The power of moonlight fell from the cold full moon soaring in the sky.
Mega Gardevoir bathed in the moonlight, her body moving in natural dance. There was no vegetation in the silent desert, but even the dust and breeze danced along with her.
Just like John had once seen the former Gardevoir Queen dancing in that video.
It turned out that dance was a ceremony for the former King to become Xerneas's protégé.
After watching the dance for a while, John quietly opened his Gameboy to see what effect Xerneas's blessing would have.
The effect was definitely there. At first glance, the improvement didn't seem like much, but it was actually huge. The Moon King Domain ability that Gardevoir had just acquired was now enhanced.
[Moon King Domain: Within the field, all Gardevoir's moves have 50% increased power, with Fairy-type moves gaining an additional 20% boost.
On moonlit nights, HP continuously recovers at 2% per second, and all allies in the King's Field gain half this recovery effect.
Moon-related moves have 120% increased power with a 40% chance of inflicting "Confusion." When the target's level is lower than yours, confusion chance increases to 100%.]
The power of Fairy and Moon moves had increased by 20%, and the confusion probability had risen by 20%.
He was used to seeing improvements of 100% and 200% all the time. Now when he saw 20% improvements, John barely felt anything. But the real focus was what came after.
HP recovery speed had doubled from 1% per second to 2% per second, and the Moon King Domain had changed from single-target healing to group healing! It was like giving top-tier Leftovers to all Pokemon in the King's Field.
John remembered that Gengar and Zoroark's royal fields were continuous and cost-free. If Gardevoir's King Field worked the same way, then she could essentially open a continuous "healing station" that constantly restored stamina.
According to the recovery rate, even if his Pokemon were seriously injured, placing them in the Moon King's Domain would restore them to peak condition within one minute and forty seconds.
That recovery efficiency was terrifying.
In the future, if enemies couldn't defeat Gardevoir first, they'd be unable to destroy his team.
Combined with Gardevoir's Future Sight and Teleport...
John estimated that all his Pokemon could fall in battle and might still not take any lasting damage.
"I'm basically invincible now," John muttered with a slight grin.
"Human, I never asked your name," Xerneas said after giving his blessing. After talking for so long, he'd kept calling John "human."
"John."
Xerneas rolled the name around in its mind, then nodded. "I'll remember it."
Immediately, colorful light solidified in front of Xerneas and formed a blue crystal branch, which he delivered into John's hands.
"What is this?" John took the branch.
"This is a horn I once shed. When we need your help, it will glow and guide you to find me."
Xerneas's horn? John quickly checked the stats on his Gameboy.
[Life Branch: Fairy-type move power doubled. Wearer recovers 2% HP per second.]
The effect was decent, probably at the level of ordinary divine artifacts.
"Well, it's time for me to leave." With that, Xerneas walked toward the dark forest.
"Wait a minute." This time it was John's turn to stop Xerneas.
"Is there something else?"
"I was wondering if you know where other Kings are? For example, Kings like Greninja, Blaziken, or Garchomp?" John figured that if Xerneas had the Gardevoir Queen as a protégé, maybe he'd encountered other Kings too.
He'd suddenly thought of this. It was rare to meet such a friendly top-tier god who'd lived long enough to know things. Since they were now "strategic partners," he should make the most of this opportunity.
If Xerneas really knew, John could head there immediately.
"Not every Pokemon species has a King," Xerneas explained.
"But since you want to know, I can share what I do know."
Xerneas told John about the "Kings" he was aware of.
Not many, only three Pokemon species were confirmed to have Kings.
The King of the Togepi clan, the King of the Jigglypuff clan, and the King of the Garchomp clan.
There were other Kings Xerneas had sensed the aura of, but wasn't certain about. John would need to confirm those himself.
Afterward, Xerneas took the former Gardevoir Queen and left, leaving John alone in the desert to think.
The Kings of three clans, the first two were from Fairy-types, undoubtedly Xerneas's protégés.
And John had both Togepi and Garchomp on his team.
John had never really trained his little Togepi, and it had no desire to fight, so he wouldn't put Togepi through a King coronation battle.
But the Garchomp King...
John already knew its location.
The Dragon's Nest!
The strongest Garchomp in the Dragon's Nest was his own Garchomp's mother, right?
Is she really that powerful?
John remembered feeling quite intimidated when he first met her, but not enough to match "King" status.
He'd always regarded that Garchomp as the regional leader of the Dragon's Nest, rather than the Queen of all Garchomp worldwide.
Now it seemed that his Garchomp's perfect individual values were thanks to her mother being the Garchomp Queen.
"Looks like I need to visit the Dragon's Nest again," John said to himself.
It was time for the King's position to be passed down as it should!
He figured Garchomp's mother would be delighted to be defeated by her own child and pass on the title.
Well, that had to be the case!
John raised his hand to signal, and Mega Gardevoir immediately used Teleport to take him away.
However, he didn't leave the Sanctuary immediately. Instead, he had her scan the entire realm again with Psychic from the center.
Only then did John leave the sanctuary.
He was planning to claim this sanctuary for himself.
As the trainer of a Mega Shiny Gardevoir and recognized as the world's strongest Gardevoir trainer, this natural preserve inhabited by thousands of Ralts family Pokemon and perpetually shrouded in moonlight could only reach its full potential in John's hands.