'Vespiquen has already begun raising her new brood,' Aven thought with satisfaction.
'By spring, the number of Combees will increase drastically.'
After absorbing the Combees of the Vespiquen from the Black Coast Forest colony, his Vespiquen's power had grown immensely.
Though she was currently only at intermediate-level strength, she could command her swarm to fight with the might of an advanced-level Pokémon.
Once she raised more offspring and expanded her hive, her own power would naturally ascend to advanced-level, giving her the strength to rival even a quasi-king-level Pokémon.
At present, the entire Fruitvale Village was filled with the buzzing presence of Combees.
Thanks to the vast berry groves surrounding the village, they had more than enough resources to raise several times their current number of Combees..
As Vespiquen's grew stronger, the range of activity for the Combee swarm expanded as well. With the gradual development and cultivation of new territories, these industrious Combees would soon be seen working all throughout the domain.
Once their population reached a certain scale, Vespiquen's power could even reach the level of a king-level Pokémon. In fact, among all of Aven's Pokémon, she had the clearest and most straightforward path to becoming a king-level Pokémon.
"The formation of Pokémon legions will be the focus from here on out,"
Aven exhaled softly, his expression calm but his eyes sharp.
Ever since he learned about Unbound Hoopa and the Sorcerers Organization, an intense sense of urgency to become stronger had rooted deep within him.
In truth, the majority of the domain's finances were already being invested into improving his Pokémon's strength. He needed to ensure every bit of his resources could be converted into battle power.
…
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Beyond the grassy training field where the Grass-type Pokémon gathered, over in the rocky hills in the distance, a Rhydon was in the midst of its own grueling training.
The stone creature had recently mastered the move Heat Crash— a move that allowed it to temper its body under extreme heat and crushing pressure.
Under the blazing sunlight of Sunny Day, the air was saturated with dense Fire-type energy, which was continuously drawn toward Rhydon.
The flames around its body burned hotter and hotter, the heatwaves radiating outward so intensely that the ground beneath it began to crack and sizzle under the pressure.
"RHHYYY!"
Rhydon let out a thunderous bellow before abruptly burrowing into the earth.
Moments later, deep underground, came the rumbling echoes of its continued training.
As a dual Ground- and Rock-type Pokémon, Rhydon could move and fight freely beneath the surface, constantly honing itself using the earth's pressure and the energy of rock.
Now that it had mastered Heat Crash, it had even learned to use the very power of the land to increase the pressure on itself — tempering its body as though it were steel being forged in a smithy.
After countless rounds of training, its once-stony hide had darkened to a near-charcoal black — making it resemble a rare Shiny variant.
The body it had forged through heat and pressure now possessed astonishing physical strength and durability, firmly elevating Rhydon's might to the quasi-King level.
And this was only the beginning. Rhydon was still far from reaching its physical limit.
This path — of forging itself like refined metal — was the road it had chosen to tread, a road that would one day lead it to the King level strength after a thousand refinements.
The ground trembled ceaselessly, as though an earthquake were erupting beneath the land.
But the surrounding Pokémon had long grown accustomed to this scene; they continued their own training unfazed.
…
"Kir~ lia~"
Floating quietly in midair was a Kirlia.
The air around it rippled like water, faint waves of distortion spreading through the surrounding space.
It was currently practicing how to manipulate spatial distortion to create illusions — honing its mastery over space itself.
"Kir~"
A puzzled expression appeared on its face. Then, focusing its mind, Kirlia used Teleport, channeling more psychic energy.
The ripples around it grew stronger and stronger, and soon, the Nidorino and Nidorina standing nearby suddenly felt their minds waver.
In the blink of an eye, the grassy field around them dissolved into a dense forest illusion.
Realizing what was happening, both Nidorino and Nidorina closed their eyes, and the emotional energy within their bodies began to stir.
When they opened them again, the forest was gone — the illusion had been completely dispelled.
The two Pokémon looked at each other and smiled knowingly.
"Nido~ Nido~"
They had broken the illusion using emotional energy — a technique they had practiced many times before.
Even Mismagius's illusions could only hold them for a limited time now.
Through this constant training within illusions, they were strengthening their emotional energy and deepening their bond — thereby amplifying the power of their Rivalry ability.
"Kir~ lia…"
Kirlia pouted when it saw this.
It could tell that its illusions alone couldn't trap the two Nidos anymore — not when emotional energy could disrupt them so easily.
But then a new thought crossed its mind: What if I infused emotional energy into the illusion itself?
If it could merge space, psychic power, and emotion — wouldn't that make its illusions far more powerful?
Wouldn't that create illusions so real that even the strongest minds might be ensnared?
Excited by the idea, Kirlia's body flickered — and in an instant, it appeared beside Aven.
(TN: I don't how to edit this part guys, I don't what I can change to emotional energy and whatnot, is there something like this in the Anime?)
…
Aven stood at his desk, his gaze focused on the nutrient chamber before him.
Inside, a purple crystal encased a Pokémon egg, gently floating up and down in specially formulated nutrient solution.
After this period of careful nurturing, the life force within the egg had stabilized, and faint traces of consciousness had begun to form.
Because of that, Aven made sure to communicate with it daily, building a bond so that when the egg finally hatched, the newborn Pokémon would naturally accept him as its trainer.
"It should be close to hatching soon," Aven murmured with anticipation as he checked it once more.
"Kir~ lia~"
Kirlia gave a soft cry, her eyes fixed on the egg.
From within it, she could faintly sense a surge of powerful emotionals, the yet-unborn Pokémon clearly had a rich emotional nature and exceptional potential in that aspect.
"How's your spatial training going, Kirlia?"
Aven sat back down, lifting his cup of nutrient juice and taking a sip with a smile.
"Kir~ lia!"
Kirlia eagerly shared her new idea.
"Oh?" Aven's eyes narrowed slightly. "You want to merge emotional energy into your illusions?"
He pondered a moment, his expression thoughtful.
Emotion, after all, played a huge role in shaping perception and decision-making.
If emotional energy could be woven into illusions, it would indeed make them far harder to break.
Just as he once told Mismagius — the more real and detailed an illusion's content was, the harder it became to distinguish reality from fantasy.
And emotion was the final piece of that puzzle.
If even the emotional reactions of Pokémon or humans within an illusion could be made real, then how could the target possibly tell the difference?
In fact, by manipulating emotional energy, one could craft illusions specifically designed to trigger emotional responses — anger, sorrow, fear, or joy — and use those to inflict psychological damage.
For example, showing an opponent an illusion of their greatest enemy or a painful memory could completely throw them off balance.
Moreover, the five senses and emotion were deeply intertwined — sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell were the sources from which emotion was born.
By controlling those five senses within an illusion, one could effectively control perception itself, stripping the victim of all judgment and trapping them entirely within the dream.
"…This truly is an excellent idea."
After some thought, Aven finally opened his eyes and nodded in approval.
It was indeed a brilliant concept — though he knew that actually integrating emotional energy into illusions would be incredibly difficult, even he had no clear idea how to do it yet.
"Kir~ lia!"
Kirlia's eyes sparkled with joy.
With Aven's approval, it had now found a clear direction to strive toward — a concrete goal.
And illusion mastery was, without doubt, the fastest path for it to enhance its strength.
After all, even King-level Pokémon like Empoleon had once been trapped by Mismagius's illusions.
For opponents with weaker mental fortitude such as that straightforward musclehead Rhydon, such illusions would undoubtedly have devastating effects.
"Mm, in that case, we should still begin with emotional energy as the foundation."
"I think the best way forward for now is to observe a Pokémon's emotions directly—then try to replicate those exact emotional fluctuations inside an illusion."
"The Pokémon should ideally be one that already possesses emotional energy. Hmm… Nidorino and Nidorina would be perfect choices for that."
"You can start by recreating Nidorino and Nidorina within your illusion—use emotional energy to reconstruct their power and make them battle one another."
As soon as Aven finished speaking, Kirlia's eyes brightened in delight. With a flash of psychic light, it instantly teleported away, heading off to find Nidorino and Nidorina so it could try reproducing their images in its illusionary space.
(End of Chapter)