Pokemon: The Gameboy Effect

(A/N: Bonus Chapter! Thank you for your continued support! And don't hesitate to leave a comment or powerstone if you like the story!)

"Spiral Overdrive Aura Sphere!"

Greninja hurled the Aura Sphere from its hands with practiced precision.

The attack traced an ethereal arc through the air as it flew toward a large tree in the distance. Even during flight, the visible Aura power rotation created airflow disturbances, actively drawing in additional waveguide energy from the surrounding environment.

By the time it reached the target tree, the Spiral Aura Sphere had tripled in size! The swirling airflow surrounding it resembled a massive grinding disc with the Spiral Aura Sphere embedded at its center.

BOOM!

The thunderous explosion obliterated the impact point, sending smoke billowing across a three-meter radius.

Unlike ordinary Aura Sphere techniques enhanced with spiral mechanics, which provided devastating penetrating effects, this Spiral Overdrive Aura Sphere possessed an inherently unstable structure.

It functioned more like a time bomb, liable to detonate if any force disrupted the internal spiral pattern.

When the explosion smoke cleared, at least ninety percent of the entire tree had been obliterated. Only the underground root system remained, and even that showed severe burn damage.

The destructive power was genuinely impressive.

"Abandoning the penetrating effect of ordinary Spiral Aura Sphere means sacrificing refined control over the technique," John analyzed, stroking his chin thoughtfully while observing Greninja's training results. "The trade-off produces area-of-effect explosive damage instead. Additionally, the technique's power increases based on flight distance, potentially tripling the waveguide energy according to travel time."

This technique presented both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage: it required relatively low aura control skills while delivering tremendous power. Even Pokemon without deep Aura mastery could potentially learn this variation.

The disadvantage: the unstable, explosive-on-contact structure made it vulnerable to interception by opponent attacks.

Overall, John felt quite satisfied with these results.

Different Aura Sphere variations could be deployed in different combat situations, effectively expanding his tactical options.

The technique Greninja had just demonstrated was John's practical application of skills recorded in "Aura Power Applications," obtained from the Graves family library.

However, books only contained theoretical knowledge. John didn't believe in blindly following authority, he insisted his Pokemon learn and practice each technique individually to confirm whether results matched the documented claims.

The spiral-condensed Aura Sphere development wasn't particularly advanced according to Graves family records. Many family trainers had used "spiral" as their primary aura specialization for Pokemon training.

After dozens of generations of accumulated research, their exploration of "spiral" techniques far exceeded John's pioneering efforts.

Therefore, John was now following in established footsteps, advancing step by step rather than cautiously feeling his way forward like before.

Nevertheless, John studied everything meticulously.

Only by thoroughly absorbing others' experience could he extract maximum benefit. John never intended to simply copy techniques or completely mimic his predecessors' skills. His goal was learning from and surpassing previous generations!

Following predecessors' paths while pushing even further ahead.

For an entire month, John practiced Aura techniques in an environment where Aura density exceeded the outside world by over a hundredfold. Every Pokemon in his team with waveguide talent improved at rocket-like speed.

Not just level increases, but enhanced waveguide control and expanded manageable Aura, which indirectly boosted their physical capabilities.

This improvement was especially pronounced for John as their trainer.

Additionally, the abundant atmospheric waveguide energy meant Pokemon expended less stamina when practicing Aura techniques, allowing for increased training repetitions.

If Pokemon moves had "proficiency ratings," John's team would have rapidly maxed out their waveguide technique mastery.

"Next, we'll combine the Ultimate Water Shuriken with Spiral Overdrive Aura Sphere," John instructed Greninja.

Just as John prepared for the next training phase with Greninja, someone used the Boomburst move to address everyone throughout the Avian Sanctuary.

"The Avian Sanctuary will close in two hours! Everyone please gather at the entrance immediately!" came the Graves family's announcement.

"The Sanctuary is closing?" John felt startled, mentally calculating the elapsed time.

Indeed, it was about right.

The Sanctuary's opening schedule was unpredictable, sometimes annually, sometimes every two or three years, but its operational duration remained relatively consistent.

Each opening typically lasted one to one-and-a-half months.

Not counting the time the Graves family needed to stabilize the realm's entry, John had indeed been training here for over a month. This particular opening had lasted relatively long.

"Wait, I still need to deliver those Pokéblocks to Mew!" John suddenly remembered the specially prepared treats still in his bag.

Throughout the past month, he'd been regularly feeding Mew these delicacies.

Knowing he'd be leaving the Avian Sanctuary will within a month, John had spent considerable time crafting Pokéblocks with his Gameboy during this period.

His plan involved creating as many treats as possible, then teaching Mew to use Ice moves for food preservation.

The stored supply should last quite a while, possibly until his next visit to the Sanctuary.

However, after searching the Sanctuary for over an hour, John found no trace of Mew anywhere.

"Where did that little guy disappear to?"

John felt puzzled. Normally, whenever he entered the Tree of Beginning's vicinity, Mew would appear spontaneously. Where had the legendary Pokemon wandered off to today?

"Well, if you're nowhere to be found, you'll just have to blame your own bad timing," John muttered. With only thirty minutes remaining before the realm's closure and the Graves family's increasingly urgent announcements, he had Gardevoir use multiple Teleport sequences to exit the realm entirely.