CH68 (590), Finance (2)

The next day was the last day of my first month with the bureau, and as soon as the clock struck 3:30 p.m. I left the bureau to head out of the city. Rose's contest was going to take place in Lime City, so I made my way there in advance since I had nothing better to do anyway. Naturally, Rose was already there, but aside from meeting up with her to say hello I left her alone so that she could prepare for/focus on her contest tomorrow.

I spent the time until dinner inside Utopia, but I came out and met up with Rose since we had agreed to eat that one together. During dinner, we talked about the contest tomorrow as well as her preparations for it, and from our conversation it was apparent that Rose was confident in winning the whole thing.

Nonetheless, we once more went our separate ways after dinner, so that Rose could focus on her contest preparation. The next morning, I made my way in front of Lime City's Teleportation Hub. Misty, Jessie, Wendy, Weiss, Aaron, Kinji, and Ace had shared in our group chat that they were coming over to support Rose, and we had agreed to meet here.

Kinji was the first to arrive, but the others did not let us wait for long either. Within just 10 minutes of Kinji's arrival, the others showed up as well. After Ace, who was the last to arrive, finished greeting everyone, we made our way to the contest hall, where we briefly met up with Rose to show her our support.

Everyone hugged her and told her that she had the contest in the bag before we made our way to the snack stand to buy some snacks. After stocking up on snacks, we made our way to the stands. We were lucky and managed to secure some good seats.

We had previously agreed that everyone would prepare a poster in support of Rose, and everyone pulled out their poster. Everyone's posters were pretty good, aside from Ace's poster. When I saw his poster I had the urge to hit him.

The others just laughed and Kinji as well as Aaron slapped him on the back in praise. Ace had made a pretty large poster with the words "Rose, you can win this. Mikail is rooting for you!". Meanwhile, my poster had a rose drawing along with a ribbon and the words "Rose, the Ribbon is yours!!!".

Anyway, 20 minutes later the appeal round started. The various contestants went onto the stage one after the other, and after roughly 40 minutes, it was Rose's turn. We all cheered for her holding our posters in the air.

Rose waved at us before she began her performance. She sent out Ivy, her Leafeon, and they put on a grand performance for everyone that gave one the impression that one was in a grass/flower field with the sound of nature resounding and the warmth of the sun spreading.

Their performance earned them thunderous applause, and the two bowed to the audience in thanks before vacating the stage for the next contestant. It took another hour before the appeal page was over. The voting proceeded and Rose was one of the 16 contestants that made it to the battle/final round.

After a 20-minute break, the battles began, and Rose steadily made her way to the finals, where Princess/Ninetales had to face an Ampharos. Their points were head-to-head right up until the end, but thankfully Princess ended up winning by a tad bit. We all cheered Rose on, especially when Nurse Joy handed her the Ribbon.

Since Rose had received the ribbon, we left the spectator area and waited for Rose at the entrance. As soon as Rose came out, we hugged her and congratulated her on gaining her 5th and final Ribbon. To celebrate her victory we went to one of the better restaurants and booked a room to ourselves.

We stayed there for a few hours before we left and went our separate ways, but only after agreeing to once more meet for the Festival. I made my way back to Saffron City before entering Utopia. The 7th month was one with 6 weeks, so this Grouday ended up being one of those 1-day weeks, and I spent the whole day inside Utopia.

Arcday started my second and final month at the finance bureau, and similar to the previous months, I worked through the assignments Maria gave me before meditating on my aura as well as psionic energy. Then I left the bureau before moving inside Utopia to spend time with my Pokemon and to supervise their training.

The week passed along with Kyoday, and before I knew it we had Grouday once more. After breakfast, I started our routine check-up, and halfway through I got some very good news. Hera/Pidgeot managed to complete her limit-breaking phase. I gave her the good news but as usual her breakthrough had to wait until I was done with the rest.

There were no further surprises, and once I was done, I announced her upcoming breakthrough over UtopiaFM before we made our way to Hera's place. Everyone began to form the circle while Fortuna/Togetic and I performed the good luck ritual before joining them. I gave Hera the signal and she initiated her breakthrough.

Halfway through the process energy got drawn to Hera and she lit up a bit. I was quite happy and went up to her as soon as the breakthrough was over. The undulations she was releasing were of the (mid) dark gold stage, though I saw no outward changes while heading to her side.

I hugged her and congratulated her on reaching the dark gold. The others followed suit and while they did that, I checked out her new/updated status sheet.

'Name: Hera

Species: Pidgeot

Gender: Female

Age: 14+ years

-

Type: Flying, Normal

Potential: Light Aurora (80.06%)*

{Light Aurora (39.9%) -> (40.06%) -> (80.06%)}'

Seeing how there was no potential reduction, it was clear that the light was not caused by a modifier. Still, now that the percentage of her potential had passed the 80% point, she would be able to attain aurora potential during her next breakthrough.

Moving on, I soon came across the reason for the added breakthrough effect. She had unlocked a new/second talent and one with quite the "Xianxia" name at that.

'(Genetic) Modifiers: None

Abilities: [Keen Eye], Tangled Feet, Big Pecks, Wind Rider

Talents: Composed, One With The Wind*

Affinities: Flying, Normal'

I looked into the effect of "One With The Wind", and I had to say that it was quite impressive. The first effect of "One With The Wind" was that it granted its holder immunity to Flying/Air moves. Well, Hera already had that due to Wind Rider, so she was now doubly immune so to say, even though there was no such thing, at least not as far as I knew.

Another effect was that it helped its holder recover their stamina and energy as long as they were exposed to wind/air (energy), which translated to being attacked by flying-type moves or being exposed to an "open" airspace. Logically this meant the effect did not take place inside water/the ocean or places with stale air such as deep caves

"One With The Wind" also enhanced the holder's flying speed, but not the parameter. It was the air that aided Hera, increasing her speed while flying. Finally, it raised Hera's Flying/Air Energy Manipulation to Mastered which was definitely great. It was just that she was one more mastered move away from attaining that on her own, which was why she had been focusing on Air Slash, but at least now that process should be sped up a bit.

Regardless, that was a lot of effects on a single talent, which was what made it so impressive. Everyone agreed with me when I shared the details of Hera's new talent with them. While they were discussing the details, I resumed looking through the rest of her status.

'Bond: Mikail (deep)*

Quirks: Calm, Tranquil

----

Parameters:

Stage: Dark Gold Stage (mid)*

Vitality: D

Strength: D

Endurance: E

Agility: C

Energy Capacity: E

Energy Density: E'

The depth of our bond was no surprise and her undulations had already revealed her starting stage. Looking at her starting parameters I knew that it would take some time for Hera to advance to the (high) dark gold stage, though her new talent would help increase her combat prowess beyond her "stage".

Moving on to the type relation section I saw that there was nothing above immunity, and there were no other changes caused by her breakthrough either. As far as the rest of her status was concerned, I saw the change in her mastery section, but there were no changes in her moves.

'Masteries:

Flying/Air E. Manipulation (Mastered)*

Neutral E. Manipulation (Advanced)

----

Techniques:

-

Beginner:

Giga Impact (new), Ominous Wind (new)

-

Proficient:

Aerostream ("new"), Rest (+)

-

Advanced:

Double Team (+), Mirror Move (+), Endure (+), Wing Attack (+), Heat Wave (+)

-

Mastered:

Tailwind (+), Hurricane (+)

-

Combo/Custom:

Aerostream (Proficient)'

Once I was done with the check, I pulled out everything needed for the celebration. The next morning a new week began and it went by in a similar fashion as the previous ones. I tried to persuade Maria to give me more to work through each day so that I could handle my weekly target within just 3 days, giving me an additional two free days.

Unfortunately, Maria was unwilling to budge, forcing me to come to the bureau for the usual 5 days, which I did. Once I made it through Dialday, I made my way inside Utopia as quickly as possible and spent the whole weekend inside Utopia. The majority of these two days was spent training, though we did watch a movie during the evenings to unwind.

Arcday started off the fourth week, and this one proved no different than the ones before, at least not until this moment. After leaving the finance bureau for the weekend, I presided over everyone's training, and right now, I was checking up on Igneel/Charizard as well as Gaara/Gabite after one of their spars, which Gaara won due to the effective usage of his new talent to restrict Igneel's air superiority. Gaara's higher stage naturally helped as well.

Anyway, while I was checking up on the two I noticed that Igneel had actually completed his limit-breaking phase and was ready to break through to the silver stage. I quickly shared the news with Igneel as well as over UtopiaFM. Osiris/Skellibra, who had been close by, went up to Igneel and pulled him into a hug, happy that his little brother was about to take another step forward.

Following that we made our way to Igneel's place, where we waited for the spectators to arrive as well. Once everyone was there, Fortuna, Osiris, and I stepped up to Igneel to wish him good luck before stepping back to join the others in the circle.

I then gave Igneel a final look before giving him the go-ahead. He initiated his breakthrough, and we all watched as he broke through to the next stage. Just moments into the process the situation changed. A huge amount of energy was drawn to Igneel and he began to light up. The glow became rather bright, nearly mirroring that of an evolution which meant that Igneel was going through a rather substantial change.

I and everyone else could not help but be excited by the events. It was clear that Igneel had triggered some kind of modifier, and we all watched with bated breath, waiting for the process to end, so that we could see the outcome of the light show. Everyone excitedly watched as the light began to die down and Igneel's silhouette became visible.

There appeared to be no changes to his form, but as soon as the breakthrough was over and Igneel became completely visible, there remained no doubt that he had undergone a substantial change.

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

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

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

'Name: Hera

Species: Pidgeot

Gender: Female

Age: 14+ years

-

Type: Flying, Normal

Potential: Light Aurora (80.06%)

(Genetic) Modifiers: None

Abilities: [Keen Eye], Tangled Feet, Big Pecks, Wind Rider

Talents: Composed, One With The Wind

Affinities: Flying, Normal

-

Bond: Mikail (deep)

Quirks: Calm, Tranquil

----

Parameters:

Stage: Dark Gold Stage (mid)

Vitality: D

Strength: D

Endurance: E

Agility: C

Energy Capacity: E

Energy Density: E

----

Immune: Ghost, Flying

-

Resistance:

Grass (Minor), Ground (Minor), Bug (Minor)

-

Weaknesses:

Ice (Minor), Rock (Minor)

-

Standardized:

Electric, Ice (in progress)

----

Condition: Healthy, Joyous, Delighted, Excited

----

Masteries:

Flying/Air E. Manipulation (Mastered)

Neutral E. Manipulation (Advanced)

----

Techniques:

-

(Unofficial) Initial:

N/A

-

Novice:

N/A

-

Beginner:

Double Edge, Giga Impact, Ominous Wind

-

Proficient:

Tackle, Sand Attack, Whirlwind, Feather Dance, Steel Slash (C), Pluck, Razor Wind, Defog, Sky Attack, Brave Bird, Aerostream, Rest

-

Advanced:

Twister, Agility, Quick Attack, Aerial Ace, Air Slash, Roost, Steel Wing, Swift, Protect, Hyper Beam, Double Team, Mirror Move, Endure, Wing Attack, Heat Wave

-

Mastered:

Gust, Air Cutter, Tailwind, Hurricane

-

Combo/Custom:

Steel Slash (Proficient), Aerostream (Proficient)'

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