A train was moving through the underground tunnel at high speed, heading toward Cinnabar City.
"Mr. Blaine, Magmar, just now..." Hisoka trailed off.
He wanted to ask what happened to Magmar at the end of the match just now but hesitated.
Both of them were on the underground train. Hisoka looked at Blaine as he drove the train.
Blaine set the train to autopilot and sat down in front of him.
"Have you ever heard of Pokemon ability? he asked.
Hisoka nodded at that.
The theory of Pokemon ability was put forward by Professor Elm from Johto a few years ago. But because there was no concrete information, it did not cause much impact.
"Ability can provide a passive effect to a Pokemon. There are many kinds of abilities, but a Pokemon can only have one of them. Oh, before I forget, not every ability is good. Some of them are hindering," he slowly explained.
'So, why my Pokemon hasn't awakened their ability yet?' he thought dejectedly.
Except for Gardevoir, none of his Pokemon had shown any of their abilities at all.
Blaine seemed to see through him and said, "Well. Don't worry about that. Your Gardevoir had already awakened its ability, isn't it? Telepathy is quite rare among the Gardevoir I've seen. My Magmar's ability is Flame Body. It allows him to resist some Water-type attacks as well as burn the opponent who comes into contact with him.
"But how do Pokemon awaken their ability?" Hisoka asked, curious.
"It's random, but as Pokemon get older, they will slowly awaken their own ability," Blaine shrugged.
...
The train slowly approached a station. After they got out of the underground station, they were met with a building with the sign Pokemon Lab above it.
They both went inside the building and walked into the elevator. After they reached the top floor, they both went out and saw a large laboratory filled with many instruments.
"Hello, everyone. How are you doing?" Blaine said loudly after he walked out of the elevator.
"Professor Blaine, why did you come here today?"
A man in a lab coat went up to meet them.
"Professor Blaine, you're here!"
At the same time, a woman holding a folder also came. She looked at Hisoka curiously, saying, "Who is this? Is he your new student?"
Blaine patted Hisoka's shoulder and said, "This is Hisoka. He is the gym leader of Dark City. The man with the glasses is Allen, while the woman is called Sarah. They are my assistants. Say hello, guys."
He introduced them to each other.
"Hello," Hisoka greeted, holding his hand out toward them.
"Welcome to the Pokemon Lab, Hisoka."
Allen shook his hand first, followed by Sarah.
...
A Ninetales was lying down on a table inside the lab, swaying its tails gently. Sensing someone's gaze, it opened its eyes and found Hisoka in front of it. It looked at him for a moment before turning its head to the side.
Ninetales was a long-lived Pokemon. It was said that it could live for 1000 years old, but the researchers had yet to find any living 1000 years old Ninetales. The longest they had found so far was only 500 years old Ninetales, which had just died three years ago.
As for the Ninetales in front of him, it was around twenty years old based on the information he read on the table.
"Do you have a Fire-type Pokemon?" Blaine asked.
"No," Hisoka shook his head.
Then, Blaine turned around and waved to one of his assistants.
"Allen, can you bring me the flamethrower?" he called.
"Got it, professor," Allen said, putting down his work.
A few minutes later, he returned with a flamethrower in his hands. He then handed it to Blaine.
Instead of taking it, he motioned Allen to give it to Hisoka, saying, "Try to use it on her."
He pointed to the Ninetales in front of them.
"Huh? Can I? What if she gets hurt?" Hisoka asked in surprise.
"It's fine. Just do it," Blaine waved his hand dismissively.
Although Hisoka already had an idea of what Blaine wanted to show him, he still did as he was told.
He held the flamethrower in front of Ninetales and pulled the trigger.
Swoosh!
Fire came out of the nozzle as it hit the oblivious Ninetales. But there was no response from her. It just yawned lazily as if the fire did not hurt it in the slightest.
After that, he put the flamethrower away and looked at Blaine.
"He is immune to Fire-type attack, isn't it," he said.
Blaine snapped his fingers and said, "Correctomundo. Ninetales's ability is called Flash Fire. By the way, it also boosts her Fire-type moves."
A Pokemon that had awakened its ability was on a whole different level than the one that had not. Unless it was Archeops species. What a defeating ability.
"How did she awaken her ability?" Hisoka asked eagerly.
"That's what I'm about to show you. I use this!" Blaine took a green crystal out of his pocket and showed it to him.
"What's that?"
"This is Ability Crystal. It is made by Professor Elm. After a Pokemon eat this, there is a certain chance for it to awaken its ability. It's amazing, right?"
"Yeah," Hisoka could only stare in envy.
This kind of rare item that could awaken a Pokemon ability must be precious. Only a person with high status, such as Blaine, could obtain them.
...
The orange rock they found in Cinnabar Volcano was slowly being lifted by Hisoka into a cutting machine. Since Blaine helped him find this thing, he was going to give some of it as his thanks.
After cutting it into smaller pieces, Blaine took a few of them from the machine.
"This should be enough for me. Your Rhydon needs more of them," he said to Hisoka.
Hisoka nodded and took all of them into his bag. Then, he suddenly remembered something.
"Mr. Blaine, can I borrow the machine in this lab to make the Protector?"
"Sure. I can help you with that," Blaine agreed. He was also quite curious to see Rhydon's evolution.
"Oh yeah, before I forget. I have something to give you," he smiled mysteriously.
After saying that, he beckoned Allen to come over and whispered something in his ears.
Allen nodded with a smile and strode out of the room.
"Let's go outside first. It should take a while," Blaine said.
Hisoka followed him out and sat on the sofa outside the room. A few minutes later, Allen returned. This time, he was carrying a small box. He walked up to Blaine and put the box on the table.
"Here is it, professor."
"Thanks, Allen," Blaine said.
Then, he pushed the box toward Hisoka and said, "Go ahead and open it. I think you will like it very much."
Excitedly, Hisoka picked up the box and opened it.
Two green crystals were lying quietly inside the box. He took one of them and looked at it closely. There was some kind of green liquid inside the crystal.
"Is this the Ability Crystal?" Hisoka couldn't help but ask.
Blaine nodded and said, "This kind of item is actually not as rare as you think. Professor Elm has already worked with Devon Corporation to find a way to produce it on a mass scale. It should be on the market after the League announced Professor Elm's research."
At the same time, Blaine also told him that Professor Elm had shared some of his research with many professors all over the world. It was impossible for him to complete it alone due to the different climates and geographical environments of various regions. Not to mention the different Pokemon species.
The types of Pokemon that people had discovered were actually only a small part of the larger species of Pokemon. There were countless Pokemon that had not been discovered by humans in the world yet.
Like Blaine said just now, his Ninetails had awakened the Flash Fire ability while other Ninetails were able to awaken the Drought ability.
Professor Elm only had discovered 32 different kinds of abilities until now. Due to the large distance between each region, he didn't have the time to study Pokemon in various regions.
They were both good and bad abilities. Some abilities would improve a Pokemon strength, while others might weaken them.
For example, the Slaking from the Hoenn region. It was a very terrifying Pokemon that was far more feared than the semi-legendary Pokemon.
Professor Elm had a good friend in Hoenn called Norman. He was a Petalburg City gym leader, who specialized in training Normal-type Pokemon, especially the Slaking species.
Professor Elm found out that once a Vigoroth evolved into a Slaking, they would automatically awaken an ability called Truant without exception.
A Slaking with Truant became extremely lazy. Apart from eating, it spent most of its day sleeping. Even if Norman trained it, it could not be changed at all. It was as if it was against their nature to become active. It might even fall asleep during a battle.
Blaine also showed Hisoka some of the research on Pokemon ability. There were some that he remembered from his previous and some he did not. Luckily for him, he still remembered most of the abilities that can be awakened by a Pokemon from Kanto and Johto.
Seeing Hisoka staring at the crystal in his hand, Blaine couldn't help but smile and said, "You can try it for your Pokémon. The Ability Crystal can be eaten directly. If your Pokémon is strong enough, it should be able to awaken an ability."
In fact, he wanted to give it to Gardevoir first, but he suddenly remembered that she had already awakened her ability. So, except for her, he had another five Pokemon to choose from.
'Which one should I choose first? Misdreavus is out. If I remember correctly, she should have an ability called Levitate. So there are four left,' he thought.
After much thinking, he decided to give them to Milotic and Weavile first. Both of them were his strongest Pokemon after Gardevoir, and the others had yet to evolve.
A few seconds later, a Milotic appeared in front of them. Even though he had seen her many times, he still had to sigh in admiration. Milotic was truly the most beautiful Pokemon in the world.
Hisoka picked up the Ability Crytal and walked toward her. Then, he rubbed her head, saying, "Milotic, would you like to become stronger? Have a special ability like the Magmar that defeated you before?"
Hearing Hisoka saying about that Magmar, she became a little unhappy.
'I trained hard for a month, only to lose against that fire duck?' she uttered an exasperated snort.
"Mee!"
She nodded her head eagerly. She really wanted to beat that old duck.
"Good!" Hisoka smiled in reply.
Then, he held the Ability Crystal in front of her.
"Take it. This will awaken your ability," he said.
She quickly grabbed the crystal with her mouth and swallowed it down. A few seconds later, she felt a burst of energy within her body. It felt as if she was evolving? But not quite the same.
At the same time, a faint light was gathering on her head.
...