Mythical Pokémon Era: Global Ascension 36

Even Elite Four Xiao was amazed by how quickly Riolu had grown stronger, which showed just how effective the Lightning Body Tempering method was. It could be called a top-tier training method.

"Riolu, just keep training according to the previous plan. However, you need to wear this the entire time while you train," Roy instructed, taking something out of his pocket.

Squirtle looked over curiously and discovered that it was a bell.

Riolu, meanwhile, took the bell with practiced ease and hung it around its neck.

It had already grown used to its Trainer acting like Doraemon and occasionally pulling strange magical items out of his pockets.

"Cha?" Riolu was already a mature Pokémon. It cried out and took the initiative to urge Roy to explain what the item did.

"This bell is called the Soothing Bell," Roy explained. "When you wear it, your state of mind will become calmer. You'll be able to sense your emotions more clearly and feel the feelings and bo... bonds between you and me!"

Roy's face grew a little hot when he said the word "bonds."

He really did treat all his Pokémon like family, but what kind of father casually told his children, "I love you"?

Damn it, this was so embarrassing.

Hearing its Trainer mention the bond between them, Riolu happily wagged its tail.

Still, it had some doubts.

How would this thing help with training?

"This bell is crucial."

Roy organized his thoughts and seriously explained his idea to Riolu.

Because whether the Soothing Bell could truly work depended largely on Riolu's comprehension.

Among all the Pokémon's innate moves, several were particularly special.

—Move: Return.

The higher its closeness with its Trainer, the greater its power.

—Move: Frustration.

The lower its closeness with its Trainer, the greater its power.

—Move: Payback.

If a companion had previously fainted, its power increased.

—Move: Work Up.

It stirred up one's fighting spirit and raised one's Attack.

Although these moves were all classified as Normal-type, they clearly did not use Normal-type energy. Instead, they used...

—Mind Energy.

Trust, unease, anger, fighting spirit.

The inner driving force behind all these moves was emotion—a kind of Mind Energy.

Mind Energy was far too intangible to touch, and its manifestations were too simple, which was why people had categorized these moves as Normal-type moves.

However, to Roy, who had mastered Aura Power and had watched Ash and Greninja undergo Bond Evolution in his previous life, Mind Energy was absolutely something that could not be ignored.

When he watched the TV series before, he had thought that the reason Ash and Greninja could undergo Bond Evolution was probably because Ash himself was an Aura wielder.

"Aura is also a kind of Mind Energy," Roy said. "I hope that with the Soothing Bell's help, you can sense and master your own emotional energy, then develop Aura... If that happens, you might be able to evolve."

In the games, Riolu's evolution requirement was simply over 220 friendship points.

Moreover, every Riolu that evolved into Lucario would definitely learn Aura Sphere and master Aura Power.

Did that mean that once friendship—or rather, their bond—grew deep enough, Riolu would likely develop Aura Power?

One example might still be a coincidence.

But combined with the earlier examples of moves that used emotional energy, Roy could be certain that emotional energy was Mind Energy, and that it could be transformed into Aura Power through some method.

"Cha!"

At the word "evolve," every hair on Riolu's body stood on end. It was beside itself with excitement.

Over the countless years of Pokémon World history, people had concluded that there was something called "closeness" between Pokémon and Trainers.

Even so, closeness remained a vague concept, and the people of Pokémon World still knew very little about Mind Energy.

Even Pokémon World was like this, let alone Earth, where Pokémon had only arrived a mere hundred years ago.

People in this world did not even have the concept of "closeness," and there were many disputes over when Riolu would evolve into Lucario.

Some Riolu could not evolve even after reaching very high levels, spending their entire lives without becoming Lucario.

Other Riolu could evolve despite being lower-leveled than the former.

Having grown up hearing about it, Riolu knew that its species' evolution conditions were unclear and required fulfilling some difficult, unknown condition.

It had always taken a leave-it-to-fate attitude toward when it would evolve, though it still longed for it.

Now, hearing Roy's speculation, Riolu's fighting spirit was completely ignited.

"Cha!"

Riolu retied the string holding the Soothing Bell around its neck into a tight knot, treasuring it dearly.

Next came Squirtle's training plan.

Roy reached into his pocket, exchanged for a certain magical item, and took it out. Just as he was about to explain its effects to Squirtle—

He saw Squirtle suddenly slip its slick, cold little paw into the pocket as well, rummage around, and find nothing.

Roy: ???

"...What are you doing?"

Squirtle sheepishly withdrew its little paw and scratched its head.

Roy rolled his eyes at it and presented the item he had just exchanged to Squirtle.

The first item was a small iceberg-like chunk of ice that gave off a bone-chilling cold.

Anyone else's hand would have frozen stiff from holding it, but fortunately, items exchanged through the system had no side effects on Roy, its host.

"Unmelting Ice contains a large amount of Ice-type energy. Wearing it in battle can significantly increase the power of Ice-type moves..."

"But I'm not giving you a battle weapon. What I want you to do is absorb the Ice-type energy within the Unmelting Ice, improving your control over and affinity with Ice-type energy."

As he spoke, Roy took out the second item.

It was a water droplet-shaped pendant.

"The Mysterious Water Droplet can significantly boost the power of Water-type moves. What you need to do is the same: absorb the energy it contains and improve your control over and affinity with your own Water-type energy."

"Once we go to the training grounds tomorrow, you'll need to use these two items to continuously practice releasing Ice-type and Water-type moves, increasing your Move Proficiency..."

Either of the two mysterious items Roy had taken out would have caused a massive uproar outside, fetching an astronomical price of no less than eight figures at auction.

Even at such exorbitant prices, they were still impossible to find.

There were only so many spirit realms and ruins across the world, and Pokémon items produced from ruins were even rarer.

With these two magical items, combined with long-term consumption of specially customized Energy Cubes, Squirtle's control over Ice-type and Water-type energy, as well as its energy affinity, would enter a period of rapid growth.

Roy might not understand Water-type Pokémon training methods, since he had never studied under any Water-type Gym.

But he understood spending money!

"And your stamina and recovery ability..."

Roy fell into thought.

How could a long-range artillery platform work if its energy reserves were too shallow and its energy recovery was too slow?

He had an immature idea for that.

"Squirtle!"

Squirtle, which had been listening seriously to the training plan and thought its tasks were quite easy, suddenly shuddered. It had the vague feeling that something was about to go terribly wrong.

When Pokémon used moves, sometimes they consumed stamina, while other times they consumed energy stored within their cells.

The so-called energy bar referred to the latter.

Close-combat moves like Rock Smash and Quick Attack mostly consumed stamina, with relatively little energy consumption.

Meanwhile, long-range stationary attacks like Flamethrower and Water Gun basically consumed energy, with stamina consumption being negligible.

In games, this was the difference between a "Physical Attacker" and a "Special Attacker." (For those who had never played, just think of it as physical damage versus energy damage.)

Riolu was undoubtedly a speed-oriented Physical Attacker.

Squirtle, on the other hand, was suited to becoming a defense-oriented Special Attacker.

There are no shortcuts to training stamina and energy reserves. As long as it keeps repeating the process of exhaustion, recovery, exhaustion again, and recovery again, it'll naturally grow stronger. In simple terms, as long as it doesn't train to death, train it like it's dying...

Riolu doesn't need that, because its strengths are speed and instantaneous explosive power...

Looking at Squirtle's honest face, Roy decided he would tell it this good news tomorrow, once training officially began.

After explaining their training plans, Roy turned on the television for them again.

"Wooloo and Mightyena" had already ended. Pokémon Kids Channel was over for the day, and Pokémon Sky was now playing on the Pokémon Teen Channel.

Roy watched with them for a while. The story was about twin Pokémon siblings, a Gardevoir and a Gallade, whose parents had been brutally killed by poachers. After both parents died, they returned to a rural Pokémon school, where a tale of love and hatred unfolded...

This show had been airing for some time. At the end of this episode, the two Pokémon had sex without locking the door, and Leafeon, who had always secretly loved Gallade, caught them in the act...

Leafeon, a pure-love warrior, was overcome with grief and rage and smashed through the door as it fled.

Good lord, they could show this to Pokémon?

A teen morality drama?

Roy's mouth twitched.

Though there really were no rules among Pokémon saying siblings could not do that.

He shook his head, lay down on the floor, and took out his phone.

At that moment, its lock screen was filled with Weibo notification pop-ups.