"But here's the thing—he succeeded with one Pokémon, yet failed with another. Even switching out the person or the Pokémon doesn't work. It's gotten to the point where we don't even know how to control the variables anymore."
Ashford Vale furrowed his brow, speaking with evident frustration. All his previous experimental experience seemed utterly useless now.
"Hmm, then I'll go with you tomorrow. Maybe my Aura abilities can provide some insight."
"Alright."
Auron seemed to understand what they were discussing. It sounded like they were testing a batch of evolution stones on a single Pokémon, which meant only one stone could take effect on that Pokémon—or sometimes none at all.
Moreover, Mega Evolution required sufficient bonding between trainer and Pokémon. That was probably why his grandfather had mentioned that switching trainers didn't work either.
The problem was actually quite easy to solve. All they needed to do was bring Grandpa's Lucario tomorrow and have him run a test. The issue would resolve itself quickly enough.
After the family finished dinner together, the two ladies headed out for an evening stroll, while dishwashing duty passed from Ashford to Ashen, then from Ashen to Auron.
There was nothing he could do about it—one was his grandfather, the other his father. He couldn't refuse either of them. So Auron had no choice but to resign himself to scrubbing every last dish and utensil clean.
"This is ridiculous. Why doesn't this house have a dishwasher?"
A while later, Auron finished the dishes and headed upstairs, immediately flopping onto his bed in exhaustion.
Then, as if remembering something, he sprang back up and walked over to his desk.
"Elekid, why haven't you hatched yet? I can't wait any longer."
"And you too, Deoxys. Hurry up and be born, okay?"
"Hm?"
He paused, glancing at the nutrient solution in Elekid's incubation tank, then at the one in Deoxys's tank.
"It looks like there's a lot less than before."
A surge of excitement washed over him. Could it be? Could Deoxys really hatch just by absorbing nutrient solution?
Auron threw himself back onto the bed, grinning like an idiot as he rolled around.
"Haha! Who would've thought I'm about to have my very first Legendary Pokémon!"
He rolled back and forth on the mattress, completely oblivious to the gazes of Snorlax, Crobat, and Charmander standing at the doorway.
Clauncher, however, showed no reaction whatsoever. His eyes were dull and vacant as he trudged toward his small pool.
Splash!
The sound of Clauncher jumping into the water startled Auron. He quickly sat up and looked toward the doorway, finding himself in an awkward staring contest—wide eyes meeting narrow eyes, meeting even narrower eyes, meeting wide eyes again.
"Uh... you're back? Come on, let's get to bed."
Feeling embarrassed, Auron could only manage an awkward greeting.
Crobat's eyes curved happily as he flew in first, cheerfully hanging himself in his usual sleeping spot.
Snorlax maintained his perpetually sleepy smile, carrying Charmander on his shoulders as he followed inside.
"Come on up!"
Auron patted the edge of his bed, gesturing for Snorlax to come sleep.
Snorlax nodded and had just lifted one foot onto the bed when suddenly, a flash of white light burst from behind him.
Auron and the other Pokémon immediately turned toward the source of the light—it was coming from Clauncher's pool.
As it turned out, Clauncher had spent the entire afternoon following Kangaskhan's lead, practicing boxing techniques. (Well, I'm a shrimp whose signature move is Crabhammer, so practicing some punching should be fine, right?)
But during his training, he'd noticed something puzzling. They were all learning Fire Punch from Kangaskhan, so why had Charmander picked it up so quickly while he couldn't seem to learn it at all?
What Clauncher didn't know was that Charmander had already learned Fire Punch from Snorlax a long time ago.
But Clauncher was unaware of this. He was a stubborn little shrimp—whatever he set out to do, he had to do it perfectly.
So while Charmander went jogging, he was at the target practicing his move proficiency.
While Charmander played around, he was at the target practicing his move proficiency.
While Charmander learned new techniques, he was at the target practicing his move proficiency.
All because of what Auron had told him back when they were still in Vantora:
"Once your move proficiency reaches a certain level and you can use it flexibly, you'll be the strongest!"
This was what had driven Clauncher to train so relentlessly.
Today was no different. He'd been practicing Aqua Jet when Goodra noticed and came over to speak with him.
(Your proficiency with this move is already incredibly high. Have you reached the point where you can use it at will, activating it the instant you need it?)
Clauncher nodded. Goodra then let out a loud cry:
(Attack me!)
Before Clauncher's brain could even process what was happening, while his eyes were still glazed over, his body had already launched Aqua Jet at Goodra.
Delight flashed in Goodra's eyes. She took the hit head-on, then addressed the now-conscious and slightly worried Clauncher:
(That was amazing. To train a single move to this degree—that's truly impressive.)
As she spoke, she gently patted Clauncher's shell and continued:
(But now you should focus on close-combat attack moves. I don't know exactly what Auron told you, but you have two big pincers. Learning some boxing from Kangaskhan would be an excellent choice.)
With that, Goodra smiled at Clauncher and turned to leave.
What she didn't see was the grateful gleam shining in Clauncher's eyes as he watched her go.
After that, Clauncher had approached Kangaskhan to learn boxing techniques.
He'd only just begun practicing when Charmander ran over to join them. So Kangaskhan, figuring that teaching one was the same as teaching three, began instructing them all in the techniques of Fire Punch.
(Three Pokémon in total—yes, the baby Kangaskhan in her pouch counted too.)
From Clauncher's perspective, among the three of them, Charmander was the first to master Fire Punch.
Watching Charmander scamper off to play after learning the move, envy filled Clauncher's eyes. But that only made him train even harder.
However, a Water-type shrimp Pokémon trying to learn a Fire-type move... this really wasn't something that effort alone could solve.
So when Clauncher returned home that evening, he'd fallen into a self-imposed downward spiral.
And when a stubborn individual falls into such a spiral, they only sink deeper and deeper, becoming more and more upset, until finally—in that moment of emotional breakthrough—they evolve.
"Clauncher? You evolved? That's amazing!"
Auron leaped off the bed and threw his arms around the newly evolved Clawitzer, planting an excited kiss right on his head.
Snorlax lowered the foot he'd just lifted onto the bed, his eyes half-closed as he waddled over to Clawitzer's side. He crouched down and patted the crustacean's head.
(That's really impressive.)
(Yeah, that's awesome!)
Crobat flew down to offer praise as well, and all the Pokémon gathered around.
Charmander squeezed through from beside Snorlax, his face full of admiration.
(That's so cool. When will I get to evolve?)
Seeing the concern from his trainer and companions, Clawitzer found himself gradually emerging from his dark spiral. Energy renewed, a determined thought formed in his mind:
(Yes! I will definitely learn Fire Punch. Even if it's difficult, I'll master it!)
Auron froze, staring at Clawitzer.
"????"