Pewter City.
Outside this quiet city nestled among rugged mountains and rocks, Terrance was conducting Larvitar's final round of training before evolution.
The training had reached its final moment.
Larvitar dragged its heavy body, violently stamping the ground, and the next moment a powerful force radiated out from Larvitar in all directions.
In an instant, the surrounding ground exploded with a bang, unleashing a powerful shockwave that rapidly engulfed everything in all directions.
At the same time, Larvitar concentrated its strength, causing countless sharp stones to pierce out of the ground split open by the Earthquake, instantly making the earth riddled with holes. The sharp stones were densely packed, and each one was filled with powerful energy, which, if released, would unleash terrifying power.
"Lar~vitar!!"
With a determined cry, Larvitar steadied itself. Energy gathered in its mouth, and a pale yellow beam suddenly swept outward, beginning to blast away the countless sharp stones surrounding it.
"This is your last chance."
Supervising from the side, Terrance watched as the Hyper Beam from Larvitar's mouth swept over the Stone Edge it had created earlier. The movement was smooth and fluid. Under the enormous surge of energy, the countless sharp stones that had burst from the ground were shattered by the powerful Hyper Beam, erupting into an astonishing shockwave.
Boom!!!
Boom!!!
Boom!!!
It can be seen that Larvitar's use of Earthquake, Stone Edge, and Hyper Beam several times resulted in a huge drain on its stamina, but this last attempt was finally successful, stringing together Earthquake, Stone Edge, and Hyper Beam in one go. The seamless action signifies that Larvitar has progressed from just having mastered these three major moves to a proficient level, already meeting the standard Terrance requires for combat.
"Not bad."
Looking at Larvitar, Terrance praised. Upon receiving Terrance's approval, Larvitar's face lit up with joy, and then its whole body began to glow white.
The light of evolution enveloped it!
Having completed all foundational training and accumulated sufficient energy reserves, Larvitar was now evolving into Pupitar.
This was the moment Larvitar had long awaited.
Pupitar is a gray-blue Pokémon, its color leaning toward silver. Lacking limbs, it resembles a cocoon, distinct from its pre-evolved form Larvitar and from its later evolution Tyranitar, whose gray-green body has distinct arms and legs.
"Pupitar, the Hard Shell Pokémon."
Once evolution was complete, Larvitar's new form appeared before Terrance. After examining it carefully, Terrance nodded. "Even though the Rotom Pokédex isn't here, I still need to get a sense of your condition after evolving."
"Forget about recording data, let's start with a semi-real battle."
"Pup~itar"
Pupitar nodded and tried to move, but then showed a surprised expression.
"Pup~itar"
Seeing Pupitar struggle with all its might and move with some difficulty, Terrance was taken aback. He quickly stepped forward to pick up Pupitar, only to be immediately shocked by its immense weight.
After a series of tests, Terrance discovered Pupitar's current weight.
Normally, a Larvitar's weight increases by about 70 kg upon evolution, roughly doubling its original weight.
Terrance hadn't expected his unique Larvitar's weight to have also doubled.
Since his Larvitar had already weighed about three times more than others of its species, after evolution its weight remained roughly three times that of a typical Pupitar, perhaps even a bit more.
However, since the base weight had increased, this new "threefold" weight was far more terrifying than before.
"So that's how it is. Even though it adapted to its Larvitar-period weight through the Float Stone breeding method, the massive weight gain after evolution has made it unable to adjust to its new body… which means this Float Stone breeding method will have to continue."
Terrance couldn't help but feel a pang of distress. His stockpile of Float Stones was running dangerously low. Other rare minerals all had some sort of substitute, so he didn't have to worry about quantity or supply channels, but Float Stones were different. They were a one-of-a-kind rarity, perhaps the only specimen of their kind in the entire world, and not something easily obtained.
"Pup~itar" Pupitar immediately entered its extreme-light mode, allowing it to move freely again.
"Let Vulpix be your opponent. We'll test your attack power first," Terrance said to Pupitar, then called out Vulpix.
Lately, Vulpix had been following Castform to learn to control Snowy Weather, and had already grasped the basics of Terrance's summarized Snowy Weather secret technique. At this point, Vulpix's control of Snowy Weather had surpassed that of most Ice-type Pokémon.
After achieving proficiency with Snowy Weather, Terrance had Vulpix learn a new move that synergized with it. Thanks to the immense power of Snowy Weather, this new move proved quite effective.
Aurora Veil: using the power of hail and snow to create a shimmering barrier that weakens the damage from enemy moves.
This move's effectiveness was directly linked to the strength of Snowy Weather: the stronger the Snowy Weather, the better the Aurora Veil's performance. Of course, the level of mastery over the move itself was another matter.
In its current state, Vulpix still couldn't produce an Aurora Veil that met Terrance's expectations. He estimated that once Vulpix evolved into Ninetales, its control over Snowy Weather would undergo a complete transformation. At that point, Aurora Veil could truly be called a godly defensive technique.
For now, however, to test Pupitar's post-evolution strength, Terrance had Vulpix use this incomplete move.
Although, by Terrance's standards, Vulpix's control over Aurora Veil was still inadequate, that didn't mean the move was weak; after all, Terrance had always held Vulpix and the others to top-tier standards.
Compared to the main Pokémon of ordinary Trainers, Vulpix was already exceptionally strong.
As the final link in a combo move integrating offense, debuff, and defense, Aurora Veil couldn't yet be seamlessly merged into Vulpix's combo move due to its current power limits, but even so, its effect was formidable enough to give even a regional league's Champion a serious headache.
Terrance had great confidence in the Ice Defense Vulpix created using ice energy, though he wasn't sure just how much damage Pupitar could inflict on it.
Following Terrance's command, the Ice Vulpix began to create Hail. Meanwhile, Pupitar, feeling the lightness brought by its extreme-light mode, began testing its newly learned ability after evolution. By compressing gases generated inside its body and then releasing them in a powerful jet, it could propel itself into flight. Using this ability, Pupitar exploded with powerful strength, soaring from the ground into the sky, quickly turning into a black speck.
"Good explosive power, not a waste of all those resources. If it can later learn air current control technique from Beautifly, it'll be able to use this ability even better. This foundation will definitely be a great help for mastering Sandstorm after evolution," Terrance judged.
Pupitar rose high into the air, building up a powerful attack.
After expending all its energy, Pupitar switched back into extreme-heavy mode. Its weight multiplied several times, and with the help of gravity, it turned into a bullet, transforming into a silver streak of light as it plummeted toward Vulpix.
Silver Bullet, Iron Head.
Vulpix, prepared for defense, conjured an Aurora Veil overhead while controlling ice energy to create ice walls for protection. Moreover, facing Pupitar this time, Vulpix was not careless. It did not want to repeat the experience of being defeated by Larvitar like last time. Therefore, before Pupitar landed, it also utilized Ice Beam to continuously reinforce the ice walls, and even used Extrasensory, becoming the second mechanism protecting the ice walls.
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