Olivine Farm.
Jasmine, dressed in a light cyan one-piece dress, moved gracefully through the flock of Mareep.
What was surprising was that the static electricity clinging to the Mareep's wool seemed to have no effect on her at all.
Her movements remained smooth and natural, as if nothing unusual were happening.
"Mae~"
The cries of the Mareep rose and fell one after another.
"Leader Jasmine, Gym Leader—"
The voice of the farm owner, Ailian, sounded faintly in the distance.
However, it was obvious that Jasmine, completely immersed in observing the ecology of the Mareep, hadn't heard her at all.
"I'm very sorry. It seems the Gym Leader didn't hear us."
Ailian turned and apologized to Silas beside her.
"No rush. We can wait a bit."
Silas replied politely.
Not that he had any choice but to be polite.
Despite Jasmine's gentle and seemingly delicate appearance, she was incredibly strong.
Aside from being an Elite Four–level Trainer as a Gym Leader, Jasmine had also achieved remarkable success as a Pokémon Coordinator.
She had once participated in a Master Rank Super Contest in Sunyshore City, Sinnoh, and achieved an impressive placement.
In the Pokémon world, the title "Master" was not something given lightly.
Even future competitions like the Pokémon World Championships (PWC)—a tournament to determine the strongest Trainers in the world, would only grant the title of "Masters" to the top eight Trainers globally.
That alone was enough to show the weight carried by those two words.
Although Silas wasn't fully aware of this detail, even now, the title of "Master" was an extremely prestigious one.
To achieve a strong result at such a level of Super Contest made him feel that Jasmine's abilities as a Coordinator might even surpass her strength as a traditional Trainer.
"Ah—my apologies. I was too absorbed just now and didn't notice you had arrived."
Being stared at by four eyes, Jasmine quickly sensed something amiss.
She looked up and finally noticed Ailian and Silas waiting outside the farm.
She squeezed her way out through the fluffy Mareep wool and walked over.
"Hello—"
Just as Silas was about to greet her, he suddenly paused.
"Oh, right. I forgot, I'm still carrying static electricity from these children. Please wait a moment."
Jasmine seemed to recall something and took a few apologetic steps back.
"Amphy, could you help me?"
She tossed out a somewhat worn Luxury Ball.
"Ampha~!"
The Ampharos named Amphy appeared in the open space, its body naturally glowing with yellow light.
Very quickly, the tingling Electric-type energy clinging to Jasmine's body completely dissipated.
A hint of surprise flashed through Silas's eyes.
He had initially assumed that Jasmine was carrying some kind of special item that neutralized or protected her from static electricity, allowing her to move freely among the Mareep during this season.
He never imagined that she hadn't used any protection at all.
In other words, Jasmine had been suppressing the effects of the static electricity purely through her own will and control.
As expected of a Trainer known as the one with a heart of steel, Silas thought with admiration.
The more he interacted with powerful Trainers like her, the more he realized that their strength came from far more than just raw talent.
It was their mindset that truly formed the foundation of their power.
As for the Ampharos named Amphy, Silas was naturally familiar with it.
Amphy was one of the symbols of Olivine City, famous throughout much of the Johto region.
Countless times, it had used its light to guide ships and aircraft lost in storms or heavy fog, saving many lives.
In a very real sense, it was the guardian of countless people.
Olivine City's landmark—the Glitter Lighthouse was famous precisely because it served as Amphy's home.
Trainers giving their Pokémon personal names was quite common in the Pokémon world, making it easier to distinguish between one's own Pokémon and an opponent's during battle.
Silas, however, had never done so.
The main reason was that he was truly terrible at naming things, every name he came up with had been unanimously rejected by his partners.
There was no need to dwell on that embarrassing history.
In the end, he had simply given up on the idea.
"Well, even though you probably already know who I am, I'll introduce myself anyway."
Jasmine smiled brightly.
"My name is Jasmine, and I am the current Gym Leader of the Olivine Gym.
It's very nice to meet you."
"Gym Leader Jasmine, hello. My name is Silas Alaric, from Viridian City."
Silas quickly returned the greeting.
"I know, I know."
Jasmine's eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled.
"I've watched your battles. You take very good care of that child."
"Ampharos works very hard as well."
Silas replied modestly.
"If you don't mind, could I take a look at that child?"
Jasmine made her request.
"Of course."
Silas agreed without hesitation.
He had already expected this.
Otherwise, even with Chuck of the Cianwood Gym vouching for him, there would have been no particular reason for Jasmine, as a Gym Leader, to specifically seek him out.
The gap between the two of them—whether in age or overall strength was still quite significant.
Given the extreme rarity of Shiny Pokémon, it was perfectly natural for her to take the matter so seriously.
After all, even though a Pokémon Egg had been given away, the Olivine Gym imprint on Silas's Ampharos would never truly disappear.
To put it bluntly, even if she wanted Ampharos to contribute something a little… embarrassing as a form of backup strength, it would still be entirely reasonable.
"Come out, Ampharos."
Silas tapped the Luxury Ball at his waist, and the pink-colored Ampharos appeared beside him.
"Ampha~"
Ampharos stared at Jasmine, whose scent felt both familiar and unfamiliar, and fell into brief contemplation.
"What's wrong, little one? You've grown up and don't recognize me anymore?"
Jasmine carefully observed Ampharos, a look of satisfaction flashing through her eyes as she spoke with a smile.
Ampharos remembered now, this was one of the people it had sensed before it was even born.
It recalled her frequently visiting its "room" and taking care of it.
"Ampha."
Ampharos greeted her warmly.
Amphy, meanwhile, curiously examined the youngster whose coloring differed from its own.
This seemed to be the sixth one it had seen so far—pretty decent-looking.
"This is your child's child, you know~"
Jasmine said to Amphy.
"Huh?"
Silas couldn't help but let out a surprised sound.
He genuinely hadn't known this.
"The very first Shiny Mareep was born from Amphy and its partner," Jasmine explained.
"That caused quite a stir back then.
"Even though both Amphy and its partner were normally colored Ampharos, their Egg underwent an extremely rare mutation.
"So, basically speaking, nearly all existing Shiny Ampharos today are Amphy's descendants."
Silas thought about the probability of two normal Pokémon producing a Shiny Egg and immediately understood, it had to be an astronomically small number, deep into hopeless decimal places.
Just looking at how Olivine Gym had bred Mareep for so many years and still produced only a single Shiny lineage was proof enough.
Otherwise, Jasmine wouldn't be so confident in saying that all existing Shiny Ampharos traced back to Amphy.
That said, pairing a Shiny Pokémon with a normal one did at least slightly increase the odds, which was why Olivine Gym could afford to be so generous as to give away a Shiny Ampharos.
Amphy lay on the ground and nodded in deep agreement.
To be honest, it had initially thought that Egg wasn't its offspring at all, it had nearly lost control.
Thankfully, its Trainer had noticed in time.
This was yet another reason why Shiny Pokémon were so extremely rare.
In the wild, the rejection and danger faced by Shiny Pokémon were far beyond what ordinary Pokémon could imagine.
Because many Pokémon thought in ways remarkably similar to humans, bloodline purity mattered greatly to them.
A Shiny mutation could easily be interpreted as betrayal, making it difficult for many male Pokémon not to explode in rage.
Even if a bonded pair successfully hatched a Shiny Pokémon, in wild communities that lived in groups, young Shiny Pokémon were often rejected by their own kind.
If their parents survived, things might be manageable but if something went wrong during hunting, being driven out to live alone was the norm.
"It's about to break through to Pesudo–Elite level, isn't it?"
Jasmine asked Silas.
While Pokémon levels couldn't usually be seen directly, Trainers of her experience and strength could still infer things through observation.
Especially when it came to the Ampharos line—she had encountered more of them than she could count.
There might not be anyone in the world who understood Ampharos better than Jasmine.
Even if Ampharos wasn't her ace, that fact remained unchanged.
"Yes."
Silas nodded.
"You've both done wonderfully."
Hearing his confirmation, Jasmine spoke with heartfelt emotion.
What she loved most was seeing moments like this, Pokémon and Trainers growing together, achieving one another.
Jasmine firmly believed that emotional resonance was the most important bond between a Trainer and their Pokémon.
If Silas hadn't been capable of helping Ampharos grow, then no matter how strongly Chuck had insisted, she would never have entrusted a Shiny Ampharos to an outsider.
It was true that Olivine Gym greatly needed the secret medicine from Cianwood Gym, but the two sides were still equals.
The facts proved that Silas was worthy of being Ampharos's Trainer.
"If you don't mind, how about I let Amphy talk with it for a while?"
Satisfied after seeing Ampharos's growth, Jasmine proposed another idea.
Silas agreed wholeheartedly.
Although Amphy primarily served as a city rescue Pokémon and thus wasn't the absolute main battler in Jasmine's team, its Elite Four–level strength was unquestionable.
What it lacked was merely battle-oriented experience and habits.
For Ampharos, currently stuck at the peak of the Advance tier, Amphy was the perfect mentor at this stage.
Silas had never expected that a stop at the Route 32 rest area would bring such an unexpected bonus.
He had only hoped to help his Pidgeot improve but now, Ampharos might also see a significant leap in strength.
Could it be that my goal of building an all Pesudo–Elite Level team is about to be achieved?
"Look—bathed in sunlight like this, it's as if their hearts are being nourished as well~"
Watching Amphy and the Shiny Ampharos chatting happily among the Mareep, Jasmine spoke poetically.
"Mm."
Not quite understanding the metaphor, Silas replied in the simplest way possible.
"Oh, right—Silas, are you hungry?"
Jasmine suddenly asked a bit shyly.
"If you don't mind, would you like to have dinner at the Olivine Farm restaurant?"
"The food there is delicious and the portions are huge~"
She added.
Silas hadn't felt it earlier, but after hearing her say that, hunger suddenly hit him.
"Amphy and Ampharos will probably chat for over an hour. We can eat and come back just in time."
Seeing Silas glance toward his Pokémon, Jasmine quickly explained.
"Then I'll take you up on that."
Silas nodded.
Under Jasmine's lead, the two soon arrived at the Olivine Farm restaurant.
It was a buffet-style setup.
Silas, who had initially worried that eating with Jasmine might be awkward, quickly relaxed.
Fresh vegetables and fruits, expensive non-Pokémon meats, and fresh Mareep milk, he filled an entire plate.
"Looks like I took a bit too much…"
Silas scratched his head unconsciously.
Mainly because there were so many Mareep milk byproducts that he wanted to try them all.
There was probably no place in the world with higher-quality Mareep milk, who knew when he'd get another chance?
What puzzled him, though, was why the restaurant staff showed no reaction at all to the amount he took.
Even if he was the Gym Leader's guest, shouldn't buffet staff at least remind him to moderate?
Others didn't know he trained in martial arts and could eat a lot.
When he returned to the table, he finally understood.
Jasmine's area was already surrounded by empty plates.
Every plate was nothing but leftovers.
"Oh, Silas, you're back. These were from the previous guest honestly, no one even cleared them away."
Jasmine explained, ears red, while gnawing on a plate of unknown meat.
Silas twitched the corner of his mouth.
Whether he believed that was another matter entirely.
He suddenly felt that his mental image of Jasmine from the past hour had developed a serious flaw.
How could such a small body contain so much food?
By rough estimation, Jasmine had eaten three times the amount on Silas's plate.
Do stronger Trainers just eat more?
Silas fell into thought.
It seemed like every powerful Trainer he'd met had an impressive appetite—just like when he'd eaten with Walker and Janine before.
"Jasmine, slow down, there's plenty more. We stocked a lot today."
Ailian, who was also having dinner nearby, gave Jasmine a thumbs-up.
"Uu—"
This time, not only Jasmine's ears but her entire face turned bright red.
...
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