CH97 (227), Using Pressure To Train (3)

We kept following behind Luna/Clefairy for the next 6 hours as she brought us around the mountain range. We came across quite a few Rattata, Diglett, Spearow, Sandshrew, Sentret, Geodude, Machop, as well as Ekans during that time.

To me, it looked like these were the most abundant Pokemon species that lived on the mountain range, at least among those that lived outside the cave system. I was sure Zubat would replace Spearow if it had been inside the caverns and tunnels and the number of Sentret and Rattata would have gone down as well.

Anyways, Zigzagoon, Mankey, Spinarak, Raticate, Dugtrio, and Fearow were the ones that showed up on occasion, while Arbok, Sandslash, Furret, Linoone, Onix, Cubone, and Nincada were Pokemon that we had come across once or twice, maybe thrice.

Seeing how her first round of battles went I had Saphira/Swablu battle against two (low) bronze or one (mid) bronze stage Pokemon as long as they were less challenging in their base form, like Rattata.

Pokemon that were more challenging like Onix or those at their next evolutionary stages like Raticate or Sandslash were already strong enough to really pressure her at the (low) bronze stage, so they were challenged as well.

That did not mean that we did not give a try to challenge some (mid) bronze stage Pokemon of the last group, but of her 4 tries, Saphira lost half. Once against a (mid) bronze stage Fearow and another against a (mid) bronze stage Sandslash, but we counted those as part of the fighting experience.

Moreover, since the aim of our current excursion was to put pressure on Saphira, I could confidently say that those losses still played their role, since she had been under quite the pressure during those battles. I'll be honest, I only did the negotiation act thrice during the last few hours.

Those were with a group of Machop, an Onix, and finally a business of Furret. The other 20ish battles she participated in were done according to the old-school rules. We saw them, we fought them, and we caught them, but in this case, we just left them alone.

I did however heal most of our opponents as long as they did not go all murder hobo or a**h*le on us. I mean I had more F and E-class healing pellets than I knew what to do with so I saw no harm in helping them back to good health as long they did not piss me off. So far, that only happened twice.

One was an Arbok that thought it was a good idea to try to sneak attack me while I went up to it to heal it after informing the Arbok that I was planning to heal it.

The second one was just as aggravating, Saphira fought against a Raticate that was the boss of a mischief after we agreed on a one-on-one, but once she took him down, the Raticate ordered his mischief to swarm us. We obviously took them all down as well, but I felt a bit pissed, so we left them to deal with the consequences by themselves.

Hashirama/Ivysaur got to fight six times as well. He battled against a mid (silver) stage Onix which he won thanks to his type advantage, even if it was not a decisive victory. His second battle was against a (mid) silver-stage Primeape which he lost but he put up a good fight, so I was satisfied with his performance.

He also fought against another Primeape that was part of the first one's troop. Hashirama managed to beat the (low) silver-stage Primeape and he had a pleased smile on his face after making up for his loss against the boss.

Another battle was against a (low) silver-stage Fearow which he managed to win by the skin of his teeth, due to the Fearow doing the smart thing and making use of its air advantage. He fought against another (low) silver-stage Fearow that was accompanying the first one, and Hashirama barely lost that one.

The final battle was against a (low) silver-stage Dugtrio which he managed to win. Actually, the last one was less challenging than I thought it would be, so I would have to see if that Dugtrio was an exception or if all Dugtrio were as strong as that one.

Still, by the end of the day, I decided that there was no need to switch between the Viridian Forest and Mt.Moon since we came across enough species that could pose a challenge to Hashirama to make a location change superfluous.

At 6 p.m I decided to stop for the day and asked Horus/Xatu to bring us home. I prepared dinner and had everyone go through a 90-minute training session before relaxing for the rest of the day.

The next day (Mewday) was spent like this as well. First, we ate our breakfast, then we did a 90-minute morning training session before we went to Mt.Moon until 6 p.m, followed by dinner and a 90-minute evening training session.

While we were going around Mt.Moon, the others were staying inside Utopia spending half of the time relaxing and half of the time training on their own. I also decided to swap out the members of the supervising squad each day so that everyone got to spend time with us wandering around Mt.Moon.

The only ones that remained part of the permanent group were Saphira, Hashirama, and Luna. Well, and for obvious reasons, the water types had to sit out, but the others did get their turn.

Anyway, Giratiday went by just like that, as did Palkiday and today was shaping up to be like that as well. That was not to say that nothing interesting or new happened, cause it did.

We came across some new species like Dunsparce, Graveler, Machoke, Poochyena, Mightyena, Rhyhorn, and Houndour. The Poochyena line and the Houndour surprised me since I had not expected to come across them.

Well, it was a Mightyena with 5 Poochyena that we stumbled upon on Giratiday and a small pack of 4 Houndour we met today, but according to our local expert/guide Miss Luna they were rather rare so we were lucky to see them.

Sadly none of the Houndour had any decent potential or I would have probably caught one since I thought they were cute, I meant cool. Yes, cool, not cute. I mean, they turned to Houndoom so it had to be cool.

Anyway, we just finished dinner and now it was time for our evening training session so we all got started on the grind. I went to supervise everyone's training, and I was wearing weights while doing that to show everyone that I was taking part in the grind as well.

It helped with team/group cohesion when they saw that I was training just like they did and it helped me become stronger. It was a truly youthful win-win situation.

A quick look at my watch told me that the session was over so I called for a stop. I went up to Hashirama and Saphira to see if there was any change in their parameters.

Until now there had been no changes but that was okay because it had only been 4 days, 5 if we counted today, since we began the pressure regime. As expected there was no change in Hashirama's parameters, so I moved on to Saphira to check hers as well.

'Finally!' I thought when I saw that her Vitality had improved to SSS. It was good to get confirmation that my idea worked. At least I chose to believe that this happened because of the pressure training and not because it was just about to happen anyway.

Regardless of the minuscule doubt nagging regarding my success, I chose to believe that my idea worked. I told Saphira the good news and encouraged Hashirama to keep it up. I did not want him to feel the slightest bit of dejection due to not showing any progress yet.

I decided that it was time for another open-air cinema, so I called everyone over and began handing out snacks. After the movie, I wished everyone a good night and went to my bed.

Tomorrow, my parents were coming over for the weekend, and I was curious to see how Mimikyu was going to look wearing her new disguises.

I did not get to see that last week because mom said that she wanted to get a bit closer to Mimikyu before offering the new disguises, cloaks, or whatever you want to call them.

Mom asked me to keep them for now since she was not sure if she could resist having Mimikyu try them out for her. So, I was hoping that she had reached her goal cause I was interested in seeing Mimikyu with her cosplay.

The next morning my parents came while I was preparing breakfast. Their timing was impeccable as always. After our greeting, and with that I meant mom pinching my poor cheeks and briefly hugging the stuffing out of me, she helped me set the table.

"Say, mom, did you get close enough to Mimikyu to ask her about changing her old disguise for a new one? I'm sure she'd at least like to wear the Pikachu one, even if she feels unsure about the Munchlax and Teddiursa cosplay." I inquired of mom while we were eating.

"I think so," she replied with a smile before she continued. "I'm confident that she'll accept the Pikachu one. The Munchlax and Teddiursa one might be too much of an abrupt change right now, so she might be apprehensive about changing into those.

Still, I'm confident she'll become curious enough to try them once she has completely settled in and opened up some more. Besides who knows, she might accept trying them out today," she finished with a shrug.

"That's good," I returned with a nod before asking something else I was curious about. "Have you found out if there is something that distinguishes her from other Mimikyu? I'd like to know why she gave me that special feeling?"

She shook her head, which genuinely surprised me since being able to manipulate the cloth/rag she was wearing was not something subtle or anything, unlike Roselia's talent which had a trigger condition.

"Really, nothing? I'm pretty sure that she gave me a special feeling that was different from the one the potential of a Pokemon gives me." I reiterated while wondering how they could have missed her talent.

I gave dad a look while posing my question but he shook his head as well. Either Mimikyu noticed her new ability/talent and felt not comfortable enough with my parents to show it or there was a condition that had to be fulfilled that I did not notice.

I did not bother checking if the use section could be expanded since the description was pretty clear. Maybe there was something in there that explained why Mimikyu did not show her talent.

"Sorry honey, I didn't notice anything that could have caused you to feel that way." She said with a shake of her head.

"Hmm, maybe it'll come up in the future," I returned with a smile while deciding to recheck Mimikyu's status to see if there was something I missed.

Mom just smiled indulgently and we finished our meal. Afterward, we went outside for our morning training. Once I was done acting as Mikail-Sensei, mom talked with Mimikyu and told her about the new disguises/cloaks we bought for her.

"Honey, she agreed to change into the new Pikachu cloak, so could you be a darling and give it to her?" Mom called out to me and I went to my bag to bring out the Pikachu cosplay that was stored there.

I then moved toward Mimikyu and handed her the cloak. I used that moment to examine her status screen and checked whether I had missed something. Turns out I did. I saw exactly why they had not noticed Mimikyu's new talent, and I was including Mimikyu herself in this.

Apparently, at least 90% of the disguise had to be made out of materials originating from mature Pokemon. The mature Pokemon in this case meant above the Stageless stage. This obviously meant that her current, or rather previous, disguise did not fulfill this condition.

However, the one we bought her did satisfy that condition, so Mimikyu should notice her ability any moment now.

"Kyu!!!!!" As soon as I thought that Mimikyu let out a cry of surprise. Mom hurriedly went to the tree Mimikyu went behind to change, but Mimikyu excitedly came forward and I immediately notice the natural movement of her costume.

I was not the only one by the gasps of surprise I heard. Mimikyu excitedly began to talk with mom and she called Gastly and Misdreavus over as well. They began to talk excitedly and mom told us that Mimikyu was able to control her new costume as if it was part of her body.

Dad was impressed and asked if she could channel her moves through them. As soon as he asked that Mimikyu used a Shadow Claw using the leather tail sewn to the costume.

"Well, that answers that question. Maybe we should consider adding arms to her costumes," dad said after she did that.

Mom used the situation to ask if Mimikyu wanted to try the other two costumes and she agreed. Mimikyu changed into both costumes and she could control both.

That actually made me wonder if she could use wings if some anatomically correct ones, using Pokemon feathers, were added to a costume.

I told them my idea, and they seemed intrigued by the idea, but since Mimikyu could already levitate due to being a ghost type it was not as interesting as it could have been if that had not been the case.

The next while was spent marveling at Mimikyu's new costumes and her ability to control them at will. Mom did not forget to take photos of Mimikyu in her different get-ups.

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