"Thanks Zapdos."
"Hmph. I have fulfilled my end of the bargain. Now begone!"
"Alright, alright, geez."
At midnight, Dante went out of the cave with the excuse of going to take a leak. After hiding behind a rock, he went to the PMD world with Pikachu and the others.
Right now, they were at the peak of Mt. Thunder. They came to collect the promised treasured boxes from Pichu and Pikachu which was part of their agreement with Zapdos.
In addition, Teddiursa, Mawile, and Riolu also came along to meet the Legendary Bird of Thunderstorm for the first time. Feeling the pressure of a Legendary Pokemon, the three newcomers fared no better than Dante and the others when they first met him.
Teddiursa was trembling and instinctively hid behind his Dad. Similarly, Mawile 'timidly' held Dante's tail, her head turned down as if too scared to face Zapdos. But if someone took a closer look at her face, they would find a smile on the corner of her mouth.
Only Riolu dared to withstand Zapdos' pressure head-on. Although his whole body was shaking, at least he didn't rely on anyone.
Watching how casually Dante, Pikachu, and Azumarill were standing and chatting against such a powerful Pokemon, Riolu felt a newfound respect and fear towards his teammates. And to think he wanted to take revenge against them head-on.
"By the way, Zapdos, don't you have a Mawilite in your treasure room?"
Zapdos' eyes narrowed and dark clouds rolled overhead.
"So what?"
"Geez, listen to me first before getting angry. We want to exchange that for something of equal value."
"Hah! Something of equal value? You?"
Looking at Zapdos' condescending gaze, Dante had the urge to punch him in the face. Still, he held himself back and took out a purple orb from his storage.
"Do you recognize this?"
Zapdos squinted his eyes and took a closer look. He felt some kind of weird energy coming from the stone, similar to other items that can boost a stat when held. However, the item and energy composition itself are unfamiliar to him.
"…no."
"That's expected. This is a Life Orb, a rare treasure we found while exploring. From my understanding, the user who holds this orb can exert greater strength at the cost of getting injured."
"Oh?"
Hearing the item's description, Zapdos' eyes shone with interest. As a Legendary Pokemon who lived for a long time, it has always been a sore spot for him to be unable to learn moves that can increase his attacks.
The closest move would be Charge and Ancient Power, but the two had a glaring problem.
For one, Charge requires some time to prepare, and it can only boost the damage of his other Electric attacks. He had practiced the move to require just a little preparation. But the drawback of only increasing the power of his Electric-type moves is a bit fatal.
Against someone like Pikachu with the Lightning Rod Ability, or Ground-type Pokemon that is almost equal in strength, the boost in power from Charge is useless.
On the other hand, Ancient Power can only increase his stats based on chances. He had mastered the move so he would have a 50% chance of boosting his stats after use, but that was as far as he got.
"Let me try."
"Here."
Dante threw the Life Orb to Zapdos. After taking a closer inspection and determining it wasn't a trap, Zapdos removed the item he was currently holding and absorbed the Life Orb.
"Kwaaa!"
A large bolt of thunder was released from his beak, heading straight into the clouds above.
Zapdos looked at the hole that formed in the cloud, his body remaining completely still. Finally, he moved, looking down at Dante and nodding.
"Fine, I'll trade this for that stone."
"Pleasure doing business with you~"
…
As the group walked down Mt. Thunder, Mawile skipped along, giggling as she held a pink-black stone.
"Snap out of it, sis. You've been laughing since you got that."
"You're just jealous, ehehehe~"
Mawile paid no heed to the words of her stupid brother. Instead, she rubbed the stone on her cheek while showing a smug look. Seeing this, Riolu pouted and gave Dante an aggrieved look.
"Hahaha, you'll also have yours in the future, Riolu. You too, Teddy. I'll give you a similar treasure."
"Dan, how did you know Zapdos would trade this Mega Stone for just a Life Orb?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, isn't the Life Orb worth much less than the Mega Stone?"
After feeling the pressure from Zapdos disappear, Pikachu asked this question that had puzzled him since earlier.
He had browsed through the item prices for Mega Stones and other Trainer items some time ago. Therefore, he knew that Mega Stones cost at least hundreds of millions. Meanwhile, the Life Orb Dante traded only cost more than 10 million.
"Remember Pikachu, price is relative. For Zapdos, he won't have any uses for the Mawilite except as decoration for his Treasure Room. Meanwhile, the Life Orb he traded it with can increase his strength."
"You're so smart, Dan!"
Pikachu wasn't given time to respond before Mawile squealed and rushed towards Dante.
Dante sighed and momentarily slipped into the shadows, emerging again after Mawile passed through his previous position. In the past three days, he had noticed a problem with this new Pokemon that had joined their team.
Namely, she had a habit of glomping him whenever she got excited.
The first time it happened, Dante was caught unprepared and the two rolled over the wooden floor of Spinda's cafe multiple times.
Seeing Dante dodge, Mawile pouted and looked back with a more determined expression.
Azumarill chuckled as he watched Dante fend off Mawile. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Teddiursa had fallen behind their group at some point. His expression downcast, with his ears folded against his head.
"What's wrong, little Teddy?"
Azumarill slowed down and patted the small bear Pokemon on the head. Teddiursa snapped out of his rumination, looking up at Azumarill with a confused expression.
"B-big Brother Azumarill. It's nothing."
"Hmm, is it about Zapdos?"
"…yeah. When we stood in front of him, I couldn't even think of anything. But you, Dad, and Big Brother Pikachu didn't seem scared of him at all."
Teddiursa's head lowered, a shameful feeling rising in his chest for his earlier performance.
"That's normal. You know, I felt the same way you did when we first met him."
"Really?"
Seeing the dubious look on Teddiursa's face, Azumarill smiled.
"Really. However, Dante already explained the reason. Zapdos only feels powerful because of his Ability. Right now, I could probably fight him to a draw, and your Dad and big brother Pikachu could beat him. But you don't feel any pressure from us, do you?"
"Wow!"
Teddiursa's eyes sparkled as he looked at his big brother Azumarill who stated about defeating such a powerful Pokemon so casually.
"After a little more training, I'm sure you can also beat him by yourself."
"Really!?"
"Really. Don't you feel how strong you've gotten after only training for a few weeks?"
Teddiursa looked at his clenched fist and nodded. Seeing him regain his energy, Azumarill smiled.
"Now come on, Dan and the others are already waiting for us."
Teddiursa raised his head. Unnoticed by him, the two of them had lagged behind at some point. Further along the rocky path, Pikachu was waving his hands, signalling them to hurry up.
"Ah! We're coming!"
"What were you two talking about?"
"Ehehe, it's nothing, brother Pikachu. I just learned how powerful you really are."
"Of course! Didn't I tell you the story about how..."
Team Omnipotent Travelers walked back to Treasure Town, laughing as Pikachu told the exaggerated story of how he beat the Legendary Groudon for the umpteenth time.
—
"We're back. Hnggh, that was more productive than expected."
Dante stretched as he returned to the human world. After reaching Treasure Town, they had all the treasure boxes appraised by Xatu. Then, they synthesized the Exclusive Items in Croagunks' swap shop which resulted in Pikachu gaining the following Exclusive Items.
Pichu Hair (*) - Raises Defense by 3
Pichu Card (*) - Raises Sp. Defense by 3
Express Tag (**) - Raises Attack by 5 and Defense by 3
Shocker Cape (***) - Slightly reduce the consumption of Energy
Pikachu Hair (*) - Raises Defense by 3
Pikachu Card (*) - Raises Sp. Defense by 3
Volt Charm (**) - Raises Defense and Special Defense by 3
Volt Torc (***) - Reflect and Light Screen do not affect this Pokemon's moves
"Pikachu, it seems you got another power-up."
"Pika?" (Do you think it's enough to take on the Dialga you mentioned?)
"Haha, I wish. However, we are now one step closer to defeating him."
Dante greeted Professor Berto as he walked back near the cave entrance. However, as he was about to enter, he suddenly felt a strong sense of malice high above.