CH17 (381), Explanations, Plans, And Persuasion

It was already past 10 p.m. when I was back in my dorm room, so I decided to take a good rest and deal with anything else tomorrow. Tomorrow being Grouday meant that I had the whole day to myself and it was also the last day of my vacation.

Still, I decided to do four things before I went to sleep. I was going to (blood) register Toedscool, Toedscruel as well as Vileplume's balls to establish a bond between us and officially mark them as mine. Since the stronger two were the leaders/parents of their clan, the rest would fall in line.

As for Toedscool, he was in the rather unique position of being the only one of his kind in the known world, so I decided that it would be prudent to act more cautiously. Hence, me marking him as mine as well.

I had some ideas regarding the future of their group. I was going to ask them to act as the guards for the orphanage-centered Pokemon habitat in Hope Town. With Toedscruel being at the dark gold stage and Vileplume being at the gold stage, the two were strong enough to shoulder that responsibility.

They even had a batch of silver stage Gloom under them that could help them with their job. As for the Oddish, I would keep them inside Utopia so that they could enjoy the higher energy density while they were young/weak.

In short, the strong members of their group would act as the security force for my second property once everything was established and the "starter" species were transferred there. Who knew, maybe one day, the Oddish could become another "starter" species as well, if Toedscruel and Vileplume agreed to it.

However, that was something that would still take quite some time, and until then, I would have them stay in the sanctuary provided by the lab. That fit my more immediate plans for the group, especially since I was planning to introduce both Toedscruel and Toedscool to Professor Oak on Arcday, but only if Toedscruel gave the okay.

The categorization and analysis of a newly discovered species would make a perfect first project to make a ripple in the lab as well as the community, and with those two being my Pokemon, there was no way to exclude me from the said project as well.

Anyway, once I marked all three as mine, I called my parents to tell them I was back in Pallet City and we talked for a bit before I went to sleep until 6 a.m. the next morning. After finishing my morning routine I entered Utopia and appeared inside my house.

Yesterday I had decided to start with Toedscruel since he was the leader of his group, but after thinking about it some more just now, I decided to call out both Toedscruel and Vileplume at the same time. Vileplume was Toedscruel's mate and second in command, so I felt that including her in the conversation I was about to have with Toedscruel was the right decision.

I called them both out and let them both take a look around the room while Utopia did its thing. Still, there was no doubt that both felt the effects of Utopia's optimization since both stiffened at some point during their observations and they turned to look at me when that happened.

I began to explain to them where we were and what just happened before I offered them to explain what exactly had changed for them after the optimization, after adding that I could also acquire the information of my Pokemon. They agreed, and I decided to start with Toedscruel.

'Name: None

Species: Toedscruel

Gender: Male

Age: 698+ Years

-

Type: Ground, Grass

Potential: Deep Green (26.58%) -> Light Blue (86.58%)

(Genetic) Modifiers: None

Abilities: Mycelium Might, Immunity

Talents: MM Unbound

Affinities: Ground, Grass

-

Bond: Mikail (artificial, weak)

Quirks: Family Oriented

----

Parameters:

Stage: Dark Gold Stage (low)

Vitality: H

Strength: I

Endurance: I

Agility: G

Energy Capacity: H

Energy Density: G

----

Immunity:

Electric

-

Resistance:

Ground (Minor), Rock (Minor)

-

Weaknesses:

Ice (Major), Fire (Minor), Flying (Minor), Bug (Minor)

-

Standardized:

None

----

Condition: Healthy, Alert, Curious

----

Masteries:

Ground Energy Manipulation (Proficient)

Grass Energy Manipulation (Advanced)

----

Techniques:

-

(Unofficial) Initial:

Reflect Type*

-

Novice:

N/A

-

Beginner:

N/A

-

Proficient:

Mud-Slap, Wrap, Absorb, Supersonic, Tackle, Hex

-

Advanced:

Poison Powder, Stun Spore, Mega Drain, Screech, Mud Shot, Spore, Growth, Magical Leaf, Swift, Grassy Terrain, Acid Spray

-

Mastered:

Seed Bomb, Giga Drain, Earth Power, Power Whip,'

Well, wow. I can safely say that Toedscruel is by far the oldest Pokemon I have. I mean, I know that there are a lot of Pokemon out there that are older than 698 years old.

Heck, some humans are a lot older than that, such as the good professor, but I still could not help thinking that it was fairly old. Nonetheless, considering his whole lifespan as a dark gold stage Pokemon, he still had a long, long life ahead of himself.

Anyway, the age surprise aside, his potential had risen to light blue, and he was not too far off from having blue potential. That was probably what he felt since I could see that he did not unlock any modifiers.

Still, his new potential raised his limit to the (mid) platinum stage and once his potential rose to blue that would turn to (low) palladium, so he would not have to worry about reaching his stage/strength limit anytime soon.

"Your potential has been improved by a grade from 4 stars to 5 stars, at least according to the ranking used by the public. I personally use a more detailed system with 3 subgrades for each potential grade or star. Yours went from 4-star 3rd grade to 5-star first grade, or dark green to light blue according to my personal classification," I shared with Toedscruel after seeing his potential.

"I do not doubt that it is a good thing since I felt the change when it happened, but I have no idea how useful that is supposed to be," Toedscruel admitted and I told him about the strength/stage ceilings set by one's potential.

I kept looking through his status while explaining all this to Toedscruel, and I saw that the rest of that block remained unchanged, so there was nothing new for me there. The artificial bond was the norm as well, but his quirk was interesting and also explained a bit, why Toedscruel was "so easy" to persuade.

His family-oriented thinking had most likely made him agree to my request once I had proven that I was strong and that I could truly help his children. The way Toedscruel had folded had felt a bit too easy considering his strength, but this helped shed a light on that.

Still, after seeing his parameters, I decided to elaborate on what the increase in potential grade meant in short term.

"You will see an increase in your progress speed thanks to your new potential and the fact that Utopia's optimization has patched a part of the deficiencies in your foundation. Obviously, the resources I will provide will also play a role in that," I explained and he seemed happy to hear that.

Nonetheless, I was pretty sure that his progress speed would unfortunately still be pretty slow, at least compared to my main group, because Toedscruel probably broke through with a negative start and the optimization could only help so much with that.

Its main focus on that aspect would be on making up for the past deficits instead of the currently slowed prowess, so I was sure that Mothra/Butterfree and her batch would surpass him within a short few years.

Anyway, moving on to his type-relations, there was not much to say since everything was as it should be for a ground, grass dual type. His masteries were pretty good, and looking at his move list I could say that the same was true for his move list.

Comparing those two I could say that he was not far from raising his ground manipulation to advanced, and even his grass manipulation would raise by another grade if he mastered another two grass-type moves. Still, there was the addition of a new move, so I chose to tell him that.

"You also seem to have unlocked a move called Reflect Type, which allows you to copy the typing of others for some time," I informed Toedscruel and he seemed interested in his new move.

I could understand his interest since the move was a useful one if used correctly. I also took note that none of the moves in his move list were new, or rather unknown to me. I had thought he would have one or two I had never seen or heard about before, but it seems I was wrong. That his moves were so developed on the other hand was not as surprising since he was pretty old.

"That's pretty much all that has changed for you," I told Toedscruel before I decided to move onto Vileplume's status screen.

I was surprised to see that her age was actually higher than that of Toedscruel. She was 763, so 65 years older than him. Also, looking at her potential, it was no surprise that she was at the (mid) gold stage. She had reached the ceiling that her deep yellow potential allowed and had thus plateaued.

"Vileplume, I have really good news for you. Your potential has risen from 3-star 3rd grade to 4-star first grade, or dark yellow to light green according to my personal classification," I told her after seeing her potential and I saw that she was listening attentively.

"You had trouble becoming stronger because your potential held you back, but now you won't have any trouble reaching the dark gold stage at the very least," I added and she perked up at that before thanking me.

I could feel her elation and saw how she hugged Toedscruel out of happiness. I chose not to comment on her glistening eyes. I would assume that she did keep training after reaching the (mid) gold stage. She must have felt really bad about being unable to get any stronger no matter how much she trained, while Toedscruel kept becoming stronger.

"Oh, and you'll also see an increase in your progress speed. The reasons are the same as they are for Toedscruel. Furthermore, increasing your potential has also caused you to unlock a second ability," I added and she looked really happy.

"So, what is it," Toedscruel asked curiously, and I had to chuckle at his haste.

"I don't doubt that Vileplume already has an idea what it does, but her new ability is Effect Spore. It may cause paralysis, sleep, or poison if she is attacked physically," I explained and Vileplume bobbed her head.

"Yep, I felt like I unlocked something along those lines as well," she confirmed and Toedscruel laughed happily.

Honestly, he looked happier for her improvements than he did for his own. As expected of a family man, I guess. The rest of her status was pretty much normal for a Vileplume, so there was not much to say about it. Since that was the case, I decided to get to the main reason I called both of them out together.

"Alright, with that out of the way, I have an offer for you two and your family and a request for Toedscruel and Toedscool specifically," I announced and the duo turned their complete attention to me when I said that.

I first told them about the long-term plan with them and the Gloom acting as the guards while the Oddish lived in Utopia. I assured them that I would keep providing all of them with more than enough resources for their training as well as tasty food while they kept guarding the place.

They spoke a bit to each other before they accepted my request. I thanked them for agreeing and proceeded to call out Toedscool since the next part involved him as well.

He went through Utopia's optimization as well, and after telling him what was happening as well as that his potential had risen to light green, I asked Toedscool and Toedscruel if they would allow me and a group of researchers to officially examine them to classify their species since they were the first of their kind that had been spotted in our part of the world.

They looked less enthusiastic about that, Toedscruel seemed especially so due to Toedscool being involved as well, but I managed to persuade them by promising that no one would hurt them and that nothing too invasive would be done, with blood extraction being the limit.

I also had to promise to provide extra resources to Toedscool for his willingness to participate. Toedscruel insisted on that, and I agreed without any hesitation.

Once we were done, I led them to their new habitat, which was a combination of the one created for Toedscruel and Vileplume. After we arrived there, I called out everyone else in their family as well but left the explanation to the trio.

After everyone was up to speed, I signaled everyone in Utopia to come over so that I could introduce the newbies to their new co-inhabitants since at least the Oddish and some Gloom would live inside Utopia in a few years.

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