Eroking
patreon
Chapter 222: The Energy Exchange King
🕑 Added 2025-09-25 11:22:24 +0000 UTCChapter 222: The Energy Exchange King
Ignoring Basalt's call, Lileep swayed its tentacles and closed its eyes, sensing carefully. It seemed to have discovered something strange.
Before long, Lileep opened its eyes, which were filled with pleasant surprise.
"Nee-nee~ Nee-nee~" Lileep pointed at the wall.
Basalt didn't understand, so he sent out his Bronzong translator.
"Lileep says that there's something behind the wall that's attracting it. It seems like it would be very beneficial for it," Bronzong relayed via telepathy.
Hearing this, Basalt raised an eyebrow. This was his private training room. Logically, the room next door should also be a private training room. And because of that, he couldn't just go and disturb whoever was in there.
"Nee-nee~" Lileep wobbled around Basalt's feet like a child who wouldn't give up until it got the toy it wanted.
"Alright, alright, I'll take you to have a look. But you have to be on your best behavior. If they refuse to see us, there's nothing I can do."
Basalt threw up his hands, deciding to get the warnings out of the way first. From his experience, whatever was attracting Lileep was likely some kind of treasure. Any trainer who had a private training room at Centralis University was no slouch; it was perfectly reasonable for them to have valuable items.
"Nee-nee~" Hearing this, Lileep's face lit up with a smile.
Basalt opened the door and led Lileep into the hallway. The door to the next room was just around a ninety-degree corner. As he walked, Basalt mulled over what he would say when he knocked.
But just as he rounded the corner, he saw an unexpectedly familiar face.
"Sylvie?"
"Basalt?"
They spoke at the same time, their faces filled with surprise.
But in the next moment, something even more surprising happened.
Lileep, behind Basalt, and Milotic, behind Sylvie, seemed to be drawn together by some mysterious force. They naturally moved towards each other.
"Nee-nee~"
"Mii-luu~"
The two Pokémon looked at each other, their eyes bright.
Their eyes met, and they knew.
Then, Lileep extended a tentacle from the top of its head, and Milotic extended the red "eyebrow" from the corner of its eye.
The moment they touched, a hazy light began to glow from both Lileep and Milotic.
"Huh? HUH?!?!" Basalt's eyes went wide, his mouth twitching. "Is this... an energy exchange?"
This pose, this expression... Basalt was all too familiar with it. This was exactly how Lileep looked when it was exchanging energy and doing its 'special' thing with Excadrill. There was no mistaking it.
But now... it seemed Excadrill wasn't enough, and this little one was fooling around on the side?
"Lileep, how could you do this to Excadrill?" Basalt covered his face, deeply grieved.
"Basalt, is that your Lileep? What... what are they doing?"
Sylvie was completely confused, blinking her wide, sparkling eyes, especially when she saw Basalt's heartbroken expression.
"Yes, this Lileep is my Pokémon," Basalt nodded, explaining, "Right now, they're performing an energy exchange. You could say it's something that's very beneficial for both of them."
"Energy exchange? Very beneficial?" Sylvie was even more confused. "If it's so beneficial, isn't that a good thing? Why do you look so weird about it?"
"Err..."
Basalt had no answer for that, so he just ignored it. His eyes lit up as he excitedly asked a different question, "Sylvie, your Milotic... it's a female, right?"
"Yes, it's a female. Why?"
"Oh, a female! Okay, then we're good."
Basalt clutched his chest, letting out a big sigh of relief. Lileep was female, and Milotic was also female. That wasn't a problem. As long as Excadrill was the only male in this relationship, it was fine. He couldn't be too demanding about the rest.
"???"
Sylvie just stared, a look of pure confusion on her face.
A short while later, the energy exchange between Lileep and Milotic finally ended. Both seemed content as they separated, but the emotion in their eyes was impossible to hide.
"So, the one attracting you was Milotic?" Basalt gave Lileep a gentle flick on the head.
"Nee-nee~" Lileep swayed its body and nodded happily.
"In that case, Milotic must have also sensed Lileep's presence. That's why Sylvie and I met here." Basalt rested his chin on his hand and looked at Milotic. "The light that just came from Milotic was a pale blue, so that should be Water-type energy. That means Milotic's Water-type energy level is also incredibly high!"
Basalt's eyebrows shot up. Although he knew very little about Sylvie and her Milotic, he could deduce quite a bit from what just happened. He knew Milotic's Water-type mastery had to be high, but he had never imagined it would be high enough to exchange energy with Lileep.
"Basalt, what is going on?" Sylvie pouted. Basalt seemed to know everything, while she knew nothing, and it was so frustrating.
Having no other choice, Basalt explained what he knew to Sylvie.
"You're saying... my Milotic absorbed pure Grass-type energy from Lileep? And in exchange, your Lileep absorbed pure Water-type energy from my Milotic? They're complementing each other?" Sylvie's face was filled with astonishment.
This was way over her head.
"That's about right," Basalt nodded. "Your Milotic should know the Grass-type Hidden Power, right? Coincidentally, my Lileep knows the move Brine, and both of their energy levels are very high, so they have the basis to complement each other."
As he said this, some old rumors about Lileep surfaced in Basalt's mind. It was said that millions of years ago, Lileep's typing might have been Water/Grass. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for it to survive at the bottom of the sea and become such a feared predator.
It was only after being fossilized for millions of years that its body's typing changed, which is why most fossil Pokémon have the Rock typing.
Although Lileep had now lost its Water typing, its Ability was Storm Drain, and it knew Water-type moves like Brine. This meant that Lileep hadn't completely lost its mastery of water; it just wasn't as skilled as it was millions of years ago.
"But now... if Lileep can regularly exchange energy with Milotic, is it possible for it to restore its control over Water-type energy to its peak state from millions of years ago?"
It was a wild and absurd idea, but Basalt felt there was a strong possibility.
"Sylvie, let's not just stand here. Why don't we go to your training room or mine and test the power of their Grass and Water-type moves? We might be in for a big surprise." Basalt extended the invitation, his face excited, but his eyes were clear.
"Then... let's go to my training room." Sylvie thought for a moment and finally nodded.
...
Sylvie's training room had a similar layout to Basalt's, about 500 square meters, fully equipped with training facilities. The only difference was that Sylvie's room had a huge pool filled with clear water, presumably for Milotic's daily water-control practice.
"Lileep, Brine!"
At Basalt's command, a gleaming blue stream of water shot out from each of Lileep's tentacles, covering an area of about five or six square meters.
Hiss!
Shortly after the super-saline water hit the ground, the salt immediately crystallized, turning into tiny white grains.
"The power of that Brine has increased by at least 30%."
Basalt was overjoyed. However, after calming down, he realized that such a large increase was probably because it was the first time. The effect of future energy exchanges would get smaller and smaller, just like with Lileep and Excadrill, where the improvement was now much less obvious.
Of course, it was still many times faster than normal training.
Next, Milotic was tested under Sylvie's command. The power of its Hidden Power had also increased by 20-30%.
This made Sylvie look at Basalt in a whole new light. She was determined to be friends with him.
...
After the test, Lileep took the initiative to approach Milotic again, touching its body with its tentacles.
Milotic didn't resist, acting like a big sister taking care of a little sister.
Then, something strange happened again.
When Lileep touched Milotic's body, the scales in that spot would shimmer with a faint light and emit a pleasant sound, like the chiming of a wind chime.
"Is that... the Marvel Scale Ability?"
Basalt's eyes narrowed.
The Marvel Scale Ability. When a Pokémon is afflicted with a status condition, the Marvel Scale activates and its Defense is boosted.
The only three Pokémon in the world with this Ability were Milotic, Dratini, and Dragonair.
But, and maybe it was just his imagination, Basalt felt that this "Marvel Scale" was somehow different.
