime's breakthrough got delayed by at least half a year if not more.
Back to his breakthrough though. We naturally immediately made our way to Parvati/Beedrill and Prime's shared area and I shared the news with everyone else not present during the check over UtopiaFM. The minion bees were already waiting in the area, so they were the first ones to crowd us as soon as we made it there as well.
We waited for a while to give the others the chance to come over and once I was sure that no one else was coming I told everyone to make room for Prime. They formed the traditional circle around him, but not before Togetic went up to him and gave him a good luck hug.
I wished him good luck as well before joining the others and once everyone was in position, I gave Prime the go-ahead. The breakthrough took a slight bit longer than usual, and he did light up a little, so I knew that something extra did happen during the breakthrough.
Still, considering the degree of the difference it was most likely nothing too big. At least I thought so, and I was also unable to spot any visual changes once the breakthrough was over. Nonetheless, considering that something did happen I gave Togetic a thumbs up before walking up to Prime to congratulate him on joining the golden club.
Prime was rather happy as well but his attention was quickly taken up by Parvati who came up to him a few moments after I did. She was swiftly followed by the others and the Beedrill Corps. I let them be and focused on checking Prime's new/updated status screen to see what had changed.
'Name: Prime
Species: Beedrill
Gender: Male
Age: 10+ years
-
Type: Bug, Poison
Potential: Light Purple (92.28%)*
{Deep Blue (10.42%) -> (32.28%) -> Light Purple (92.28%)}
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Swarm, Sniper
Talents: Commander's Spirit*
Affinities: Bug, Poison
-
Bond: Mikail (strong)
Quirks: Dutiful, Disciplined
----
Parameters:
Stage: Gold Stage (mid)*
Vitality: E
Strength: D
Endurance: F
Agility: E
Energy Capacity: F
Energy Density: D
----
Resistance:
Grass (Major), Fighting (Major), Poison (Minor), Bug (Minor), Fairy (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Fire (Minor), Flying (Minor), Rock (Minor)
-
Standardized:
Psychic
----
Condition: Healthy, Happy, Relieved, Excited
----
Masteries:
Bug E. Manipulation (Proficient) -> (Advanced),
Poison E. Manipulation (Proficient) -> (Advanced)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
Hyper Beam (in progress)
-
Novice:
Outrage (new)
-
Beginner:
Endeavor (+)
-
Proficient:
Bug Bite, Harden, Poison Fang, Laser Focus, Agility, Assurance (+), Focus Energy (+), Mega Drain (++), Twin Needle (new), Brick Break (+), Iron Lance (C)
-
Advanced:
Electroweb, Poison Jab, Venoshock, Fury Attack, Fury Cutter, Toxic Thread (+), Pin Missiles (+), Fell Stinger (+), Iron Defense (+) Toxic Spikes (++),
-
Mastered:
String Shot (+), Poison Sting (+)
-
Combo moves/Custom moves:
Iron Lance (Proficient, new)'
Well, Prime finally managed to break past the 5-star label and joined the illustrious 6-star club with his light purple potential. Moreover, while it had no impact on the star rating, he was not too far off from raising his potential to the purple grade.
He was missing less than 8%, but to be completely honest I was not sure if I could help him bridge that before he broke through to the dark gold stage. It mainly depended on Prime, if he decided to focus purely on himself and chose to concentrate on raising his parameters, it was nearly guaranteed that he would break through before I could fill in the gap.
However, if he decided to keep splitting his attention, it was possible that it could take him 5, or even 6 years to reach the point where he could break through to the dark gold stage. If that happened, I could help him push his potential to the purple grade. Though I had to admit, that I would prefer it if it did not take Prime that long to break through once more.
Anyway, moving on, I saw the reason for the small irregularities that happened during the breakthrough. Prime managed to unlock a talent of his own. I was quite happy for my boy since he got to fill in at least one of the empty spots on his status screen.
I could not help and pat him on the head, right between the feelers. When he threw me an inquiring look I shared the news with him and he was really happy. The minions also released a happy buzz hearing that their boss had gotten a talent.
I asked him if felt no difference and while he looked curious and began to "look" into himself for any difference, I read the description of Commander's Spirit.
Well, the ability was pretty similar to Steely Spirit, but instead of boosting just the steel-type moves, Commander's Spirit boosted all moves that the talent holder had a full affinity for. In Prime's case that currently translated to poison and bug-type moves.
Still, the talent had a condition that had to be met for it to activate, which was that Prime had to be leading at least 5 Beedrill/Pokemon to battle for it to apply. The talent was somehow able to recognize whether the Pokemon/Beedrill truly accepted Prime as their commander or not.
While it was far from the best talent one of my Pokemon had unlocked, Commander's Spirit was a pretty great talent regardless, and it had quite a bit of potential. Just as I finished reading through the description, Prime shared that he found something but that he was not really sure what it did.
I was not too surprised that he found something since his minions were close by and they definitely acknowledged him as their superior. Nonetheless, I did not keep Prime or the others, who were looking at me full of curiosity waiting and directly told them what his talent did.
They were all pretty impressed by it and the corps did make quite the buzz upon hearing that their boss had become even more suitable for leading them.
Prime himself was pretty happy as well, and I had to smile seeing him buzz around happily like that. He was usually much more restrained and disciplined than this, so seeing him let loose like this due to happiness was quite refreshing.
Anyway, I brought out the party stuff and let them have some fun for a few hours without me since I had to spend some time with my parents. I joined the celebration sometime after dinner at around 9 p.m.
The following week after that went by pretty calmly and the new month began on Dialday. While I did not go back to Rota just yet since I was only resuming my work on Arcday, I did pay a visit to Oak Labs.
Naturally, the reason for my visit was the three papers I wrote. I met up with the main man himself and handed him all three theses for publication. Professor Oak immediately flew over them and was suitably impressed with my work.
He praised me and asked if he could see Mars. I obliged his request and watched him circle Mars curiously prodding him here and there while mumbling. It was amusing to watch and I certainly enjoyed the show. It took around 15 minutes before the professor was satisfied and left Mars alone.
He then moved on to me and began asking questions about Mars in general and the two triggers I came up with and the Ursaluna as well as Ursasol that I "discovered".
We talked for like an hour or so before he reluctantly let me go while promising that he would make sure my work got published smoothly. Though he asked me twice if I was sure that I did not want to wait with the publication for a while, which I declined.
Nonetheless, it was always interesting to see the Professor behave all giddy like that and the experience alone was worth the work I put into the whole project.
I got another surprise on Grouday during the routine check that morning, when I saw that Bruce/Golbat's potential had advanced to purple. It was certainly a great way to tie off my break, and I let them celebrate that while I said my goodbyes to my parents before leaving for Rota City.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning up/dusting off the house. The next morning I made my way to Varon Labs for work, and Professor Varon as well as her team were certainly happy to see me.
I was not all that surprised to hear that the professor had heard about my papers, and the first thing we did was not talk about the work I did on the supplements for our current project, but about the papers I wrote on the Ursaring line.
-----------------------------
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