When everyone who wanted to watch the breakthrough had finally arrived, Fortuna/Togekiss and I gave Tatsumaki/Alakazam a good luck hug as well as wishes before joining the others circling Tatsumaki. I then told Tatsumaki to go ahead and she directly initiated the breakthrough process. I felt her energy level rise, showing that she was moving on to the next level, when a few seconds into the process I felt additional energy being drawn to her indicating that something out of the norm was happening.
When moments later Tatsumaki began to slightly shine a bit, it became clear to everyone that Tatsumaki's breakthrough had triggered a change, which caused quite a bit of excitement. Everyone was hoping for Tatsumaki's sake that the change was a really lucky one, with some wishing for her to unlock a value-boosting modifier such as the royal gene, while others hoped for a useful new talent or an upgrade to the one she already had. Either way, they were all hoping that whatever it was would be truly useful to Tataumaki.
A minute into the breakthrough the shimmer died down and a few moments after that (mid) dark gold stage undulations spread out from Tatsumaki, indicating that her breakthrough was complete. As far as I knew, a level 1 modifier would not be enough to push Tatsumaki to a (high) start due to Alkazam's relatively low racial value in half of its parameters, so there was a chance that she could have unlocked a modifier despite the (mid) dark gold undulations we were feeling.
Hence, I along with everyone else took a good look at Tatsumaki to see if we could spot any difference compared to before, but I saw no visual changes, and from the comments that the others were making, they failed to spot any discernible changes as well. This meant that whatever happened during her breakthrough had no visible impact on Tatsumaki, which reduced the chance of it being a modifier, and that was fine.
I chose to ignore the others for a moment and made my way towards Tatsumaki, who appeared introspective. "How are you feeling?" I asked her and she opened her eyes at my question. I saw her eyes sparkle with delight and she gave me a bright happy smile that already answered my question without her having to use any words.
"{I feel great, incredible even}," she began sounding as thrilled as I expected her to be from what I saw. "{I'm sure you noticed that I got something during the breakthrough. Try to guess what I got,}" she playfully requested. It was rare to see Tatsumaki act playful like this, which showed how happy she was with whatever it was that she got, and I naturally played along since I was happy with her being happy.
"Well, I don't know. Let me think," I said while rubbing my chin. "I don't think it is a new gene since I can't see any outward indicators that normally accompany those. Did you unlock a second talent?" I offered a guess, which found quite a bit of approval from the crowd that had formed around us.
"{Wrong, try again}," she said with a smirk. "Well, if it's not a second talent, then did your Mega Mind change somehow?" I speculated and Tatsumaki shook her head. "{Nope, that's not it as well}," she denied while crossing her two spoons to form an X. "{But, I did discover something new about my talent due to the thing I unlocked}," she added, and she sounded quite pleased when she said unlocked.
"{Well, let's just say my worries about Inner Focus turned out to be unnecessary}," Tatsumaki finally revealed, which pretty much told me that she had a different talent instead of Inner Focus. That explained her happiness and delight. "Really? Let me see," I said before taking a look at her status sheet.
'Name: Tatsumaki
Species: Alakazam
Gender: Female
Age: 14+ years
-
Type: Psychic
Potential: Light Aurora (18.14%)*
{Deep Purple (55.41%) -> (56.28%) -> Light Aurora (18.14%)}'
Her potential had risen to light aurora as expected, and it was close to 20% already, which was nice. It was thanks to this that she had unlocked her third ability, which apparently was not the expected Inner Focus.
(Genetic) Modifiers: Ability Variant*
After Tatsumaki's reveal, this bit was not surprising, but at least it confirmed that she was right and that it was not a talent with a similar effect to an ability that made her misunderstand her own situation.
Abilities: Synchronize, Magic Guard, Trace*'
Seeing what her new talent actually was, I could not help but feel happy since Trace was a rather useful ability. Still, in some ways, it made sense for her ability variation to end up with Trace since it was the ability a Mega Alakazam gained after mega-evolving. With Tatsumaki attaining light aurora potential and unlocking an extra ability, there was a bit of a destiny kind of vibe to this variation, especially with her being so bummed out about Inner Focus. It was like fate decided to say, let me do you a favor and give you access to this in advance, and I was quite happy with our luck in this matter.
"So, you ended up with Trace," I shared, more for everyone else since they were eagerly waiting for the answer. "Congratulations, I knew you were bummed out by the thought of your third ability being Inner Focus," I said to Tatsumaki, who gave me a bright smile at that. "{Thanks, I'm very happy with this development as well}," she returned and the others took that as a sign to start congratulating her as well.
"Say what did you mean with you learned something new about Mega Mind due to your new ability?" I inquired after remembering her mention something like that when I guessed that the change might have something to do with her talent. My question naturally attracted everyone's attention. They momentarily stopped bothering, sorry, congratulating Tatsumaki, and looked at her, waiting for the answer.
"{It's quite fortunate actually}," Tatsumaki began. "{My Mega Mind, as you call it, can apparently help me maintain any ability I copy through Trace indefinitely, kinda like like Ali's talent used to}," she said with a nod to Ali. "{Though mine can't help me save the previous ability if I use Trace to trace another ability. It simply allows me to maintain the new ability until I use Trace again}," she finished sounding just a tad disappointed
"That's incredible," I admitted and the other echoed the sentiment. "Mega Mind might not have upgraded per se, but considering what you revealed it might have as well done just that. I mean that's so impressive that it's like you've gained a second talent," I commended and I meant every word. Mega Mind indeed. I could feel Tatsumaki's happiness at my words, and the others were quick to once again congratulate her. Meanwhile, I continued to look at the rest of her status sheet.
'Bond: Mikail (deep)*
Quirks: None '...but for how long?'
----
Parameters:
Stage: Dark Gold Stage (mid)*
Vitality: E
Strength: F
Endurance: F
Agility: C
Energy Capacity: B
Energy Density: D'
I had felt our bond deepen after her breakthrough even if the whole mystery change part had distracted me, so no surprise at that bit. Her quirky Quirk comment had actually changed though it still remained quirky. Honestly, I did not know if her Mega Mind talent was responsible for that or if it was my observe ability being influenced by my subconscious thoughts which thought that a comment like that would be funny due to her Mega Mind talent.
That I did find the whole thing kind of funny was also a factor, and it was also the main reason why I did not bother looking into it since it had no negative effects of any kind. That brought me to the parameter section which honestly left me with some mixed feelings. It just felt weird seeing such relatively bad starting values for half of Tatsumaki's parameters. Honestly, Alakazam's racial values for vitality, strength, and endurance, were kinda bad. They literally slowed down Tatsumaki's progress speed, and if not for having to work extra hard/long on them, she could have probably broken through months earlier.
Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about it aside from continuing what I was already doing, which was to support Tatsumaki with supplements and training materials/practices. The only thing that could truly change this was the unlocking of a modifier, but that was out of my hands.
When I checked out her type relation section next, I ended up seeing an unexpected but very welcome change.
'Resistance:
Fighting (Minor), Psychic (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Ghost (Minor), Dark (Minor)
-
Standardized:
Bug*'
We had been working on her bug resistance for years now, and I had the feeling we had made good progress with it, though there was still some way until our training could be considered complete. For some species training the resistance to certain types was just harder than for others, but despite that being the case for Tatsumaki and the bug type as well, we had made good progress. I could only hope we would be able to maintain that when she started working on her dark type weakness since that one was even harder to work on than the bug type.
Still, maybe we would get lucky like we did this time, which would save us years, and while we "only" saved a year or so this time around, I was thankful for any saved time we got, and I was sure that Tatsumkai felt the same way as well. I went ahead and told her the good news right away. Just as I had expected she was delighted to hear the news, and she actually laughed out loud out of happiness at not having to endure another bug-res session.
Anyway, with only the move section left I quickly went over it to see if anything had changed due to the breakthrough, but it remained the same, so I stopped focusing on the status sheet and told everyone to head to my place for the celebration.
'Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
Hyperspace Hole (in progress)
-
Novice:
Misty Terrain (new), Energy Ball (new), Grassy Terrain (new)
-
Beginner:
Psychic Terrain (new), Hypnosis (new), Dream Eater (new), Extrasensory (new), Heal Block (new), Psystrike (new), Rest (new), Agility (new), Barrier (new), Heal Pulse (new), Magic Room (new)
-
Proficient:
Gravity Crush (C,++), Cosmic Power (new)
-
Combo/Custom:
Gravity Crush (Proficient), Hyperspace Hole (name pending, in progress)'
Honestly, it had only been slightly more than an hour since we had lunch, but I still brought out snacks and drinks (soft drinks and juice) since those were an indispensable part of any party. Tatsumaki's breakthrough was naturally the hottest topic, though things like who was going to break through next or evolve were also being talked about. Others did not bother joining the conversations and chose to laze about or play games with a few fellows.
The Eevee Squad stuck to Munchlax, Larvitar, Squirtle, and Beldum. They involved them in their games, which a few others like Enji/Arcanine joined as well. Meanwhile, Anorith as well as G.Magikarp hung out at the pond and simply relaxed together with Manami/Larpas.
A bit more than an hour into the party, Luna/Clefable came up to me and asked me to play a few songs/tunes for her with the Ocarina. Her request attracted quite a bit of attention and everyone enthusiastically agreed that it was a great idea. I naturally went along with Luna's request, happy to fulfill her wish.
Hence, I sat down cross-legged and pulled out my ocarina. I made sure to livestream my upcoming performance throughout Utopia so that all Utopians could enjoy some nice music, before closing my eyes and bringing the ocarina to my lips. As soon as the first tune left the ocarina, the crowd quoted down and everyone listened as I played the Melody of the Ocean.
---------------------
---------------------
This part is purely to display Tatsumaki's status screen in one piece and does not count toward the word count.
'Name: Tatsumaki
Species: Alakazam
Gender: Female
Age: 14+ years
-
Type: Psychic
Potential: Light Aurora (18.14%)
(Genetic) Modifiers: Ability Variant
Abilities: Synchronize, Magic Guard, Trace
Talents: Mega Mind
Affinities: Psychic
-
Bond: Mikail (deep)
Quirks: None '...but for how long?'
----
Parameters:
Stage: Dark Gold Stage (mid)
Vitality: E
Strength: F
Endurance: F
Agility: C
Energy Capacity: B
Energy Density: D
----
Resistance:
Fighting (Minor), Psychic (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Ghost (Minor), Dark (Minor)
-
Standardized:
Bug
----
Condition: Healthy, Pleased, Joyful
----
Masteries:
Psychic Energy Manipulation (Mastered)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
Hyperspace Hole (in progress)
-
Novice:
Agility, Barrier, Heal Pulse, Magic Room, Psychic Terrain, Misty Terrain, Energy Ball, Grassy Terrain,
-
Beginner:
Iron Tail, Iron Head, Dream Eater, Hypnosis, Extrasensory, Heal Block, Psystrike, Rest
-
Proficient:
Recover, Role Play, Endure, Encore, Thunder Punch, Shockwave, Reflect, Charge Beam, Thunderbolt, Fire Punch, Flamethrower, Ice Punch, Ice Beam, Hyper Beam, Dazzling Gleam, Zen Headbutt, Gravity Crush (C), Cosmic Power
-
Advanced:
Confusion, Psyshock, Disable, Future Sight, Protect, Shadow Ball, Stored Power, Safeguard, Psycho Cut
-
Mastered:
Teleport, Ally Switch, Kinesis, Psychic, Calm Mind, Miracle Eye, Gravity
-
Combo/Custom:
Gravity Crush (Proficient), Hyperspace Hole (name pending, in progress)'
-----------------------------
Advertising plug-in:
I have uploaded a poll over at patre'on where patrons can vote on whether Mikail shall come across a "complete" type variant and if he should keep it as novelty or a team member in case he does come across one. The poll ends tomorrow at noon.
Currently, the lowest number of advanced chapters available on patre'on is 6, while the highest number of advanced chapters is 10.
Sketches, drawings of the MC, Variants and maps can be found on my Patre'on. A patre'on exclusive Legendary Lore and Pokemon Lore/Info series can be found there as well.
Help me stay motivated.
patreo*n/Azrail93