A week has passed by since the events at Lavender Woods.
A lot had changed with Eric in that week. First, he went with the Ayame sisters to Celadon. They insisted on repaying their debts, so Eric asked them if they had something Poliwag could use to evolve.
They told him they had a core of an Advanced-level Poliwrath, who had A+ potential and asked if that was fine.
Eric immediately agreed. Thus, he went to Celadon City to collect it.
"Welcome back Haruko, Misako. How was your tri- Haruko! Your hands! What happened?"
When they reached the Ayame household, they were greeted by an overly energetic man, who was the father of the two sisters. Upon seeing Haruko's hands, he immediately bombarded them with questions.
"Dad, Dad- Calm down!" Haruko shouted helplessly. She then explained everything to him.
After that, the first thing the father did was turn to Eric and bow down 90 degrees.
"Thank you for saving Misako! My name is Ayame Shinta! Please stay as long as you want and tell me what you need. The Ayame always repay their debts."
There it was. The Ayame catchphrase.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it. I already asked them what I need."
Eric said flatly as he pointed at the two sisters.
But Shinta interjected.
"No! Whatever they give you is for their debt. My debt to you is separate. You helped my daughter, so let me repay you."
Eric shrugged. He wasn't one to refuse free resources. He then pulled out the Growlithe egg from his backpack.
"This little one will be born soon. However, it is in an anomalous state. I want something that will stabilise, or even improve its potential."
Shinta observed the egg closely.
"Oh! It's a Growlithe egg! Then you are in luck. Arcanine is the signature Pokémon of our family."
He then grabbed Eric's arm and dragged him deeper inside the estate.
They reached an open field, where a lot of Pokémon were resting. Many of them were from the Growlithe line. Shinta continued dragging Eric till they reached an Arcanine that was quite a lot bigger than the rest.
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Pokémon: Arcanine
Gender: Female
Level: 61
Type: Fire
Ability: Intimidate
Held Item: Charcoal
Potential: Light Gold
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Eric almost jumped up in fright. It was only yesterday that he barely escaped from a Pseudo-king class Pokémon. And here he was, standing in front of a genuine King class Pokémon. And it had gold potential to boot!
Eric took a few seconds to calm down. He then observed the Arcanine in front of him. Unlike the Druddigon from before, this Arcanine didn't exert as much pressure. The environment around them didn't change like it did the moment Druddigon showed up.
Yet, there was a regal aura emanating from Arcanine that made something deep within Eric tell him not to mess with her.
Eric understood why they were called King Class Pokemon. A king didn't need to go around showing off their power to look imposing.
They didn't have to prove anything. Just their mere presence was enough to tell their status.
Arcanine looked at him curiously, making Eric a bit nervous. She then moved towards him. All the hair in Eric's body stood up from fright.
'What was she planning to do?'
As Eric was wondering, the Arcanine got closer to him...and then licked his face!
Gone was the majesticness of a King.
'Weren't you a King? Why are you acting like a normal dog?'
"Oh? Looks like Luna likes you."
Shinta said as he ruffled the Arcanine's mane.
"Luna, this kid helped save Misako's life. Help him, will you?"
After hearing that, Arcanine was even more affectionate towards Eric.
Eventually, she stepped back, allowing Eric to show her the Growlithe egg.
Before Eric could explain, Arcanine took it. Fire-type energy surged around her and the Growlithe egg.
Eric was worried, but Shinta put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry. She is giving that Growlithe something extremely valuable. Even I didn't think she'd go that far."
Shinta said as he observed Eric closely, as a mad scientist would do to their subject.
'Is there something about this boy?'
Eventually, Arcanine was done. She looked a bit worn out. Shinta brought her some Poke blocks as he ruffled her mane.
"This is something unique to the Arcanine line. They can pass down some of their experience to an unborn Growlithe through the 'will of fire'."
Will of fire?
Eric then checked Growlithe's status
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Pokémon: Growlithe
Gender: Male
Level: 1
Type: Fire
Ability: Intimidate
Held Item: None
Potential: Light Purple
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His potential went all the way up to light purple!
This was beyond what Eric expected. With that alone, this trip was worth it.
Afterwards, Eric received the Poliwrath core from Misako. Then, after staying over for a meal, he bade farewell to everyone and went on his way.
Eric then wanted to go to the Celadon City black market to sell all the Pokémon he caught and see what it's like. But this black market was different from Redwood. It didn't give access to everyone. To gain access, they either needed connections, fame or at minimum be an intermediate-level trainer.
Eric had neither of those qualifications, so he left disappointedly.
Fame had its own uses, he realised.
Eric was running out of money, so, having no choice, he returned to the Redwood black market and sold everything he caught. This time, Eric was fully confident in his capabilities. His Haunter could already match intermediate-level Pokémon, and that was a big deal in Redwood.
Robert was taken aback by the number of Pokémon Eric brought back. This kid kept giving him surprises.
In all, Eric earned about 12 million Pokedollars! This was the most money he'd gained by far.
After buying supplies, Eric spent the rest of the week training in Redwood Forest.
Once there, Eric got into a spree of picking fights with different Pokémon territories. He didn't kill any Pokémon, just beat them into submission.
Most of these territories were run by Intermediate-level Pokemon, like the Beedrill territory. These were the only ones who could give Haunter a challenge.
Eric wanted to increase his strength as fast as possible after what happened in Lavender Woods.
But after having a talk with the Ayame sisters and remembering his journey till now, he didn't let the desire for strength consume him.
In a way, he was maturing.
After a week of intense training, these were the stats of his Pokémon:
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Pokémon: Haunter
Gender: Male
Level: 33
Type: Ghost/Poison
Ability: Levitate
Held Item: ???'s Fragment (40% absorbed)
Potential: Purple
Energy Grade:
Ghost type - Grade 4 (initial)
Poison type - Grade 3 (initial)
Fire type - Grade 0 (peak)
Moves: Lick(B++), Hypnosis(I), Confuse Ray(I), Astonish(B+++), Disable(I), Clear smog(I), Toxic(I), Ghost Ball(I++), Hex(I), Protect(I), Will-O-Wisp(I), Shadow Ball(B+++)
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Pokémon: Fearow
Gender: Female
Level: 27
Type: Normal/Flying
Ability: Keen Eye
Held Item: None
Potential: Green
Energy Grade:
Flying-type: Grade 2(mid)
Normal-type: Grade 2(Initial)
Moves: Leer(B), Aerial Ace(I), Pursuit(B+++), Growl(B), Peck(I), Fury attack(B+++), Feint attack(B+++), Protect(I), Steel wing(B+++)
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Pokémon: Poliwhirl
Gender: Male
Level: 27
Type: Water
Ability: Swift Swim
Held Item: None
Potential: Blue
Energy Grade:
Water type: Grade 2(Peak)
Moves: Water Gun(I), Hypnosis(B+++), Mud Shot(B+++), Pound(B+++), Bubble beam(B+++), Muddy Water(B+++), Water Pulse(B+++), Protect(I), Rain Dance (B++)
---
Poliwag had evolved in this past week, pushing his potential all the way up the Blue Level!
Haunter reached the intermediate-level and finally regained control over his Ghost-type energy.
Fearow had improved a lot as well, but was now starting to lag behind a little. It couldn't be helped. Even though she worked very hard, she couldn't compete with the other's who also worked hard and had a higher potential.
Eric wouldn't abandon her over that though. Whether she lagged behind the others or not didn't matter to him. He had grown attached to Fearow and wouldn't treat her unfairly.
With that, Eric's Pokemon had reached a new level of power. Whether it be in levels, or energy control, or move mastery.
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