After defeating Leon and completing the system's choice mission, the Plate Aiden received as his reward turned out to be the Meadow Plate.
With the Meadow Plate in hand, his Sceptile—the Hoenn starter Pokémon he had received from Professor Birch—finally broke through once again after reaching Level 89, the peak of the Master tier.
That breakthrough also allowed Aiden to discover something important about Pokémon potential.
For Pokémon with Gold potential, without external assistance or extraordinary opportunities, Level 89—the peak of the Master tier—was their natural limit.
Sceptile, Milotic, Pidgeot, and several of his earliest and strongest partners had all reached Level 89.
Unlike the bottlenecks at the Elite Four, Champion, and Master tiers, which they had overcome relatively smoothly, every one of them had remained stuck at the peak of the Master tier for over half a year without making any further progress.
The same was true for most of his Pokémon with Red potential.
Shiny golden Aggron, Metagross, Salamence, Dragonite, Shiny golden Lucario, Garchomp, the Shiny golden Gyarados, and the Shiny silver Gyarados...
Aside from Infernape, which had been rewarded by the system, none of them had crossed that barrier.
Perhaps Infernape had only managed to advance into the Grandmaster tier because it possessed the power of the Flame Plate.
As for Pokémon with Red potential, they had not yet fully exhausted their own latent potential.
Exactly how far they could ultimately go remained unknown.
Of course, the two newly captured Shiny Gyarados had been improving at remarkable speed.
Even so, they had only recently reached the Elite Four tier.
Reaching the peak of the Master tier would still take a very long time.
Because of this, Aiden's newer main battle Pokémon had gradually begun catching up.
Now that he possessed the Meadow Plate, Pokémon such as Sceptile, Serperior, Torterra, and Leafeon finally had a way to continue breaking through.
Pokémon with Purple potential, without outside assistance, could generally only reach the peak of the Elite Four tier.
Those with Red potential, however, possessed the possibility of surpassing the Grandmaster threshold.
Ultimately, the true measure of a Pokémon's strength lay in whether it could break beyond the limits of the Master tier—the final boundary of ordinary Pokémon.
Only after crossing that wall could it truly become extraordinary.
Even for Pokémon blessed with Red potential, however, advancing beyond the Master tier was an incredibly difficult task.
Despite Aiden's ever-growing roster, only one of his ordinary Pokémon had successfully entered the Grandmaster tier—
Infernape.
If he wanted to defeat Leon using only ordinary Pokémon...
He still needed one final opportunity.
One final breakthrough.
...
"Venusaur."
"I want to catch you."
"Fight me."
"If you lose, you and your entire colony will come with me."
Hearing Aiden's challenge and sensing the overwhelming aura radiating from him, the king of the Venusaur colony slowly opened its eyes.
Its enormous body rose to its feet.
By rough estimation, the Venusaur stood nearly eight meters long and wide.
The giant flower blooming on its back measured almost six meters across.
It looked every bit like a wild raid boss.
"Venu!"
With a thunderous roar from Venusaur, Aiden calmly took out a Luxury Ball.
A flash of white light appeared.
A lithe and elegant Flareon emerged.
The Eeveelutions he had evolved later had now all reached the peak of the Elite Four tier.
They were only one step away from becoming Champion-level Pokémon.
However, thanks to the Flame Plate, Flareon was by far the strongest among them.
There could hardly be a better opponent for Venusaur.
"Flareon!"
"Use Flamethrower!"
At Aiden's command, Flareon opened its mouth and unleashed a torrent of blazing fire straight toward Venusaur.
Facing such powerful flames, Venusaur dared not underestimate its opponent.
In the next instant, countless razor-sharp leaves shot forward like flying blades.
It was Razor Leaf.
The Razor Leaf unleashed by this Venusaur was astonishingly powerful.
The leaves clashed head-on with the flames and did not immediately burn away.
Moments later, Venusaur followed up with Vine Whip.
Thick, dark-green vines lashed outward, completely dispersing Flareon's Flamethrower.
"Not bad."
"Flareon, Fire Blast!"
Hearing Aiden's command once again, Flareon gritted its teeth.
It was a Fire-type Pokémon.
Yet its attack had just been neutralized by a Grass-type whose strength was lower than its own.
How could it possibly swallow that humiliation?
Filled with determination, Flareon opened its mouth once more.
An even more powerful blaze erupted.
The flames formed the shape of a massive Chinese character for "great" before crashing directly into the enormous flower on Venusaur's back.
Venusaur cried out in pain after taking the direct hit.
Even so, it quickly recovered and retaliated by launching an Energy Ball.
"Flareon!"
"Use Quick Attack to dodge!"
"Then hit it with another Fire Blast!"
Although Venusaur had lived for over a century and possessed incredible recovery ability and battle instincts, it still could not match Flareon.
After all, Flareon was a Fire-type Pokémon with Champion-level strength.
More importantly...
It had Aiden directing every move.
Not long afterward, Aiden tossed another Luxury Ball.
The massive Venusaur was successfully captured.
It officially became his newest Pokémon.
After their leader had been captured, the remaining Venusaur, Ivysaur, and Bulbasaur all became visibly restless.
Soon afterward, Aiden released Venusaur once more.
Having personally experienced the wonders of the system's internal world, Venusaur willingly agreed to bring its entire colony into Aiden's space.
Although Aiden had already gathered numerous Pokémon colonies there...
Compared to the vastness of the world itself, they were still insignificant.
Inside the system space lay endless forests and thriving wilderness where the Venusaur family could live, reproduce, and flourish.
For any wild Pokémon, it was an ideal home.
Under Venusaur's leadership, hundreds of Venusaur, Ivysaur, and Bulbasaur entered Aiden's system space together as its newest residents.
Just after Aiden finished settling the entire colony, the two Gardevoir sisters suddenly appeared before him.
"Master."
"Mewtwo sent us a message."
"Both it and Deoxys have discovered traces of Tyranitar."
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