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Within the vast silver-gray training chamber, thunder rolled and lightning cracked like a drumbeat. Golden sparks danced through the air, snapping and fizzing.
Kael sat cross-legged on a mound of soft fluff, eyes closed, his Ampharos body wrapped in a gentle cocoon of faint yellow electricity.
The energy pressed against his skin like a warm womb, equal parts soothing and tingling.
He opened his eyes. With a thought, the electric cocoon expanded, exploding into jagged bolts that clawed through the chamber.
Raising his right hand, he clenched his fist. A sharp crack split the silence, and radiant light flared from his palm. Kael flexed, testing the flow of power through every fiber of his being, and nodded in satisfaction.
A moment later, the cocoon unraveled into countless stray sparks and dissolved into the air.
It had been fifteen days since Kael and Lanny returned from the League finals.
Instead of rushing for more strength, Kael had spent the time consolidating mastering the overwhelming surge of power that came with evolving from Flaaffy into Ampharos.
The leap had been like a carp leaping the dragon gate a transformation of essence itself.
He poured every waking moment into stabilizing his foundation. The results were clear.
All ten new moves gained through evolution mastered. His execution was no longer stiff or awkward; each flowed seamlessly, polished by his own insights.
The skill he had just tested was [Plasma Shower].
In the games of his previous life, the move merely converted Normal-type attacks into Electric-type. Seemingly niche. But in reality, Kael discovered something much greater: it strengthened his entire body, a state-boosting aura.
Unlike his energy-draining [Thunder Armor], [Plasma Shower] consumed little energy so little that Kael could maintain it around the clock.
A revelation. His past-life knowledge was useful, yes, but the real world was not bound by game mechanics. If he wanted to survive, he needed to innovate, not just imitate.
Beyond moves, Kael refined his control over both his body and energy.
The raw surge of power after evolution had felt unsteady, even weightless nearly overwhelming him in the battle against Nolan's Mega Scizor. That fight had shown his lack of adaptation.
But now? If he fought that same Mega Scizor again, the outcome would be the same victory only swifter, cleaner, and far less desperate.
He had fully absorbed the gift of evolution.
And now… he had reached the bottleneck.
Kael had noticed it when checking his system's panel. Defeating Nolan's last three Pokémon had earned him only scraps of experience points. Only the Mega Scizor had broken into double digits.
A sign: his meteoric growth had slowed.
Two paths remained.
First, stumble upon some miraculous "opportunity" like a storybook protagonist though Kael knew better than to rely on such luck.
Second… the path of Mega Evolution.
The thought made his eyes gleam. He had seen its power firsthand. If Ampharos could also Mega Evolve…
But reality was cruel.
To Mega Evolve, he needed both an Ampharosite and a human partner bound to him by deep trust. He had neither.
Lanny? Merely his employer, not a partner of the heart.
Running through everyone he'd met in this life, Kael realized bitterly he had no true candidate.
So he buried the dream deep inside, a seed waiting for the right soil.
"Someday," he whispered.
Exhaling, Kael stretched out and flopped onto the mound of fluff. For the first time since the brutal tournament, he allowed himself to relax.
If his progress could be summed up in a few words?
He had more moves. More power. Stronger strikes. His electricity hurt more than ever. And… he ate more too.
That last part made him grimace.
Darkstar had rewarded him with a top-grade Thunder Stone after the League victory. He had drained it dry in less than two days. For his current reserves, a Thunder Stone's energy was nothing more than a snack.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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