After nearly a month of hard work, everything finally returned to a state of calm.
The one-acre patch of berry trees had been fully harvested. Now that the trees were mature, they would produce a new batch of ripe berries every six months, so Ace wouldn't be disturbed for a while. He took this opportunity to summarize his gains.
First, in terms of money, Ace had earned over 3.8 million League currency. Over 2 million of that came from the private bribes of the former fossil museum staff. It was a clear sign that they had made a lot more from their positions while they were in power.
Next, in terms of Pokémon, he had acquired five Omanyte, five Kabuto, two Aerodactyl, two Chansey, and two Miltank from the League. Ace had no intention of training them, choosing instead to let them roam freely in the orchard, much like his two Exeggutor and one Tentacruel, and tasked them with taking care of the berry trees.
Some might ask if an acre of orchard needs that many Pokémon. An acre doesn't, but the next item on his list was the most important.
He now had the legal documents for the ownership of the entire plain! The plain was about two million square meters, roughly 3,000 acres! Ace knew he couldn't expand too quickly, so he only increased the orchard size from one acre to over two hundred acres.
After the ground had been turned over by his Diglett, Ace planted berries on the entire two hundred acres. Such a large area naturally required a lot of care, so Ace used this as leverage to get the two Chansey and two Miltank from the League.
With his existing Pokémon, a total of nineteen Pokémon were now helping Ace manage the orchard, which saved him a great deal of energy.
With everything settled, Ace finally had time to focus on his own matters. His first priority was special training for each of his Pokémon. After nearly a month of neglect, Ace felt his strength had diminished a bit. So now that he had the time, he and his Pokémon trained like mad.
With the Tree of Life to restore their stamina, the healing from Ace's Aura, three Chansey, and two Miltank gave his Pokémon the confidence to train to their absolute limits. As long as they didn't die from the training, there were no problems!
"Gible, Dragon Claw! Torchic, Slash!"
Ace, multitasking, commanded both Gible and Torchic at the same time. His two weakest Pokémon were relentlessly attacking each other's vital spots, as if they had a deep-seated grudge.
In reality, this was Ace's training method. Friendly sparring? Gentle battles? That didn't exist in Ace's training. Only by training with every move aimed at a vital spot could they develop a keen eye and defeat an opponent as quickly as possible.
At this moment, Gible and Torchic were evenly matched. Gible had the Rough Skin ability, which inflicted some damage on an opponent in close combat. Torchic had the Speed Boost ability, which made it faster and faster during the fight. It was constantly looking for an opening, and if Gible showed even the slightest weakness, a fatal blow from Torchic would follow.
Speed is power!
Torchic spun rapidly around Gible, its increasing speed kicking up dust and broken grass, forming a miniature whirlwind. Gible was watching carefully. In a normal battle, it would have used Earthquake to teach Torchic a lesson, but this training focused on close combat, so it could only use Dragon Claw.
As Torchic's speed increased, Gible became dizzy and staggered, losing its balance.
"An opening!"
Torchic's eyes lit up, and it instantly lunged forward, claws extended, aiming a Slash attack at Gible.
"Too impatient."
Ace shook his head, seeing this. He knew Gible had won because it had intentionally created that opening for Torchic.
Gible, who had been staggering a moment ago, instantly stabilized its body, spun around, and unleashed a Dragon Claw that collided with Torchic's claws.
Crack!
A sound of bone breaking echoed, and Torchic's leg was bent at a strange angle, completely shattered by Gible's Dragon Claw.
Roar!
Gible let out a roar of rage, raising its short arms in the air with all its might. In the next moment, a flash of evolutionary light enveloped it. Gible had finally accumulated enough strength to evolve successfully!
When the light faded, a Gabite stood in its place.
Meanwhile, Ace spent five mission points to instantly heal Torchic's injuries.
Ace stroked the still-unconvinced Torchic and said, "That's enough. It's time to evolve. Only when you evolve into Combusken will you be able to make a breakthrough in close combat. Not having arms is a major disadvantage."
As Ace spoke, he removed a small stone from Torchic—an Everstone!
Hearing Ace's words, Torchic leaped up, let out a loud cry toward Gabite, and was enveloped in a shroud of flame. A flash of evolutionary light shimmered within the flames, and when the flames subsided, a Combusken stood by Ace's side.
Pokémon: Gabite
Gender: Male
Level: 38
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Adamant
Potential: Excellent
Egg Moves: Outrage
Moves: Dragon Rage, Dragon Claw, Dual Chop, Dig, Dragon Rush…
...
Pokémon: Combusken
Gender: Male
Level: 36
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Adamant
Potential: Superior
Egg Moves: Reversal
Moves: Flame Charge, Bulk Up, Sky Uppercut, Fire Punch…
...
After they evolved, Combusken and Gabite took a moment to get used to their new bodies. Then, Combusken beckoned to Gabite, gesturing for a rematch.
In the next moment, the two Pokémon clashed again before instantly separating. They looked at each other, their post-evolution strength now perfectly equal.
Ace didn't have time to worry about them anymore and walked over to Lapras.
With the training experience Blaine had written down, Ace combined it with his own practical methods to train Lapras, and its strength was improving rapidly.
Currently, Lapras was battling Crobat. The ground was littered with ice shards and spikes, a clear sign that both Pokémon were fighting with intensity.
Crobat flew in the air, its body coated in a layer of purplish-black Poison crystals. With each flap of its wings, a fine, dust-like poison was released into the surrounding air. If a normal person inhaled even a little, they would be fatally poisoned within a minute.
"Pause for a moment."
Ace decisively called a halt, frowning as he looked at Crobat. "You're developing in the wrong direction. That dust-based method has too low of a fault tolerance."
Hearing Ace's words, the two Pokémon instantly stopped. The poison crystals on Crobat's body began to soften, gradually being absorbed back into it.