Are the Sitrus Berries all gone? The first thought in Ash and the others' minds upon hearing this was: you must be joking, right?
Do you know how many Sitrus Berries are here? Not to say hundreds of thousands, but there are estimated to be at least a hundred thousand. Telling a joke like the Sitrus Berries are all gone is a bit too much of a deception.
But when everyone looked at the staff member's face, that nervous expression didn't look like he was joking.
Nana's slightly amused expression instantly froze and turned solemn: "Take me there to see!"
Ash and the other two exchanged glances and quickly followed Nana. They wanted to see who exactly was the fellow capable of sweeping away all the Sitrus Berries on Fruit Seven Islands; surely it couldn't be those three from Team Rockets again?
Walking at a fast pace, they followed Nana to the location of the "Sitrus Berry thief" in less than three minutes.
It was an extremely massive figure, looking larger than Ash and the other two stacked together, with deep blue skin, broad palms and feet, and a somewhat simple-minded expression, devouring Sitrus Berries one by one—isn't that the glutton Snorlax?
"So it's a Snorlax—I was wondering what Pokémon could finish off the Sitrus Berries on an entire island. If it's a Snorlax, then it makes sense."
"Don't just stand there analyzing, Ash! Quickly help Miss Nana think of a way. If this keeps up, all the Sitrus Berries will be eaten!" Serena said with some anxiety.
By now, the Snorlax had already eaten the surrounding Sitrus Berries clean. At its speed, it could basically finish off a Sitrus Berry tree every few seconds, not even sparing the trunks, and even digging up the roots!
If this continued, it wouldn't just be the Sitrus Berries that were gone, but even the Sitrus Berry trees would be completely eaten!
Planting Sitrus Berry trees requires many harsh conditions, along with very meticulous care, to allow them to thrive. Don't look at how many Sitrus Berry trees are here; in reality, this is the result of the hard work of generations on Fruit Seven Islands.
If even the roots are gone, then everything will have to start over. This would definitely be a very heavy blow to the people of Fruit Seven Islands.
"Damn it, stop eating! Let go!" Some staff members nearby, after their initial shock, also rushed forward trying to stop Snorlax.
If some wild Pokémon wanted to eat Berries, the staff generally wouldn't drive them away; if eating one or two Berries could fill their bellies, they'd let them eat.
But this Snorlax was different. This wasn't just eating Berries; this was eating their lives!
If they let this Snorlax keep eating, the efforts of their ancestors would all go down the drain!
However, when several staff members came before Snorlax and tried to pull it away, Snorlax continued to ignore them and ate the pomelos in its hands. After it finished the twenty pomelos in its hands, Snorlax gave its massive body a shake, directly sending the staff members flying.
The attempt by several staff members to surround and stop it was completely ineffective against Snorlax; it was as if it didn't even feel anyone was trying to stop it.
"Ash, use a Pokémon to suppress Snorlax!" Misty suggested to Ash.
"I was thinking the same thing. Pikachu, I'm counting on you!" Ash nodded and with a wave of his hand, the Pikachu at his feet lunged out.
At this moment, Snorlax's information appeared in Ash's mind.
[Species: Snorlax]
[Gender: Male]
[Type: Normal-type]
[Level: High-level Superior]
[Ability: Gluttony]
[Skills: Butterfly Stroke, Body Slam, Rest, Sleep Talk, High Horsepower, Giga Impact, Hyper Beam, Ice Punch—]
—]
[six-dimensional stats: attack S (S), special attack A (A), defense A (A), special defense A (A), hp S (S), speed S (S)]
Ash: —?
Ash rubbed his eyes, thinking for a moment he had misread it, but when he carefully focused his mind on Snorlax again, Snorlax's information hadn't changed at all; it still had the potential of three As and three Ss.
Holy cow, this is a Snorlax?! Is this just some random Pokémon encountered on the roadside?
Can someone tell him, what is that Butterfly Stroke? What's with that Superior level? And what on earth is that triple-S potential?
When did a Snorlax's speed ever reach S-rank?
Although the S-rank here was just the speed potential, comparing it to the potential within its own species.
In other words, this Snorlax was definitely among the fastest of its kind; perhaps only one Snorlax with this kind of speed would appear out of a hundred thousand. But—even if it's fast compared to its peers, it's still just a Snorlax.
Even a Snorlax with top-tier speed shouldn't be able to beat a Pikachu with average speed; this is determined by the innate racial limits of the Pokémon.
But then again, precisely because Snorlax's speed is generally slow, it's even harder for them to have S-rank potential.
Generally speaking, for a Pokémon like Snorlax, the probability of having S-rank speed is several times harder than for other Pokémon with normal speed, while Snorlax's hp and defense potential are generally more prone to being quite high.
This is called a Pokémon's stat bias. Like Ash's Blastoise, when they first met, its other stats were okay, but its speed was very slow; this was because of Squirtle's innate attribute bias.
So this Snorlax with S-rank speed was simply an anomaly among anomalies. Besides the ridiculous speed, its other five dimensions were also terrifying, with three As and two Ss. Overall, the triple-S potential meant Snorlax had the potential to advance to the God Domain Level.
Even among Ash's many gifted Pokémon, this Snorlax could hold its own. If calculated by initial talent, only Charizard and Gardevoir's talent could rival or surpass this Snorlax.
Ash never expected that coming to buy Berries would lead to encountering such a gifted Snorlax.
Although this Snorlax seemed to be quite the eater, with Ash's assets, raising this Snorlax was definitely more than enough. Moreover, there were some specially made Energy Roots that could instantly fill a Snorlax's gluttonous stomach.
Those were specifically developed for Snorlax. If not for those, unless the Trainers were all top-tier wealthy like Ash, the cost of a single meal would bankrupt them!
Before those Energy Roots were developed, even though Snorlax was a Pokémon with very good strength and was quite rare, some people wouldn't dare to catch one even if they encountered it, precisely because of Snorlax's terrifying appetite.
But now that those Energy Roots exist, many people can afford even a gluttonous Snorlax. Then the problem arises again: the Energy Roots are developed, but where do you find a Snorlax?
Snorlax is also an extremely rare Pokémon with unknown habitats. You might see a Snorlax in any region or place, which conversely means they are quite hard to find.
Encountering a Snorlax with such terrifying talent today, Ash felt like Togepi had worked its magic. If he didn't catch it, he'd be letting down Togepi's luck buff!
"Pikachu, strike first with Quick Attack!"
"Pika!!" Pikachu kicked off hard, its body shooting out like a bolt of lightning. The staff members nearby only caught a glimpse of a yellow stream of light flashing past, and in the next second, Pikachu slammed hard into Snorlax's belly.
The Snorlax, which had been sitting on the ground feasting, was actually knocked back several meters!
But Pikachu was also sent flying on the spot by the counterforce from Snorlax's soft belly. It spun several times in the air, dizzy, before barely stabilizing itself and stumbling back to the ground.
Clearly the one attacking, why was it bounced back even further instead? Was this Snorlax's defense actually terrifying to this extent?
"Ash, is Pikachu's condition... a bit off?" Misty's brow furrowed slightly as she leaned in and whispered into Ash's ear, her warm breath brushing against his earlobe, making it itch.
"There's no problem, Pikachu's in great shape. It's just that Snorlax is too strong," Ash replied without thinking.
"Is that really it?" Misty lightly tapped her chin with her finger, a look of doubt crossing her face. She always felt something was weird, but she couldn't say exactly what was wrong.
In fact, Misty's feeling was correct. As expected of a Gym Leader, she saw Pikachu's abnormality at a glance. This was Pikachu's current status panel.
[Species: Pikachu (2nd transformation)]
[Gender: Male]
[Type: electric-type]
[Level: Gym Leader Level]
[Ability: Static]
[Skills: Thunderbolt, High Voltage Shock, Thunder, Electric Terrain—]
[six-dimensional stats: attack S (S), special attack S (S), defense B—A (A), special defense B—A (A), hp A—S (S), speed S (S)]
The originally three S-rank stats had increased to four. Compared to the jump from six As to three As and three Ss during the 1st transformation, the boost from the 2nd transformation wasn't actually that large.
But in reality, for every S-rank talent added, the difficulty increased exponentially. Regardless of how much help the added talent could give the Pokémon, trying to grow it was extremely difficult.
For an ordinary Pokémon, let alone raising potential to S-rank, even going from B to A is harder than reaching the heavens.
Generally speaking, a Pokémon's potential cannot be changed; only the miraculous power possessed by Ash's Pikachu could allow its potential to be altered. At this rate, by the 4th transformation, Pikachu would be able to reach six S-rank potential.
If it were the 5th transformation—who knows what would happen.
The big shots in the group had actually said that the boosts from reincarnation varied. In some parallel worlds, Pikachu only raised all its abilities to S-rank at the 6th transformation, while others were as gifted as his Pikachu, needing only four transformations to reach six S-ranks.
As for what would happen further up, the big shots in the group who had reached that realm said Ash should explore it himself, as that would be more interesting.
So until now, Ash didn't know what the realm above six S-rank talent was; that was still far off for him.
After advancing to the 2nd transformation, Pikachu's stats also began to level off. Now only the defense and hp stats still fluctuated, while the other stats could be fixed.
For Pikachu, fixing the stats was a matter of extraordinary significance.
Because previously, when Pikachu's stats were fluctuating, no matter how much its level increased, its stats wouldn't change, whereas other Pokémon's stats would generally drop by half a rank to a full rank as their level increased.
And after Pikachu's stats were fixed, they still had the same effect as when they were fluctuating; that is, the stats would not change as the level increased. This was equivalent to saying that no matter what level Pikachu reached, it could quickly reach the top state for that level!
This not only saved a lot of effort but also saved a lot of time.
This time could allow Pikachu to leave other Pokémon in the dust in terms of leveling up. This was one of the reasons why Pikachu's level, although lowered after reincarnation, quickly rose back up in a short time.
Pikachu was currently at its weakest, but Ash was certain that in less than a month, Pikachu would be able to return to its original level.
But for now—Gym Leader Level was just Gym Leader Level. After a Quick Attack, under Snorlax's soft fat, it didn't even manage to one-shot Snorlax.
Let alone a one-shot, it probably didn't even break its defense by much.
On one hand, this Snorlax was tough enough, and on the other hand, Pikachu's strength had dropped.
"Snor!!" Snorlax ordinary ignored attacks, but that Tackle just now had actually hurt it. This time, Snorlax finally shifted its gaze from the Berries to Pikachu, its simple-minded expression turning angry.
Obviously, Pikachu's act of interrupting its meal made Snorlax very dissatisfied!
"Snorlax, these Sitrus Berries were planted with great effort by others. If you want to eat, I'll let you eat your fill after I catch you. For now, stop wasting other people's food!" Ash shouted loudly, trying to appeal to reason and emotion to get Snorlax to give up the Sitrus Berries.
But a hungry Snorlax wouldn't listen to anything. It patted its massive belly and then suddenly charged!
"So fast!" Amidst Misty's exclamation, Snorlax had already arrived in front of Pikachu and slammed down hard—Body Slam!
Dodge it!
"Pika!" Pikachu leaped backward, dodging Snorlax's Body Slam. Snorlax's massive body crashed onto the ground with a deafening thud, and the surrounding ground even shook three times. One could imagine just how terrifying Snorlax's weight was.