Blaze walked up to Charizard with a stunned look on his face. As he stared at the majestic, overbearing Charizard, he was practically drooling.
As a Trainer who specialized in Fire-type Pokémon, he had an instinctive fondness for them. And Charizard happened to be both his strongest Pokémon and his favorite.
So seeing Aaron's Charizard, how could he not feel envious?
"I've got to say... Aaron, your Charizard is way too cool, isn't it?"
"I thought mine was already huge, but yours is even bigger."
Blaze said this with obvious envy.
Aaron glanced at Blaze's Charizard in the distance. It really was quite large.
A normal Charizard was only around 1.7 meters tall.
His own Charizard had reached a terrifying 3 meters.
Blaze's Champion-potential Charizard was also 2.5 meters tall, so its strength definitely wasn't something to underestimate.
"You're not bad yourself... hahaha."
Aaron smiled and replied.
"When you have time... let my Charizard battle yours. We'll see whose Charizard is the strongest."
A flicker of crimson flame flashed in Blaze's eyes. He was brimming with fighting spirit as he spoke excitedly.
Aaron's eyes narrowed slightly, having caught that flicker.
He guessed Blaze was probably also a human who had awakened psychic power, one related to flames.
Still, Aaron wasn't too surprised.
Someone who could rank second on the national Hidden Dragon Ranking was hardly an ordinary person.
Hearing Blaze's challenge, Aaron's lips curved into a smile.
"Alright!"
"I'm definitely taking the title of strongest Charizard!"
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried absolute certainty.
"Hahahaha!"
Blaze burst out laughing.
"Then let's see if you've really got what it takes..."
His eyes were equally full of confidence.
It was obvious that he had complete faith in his own Charizard.
...
Over the next few days, everyone simply ate when they were hungry and slept when they were tired.
Since they had all brought food and tents with them, life was pretty dull.
During those three days, Aaron had gotten quite familiar with Blaze, Braveon, and Liora, the girl with the Hydreigon.
To put it simply, they had all been lured in by Aaron's grilled fish.
Once Aaron treated them to it a single time, that was the end of it.
They completely latched onto him after that.
Liora, in particular, was clearly a bit of a foodie.
She simply couldn't resist the smell of Aaron's grilled fish. With her chubby little face flushed red, she came over and asked him for some, saying she would only take one small bite.
But the moment she took the first bite, she completely forgot what she had said just a second earlier.
She instantly turned into a ravenous little wolf girl and devoured the fish at a speed that left even Aaron speechless.
She ate six whole fish.
Braveon and Blaze looked like they were about to cry from the side. Those had been their fish.
After finishing, Liora let out a small burp, then immediately blushed and apologized awkwardly to the three of them, looking just like a little girl who had done something wrong.
The three of them weren't petty, so they didn't hold it against her. Instead, they ended up becoming friends.
...
Just like that, three days passed in a flash.
The time was up.
All the Pokémon opened their eyes, a strange look flashing through them.
The Trainers quickly asked whether their Pokémon had managed to comprehend any Apotheosis-tier skills.
Unfortunately, the Pokémon all shook their heads in disappointment.
Still, it wasn't as though the trip had been useless. After this round of insight, they were convinced they would definitely be able to comprehend Apotheosis-tier skills in the future.
...
At that moment, Aaron checked the status panels of his six Pokémon.
To his surprise, he discovered that two of them had actually comprehended Apotheosis-tier skills.
One of them was, of course, the cheat-like Greninja, which Aaron didn't find too surprising.
What really surprised him was the second one.
It was Beedrill.
That truly caught him off guard.
But more than anything, Aaron was delighted.
What a huge profit.
Beedrill had previously lacked any Apotheosis-tier skill. Now it finally had some real presence.
The Apotheosis-tier skill Greninja had comprehended was:
[Skill Name: Ice Punch]
[Type: Ice]
[Power: 150 (Apotheosis-tier power doubled)]
[Level: Apotheosis]
[Cast Speed: Instant (Priority +1)]
[Description: Attacks the enemy with an ice-cold fist. Sometimes may leave the target frozen...]
[Special Effect: On hit, has a 100% chance to freeze the enemy. Freeze duration depends on the difference in strength. Afterward, the enemy's Speed is reduced by 2 levels...]
[Description: Move, and I'll freeze you. Don't struggle. You're already frozen.]
...
150 power.
And the special effect was a guaranteed freeze, followed by a 2-stage Speed drop.
High damage plus crowd control. Skills like this were the most disgusting to deal with.
Fortunately, it belonged to his own Pokémon.
That didn't feel disgusting at all. It felt incredible.
Aaron thought shamelessly to himself.
Next came the Apotheosis-tier skill comprehended by Beedrill.
[Skill Name: Twineedle]
[Type: Bug]
[Power: 50 (Apotheosis-tier power doubled)]
[Level: Apotheosis]
[Cast Speed: Instant (Priority +1)]
[Description: Strikes the enemy twice with two stingers, dealing two consecutive hits. Sometimes may also poison the target...]
[Special Effect: Raises the user's Attack by 2 levels. On hit, has a 100% chance to poison the enemy...]
[Description: Two strikes are all it takes. No explanation needed.]
...
Twineedle was Beedrill's main offensive skill.
If it hit, the target was basically finished.
It also raised Attack by 2 stages and guaranteed poison.
For a Beedrill with the Suzumebachi ability, that was really just icing on the cake.
It didn't have much practical value, because anything hit by it usually died on the spot anyway, so whether it got poisoned or not didn't really matter.
Still, it was fine.
At least now Beedrill had an Apotheosis-tier skill too.
This trip to the Insight Zone could be considered a perfect ending.
Two Apotheosis-tier skills.
One Charizard with immense potential.
An absolute blood profit.
...