Chapter 415: Terrorist Organizations Ruin People!
Losing to the Blaze Team was a shame, but to be honest, it wasn't a result that the team had completely ruled out.
"It's the Blaze Team, after all. Last year's champions."
Even so, after they returned, everyone's training time spontaneously increased.
Including Arthur.
After seeing the Gothitelle's elusive positioning and its head-scratching Shadow Tag in the final round, he couldn't help but be a little tempted.
After they got back, Specter felt that the way his master was looking at him had changed.
"Master, is there a problem with my performance lately?" Specter asked Arthur cautiously one day.
"No problem at all," Arthur replied, smiling at him.
"Then… have I been getting too full of myself lately?" Specter asked again.
"I'm very gratified that you can be so proactive in your self-reflection. But it's fine, really. I know that's just your personality."
Arthur continued to smile.
"..."
Now, Specter was really starting to tremble.
"Then—Master, can we put down the sword and talk?"
Specter wasn't afraid of Doublade, but he was very afraid of a Doublade being held in Arthur's hand!
Arthur looked at the sword in his hand, then at Specter, and the smile on his face became even more benevolent.
"Relax. I'm just doing this to prevent you from dematerializing and running away. Without a skill, I really can't catch you if you dematerialize. It's just a precaution. Don't overthink it. Come on, let's have a normal training session."
Specter's whole body shivered.
I'll believe you when pigs fly!
On the sidelines, Greninja, Lina, and the other Pokémon, who had just finished a phase of their training, all sat in a circle, eagerly watching the show.
Little Eevee wagged its tail and remarked, "So even Uncle Specter is afraid of Master's training~"
Old Flame was calmly eating energy blocks on the side.
This kind of thing was small potatoes back in the day. Even he, in his prime, had been beaten up when he was rebellious. What was a little Specter?
But Lina was very curious.
"Why has Master suddenly increased the training intensity for Uncle Specter? Don't Dad and Specter normally not train much?"
Pokémon training isn't always applicable. Specter and Old Flame were already in their later years, and their strength had mostly plateaued.
Just as it's difficult for a fifty-year-old human to make significant physical improvements, Specter and Old Flame's daily routine was mostly just basic exercise to maintain their condition.
Normally, Arthur spent most of his time training the younger members of the team, like Little Eevee, Little Lapras, Greninja, and Lina.
But lately, it had been the complete opposite.
Little Lapras was the first to offer her opinion. "Perhaps Specter's recent performance does not align with the Master's vision for the new world? Is the Master going to retrain him to be a guardian prelate of the Shadowfell? The Master's foresight is truly profound! In the future, when I become the king of the five seas, the Shadowfell beyond this world will also fall under the Master's control!"
Lina squinted her eyes and asked the Greninja beside her with a helpless expression.
"Has this chuuni girl been watching some new anime recently? The titles she's giving us seem to be increasing."
Greninja silently lowered its head, not daring to speak.
He was terrified of being found out that he was the one who had watched all of them with Little Lapras…
Ever since Arthur had first captured him, Greninja had always loved watching anime. It was a hobby he had developed back in the free-range center, and he was the one who had passed this hobby on to Little Lapras.
But he had never expected that this would ignite Little Lapras's long-suppressed chuuni soul!
Before she had been pulled into the pit by Greninja, she had only coveted the position of king of the five seas.
But now, this chuuni girl was on the verge of putting Arthur on the throne as the master of all realms, and had even given a title to every member of the team!
Like the guardian prelate of the Shadowfell or whatever…
Although after being with her for a long time, everyone had gotten used to Little Lapras's chuunibyou, Greninja was still terrified of the other Pokémon finding out that he was the one who had recommended all these shows to her!
He felt that if they did, his big brother image would be ruined!
"I… I don't know either. The Master must have his reasons for doing this," Greninja said, feigning a profound tone.
The long tongue wrapped around his neck did a good job of hiding the expression on the lower half of his face, making him look like a silent, cool ninja.
This was good. It would prevent people from seeing that he was actually feeling very guilty…
Lina pouted.
These Pokémon, all of them, had such blind faith in Arthur. Boring.
Alright, although she was now more or less the same…
Damn it. Thinking about it this way, she suddenly had no right to mock them.
Finally, it was Old Flame who calmly put down his energy block and answered the little ones' questions.
"Lately, the Master should be planning to try and train Specter's Mega Evolution."
At these words, all the Pokémon were stunned!
"WHOA?!!"
"So Uncle Specter isn't satisfied with the position of guardian prelate? Is he also planning to challenge for the title of the Sixth Heaven Demon King of the Shadowfell!"
"..."
Only Little Eevee was still wagging its tail, tilting its head, and asking adorably, "What's Mega Evolution? Why is the Master trying that?"
Lina explained to Little Eevee, "Mega Evolution is the battle form my dad has. The super cool one! As for why he's trying…"
As for that second question, Lina wanted to know too.
Just then, Mismagius, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up. "It's probably because the Master saw the effectiveness of the Shadow Tag ability in the arena."
Very few Pokémon have the Shadow Tag ability.
In their normal forms, only Gothitelle and Wobbuffet can have it.
But in a non-normal form, there is one other Pokémon that can have it, and that is Mega Gengar!
The Mega form can change a Pokémon's ability. Just as Old Flame's normal ability is the relatively common Blaze, but his Mega form's ability is Tough Claws.
In reality, there are also a few exceptionally talented Pokémon that can have their Mega form's ability in their normal state, like Shawn's Mawile.
A normal Mawile only has the Huge Power ability in its Mega form, but the Blaze Team's Shawn's is an extremely rare exception.
Arthur generally doesn't pursue such rare individuals. His current Pokémon captures are mainly to take care of the descendants of his past partners.
But now that there was a way to get Shadow Tag without having to rely on such low probabilities, it was impossible for him not to be tempted.
In the past, he had never had a particularly strong motivation for this, because he was mostly still following his old practical, hands-on mindset.
In a real battle, the priority of the Shadow Tag ability is much lower than in the arena.
Because in a real battle, you're not limited to one-on-one or two-on-two. In a group battle or a chaotic brawl, the effect of Shadow Tag can often be awkward, often ending up locking down yourself.
So Arthur had never paid much attention to this ability in the past.
Until the battle with the Blaze Team, when he saw the brilliant performance of this ability in the arena!
In a competitive arena, this ability is worthy of its "Champion Ability" name!
And now, Arthur was tempted!
Unfortunately, this was bad news for Specter.
"Master, why don't we consider a more gradual, step-by-step approach?"
"Take this set of sword techniques. If you still can't evolve, then we can consider a more gradual approach. It won't be too late."
"But I feel like something bad will happen if I take it."
"Relax, I know my limits. You won't die. You have to have confidence in yourself."
"Master, did you know that when I was in my organization, when I was tricking my little brothers into going on suicide missions, I had the exact same tone and expression?"
"Oh, is that so… then you really are a black-hearted person."
"So you're not even going to deny it, Master?!!"
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
He suddenly realized that the Specter of two hundred years later was not so easy to fool.
Terrorist organizations really do ruin ghosts!
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