Then there was Magneton's evolution.
Since this lake could restore electricity, this was the perfect place to handle it. Magneton could absorb as much power as possible here. In the anime, Zapdos often came to this lake to recharge, and each time it recovered, it charged the crystal in return. That moment would be the best chance for Magneton to evolve—while it could absorb a little of Zapdos's electricity.
Golurk was another matter. Reiji had already tested Minimize, and the move could shrink Golurk's huge four-meter body down to about two meters. That still made it a little shorter than Hanhan, but it was good enough.
For now, he handed Golurk over to Umbreon and Gengar. The two of them would teach it basic common sense in the forest: how to control its strength, what Pokémon were, what Trainers were, and how the relationship between the two worked. Reiji could work on bonding with it later.
Zapdos was the one that needed his full attention. During its adaptation training, Reiji had to stay right there in case something went wrong. He didn't dare look away for even a second, which left him with no time to handle much else.
After lunch, he released Carvanha by the lake and started feeding it Pokéblocks. While he was at it, he trained Water Gun accuracy, tossing out praise whenever it hit the mark.
"Good. Nice shot."
Then he had Zapdos discharge electricity into the lake.
The plan was simple: keep using Electric-type moves until Zapdos ran dry, then let it soak in the lake and recover before doing it again. Over and over, until its cells and feathers adapted to the current running through them.
[Zapdos]
[Type: Electric + Flying]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 61.08%]
[Level: 40.11%]
[Ability: Pressure/6.53%][Hidden Ability: Static/23.53%]
Moves: [Peck/28.21%, Thunder Wave/21.61%, Thunder Shock/19.93%, Pluck/22.11%, Agility/16.21%, Charge/8.63%, Roost/15.54%, Discharge/7.23%, Rain Dance/3.65%, Rest/21.91%, Thunderbolt/3.15%]
Zapdos's potential had reached 61.08%.
Reiji had Celebi to thank for that. Its healing, probably through life energy, had patched part of Zapdos's genetic defects and pushed it into Elite Four-tier potential.
Lucario hadn't been so lucky. Its talent had always been limited. It had been born normally, without any genetic defects; the problem came later, when its Trainer abused it. That was misfortune, not a flaw Celebi's healing could simply repair.
Zapdos was different.
It had been born early, and the Spearow genes had taken too much control. Its ordinary genes and Legendary genes never finished blending properly, leaving it with a body that could barely survive its own electricity. It had almost killed itself by letting the current burn through its cells from the inside.
Celebi's life energy had strengthened its body and repaired part of that genetic gap. That was why Zapdos had jumped straight into Elite Four-tier potential.
That level of talent should have belonged to a Legendary from birth. Unfortunately, this scruffy little bird only had a third of Zapdos blood at best, maybe even less. Reiji couldn't do anything about that. The rest had to be fixed through training and adaptation.
Its level had reached Advanced tier too, which was almost funny. The bird had spent most of the trip eating, sleeping, and growing anyway. Reiji honestly didn't know what to say about that.
Pressure had barely moved, only rising by about two percent. Not surprising. What kind of pressure was a puffed-up little bird supposed to have?
Static, on the other hand, had risen a lot. It was already at 23%, and soaking in the lake seemed to make it improve faster.
The move list didn't have much worth staring at, aside from Thunderbolt. That one had only just appeared on the panel after Zapdos started discharging so much electricity.
After checking Zapdos's panel, Reiji closed it and looked around. Lokoko had wandered off somewhere. He had wanted her to help translate for Zapdos, but since she wasn't nearby, he had to keep it simple.
"Stop and rest whenever your body tells you to," Reiji said. "Don't force it. We'll take this slowly."
"Zap." Zapdos was panting from exhaustion, but it nodded.
It knew its own body best. Before, discharging electricity had made every part of it sting. Here, the lake seemed to soften the damage. The moment it finished using electricity and floated in the water, the numb, tingling feeling spread through its body again. It was comfortable, and it could feel its strength coming back.
Carvanha had already fled to a safe distance. If it had stayed nearby while Zapdos was discharging, it would have been fried.
Now that the electricity had stopped, Reiji waved it back over and continued feeding it Pokéblocks while working on its Water Gun accuracy.
[Carvanha]
[Type: Water + Dark]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 57.23%]
[Level: 29.92%]
[Ability: Rough Skin/14.55%][Hidden Ability: Speed Boost/22.23%]
Carvanha had been at 56% potential before. After soaking in Celebi's life energy, it had gained a little over one point. Reiji hadn't expected Celebi's healing to have that kind of effect. Every Pokémon that had been in the lake had benefited in some way; the only difference was how much.
But using that to break into Elite Four-tier potential? Forget it.
Zapdos had needed it because its body was flawed from birth. Toxicroak and Golbat had also had small issues, though they had mostly overcome them on their own. The others didn't have any serious problems for Celebi to fix.
Reiji looked over Carvanha's panel again.
At level 29, it was already close to evolving. He would need to prepare a few resources for it tomorrow. It probably wouldn't cost too much. Ten or twenty million Pokédollars should be enough.
It still had two abilities, too. Once it reached the open sea, this Carvanha would only get faster the longer it kept moving.
Sharpedo was said to reach 120 kilometers per hour. That sounded impressive at first, but it was only about 33 meters per second.
Even if it used Aqua Jet from the tail to push its speed up to 200 kilometers per hour, that was still only around 55 meters per second.
Compared with Pidgeot, that was nothing. Pidgeot's normal cruising speed was Mach 2—twice the speed of sound, more than 700 meters per second.
Even if Speed Boost stacked all the way to six stages and pushed Sharpedo up to 800 kilometers per hour, it still wouldn't break the speed of sound. That was only a little over 200 meters per second, nowhere near Pidgeot.
Still, that was swimming speed, and underwater mobility was a different matter. For underwater pursuit, Sharpedo would be excellent. If Reiji needed to run, though, Pidgeot and Pelipper were still the better choice.
He closed Carvanha's panel.
By then, Zapdos had recovered enough and started discharging again—this time toward Magneton.
"Mag…" Magneton hummed in satisfaction as it received Zapdos's electricity, its eyes narrowing in comfort.
Legendary electricity really was different from ordinary Electric-type power. Once Zapdos grew stronger, Magneton would be able to receive that power regularly, which would only help it.
Reiji spent the entire day sitting by the lake with his Pokémon.
When he got bored, he took out his old fishing rod and cast a few lines. Between casts, he checked on the training Pokémon, fed Carvanha and Dratini, watched Zapdos discharge and recover, and occasionally noticed Krystal sneaking glances from a distance.
He didn't approach her. If she wanted to come over, she could. As long as she didn't disturb his fishing, there was no problem.
He stayed there until evening, and as expected, he caught absolutely nothing.
There was nothing he could do about that. The lake carried electricity.
Every time Zapdos visited and left, it recharged the crystal—meaning it shocked the entire lake. That was Zapdos's electricity. Any Water-type Pokémon caught in it would float belly-up unless it was also an Electric type.
As the sky darkened, Reiji packed away his rod and returned to camp to cook. That evening, his Pokémon had found wild mushrooms in the forest, so everyone would get a hot bowl of mushroom soup.
Once the others were resting, Zapdos stayed in the lake.
Aside from sleep, Reiji planned to spend as much time as possible on its adaptation training. Zapdos's problem needed to be fixed as soon as possible.
He still had to find Shingo's father and learn the Float Stone evolution method for Scyther. That man was an Elite Four-tier Trainer too, and Reiji had no idea whether he would be easy to deal with.
His future self had obtained the method somehow, but the message hadn't explained how. Reiji would have to improvise. Maybe he had something the man wanted. If so, he could trade for it—even if the price was an Elite Four-tier item.
When the mushroom soup was ready, every Pokémon got a bowl. Zapdos flew out of the lake and landed beside him, joining Umbreon, Dratini, and the other little ones that needed extra care. They drank soup and ate Pokéblocks together.
Lokoko returned during dinner and received a bowl of mushroom soup too. Reiji also had Lucario bring one to Krystal.
After dinner, he let the Pokémon rest, sleep, or play as they liked. Then he returned to the lakeside and had Zapdos repeat the same routine.
Zapdos understood how serious its condition was. It didn't complain or make trouble. It rested, absorbed electricity, discharged, then repeated the cycle again and again.
Reiji had already told it this process might take weeks, maybe even months.
The first major step would be complete when discharging electricity no longer made its body sting. After that, they would test human-generated electricity and then electricity from other Pokémon. If nothing went wrong, the treatment could finally be considered finished.
Only after Zapdos grew stronger—at least to Elite Four tier—would it try channeling natural lightning. Anything below that was too dangerous. The Zapdos that died from lightning strikes were probably the ones that tried before reaching that level.
Reiji watched it closely the entire time.
He kept at it until after midnight. Once Zapdos finished its final discharge, he let it recover in the lake, fed it Pokéblocks, and then recalled it into its Poké Ball.
Tomorrow would be more of the same.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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