The last few days seemed to pass by rather slowly, or at least to me it felt like that, but on the last day of the month which was also the second to last day of my logistic phase, I heard something after work that made me put the dullness of the week so far behind me.
During dinner, Gaara/Gabite excitedly regaled me with the details of his spar with Igneel/Charizard that they held right before dinner, and he bragged that he not only finally managed to fully perform an Iron Tail, which he happily shared he used to slap Igneel's butt, but that even his Sandstorm persisted for longer than ever before.
I was happy to hear about him apparently "mastering" Iron Tail, and I took a look at his status sheet to see if he truly had it down or if it was a lucky strike. As it turned out, not only had he learned the move, but he had even attained mastery with Sandstorm, and that wasn't even the biggest news. No, it appeared that Gaara had completed his limit-breaking phase sometime during the four days since the last check-up, which meant he was ready for his breakthrough to the silver stage.
This was quite good news, and I shared it with him as well as the others, which prompted everyone else to first congratulate Gaara before crowding me to check them out as well. I could not help but laugh a bit seeing their eagerness, but I waved them off and told them to finish their dinner first. I then turned to Gaara and informed him that we would handle his breakthrough ceremony after I was done checking the others. I naturally kept my promise and began to check everyone after dinner.
Unfortunately, none of them had completed their limit-breaking phase, though one or two did raise the mastery of one of their moves, which was pretty good as well, and I made sure to praise them for it. Honestly, no one was truly disappointed with the news since they were simply trying their luck, and once I was done with the checkup, I shared the news of the upcoming breakthrough over UtopiaFM before we made our way to Gaara's place.
Upon arrival, we simply hung around for a bit while waiting for the spectators to arrive. Once the last batch was about to make it, I told everyone to start forming the circle while Fortuna/Togetic and I wished Gaara good luck. With that done, the two of us joined the others and Gaara initiated his breakthrough.
When Gaara began to shine a bit a few moments later I was not surprised since he was slated to have his potential raised to the aurora grade so some shining was to be expected. Yet, when the breakthrough was finally over, I could not help but notice that it had taken a tad longer than expected. Still, the difference was not big, so I ignored it and headed toward Gaara.
Just as I finished congratulating him on reaching the silver stage and being the second with aurora potential, Fortuna, Kimura/Hitmonform, and the others of Gen F rushed over to congratulate their buddy as well. The rest of our family also ambled over, though they were content with letting the "younger" ones rush ahead.
I did not wait for them and started checking Gaara's status sheet while he was busy with Fortuna and Co.
'Name: Gaara
Species: Gabite
Gender: Male
Age: 8+ years
-
Type: Dragon, Ground
Potential: Aurora (0.61%)*
{Light Aurora (20.78%) -> (21.22%) -> Aurora (0.61%)}'
As I had expected, his potential had risen to aurora, even if it was by a hair's breadth. Regardless, just so or not, his improved potential would still allow him to advance more smoothly than his previous one which was reason enough to celebrate. I happily continued looking at the next few sections, until I saw that Gaara had actually unlocked a talent, which made it his second one, and it was one befitting his name at that.
'(Genetic) Modifiers: None
Abilities: Sand Veil, Rough Skin, Sand Force
Talents: Scale Control, Sand Control*'
After Sand Veil as well as Sand Force, Gaara now also had Sand Contol, and I could not help but link his new talent to those two abilities along with the freshly mastered Sandstorm. My reasoning for the latter was pretty simple and was related to the talent description.
Sand Control allowed Gaara to freely manipulate/control any sand he himself produced, such as the one released by Sandstorm, as well as any sand that has been infused or come into contact with Gaara's energy. This talent gave Gaara's Sandstorm a rather strong offensive capability, making it pretty much the most versatile move any of my Pokemon had.
Things such as sand grips, sand ropes, sand barriers/walls, sand burial, sand bullets, sand blades, sand twisters, or even sand tsunamis/waves could all become a reality through a combination of Sandstorm and Sand Control. He could combine or use it with Scorching Sand as well making those techniques even more effective/dangerous.
I was quite happy to share this with Gaara and he was really happy when he heard about his new talent, especially when I mentioned some of the possible uses it had. Everyone else was suitably impressed as well and they all congratulated him on his second talent.
Heck, everyone was more impressed by his talent than his new "shiny" aurora talent, and I didn't blame them since ironically unlocking a good talent was rarer for us than someone attaining the fabled potential realm, though so far that was limited for light aurora. Still, it made Gaara's new talent more interesting to them than his aurora potential. I let them be and resumed looking through Gaara's status sheet.
'Parameters:
Stage: Silver Stage (mid)*
Vitality: E
Strength: D
Endurance: E
Agility: D
Energy Capacity: E
Energy Density: E'
Considering the state of his parameter sheet, reaching the (high) Silver State would take some time even with his potential. If I had to guess, I'd say it would happen sometime during the final/ranger phase. Unfortunately, even if he managed to advance to (high) silver, his evolution to Garchomp would have to wait due to the raised optimal evolution point of the "pseudo-legendary" group.
Now that I was considering the issue, it would probably have been better for Bruce to wait as well considering his high (absurd) racial value as a Golbat. Yet, it slipped my mind at the time, and there was nothing I could do about it now, so I just made a mental note to keep that in mind for the future, before moving on to the rest of Gaara's status sheet.
'Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
Fire Fang (new), Iron Tail (new)
-
Beginner:
Double Edge (+), Outrage (+), Scorching Sands (+), Endure (new), Dragon Dance (new)
-
Proficient:
Dragon Rush (++), Earthquake (new), Rest (+), Flamethrower (+)
-
Advanced:
Dragon Claw (+)
-
Mastered:
Sandstorm (+)'
After confirming that there were no further changes caused by Gaara's breakthrough, I proceeded to pull out the things for his celebration. Since I had to work tomorrow, the party stopped an hour before midnight and once I/we had cleaned up the place, everyone went to sleep.
Dialday started off the sixth month of 2185, and it was also my last day at Azure City. I was honestly relieved that it was over, though that did not stop me from being polite to my coworkers until the last minute. They actually returned the favor and gathered together to send me off at the end of my shift.
After thanking them, I made my way out of Azure City and headed to Saffron City, the capital of Kanto. It was also the financial center of Kanto as well as the richest city, and it happened to be the city I would be spending the next two months in. My finance phase would be spent at a finance bureau based in Saffron City that was affiliated with the alliance.
Once I made it to Saffron City, I checked out the web to take a look at the recommended restaurants in the city and made my way to the closest one for dinner. I was not planning to look for a place to stay since I was planning to stay inside Utopia, so after strolling around the city for close to two hours to scout out the usual places, I entered Utopia.
I spent a few hours with my Pokemon before retreating to my mansion, where I spent another two hours meditating before I went to sleep. The next morning after breakfast, we held our morning training session. Following that I combined my own training with entertainment for my Pokemon by holding another earth puppet combat show.
I only stopped when it was time for lunch, after which I left Utopia since I had promised to meet up with Rose, who would be coming over to Saffron City for our meeting. I headed to the Teleportation Hub, and 10 minutes later Rose stepped out of the building.
When she noticed me, Rose rushed over to me and hug-tackled me. After returning her hug, I asked her how she was doing, and she began telling me about her journey, or rather the things she had done since the last time I saw her, which was close to 3 months ago. It seemed she was preparing to earn her 5th 2-star Ribbon at the end of the month.
Doing so would allow her to skip the preliminaries of the Rookie/Minor Festival. Rose was already qualified since she had long earned the 5 1-star Ribbons needed to participate in the festival, but she really wanted to skip the three-day-long preliminary phase at the start of the 8th month.
Doing so would allow her to keep more cards hidden, so earning her 5th 2-star Ribbon before 24.07.2185 was quite important for her since that was the "registration deadline" so to speak, which meant that no further contests would take place after that day.
Rose had registered for a 2-star contest on the 30th of this month where she would face other Connoisseurs, Coordinators who had three or more 2-star ribbons, to earn her final ribbon. She told me that it gave her enough time to register for another contest or two in case she failed to win the one she was currently preparing for.
She managed to wriggle a promise out of me to come watch the contest since it was on a Kyoday, and I told her I would come as long as I had the day off. I'd try to make it even if it turned out that I had to work on Kyoday as well during this phase, but there was an uncertainty factor which was why I did not verbalize it.
Anyway, we strolled around Saffron City for a few hours before settling on a bench in one of the city parks, where we talked about various stuff including some of the choreographies Rose was planning. She asked my opinion on them, so I gave her a few suggestions here and there.
Afterward, Rose called out her Pokemon and I gave them a check-up. They were all in good health and their condition was pretty good as well. Rose had done a good job of grooming them, and they looked pretty good. I asked her if she still had enough of the supplements as well as creams I had given her, before giving her another batch just to be on the safe side.
Once all of her Pokemon got the green light from me, Rose recalled them and we made our way to the restaurant we had chosen for dinner while strolling around the city. After dinner, I accompanied Rose back to the Teleport Hub where she reminded me to show up for her contest before leaving.
I left for a secluded spot the moment she was gone and entered Utopia from there. There's of the evening was spent with my Pokemon along with the whole of Grouday.
---------------------
---------------------
This part is purely to display both Gaara's status screen in one piece and does not count toward the word count.
'Name: Gaara
Species: Gabite
Gender: Male
Age: 8+ years
-
Type: Dragon, Ground
Potential: Aurora (0.61%)
(Genetic) Modifiers: None
Abilities: Sand Veil, Rough Skin, Sand Force
Talents: Scale Control, Sand Control
Affinities: Dragon, Ground
-
Bond: Mikail (weak)
Quirks: Slightly Attentive
----
Parameters:
Stage: Silver Stage (mid)
Vitality: E
Strength: D
Endurance: E
Agility: D
Energy Capacity: E
Energy Density: E
----
Immunity:
Electric
-
Resistance:
Fire (Minor), Poison (Minor), Rock (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Ice (Major), Dragon (Minor), Fairy (Minor)
----
Condition: Healthy, Pleased
----
Masteries:
Dragon Energy Manipulation (Proficient)
Ground Energy Manipulation (Proficient)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
Fire Fang, Iron Tail
-
Beginner:
Tackle, Take Down, Mud Shot, Protect, Double Edge, Outrage, Scorching Sands, Endure, Dragon Dance
-
Proficient:
Dragon Rage, Sand Tomb, Sand Attack, Dragon Breath, Twister, Dig, Dragon Pulse, Bulldoze, Slash, Earth Power, Dragon Rush, Earthquake, Rest, Flamethrower
-
Advanced:
Scale Shot, Dragon Claw
-
Mastered:
Sandstorm'
-----------------------------
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