Tyranitar swept out with its sandstorm tail, and combined with the Stone Edge that suddenly thrust straight upward while Mega Salamence was being sent flying, it directly destroyed any possibility of Zinnia winning. By this point, Mega Salamence, engulfed by the explosive shockwave, looked extremely weak even when simply flapping its wings.
In this state, Mega Salamence could revert to its normal form at any moment due to exhaustion.
Zinnia’s command caught in her throat. Looking at Mega Salamence’s unwilling-to-lose expression and its panting state, she ultimately couldn’t bring herself to give the order. Shaking her head, she said, “I concede.”
“Once we become stronger, we’ll come challenge you again.”
“All right. That’s enough, Tyranitar.”
After receiving Terrance’s permission, Tyranitar slowly dispersed the power of the sandstorm. As it came into contact with the red light fired from the Poké Ball, it returned inside.
Clearly… it hadn’t gotten its fill of the battle.
This Mega Salamence wasn’t weak and had the strength to fight Tyranitar, but it lacked the corresponding foundation, and its battle awareness wasn’t particularly sharp. Thus, even though its overall stats were fairly outstanding, it was still defeated very quickly. However, there was no denying that, considering Zinnia’s age, she possessed potential that was quickly approaching Lisia’s.
With the battle over, Terrance began asking about the matter he cared about—why Zinnia had appeared in Meteor Falls wearing Team Aqua’s uniform.
“Last night, Team Aqua supposedly dispatched sixteen squads to search various waters throughout Hoenn for traces of Kyogre. The squad I infiltrated is currently scouting the waters up ahead. I took advantage of the mission to return to Meteor Falls and have a look around.”
Zinnia did not conceal anything.
“Team Aqua has started moving again…” Terrance nodded, then asked, “Do you have any detailed information on the missions assigned to those sixteen squads?”
“No… Even regarding the squad I’m in, I know very little,” Zinnia said. “Besides, I don’t know whether that information is actually true.”
Terrance understood. After all, even he had yet to receive any related news. It seemed Team Aqua’s operation this time had either not yet been discovered by the League, or had yet to be confirmed.
Because Zinnia had to return to her squad before sunset, she did not intend to remain here for long. Before leaving, Zinnia asked Terrance for one thing: not to widely spread the fact that Dragon-type Pokémon inhabited Meteor Falls.
Even if Zinnia hadn’t said anything, Terrance wouldn’t have done so. An Elite Four hadn’t fallen so low that he needed to involve himself in the illegal trafficking of rare Pokémon for profit. Moreover, he might have to send the Lunatone back to Meteor Falls later. If too many people learned about this place, it would only give Terrance a headache.
There was a special cosmic magnetic field around Meteor Falls that was suitable for Pokémon such as Lunatone and Solrock to live in. As for the exact reason, Terrance still needed to look into more information.
After Zinnia left, Terrance remained for a while longer. Before departing, he caught one Solrock.
Twenty-four Lunatone and one Solrock. In truth, when Terrance subdued them with his own strength, these Pokémon had already chosen to acknowledge him. The law of nature was ultimately survival of the fittest. On top of that, none of these Pokémon were particularly headstrong, so Terrance ultimately didn’t need to spend much effort taming them.
Three days later.
After gathering the first batch of special minerals and materials needed to raise the Lunatone, Terrance ultimately decided to keep these Lunatone at Meteor Falls.
Just as Terrance had expected, Meteor Falls, as the site where a meteor had fallen a thousand years ago, possessed an extremely complex cosmic magnetic field. Under the influence of this magnetic field, the area could more easily receive the essence of sunlight and moonlight.
Although the moonlight essence certainly wasn’t as powerful as the Ice Moon core jointly created by Altaria and Ninetales, Terrance simply didn’t have the energy to constantly have Altaria and Ninetales look after the Lunatone. So, like the Ribombee, these Lunatone could only receive Terrance’s special training periodically.
Most of the time, they would still have to stay in Meteor Falls.
At the same time, by absorbing moonlight essence at night, the Lunatone could also save Terrance a considerable amount on food expenses. Absorbing moonlight essence alone was enough for Lunatone to sustain their vital activities.
To train these Lunatone in a more focused manner, Terrance selected the two strongest and most talented among them and had them receive the Ice Moon core’s enhancement first.
Lunatone became especially active on nights of the full moon. This trait was said to be related to the waxing and waning of the moon, and during a full moon, Lunatone’s powers reached their peak. Based on this information, one night Terrance had Ninetales create an Ice Moon, then had many of his main Fairy-type Pokémon and several Dustox use Moonblast and Moonlight. These moves, adjusted through Fairy Aura, flowed into the Ice Moon one after another. Altaria also used its method of controlling natural energy to seize energy from the true moon and pour it into the Ice Moon, ultimately causing the Ice Moon to contain an extremely formidable power of moonlight.
Of course, the true moon undoubtedly possessed far more energy than this Ice Moon. Unfortunately, the true moon was far too distant from Terrance and the others, and its moonlight radiation was excessively dispersed. As a result, the power that could be shared by this Ice Moon, which concentrated moonlight, was actually far stronger than the moonlight the Lunatone could normally come into contact with on a full-moon night, at least several dozen times stronger.
This increase in intensity caused the effects brought by moonlight radiation to undergo a qualitative change through quantitative accumulation!
During an ordinary full moon, Lunatone could already use moonlight to raise their psychic energy to a level comparable to Alakazam’s, or even surpass it. Now, this Ice Moon seemed to grant these two Lunatone a new life, allowing them to successfully undergo a complete transformation.
This experiment confirmed Terrance’s hypothesis. The Ice Moon core could indeed be used together with Fairy Aura to strengthen Lunatone’s powers, even though Lunatone were not Fairy-type Pokémon.
In the end, one of the two Lunatone became the leader of the other Lunatone, leading them back to Meteor Falls to begin their long period of training centered around the move Cosmic Power. The other Lunatone remained at Fallarbor Gym, where it assisted Terrance together with Solrock in researching the deeper connections between Fairy energy, the moon, and the sun.
Castform, Arcanine, and Beautifly caring for the Power Herb on Mt. Chimney; the twenty-four Lunatone split between Meteor Falls and the Laboratory; the forty-nine Ribombee and countless Bug-type Pokémon in Fallarbor Town; Togekiss and thirty-eight Togepi in Togepi Paradise; along with Altaria, Mismagius, Gallade, Gardevoir, Ninetales, Diancie, Tyranitar, Mawile, Frogadier, and the others by his side… There were also Eevee, Popplio, Jigglypuff, Lapras, Cherrim, and the other Pokémon involved in the Diva Project, as well as the Bug-type Pokémon Terrance had trained in the Gym. By now, the total number of Pokémon under Terrance had long since surpassed one hundred, making him a major Pokémon keeper.
Even if only the members of the Fairy Army were counted, their numbers were already approaching one hundred. It could be said that ever since becoming an Elite Four, the depth of Terrance’s Pokémon reserves had been steadily closing in on veteran powerhouses like Agatha and Giovanni.
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