CH9 (139), What Happened/Water Squad (3)

Only my Gyarados were left and they were a pretty interesting lot for multiple reasons. First of all, except for Stan all of them were variants, so each evolution was really exciting.

Secondly, they turned sapient around practically the same time with a few days between the first one, which was Stan, and the last one which was Medusa. The event chain began about 2 weeks after I caught Abzu and Tiamat.

Nearly everyone was content with their names, and nicknames in Aby's case, except for Stan and Drake. Stan had no problem with me calling him that as a nickname, but he wanted a more fitting name, while Drake wanted a less generic name.

Hence Stan got Dilong as a name, and Drake changed to Ryujin both named after water dragon deities with authority over the sea.

Thirdly, they all reached the (high) bronze stage and thus evolved into Gyarados, in a span of 5 months of each other. Ryujin actually was the first one roughly 3 months after the Feebas event, Stan followed two weeks later and Jade evolved 3 days I think it was after him.

Medusa was the fourth about 3 months after Jade, followed by Ignis a month later, and finally, Aby evolved 2 weeks after him as well. Each of them except for Stan looked a bit different from the standard Gyarados depending on their second type.

Fourthly, except for a few moves, that were different depending on their second type, their move pool was nearly identical down to the mastery.

Fifth, due to their relatively similar progress speed they were roughly equal in strength with the first three being a bit stronger due to having trained for a few months more. However, all of them were currently at the (high) silver stage.

Additionally, all our bonds upgraded to strong within a few days of their breakthrough to the silver stage.

Sixth, except for Stan who had purple potential, all of them had light purple potential that was more than halfway to purple (70-80%). Now, that I mentioned those points let's go over them individually beginning with Stan.

I mentioned when he became sapient, spoke of his "real" name Dilong, I also the moment he reached (high) bronze and evolved to Gyarados. Ah, his look, because despite being a regular Gyarados he was one of mine and that meant something.

After he evolved he became a bit over 14 meters long compared to the 8-9 meters they normally were. Also, his girth was nearly 190 cms since his diameter was about 60 cm. Just as a side note the data in my previous life had them at 6.5 meters. No idea about their girth tho.

Anyway, I naturally helped with supplements as much as I could. We celebrated as and everyone congratulated him as well as the others at each evolution including his.

Hmm, also his abilities changed to Intimidate and Moxie. I have nothing to say about Intimidate but Moxie made him a Nightmare for others in mass/group fights.

We also found out that he one, has to see his foe being taken down for Moxie to activate and two, can only get 6 boosts right now before it stopped but that would probably increase when he got stronger.

At least I thought it would because it did after his breakthrough to the silver stage. Before that, it was only 5, but I had no idea if it would happen after he broke through to the gold stage or the dark gold one, or if it would happen once more in the first place.

What else? I mentioned our strong bond, and I said that he was currently at the (high) silver stage, but let's talk more about that. Stan broke through to the silver stage a bit less than two years ago. He was actually the first one to do so among my Gyarados.

Probably had to do with the potential advantage he had at the beginning, which returned after his breakthrough and the boost from his limit breaking. His potential was raised from deep blue to purple.

Now, he began from the (mid) silver stage like all my Pokemon did thanks to the limit-breaking bonus, and a bit more than a year later he managed to improve all his parameters once, which was what elevated him to the (high) silver stage.

Then, about 8 months after that he managed to improve his energy parameters a second time. He has obviously been training since then as well and I was sure some parameters would increase once again in less than half a year.

That should be it on his parameters, so let's talk about the change in his type relations and the resistance training he is doing. First of all, like all Gyarados, the addition of the flying type led to the loss of his (minor) ice resistance.

In exchange, he gained a (minor) fighting- and bug-type resistance. Fire, water, and steel were left untouched. On the weakness side, his (minor) grass weakness was replaced with a (minor) rock one. Additionally, his (minor) electric-type weakness got upgraded to a (major) one.

Seeing this I think it was obvious that we were doing electric resistance training, but it was much harder to reduce a major weakness to a minor one than it was to standardize a minor weakness.

So, despite going at it for over three years Stan had yet to turn his electric weakness into a (minor) one. However, I believe that we should succeed within the next two years hopefully and it would be worth all the hard work.

I was helping with a lot of supplements and stuff to support the training and I did not want to imagine how long and hard it would be to do this without the knowledge I had on hand or the constant supply of resources I needed to make use of that knowledge.

Once again we were at the moves and masteries part.

'Name: Dilong (Stan)

Species: Gyarados

Gender: Male

Age: 5+ Years

-

Type: Water, Flying

Potential: Deep Blue (37.5%) -> Purple (19.2%)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Intimidate, Moxie

Talents: None

Affinities: Water, Flying

-

Bond: Mikail (strong)

Quirks: Calm

----

Parameters:

Stage: Silver Stage (high)

Vitality: C (D)

Strength: B (C)

Endurance: C (D)

Agility: C (D)

Energy Capacity: C (E)

Energy Density: B (D)

----

Resistance:

Fire (Minor), Water (Minor), Fighting (Minor), Bug (Minor), Steel (Minor)

-

Weaknesses:

Electricity (Major), Rock (Minor)

-

Standardized:

N/A

-

Resistance Training:

Electric (in progress)

----

Condition: Healthy, Happy

----

Masteries:

Water Energy Manipulation (Proficient) -> (Advanced)

Flying/Air Energy Manipulation (Novice)

----

Techniques:

-

(Unofficial) Initial:

N/A

-

Novice:

Thrash

-

Beginner:

Hurricane, Thunder

-

Proficient:

Tackle, Flail, Bounce, Scald, Bite, Dragon Rage, Whirlpool, Twister, Ice Fang, Scary Face, Brine, Crunch, Rain Dance, Aqua Tail

-

Advanced:

Splash, Swift, Aqua Jet, Water Pulse, Hydro Pump, Waterfall, Dragon Dance

-

Mastered:

Water Gun'

His mastery over his water energy improved from proficient to advanced because of the multiple new water moves he learned and the different ways the energy was applied in them.

He also gained flying/air mastery through his evolution but honestly, it did not improve enough since the only thing related to it that Stan did was learning Hurricane.

We were obviously going to focus on it in the future, especially since I had the theory that Stan could actually fly through the manipulation of flying/air energy without the need for wings once he raised his mastery to advanced.

I was pretty sure about that since I had read things on that topic in my library that hinted/alluded to it and outside of my library I heard some rumors and myths on that topic as well.

Once he got that down he would be an all-terrain Pokemon capable of moving in/on water, land, and in the air. I felt it was time to go over his moves.

Among his old moves Water Pulse, as well as Hydro Pump, were raised to advanced mastery, and the same was true for the others as well. Those that did not do it for Aqua Jet did that as well. They also learned Scald from Ignis and trained it until they were proficient.

Bite as well as Dragon Rage were moves each of his Gyarados learned during their evolution and all of them trained those two until they were proficient in them.

Whirlpool and Twister were learned by all of them while alternating between the two moves since they worked on the same principle just with different energies.

It was about constantly rotating the energy at a certain speed while keeping the energy under control. A pretty useful exercise and everyone trained those two to proficiency as well.

Ice Fang was next and that one was just adding ice energy to Bite. They went to Lapras for help with that one, since it was on ice energy and honestly the only reason that one was brought to proficiency was that it was in fact pretty easy for them to do so.

The next move everyone except for Jade learned. I was talking about Scary Face. It was just not something that clicked with Jade because of the combo of her quirk and type, but she got a grass-type move instead, that had practically the same effect, so she didn't lose out.

Everyone else got it down in record time and they overtook Mars pretty quickly who had learned it before them. Scary Face was raised to proficiency as well since it was useful to slow down your opponent.

What the move did was to radiate energy towards the enemy that hampered their parameters/bodily functions. I was not saying Scary Face was not scary because it was, at least if used by a Gyarados, but it was actually the energy that caused (most) of the reaction that slowed the foe down.

Still, my Gyarados got the part of being scary down as well. Brine was changing the stage of the water before shooting it at the opponent, the "salt" could cause extra damage if the foe was sufficiently wounded.

Waterfall was practically a large-sized Water Pulse that got shot at the opponent and burst to hammer it with a huge amount of water. It also made use of the principles of rotation and pressure which were necessary for it first staying together and then bursting in one direction.

The burst also had a chance to startle/flinch the target. Brine was raised to proficiency while Waterfall was trained until they had achieved advanced mastery.

Crunch was simply a stronger Bite and except for Aby everyone only trained it until proficiency. Aby raised it to advanced mastery.

Now, the next three moves were the last ones that everyone learned and raised since after them everyone began to learn things that fit them/their second type.

Those 3 were Aqua Tail, Rain Dance, and Dragon Dance. Aqua Tail was pretty straightforward. Coat your tail in a huge amount of water that rotates around/along the tail. For Rain Dance I had them go to the mistress of rain Manami so that one was easy.

Both were raised to proficiency by everyone. For Dragon Dance on the other hand I insisted that everyone raised it to advanced mastery. Obviously, Ryuji had the fastest growth among them with the move, so I had the others go to him if they encountered any problems.

Now, the next few moves differed depending on the Gyarados. They all learned them in the last half a year, so they were only trained until beginner mastery before we started on the next one.

We were planning on returning to them later on, but getting them all down, for now, was our most recent priority. With that in mind, Stan learned Hurricane next and he brought it to beginner mastery.

He learned Thrash next, but we chose to leave it at novice mastery and directly start on Thunder instead. Now, that one took more than expected, probably because of his typing, but ultimately he raised it to beginner mastery just two weeks ago.

We were taking a short break, but Hyper Beam was the next move on Stan's list, and that was it on Stan. I already mentioned a lot of stuff for the others as well, so let's see what we were missing for them. Ryujin was up next.

I mentioned his sapience, his name change, his evolution was mentioned, but not what happened to him as a result. So, let's go over that first. First of all his size was a bit shorter than Stan's at 13.5 meters. His girth was the roughly same at about 190 cm.

Now, the real difference started from here. The back part of Ryuji's scales was greenish-purple, just like half his body had been as a Magikarp. The belly part and the row of spots on the back were blue. The shade resembled the one a regular Gyarados had.

Ryujin's barbels became nearly twice as long and the crest on his head turned from a three-pointer to a two-pointed one that was a bit longer. The white fins on each side of a Gyarados had combined and kinda gave off a beardish vibe.

Those fins and the ones on its back as well as tail had turned kinda wavy and were yellow-green like the one of a Haxorus. Overall, he looked pretty cool and a bit more draconic.

Also, his abilities turned into Intimidate and Mold Breaker which was nice.

What else? I mentioned his breakthrough to the silver stage, his start at the (mid) silver stage, as well as his light purple potential. Ah yes, I know.

Due to being a type-variant, the parameter distribution at the start was a bit different. This was due to his racial values being a bit differently distributed than that of a regular Gyarados.

It seemed like a bit of the strength value got assigned to the energy capacity to raise it a bit. This led to the fact that Ryujin started with a D-value in energy capacity, unlike Stan who began with an E.

However, overall the difference between the racial value distribution was so minor that they currently had the same values across the board. That should be all on his parameters and stage.

Let's talk about his type relations and the resistance training he is doing. While there was no change in his relations I was still going to cover them. The addition of the dragon type led to the loss of his (minor) ice resistance, but it also increased his resistance towards the fire and water type to major.

Furthermore, his weaknesses got completely swapped. Electric and grass were replaced with a (minor) dragon and fairy weakness. As for his resistance training, he was undergoing a dragon-type one with the help of the others.

Progress was slower than expected, so I honestly had no idea when it would conclude, but we were going to keep at it either way. This left his masteries and the moves he learned that I haven't mentioned yet.

'Name: Ryujin

Species: Gyarados

Gender: Male

Age: 5+ Years

-

Type: Water, Dragon

Potential: Deep Blue (1.2%) -> Light Purple (81.5%)

Genetic variation: Dragon Variant

Abilities: Intimidate, Mold Breaker

Talents: None

Affinities: Water, Dragon

-

Bond: Mikail (strong)

Quirks: Slightly Combative

----

Parameters:

Stage: Silver Stage (high)

Vitality: C (D)

Strength: B (C)

Endurance: C (D)

Agility: C (D)

Energy Capacity: C (D)

Energy Density: B (D)

----

Resistance: Fire (Major), Water (Major), Steel (Minor)

-

Weaknesses: Dragon (Minor), Fairy (Minor)

-

Standardized:

Dragon (in progress)

----

Condition: Healthy, Happy

----

Masteries:

Water Energy Manipulation (Proficient) -> (Advanced)

Draconic Energy Manipulation (Proficient)

----

Techniques:

-

(Unofficial) Initial:

N/A

-

Novice:

Dragon Hammer, Thunder

-

Beginner:

Dragon Pulse

-

Proficient:

Tackle, Flail, Bounce, Scald, Bite, Dragon Rage, Whirlpool, Twister, Ice Fang, Scary Face, Brine, Crunch, Rain Dance, Aqua Tail, Dragon Breath

-

Advanced:

Splash, Swift, Aqua Jet, Water Pulse, Hydro Pump, Waterfall, Dragon Dance

-

Mastered:

Water Gun'

His mastery over his water energy improved from proficient to advanced because of the multiple new water moves he learned that I had mentioned. The different ways the energy was applied in them was as I said the main factor for this.

He also gained the dragon mastery through his evolution and unlike Stan, Ryujin did improve it thanks to all the dragon-type moves they learned and the ones he learned on his own. He managed to bring it up to proficient mastery for now, but he was still planning to work on it in the future.

Now, came the moves I had mentioned before that everyone learned on their own after they were done with Dragon Dance. The moves Ryujin learned were Dragon Breath, then Dragon Pulse instead of Hurricane, Dragon Hammer instead of Thrash, and finally Thunder stayed the same.

Ryujin had an easier time with his dragon-type moves because he had experience with draconic energy which is why his training went easier than Stan's at least it did before Thunder.

For Dragon Breath he focus and compressed Dragon Rage, he raised it to proficiency. Dragon Pulse was Dragon Rage but a bit more focused, while an adjusted rotation principle from Twister was also added into the attack.

Dragon Pulse took a bit longer than Dragon Breath, so we only raised it to beginner mastery, but we were planning to return to it. Dragon Hammer was just applying draconic energy to the body while crashing into the opponent. I didn't like the backlash, so we stopped at novice with that one.

He did learn it pretty fast so despite having learned one more move, they began learning Thunder around the same time. Ryujin did begin a bit earlier and was done two days earlier as well, but that was just a small difference.

Oh, and the next move on Ryujin's list was Hyper Beam as well. I guess it was Jade's turn now.

I mentioned her sapience, and her name stayed the same. So, the changes caused by her evolution should be mentioned. First of all, was her size.

She was even a bit shorter than Ryujin at 12 meters not to mention Stan's 14 meters. Her girth and diameter on the other hand were just slightly smaller, about 160 cm and 50 cm respectively.

The real difference started from here for her as well. The back part of her scales was green, the shade was close to that of a Serperior's back. Her belly part and the row of spots on the back were blue. The shade resembled the one a Marshtomp had.

Jade's barbels only became a bit longer, but the crest on her head turned from a three-pointer to a two-pointed one as well. In addition, it was quite a bit longer and resembled the antlers of a spring-form Swasbuck without the flowers.

The white fins on each side of a Gyarados and the ones on its back as well as tail had turned kinda wavy as well and were yellow like on Serperior. Overall, she looked great as well.

Her abilities changed as well, or more like Sap Sipper stayed, and instead of Intimidate, she got Chlorophyll. My guess was that her quirk and type were the cause for that switch, but I was not sure.

I couldn't find much about this specific change in my library. What I found however did support my theory, so I was happy about that. I decided to officially look into that topic since it interested me a bit, just on the side as a hobby.

What else? Her breakthrough to the silver stage has been mentioned, but her start at the (mid) silver stage, was slightly different as well due to her type variation.

The parameter distribution in her case had a big difference. It seemed like the strength value and the energy capacity value was swapped. Furthermore, a bit of her new energy capacity value got shifted to vitality. This relatively small redistribution led to a larger change grade-wise.

What happened was that her strength started with an E-value, while her energy capacity and vitality began with a C. This change also meant that while they had the same number of C's and B's their positions were different.

Unlike Stan and Ryujin, Jade's B's were her vitality and energy capacity. That should be all on her parameters and stage too.

There was no change in her relations as well, should I still cover them too? I think I won't, I can just look at the status screen for that one. As for her resistance training, she was undergoing a poison-type one with the help of Seb, Gaia, and Medusa.

Progress was slower than expected for her too, so I once again had no idea when it would conclude. This left just her masteries and moves.

Name: Jade

Species: Gyarados

Gender: Female

Age: 5+ Years

-

Type: Water, Grass

Potential: Deep Blue (0.9%) -> Light Purple (80.3%)

Genetic variation: Grass Variant

Abilities: Chlorophyll, Sap Sipper

Talents: None

Affinities: Water, Grass

-

Bond: Mikail (strong)

Quirks: Peaceful

--

Parameters:

Stage: Silver Stage (high)

Vitality: B (C)

Strength: C (E)

Endurance: C (D)

Agility: C (D)

Energy Capacity: B (C)

Energy Density: C (D)

--

Immunity:

Grass

-

Resistance:

Water (Major), Ground (Minor), Steel (Minor)

-

Weaknesses:

Poison (Minor), Flying (Minor), Bug (Minor)

-

Standardized:

Poison (in progress)

--

Condition: Healthy, Happy

--

Masteries:

Water Energy Manipulation (Proficient) -> (Advanced)

Grass Energy Manipulation (Beginner)

--

Techniques:

-

(Unofficial) Initial:

N/A

-

Novice:

Wood Hammer

-

Beginner:

N/A

-

Proficient:

Tackle, Flail, Bounce, Scald, Bite, Dragon Rage, Whirlpool, Twister, Ice Fang, Cotton Spore, Brine, Crunch, Rain Dance, Aqua Tail, Sunny Day

-

Advanced:

Splash, Swift, Aqua Jet, Water Pulse, Hydro Pump, Waterfall, Dragon Dance, Energy Ball

-

Mastered:

Water Gun'

Her mastery over her water energy improved from proficient to advanced because of the multiple new water moves she learned. The difference in the application was as I said the main factor for this.

She likewise gained grass mastery through her evolution and like Ryujin improved it thanks to the grass-type moves she learned on her own. She only managed to bring it up to beginner mastery, for now, but I was not too far off from proficient.

I mentioned before that she learned a substitute for Scary Face, that one was Cotton Spore and she learned it the same time others did Scary Face. She raised it to proficiency and used her antlers as a medium for the move.

The other moves she learned instead were Energy Ball instead of Hurricane, Wood Hammer instead of Thrash, and finally Sunny Day instead of Thunder. Whenever she needed help she went to our resident grass expert.

She had an easier time with those moves than the other two had and raised Energy Ball until it reached advanced mastery. Wood Hammer was ignored once it was learned for the same reason as Dragon Hammer for Ryujin.

The extra time she spent on improving Energy Ball was balanced out by the easier time she had with learning and training Sunny Day compared to the other two with Thunder.

She brought up Sunny Day to proficiency but was still done around the same time as them and just like them she was on a break as well. Unlike with her kin, the move I was planning to have her learn next was not Hyper Beam, but Solar Beam.

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

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