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"Take this and leave," Ho-Oh said suddenly as Roy was about to depart.
Within the Sacred Fire, an iridescent feather materialized, shimring with all the colors of the rainbow. It was Ho-Oh's precious keepsake—the Rainbow Feather.
"As long as you activate this feather with Psychic energy, you can open the passage to this place," Ho-Oh explained.
Roy nodded respectfully and accepted the sacred token. This Rainbow Feather should have been officially presented to him by the Pokémon Alliance, but since he had been added to the Alliance's priority training list at the last minute, everything had been rushed. The Alliance hadn't had ti to formally request permission from Ho-Oh for the ceremony.
That was exactly why Caroline had brought him here personally.
After walking out of the Bell Tower, Roy spotted Henry and Caroline standing not far away. They were positioned four or five ters apart—farther than strangers waiting at a bus stop would stand. Henry kept turning his head to steal glances at Caroline, clearly afraid of being caught, then quickly pretended to look elsewhere with an innocent expression.
Throughout the entire journey back, Roy could feel the awkward tension in the air.
"Roy!" Henry called out excitedly when he saw Roy erge, as if seeing a savior approaching.
"Is it finished?" Henry asked hopefully.
"Yes," Roy replied simply.
Henry's face brightened as he suggested, "Then let's head back together. We can talk on the way."
Roy declined with a gentle smile. "I just caught a new Pokémon. I want to take it to et the group first and say our goodbyes."
"Oh... I see..." Henry's expression fell with visible disappointnt. If Roy had co with them, Henry would have found the courage to invite Caroline to travel back together. He really didn't dare to be alone with her—his previous rejections had left him with genuine psychological scars.
His disappointnt was purely about his ruined plans, though. He held no resentnt toward Roy for the situation. Henry's character was remarkably similar to his father's, as everyone who knew the family would attest.
"Well then, junior, the next ti we et will be during the sumr break," Henry said, referring to the sumr vacation period.
That would be during the "National Competition" stage of the college league.
Henry's face broke into a bright, genuine smile as he extended his hand toward Roy. "I hope that by then, we'll have a wonderful battle that leaves us both without any regrets."
"Definitely," Roy replied, matching Henry's enthusiasm as he clasped the offered hand with his own fighting spirit clearly visible.
"See you this sumr, Henry."
After they released their handshake, Roy turned to look at Caroline, who had been silently observing their exchange. Although he had always felt that the senior had a sowhat mysterious personality, he couldn't deny feeling an inexplicable emotion toward her. There was definitely intentional goodwill there, but Roy couldn't quite identify what it actually was. He always sensed that she was hiding secrets from him.
However, he was certain there was no malice in her intentions.
The power of Aura couldn't read minds directly, but it remained extrely sensitive to emotional undercurrents and hostile intentions.
Therefore, Roy didn't resist maintaining contact with her.
"Senior Caroline, I hope we'll et again when the opportunity arises," Roy said politely.
Caroline's voice responded with its characteristic pleasant tone, completely devoid of emotional fluctuation. "We will et again."
After the farewells were complete, Henry and Caroline retrieved their Rainbow Feathers and activated the spatial channels to depart for their respective destinations.
Roy, anwhile, walked toward the territory where the tagross group resided.
When he arrived at the tagross settlent, the Steel and Psychic-type Pokémon showed no territorial aggression whatsoever, having been notified in advance by Ho-Oh about Roy's visit. Instead, they were remarkably welcoming toward the young trainer.
When the group learned that their only Shiny mber would be leaving with Roy, every single tagross, tang, and Beldum displayed clear expressions of reluctance and sadness.
The current leader of the group—a massive tagross standing nearly three ters tall, far exceeding the normal size for its species—approached and fixed its gaze directly on the Shiny Beldum. The two Pokémon didn't make any sounds but simply stared at each other intently.
The silence stretched on, but Roy understood that the two were actually communicating through ans invisible to most humans.
All mbers of the tagross evolutionary line—tagross, tang, and Beldum—possessed the ability to float effortlessly in the air. Because they were part Psychic-type, many people assud they used Confusion or other psychic moves to achieve levitation.
This assumption was incorrect.
The real reason the tagross family could float was due to their unique magnetic properties. Their cellular structure was entirely composed of magnetic components, and powerful magnetic forces flowed through their bodies like blood through circulatory systems. The magnetic field they generated naturally repelled against Earth's magnetic field, allowing them to hover and move through the air with ease.
Communication between mbers of their species was also conducted through these magnetic frequencies and pulses, creating a form of electromagnetic language similar to what the Magnemite evolutionary line used.
After several monts, the leader tagross withdrew its intense gaze, turned its massive head toward Roy, and issued a deep, resonant tallic sound that reverberated through the air.
The aning was clear: "This child is now in your care."
"Of course," Roy promised earnestly. "For , all Pokémon are family mbers."
"Bel!" The Shiny Beldum floated happily beside Roy, spinning in excited circles around him.
"Whoa!" Roy gasped suddenly, feeling as though every pore on his body had been touched by a mild electrical current. He quickly realized that Beldum was depositing traces of magnetic energy on him—a gesture of affection and bonding among Steel-types.
Following this touching mont, Roy accompanied Beldum as they said farewell to every single mber of the group, from the smallest Beldum to the most ancient tagross.
Just as the pair was preparing to leave the territory, the group leader reappeared before them. The massive tagross carefully handed Roy a tal block that glead with pure silver radiance, explaining that this was a nto for Beldum to carry on its new journey.
"What exactly is this?" Roy asked, examining the tallic object carefully. Sothing about it seed familiar, though he couldn't imdiately place where he might have encountered it before.
Beldum beside him displayed an expression of pure excitent and joy.
"Bel bel!" Beldum began explaining enthusiastically.
Through a combination of Beldum's animated gestures and the leader's deeper explanations, Roy learned that this was an extrely rare and special piece of refined tal. The group could only locate such materials once every few years in the deepest parts of their mountain territory. The tal was so precious that only the group leaders throughout history had been deed worthy of possessing it.
Over countless generations, only five such special tal blocks had ever been discovered by the entire clan.
When carried, this tal significantly enhanced a Pokémon's ability to channel and control Steel-type energy, substantially increasing the power of all Steel-type moves. If the tal was actually consud and digested, it would permanently increase the physical hardness and defensive capabilities of the Pokémon's body.
However, because these tal blocks were so incredibly precious and rare, the tagross family typically carried them as focusing tools rather than consuming them, treating them more like magical catalysts than consumable resources.
The more Roy listened to this explanation, the stronger his sense of déjà vu beca. A specific item from his knowledge of Pokémon accessories and tools began forming in his mind.
"Wait... isn't this a tal Coat?" Roy realized suddenly.
tal Coat was indeed the item he was thinking of. In competitive battling, Pokémon carrying this item experienced significant increases in the power of their Steel-type moves—typically around a twenty percent enhancent in controlled studies.
Additionally, tal Coat served as an essential evolution catalyst, being required for Onix to evolve into Steelix and for Scyther to evolve into Scizor when traded while holding the item.
In real-world applications, there naturally wasn't a fixed twenty percent power bonus—that would be far too chanical and unrealistic. However, carrying this item genuinely did increase a Pokémon's affinity for Steel-type energy manipulation, leading to asurable improvents in move power and a higher probability of naturally learning advanced Steel-type techniques.
However, one aspect was entirely new information to Roy.
"Consuming tal Coat to permanently increase body hardness... this is the first ti I've heard of such an application," Roy thought to himself.
Did all Steel-type Pokémon possess this ability to tabolize tal enhancent items? Or was this capability limited only to Pokémon like the tagross line, whose bodies were composed entirely of magnetic tallic substances?
More intriguingly, what was the upper limit of defensive enhancent that could be achieved through this thod of consuming tal Coat materials?
Regardless of these unanswered questions, obtaining this information directly from the tagross leader was invaluable knowledge.
This was certainly an excellent breeding and training technique he had never encountered before.
While tal Coat items were extrely precious and expensive for most trainers and their Pokémon—making the idea of using them as consumable food rather wasteful—Roy's unique circumstances made this approach much more viable. With sufficient points in his system, he could theoretically purchase them as regularly as candy if needed.
Opening his internal system marketplace, Roy located the tal Coat items in the equipnt section.
Like evolutionary stones, tal Coat ca in several different quality grades with corresponding price ranges.
Normal-quality tal Coat was priced at 50,000 points, high-quality versions cost 500,000 points, and the premium top-tier tal Coat commanded a staggering 5 million points.
Unlike evolution stones, which were typically one-ti purchases, using tal Coat as consumable food would require regular replenishnt, making it one of the most expensive consumable resources Roy had ever encountered.
Roy automatically dismissed the two higher grades of tal Coat from consideration.
"Can't afford those levels yet, so I'll stick with what's practical," he decided pragmatically.
Normal quality tal Coat would be sufficient for current training purposes.
"50,000 points... the sa price as a Max Revive. That's manageable," Roy calculated ntally.
His team's daily training expenses had grown considerably recently. Elekid's intensive "Thunder Armor" technique practice consistently required Max Revive supplents for recovery. Ninetales' Z-Move training sessions also demanded regular Max Revive usage.
Additionally, when his mysterious partner Mimikyu enhanced Lucario and Blastoise with Totem auras, those sessions also consud Max Revive items for stamina restoration.
Combined with the daily expenditure on specialized energy cubes for each team mber's dietary needs, the average daily consumption had risen to approximately 70,000 to 80,000 points per team mber during intensive training periods.
Beldum, as the newest team addition, was right in line with these existing maintenance costs.
Although these daily operational expenses were much more manageable than major one-ti purchases like Z-Crystals, the cumulative daily point consumption across his entire team remained the largest drain on his resources.
Despite earning substantial popularity inco daily during the National College League competitions, Roy still found himself struggling to maintain a positive balance between inco and expenses.
"Life certainly isn't easy," Roy sighed quietly to himself.
"Co on, Beldum," Roy said warmly after accepting the precious tal Coat gift from the tagross leader. He retrieved an empty Poké Ball and smiled at his newest team mber.
"Once we return ho, I'll introduce you to all your new partners."
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