Chapter 93: Improvements to Steam Eruption
Thus, Sora spent each day studying mechanical engineering while arranging training sessions for Volcanion and Ogerpon.
Another week passed in the blink of an eye.
Counting the days, Sora had already stayed on the Nebel Plateau for half a month.
That day, Kimia piloted her private airship and landed atop the hillside beside the lake.
Sora was already sitting there, gazing into the distance at a small frozen section of the lake.
Upon the ice, Victini was currently assisting Volcanion in training Steam Eruption.
Kimia walked over to Sora's side.
She didn't speak immediately.
Instead, she silently watched together with him as Volcanion condensed a blue spherical mass of energy.
'Steam Eruption?'
Kimia had seen this move before.
The destructive force that had instantly blasted out a crater—
without Pokémon of equal caliber present, anything weaker would be annihilated in an instant.
"You came at just the right time."
Sora gestured for Kimia to sit beside him.
"Take a look at Volcanion's training results over this period."
"Mhm."
Kimia quietly observed.
She noticed that the Steam Eruption Volcanion was condensing now was far smaller than the previous times she had seen it.
"This is about the limit."
Sora explained:
"With Volcanion's current control, this is the smallest-power Steam Eruption it can produce."
During this period, under Victini's assistance, Volcanion had repeatedly used Steam Eruption over and over again.
As for the technique involving water-fire collision and qualitative transformation—
Volcanion had begun to grasp certain insights.
Though still unrefined, there were already preliminary experimental results.
In addition, its control over Steam Eruption itself had improved at an astonishing rate.
"In the past, Volcanion never considered technique when using this move."
"Recently, I've had it continuously experiment with it. That's how it managed to grasp the key to controlling its power."
Using this method, Volcanion had developed multiple applications for Steam Eruption.
For example—
compressing it to increase destructive force through brute power.
Or adjusting the ratio of water and fire to create delayed explosions.
Or controlling the direction of detonation.
Among all of them, the one Sora was most satisfied with was this miniature Steam Eruption variation.
He named it:
"Steam Burst Shot."
Small size.
Fast speed.
High firing frequency.
Yet its power far exceeded the ultimate attacks unleashed with full force by ordinary Pokémon.
It almost completely removed Steam Eruption's weaknesses while retaining all its advantages.
"Bzzzz…"
On the frozen lake, a Steam Burst Shot roughly the size of a basketball shot forward into the distance.
"Here."
Sora immediately handed Kimia a pair of sunglasses.
"Protect your eyes."
Kimia didn't hesitate and quickly put them on.
"BOOM!!"
The instant the Steam Burst Shot reached the center of the lake—
a blinding white light engulfed the entire lakeside.
"Hissss~~~~"
Thanks to the sunglasses, Kimia could clearly see the changes occurring on the lake surface.
The spherical energy rapidly expanded outward, violently forcing the lake downward by over ten meters.
The destructive radius was equally horrifying.
Everything within nearly a hundred-meter radius trembled and buzzed beneath unbearable heat and pressure.
Fortunately, it was only the lake.
There wasn't anything else nearby.
Even so, Kimia was still deeply shocked by Volcanion's casual attack.
'What terrifying precision.'
Kimia carefully observed the lake and realized the move's destructive range had been controlled with incredible accuracy.
Not even the slightest environmental damage spread beyond the designated zone.
'So this is the power Sora possesses?'
He had even managed to subdue Volcanion and make it this obedient.
In just seven days—
that legendary Pokémon had completely become Sora's power, following his commands at will.
"Maintain this frequency."
Yet Sora still wasn't finished.
He loudly ordered:
"Rapid fire!"
"Chiu-chiu-chiu-chiu!!!"
Immediately afterward, one blue sphere after another shot out from the white mist, scattering toward every corner of the lake.
If someone were observing from high above, they would see clusters of blue hemispherical explosions erupting over the lake surface.
The scene resembled meteors crashing down from the heavens.
Fortunately, all nearby Pokémon had long since been cleared out by Volcanion beforehand.
After seven days, the wild Pokémon had more or less grown accustomed to this daily routine of random natural disasters.
Quite a few powerful wild Pokémon would even stand atop distant mountains just to watch Volcanion's magnificent display.
Pokémon thoughts:
Wah! As expected of Lord Volcanion!
So strong and mighty!
"What a terrifying move…"
Kimia was utterly stunned by the sight.
For a moment, she didn't even know how to react and could only stare blankly at the disaster unfolding before her eyes.
"For now, this is the limit."
Sora was extremely satisfied with Volcanion's progress.
"By dividing the original single Steam Eruption into multiple Steam Burst Shots, both speed and precision have improved tremendously."
Originally, around eighty percent of the energy in Volcanion's Steam Eruption had been completely wasted.
This "eighty percent" referred purely to ordinary energy expenditure—
it did not include the energy-collapse phenomenon itself.
Even so, Volcanion had still been far too crude.
Imprecise control only led to wasted effort.
And correcting those bad habits had taken Sora quite a bit of work before reaching the current result.
This wave of improvements…
could only be described as a massive buff for Volcanion.
"Still, the power's too great."
Sora sighed regretfully.
Volcanion's Steam Eruption simply wasn't suitable for standard Pokémon battlefields.
How large was an official battlefield anyway?
One Steam Burst Shot from Volcanion and the entire arena would become a crater.
Unless Sora intended to kill the audience too—this move would only end up permanently banned from League competition.
"What kind of joke is that?!"
When Volcanion learned battlefields were that small, its first reaction was complete disbelief.
"You're telling me I can't use my full power in official matches?"
"Then what's even the point of battling?!"
"Playing house?!!"
Well…
for a Mythical Pokémon like Volcanion, human League tournaments really did feel like child's play.
After all, in many official competitions, the moves Pokémon are allowed to use are restricted.
Normally, only four moves are permitted.
There's no advance declaration—
but once a Pokémon uses four techniques during battle, those become its entire usable movepool for the match.
Of course, rules vary between regions.
For example, the Indigo Plateau Conference in Kanto doesn't impose move restrictions.
Elite Four and Champion battles are similarly unrestricted.
"That's true."
Kimia sighed emotionally.
"Looks like we'll never get to see Volcanion appear in an official League tournament."
"Doesn't matter."
Sora shrugged.
"Volcanion isn't interested in those childish games anyway."
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