Inside a large cave lit by torches.
"Whew, I'm exhausted~ Goodbye, friends! I'm going to rest now."
"Thank you very much, Mew!"
"Rest well!"
Mew smiled, and with a flash of pink light, disappeared. With her departure, the group of Pokemon that remained began to whisper excitedly.
"At last! I finally evolved!"
"Me too! I thought I would have to wait for one or more years!"
They looked amongst themselves, some walking clumsily, others awkwardly flapping their wings; getting accustomed to their new body.
From the group, a trio of Butterfree, Pidgeot and a Swellow separated and slowly flew in front of a white-haired Zorua, a Mega Mawile, an Eevee, an ice-blue Vulpix, and a Riolu who were standing by the side.
"Thank you, Omnipotent Travelers! If it weren't for you, I don't know how long it would have taken before me and my team can finally evolve!"
Butterfree said, her wings flapping somewhat uncoordinatedly with each other.
"Hey, don't thank us. Mew deserves all the credits. We're just his messengers."
"But according to him, if it wasn't for your team pitching the idea, Mew wouldn't even bother helping us."
"Well, when you put it like that…"
Dante sheepishly smiled. His tail smacked Eevee who was snickering behind him.
Right now, they were inside a large cave found by Dante and his team, a distance away from Treasure Town. This was the ritual site for the 'Legendary Pokemon Mew' to exert his powers and allow other Pokemon to evolve.
After expressing their gratitude once again, Butterfree gave 30 Gummies and flew out of the cave with his companions. The other Pokemon also followed suit. They thanked the Travelers and handed over the 'service fee' of 10 gummies each for accompanying them to meet Mew.
Soon, only Dante and the others were left inside the cave.
"Great work, Mew."
"Heehee, anytime."
Mew suddenly appeared beside Dante, his paws held over his mouth as he snickered.
"Isn't it weird talking to yourself like that, Dad?"
Eevee said as she jumped and rode on the floating Legendary Pokemon. She squealed in delight as Mew flew around the room, the pink Pokemon doing barrel-rolls.
"Dad, me too~"
A soft and waxy voice from behind asked. He turned, and met the large blue eyes of Vulpix.
"Haha, alright, princess. Up you go!"
Alolan Vulpix cutely giggled as a Jirachi appeared under her. It carried the ice-blue fox alongside her sister, causing the two to let out delightful laughter that echoed throughout the cave.
"Do you two want a ride as well?"
Dante turned to Mawile and Riolu, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"No way! I'm not that childish!"
Mawile crossed her arms in protest. Riolu, on the other hand, struggled before reluctantly nodding.
With a whoop, the blue canine was carried through the air by a Melmetal.
"Incorporating the mechanics of Levitate is one of the most useful things I have done with my Ability so far."
Dante murmured. While the solid Illusion he gained from Uxie is powerful, its usefulness depends on his knowledge- more specifically, how much he knew about the composition and reaction of elemental energy.
He can easily make his Illusions solid and take different shapes, but for it to use moves and Abilities like how Uxie did, Dante must be able to understand how they work.
Offensive moves like Scratch and Energy Ball are easy- just a basic manipulation and compression of energy. However, due to the low stats of his Illusion, even a Hyper Beam can only cause a scratch to a Pokemon with above 50 Special Defense.
Therefore, Dante focused more on understanding Abilities and Moves that can provide auxiliary effects for their team. Levitate is one such example. After learning this, he wasn't as in a rush to recruit a Flying-type Pokemon anymore.
Dante smiled softly as he watched the trio chase each other in the air.
"You sure you don't want to join in, Mawile?"
"No. I prefer to be by your side more."
Dante glanced at the stubborn look on the cream-colored Pokemon's face. He nodded in understanding and opened the Item Menu, planning to check the gains from today's evolution ritual.
In addition to the 'symbolic' price of 10 Gummies each given to their team for accompanying these Pokemon, they also obtained other items that were offered to Mew.
Dante already said that the Legendary Pokemon who will help wasn't interested in any items; to just bring a Joy Seed as well as the Evolutionary Items that they need for their own evolution. However, most of them disobeyed.
According to them, getting the help of a Legendary Pokemon without giving anything in return feels like they are taking advantage of Mew's kindness.
So they give things to Mew as appreciation, which all ended up in Dante's hands.
Most of the time, the items they gave aren't that valuable. It's usually Apples, Berries, Gummies, Chestnuts- food that a Legendary Pokemon may appreciate.
However, there are the occasional generous Pokemon who give Ginsengs, Gold Ribbons, Exclusive Pokemon Items, and other precious items.
Dante swiped through the item sections in the menu, skipping through the large number of Apples and Berries before stopping on the Ginsengs. Right now, he has a total of 27 such items.
That is equivalent to being able to add 27 or more Base Power to a move- something Dante is thinking about who to use for.
Minccino and her Tail Slap would have been a perfect candidate. But it's a pity the chinchilla Pokemon only occasionally joins them in the dungeon, mostly when Shinobu comes over.
But as his Dad, Dante still allotted 5 Ginsengs for Minccino. A 30 base power Tail Slap should ensure she wouldn't get bullied by some ordinary Pokemon. And if he gets extra Ginsengs in the future, he could continue helping her boost the move until it reaches 60 base power.
However, Dante still prioritized strengthening Pikachu and the others first. After all, he doesn't plan on taking Minccino to fight against Dialga- not when she isn't prepared for such a battle.
He skipped through the Ginsengs, the more than 70 Joy Seeds, 20 Life Seeds, 10 Violent Seeds, then at the 120 different Gummies. With this, there should be enough for Eevee's stats to break past 105.
He stared at said Pokemon who was using a low-power version of Swift to hit Vulpix and Riolu in the air.
It had been more than a month since the siblings had left their infancy period. During that time, Dante and his team mostly explored the 1-star dungeons and above to level the two newbies.
Along with the help of Gummi drinks, this was the result of their effort:
Alolan Vulpix
Type: Ice
Abilities:
Snow Cloak (Grants Camouflage Ability in the snow)
Snow Warning (The Pokemon can easily summon hailstorm)
Level: 42
HP: 113/113
Attack: 108 Defense: 108 (+3)
Sp. Atk: 115 Sp. Def.: 105 Speed: 107
Item: Light Clay (Increases duration of moves like Reflect, Light Screen, and Aurora Veil)
Exclusive Items in Bag:
- Glowing Bow (Special moves are weakened to half their strength)
- Vulpix Tail (Defense +3)
Eevee
Type: Normal
Abilities:
Adaptability (Powers up moves of the same type as the user)
Anticipation (Sense threats within a certain distance)
Level: 44
HP: 89/89
Attack: 104 Defense: 100 (+3)
Sp. Atk: 108 Sp. Def.: 100 (+3) Speed: 103
Item: Special Band (Sp. Attack +12)
Exclusive Items in Bag:
- Prism Ruff (Weather does not damage this Pokemon)
- Volt Collar (May afflict attacking enemies with a Paralysis status condition)
- Aqua Collar (May afflict attacking enemies with a Cringe status condition)
- Fire Collar (May afflict attacking enemies with a Burn status condition)
- Light Collar (May afflict attacking enemies with a Confused status condition)
- Dusk Collar (May afflict attacking enemies with a Blinker status condition)
- Virid Collar (May afflict attacking enemies with a Poisoned, Paralysis, or Sleep status condition)
- Icy Collar (May afflict attacking enemies with a Frozen status condition)
- Fairy Collar (Increase the damage of the user's Fairy-type moves)
- Evolve Charm (Earns the Pokemon bonus experience)
- Eevee Tail (Defense +3)
- Eevee Card (Sp. Defense +3)
All of the sibling's stats exceeded 100. And this was done without tilting the resources towards the two…well, not much at least. Dante, Pikachu, and the others still experienced a massive improvement of stats.
And as for why Eevee has a complete collection of Exclusive items? That is because of the 2-star Mystery Dungeon they found; a dungeon in which all 13 floors contained an Eevee.
The dungeon is called the Summer Forest, one of the dungeons which comprised the 4-seasons Forest. There is the Spring Forest, Autumn Forest, and Winter Forest- all of which are also 2-stars in difficulty.
Another reason why they easily obtained all her Exclusive Items is due to the 3-star Exclusive Items only requiring Eevee's own drops to synthesize in Croagunk's Swap Shop.
They also found a Teddiursa in Autumn Forest. This led to Ursaring similarly gaining a single set of his Exclusive Items. Now, the bear Pokemon only needs the set from Ursaring and Ursaluna.
After Dante finished taking stock of everything in his inventory, he controlled his flying Illusions to land before him.
"Come on, let's go back. Pikachu and the others ought to be done by now."
"Aww~ come on, Dad. 5 more minutes?"
Eevee said as she landed on all fours, right beside her sister and Riolu.
"Haha, we'll play as much as you want later. "
"That's a promise!"
Dante nodded with a smile and led the way out of the cave. With a shimmer, a flat disc appeared underneath their group, carrying them towards the distant Treasure Town.
A/N: I almost spent a whole day grinding in-game. But after hours in IQ River, and only Dante, Pikachu, and Azumarill met the target stat requirement, I gave up.
From this point on, we'll operate under the presumption that 1 day in the novel is roughly equal to +1 stat all across the board for Dante and his Pokemon. With Sky Temple, I can see how much stats will get added to the Pokemon every time they level up, as well as the move they will learn, so we don't have to worry about levels not being as accurately portrayed.
Also, I was surprised when Pikachu reached level 51. Apparently, the game devs decided our resident yellow rat is not powerful enough and allowed him to learn Extreme Speed. Although it makes his mastery of Agility a bit redundant, but hey, that's a huge W for Pikachu.
Btw, here's a summarized stat of the rest of the team. For the ones that include their Exclusive Items and Movesets, you can check out their specific stats auxillary volume. (when I update it later)
Dante (Hisuian Zorua)
Type: Normal/Ghost
Abilities:
Super Luck (Increases the critical hit ratio)
Illusion (Can disguise as another Pokemon)
Level: 51
HP: 95/95
Attack: 132 Defense: 124
Sp. Atk: 135 Sp. Def.: 122 Speed: 126
Item: Scope Lens (Increases the critical hit ratio)
Pikachu
Type: Electric
Abilities:
Static (Can paralyze attackers that made physical contact)
Lightning Rod (Draws Electric-type attacks and boosts Special Attack)
Level: 52
HP: 115/115
Attack: 181 (+5) Defense: 121 (+18)
Sp. Atk: 184 Sp. Def.: 122 (+15) Speed: 127
Item: Light Ball (Doubles Attack and Special Attack)
Azumarill (Shiny)
Type: Water/Fairy
Abilities:
Huge Power (Doubles the power of Physical Attacks)
Sap Sipper (Absorbs Grass-type moves and boost the Pokemon's Attack stat)
Level: 49
HP: 126/126
Attack: 132 Defense: 118 (+9)
Sp. Atk: 133 (+10) Sp. Def.: 116 (+9) Speed: 118
Item: Power Band (Attack +12)
Ursaring (Male)
Type: Normal
Abilities:
Guts (Attack increases by 50% when inflicted by a major status ailment)
Quick Feet (Speed increases by 50% when inflicted by a major status ailment)
Level: 49
HP: 119/119
Attack: 126 (+15) Defense: 122
Sp. Atk: 115 Sp. Def.: 119 (+6) Speed: 120
Item: Power Band (Attack +12)
Riolu (Male)
Type: Fighting
Abilities:
Steadfast (Increases Speed by 10% each time the Pokemon flinch)
Prankster (Increases the casting speed of status moves)
Level: 46
HP: 112/112
Attack: 124 Defense: 120 (+6)
Sp. Atk: 121 Sp. Def.: 116 (+6) Speed: 119
Item: Power Band (Attack +12)
Mawile (Female)
Type: Steel/Fairy
Abilities:
Intimidate (Reduces the Physical Attack of opponents)
Sheer Force (increases the power of moves that have beneficial secondary effects by 30%, but removes those additional effects.)
Level: 46
HP: 111/111
Attack: 116 Defense: 110
Sp. Atk: 115 Sp. Def.: 112 Speed: 110
Item: Mawilite