97 C097 - Preparations for Alola

A week later, the results were in for the eight fully evolved pokemon Pete would take with him for protection outside of his two mega pokemon.

Arcanine learned a second water move with Courtney's help, Brine. It was a water move that dealt increasingly more damage the more the enemy pokemon was already wounded, maxing out at twice the damage at around half health. His Arcanine managed to increase the damage of this move by 36% in just seven days. It was by far the highest increase of every pokemon participating in the MPLR.

Next was Pete's Espeon who managed to increase the power of his stab move Psyshock by 31% followed by his Flygon increasing the power of her stab move Earthquake by 28% and she even managed to increase the nonstab fire move Flamethrower by 24%.

His Flygon took the instant one-hit Ice Punch KO inflicted by Giovanni's Nidoking very badly, but thankfully concentrated most of her frustration out on the boulders at the open-air battle-gym instead of Dragon's Peak or the other pokemon living there. It showed in her rate of improvement.

On a shared fourth place was Pete's first Togekiss. She was the youngest pokemon of those who qualified and managed to do so by increasing the damage of her stab move Dazzling Gleam by 27%.

Following that in fourth place alsowas Pete's Metagross, who chose to train a psychic move after it felt Pete's disappointment at its superior steel type damage. It learned Mist Ball from Mega Milotic since it was taught the move by Suicune, and Metagross managed to increase the damage of the move by 27%, same as Togekiss.

Then came three pokemon who all improved a move by exactly 25% in a week: Serperior with non-stab Dragon Breath, Nidoking with stab Poison Tail, and his shiny Slowbro, who Pete thought only jokingly participated when he used Hydro Pump as the move he wanted to record his growth in.

The runner-ups for the growth rate that almost made the cut were four pokemon Pete didn't quite expect: all three Farfetch'd and Blaziken. The four birds all improved a fighting move by 21 to 24%, though they all did that with a different move.

Blaziken chose the special attack Aura Sphere, the male Farfetch'd chose Brick Break, while the two female Farfetch'd chose Cross Chop and Low Sweep. The fact that one female Farfetch'd chose to train a move that didn't include using a leek as a weapon was very surprising to Pete, and he encouraged her to keep training like that.

And, for the first time since he bonded with it, Pete could feel frustration from his shiny Golurk. His bonded pokemon learned Phatom Force from the TM Agatha gifted him at the wedding, but its power only increased by 'only' 18%, which was still quite a lot higher than the average of 8% increase in damage.

Pete took a while to speak with his silent protector and encouraged him to use this time here at the farm to keep everyone safe and train as hard as he could manage. Golurk simply spread himself too thin, he argued.

Not only did Golurk roam the farm and the forest to do its 'duty', but the golem also trained the nonstab move Ice Punch which worked great with its ability Iron Fist that increased the damage of all punch moves. Golurk 'only' increased its power by 14%, a number that Pete still praised with deep fervor. Not every pokemon of his could be a genius on the level of the first three pokemon of those that qualified.

And, Pete argued that he also participated with Ice Punch in the nonstab growth competition and increased the PV from 20 to 21, a measly increase of 5%. It wasn't technically Ice Punch, but he unloaded his entire ice affinity energy while punching, so it was close enough.

He told Golurk that he was a good three times better than his trainer in sheer talent alone, which finally eased Golurk's frustration and even amused the gentle giant.

Unloading the entire affinity in his body with a single thought was something he learned from Leona, the future Mt Pyre guardian and girlfriend of Steven Stone. It came with a great strain on his body and mind, but it helped in training an affinity earnestly if you heeded Leona's warnings of spreading out its usage with appropriate breaks and only using a single affinity at once.

Pete's highest affinity by now was almost a tie between psychic and fairy, the former still leading by a little and Pete tested out the PV a few days after the wedding to land at 111PV with a psychic punch. He could likely fight a Rattata now without having to rely on his pokemon after living in this world for over two years in his old earth's time.

But that was with him living a relatively peaceful life. So Pete had to ask himself: What could people like Bruno do after a long life of training and concentrating their efforts on a single affinity? Could they beat his stronger pokemon? Would there be bottlenecks or plateaus that couldn't be breached by simple training?

"If I knew him, I could invite him for a test punch. Carl and him are estranged according to him, but Luna is on the farm to build a house. Maybe Bruno wants to visit his niece and combine it with a look around? I'll ask Valentino if he wants to talk to his uncle-in-law and have him ask the elite four member," Pete mumbled as he looked at his packed bags. "Ugh, I won't be back before Luna is done here..."

For his Alola trip, Pete would bring only two extended bags of holding, but these two were quite a bit superior to the ones he found in the containers at the beginning of his life here. They had 'smart' compartments that activated via voice command and held enough combined space to house a Wailord - though the mouth of the bag was not even remotely big enough to fit one inside.

One bag was just a back-up in case he needed it, the other was filled with all the essentials he needed, a small mountain of food and pokeblocks, a huge assortment of berries and other poke items like super expensive max potions he got from Devon Corp.

That bag also contained a small mountain of gifts for the people he was about to meet. Like a small berry tree sapling assortment for Professor Kukui where he even included one of those Oran-Occa crossbred trees for the burn salve that didn't have seeds in the berries, which meant he was the only source for the berry in the world.

Since he would meet Lusamine, the head of the Aether Foundation that was a huge power of good in the region of Alola, Pete included those trees for her as well. He still wasn't sure what Lusamine wanted to talk about with him, but he didn't need to know to gift her something this precious.

Her company's main goal was on the level of the Joy clan's - curing hurt pokemon through technology and whatever else method they could find. To that end, they even actively fought villainous organizations to try and free enslaved pokemon, and they trained pokemon trainers for the sole purpose of defending habitats of weaker pokemon and aiding the police in raids like mercenaries.

"Got everything, Petey?"

Pete looked up and nodded, "Yeah, I think so. Too bad they can't change the opening of the Alola league's reopening for my sake. I kinda wish I didn't have to go while Luna and Courtney are working on her house."

"You don't trust them?"

"Eh? No, I do! I just wanted to help," Pete sheepishly answered while scratching his ear.

"Well, your two Conkeldurr are already on it, and Klinklang is as well. So rejoice that at least those three are staying to work on something. You should tell Golurk to ask if it can help, too. I get the feeling it's a little moody these days."

Pete nodded and replied, "Yeah, he was really bummed that he wasn't a genius. I mean, to me, he still is - but as long as he doesn't think so my point is moot. Him landing at 18% when my best guess was that the pokemon will end up at 2% growth in a few weeks after hitting a maximum of 5% yesterday is simply astonishing."

"Let me guess, He didn't appreciate you giving him a lesson in math when he was down?"

"No... it didn't help as much as I hoped. It got better when I made fun of myself, though. Oh, and I told him that he beat four of your pokemon, too. But don't let your two Rhyperior, Donphan, and Mega Torterra hear it," Pete answered with a wink.

"Eh, the first week was spectacular, but I doubt the numbers will be much more than half of this week's the next time. They can't possibly keep up this rate of improvement and will hit a wall or two soon. First, for proficiency with the move, then with output of typing energy, and eventually, there will be natural bottlenecks for their species," Jasmine added with a thoughtful expression.

"Wow, who's the big nerd now, huh?"

"Hey! You're the one who calculated for Reuniclus to keep her improvement for Extrasensory at a constant 5% per week for 57 weeks straight so that the PV she reaches with the move will be 'over 9000', whatever that means," Jasmine scoffed.

"You wouldn't get it. Inside joke," Pete brushed off.

Jasmine glared at her husband for a moment before changing the subject, "So? Anything else Courtney and I need to know before you head out?"

"Hmm, nope. Courtney already knows about the eggs, three more Eevee should hatch soon. My test egg Eevee with the ground type energy hatched yesterday, and Mommy Sylveon allowed me to bring him with me since the little guy's dad is coming, too. You yourself know about the color variant Trapinch that hatched earlier this morning since I gifted the right to raise her to you and Flygon approved... hummm, there's some a few cross-breed berry seedlings in my study that might sprout soon if the process worked out. If you could look into my study every few days? I already asked the two Cinccino to water the pots while they are on their daily dusting tour around the house," Pete recounted while tapping his chin. "But as you might know, they don't know how to call me..."

"Aww, the genius professor couldn't teach his pokemon to work a phone yet? Are you sure you even tried? The two Cinccino are smarter than most pokemon I know," Jasmine taunted with a haughty expression.

"You know what? You're right. I should ask the Cinccino to call me. I bet they wouldn't forget since going up to my study is part of their daily routine," Pete replied while innocently scratching his head.

Jasmine started shaking her husband like a petulant child and cried out, "Ugh! A smart answer for every single taunt! Pete, stop it! Let me win one argument!"

"Hey, it was you and Sophie who forgot to take out the Thunder Stone from the generator when I asked you to," Pete defended with a smug grin.

Jasmine continued shaking her husband and retorted, "And we apologized a million times!"

"You know that I don't really care, and I'm just riling you up, right?"

The shaking of Pete gained intensity. Jasmine countered with a pout, "Then let me win one argume~eeent."

"Alright, hit me with one, and I'll let you win."

"Hmm," Jasmine stopped the shaking and gained a thoughtful expression that turned into a sly grin, "I'll miss you so much more than you will miss me while you're in Alola!"

"Ugh! Going for the big guns! I give you a foot you take an arm," Pete said while clutching his heart in fake hurt. "Very well, I will stand by my promise. I will not miss you quite as much as you miss me, and I shall compensate you for it with immeasurable love and the perfect gift upon my return!"

Jasmine gained a sweet smile and gave her husband a short kiss filled with feeling. Since they already shared a morning filled with love, the couple stopped at that and the newlyweds made their way down toward the lake where his eight top scorers, both mega evolved pokemon, the freshly hatched Eevee with the high chance of becoming a ground evolved Eevee and his two newly hatched bird pokemon Rookidee and Fletchling waited for him.

Behind them in the waters was a speedboat capable of outspeeding a Sharpedo that he rented from Hoenn's champion Steven. Together with Mega Reuniclus and Metagross using Teleport on long stretches to close the immense distance, Pete would only take roughly a single day to reach Alola, it would be less if he chose to risk it and only get teleported on a wooden plank instead of the heavy boat, but why should he?