Chapter 101. The Center-parted's Dream Armor
"Pikachu?"
The center-parted rubbed its head, wearing a look of disbelief.
"Alright, explain how that little shield appeared just now."
Natsume's telekinesis swept through and confirmed that center-parted's will-body didn't require any repairs.
"Pikachu."
The center-parted lowered its head and fell into thought.
At this moment, it also realized how important this was.
This shield seemed to let it have some way to protect itself in the mental world.
"Center-parted, look for the feeling from then and try condensing a shield again," Ash encouraged from the side.
The center-parted nodded, wearing an expression like it was constipated.
Before long, milky-white mist began to rise over its head.
The mist gathered in its hands, and a small, translucent shield like white jade appeared.
"Pikachu!"
The center-parted raised the little shield in its hand, excited.
"Mm…"
Natsume opened the system panel, since center-parted's mutation should be related to the Divinity inside it.
[Pikaremon]
[Divine Trait: Land of Eternal Sleep]
[Divine-Exclusive: Incomplete Dream Armor]
Sure enough, center-parted had gained a Divine-exclusive skill.
Only… wasn't the authority under its Divinity supposed to be insufficient?
Natsume couldn't figure out where center-parted had topped up its authority.
Maybe it was that big chunk of Divinity from last time taking until now to fully digest.
Natsume tapped open Incomplete Dream Armor.
[Incomplete Dream Armor]: Within the Land of Eternal Sleep, Pikaremon can create armor to protect itself.
Due to insufficient authority under its Divinity, the armor does not fully form.
Data: N/A.
"Oh~"
Natsume nodded.
About what he had in mind.
"Ash, step outside for a bit."
Natsume sent the message via telepathy.
"Uh, okay."
Ash nodded blankly.
In the prep area, inside a tent, Ash opened his eyes.
"Ah—Honora, why are you here!"
The first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was Honora, puffing her cheeks in a huff.
"It's nothing.
I want to ask Mr. Natsume something and I'm waiting for him to wake up."
"Uh… alright.
I'll take center-parted out for a bit."
Following Natsume's instructions, Ash picked up center-parted and carried it out.
Outside the tournament venue, even though it was nighttime, plenty of competitors were still doing extra drills, so Ash being there didn't look odd.
Inside center-parted's mental world.
"I'm going to have Ash send out his Pokémon to attack you in reality," Natsume's voice sounded.
"Pikachu?"
The center-parted jumped in fright.
"We'll test how much nightmare your little shield can block."
As he spoke, ghostly blue particles gathered in Natsume's hand and a small notebook appeared.
"Get ready!"
As soon as Natsume finished, the mental world suddenly dimmed.
A humanoid monster wreathed in flames appeared not far away, probably a nightmare born from Charmander's attack.
Natsume narrowed his eyes.
He felt this humanoid monster looked a little familiar.
The next moment, the monster charged at center-parted.
"Pikachu!"
The center-parted raised its shield.
The instant the humanoid monster touched it, it exploded into fragments.
"Pika?"
The center-parted poked its head out and snuck a glance ahead.
The shield seemed able to nullify nightmares.
Its color dimmed a shade, and Natsume noted this in the little notebook.
One after another, a water-man and a wooden-man appeared.
Those were nightmares transformed from Squirtle's and Bulbasaur's attacks.
+1
Seeing the lifelike carving on the wooden-man's face, Natsume finally realized—hey, that was his face.
"I'm actually a nightmare in your heart."
Natsume glanced at center-parted.
Cold.
So cold!
"Pikachu."
The center-parted sheepishly shrank its head back.
"Bang! Bang!"
The two nightmare monsters slammed into the milky-white shield and turned to dust, and the shield in center-parted's hands dispersed along with them.
"How long do you need to re-condense this shield?"
Natsume asked.
"Pika—"
The center-parted shook its head, indicating it wasn't sure.
"No problem.
I'll keep testing with you."
Ten minutes later, center-parted's shield solidified again.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
The shield shattered, and center-parted collapsed to the ground.
Another ten minutes passed.
The center-parted was about to condense the shield again, but Natsume stopped it.
"Can you control how this milky-white vapor condenses?
For example, instead of a shield, could you make a sword?"
Natsume guided patiently.
The center-parted froze for a second.
It felt the shield was pretty good—it could protect itself.
It was even planning that, once its Divinity was complete, it would condense a turtle shell, crawl inside, and snooze away in the mental world.
Milky-white mist rose from center-parted's head.
With its effort, the vapor split in two.
One portion gathered without issue into a small round shield.
Compared to the previous shield, this one was only as big as center-parted's own head, not enough to cover its whole body.
The other portion, with Natsume's telekinetic assistance, turned into a little short sword.
"Pikachu!"
The center-parted looked at Natsume solemnly, expressing that it could not give up the shield.
"…Alright."
Natsume's mouth twitched.
"Bang!"
The small round shield blocked one hit and shattered on the spot.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"
The short sword hacked down four nightmare monsters before it, too, broke and vanished.
"See?
A lot of times, offense works better than defense."
Natsume recorded the details in the little notebook.
After a round of testing, the combo of small round shield plus short sword performed the best.
"Pikachu—"
The center-parted spread its hands, asking if it was time for a break.
"No.
Too few trials means there might be coincidence.
We need more runs."
In the mental world, Natsume hoisted up center-parted, which had slumped down wanting to sleep.
He truly couldn't understand why, after the real Pikachu had fallen asleep, it could still doze off inside the mental world.
A dream within a dream?
An entire night passed.
The next morning.
"Whoa, Ash, what did you do last night?"
Misty stared, surprised, at Ash and Pikachu, both with heavy panda eyes.
"Ah~ Special training with center-parted."
Ash yawned.
"How is it, Natsume?
Do you have your data?"
Ash turned to Natsume, who was crawling out of the tent.
Natsume also had dark circles, but his face looked energized.
"It's all collected.
This time's P1 Grand Prix champion is definitely going to be you, Ash."
"Really?
That's awesome!"
Just the thought that he'd get to battle the Fighting-type Elite Four in the future made Ash tremble with excitement.
Over this one night, Natsume gained a preliminary understanding of center-parted's new ability.
First, the milky-white vapor that could condense into armor should be related to the "quantity" of its Divinity—that is, authority.
If center-parted now wanted more vapor to form full-body armor, it would need to absorb more shards of Divinity.
At present, the authority within center-parted's Divinity was only enough to condense a very small round shield and a very small short sword.
So long as the attack didn't come from a very strong Pokémon, center-parted could hold it off.
Dream Armor beats a nightmare—then evade for ten minutes—then re-condense Dream Armor.
That was the tactic Natsume set for center-parted for now.
After the group finished eating, they entered the prep area and began today's slate of matches.
"Ash, Natsume, do your best!"
In the stands, Misty, Brock, and Honora cheered them on.
"Welcome, everyone, to today's P1 Grand Prix!"
The announcer arrived right on cue.
"Today, we'll crown the strongest.
Let's wait and see!"
The stands were buzzing, and everybody already knew which ring to watch.
On the A-rank ring, keep your eyes on that cunning Dragonite.
On the B-rank ring, watch the revival bracket for the A-rank eliminations.
On the C-rank ring, it's those two wild Pokémon paired up.
On the D-rank ring, it's that Pikachu that flops over and naps.
"Haha, this year's P1 Grand Prix is way more fun than in past years!"
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