Pokemon: The Gameboy Effect

His suspicion was confirmed.

Lustrous Orb.

A legendary artifact, also connected to Palkia.

John knew this was the item from his gaming knowledge.

However, he'd originally thought its properties might be similar to the three ultra-ancient orbs he'd obtained before. He hadn't expected it to be a Pokemon-held item.

As an exclusive item, its power far exceeded even Shaymin's "Gracidea."

"Thank you, Professor," John said gratefully.

"Take it back and study it. Get ready, we'll be departing for Maya Forest in a few days," Professor Bai issued a gentle dismissal.

John quietly accepted the Lustrous Orb and returned to his seaside villa.

Time to experiment!

The Lustrous Orb had an intriguing property listed in its description: "First-time carrier randomly masters a space-type move."

John was curious to see what space-based moves Pokemon could learn when carrying it for the first time.

He'd give it to Gengar first, since this was clearly the Pokemon item Professor Bai had prepared specifically for his ghost-type partner.

The moment Gengar equipped the Lustrous Orb, four new moves immediately appeared in its skill list:

Teleport, Trick Room, Magic Room, Wonder Room.

Teleport needed no explanation.

Trick Room was a staple move of trick room teams. Within Trick Room, speed priorities were reversed, originally faster Pokemon became slower, while slower Pokemon gained the speed advantage.

Magic Room was used to nullify Pokemon-held items. In Magic Room, all Pokemon items would be disabled, including the user's own.

Wonder Room swapped physical and special defense stats. Within Wonder Room, all Pokemon would have their physical defense and special defense values exchanged.

Some Pokemon had extremely unbalanced defenses. Take Aggron, for example, its physical defense base stat reached 180, but its special defense was only 60. In Wonder Room, Aggron's defensive stats would swap, making it vulnerable to physical attacks instead.

It wasn't just useful for defeating opponents either. Sometimes it could adjust one's own defenses based on an opponent's preferred attack style.

All four space moves were excellent additions.

John was very satisfied. Other than Trick Room, which probably wouldn't benefit Gengar much since it was already known for its speed, the moves were perfect.

John removed the Lustrous Orb from Gengar and equipped it to Greninja.

Since the Lustrous Orb had allowed Ghost/Poison-type Gengar to learn four Psychic-type moves, it should enable other Pokemon to master these techniques as well.

When Greninja carried the Lustrous Orb, new moves immediately appeared in its skill list, though only three this time:

Ally Switch, Wonder Room, Teleport.

Wonder Room was one Gengar had also learned.

Ally Switch was a special move that allowed switching places with a target. Normally, you could only exchange positions with allies, but powerful Psychic-type Pokemon could forcibly swap with opponents.

As for Teleport...

"A ninja that finally learned teleportation techniques," John mused, rubbing his chin. This was a huge surprise that would open up countless tactical possibilities.

"Greninja's combat effectiveness just jumped up another level."

Gengar with the Lustrous Orb had learned Teleport, Trick Room, Magic Room, and Wonder Room, while Greninja learned Teleport, Ally Switch, and Wonder Room.

It seemed learning space moves really was random...

John continued testing with his other Pokemon.

Blaziken learned Teleport. Tyranitar learned Magic Room. Gyarados learned Trick Room and Wonder Room. Gardevoir learned Spacial Rend. Garchomp learned Ally Switch and Wonder Room.

Wait, something incredible had slipped into that list!

John quickly switched to Gardevoir and checked its skill list.

Ally Switch, Magic Room, Trick Room, Wonder Room, as a Psychic-type Pokemon, Gardevoir had already mastered these moves beforehand. Not to mention Teleport, which it had learned as a Ralts.

But at the end of Gardevoir's skill list, John saw a move that made him think he was dreaming.

Spacial Rend!

[Spacial Rend: Tears the opponent along with surrounding space to deal damage. Ignores defense, guaranteed critical hit. Power scales with spatial control. PP: 1/1. (Available when carrying Lustrous Orb)]

"Holy..." John couldn't help but curse.

Spacial Rend, this was Palkia's signature move!

Just as its description stated, this was a devastating attack that could literally tear through space itself!

Unlike the game mechanics from his previous life, this wasn't just high critical hit rate, it was guaranteed, with an additional "ignores defense" effect.

Terrifying!

That was John's assessment of Spacial Rend.

However, what puzzled John even more was why Gardevoir had been able to comprehend this technique.

Had he just gotten incredibly lucky with the random selection?

John continued testing the Lustrous Orb with his other Pokemon.

Every Pokemon learned at least one space move. The Psychic-type Wobbuffet even comprehended five space-type moves at once. But this also revealed to John that there were only six possible space moves learnable through the Lustrous Orb: Teleport, Ally Switch, Magic Room, Wonder Room, Trick Room, and Spacial Rend.

However, after letting all his Pokemon carry it once, not a single other Pokemon learned Spacial Rend.

"Is it really random?" John rubbed his chin, still somewhat doubtful.

Could it be that Gardevoir learned Spacial Rend because it had already mastered four spatial moves before carrying the Lustrous Orb?

As soon as this theory surfaced, John immediately pulled out his phone to contact a professor from Riverstone University's Breeding Department.

He asked them to help prepare a Pokemon that had already mastered five space moves.

Shortly after, an Alakazam was delivered to John's hands.

After confirming that this Alakazam indeed possessed five space moves, John also equipped it with the Lustrous Orb.

The result was... nothing.

Because Alakazam already mastered five space moves, it didn't learn any additional ones! Let alone Spacial Rend.

"Gardevoir's ability to master Spacial Rend definitely isn't just due to randomness!" John could confirm this now.

"Then... why?"