Sirfetch'd heard Auron's call and paused, exchanged a glance with Lucario, then tucked its leek away and waddled over.
"Here — this is for you."
Auron smiled at the approaching Galarian Farfetch'd, then tossed the stone in his hand.
"Ya?"
Sirfetch'd caught the white stone Auron threw, tilted its head, and stared at it in confusion.
"Speed Gem. Once you start training with it, your speed will keep increasing."
"Ya!"
Sirfetch'd startled, then hastily lifted the stone in its hand to examine it. When nothing revealed itself on closer inspection, it held the stone up toward the sun for another look.
"Haha."
Auron burst out laughing at Sirfetch'd's antics. It was a held item, for crying out loud — what was staring at the sun supposed to accomplish?
Still smiling, Auron walked over and affixed the Speed Gem to the portable Pokémon carrier around Sirfetch'd's neck.
Once it was secured, Auron reached down and patted Sirfetch'd's head. "Alright — now go train hard, okay?"
"Ya!"
Sirfetch'd looked up at Auron with profound gratitude, then nodded firmly and turned back to draw its leek, charging right back at Lucario.
"Patted Sirfetch'd's head — achievement unlocked!"
Auron pumped his fist in excitement. Sirfetch'd had been hatched for ages now, and he'd finally — finally — gotten to pat its head.
"But I've still got one left. The Special Attack Gem — who do I give this to?"
Auron fished another stone out of his pocket, mumbling to himself.
These gems came in six varieties: Attack Gem, Special Attack Gem, Defense Gem, Special Defense Gem, Speed Gem, and HP Gem.
Gems were similar to the training devices from games — in theory, they all boosted EVs.
The real world didn't have an "Effort Values" system per se, but when a Pokémon carried a specific gem and trained the same way as one without it, the one with the gem would see noticeably stronger growth in that particular stat.
What made gems different from training devices was that gems were consumable held items.
You equipped them and used them, but after a certain period, they were depleted.
There was another type of item that could also boost "EVs," but its effect was weaker than a gem's, and it had major restrictions.
Take the Attack Gem for comparison — the item that could boost physical Attack EVs. The Attack Gem had no special conditions for use, but the "sources" that performed the same function had several.
First: the sources could only be used by Pokémon at the novice stage.
Second: each Pokémon could only use one of each type of source, ever.
In other words, for Attack, Special Attack, Defense, Special Defense, Speed, and HP — you could only ever use one source per stat. Using more than one had no effect.
Gems didn't have this limitation. No matter how many you'd used before, each one still worked.
Of course, gems were far rarer and more valuable than the "sources."
"Huh… I don't think I have a single pure special attacker on the team."
Auron scratched his head, suddenly frustrated. Now that he thought about it — Crobat, Charizard, Electabrush, even Crawdaunt — he ran all of them as mixed attackers. He hadn't dedicated any of his Pokémon purely to one stat.
Snorlax and Sirfetch'd were obviously physical attackers, through and through.
Which meant he had no pure special attackers like Gengar or Alakazam.
Auron propped his chin on his hand, staring blankly. "Let me think… pure special attackers worth using. Deoxys aside: Gengar, Alakazam, Charizard, Heliolisk is pretty solid too, and then Mewtwo, Primal Kyogre—"
Slap!
Auron smacked his own handsome face mid-sentence.
"What am I thinking — Mewtwo? Kyogre? I'm lucky to have Deoxys and that's it."
"Which means the practical options are: Gengar, Alakazam, Heliolisk, Gardevoir, Volcarona, and Magnezone."
"Gengar's the obvious first choice. After that, Heliolisk and Magnezone. Alakazam and Gardevoir are both Psychic-types, and I've already got Deoxys for that role. Volcarona overlaps with Charizard."
Auron ran through the list, his eyes growing brighter. At the same time, he activated his Aura and spread it outward.
"Shame Gengar isn't here — otherwise I'd take him speed-dating."
Auron pouted. If Gengar was around, he'd drag the Ghost-Type clear over to Shangjing Dragonpool Park, where the matchmaking events weren't just for humans.
Gengar was exactly the type who'd never make a move on his own.
"Jiji?"
"Hm? Gengar, why did you come out? There's no danger here, is there?"
Auron looked surprised as Gengar hopped out of his shadow.
"Jiji?"
Gengar scratched its head, equally puzzled. It didn't understand why it had come out either. But it had felt a wave of malice just now, shivered, and instinctively portaled out.
"I'm a bit busy — go entertain yourself if you're bored. And remember, no scaring people."
"Jiji…"
Gengar nodded, bewildered, then turned and walked to the bleachers. It plopped down on a bench, looking so well-behaved and pitiful that Auron's heart twinged.
"Jiji?"
(What… was that?)
Back at the house — Auron let out a disappointed sigh when he couldn't find Gengar.
"Gengar's not an option. Why are all of Dad's Pokémon such guys'-guys? Gengar, Komoo, Lucario, Steelix — all of them."
"Oh wait — hold on!"
Auron lit up and grabbed his phone.
"Hello? Uncle Mo — does your Magnezone have a mate? No? Would it be open to one?"
Mo Qiangcheng: …???
…
Time flew by, and before Auron knew it, two days had passed. His National Day holiday was over.
"Time to go, Xiao Ze."
"Yeah."
After breakfast at home, Auron climbed into his grandmother's car, heading to school. Liu Xiangjun was driving — the two of them heading to the same place: one to attend class, one to teach it.
Auron Mum was already at her Pokémon store, and Auron Dad and Lu Xing Guo were off at the research institute.
Because of the secrecy around the Deoxys versus Rayquaza battle, neither Auron Mum nor Liu Xiangjun had been allowed to watch it live.
With nothing else to do at home, Auron Mum had simply opened the store again.
The moment she'd unlocked the door, the guy who'd caused trouble that day was dragged in by his own father to apologize.
Auron Mum didn't say much — she just waved them off.
There was no way she could take it seriously. The guy was so beat up he was practically unrecognizable — his puffy face had gotten even puffier, his flat rear had gone perky. She was terrified that if they didn't leave soon, she'd crack up laughing.
Auron Dad and Lu Xing Guo hadn't gotten involved in the situation at all. The moment they heard an apology had been offered, they let it go.
The past few days had been chaos at the institute anyway. The data from Deoxys and Rayquaza had them drowning in work.
Rayquaza was manageable, but Deoxys's ability to switch between forms had the research team analyzing battle footage around the clock.
Deoxys was Auron's Pokémon, sure — but it was still a Legendary, and Legendaries had their pride. Nobody had dared ask Deoxys to come in for direct study.
So the whole team was stuck watching recordings, picking apart the data and abilities of each form, over and over again.
(This chapter is complete.)
———
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