CH36 (400), Fairy Dragon?! Well, Not Yet, But We Are Getting There
The light show, Saphira's evolution put on, was pretty impressive, but that was generally the case, whenever the change during any evolution was significant enough, and that was obviously the case for the Swablu line.
After the light show began to die down more than a minute later, Saphira showed everyone why the change was considered more impressive than "just" the addition of the dragon type, which was naturally already quite impressive on its own.
Seeing the little Swablu turn from a "little" bird, only a bit larger than 0.4 meters in height to an elegant dragon more than triple that size was enough to make a visual impact and quite the impression. Everyone began cheering upon seeing Saphira's new form as an Altaria, and I made my way over to her.
Meanwhile, she was craning her neck to take in her new body. Well, at least she now had a neck that she could crane. Jokes aside, I hugged her before congratulating her, and I did not forget to scratch her below her beak. Thankfully her evolution did not seem to have changed her favorite spot since she was releasing happy/pleased crooning sounds at my attention.
Still, carrying her in my arms like this, since I was hugging her, I noticed another big difference, namely her weight. Saphira used to weigh around only 2.5 kg as a Swablu, and she used to belong to the heavier sort of her species, thanks to the muscle she hid beneath her sweet exterior.
Well, 2.5 kg was still considered a lightweight in general, but I called her "heavier" since the Swablu line only weighed 1.5 kg on average. Anyway, if I was not wrong, which was possible, then Saphira was now weighing around 25 kg. I doubted that I was off by more than 1 or 2 kg, maybe 3 kg, so her weight had risen by roughly 10 times as a result of her evolution.
Due to our current position, I had an easy time observing her up close, so I could make a somewhat proper estimation of her size, and I would guess her to be around somewhere between 150 to 155 cm. That meant that Saphira's height had gone from close to 50 cm, she had always been larger than average, to 150+ cm and her weight had gone from 2.5 kg to ~25 kg.
A truly impressive change. Still, I believe that it was important to note that she was still a cutey, and more importantly, she was still just as fluffy and huggable, if not more so than before since she had more fluff/clouds on her.
While I was patting Saphira and praising her, the others came over and began to swarm us to congratulate her. Saphira turned to face them, so I had to stop patting her, but I decided to use the chance to check her new status screen, which was no problem since she was still in my arms.
'Name: Saphira
Species: Altaria*
Gender: Female
Age: 6+ years
-
Type: Dragon*, Flying
Potential: Purple (46.04%) -> (50.87%) -> (78.84%)
(Genetic) Modifiers: None
Abilities: [Keen Eye], Natural Cure, Cloud Nine
Talents: Climate Control
Affinities: Normal, Flying, Fairy (weak)*, Dragon*
-
Bond: Mikail (weak)
Quirks: None
----
Parameters:
Stage: Bronze Stage (high)
Vitality: SSS
Strength: SSS
Endurance: SSS
Agility: SSS
Energy Capacity: SSS
Energy Density: SSS
----
Immune:
N/A
-
Resistance:
Grass (Major), Bug (Minor), Fighting (Minor), Water (Minor), Fire (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Ice (Major), Rock (Minor), Dragon (Minor), Fairy (Minor)
----
Condition: Healthy, Elated, Pleased
----
Masteries:
Normal Energy Manipulation (Beginner) -> (Proficient)
Flying Energy Manipulation (Beginner) -> (Proficient)
Dragon Energy Manipulation (Proficient)*
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
N/A
-
Beginner:
Growl, Take Down (new, +), Astonish (new, +)
-
Proficient:
Mist, Disarming Voice, Round, Play Rough, Sing, Cotton Guard, Fury Attack, Dragon Pulse, Refresh, Safeguard (+), Peck (+), Moonblast (new, ++), Aerial Ace (new, ++), Swift (new, ++), Endure (new, ++), Rest (new, ++), Tailwind (new, ++), Ice Beam (new, ++), Mirror Move (new, ++), Perish Song (new, ++), Blizzard (new, ++), Defog (new, ++)
-
Advanced:
Dragon Breath, Hurricane (new, +++), Heat Wave (new, +++), Natural Gift (+++)
-
Mastered:
Sunny Day (new, +4), Rain Dance (new, +4), Hail (new, +4)'
Well, her species change to Altaria and the addition of the dragon typing were the most obvious changes. Everyone knew that Swablu lost their normal typing in exchange for the dragon typing when they evolved to Altaria, and with this shift, Saphira had officially become my third dragon type. Ryujin/Gyarados was the first, and Gible was the second.
Looking at her potential, I was happy to see that my investments had paid off quite well. During the last two and a half or so years I had managed to painstakingly raise her potential by nearly 5%, and now her evolution alone managed to increase her potential by close to 28%.
Considering that she had purple potential and that it had been at slightly above 50%, 28% was an impressive increase, so I considered my money truly well spent. Especially since I would most likely only scarcely see any of my actions causing a significant increase in her potential after her breakthrough to the silver stage, so I had to savor this achievement.
Anyway, moving on from that slightly sad topic, it was great to see that my plan with the Togekiss feather had worked. Proof of that was the advancement of her fairy affinity from budding to weak. Only one more step and her fairy affinity would become a full-fledged one, which would be pretty nice due to the positive effects it would have on Saphira.
Her bond would increase sometime after today, once she had broken through to the silver stage, which would happen in a few hours. Her parameters would change then as well, but it was still a real pleasure to see SSS across the board until then since it was the result and proof of all the effort Saphira put into reaching this point.
At that thought, I scratched the top of Saphira's head a bit, making her coo happily before looking through the rest of her status screen. Her type relations had gone through an obvious change due to her dragon typing replacing her normal typing.
First of all, she lost her immunity to the ghost type, and while the dragon typing did help her lose her electric weakness, it also resulted in her ice weakness turning from a minor one to a major one. It further ended up adding a minor weakness to the dragon type and the fairy type as well.
The last two were less serious than the ice issue since I had the hope that her dragon typing would help her with her resistance training, which she could start after her breakthrough. I also had the same hope for her fairy affinity to some extent, more so once it became a full-fledged one.
Well, at least there were some positives to the type change as well. Her resistance to the grass type went from minor to major as well, and she received three additional minor resistances, namely to the fighting, water, and fire type.
Then there were her masteries, her new typing allowed her to automatically unlock the dragon energy manipulation, and thanks to her experience with dragon-type moves, her energy manipulation rose straight to proficient mastery.
Due to that, she ended up having proficient mastery across the board, which thanks to her keeping her normal energy manipulation, encompassed 3 energy types.
Her move pool on the other hand had not changed after her evolution, but it was still an impressive sight every time. Saphira had an uncanny talent for weather-related moves thanks to her talent, and that had helped her master 3 of the 4 famous weather-changing moves.
Not only that, but she also had an easier time learning moves such as Heat Wave or Hurricane, and even Blizzard, which, unlike Ice Beam, was a move that the Altaria line usually could not learn. Defog was also something that her line could usually only gain as an egg move, but my talented Saphira managed to learn it regardless.
Not to mention the fact that she had managed to hijack Natural Gift and influence its typing with her talent, turning it into a pseudo Weather Ball, just a bit weaker since Weather Ball's power doubled under weather effects, unlike her use of Natural Gift.
We actually managed to use the usual berry effect as a reference to compare the power between her usage of the move and the original one, and she could currently achieve the same power using the weather as she would using a Bluk, Nanab, or Pomeg Berry. Maybe that would increase once she mastered the move.
Yes, I could confidently say that I was proud of my fluffy little dragon, even if she was no longer as small as she used to be. Anyway, after I was done with her status screen, I asked Saphira whether she wanted to go through with her breakthrough today, or if she wanted to wait until tomorrow to have more time to get used to her new body first.
Saphira told me that she wanted to do it today, so I told her to spend at least two hours getting properly used to her body first before she began her breakthrough to the silver stage.
Mothra/Butterfree, Hera/Pidgeot, Moka/Crobat, and Shino/Yanmega helped her with that, by playing flying tag with her while the others watched their play and cheered them on. Parvati/Beedrill, Kun/Azuraid, and Horus/Xatu decided to sit out and just be spectators of the game. Still, Parvati and Horus did act as commentators for the others, so they did take part in some way.
I acted as the cameraman for the game and streamed their positions into the sky so that everyone, especially the little ones, could see them properly while they were flying around.
They actually kept that game of tag going for one-and-a-half hours, which was impressive since they were flying quite fast. After they rejoined us, I gave the players some snacks as well as drinks to recover, and naturally, the rest also got their share, so we spent the next 30 minutes chatting and relaxing.
Once roughly two hours were up we made some space for Saphira and let her go through with her breakthrough to the silver stage. I was a bit surprised when her breakthrough began taking up more energy and time than I expected despite knowing that her potential growth would cause some ruckus.
That made me wonder whether she was also unlocking some modifier on top of reaching light aurora potential. Well, to be honest, I was also a bit worried if the unlocking of a modifier would cost Saphira her chance of reaching the aurora potential grade during the silver stage.
My surprise only increased when her breakthrough ended and I failed to spot any visual difference compared to before, even after coming closer and congratulating her on reaching the silver stage.
The developments during her breakthrough mirrored those that usually happened when someone unlocked a modifier, so I was a bit surprised when I failed to see any of the usual indicators. Honestly, I was actually a bit happy about the whole thing.
Nonetheless, her modifier section was still instinctively the first place I looked at while checking her new status screen, after praising and hugging her for a while.
'Name: Saphira
Species: Altaria
Gender: Female
Age: 6+ years
-
Type: Dragon, Flying
Potential: Purple (78.84%) -> Light Aurora (19.42%)*
(Genetic) Modifiers: None
Abilities: [Keen Eye], Natural Cure, Cloud Nine, Serene Grace*
Talents: Climate Control Deluxe*
Affinities: Normal, Flying, Fairy*, Dragon
-
Bond: Mikail (weak)
Quirks: None
----
Parameters:
Stage: Silver Stage (mid)
Vitality: E
Strength: E
Endurance: D
Agility: D
Energy Capacity: E
Energy Density: C
----
Immune:
N/A
-
Resistance:
Grass (Major), Bug (Minor), Fighting (Minor), Water (Minor, in progress)*, Fire (Minor, in progress)*
-
Weaknesses:
Ice (Minor)*, Rock (Minor), Dragon (Minor), Fairy (Minor)
----
Condition: Healthy, Elated
----
Masteries:
Normal Energy Manipulation (Proficient)
Flying Energy Manipulation (Proficient)
Dragon Energy Manipulation (Proficient)
Fairy Energy Manipulation (Proficient)*
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
Weather Ball (new)*
-
Beginner:
Growl, Take Down, Astonish
-
Proficient:
Mist, Disarming Voice, Round, Play Rough, Sing, Cotton Guard, Fury Attack, Dragon Pulse, Refresh, Safeguard, Peck, Moonblast, Aerial Ace, Swift, Endure, Rest, Tailwind, Ice Beam, Mirror Move, Perish Song, Blizzard, Defog
-
Advanced:
Dragon Breath, Hurricane, Heat Wave, Natural Gift
-
Mastered:
Sunny Day, Rain Dance, Hail'
I was surprised and relieved to catch sight of an empty section since that did not match the events of her breakthrough. Still, I chose to ignore that for the moment and proudly looked at her potential.
The one good aspect of her empty modifier section was that Saphira did not lose any potential while unlocking some modifier, so her breakthrough, and the bonus that came with it, had firmly pushed her potential into the light aurora grade.
Yet, similarly to Mothra's experience any potential growth after reaching the light aurora grade required double the usual percentage increase. Hence, why her percentage was close to 20% instead of being closer to 40%.
It also unlocked her third ability, which ended up being Serene Grace, and I could certainly understand why Altaria could be considered graceful. Jokes aside, it was a useful ability that doubled the chance of secondary effects activating which would certainly be useful since Saphira had a few such moves, and I was sure she could learn more of those.
Nonetheless, I shared the fantastic news with Saphira and everyone else, which caused them all to cheer and congratulate her once more. Saphira was the second one of my Pokemon to have her potential pushed into the aurora grade, and while the number was going to increase in the future, it was still a great achievement and honor.
The elation we were feeling was understandable, and the fact that Saphira was radiating pure happiness and joy was pretty normal. Rather, I would have been worried if she had not reacted like that.
Still, after showering Saphira with praises, scratches, pats, and rubs, I continued looking through the rest of her status screen. I quickly ended up seeing what I believed to be the reason for the extra developments during her breakthrough.
Her talent had been upgraded, and while it might have looked as if only the word "Deluxe" had been added to her Climate Control talent, the change was a rather significant one. Previously her ability allowed her to influence the climate/weather, and while she was generally safe from any additional damage her climate changes caused, she had no added protection against the elements linked to the phenomena she caused.
That had changed with her talent upgrade. While she did not gain a universal increase in resistance against all-natural elements, she did gain an increase in resistance that was linked to her control over the climate and the extent of her vulnerability among the climates she could control.
This was intrinsically linked to her move pool since the extent of her climate-influencing capabilities was visible there. Regardless, the increase in resistance caused by her upgraded talent explained the irregularity during her breakthrough since it affected her very being.
Quickly looking at her type relation section, I saw the effect of the upgrade. Her biggest weakness was affected the most since it fell under the elements Saphira could control. Her weakness to the ice type was reduced from a major one to a minor one.
That was wonderful news and caused another round of elation when I shared it with Saphira and the others. Honestly, the progress noted on her resistance towards the fire and water type was less significant compared to that, but still welcome.
Still, I would not be surprised if most of the energy went into reducing Saphira's ice weakness, so despite not knowing how far her water and fire resistance had increased I doubted it was a lot, but as I said I did not mind that at all and took it as a bonus.
After calming down from that piece of good news, I noticed that Saphira's fairy affinity had actually turned into a full-fledged one during her breakthrough, so I was pleasantly surprised by that.
Truly this breakthrough was a treasure trove of good news, especially after I noted that her gaining the full-fledged affinity along with her fairy moves and their mastery allowed her to directly unlock her fairy energy manipulation.
That her move mastery allowed her new manipulation to directly jump to proficiency was great news as well since it meant she now had 4 elemental masteries, with all of them being at proficient mastery.
That was truly impressive and caused another round of congratulations after being shared. Just when I thought that the good news was over, I noticed that she had even learned/comprehended the move Weather Ball, and I connected that to her talent upgrade, as well as her high mastery of so many weather-related moves. Natural Gift probably also played a role.
Anyway, that ended up being the last of the changes caused by Saphira's breakthrough, but I could admit that there was already more than enough for us to be happy about. Since it was already quite late, I decided to postpone the celebration to tomorrow evening instead and told the others as much.
Saphira and the others did not mind, but just because we could not properly celebrate right now, did not mean that we could not make merry for a bit, so I made sure everyone was happy for the next hour before sending them all to sleep. I obviously did the same since I had to go to the lab tomorrow.
-----------------------------
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