[Enhanceable]
[Ability]: Blaze I (When HP falls below 1/2, the power of Fire-type moves increases by 1.6x)
[Enhancement Task]: Defeat Shauna. (The host must be present and witness it with their own eyes.)
Shauna... if he remembered right, she was that girl he would not run into until the summer camp.
But "witness it with my own eyes"?
In other words, even if he was there, closing his eyes would make it not count?
Then what if he blinked?
[If the host's single blink does not exceed 5 seconds, it will not be judged as having closed their eyes.]
Well, that was a relief.
Getting back to the enhancement itself, raising both Blaze's activation threshold and the boost it gave after activation definitely counted as a huge buff.
And when Ash said huge buff, he obviously did not mean the simple 0.1 increase from 1.5 to 1.6, which only worked out to a 10% power increase.
What he really meant was the trigger condition.
Was regular Blaze, going from 1x to 1.5x, not fierce enough?
A full 50% damage boost, how could that not be strong?
But in both games and reality, Blaze still was not considered all that amazing.
At the root of it, the problem was that the 30% threshold was too narrow. The trigger condition was simply too hard to reach.
Real battles often involved type advantage, which led to awkward situations where a Pokémon might still have 40% HP left and yet get one-shot anyway.
In real life, Pokémon did not just stand there like idiots, so Blaze was a bit more practical than it was in the games.
But even then, all it really improved was the Pokémon's ability to dodge and clean up once Blaze had already activated, which gave it strong sweeping potential.
It did not solve the real problem, Blaze was too hard to trigger in the first place.
And Blaze that never activated was basically a blank Ability.
Naturally, that meant Blaze was not that strong.
But now, after the enhancement, the activation condition had gone from below 30% HP to below 50%, and the difference that created in battle conditions was practically a complete qualitative shift.
Especially since it could still be enhanced further later on.
At that point, it would basically activate from just about any decent fight, and the picture in Ash's head was beautiful.
While Ash was still thinking, Serena suddenly showed a troubled expression.
"What's wrong?"
"Ash, I was thinking... if this little one doesn't evolve, it would definitely be better for performance contests. But what about battling?"
Hearing that, Fennekin also showed a curious, eager-to-learn expression.
In real life, a Pokémon's looks mattered a lot in competitions like Contests or Kalos Showcase-style events.
Pokémon like Milotic and Sylveon, both regular stars of the stage, were the best proof of that.
Compared to those two, Fennekin was no less charming when it came to pure cuteness.
But if it evolved, that was another matter entirely, especially its final evolution... though if it did not evolve, then its base stats would not be enough.
"About that... I actually came prepared."
As he spoke, Ash took out a blue teardrop necklace and a purple gemstone necklace from his pocket.
He gave the Mystic Water to Froakie to boost its Water-type moves, then handed the purple gemstone necklace, an Eviolite, to Fennekin.
"That's Mystic Water and Eviolite?"
Professor Sycamore recognized both items at once, a little surprised.
Mystic Water was famous enough that a lot of people knew it, but Eviolite was another story.
Sure enough, Serena, Bonnie, and even Clemont, an actual Gym Leader, all looked blankly confused.
Ash did not intend to keep them hanging and immediately explained.
"Eviolite: it raises both Defense and Special Defense by 50% for Pokémon that can still evolve."
"Fifty percent?!"
"And both defenses too!"
"Ash..."
Serena's eyes locked onto the Eviolite necklace hanging around Fennekin's neck. Thinking that this was the first gift Ash had given her...
Well, a gift for Fennekin was basically a gift for her, right?
And it was a necklace, too.
So this was basically a token of love, wasn't it?
The moment that thought crossed her mind, Serena's pretty face turned bright red. She almost wanted to find a huge bed immediately, clutch her chest, squeeze her legs together, and roll around to let out all the embarrassment flooding her heart.
At that moment, the engineering-minded Clemont began seriously analyzing how viable this strategy really was.
"Fifty percent is a high multiplier, but if the target is Fennekin...
Fennekin's defensive stats are 40 Defense and 60 Special Defense. Multiply both by 1.5, and that gives 60 and 90. The Special Defense is decent, but the Defense still isn't outstanding.
And on top of that, its damage output would still be lacking... so it would probably be best if it evolved at least once."
"Not necessarily."
Ash took the opposite view, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
"Don't forget, the battle intensity in Contests and performance matches isn't on the same level as a full 6-on-6 Trainer tournament. If you raise its level high enough, it might still be able to carve out a place for itself.
And even if level alone isn't enough, Serena can always use other Pokémon too."
Everyone suddenly understood.
That was true.
Raw power was one factor, but the environment was another.
Fennekin had been listening the whole time, and when it heard that it did not have to force itself to fight through its germophobia just to become stronger, and that simply being beautiful could still help Serena, its eyes lit up.
It looked gratefully at Ash.
In reality, though, what Ash was thinking was that Ability Enhancement could just happen to solve Fennekin's damage problem perfectly.
It was practically made for this.
There were plenty of little details Ash no longer remembered clearly, but he did remember that Serena's Fennekin had a very serious cleanliness issue, and that definitely needed to be solved.
With Froakie and Fennekin's future development paths, along with their held item issues, now sorted out, Ash could not help thinking of Mewtwo.
And even of the war of the gods that would soon unfold across this land.
Eager to see what kind of Ability Enhancement Mewtwo would get, Ash immediately asked,
"Professor, do you have a trade machine and a transfer machine here?"
"Of course. I understand why you'd want a transfer machine, but what do you need a trade machine for?"
Only after watching Ash recall Froakie and swap it from a plain red-and-white Poké Ball into the more color-matched Dive Ball did the Professor finally understand.
That was a Coordinator's trick.
Choosing a Poké Ball whose color matched the Pokémon itself made its entrance look smoother and more natural, leaving a better impression on the judges.
Off to the side, Serena rested her chin on her hand, looking thoughtful.
After the swap, Ash called Professor Oak.
Letting Professor Oak know he had arrived safely was only secondary. More importantly, all of Ash's Pokémon were being kept in the backyard of Oak's lab.
If he wanted to call in Mewtwo, he had to connect through Professor Oak.
"Professor, could you call Mewtwo over?"
As a true top-tier Legendary, even if it was an artificial one, Mewtwo's stature was what it was.
Naturally, there was no way it would let itself be casually caught in a Poké Ball and ordered around.
If Ash did not personally explain things to Mewtwo, then even someone like Professor Oak, effectively its provider of food and shelter, would never get Mewtwo to cooperate just by asking.
The moment Mewtwo appeared on the screen in person, even though they had already been prepared, Professor Sycamore, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie all widened their eyes in tension.
This was a mysterious Legendary-level Pokémon.
Professor Sycamore and Clemont especially, as people connected to the League system, had certain channels for obtaining information.
They knew perfectly well where Mewtwo had come from.
It involved Team Rocket and Team Plasma, two major evil organizations entrenched in Kanto, Johto, and Unova. There was no way they could treat Mewtwo lightly.
And when they heard from Ash that he was going to have Mewtwo transferred over, and then watched Professor Oak take out a Master Ball, recall Mewtwo, and place it into the transfer machine, the act itself was plain and simple, yet more than enough to seize everyone's hearts.
This was a being none of them had ever truly seen in person before.
It felt as if their insides were boiling over. Their hearts pounded wildly in their chests. They were excited, unbelievably excited.
Ding!
Along with a red transfer beam falling from above, there came a crisp sound.
The purple-and-white Master Ball holding Mewtwo had been sent over.
Ash casually picked it up.
At once, everyone's eyes in the room focused on his hand.
Feeling all their gazes on him and knowing exactly what they were hoping to see, Ash did not keep them waiting.
"Come out, Mewtwo!"
Red light burst open.
A creature appeared before them, combining feline traits with the look of a sci-fi alien, its skin silver-white, with a long tail and purple on both its tail and abdomen.
Mewtwo and Mew.