Two days before this year’s Kanto Grand Festival began, the Team Rocket trio arrived in Saffron City and delivered large and small crates of rare ores to Terrance.
Seeing how hard the trio was working, Terrance even felt a little embarrassed…
However, the Team Rocket trio themselves were quite happy.
After all, they were now only one step away from completing their mission. Compared with the never-ending “capture Pikachu” plan, the task laid out by Boss Giovanni and Terrance was obviously much simpler.
“Terrance seems really happy. Looks like as long as we find Magtonium, we’ll gain his friendship, and a very deep kind of friendship at that, meow.” Meowth licked its paw, already unable to wait for Giovanni’s reward, for Giovanni to give him a good rub…
“Meowth, you make it sound easy, but we still haven’t found any information about Magtonium at all…” Jessie said helplessly.
“Heh heh.” At that moment, James and Meowth suddenly let out strange chuckles.
Jessie looked at their odd smiles and grew irritated. “What are you two acting crazy for?”
“Jessie, actually Meowth and I already have a lead,” James said seriously. “Take a close look at what Magtonium does.”
As he spoke, James took out the blueprint again and said, “Magtonium is a perfect medium for light. It can absorb most forms of light and nurture and purify light within its rock body. After purification, the light can fuse with various kinds of energy…”
James rattled off nearly ten light-related functions of Magtonium in one breath, his expression gradually becoming serious.
Although he had no idea why a stone related to light would be given such a ridiculous name like Magtonium, James already had an idea—a very bold idea, along with an immature supporting plan.
“Even if we can’t find Magtonium, with our abilities, can’t we just make a stone with the same function?” James said to Jessie.
“You say that like it’s easy. All this talk about light and purification and other messy stuff is giving me a headache,” Jessie snapped.
“No… maybe… it really can be done,” James and Meowth said thoughtfully. “Some of these effects sound absurd, but they’re not impossible. The key point is that the purified light energy from this stone can react with other kinds of energy. We think that’s what makes this stone truly special.”
“If we can solve that mechanism, the other functions won’t be a problem for us.”
“You’re not thinking of…?” Jessie suddenly reached out, trembling as she pointed at them, never imagining that James and Meowth planned to fool Terrance in this way.
“If he finds out the stone is fake, all the goodwill we’ve built up before will be wasted!”
“As long as we perfectly recreate Magtonium, won’t that be fine? Right now… this is our only option,” James said helplessly.
“Yeah, meow. Everything is for Boss Giovanni. I’m all in, meow,” Meowth nodded solemnly.
If Terrance were here and knew what the Team Rocket trio was planning, his jaw would definitely hit the floor. He would never have imagined that a casually fabricated ore of his would spark James and Meowth’s creative drive.
They were planning to… use the fictional properties Terrance had assigned to it to create a Magtonium that never actually existed!
This Magtonium had been given a whole host of effects by Terrance, but in summary… Terrance’s inspiration came from the Z-Power system!
Giving Magtonium these properties wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment idea for Terrance, but rather… something he had thought about long ago.
Now, the totem aura on Beautifly and the others was about to dissipate. Aside from Altaria, which had already completely absorbed its totem aura through Pixilate, the totem aura on Beautifly, Gallade, Arcanine, Mismagius, and Castform would probably disappear before long, naturally including the Little Beautifly in Fallarbor Town as well.
From the moment Terrance first developed the totem aura, the technique for granting it was inherently imperfect. At the beginning, the energy of a single Sparkling Stone could only sustain a Pokémon’s totem aura for roughly about one year.
After further refinement together with many researchers from the International Police, the duration was extended somewhat, but it still had a time limit.
By now, Terrance had already sensed that the totem aura on his Pokémon was weakening. At this rate, perhaps in just a few months, the totem aura on them would completely disappear.
Although Terrance’s Pokémon were already very strong and no longer needed totem aura, Terrance still could not entirely abandon this technique.
Ever since Terrance stepped into the top tier—the Elite Four level—whether it was totem aura or stat-boosting moves, they could only serve as icing on the cake.
Totem aura and stat-boosting moves share a common trait.
Their enhancement effect is like a downward-opening parabola.
When used on Pokémon that are too weak, their bodies cannot withstand the effects brought by stat-boosting moves and totem aura, resulting in very poor enhancement.
But when used on Pokémon that are already very strong, the boost provided by stat-boosting moves and totem aura is no longer enough to create a very noticeable improvement on an already powerful foundation.
Therefore, totem aura and stat-boosting moves work best on Pokémon with mid-to-high level strength, and may even double a Pokémon’s power!
Once Beautifly, Mismagius, Gallade, Castform, Arcanine, and the others caught up in strength and stepped into the Elite Four domain, the effect of totem aura actually became far less noticeable.
In other words, Terrance’s Pokémon had reached a point where they no longer relied so heavily on totem aura.
But that did not mean the totem aura was of no value to Terrance at all. Even if its boost was small, it still provided some benefit, and that small benefit could very well decide the outcome of a battle.
Secondly, Terrance had even more reasons why he could not give up totem aura. Beautifly’s Source of Stamina could not be maintained without totem aura; Mismagius’s illusion skill worked far better when combined with totem aura, making Hypnosis more effective; and as for Arcanine, its giant form was cultivated by simulating Totem Pokémon. Losing totem aura would have a major impact on it as well.
However, although Terrance very much wanted these Pokémon to continue possessing totem aura, he also knew how precious Sparkling Stones were.
Back then, taking advantage of an early opportunity, he managed to obtain several Sparkling Stones, granted by an international research organization in recognition of his contribution in developing totem aura. But if he needed another five or six stones, Terrance truly had no idea where to ask for them. Even if he could get them, they would only last one or two years, treating the symptoms but not the root cause.
So Terrance began to think: if only there were a Sparkling Stone with infinite energy, then he could possess totem aura without limits.
It was precisely with this idea in mind that Terrance casually designed Magtonium. And he still felt that wasn’t enough, so he added an even more outrageous function: Magtonium’s purified light energy could fuse with other types of energies…
Put another way, it’s like a Z-Ring that doesn’t need a Z-Crystal!
In other words, Magtonium was a fantastical item capable of autonomously absorbing energy from the outside world, possessing part of a Z Ring’s functions, and allowing Pokémon to release Z-Moves by drawing upon the energy of light.
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