Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

When Pikachu and Meowth saw Reiji getting ready for bed, the two little ones immediately ran after him. Psyduck followed too, waddling up the stairs with them. Mewtwo saw it but did not stop them.

”Mewtwo, the volcano erupted today, and we spent the whole day digging a channel for the lava. I’m wiped out, so I’m going to sleep early. See you tomorrow.” Reiji made sure to say something to Mewtwo. Out of everyone here, Mewtwo was the one he absolutely couldn’t ignore.

”I’ll stay at the cabin tonight,” Mewtwo replied through telepathy.

It had stayed here for several days now and had also spent some time at the school. The experience had been pleasant enough. But once its injuries healed, it would be time for it to leave.

Upstairs, Reiji lay on the bed with Eevee in his arms. The smaller Pokémon filed in one after another and found their usual spots, while the larger ones slept outside.

He held Magmar’s Poké Ball in his hand. He had released it once that evening, but he still couldn’t get close to it. In the end, all he could do was tell Magmar to rest and focus on getting its body temperature under control.

Now it was time to check Magmar’s proficiency panel.

It had eaten nearly a hundred million Pokédollars’ worth of Fire-type resources. Reiji wanted to see exactly what kind of Magmar that had produced.

[Magmar]

[Type: Fire]

[Gender: Male]

[Potential: 77.34%]

[Level: 38.99%]

[Ability: Flame Body/42.23%]

[Moves]

Fire-type: [(Fire Punch/38.27%)(Lava Plume/34.21%)(Flamethrower/39.88%)(Sunny Day/32.31%)(Fire Blast/39.14%)(Fire Spin/38.53%)(Flame Wheel/32.14%)(Ember/35.37%)(Flame Charge/38.17%)(Will-O-Wisp/34.22%)(Heat Wave/22.22%)(Flare Blitz/18.12%)(Heat Crash/30.42%)]

Normal-type: [(Belly Drum/15.14%)(Focus Energy/14.23%)(Scary Face/18.82%)(Smokescreen/13.62%)(Leer/16.22%)(Protect/19.72%)(Mega Punch/18.44%)(Mega Kick/15.34%)]

Fighting-type: [(Dynamic Punch/18.11%)(Mach Punch/15.42%)(Low Kick/13.14%)]

Poison-type: [(Clear Smog/15.27%)(Smog/11.21%)]

Other: [(Feint Attack/12.23%)(Thunder Punch/18.22%)(Rest/26.91%)(Iron Tail/17.42%)]

”Holy shit.”

The moment Reiji saw Magmar’s potential, he couldn’t stop himself from swearing.

That was quasi-Champion potential.

Magmar had burned through a hundred million in Fire-type resources and released all of its stored-up growth in one shot. Reiji had expected a big jump, but not this big.

He had thought Magmar might reach 70 potential at most. That alone would have satisfied him. It still had one evolution left, and hitting quasi-Champion potential after that would have been easy enough.

Instead, Magmar had reached it in one step.

He compared it with the research cost for Gengar and found that Gengar had only taken a little over a hundred million before reaching Champion-tier potential. Most of the later spending had gone into pushing past that point. In that sense, a hundred million for 77 potential wasn’t even that outrageous, though comparing anything to Gengar was unfair. That thing was a monster.

With Magmar’s current potential, all it had to do was grow steadily. Once it evolved into Magmortar, Champion-tier potential was basically guaranteed.

That meant he had one more Pokémon with Champion-tier potential.

Good news. Very good news.

Its level had jumped hard too, all the way from around level 30 to almost 40. So the Fire-type resources hadn’t only raised potential; some of that energy had gone into its level as well. A Magmar this close to Advanced tier was already usable, even if only barely.

Flame Body’s proficiency had already gone past its level too. The volcano had clearly done a lot for Magmar’s evolution.

Flame Body gave any Pokémon that hit the user with a contact move a 30% chance of being burned.

Then there were the Fire-type moves. Every single one of them had risen. Magmar was a pure Fire-type, and after soaking up that many Fire-type resources, its potential and level weren’t the only things that benefited. Its moves had improved too.

It had also learned several new Fire-type moves, including Heat Wave, Flare Blitz, and Heat Crash.

Reiji paid the most attention to Heat Crash.

That move was one of the foundations for Rock Armor and Flame Armor. With Flame Body as support, Flame Armor could be pushed even further.

Magmar probably had no use for Rock Armor. Rock Armor raised defense by using stone, but it also added weight. Its focus was different from what Magmar needed.

With Magmar’s current Flame Body, a proper Flame Armor would make it almost impossible for most Pokémon to approach, let alone land a hit. The power of Flame Body had already been obvious down at the foot of the mountain.

For Magmar, that kind of heat was instinct. It didn’t need to burn stamina the way Rhydon did to maintain a high-temperature state. Once Magmar learned to use Flame Armor, keeping it active for long periods should be much easier.

The Fire-type section was the real highlight. Everything else looked ordinary by comparison, mostly because the Fire-type growth was too strong and drowned the rest out. Reiji quickly lost interest in going through every remaining move.

The other move proficiencies hadn’t changed much, and there were no new moves outside the Fire type.

Magmar’s path was obvious. Keep it Fire-focused and keep pushing its Fire-type move proficiency.

The only thing he needed to watch for was long-range Ground-type attacks. That was Magmar’s one real problem. Everything else was manageable. Close-range attacks were practically useless against it now, but Ground-type moves that could hit from a distance needed special attention.

Reiji closed Magmar’s panel.

He really liked this Magmar.

For it to reach this point, Blaine had to be the main reason. Reiji had no idea how Blaine had raised it. He himself had done almost nothing except pour in a hundred million worth of Fire-type resources, and somehow he had ended up with a Magmar with ridiculous Fire talent.

Once Magmar evolved one more time, its potential would land solidly in Champion tier. That would give him seven Pokémon with Champion-tier potential.

He might wake up laughing from that kind of dream.

Could Poliwhirl copy this result?

Probably not in the same way. Inside the volcano, the Fire-type resources had melted on the spot, letting Magby absorb them directly. Poliwhirl obviously couldn’t do that. That was a racial advantage unique to Magmar’s line, and it wasn’t something other Pokémon could imitate.

But the idea behind it could still be copied.

Find the right environment before evolution. That part should work, especially for a Water-type like Poliwhirl.

If lava was the perfect environment for Magmar, then Poliwhirl needed the opposite: somewhere cool, wet, and heavy with moisture. It might not produce the same dramatic result, but even a small boost was better than evolving it under ordinary conditions.

There was another important point too. Magby’s foundation had been absurdly strong, far beyond Tentacruel or Whiscash.

But Poliwhirl’s foundation wasn’t weak either. It had stayed in this stage for a long time, and its level had been stuck for ages. Since it couldn’t push its level higher, it had spent that time sharpening battle technique and training its Waterfall burst.

A Poliwhirl like that should not be far behind Magby. His Dratini was being raised in the same direction too.

From now on, he could prepare every evolution with this idea in mind. He had never put much thought into the environment before. Who would have guessed it could matter this much?

Still, this might only work so dramatically for special Pokémon. Magby could bathe in lava and use its body heat to melt resources for absorption. Most Pokémon didn’t have that kind of ability. Even if others did, they would probably be Fire-types too.

”A place thick with moisture…” Reiji lay in bed with his eyes closed, stuck on the problem. ”Where am I supposed to find that?”

He was in the Orange Archipelago, so humid places were everywhere. But ordinary humidity couldn’t compare to a lava-filled volcano. Poliwhirl’s natural advantage wasn’t in environmental absorption either, and the environment itself would probably be weaker than what Magmar had used.

Poliwhirl’s evolution probably wouldn’t get the same explosive boost Magmar had. The environment might only add a little, but a little was still better than nothing.

Reiji lay there thinking through Poliwhirl’s evolution site until sleep finally caught up with him.

Even then, he fell asleep smiling.

Magmar had opened a new door for him. If the right environment could push an evolution that far, then every future evolution was worth planning more carefully. That alone was enough to keep him happy.

[End of chapter]

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