CH115 (345), One Trip After Another (5)

"Hello, everyone," I began with a general greeting. "My name is Mikail, and I'm here today to search for a partner that wants to become a Hitmonform as well as walk to the peak of the world with me," I shared with them to disclose that I was only interested in those that wanted to evolve into Hitmonform.

Despite Hitmonform being arguably the strongest evolution of Tyrogue, it was possible that not all Tyrogue wanted to become one, so I wanted to make sure that I did not end up liking a Tyrogue only for it to want to evolve into Hitmonchan or one of the other two evolutions.

That would make me feel bad as if I had lost something, so it was better to filter them out right from the onset. That way I would not see them in the first place, and what one does not know, one can not feel bad about losing.

The peak of the world bit was to motivate them and to show some aspirations. Anyway, the reaction seemed good enough, and I could feel the curiosity of many Tyrogue increase after my little greeting.

Their curiosity and that of the others around us only increased when I called out Tyson/Machoke.

"This is Tyson, one of my partners," I started introducing Tyson. "I've asked elder Hitmonform for permission for Tyson to spar against some of you, and he agreed that those willing could fight him."

I could see and feel the interest and excitement increase when I said.

"Tyson here is at the (high) silver stage, so we would like to set a lower limit of participation to (high) silver as well to ensure that both parties can fight without worry," I declared causing a few of the Hitmons around us, probably those that did not fit the criteria, to look disappointed.

Still, I had to do that since Tyson's evolution condition was to beat fighting types with the same prowess as him or higher, and I doubted that any (mid) silver stage Pokemon present could fulfill that criteria. Still, it would not do to miss out on some local geniuses.

"Still, any of you capable of beating (high) silver-stage Pokemon may step up as well. However, I'd like them to get the approval of elder Hitmonform first before stepping up," I amended my previous statement, and included the elder to ensure no one tried fibbing just to get to fight as well.

I doubted anyone here had the gall to lie to one of their elders, and Hitmonform had agreed to preside over the matches, so this bit should be no problem.

"Just to have mentioned it, but deadly and crippling strikes are forbidden. Let me also add that I have brought along a lot of medical supplies so you don't have to worry about getting injured.

In case I can't treat some injuries, I'll make sure that the Academy treats you at my expense," I finished my announcement, and let Tyson as well as elder Hitmonform move to one of the fighting rings present, while I began mingling with the Tyrogue.

The Hitmon-group was much more enthusiastic about fighting Tyson than I had expected, and after having to go over to heal Tyson as well as his opponent for the fourth time in less than 30 minutes, I left a bag full of healing salves and tonics with elder Hitmonform after explaining which ones were for external use and which one could be drunk.

Honestly, I should have expected a group of fighting types to jump at the chance to fight/spar against another strong fighting type, but I did not want to stereotype them all. Considering that there was a queue for those that wanted to fight, I would have been right with my assumption, at least in this case.

While Tyson was busy exchanging pointers with the big guys, I was busy talking with and checking out the little guys that approached me. I obviously had taken out a batch of fighting-type snacks that were made to suit Tyson's taste, but the Tyrogue liked the taste just fine as well.

Talking while snacking was much better than blandly talking with them. That the snacks lured over more Tyrogue to talk with me was a happy coincidence.

I spent a few hours like that, and I met a few interesting Tyrogue during that time. There were those with blue potential among them and some that had unlocked a talent, but none really stood out to me.

'Species: Tyrogue

Gender: Male

Type: Fighting

Potential: Blue

Stage: Iron-Stage (mid)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Guts, Steadfast

Talents: Iron Stomach

Affinities: Fighting, Aura'

The one with an Iron Stomach for example, which allowed him to eat and digest everything that did not exceed his energy tolerance capacity. That meant he could eat any material regardless of type and compatibility as long as its class or energy potency was not too high, which would cause it to explode or get crippled.

Such a talent was mewsend for any Pokemon in regards to type mutation or digesting raw treasures, but pretty much useless for me since I wanted my Hitmonform to retain his fighting type, and none of my Pokemon had to eat unprocessed materials.

As I said by the time lunch rolled around I saw a few talented Tyrogue, but none that particularly roused my interest, and with blue potential being the highest to show up so far, more than once in fact, I was not worried that there were no good seedlings among the Tyrogue.

Worst case scenario, I would choose one of the blue potential ones I had talked to without an unlocked talent. Anyway, I decided that it was time for lunch since it was already 1 p.m, so I called out to Tyson and the elder Hitmonform to inform them that it was time for lunch.

Due to having already done so in the habitats I visited before this, there was no way I could not cook curry for the Tyrogue habitat without being unfair and appearing insulting. Besides, seeing the general excitement when I said that it was time for lunch, they were probably kind of expecting the same.

I began pulling out the tables and cooking utensils while Tyson finished his latest fight. By the time he came to my side I had pulled out all materials, and since I had long ago decided to include my Pokemon whenever they could and wanted to be included, I had Tyson help me with cooking.

I used the materials from my pre-prepared stock, so I only divided them into the correct ratios and have Tyson add them to the pots. He also helped with stirring one of them, and after close to 50 minutes the curry, or rather curries were ready.

Obviously, our cooking did not escape the attention of the inhabitants. On the contrary, the delightful smell of the curry attracted the attention of everyone once it began spreading in the area.

We were currently surrounded by a sea of Tyrogue, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, and Hitmonform, that were watching us, or rather the curry with excitement. I actually had to pull out a few more big pots in the middle of the session when I noticed that the number of Pokemon was higher than I had estimated it to be.

Anyway, I asked elder Hitmonform for help in distributing the curry since there were truly too many Pokemon around us, and 17 more Hitmonform were called over to help me/us.

The 20 of us then began to hand out the curry along with cups of juice. Each pot had 2 of us stationed before it, and accordingly, there were also 10 lines with Pokemon lining up to get their share of the curry.

I made sure that the still-cooking batch did not burn while also distributing the current batch, and as soon as the new batch was done, I added it to the "old" batch.

Thankfully there were so many of us working or it might have taken until evening for us to finish handing out everything, but with 20 of us working together we managed to finish in a bit more than an hour, which was impressive enough since we handed out over 3000 portions of curry if I was not wrong.

I did send some curry over to Utopia for lunch as well, but with the number of servings we handed out that was just a drop in the ocean. Naturally, I also made sure to check the status of as many Pokemon as I could, mostly focusing on the Tyrogue and Hitmonform, but I still only managed to check a few hundred of them.

Still, I saw some interesting ones. Chief among them were three individuals with deep blue potential. Two of them were Hitmonform, and one was still a Tyrogue.

'Species: Tyrogue

Gender: Male

Type: Fighting

Potential: Deep Blue

Stage: Iron-Stage (mid)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Guts, Vital Spirit

Talents: None

Affinities: Fighting'

I tried to remember all three, just in case a chance to recruit them presented itself, but that was easier said than done when they resembled each other so closely.

There were minute differences, but even that did not make it much easier. Thankfully I could sense their aura and mind, so combined with those minute differences, I could separate them from the masses smoothly.

Anyway, it took a while, but by 3:20 p.m, everyone had eaten and we had cleaned up as well. I also called out Horus/Xatu, Mothra/Butterfree, Gwen/Gardevoir, as well as Ali/Kirlia, and with their help separated the waste from the plastic.

Stan/Gyarados gave the plastic a good wash while we held it in place, and the Enji/Arcanine burned it into a single clump of molten plastic. I would find ways to reuse and recycle it later, waste not want not after all. Enji also burned the waste to ash and we spread it evenly around the trees.

I thanked them all before recalling them, and after that, we resumed what we had been doing before lunch. Tyson returned to his sparring, while I resumed talking with those willing to approach me.

However, this time even some Hitmonform approached me to talk. Most of the ones that came to me were either at the (mid) or (high) silver stage, and two had been at the (low) gold stage.

Yet, the highest potential among them was blue, so I was honestly more interested in the weaker Tyrogue since none of the Hitmonform had any interesting talent or modifier to change my mind.

It was around 6:20 p.m when I met Tyrogue who truly stood out among those I had talked to so far.

'Species: Tyrogue

Gender: Male

Type: Fighting

Potential: Deep Blue

Stage: Iron-Stage (high)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Guts, Vital Spirit

Talents: Optimal Balance

Affinities: Fighting'

First of all, he had Deep Blue potential, but I had come across a total of 4 Tyrogue with that kind of potential until now, this one included. What truly put him above his compatriots was his talent.

Now while Optimal Balance may sound a bit lame, aside from the fact that it also sounded like something really useful for a Tyrogue that wants to evolve into a Hitmonform, its effect was truly remarkable.

It was a training/exercise-based talent, that allowed Tyrogue to maximize the benefit of up to 3 affected aspects gained from any training or exercise he did. There was a lower threshold, that determined if the exercise involved an aspect enough to benefit from the talent or not, but it was still enough to call it a divine talent.

Hmm, that may not be a good enough description, so an example would be good. Normally if a Pokemon trains a move only its mastery receives any substantial increase, but Tyrogue also raises his Energy Capacity and Energy Density to the same degree as his move mastery.

In short, exercises that affect multiple factors receive a substantial boost under this talent and instead of disseminating the training effect among multiple parameters/elements, all affected elements receive the full benefit.

I made sure I kept an eye on that guy since I doubted I would find someone better than him during the last 30 or so minutes, and I was proven right.

When the clock struck 7 p.m, and the elder Hitmonform came up to me, Tyson in tow, to inform me that my time was up, I had not found anyone more appealing than the balanced Tyrogue, so I told the elder that I had made my choice, and went up to Tyrogue to ask him if he would like to join my family.

He agreed, and we went up to the elder Hitmonform to share the decision. After receiving his approval I caught Tyrogue in one of the Fighting Balls I handcrafted.

The elder then led us back to the place we arrived at, and Tyson told me on the way that he had felt the ability to initiate his evolution an hour ago, meaning that he had managed to fulfill the victory condition at that time. He simply kept fighting since it was not often that he got the opportunity to fight against so many other fighting types.

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