Staraptor had already made plans for it a week before. It knew that its team could not win against the Blastoise team while dealing with the Ursaluna tribe because it didn't have a good team composition for Ursaluna. But it knew that the competition would still be held for two more weeks after dealing with that tribe.
When the number of Ursaluna's tribe members starts to decrease, Axel would tell them to change the target. So, it began to prepare for the next target. The next target that it chose was the Swellow tribe.
There were two reasons for it. First, it had recently learned the new move 'Disruption', which was a perfect counter for a flying-type Pokemon. Also, it had learned the move 'Wild Charge', which was also a good counter for a Pokemon like Swellow. But that was not all. Swellow was also weak to rock-type moves, and Aerodactyl was known for rock-type moves.
It was also a pseudo-king rank Pokemon. So, this was going to become an easy target for the team. So, while both of the teams were trying to kill as many Ursaluna as possible, Staraptor was not only training on its new move 'Disruption', but it was also planning the new formation of the team, and telling Aerodactyl to train on its rock-type moves.
That was why the team was about to deliver on the first day.
###
The Swellow tribe was powerful. Not because it had many king rank Pokemon in the tribe, but it had huge numbers. This tribe had the largest number of members among the ten tribes.
This was due to its high reproduction rate and its ability to dodge deadly attacks quite fast.
So, this tribe was a gold mine for Team 3.
Meanwhile, Lairon was not feeling good. It was only a common rank Pokemon, and it could not do anything in the hunt. Axel also advised it not to participate in the hunt very often, because it needs to eat the minerals for proper evolution.
The evolution from Aron to Lairon took a lot of time because high-quality minerals and rocks were not found in the main world. For Lairon to evolve into Aggron, it would need even more minerals and rocks.
It had spent most of its time eating minerals while it had not evolved. Now, it wanted to also train on its moves and abilities. It tried to evolve as fast as possible and reach a higher rank.
Even though the quality of minerals and rocks was higher than in the main world, decreasing its time for evolution, it would still have a couple of months or even more to reach that level.
So, it made a bold decision.
###
"What, you want to eat that mineral rock? Lairon, we don't know the aftereffects of it. It is very risky.", said Axel with concern.
Niodote. The mineral rock that caused the mutation in Lairon, which nearly killed it. After that fiasco, Lairon had not eaten any Niodote mineral rock till now.
Even though it had leveled up 'Leaf Tornado' and upgraded it to release the extra weight caused by this mutation, it was still very risky to eat.
Looking at the determined face of Lairon, Axel wanted to permit it, but he didn't know what the end result would be.
"Ok, you will focus on only two mineral rocks. One would be Niodote, and another would be something that would enhance your steel type powers."
Axel finally made the decision. Lairon was happy that its trainer had trusted it for such a thing.
A range of mineral rocks was brought, and Lairon started to select them. A Pokemon could find the most suitable resource for itself. This was something that they could smell and feel through their instinct.
Finally, it selected one.
The name of the mineral rock was called, 'Kaatog'. The mineral was gray in color, and it looked extremely heavy. This mineral rock was said to contain a lot of steel-type energy.
But there was a problem with this mineral rock.
"The mineral is in excess quantity, and this mineral has the highest and purest properties of steel-type energy. But the energy is so pure that even a steel-type Pokemon could not eat and digest it.
Eating this mineral for a long time might even be harmful for a steel-type Pokemon."
This was something said by the leader of Primeape. Axel was highly interested in this mineral. If there were some ways in which he could dilute the mineral, then it would be beneficial to Lairon.
Then it hit him. What about Niodote? Axel was already thinking of mixing both of the minerals in Lairon's recipe. Niodote also had a violent property. Would the mix of both minerals be the solution that he needed?
Both minerals may be harmful, but they were not harmful enough to kill Lairon.
"Okay, let's try it."
The ratio division of each mineral was 30:70, with Kaatog being on the lower side.
Both minerals were served to Lairon, and it began eating them. The result was not instant.
Slowly, the green slob started to form around the edges of Lairon's body, and it started to get bigger and bigger. Lairon first ate Niodote to see the effects.
After eating it, Lairon closed its eyes and started to manipulate the extra green slob that had added weight to Lairon's body.
Axel could tell that it was trying its best, and it was starting to assimilate that extra energy inside its body slowly. But mastering such a thing would take time. After some time, Lairon started to eat Kaatog.
The effect was miraculous. Not only did the green slob start to decrease, but it felt that the steel-type energy inside its body had rapidly increased.
According to Lairon, it was full after consuming only a small number of mineral rocks. Axel understood many things. First of all, its hunger didn't depend on the quantity that it ate, but the energy inside the thing that it ate.
Also, it was a successful experiment. The mixture of both had not decreased the disadvantages of either of the mineral rocks.
"From now on, you will not go outside until you evolve. Focus on the existing moves and try to upgrade them.", said Axel.
Lairon was doing nothing in the hunt. It needed experience in dealing with enemies, and after a half-month hunt, it didn't need more experience right now.
Lairon wanted to train on its grass-type moves further, and also its steel-type moves. Also, it tried to focus on its passive move, 'Grassy Field'.
###
Koffing's situation was also improving a lot. It had learned the move 'Psybeam' but had not been able to upgrade it. Psychic-type moves were tough to learn and master. So, it focused on 'Stockpile', 'Swallow', and 'Spit-up'.
So, it had upgraded all three moves to level 40 with interesting functions.
"Koffing, now, you will not train in those three moves. You will focus on 'Psybeam' and 'Dark Pulse'."
'Psybeam' was essential to master, as Koffing was weak against it. Now, it had trained on all the moves that it had planned, Axel wanted it to increase its dodging speed too, so that it could dodge the explosion of shiny Koffing.
After some time, it was decided that both Lairon and Koffing would fight.
"You are not allowed to use 'Leaf tornado', and you are not allowed to use 'Explosion'. Now, are you both ready?", asked Axel.
Both of them nodded their heads, and Axel raised his right hand to signal to start the fight.
BANG!!!
BANGG!!
BOOOMMM!!!
Fighting experience was something that could not be gained overnight. It must be rigorously trained for years. Koffing had been battling against Primeape for something, and now it was time to change its opponent so it could get more battle experience.
The battle ended in a draw. This was unexpected, but Lairon had tough defense.
###
As Team 3 started to win every day. A week had passed, and Team 3 was in a massive lead. At this time, Lairon's weight and size had also increased. It was a noticeable increase. Axel was astonished after such a sudden change.
It had also been training on its moves and had finally been able to level up 'Earthquake', 'Head Smash', and 'Iron Defense' to level 40 and above. The sudden increase to level 40 was something that Axel could not explain.
It was a common rank Pokemon. It didn't even have a core. So, how could it level up three steel-type moves to level 40 in just a week?
The only possible reason for the massive increase must have been Kaatog, the new mineral rock that it was eating right now. If such a mineral existed, then should a steel-type Pokemon be the most powerful Pokemon in this world right now?
Of course, this mineral rock was not favored due to its high instability, but since Lairon was eating it with Niodote, the instability had been neutralized.
###
The final week was brutal. Everyone was competing to win, and Axel specifically told the teams to rest for the last two days. This was done because the fight on the last day would be fierce.
Everyone had given their best, and finally, the day had arrived.
Axel was standing as all of his Pokemon were standing next to him, looking at him.
"All of you have done your best. I am really proud of you. None of you has been seriously hurt, and that is a great thing."
They had not been seriously hurt because they had ample experience in fighting in tide battles. That was the only reason.
"Now, I have said that I will reward the team that has the highest points. Before I distribute the points, I must say how many points I plan to give to each Pokemon species.
You know that not all of them are equally strong. A single Hawlucha will be given 1 point, a single Ursaluna will be given 2 points, Donphan will be given 1.5 points, and finally, Swellow will be given 1 point."
The sudden announcement changed everything that Staraptor had thought. It was pretty confident that its team had already won the battl,e but now it was not so sure.
"Team 1 had a total of 140 points. Team 2 got a total of 210 points."
There was a silence as Axel spoke. No one could believe how ahead Team 2 was. Axel waited for some seconds for the extra effect and smiled. Finally, he said.
"Finally, team 3 had got 2….
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A/N: There are more than 60+ advanced chapters in pa-treon along with two new side stories of the novel. If you are interested in reading more and getting ahead in the story, subscribe to my pa-treon channel.
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