Pokemon: The Gameboy Effect-Chapter 215: A Surprise to Be Sure, But a Welcome One

John was taken aback.

"Gardevoir's intimacy is maxed out? 255?"

That was unexpected. Even his first Pokemon, Blaziken, hadn't reached that level of bond with him. Yet somehow, Gardevoir had.

"Does this mean I can skip the training bond requirement and go straight to Mega Evolution?"

But there was a problem—how exactly was he supposed to trigger Mega Evolution? John scratched his head in frustration. Originally, he had an excuse: he couldn't Mega Evolve a Pokemon because the bond wasn't strong enough. Now, the bond was at full capacity, yet he still couldn't evolve Gardevoir. It was like having an itch he couldn't scratch—maddening.

Needing a distraction, he grabbed his Gameboy and checked the intimacy levels of his other Pokemon.

The results came in quickly:

200-254 Intimacy: Blaziken, Greninja, and Hariyama.

These three had been with John the longest, so it made sense that their bond was strong.

150-199 Intimacy: Aggron, Garchomp, Wobbuffet, Tyranitar, and Steelix.

These were the next in line. Aggron had been evolving steadily under John's care, and at LV50, it was a powerhouse in the making. John had been training it constantly, waiting for the perfect opportunity to showcase its strength—perhaps in a Gym battle.

100-149 Intimacy: Tyrantrum, Fraxure, Gyarados, Haunter, Venusaur, and Smeargle.

Most of these had been with him for a while, but Smeargle was the odd one out. That thing was just a wandering artist, mostly used for its Sweet Scent ability. The fact that it had even reached this level of intimacy surprised John.

Tyrantrum had evolved early due to its relatively low evolution requirements, and John loved riding it around the island whenever he had free time.

50-99 Intimacy: Slakoth.

This lazy thing spent 25 hours a day sleeping—including an extra hour in its dreams, somehow. The only reason its intimacy wasn't lower was that Slakoth had a passive admiration for its trainer.

Among all these Pokemon, Gyarados and Venusaur stood out. They needed to bond more, especially Venusaur, since John already had its Mega Stone. Getting it to evolve as soon as possible would be a game-changer.

John let out a deep breath. There was still plenty of work to do.

His next stop was the Pokemon Center in Laverre City. After rearranging his team, he grabbed his main six and set off, riding on Flygon's back toward Shalour City.

To unlock Mega Evolution, he needed to bond with his pokemon during battles. And to get it, he had to defeat the Kalos region's Gym Leaders as quickly as possible. First stop: Shalour Gym.

When he arrived, he found that Korrina had already returned from the Tower of Mastery. But to his surprise, she didn't accept his challenge. Instead, she handed him the Rumble Badge and a TM as a reward.

[Korrina: "You already defeated me in the Tower of Mastery, and the gap between our strengths is clear. There's no need for another battle right now."]

[Korrina: "This is the Rumble Badge. With it, your secret Surf will be stronger."]

[Korrina: "And here's a TM for Power-Up Punch. I learned this from my grandfather and my own experience with Fighting-type Pokemon. I hope it helps you."]

[Korrina: "I'll keep training on my path to Mega Evolution. One day, I'll prove the strength of my bond with Lucario in the Pokemon League!"]

John stood there, stunned.

Korrina had just... given him the badge? No battle required? That was ridiculously generous. Not that he was complaining—he'd take a free win any day. He examined the Rumble Badge in his hand.

[Rumble Badge: Increases the power of all Fighting-type moves in the team by 10% and enhances secret Surf.]

That was a pretty solid bonus. He also had the Knuckle Badge from Dewford Gym, which boosted Fighting moves too.

That led to an interesting question—could the effects of multiple badges stack?

There was only one way to find out.

John grabbed a Fighting-type Pokemon and headed straight for Route 12, searching for a wild Heracross. Three minutes later, he had his answer.

It worked!

The bonus effects stacked. His eyes lit up with excitement.

If there were eight Gyms in each of the seven regions, that meant he could stack up to 560% move power increases for his team!

Of course, the bonuses wouldn't all apply to the same type, but there were only eighteen types in total. That meant every type would have at least a 30% boost at full potential.

John had only been speculating before, but now he had proof.

"This changes everything..."

If stacking worked, he absolutely had to collect every Gym Badge in every region. Even if it was just for that extra 10% boost, it was worth it.

Besides, the Rumble Badge had another effect—it had boosted his secret Surf move. John checked Greninja's stats to see the difference.

[Secret Surf: Power increased to 140, now traps the target in a Whirlpool. (Additional effects require the Pokemon to know Whirlpool.)]

The power had gone up by 10 points. That matched the increase he got from the Fog Badge when he had beaten Morty in Ecruteak City.

"No complaints here. This is great."

Now, onto the TM Power-Up Punch.

It was a solid move, not only dealing damage but also raising the user's Attack with each hit. A perfect skill for Fighting-types.

Blaziken, though, was more of a kicker than a puncher. And Hariyama already knew the move.

"I'll hold onto it for now," John decided. "If I catch another strong Fighting-type, I'll teach it then."

The sourc𝗲 of this content is frёeωebɳovel.com.