CH85 (607), Rangers (7)

Some would say that Weiss' semi-final battle was slightly less interesting than her quarter-final battle because her opponent's Pokemon were a tad bit weaker than Anna's Pokemon had been. While Karnu had a (mid) silver-stage Pokemon as well, a Typhlosion at that, it was also his only silver-stage Pokemon. The rest of Karnu's team, at least the 4 he used in the semi-final battle, were only at the (high) bronze stage.

Obviously, this meant that Weiss had an easier time dealing with him than she did with Anna, and it was reflected in the final score, which was 4-1. As usual, Weiss had gone ahead and used all her bronze-stage Pokemon during the semi-final battle as well, and her Bounsweet ended up facing Typhlosion of all things. Honestly, that little one seemed to have some bad luck seeing how often she seemed to end up facing foes stronger than her with a handicap on top.

Nonetheless, Bounsweet did her best, and she actually managed to advance to the (high) bronze stage during her struggles, though she still ended up losing without causing a significant impact on Typhlosion. Still, I was sure Bounsweet's advancement was more important to Weiss than any damage she could have caused Typhlosion, and this was proof that her persistent effort in sending her "weakest" Pokemon to the field even though she could have easily swept all her opponents had paid off.

By now, everyone in the audience was probably aware that Weiss was going to win this tournament, but the atmosphere during the final battle was still charged to the maximum. A big part of that was thanks to Weiss not pulling out Dewgong or her Ninetales from the get-go.

In fact, her Ninetales had been her only Pokemon so far that had not made an appearance during the tournament yet, and I was absolutely sure that there was no way that Weiss would not give Ninetales the chance to take part in this. I was certainly looking forward to seeing everyone's reaction when Weiss pulled a (mid) gold stage Alolan Ninetales out of her hat.

Anyway, apparently Weiss had decided to leave the final stage solely to her stronger/"older" Pokemon. Her first Pokemon was her (mid) silver Mandibuzz, who took down Gabe's (high) bronze Rhydon, though she did exhaust a considerable amount of effort to do so. Not that it had any real impact since Weiss switched her out anyway.

Weiss' second Pokemon was her (high) silver Walrein, who actually got to face a (low) silver stage Ampharos, causing the excitement in the stadium to spike. Ampharos' type advantage evened out the odds a bit despite Walrein's stage advantage, turning their battle into a somewhat hard one. Ampharos dished out as much as it ate, and Walrein certainly felt each one of its attacks that managed to land.

After a very close fight, Walrein ended up coming out on top, though he was in no condition to continue fighting, and I was pretty sure that he would have fallen unconscious sooner rather than later if Weiss had not recalled him after the referee had declared him the winner.

Gabe's third Pokemon was a (high) bronze-stage Granbull, who had to face Weiss' (high) silver Jinx. That battle was unsurprisingly one-sided and Granbull ended up getting knocked out without being able to cause Jinx any real damage. If Jinx was disappointed by the lack of a challenge, she certainly did not show it the way she was waving and throwing kisses toward the cheering audience until Weiss recalled her.

The fourth battle was between Weiss' (high) silver Lopunny and Gabe's (low) silver Quagsire, which while not one-sided, ended up with Lopunny's clear victory. I had thought this a few times during the battles, and I was sure I was not the only one, but after seeing Gabe's final Pokemon, I could not help but wonder why Gabe had not made use of his right to switch out any of his Pokemon.

I mean the (mid) silver stage Mismagius he sent out at the end would have posed a much higher threat to Weiss' Lopunny and it might have even been able to beat Lopunny. Yet, now it had to face a (mid) gold stage Alolan Ninetales, with zero chance at victory. Oh, Gabe and Misamgius certainly tried their best and they put up a good fight all things considered, but the inevitable still happened.

Mismagius got knocked out by Ninetales, which made Weiss the Junior Silver Conference Champion, and even though she won the finals 5-0, it did not mean that Gabe was a weak trainer. On the contrary, he was extremely strong for a Junior Class Trainer considering that he already fulfilled the strength requirement to rise up to the Senior Class. Weiss was just abnormally strong for someone in the Junior Class.

Anyway, what followed was the award ceremony where Weiss was handed the J. Silver Conference Cup, while Gabe got a smaller runner-up trophy. A small photo session followed along with a short interview by the reporters who had gathered in front of Weiss and Gabe.

During the interview one of the reporters actually asked the question I had been wondering about, and Gabe admitted that he saw no reason to switch out Pokemon since he knew that Weiss had at least one more gold-stage Pokmeon in her team. According to him, since Weiss did not bother switching out when her Pokemon were at a disadvantage, he felt he shouldn't either if it made no impact on his chances at winning, and facts had proven that he was right.

After that Weiss left the stage and we met up with her in front of the participant's entrance. We all congratulated her on her championship and Weiss teased me that she had become a champion before me. We also took a bunch of photos before we left the stadium and went to a restaurant where we booked a private room to celebrate her success.

We stayed in that private room for close to 4 hours before we tied up the celebration since it had gotten quite late and the restaurant was closing. We split up afterward, and everyone went their separate ways. I naturally returned to Rose City since Elisabeth and I had to leave for our patrol duty tomorrow.

The next day we returned to our patrol area, and seeing how the situation had developed at the last stretch I decided to change my recruitment strategy a bit. I did not plan to wait until the last month to start handing out my offers. I was going to start doing so right now. I believed that one month of scouting/interactions was enough for them to get an idea of who I was, so when we once more came across the (mid) gold-stage elderly Nidorino, I went ahead and told him about my offer.

Sadly, he straight-up refused to join any kind of group, and I felt his resolution when he said that, so I let him be. No reason to insist and risk having him react aggressively. The male Nido-line was not known for its patience and peacefulness after all.

Nidorino's refusal naturally did not stop me from continuing my plan, but something more important did distract me on Mewday. Osiris/Skellibra called for the attention of my "supervisory" thought stream and requested that I take a look at his status sheet since he had a feeling that his limit-breaking efforts had finally borne fruit.

A quick check confirmed his suspicion, which was both great and a bit sad at the same time. It was great because Osiris would be able to break through to the dark gold stage, and it was a bit sad because I would be unable to attend the event in person, or at least with my own body. We were only on day two of our patrol, which meant I would be unable to enter Utopia for nearly another 3 weeks.

There was simply no way I would make Osiris delay his breakthrough for another three weeks just so that I could be present in the flesh, and I told him as much when he tried to say that he was fine with waiting until my break. My earth clone was controlled by my mind so I would be present either way, and I told him that as long as he did not mind an earthy hug, which made him laugh since he was a ground type, everything was fine.

Following our talk, I made the announcement over UtopiaFM before creating my Earth Body while we waited for the others to come over to Osiris' place. Our not-so-little family gathered rather quickly but we had to wait an extra 10 minutes for all interested Utopians to arrive. Once everyone had made it, I had them form the circle while Igneel/Charizard, Fortuna/Togekiss, and I completed our pre-breakthrough ritual. As I had promised I gave Osiris an earthy hug and wished him good luck before retreating with the other two.

After I gave him the signal, Osiris initiated his breakthrough, and while nothing too out of the norm happened, there was a decent amount of shining involved, which had me suspect that something had happened, but that it was not something as big as a modifier.

Once his (mid) dark gold undulation started to spread, signaling the successful completion of his breakthrough, I made my way to Osiris' side with Igneel in tow. I naturally observed Osiris while moving closer, but I saw no visual differences, so whatever happened had no impact on his looks, though it appeared that Osiris had felt a difference as well since he was staring at his hands.

I noticed sparks being released from his hands. I stopped in front of him, and when I asked him how he felt, he said that he felt a difference in his ability to control and generate electric energy. Well, if that was not a pretty big indication that whatever had happened during his breakthrough was related to his talent section, then I did not know what could be.

Still, before I could say anything more, Igneel pushed past my earthen body and hugged his big brother, who quickly extinguished the sparks he was generating. Osiris happily pat Igneel, who was congratulating him, on the back and thanked him, before chiding him a bit for his carelessness, pointing to the possibility of Igneel getting shocked by the sparks/electricity he had been generating. Igneel just scratched his chin and laughed awkwardly before "apologizing".

The others came over as well, while the two had their little exchange. Knowing that they too wanted to congratulate Osiris, I went ahead and went between the two brothers to hug Osiris. After I had congratulated him, the others followed suit, and while they did that I began to check out Osiris' status sheet.

'Name: Osiris

Species: Skellibra

Gender: Male

Age: 14+ Years

-

Type: Ground, Dragon

Potential: Light Aurora (61.69%)*

{Light Aurora (21.67%) -> (21.69%) -> (61.69%)}'

As usual, the potential section was the first place that got affected, and from what I was seeing there was a good chance that, if everything went well, Osiris would be able to attain aurora potential during his next breakthrough. While that was certainly good news, I had honestly hoped that he would unlock a modifier during this breakthrough since it would be more "painful" if he unlocked one later on. Now all I could do was hope that it would happen during his next breakthrough since anything after that would "cost" too much.

Anyway, I moved on to the next section, and as I had expected, his modifier section remained empty. It was his talent section that showed a rather interesting change. I had already expected as much due to the conversation with Osiris, but here I had the proof "on paper".

'Talents: Lightning Manipulation*'

It looked like Conduct Current got an upgrade, and I'd wager that the new name was due to his ability. Otherwise, Electric Manipulation would have probably been more apt. I mean, this one was pretty on the nose either way, and a quick check confirmed that there was no deeper meaning to it.

As one would expect, Lightning Manipulation allowed Osiris to manipulate electric energy and it actually came with a certain degree of innate control, which I guess could be due to the mastery he had over his "old" talent, Conduct Current. Not only that but looking at the next section, it seemed that his new talent had brought along some gifts.

'Affinities: Ground, Dragon, Electric*'

While I did not find it surprising that he had gained an electric affinity together with his talent upgrade. I had to admit that I was a bit surprised that it was a full/standard one instead of a budding or weak affinity, but I certainly welcomed it since as I always say, one could never have enough affinities.

I went ahead and shared the good news with Osiris and congratulated him on his new/upgraded talent as well as his new affinity. The others followed suit and some joked about him turning into a pseudo-electric type despite being an actual ground type. When they said that I had the urge to mention that Stunfisk was an actual ground/electric type, but I let it be to not ruin the joke. Instead, I continue to look through the rest of Osiris' status.

'Bond: Mikail (deep)*

Quirks: None

----

Parameters:

Stage: Dark Gold Stage (mid)*

Vitality: C

Strength: B

Endurance: C

Agility: E

Energy Capacity: E

Energy Density: D'

I had already felt the deepening of our bond, and the undulations he had released had divulged his starting stage as well. Regardless, I was interested in his starting parameters, and looking at them, I could say that he had to do some work to advance to the next substage, though it was not that much since he only had to raise those two Es to Ds. Still, compared to that, what I saw in his type relation section was much more interesting.

'Immune:

Electric

-

Resistance:

Poison (Minor), Rock (Minor), Fire (Minor)

-

Weaknesses:

Dragon (Minor), Fairy (Minor)

-

Standardized:

Ice*

-

Resistance Training:

Water (in progress)'

It appeared that Osiris got lucky and had his ice weakness taken care of, which was quite nice. He now had only two weaknesses left, and as far as I was concerned, we would be working on the dragon one next since that one should, in my opinion, be easier to solve than the fairy one.

Honestly, it would have been great if his luck had also helped him with completing his water resistance training, but I guess that was just a tad insatiable/greedy on my part. We had not worked on it ever since it appeared on his status sheet, and things would stay that way until all of Osiris' weaknesses had been taken care of, so this was just me wanting to take the easy road if I could.

Regardless, Osiris was extremely happy when he heard about the standardized ice weakness, and the others professed their envy while congratulating him on that. I was already used to that since no one liked the resistance training. Everyone simply saw it as a necessary evil.

After giving them an amused smile, I continued to look through the rest of Osiris' status sheet, and I was happy to see the change in his mastery section.

'Masteries:

Ground Energy Manipulation (Master)

Dragon Energy Manipulation (Beginner)

Electric Energy Manipulation (Proficient)* '

I was honestly not sure if he was starting with a proficient mastery due to his new talent, the experience of his old one in combination with the innate mastery of the new talent, or simply because he actually had sufficient electric moves at proficient mastery, which would have allowed him to start at this point even without either of those "bonuses".

Had his Electric Energy Manipulation started at advanced mastery instead, the situation would have been rather straightforward, but as things stood, I would probably never know.

'Techniques:

-

Beginner:

Shield Bash (+), Slash (+), Dragon Pulse (new)

-

Proficient:

Shieldmerang (++), Dragon Dance (++), Dragon Claw (new)'

Anyway, once I was done with Osiris' status sheet, my earth body began bringing out everything we needed to celebrate Osiris' breakthrough, since just like with the breakthrough, there was no way that I would let the party be delayed by three weeks.

---------------------

---------------------

This part is purely to display Osiris' status screen in one piece and does not count toward the word count.

'Name: Osiris

Species: Skellibra

Gender: Male

Age: 14+ Years

-

Type: Ground, Dragon

Potential: Light Aurora (61.69%)

(Genetic) Modifier: None

Abilities: Rock Head, Lightning Rod, Mold Breaker

Talents: Lightning Manipulation

Affinities: Ground, Dragon, Electric

-

Bond: Mikail (deep)

Quirks: None

----

Parameters:

Stage: Dark Gold Stage (mid)

Vitality: C

Strength: B

Endurance: C

Agility: E

Energy Capacity: E

Energy Density: D

----

Immune:

Electric

-

Resistance:

Poison (Minor), Rock (Minor), Fire (Minor)

-

Weaknesses:

Dragon (Minor), Fairy (Minor)

-

Standardized:

Ice

-

Resistance Training:

Water (in progress)

----

Condition: Healthy, Excited, Pleased, Happy

----

Masteries:

Ground Energy Manipulation (Master)

Dragon Energy Manipulation (Beginner)

Electric Energy Manipulation (Proficient)

----

Techniques:

(Unofficial) Initial:

N/A

-

Novice:

Flare Blitz

-

Beginner:

Growl, Tail Whip, False Swipe, Leer, Thrash, Endeavor, Rage, Low Kick, Shield Bash, Slash, Dragon Pulse

-

Proficient:

Mud-Slap, Headbutt, Retaliate, Fling, Endure, Focus Energy, Protect, Flamethrower, Brick Break, Thunderbolt, Wild Charge, Iron Head, Rock Slide, Thunderstrike (C), Club Rush (C), Discharge, Bulldoze, Ion Tail (C), Club Combat (C), Earth Power, Take Down, Shieldmerang, Dragon Dance, Dragon Claw

-

Advanced:

Double-Edge, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Iron Defense, Iron Tail, Sword Dance, Dig

-

Mastered:

Bone Club, Bone Rush, Bonemerang, Earthquake, Stomping Tantrum

-

Combo/Custom:

Thunder Strike (Proficient), Club Rush (Proficient), Ion Tail (Proficient), Club Combat (Proficient)'

-----------------------------

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