After coaxing Maylene back to bed, Julian returned to his own room and slept.
At six o’clock the next morning, his body clock woke him on time.
The first thing he did after getting up was take Jangmo-o out for morning training.
"Jangmo-o, Dragon Dance!"
The first dance immediately dropped from 1.53 seconds to 1.50.
Had the increase in Dragon-type affinity shown results this quickly?
"Jangmo-o, again!"
The second dance went from 1.42 seconds to 1.37.
The third went from 1.37 to 1.30.
The fourth went from 1.34 to 1.24.
And the final Dragon Dance went from 1.30 to 1.18.
If Jangmo-o could keep improving at this rate, Julian was confident he could compress its first Dragon Dance to under one second.
Right!
There was also the Steelix tail.
That natural weight-training item would also help Jangmo-o grow.
With Steelix’s tail, perhaps it would not even take half a year.
"Jangmo-o, use Iron Defense."
A layer of metallic light flashed across Jangmo-o’s body.
Julian checked the stopwatch.
1.41 seconds.
"Jangmo-o, come with me."
He brought Jangmo-o to the storage room and took out Steelix’s tail, handing it over.
"Try this."
Jangmo-o caught Steelix’s tail with its back.
Its body sank suddenly.
It had not expected such a small tail, one even Julian could carry, to be this heavy.
A faint black glow spread from Steelix’s tail and seeped into Jangmo-o’s body.
As expected.
This Steelix tail was the system reward item.
A Lagging Tail.
Or perhaps a half-finished one.
"Jangmo-o, use Iron Defense again."
This time, the metallic light across Jangmo-o’s body appeared much more slowly.
2.21 seconds
Almost half the original activation speed.
"Jangmo-o, aside from slowing your move speed, can you feel the weight of this item?"
Jangmo-o walked a few steps, then nodded.
"Jang!"
"Good. From now on, wear this weight-training item during training. Eventually, I want you to be able to wear it during daily movement too, and then recover your speed until it matches your speed without the item."
Jangmo-o’s expression turned extremely serious.
"Jang!"
As the Pokémon who had spent eight years beside Julian, Jangmo-o had keenly sensed that something subtle had changed about its Trainer today.
Aside from becoming better-looking and having more presence, Julian now gave Jangmo-o a comfortable, familiar feeling.
A closer feeling.
And when Jangmo-o had used Dragon Dance earlier, it had been smoother than yesterday.
Dragon Dance.
Jangmo-o had trained that move for four full years.
It knew the move better than anything.
In the past, it would not have improved this much in an entire month.
Jangmo-o knew very well that nothing had changed about itself from yesterday to today.
Then the cause of this improvement could only be some unknown change in Julian.
Julian touched the heart-shaped scale on Jangmo-o’s head.
"From now on, things will keep getting better for us. Let’s aim to have you evolve into Hakamo-o within a year."
Jangmo-o nodded firmly.
It believed Julian could do it.
"Jang!"
Because it had trained its lung capacity and high notes since childhood, Jangmo-o’s cry was especially loud.
Julian clenched his fist and swung his arm.
"Good. That’s the spirit!"
That was exactly the kind of energy needed for evolution.
"Let’s go outside and continue training."
After Jangmo-o equipped the Lagging Tail, training that originally took one hour stretched to two.
Maylene walked out rubbing her stomach.
"Julian, when are we eating breakfast? I’m starving."
Riolu nodded in agreement.
Although Riolu had Pokémon food Julian had specially prepared, and Maylene had already poured it a full bowl after waking up, Maylene herself was still hungry.
"I’ll make it now. Let me put the training item away first."
Julian was just about to pick up the Lagging Tail that Jangmo-o had put on the ground and carry it back to the storage room.
Maylene stepped forward, grabbed the Lagging Tail with one hand, and even bounced it lightly in her grip.
"It’s pretty heavy. I’ll put the item away. You go make breakfast."
Julian shook his head.
He needed both hands to carry the Lagging Tail.
Maylene could lift it with one hand and toss it.
She really was a girl with monstrous strength.
"Fine."
Maylene asking Julian to make breakfast was actually the result of Julian’s strict rules.
Once, Maylene had a sudden burst of inspiration and decided to make breakfast for him.
She had almost blown the kitchen sky-high.
Since then, Maylene had been forbidden from entering the kitchen alone.
Julian entered the kitchen and first washed the tomatoes and lettuce, setting them aside for later.
Then he took out eggs, flour, Moomoo Milk, and salt, mixing them into a batter. He sprayed a thin layer of oil onto a flat pan and turned on the heat.
One ladle of batter.
Spread into a thin pancake.
Fried until both sides were golden.
The fragrance of wheat filled the kitchen, the sort of smell that could make the neighbour’s children cry from hunger.
Except there were no neighbours.
Only Veilstone Gym.
The only one being tortured by the smell was Maylene, whose tears were practically leaking from the corner of her mouth.
One large bowl of batter made ten pancakes.
Julian sprayed another thin layer of oil into the pan and added thick slices of bacon.
As the bacon gradually heated, fat slowly seeped out, producing a soft sizzling sound. The edges curled slightly, the colour changed from pink to golden brown, and a rich smoky aroma spread through the kitchen.
Julian sliced the tomatoes.
Then he took one pancake, added lettuce, tomato slices, and a generous pile of bacon, rolled it up, and placed it in greaseproof paper.
"Come eat."
Maylene immediately rushed into the kitchen, took the wrap, and started eating in big bites.
Julian continued frying bacon.
By the time the second batch had turned golden and fragrant, Maylene, under Julian’s stern gaze, had finally finished the first wrap in small, careful bites.
Julian rolled up the second one, wrapped it in paper, and handed it to Maylene.
Maylene held it up to Julian’s mouth instead.
"You eat too."
Julian took a bite.
The golden, crisp outer layer gave a light crunch between his teeth. The faint fragrance of milk and egg spread through his mouth, bringing a gentle sense of satisfaction.
Then it was gone.
In one bite, Julian had reached plain pancake.
"Maylene Veyne! A meal has to be balanced. You can’t just eat the meat and leave the pancake."
"I know."
Maylene giving the pancake to Julian had nothing to do with sisterly affection.
She simply liked meat and did not like the staple food.
Out of ten pancakes, Maylene ate eight.
Julian only ate two.
In the past, two pancakes would have filled him up.
Today, he only felt half-full.
Out of habit, Julian had prepared the same amount of flour as usual.
He had forgotten that his body had changed. If he prepared food according to his old appetite, it would not be enough.
He could only mix more batter and make another three pancakes.
He ate all of them and did not feel bloated at all.
Maylene stared wide-eyed as she watched him finish five pancakes in total.
"Julian you ate five pancakes in one go today. Your training really is working. I knew it! You secretly evolved behind my back!"
Julian rubbed her head fiercely.
"Only Pokémon can evolve. This is what happens when you don’t study properly."
Maylene quickly begged for mercy.
"I know, I know! I’ll study properly from now on!"
Weekly Power Stone Goal:
100 PS = 2 bonus Chapter
200 PS = 5 bonus Chapters
If you’re enjoying the story, add it to your collection, leave a review, comment and drop some power stones to support the novel!