Chapter 99 – Light Metal
If it was an Aegislash, as long as it made proper use of "Stance Change," its offense and defense were naturally maxed out.
After Yozora granted it Huge Power, boosting its strength even further, the next factor to consider was speed.
There weren't many Abilities that could steadily increase speed. Most required additional conditions—such as certain weather effects, or entering a status condition.
In truth, there were only two relatively reliable ones: Speed Boost and Light Metal.
[Speed Boost]: In battle, speed increases over time.[Light Metal]: By adopting a high-quality lightweight alloy body, its weight is halved, resulting in a significant boost to speed.
Naturally, Speed Boost was the optimal choice. After all, it could stack over time, each trigger boosting speed by thirty percent. Trigger it two or three times, and the effect could rival Light Metal.
Of course, Light Metal was no slouch either.
In the games, Light Metal was a very rare Hidden Ability. Its effect was simply to halve the user's weight, with no explicit speed increase.
But that wasn't very logical. If there were no actual stat benefit, why make it a coveted Hidden Ability in the first place?
In reality, halving one's weight would absolutely increase speed.
Take Scyther and Scizor, for example. Scizor is Scyther's evolved form, but both share the same base stat total of 500, with almost no real increase overall.
Scyther boasts impressive strength and blazing speed.
Scizor, on the other hand, gains immense power, but its heavier body causes its speed to plummet.
That's why many joked Scizor was just a "transformation," not a true evolution. In terms of overall performance, it didn't seem like much of an upgrade at all! What kind of evolution was that?
But in truth, Scizor has a Hidden Ability—Light Metal.
A very small number of Scizor were born with Light Metal. These individuals weighed far less than their kin, almost comparable to Scyther itself.
As a result, their speed skyrocketed—faster than Scyther, and leagues beyond ordinary Scizor.
In the original story, Gary Oak's Scizor was definitely a Light Metal bearer!
With Scizor's raw power combined with Light Metal's speed advantage, it was naturally far stronger overall than Scyther.
Of course, only Scyther born with Hidden Abilities could evolve into Light Metal Scizor. Normal Scyther had no chance.
Regular Abilities remained regular after evolution.
Only Hidden Abilities carried over into Hidden Abilities.
It was precisely because of this rarity that people referred to them as Dream Abilities, abilities found only in dreams.
For Aegislash and its evolutionary line, speed had always been their biggest shortcoming.
They had unique dual-form mechanics and excelled in both offense and defense, but their speed… was abysmally low.
That was their one imperfection.
In Yozora's eyes, Speed Boost alone wasn't enough. After all, Speed Boost scaled percentage-wise off a Pokémon's base speed.
And Honedge's line had such a pathetically low base speed that even after two Speed Boost activations, its gains might still fall short of a single Speed Boost from a naturally fast Pokémon like Blaziken.
But Light Metal directly raised the base speed!
Suppose Aegislash had a base speed of 50. A thirty percent Speed Boost would only raise it by 15 points each activation.
But if it had Light Metal, its base speed could effectively reach 80. Then each Speed Boost activation would raise it by 24 points instead.
Clearly, for Aegislash, Light Metal was absolutely essential.
If Yozora could only choose between Speed Boost and Light Metal, he would even lean toward Light Metal.
Light Metal itself was incredibly rare, and Yozora had only one in reserve.
He had tried attaching it to Pidgeotto once, but failed.
Later, when Pidgeotto evolved into Pidgeot, he tried again—only to fail once more.
At that moment, Yozora had a realization:
Perhaps Light Metal could only be applied to Steel-type Pokémon.
And Honedge's evolutionary line happened to be Steel/Ghost types.
So Yozora attempted it—
And succeeded. Honedge gained the Ability Light Metal!
[Honedge] (No Guard + Huge Power + Light Metal): Senior Elite, pseudo-legendary potential.
Even after gaining Light Metal, Honedge still only possessed pseudo-legendary potential. It hadn't risen to Legendary-tier.
But that didn't matter. Yozora was certain its actual combat strength had skyrocketed.
After settling its Abilities, Yozora examined Honedge's move pool again.
This Honedge was truly gifted—it had learned a wide array of techniques, even Flying-type moves like Aerial Ace.
From Ghost-type Shadow Sneak, to Flying-type Aerial Ace, Dark-type Night Slash, and Fighting-type Sacred Sword…
Its coverage was remarkable. It could even be paired with Adaptability.
However, since Honedge was a purely physical attacker, Pure Power would provide an even greater boost than Adaptability.
Like Huge Power, Pure Power doubled physical attack.
But that was a discussion for later.
Honedge only had three Ability slots for now, and they were already full. If Yozora unlocked more in the future, then he would consider Pure Power or Speed Boost.
Besides, Yozora didn't even have Pure Power or Speed Boost in stock yet. No rush—he could take his time.
"Honedge, test your speed," Yozora instructed.
Honedge blinked its lone eye, then, thinking it was a trial, accelerated forward with all its might.
To its shock, its speed had dramatically increased.
Before this, Honedge had always been slow. Even at Senior Elite level, its speed was bottom-tier compared to others of the same rank.
Of course, with No Guard, speed wasn't such a critical stat.
But one day it would evolve into Aegislash, losing No Guard. At that time, speed would become much more important.
"Now try your strength," Yozora said with a smile.
Honedge nodded. With a sharp shing, it drew its blade and slashed.
CRACK!
A massive tree in front of it split clean in half, crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust.
Honedge's single eye widened. It couldn't believe its strength had doubled in such a short time.
Yes—doubled! That was terrifying…
"Sh-sh-shing—!" Honedge, exhilarated, slashed again and again. This time, it didn't even use Sacred Sword—it was simply venting its excitement.
With a metallic clang, it quickly sheathed itself and circled Yozora, its lone eye curved into a crescent shape, brimming with joy.
It sensed that this newfound power and speed must have come from its Trainer.
Strange as it seemed, Honedge didn't doubt it for a moment. After all, the Trainer it had chosen was no ordinary person!
"Honedge, I have a favor to ask," Yozora said with a gentle smile. "Could you lend me your Battle Soul Cloak?"
Honedge stiffened. Its eye narrowed in hesitation. The cloak was its prized trophy, seized after defeating countless rivals in the Land of Battle Souls. How could it part with it so easily?
But then it remembered—the Trainer it had chosen was Yozora.
At last, it nodded.
"Excellent. Thank you—you've helped me greatly," Yozora said gratefully, carefully removing the cloak from Honedge and bringing out Beedrill. He personally draped the cloak across its shoulders.
On Honedge, the cloak had always looked a little mismatched—after all, it was just a sword.
But on Beedrill, the effect was immediate and striking.
This Beedrill's body was already larger and sturdier than average. Now, cloaked in the Battle Soul Cloak, it exuded an aura of heroic valor.
Even with several tears and a missing corner, the cloak's damage didn't lessen its grandeur—it only made it look more battle-hardened, more unstoppable.
"Shiiing—!"
Sensing Beedrill's intimidating presence, Honedge instantly unsheathed itself and lunged forward to attack.
Truly, No Guard lived up to its name—it was reckless to the core, embodying the word "headlong."
Unfortunately, the gap between them was far too great…
With just a casual sweep of its twin lances, Beedrill swatted Honedge aside, sending it flying a great distance before it crashed against a tree and fell.
"Come back, Honedge." Yozora sighed bitterly as he recalled it into its Poké Ball.
He understood what was going on. Honedge had seen him gift the Battle Soul Cloak to Beedrill and was jealous, wanting to prove its worth. After all, Yozora was the Trainer it had chosen on its own, one it had invested deep trust and emotion into.
And yet this "heartless man" had just stripped it of its trophy and given it to another partner, right before its eyes…
"How does it feel, Beedrill?" Yozora asked, shifting his attention. "The Battle Soul Cloak allows you to survive even a fatal strike, leaving you with at least one last breath. You won't fall right away."
He trusted Honedge would come around in time. For now, his focus was on Beedrill.
"Bzzz-bip~!"
Beedrill darted forward, stabbing rapidly with its lances before pausing, nodding in satisfaction.
"Good. I'm glad you like it," Yozora said with a smile, recalling Beedrill as well. Then he turned toward the road ahead, setting out for Saffron City.
Now that the Battle Soul Cloak was in place, the next item he needed was Multiscale.
A Dragonite with Multiscale… where in the world could he find one?
If it truly existed, its level would surely be fearsome—just like Professor Oak's Dragonite. Champion level, at minimum!
Beedrill wouldn't stand a chance against such an opponent…
(to be continued)