John, having regained his composure, returned to the Ferrum League battlefield to investigate further.
In the corner of the battlefield, a black portal remained. When he approached it, a prompt appeared on his Gameboy screen.
[Enter special dungeon "Darkness Falls"? (Y/N) - Disappears after completion]
[Recommended entry level: 100]
Seeing the dungeon option, John breathed a sigh of relief.
Getting obliterated by Shadow Mewtwo wasn't exactly a big deal. The opponent was a top-tier legendary Pokemon that had reached the maximum level of 100, enhanced further by "Shadow."
It would have been stranger if he hadn't been one-shot.
But since it had become a re-enterable dungeon, someday when he possessed the strength to defeat Shadow Mewtwo, that corrupted legend would definitely be added to his team!
"Didn't expect such a windfall in the Ferrum Region," John smiled, thoroughly satisfied with his trip.
The next time he returned, it would be to capture Shadow Mewtwo himself. After all, there wasn't much else here worth his attention.
Before leaving, however, he needed to exchange his Ferrum League battle points. If his calculations were correct, he should have accumulated over a million points by now.
John headed to the Ferrum League lobby and asked the staff to check his available points.
His current total stood at 1.51 million points, enough to exchange for a Mega stone if he wanted.
He received an exchange form from the staff.
John discovered rewards he'd never seen before: legendary Pokemon items and various Pokemon special move manuals, also known as Resonance Moves.
The legendary items needed no explanation, but these resonance moves were actually exclusive abilities unique to the Ferrum Region. Besides the corresponding Pokemon, they could only be used in conjunction with Resonance Stones.
If John remembered correctly, these were derivative moves that appeared only in the Pokken Tournament game.
For example, Lucario's Aura Sphere Barrage; Pikachu's, Volt Tackle Thunder Punch; Machamp's Explosive Burst Slam; and so on. All were moves that Pokemon didn't normally possess.
In his battle against Glenn, Machamp hadn't used any resonance moves, presumably because the battle ended too quickly, not allowing enough time to accumulate the energy needed to activate the resonance stone.
After checking all the Pokemon special move manuals available in the entire Ferrum League, only four matched his current team.
[Gardevoir's Special Move Manual (Fairy Tempest) : 100,000 points]
[Gengar's Special Move Manual (Descent to Hell) : 80,000 points]
[Blaziken's Special Move Manual (Blazing Kick Combo) : 70,000 points]
[Garchomp's Special Move Manual (Savage Spin-Out) : 100,000 points]
Four Pokemon special move manuals totaled 350,000 points, equivalent to 2-3 Mega stones.
Rather than purchasing immediately, John also examined the legendary Pokemon item exchange rates.
[Aqua Mantle (Legendary Tier) : 500,000 points (from legendary Pokemon Suicune)]
[Shadow Mist Cloak (Legendary Tier) : 450,000 points (from legendary Pokemon Darkrai)]
Only two legendary Pokemon items were available.
The Ferrum Region was not only geographically small but possessed far fewer resources than other regions. John wished there were more legendary Pokemon items to choose from.
However, with so few options, he could afford to take everything.
Two legendary Pokemon items totaled 950,000 points, plus the four manuals brought the total to 1.3 million points.
That left him with 210,000 points remaining. Those points could still exchange for one Mega stone, but since he didn't currently need any evolution stones, he'd save them. When he trained new Pokemon later, he could exchange them for special move manuals or evolution stones then.
After completing the exchange, the Ferrum League staff quickly delivered all items to John.
The four special move manuals were straightforward, after using them on Pokemon, the Pokemon would learn the corresponding moves.
The Aqua Mantle could only be used on Water-type and Ice-type Pokemon. He didn't have any Ice-types in training, and for Water-types, he only had Greninja and Gyarados.
"Holy..." John couldn't help but gasp.
[Aqua Mantle (Legendary Tier): After use, Water-type move power increases by 20%. Purifies all status effects every 3 seconds. Includes Suicune's exclusive resonance move Absolute Zero Blizzard. (Note: Only usable by Water-type and Ice-type Pokemon.)]
Those stats, abilities, and exclusive resonance move were essentially free bonuses!
John was ready to use these items on his Pokemon immediately.
[Shadow Mist Cloak (Legendary Tier): After use, Dark-type move power increases by 20%. Grants the ability to phase into shadows. Includes Darkrai's exclusive resonance move Eternal Eclipse. (Note: Only usable by Dark-type Pokemon.)]
Between Greninja and Tyranitar for Dark-types...
John decided to give the Aqua Mantle to Greninja. Facing upcoming champion battles, as one of his main team members, it was absolutely necessary to enhance Greninja's combat capabilities.
The Shadow Mist Cloak could only be used on Dark-type Pokemon, and he had two Pokemon with Dark-type attributes.
Who would have thought the most rewarding part of this Ferrum Region trip would be for Greninja, who didn't originally have exclusive resonance moves?
John was surprised by both legendary Pokemon items, they weren't held items but consumables!
It wasn't bias, but the ability to phase into shadows seemed inconsistent with Tyranitar's image. Conversely, shadow-phasing made Greninja's ninja theme even more pronounced!
Although the two legendary Pokemon items provided modest move power boosts and abilities that weren't overpowered, they allowed Pokemon who lacked corresponding exclusive resonance moves to master unique techniques.
He took back his earlier thoughts.
John silently handed the Shadow Mist Cloak to Greninja as well.
The key point was that as consumables, their existence didn't occupy held item slots!