Well, how should I put it—Silas wasn't exactly surprised by Servine's words.
If you only considered popularity among fans, Wallace's Milotic was arguably even more beloved than Wallace himself.
That Milotic, in every respect, was flawless.
Of course, while the Serperior line belongs to the Field and Grass Egg Groups, and Milotic belongs to the Water 1 and Dragon Egg Groups, meaning they cannot breed with each other, that didn't stop them from falling in love.
There were plenty of similar examples in the Pokémon world.
Meeting Servine's expectant gaze, Silas confidently nodded.
"It's possible, but…"
He deliberately drew out his voice.
Servine blinked its eyes curiously.
"Milotic has a huge fanbase, you know. Your strength still has a long way to go."
Leaning back against the headboard, Silas tapped his watch and pulled up more than a dozen photos of Milotic standing center stage, surrounded by groups of devoted fans.
All of them were female Pokémon, save for Milotic.
A fiery light flickered in Servine's eyes. Rivals. All of them were enemies.
"So, it's perfectly normal for you to be interested in Milotic. But if you really want Milotic to notice you, then your strength can't be inferior to hers."
Silas's reasoning quickly convinced Servine.
In the relatively simple worldview of Pokémon, strength often solved many issues—including matters of choosing a mate.
"You like the same Pokémon I do? Then let's battle for it—the winner takes all."
Strong Pokémon almost never chose mates that were much weaker than themselves.
After all, in terms of sheer power, if the relationship turned sour and arguments broke out, things could get very awkward.
Of course, it wasn't unheard of, just much rarer.
"Serviiine!"
Servine cried out with a fierce determination—it wanted to grow stronger, strong enough to defeat Milotic and win her over.
"Then starting tomorrow, you'll need to work even harder."
Silas smiled warmly.
Servine nodded firmly. No problem.
Then it stretched out its right vine, signaling that tomorrow's training should be tripled.
Silas fell silent for a moment.
"…How about this—we'll rest properly tonight. I'll push you harder in training, don't worry."
Servine nodded seriously. When it came to its own Trainer, its trust was absolute.
It extended a Vine Whip beside Silas.
Silas nearly burst out laughing like a Psyduck, but restrained himself. Instead, he solemnly hooked his pinky around Servine's vine—signifying that the promise was sealed.
Servine retracted its vine, satisfied, and quickly drifted into sleep at his side.
It had been a tiring day, with no shortage of training.
It knew the mistakes it had made with Double Team and was working hard to make up for them.
Silas gently massaged his Pokémon.
Servine had a gentle temperament—unlike Pidgeot, Blaziken, or Gigalith, who had a natural, burning desire for strength.
Silas often worried about how to motivate Servine.
Simply forcing it to train through their bond often led to half the results for twice the effort—like with its earlier struggles using Double Team.
Now, the goal of Milotic—a truly lofty target—had arrived at just the right time.
As Wallace's undeniable ace, Milotic's strength was extraordinary, even among Elite Four-level Pokémon.
If Servine could truly rival or even surpass Milotic, Silas couldn't ask for more.
As for the idea of Servine and Milotic actually falling in love in the future—Silas let out a quiet "heh."
Sure, Milotic had a gentle disposition and disliked battling, but as a Pokémon said to carry Dragon-type blood, its pride ran deep.
There was no way Milotic would still dare to chase romance if he commanded Servine to completely overwhelm her in battle.
Grass-types completely counter Water-types, after all.
How could he ever let his little princess be taken away?
At one point, Silas was even tempted to tell Servine that Milotic evolved from Feebas.
Knowing his vain little princess, who adored beauty, she definitely wouldn't take that well.
Although the transformation from the ugliest to the most beautiful was incredibly inspiring, Servine would likely reject it outright.
What if their future children turned out looking like Feebas? That was exactly the sort of thing Servine would worry about—Silas knew her too well.
Being cautious—that was the greatest influence Togepi had brought to Servine.
Servine didn't realize that they couldn't have children anyway.
Silas thought about it again and decided against mentioning it. Probably for the best.
"Tomorrow you'll get a bonus—an ice cream."
Silas cheerfully hummed a little tune as he spoke to Togepi, who was curled up nearby like an egg.
Togepi instantly flared up, its eyes snapping wide open. What did you just say?
"What? You don't want it?" Silas teased, his voice full of amusement.
Togepi shook its head furiously, then immediately nodded, its whole body wobbling with the motion.
"Go to sleep now. Otherwise, no extra treat tomorrow."
Silas said half-jokingly.
Togepi gave him a worried glance, then quickly shrank back into its shell-like body, signaling obedience. It had better not miss that bonus tomorrow.
Silas didn't press further. The little one was getting more mischievous by the day.
He wasn't expecting it to evolve quickly anymore. Better to just let it happen naturally.
No wonder, after all these years, the concept of evolution through friendship was still so hard to define.
The difficulty was simply too high.
Even standing on the shoulders of giants, Silas found the path ahead hazy and unclear.
"All right, let's get some sleep. Blaziken, you too—turn in early."
Finishing the massage, Silas stretched and lay down lazily, calling out to Blaziken, who was still meditating on Aura.
Blaziken nodded silently and flicked the lights off.
Silver moonlight seeped faintly through the curtains, and in the corner of the room, a soft blue glow shimmered faintly.
The next morning.
In a training room in Viridian City—
"One more Flamethrower to finalize the data."
Silas called out to the exhausted Blaziken.
Blaziken perked up, took a deep breath, and unleashed a jet of fire at the testing machine across the room.
Silas smiled in satisfaction.
"Not bad. That's half of this week's training objectives complete. You can take a bit of a break."
Standing by Blaziken's side, he gave it a firm pat on the back.
"Keep it up."
Blaziken nodded steadily.
Silas glanced at the data charts in his hands, feeling quite pleased.
These charts recorded the increase in Blaziken's fire temperature and power since July of this year.
The curve showed a clear upward trend.
Currently, its flames had stabilized at nearly 5,000 degrees, comparable to most near-Elite-level Fire-type Pokémon.
The way Pokémon flames behaved could be peculiar.
In the real world, flames change color with temperature:
Red-orange = ~3,000°C
Yellow-white = 4–5,000°C
Blue = 5–6,000°C
Purple = 7,000°C+
At extremely high temperatures, flames become invisible
But in Pokémon, flame color often doesn't correspond directly to temperature.
Instead, it usually reflects the Pokémon's type or personal traits.
For example:
Houndoom, Dark/Fire type, has dark red or black-tinged flames.
Magmar, pure Fire-type, has red-orange flames matching its body.
As a Fire/Fighting-type, Blaziken's flames are bright red, representing its active energy.
This actually caused some difficulty for Trainers—at least, that's what Silas thought.
One aspect was in training, where special equipment was required to record and analyze flame data.
You couldn't just stand in the flames.
For most Pokémon, it's manageable, but a full-power Blaziken could easily burn someone alive if they were careless.
High resistance doesn't make one invincible.
Even cutting off oxygen could be fatal.
Another aspect was battle command.
Trainers generally couldn't gauge a Pokémon's strength based on flame temperature alone, unlike other types that often have clear indicators.
Of course, this applied to ordinary Trainers. Silas had his advantages.
"Let's go."
With Blaziken quickly returning to normal, Silas left the training room and approached the front desk.
"Thank you for today, Uncle Nobuhiro."
Silas greeted the middle-aged man sitting behind the desk.
"Hahaha, no problem, no problem. Training ended so quickly today?"
Nobuhiro chuckled warmly, looking honest and hearty.
"Yes. We've made good progress. Thank you for taking care of us these past few days." Silas said politely.
"No problem at all. Bruno already mentioned you were coming. If you need anything else, just come by anytime."
Nobuhiro scratched the back of his head, looking slightly embarrassed.
"This gym isn't very big, and the equipment isn't top-tier. I'm glad you didn't mind."
"Not at all. Everything's excellent." Silas sincerely complimented him.
Because of the need for secrecy before the tournament, he had specifically asked his senior, Bruno, about a suitable training facility in Viridian City.
Without hesitation, Bruno recommended this place.
He even guaranteed it had complete equipment and a high level of privacy.
Upon arrival, Silas found that everything matched Bruno's description.
As for Nobuhiro's modesty about "not very big" and "not very good"—that was just humility.
The gym really wasn't huge and was in a somewhat remote location.
But the equipment, in Silas's experience, was among the top three he had ever used—including the exclusive training facilities of the Pewter Gym.
"Well then, I'll be off. I have things to attend to this afternoon."
Silas said goodbye to Nobuhiro.
"All right, all right. Take care!" Nobuhiro still smiled warmly.
After Silas left, Nobuhiro naturally followed Bruno's instructions and deleted all the data from Silas's room.
"Tch… In about a month, this year's Quartz Tournament will begin. I wonder how that little one will perform."
Nobuhiro leaned back in the front desk rocking chair, leisurely sipping a cup of tea.
....
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