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Roy had no reason to refuse the free body enhancement opportunity.
After receiving the injection, there was no immediate change, and Roy didn't even feel slightly different. Genetic modifications to the body occurred gradually and subtly.
The next day, while Roy was having dinner with his Pokemon in the courtyard, he suddenly discovered that his appetite had increased dramatically. He ate three full bowls of rice in a row without feeling satisfied.
"Nine?" Ninetales stretched out two of her tails worriedly and gently touched Roy's stomach.
"It's okay," Roy said, catching the fluffy tail with his free hand and playing with it affectionately. "The body is undergoing secondary development and growth, so the need for energy increases. This is completely normal."
According to Ivy's explanation, it seemed that within a month, the second growth phase would end completely.
Blastoise licked his clean plate and wanted to eat more, but his stomach was already full. He immediately expressed envy at Roy's situation.
"Blastoise! (It's so nice, I want to eat more too)~"
The thing you're envious about seems a bit strange, Roy thought with amusement.
[Someone is approaching.]
At that moment, Lucario suddenly looked up, his telepathic voice echoing in Roy's mind.
[I'll go check it out.]
Leaving this message, Lucario disappeared from his position using Teleport.
Roy sensed the area with his aura abilities and determined that the visitor seemed to be an ordinary person. They didn't even carry a Poke Ball and posed no cause for concern.
Soon, Lucario teleported back again, carrying an extra box in his hands.
[It's a courier from the Alliance.]
Roy took the box and asked with curiosity, "A courier? He just handed the package to you directly? Didn't I need to sign for it myself?"
[The courier recognized me and seemed to be... my fan. He asked to take a photo with me.]
Lucario seemed somewhat embarrassed, his telepathic tone faltering slightly.
[I agreed, and he asked me to sign for the delivery instead.]
Roy was thoroughly amused by this situation.
In fact, Roy, as an incredibly popular trainer who could be considered nationally famous, had Pokemon who had earned substantial popularity as well. They all had their own dedicated fan support groups.
Ninetales had the most fans by far—there was no helping it, since most of them were attracted by her beauty and elegance.
As a rare and noble Pokemon, Lucario had always been Roy's signature representative and was the world's first Pokemon to achieve Mega Evolution. He held the second-highest fan count.
Electivire, serving as a grassroots example of an "ordinary Pokemon's counterattack story," had originally ranked second in popularity. However, since he hadn't appeared in public events for quite some time, he could now only claim third place.
However, this was the first time any of his Pokemon had encountered actual fans in real life.
It was unavoidable given how large their fanbase had become.
Roy made a mental note to be wary of overly enthusiastic fans who might call Ninetales their 'wife' or other inappropriate things.
He opened the express package to find a metal box secured with a combination lock, along with an accompanying letter.
"Dear Colress Award winner, Mr. Roy, please enter your Trainer account password to unlock this container. Note that if the password is entered incorrectly even once, an alarm signal will be sent immediately, and the box will begin self-destructing. Please exercise extreme caution."
Roy muttered that this design was unnecessarily harsh, offering absolutely no margin for error.
But considering the precious contents inside, such security measures were understandable.
He entered his password carefully and opened the box with steady hands.
What came into view was a feather that radiated silver light with an almost ethereal quality.
The light silver glow was filled with an incredible sense of the sacred and divine.
Roy gently grasped the feather by its base and focused his mind on it.
"Whoosh!"
In an instant, Roy clearly felt powerful energy surging through him, and he suddenly had the sensation that he could control all the airflow in the surrounding area.
No, this wasn't merely a sensation or illusion.
With a single thought from Roy, the airflow responded to his will, gathering in midair to form a substantial wind sphere. Soon after, it transformed to create recognizable shapes of Ninetales, Lucario, Salamence, and other familiar forms.
Seeing that he had also been recreated in the swirling air currents, Blastoise displayed an expression of pure amazement.
"This is Lugia's divine authority..." Roy murmured in wonder.
Lugia, the legendary Sea God.
In Roy's understanding, Lugia should more accurately be called the God of Wind and the God of Ocean Currents.
Unlike Rayquaza, who dominated the skies with overwhelming and domineering power, Lugia was the deity who connected the heavens and seas with exquisite, gentle control.
When it came to fine manipulation of air currents, Lugia was unquestionably the strongest.
Roy carefully handed the Silver Wing to Salamence.
"Roar~" Salamence appeared nervous as he gently picked up the feather with his mouth, terrified of damaging such a precious artifact.
The moment Salamence made contact with the silver feather, he experienced exactly what Roy had felt moments before.
An overwhelming sense of absolute dominance over air currents filled his consciousness.
Salamence slowly spread his blood-red wings and could clearly sense every change and flow of air around him. With a single thought, he could summon terrifying hurricanes, and with another thought, he could calm violent winds into perfect stillness.
This sense of absolute control was intoxicating and made Salamence reluctant to let go.
"Don't become too addicted to this feeling," Roy said, patting Salamence's neck in warning. "If you lose contact with the feather, you'll return to your original capabilities immediately."
Salamence snapped back to awareness with a start.
That was right—this kind of dominance wasn't his own power.
He was merely borrowing divine authority temporarily.
"Don't become obsessed with this enhanced state, but rather seek to understand it," Roy instructed carefully. "Directly absorbing the power from the feather can greatly improve your affinity for Flying-type energy, but that would be the most wasteful way to use such a gift."
"What you need to do is experience this 'condition of the Wind God' and comprehend the control and manipulation of air currents. Only after you can't make any further progress should you consider absorbing the power contained within."
Salamence listened intently to Roy's guidance and nodded repeatedly to show his complete understanding.
He didn't know who Lugia was specifically, but he could sense that the owner of this feather must be an extraordinarily powerful existence.
If he could reach this level of mastery someday, defeating any Elite Four member wouldn't be a problem at all, and he would be able to reclaim his dignity and pride.
Salamence remembered that Roy had been telling him recently that when he achieved victory, he should say to that particular woman trainer, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—don't underestimate the young and ambitious."
Salamence didn't fully understand the meaning behind these words, but just imagining this scene made his blood boil with excitement.
"Roar~!"
Salamence nuzzled Roy with his head to express sincere gratitude for the incredible gift.
Salamence was quite large, and with just his head alone, he could support Roy's entire upper body. Roy hugged the dragon's massive head with some difficulty and said with a warm smile, "Your recent dedication and hard work are worthy of the present I've given you."
"Electivire!" Electivire gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, expressing his complete approval.
He had always been the hardest-working Pokemon on the team.
But after Salamence joined their group, Electivire had to admit he now shared that title with another equally dedicated teammate.
Lucario observed his two intensely motivated partners and sighed deeply.
He could occasionally work with such desperate determination, but over extended periods, he couldn't help becoming somewhat slack and relaxed, especially after becoming acknowledged as the 'strongest on the team.'
Yet even though Electivire had become the most powerful member of their group, he continued working with relentless effort.
Judging by Salamence's attitude and behavior, he would probably become another training fanatic as well.
Lucario both admired and envied the perseverance and motivation that these two possessed in their quest to become stronger.
Blastoise understood his teammate's personality and thoughts very well, so he patted Lucario on the shoulder and offered a suggestion with good intentions.
"Blastoise!"
"We can't copy Electivire's experience of being pushed to his limits, but we can copy Salamence's experience!"
Lucario wondered how they could possibly replicate that.
Blastoise explained his idea with a smug expression on his face.
"Let Roy arrange an engagement for us, and then we'll have it called off! Brother Lucario, how about it? Aren't I clever?"
Lucario: "..."
How foolish of me to expect anything sensible to come from this turtle's mouth.
After becoming a professional trainer, Roy's daily life hadn't changed significantly.
Besides attending classes each day, he spent his time supervising his Pokemon's training and development.
Everything was progressing quite well.
Lucario had officially mastered the Fighting-type advanced techniques.
Not only that, but due to his powerful talent for "aura manipulation," Lucario had also integrated aura power into his fighting style at the moment he comprehended the advanced methods.
This represented quadruple optimization of his abilities.
Metagross and Blastoise hadn't made substantial progress with advanced techniques yet, but due to their compatibility with Totem aura, both had entered the 'S3' professional stage first.
Once they mastered the advanced methods, they would meet master-level standards.
Ninetales, in addition to continuing her studies of Ice-type moves, had resumed practicing Fairy-type techniques under Roy's arrangement.
After evolving into Ninetales, she had traveled farther and farther down the path of ice mastery, neglecting her Fairy-type abilities for an extended period.
This had certainly been a waste of the pure psychic energy that Latias had blessed her with.
There had been no choice at the time—in order to become stronger quickly, specializing in a single type had been the fastest approach.
Now that her Ice-type mastery was essentially complete, Roy had time to allow Ninetales to practice Fairy-type moves again.
Mimikyu had also officially entered the S2 stage and was honing her Fairy-type techniques as well.
Electivire was taking remedial lessons.
Specifically, he was working on improving his proficiency with Electric-type moves.
As an Electric-type Pokemon, his mastery of Electric-type attacks was embarrassingly low, while he had become extremely proficient in Fighting-type and Fire-type techniques instead.
Thunderbolt, Electro Ball, Wild Charge... He had to start learning these fundamental moves from scratch.
Only after reaching a certain degree of control could he begin practicing more advanced electrical techniques.
During this period, the biggest improvement had undoubtedly come from Salamence.
After receiving the 'Silver Wing,' Roy had officially begun constructing the 'turbulent airflow' battle tactics he had envisioned for his dragon.
Under the feather's divine authority, Salamence quickly raised his proficiency with the moves Fly and Hurricane to master level.
The simultaneous application of Fly and Hurricane allowed Salamence to whip up chaotic air currents every time he flapped his wings.
Under these powerful wind conditions, other Flying-type Pokemon would be extremely uncomfortable, and their flying speed and agility would be severely hindered.
Salamence's wingspan was massive—when his wings were completely extended, they measured a full ten meters across. Very few Flying-type Pokemon could compete with such impressive dimensions.
Combined with his increasingly sophisticated control over air currents, his battlefield dominance was becoming formidable.
King of Flying Pokemon, prototype of a Sky Totem.
In such peaceful and productive days, time had passed without notice, and October had arrived.
The season for the Island Challenge pilgrimage had finally come.