Pokemon: Resurgence Chapter 44

Hi all, 

Here’s the second chapter of the week. The Artisan’s Path chapter will be out on Saturday.

Chapter 44

After getting over his shock at the existence of Mega Legendaries, Lucas continued to search through the files, discovering even more shocking revelations. Aside from the research itself, Red Ketchum had written down his thoughts, which revealed some concerns he had about the legitimacy of the project and those in charge of it. 

He noted down some important details that he thought were important.

Bill Eckely was brought onto the project due to his expertise in designing pokeballs. The scientists were concerned about not being able to contain the legendary Pokemon, so they asked him to design a master ball. The Master Ball was designed to ensure a 100% capture rate, something that even a legendary Pokemon couldn't escape. Moreover, the design aimed to establish a bond that was nearly unbreakable.

However, a lack of results led to Bill's dismissal months before the project's closure. He had been competing with another team, which had a different idea of how to control the legendary Pokemon. They designed a collar that would completely submit to their owner, and Giovanni just so happened to be a part of the team. The leads on the project found their design more feasible.

“So this is where the slave collar originated,” Lucas murmured. He wouldn't be surprised if the team responsible for its creation joined Giovanni's Team Rocket.

The experiments the scientists conducted were horrifying. Since they needed a Pokemon to house the legendary stone, they inserted it into their bodies and built a device to activate it remotely, similar to a Mega Bracelet. He was beginning to think that Kalos received some of the technology from the Cinnabar Lab, which could have expedited their own research.

All of the Pokemon died in horrific ways, and the scientists were forced to think of a new method to create the legendary Pokemon. They were experimenting with creating an embryo in a test tube using DNA extracted from the legendary stone. However, they had to shut down the project before they could make any significant progress.

Red speculated that the government official in charge of overseeing the project panicked and shut it down, fearing the discovery of its existence. The official tried to eliminate any evidence that it had ever existed. The employees were all under non-disclosure agreements, so they couldn’t tell anyone about the project. 

Towards the end, Red started to suspect that the government hadn't sanctioned the project and that they were conducting illegal experiments. He began investigating in secret and discovered some disturbing information about some of his colleagues. Red had written down the people he suspected, and Lucas perused the list. Giovanni was on the list, but there was no mention of him being a member of Team Rocket. Red must have been unaware of his superior's true identity. He spotted another familiar name. The government official in charge of the project was none other than Shichiro’s political rival. If the news got out about what he was doing, then it would be over for him.

“I need to give Shirchiro a copy of this information,” Lucas murmured. “I’m sure he will use it to take down his rival.”

Dante called out a warning. Fearing that someone had discovered him, Lucas froze. Then he became aware of a tapping on the window. He squinted and saw a familiar face peeking inside. He walked over to the window and opened it so Meowth could slip inside.

“Those soldiers aren’t very smart,” Meowth remarked.

“That was very reckless,” Lucas said. “What if they had captured you and discovered that you were shouting at them?”

“But they didn’t. Why worry about something that never happened, Meowth?”

There was no convincing him. He turned back the computer and continued to read Red’s account of events. Red explained that on the final day, when everything in the mansion was being packed up, Mew arrived and proceeded to tear the place apart. Red believed that Mew was looking for the stone, but it had mysteriously disappeared beforehand.

Lucas skimmed through some of the files on the research itself, but most of it went over his head. He wondered if there was any particular bit of information buried in there that Giovanni was searching for. If it was, as he suspected, that Giovanni stole the stone to continue the project, then he would probably benefit from these files, which is why he was searching for it.

The question that kept popping up as he read through the files was: did Red know too much and was he killed as a result? There were hints that Red was considering becoming a whistleblower and revealing the existence of the project to the authorities. The timelines matched up, as Red was reported to have been killed in action shortly after Ash was born, nearly a decade ago. Had someone killed him and made it look like an accident to cover it up?

“We should probably not linger in the apartment too long,” Meowth said.

Lucas nodded. After searching through the computer desk, he was fortunate to find a box of floppy discs that hadn’t been used yet. He copied the files onto two separate discs, and then shut the computer down. He would keep one for himself, and give the other to Shichiro. 

After making sure nothing looked out of place, Lucas had Dante teleport him back to a secluded location just outside of town. He booked a room at an inn and settled in for the night. 

He checked his watch and decided it wasn’t too late to call Shichiro.

“What do you want?” Shichiro asked grumpily.

Lucas blinked. “Is there something wrong?”

“I was having a nice quiet evening at home with my wife and then some idiot interrupted it,’ Shichiro said. “Do you know how rare that is?”

“Sorry. I can call back tomorrow.”

“It's fine. What do you want to talk about?”

Lucas proceeded to explain what he had discovered, and Shichiro listened in silence until he was finished. Despite the silence, he got the sense that the man was really excited by the news he had to share. 

“You said that you copied the information onto a disc?” Shichiro asked. “I’m going to need that disc immediately.”

“I can return to the mainland tomorrow.”

“Not soon enough. I will send someone to retrieve the disc. They will introduce themselves as Goro, letting you know that they are someone I sent.

“Alright. I got to say that you don’t seem too surprised by the fact that there was a project that was trying to create a legendary Pokemon.”

There was a pause on the other end. “Lance recently came across some information during his investigation that hinted at its existence, although he didn’t find anything as concrete as you did.”

“Did he ever find out what item Team Rocket was transporting on the S.S. Anne?”

“Yes. Since you have helped me out so much with your discovery, I will share the information with you. But if you tell anyone, your life is forfeited. Do I make myself clear?”

Lucas shuddered. Shichiro sounded like a mafia boss at that moment. “Crystal.”

“The item Team Rocket was transporting was a legendary stone," Shichiro said, before pausing for effect. “Specifically, the Zapdos legendary stone.”

“Which is now in Zapdos' grasp,” Lucas said, releasing the terrifying implications. “How did Team Rocket get their hands on the stone?”

“I don’t have a clue.”

“How big is the stone?” Lucas asked. “Why did they need such a large container to carry it?”

“We don’t know the properties of the legendary stone. It’s possible that it requires special handling.”

“I suppose. Why would Team Rocket use the cruise ship to transport something so valuable?” 

“There are a couple of reasons. Their leader has been under close observation for a while now by the International Police, so he was being careful not to be seen carrying such an item.”

Lucas stilled. “Do you know who the leader is?”

“I have some strong suspicions,” Shichiro admitted. “But until have irrefutable evidence, I won’t be able to arrest him.”

“Giovanni?”

Shichiro snorted. “That’s quite the leap in logic. Do you have any other reason besides his involvement in the Inception Project to suspect him?”

“Just some bad vibes I get from him.”

“Uh huh.” 

“What was the other reason?”

“You were there yourself. The stone attracted the attention of Zapdos once it was out in the open. Giovanni isn’t stupid enough to carry it himself, so he used his goons to see if he could transport it safely.”

Lucas wondered why the stone was being transported in the first place. He didn’t know if Giovanni had a hidden laboratory in Viridian City, where Mewtwo was located. But since Giovanni spent most of his time there, it was a reasonable assumption to make. So, why was he taking the Zapdos stone to Vermilion city?  

“I need to get going,” Shichiro said. “Goro should arrive in the next few hours.”

“Alright.” Lucas hung up the phone.

Since he had to wait for Shichiro's man to arrive, he decided to spend the time updating both his and his team's parameters. He and Max had earned a lot of experience from today’s endeavours, and his other Pokemon weren’t too bad off either.

Since all of his Pokemon’s stats were maxed out for the current level, he levelled them up. Icarus and Icaria levelled up twice. Since he was only restoring the levels, they had lost due to producing an egg, they didn’t need to train their stats again. They were assigned automatically to where they had been before.

Lucas spent all of his experience points and levelled up twice. Although he had progressed three quarters of a way to a third level, he was still disappointed that nearly a hundred thousand experience points didn’t go a long way. Regardless, he earned four more skill points. For the time being, he didn’t spend them.

He planned to stay on Cinnabar Island for several days and just do a major grinding session to earn loads of experience and EV’s that would set his Pokemon up nicely. There was enough variety of aquatic Pokemon to give him a nice spread of EV points, and using the Super Rod with bait was really efficient.

Besides that, he would have them train their stats, and continue learning the Energy Control trait. He took out a notepad and began planning a schedule for them to follow. If he earned enough experience for his Pokemon, then he could focus on his breeding business after the New Year.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Lucas felt completely relaxed, with a blissful smile on his face, as he soaked in the warm, mineral-rich waters of the hot spring. He closed his eyes and let the soothing heat envelop his body, melting away any tension or stress. He took deep breaths of the steam rising from the water, feeling rejuvenated from the busy schedule he had over the last few days.

His Pokemon were sitting in the water beside him. They had also earned the chance to relax after all the hard work they had put in.

It was New Year’s Day, and he was going to return home tomorrow after several days spent on the island. Brock reported that one of his Eevee pairs had produced an egg, so he needed to return to attend to them. 

He had spent all of his time on the pier, grinding for experience like a madman. The amount of experience he managed to accumulate was mind-boggling. It demonstrates the extent of what you can accomplish when you put in the necessary effort. Sure, the increase in experience points he earned from each battle also helped. 

He used all of his Pokemon, besides Meowth and Ashe, to decimate the local aquatic Pokemon population. There had to be wild Pokemon who were beaten by his team several times, which made him feel slightly apologetic. Considering the havoc he caused, he was surprised there weren't more consequences from his actions.

In addition to the experience his Pokemon had accumulated, they had made massive progress in other areas. All of them learned the energy control trait after several days of practice.

Icarus had gained sixty-five EVs spread across all his stats, and levelled up to twenty-nine. Lucas estimated that Icarus still had enough experience to level up at least ten more times. That didn't include the experience he needed in his cache for evolution. Still, after training his stats, Icarus already possessed sufficient experience to evolve. To fulfill the final requirement, though, he still needed to get a third affinity above fifty percent. He was hesitating between either the psychic or steel-type affinity.

Max earned sixty EVs and had levelled up to twenty-nine. He was only one level away from reaching the requirement for evolving into Electabuzz. All of the other requirements had been met, so he would evolve soon. Max had also continued to train in his fighting affinity, but added some fire affinity training into the mix as well. Lucas still owned the Fire Punch technical machine, and he encouraged Max to begin fulfilling the prerequisites for it.

Saphira had gained sixty-five EVs and levelled up to twenty-eight. Although she had plenty of experience to evolve into Dragonair, there were still some requirements he needed to meet first. He managed to fulfil the requirement, which required her to defeat an opponent ten levels above her. All he had to do was fish up a Magikarp to get an easy win. Once Max had evolved, he would focus on finishing Saphira's evolutionary requirements.

Icaria had made similar progress to Icarus, and her favourability had increased to respected. All of the evolution requirements had already been met, besides the one that required her to have three affinities above fifty percent. He would have her continue to work on her flying-type affinity as well since she was close to learning the egg move: Brave Bird.

Because they didn't participate in any battles, both Meowth and Ashe didn't receive as many Evs or experience as the others. Despite not having to do anything, they still gained a lot, with a total of fifty EVs. Both levelled up three times, and they still had plenty more experience in their caches to level up further.

He would start training Ashe in the near future. Furthermore, he needed to take a look at his Pokemon’s current moves to see if they could learn some more moves to complement their battle style.

Aside from his teammates, Dante had participated in some battles and levelled up twice. He hadn’t tested it out yet, but since Dante had learned the energy control trait as well, he would be able to travel longer distances in a single jump.

The ringing of his phone interrupted his thoughts. He got out of the pool and grabbed his phone from the shelving where he stored his possessions. 

“Sabrina. How’s it going?”

“I’m fine. How’s island life treating you?”

“I can’t complain. Although I worked too hard to really enjoy it. I will be returning to Viridian City tomorrow.”

“That’s good timing. I will be moving into the house in a few days.” 

Lucas detected something off in her voice. “That’s great. Is there something wrong? Did you find your target?”

“I found her,” Sabrina replied heavily. “In a graveyard. She’s already dead.”

Lucas winced. That wasn’t the outcome she desired. She had been chasing the maid for answers and personal vengeance. It might not have been the healthiest motive, but if it meant finding closure from a traumatic childhood, she had the right to pursue it as she saw fit.

“I’m sorry. That must have been a massive letdown.”

“That’s a massive understatement. Apparently, a wild Pokemon killed her a few years ago, though details are scarce. Should I view that as karmic justice for what she did to my family?”

“I don’t know. If it helps you feel better, then it might be beneficial to think that way."

Sabrina sighed. “This is going to bother me for a while.”

“Then I will spoil you rotten when you move in, to help you get over it,” Lucas promised. “At least your uncle is going after the main instigators behind the attack. Is he ready to make a move?”

“Yes. He is going to raid the Team Rocket hideout and his rival's office at the same time. He wants to prevent his opponent from reacting before his arrest.“What about Giovanni?”

Sabrina paused. “He’s going to be questioned about his role on the project, but he needs solid evidence to make an arrest. Uncle is hoping to find something in the hideout to incriminate him, but he’s not holding out much hope.”

“Giovanni is dangerous, so I hope your uncle is careful. Have you read the files?”

“Yes. It makes for some scary reading. Encountering a legendary Pokemon is terrifying on its own, but to think they could become even more powerful is inconceivable to me.”

“Well, hopefully Zapdos doesn’t get the urge to go on a rampage.”

“Don’t say it out loud. You're going to jinx us.”

Lucas changed the subject. “Do you need help moving out?”

“No. I’m only going to bring my clothes and any necessities I need for the time being. If I want something else, I can always retrieve it later.”

They chatted for a while and hung up. Lucas returned to the pool and opened up his menu. Now that his Pokemon was taken care of for the moment, it was time to spend the experience he had accumulated and level up some more.

He spent just enough experience to level up to thirty-five. He gained another six skill points and another function. It was called Arceus’ Emporium.

“No way!”

His Pokemon all turned to stare at him curiously. 

“What’s got your knickers in a twist?” Meowth asked.

“I was just surprised by the new function I received,” Lucas replied.

He immediately opened the shop from his menu, and he was presented with a screen that showed a list of items, and a purchase button. The user interface was intuitive, as the items were sorted into different tabs by their category. He quickly browsed through the tabs and discovered an interesting detail. The more mundane items were brought with pokedollars, but the rarer and more unique items cost him experience points.  

After retrieving his guidebook and reading up on information on the new function, he learned that upgrading the shop was a little different, although it could be considered the same. To increase the level of the shop, he needed to spend a specific amount. When he increased the shop level, it would stock a more diverse range of items and offer some discounts.

Lucas returned to the shop screen and began exploring the items in greater detail. The first tab was for recovery items. He didn’t spend much time there, as he could get all the recovery items he needed from Itemfinder. The following tabs had pokeballs, battle enhancers, alchemy ingredients, technical machines, and evolution stones. 

From what he could see, the items were similar in price to those at the Celadon Department Store and had a wide range of choices in every category. The evolution tab also included unrefined evolution stones, which he could add to his Pokemon Habitat.

There was one final category that was labelled unique. Lucas perused the list and discovered a single item type known as trait capsules. They added traits such as stat boosts, stat affinities, and status resistances. The only downside was that he could only give them to his team—the Pokemon that he shared a bond with. All of them cost him fifty thousand experience points, so it wasn’t going to be cheap if he wanted to strengthen his Pokemon in certain areas. For the time being, he didn’t purchase any of them, but he was going to save the experience if he ever needed a specific trait for one of his Pokemon.

He spent nine of his skill points. He levelled up Egg Insight to the maximum and increased his Skilled Breeder to level three. The latter improved both his egg production chances, and the speed at which they hatched. Since he was about to produce a lot of eggs in the near future, it was necessary to improve this skill.

“We should get going before I turn into a prune,” Lucas told his Pokemon, then noticed one of them was missing. “Where did Max go?”

“He slipped out a minute ago,” Icarus reported.

“Max, where are you?” Lucas asked over the bond.

“Shh. I’m busy.”

Lucas frowned. He headed for the door and slid it open. Looking in both directions, he saw Max further down the corridor, peeping through a door into another hot spring. Angered that he was intruding on someone's privacy, he stormed down the corridor to reprimand him. As he was reaching out to grab him, voices from inside caught his attention. One of them belonged to Blaine, and the other to Maxie, the man from the Hoenn region.

The door was slightly ajar, so the sound carried out enough into the corridor for him to make out what they were saying.

“The tremors are becoming more frequent, Maxie,” Blaine said. "I've already seen signs in the volcano that it's getting more volatile. If this continues, it may erupt within months or even weeks.”

“You need to relax,” Maxie replied. “I have already checked its stability. I estimate that it’s still at least a year away from erupting. Give me some more to investigate, and then I will bring in my team to handle the situation.”

“I never thought Team Magma would be so benevolent.”

Lucas' eyes widened. 

“Well, I have my own reasons to prevent this eruption from happening. All you need to know is that I am helping an old friend free of charge. Don’t look into it any further than that.”

There was a long silence after Maxie’s words.

Blaine cleared his throat. “The locals are already suspicious, and even some of the tourists are beginning to notice. Soon, rumours are going to spread and it's going to affect tourism.”

Maxie laughed derisively. "I believe that your decision to build a new gym inside the volcano has something to do with it as well."

They didn’t speak about the volcano after that, so Lucas and Max silently retreated back to their hot spring. Although he was disturbed by the conversation, he didn’t know if he wanted to get involved with another criminal organisation. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t recognised the leader of Team Magma. What was his purpose for being here? He didn’t doubt for a second that Maix had an ulterior motive that he wasn’t telling Blained. 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 

The next day, Lucas was standing with his Pokemon and the Harrison family in the backyard, preparing for Max to evolve into Electbuzz. Max had just finished training his stats for level twenty-nine, so he was finally ready to evolve.

Brock held a video camera to record the event, as Lucas wanted to show it to Sabrina. He could have waited until she arrived, but he knew Max was impatient and wasn't willing to wait.

The last step he needed to do was level Max up to thirty, and it would trigger the evolution.

“Are you ready, Max?”

“Of course. I have been waiting for this for a long time.”

Lucas spent some of his experience points in Max's cache, and he immediately underwent a transformation. When the light of evolution finally faded, Lucas received a huge shock. “Max! You've gotten so big.”

Max pounded his stomach with his fists. “Heh. My teammates have to respect me now.”

Max was now six feet tall, standing at the same height as him. What size would he have reached after he evolved into Electivire? He now towered over his teammates, who appeared dissatisfied with his newfound size. Besides that, Max's bulk had expanded by a massive degree and was now three times as wide as his pre-evolution form. 

His growth was so explosive that he could only come to one conclusion. Max had acquired the giant strain trait. Although it may not seem like the biggest growth for Pokemon with the giant strain trait, Max still had time to grow before he evolved again.

“Incredible,” Brock breathed.

“Max is going to find it too hard to fit through some doors with that belly on him,” Yolanda said, grinning.

Max was swarmed by the younger siblings, who began climbing him like a tree. Max demonstrated incredible restraint, even picking up the toddlers and placing them on his shoulders.

Lucas took the opportunity to examine Max’s parameters.

==========

Maximus

Species: Electabuzz; Electric Pokemon

Gender: Male

Status: Owned

Favourability: Loved: 420/8000 (+15% stats)

Favourite Food: Lightning-Infused Bamboo; Maximus Recipe X

Condition: Perfect

Level: 30

Next: [3%]

Exp Cache: [180000]

Stats obtained from EV’s  [80/100]

Current Level Potential Met?: No

Special Ability: Static

==========

Attack: 77 (58)

Special Attack: 72 (63)

Defence: 120 (105)

Special Defence: 82 (72)

Speed: 59 (69)

Luck: 26 (23)

==========

Moves

Quick Attack: 100%

Thundershock: 95%

Charge: 55%

Thunder Wave: 59%

Protect: 36%

Rock Smash 18%

Low Kick 1%

Egg Moves

Hammer Arm: Fighting Affinity: 70% required.

==========

Description: Maximus has finally evolved into Electabuzz and is super excited to have acquired the giant strain trait. Now that he is bigger than his teammates, he will not hesitate to rub it into their faces. 

==========

Hidden Stats

Intelligence: 5

Endurance: 7

Energy: 4

Aptitude: 6

==========

Affinities

Electric: 62%

Fighting: 51%

Fire: 12%

==========

Traits

Inherent (Can be passed onto offspring)

Electric-type Aptitude (Novice) - Increases electric-affinity training by twenty per cent.

Attack Aptitude (Novice) - Increases attack stats training efficiency.

Thunder Elemental (Intermediate) - Moderately increases the power and effectiveness of electric-type moves. 

Defence Boost (Expert) - Sharply increases the defense stat potency.

Superior Conditioning - Energy and Endurance stats further improve Pokemon's condition.

Static Plus - Increases the chance of inflicting the static status effect by ten percent

Learned/Acquired/Unique

Free-Form Fighting (Intermediate) - Minor increase in Attack when fighting without utilising energy.

Energy Control: It’s more efficient with its energy consumption, requiring less to execute a move.

Giant Strain: Pokemon grows well beyond the average size for its species.

Attack Plus: (Giant Strain) Increases attack by twenty percent.

Speed Minus: (Giant Strain) Reduces speed by twenty percent.

==========

Evolution Conditions

Electivire

Electirizer obtained.

Condition: Perfect

Experience in Cache: 100000

Electric-type Affinity: 80%

Evolution Bonuses.

Max Experience in Cache = 150000: + 25 to all Stats

Electric-type affinity = 90%: Thunder learned upon evolving.

Special Defence = 100: Special Defence trait learned.

Free-Form Fighting mastered: Endurance +1  

Defeated ten level 40+ ground-type pokemon: Aptitude + 1

==========

Lucas whistled. Max had gone through an explosive growth in strength, and he wasn’t referring to the EV’s he gained. Not only did he receive some new traits, but his next evolution seemed to be impacted as well by the stat bonuses he would receive once he met the requirements. He could assume that some of it was due to gaining the giant strain trait.

Furthermore, Max’s development seemed to be following Lucas’ intentions for him, as he had acquired some defensive traits as well. Although he would be slow, he would be a real tank that could soak up a lot of damage. He'd be an ideal Pokemon to have by his side.

“Let’s test out your defence, Max,” Lucas said. “You can spend some time sparring with Icarus.” 

Lucas watched as his Pokemon sparred with one another. Max looked like he was taking the attacks from Icarus well, not even shifting from his position once. He could see that Icarus was becoming irritated, so the Pokemon began stepping up the force of his attacks.

He was about to intervene when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He tilted his head to look up at the sky, but the thing had disappeared. Was it his imagination?

“Keep an eye on them,” Lucas told Brock as he made his way around the side of the house. 

He was beginning to feel silly. Nothing could enter the property easily, so maybe it was an optical illusion or something. He was about to return to the backyard when he paused. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Slowly turning around, he found a Pokemon hovering in front of him.

A legendary Pokemon. Mew. On his property.

Mew tilted his head in curiosity. He didn’t seem to be hostile, although that wasn’t really reassuring. 

“Hello, there,” Lucas said. “Is there something you want from me?”

What else was he supposed to say in this situation? It was preferable to falling to the ground in terror with piss staining his trousers.

So, what do you think? In the next chapter, Lucas speaks with Mew and discovers some interesting information. 

Thanks for reading.