Nathan chose to give both of these items to Volcarona.
Only Volcarona could make full use of them.
After all, he would be relying heavily on Volcarona in many upcoming areas.
Buzz.
A flash of red light appeared.
Volcarona's figure emerged in the room.
But as soon as it appeared, its gaze was instantly drawn to the items in Nathan's hands—the Ho-Oh Feather and the Awakening Fruit.
The Awakening Fruit was a green fruit covered in mysterious patterns, clearly extraordinary just by appearance.
And the Ho-Oh Feather looked like a dazzling rainbow—absolutely stunning.
To Volcarona, both of these items were irresistibly attractive.
It immediately stared at Nathan with eyes full of desire.
"Don't worry, both of these are for you," Nathan said with a smile.
"Vooll!"
Volcarona nodded excitedly and immediately gulped down the Awakening Fruit. At the same time, Nathan placed the Ho-Oh Feather in front of it.
The next moment, it was as if a cry echoed from within the feather.
Then golden flames burst forth. They felt scorching hot, but strangely, didn't harm Nathan.
To his astonishment, the flames gathered into a phantom figure of Ho-Oh, appearing right before his eyes.
It seemed that, considering the size of the room, the phantom was not very large—just the right size to hover in the air above them.
Golden-red feathers covered its entire body, a yellow tail, green stripes around its neck, a yellow beak, and red eyes with black markings around them.
This was Ho-Oh.
Though it radiated a rainbow-colored brilliance and looked quite beautiful…
Staring at the image, Nathan couldn't help but think:
"What an ugly legendary pokemon!"
(TN: Ugly?!!!)
…
As if it had a will of its own—and heard Nathan's inner thoughts—Ho-Oh suddenly turned to look at him, its gaze deep and unreadable.
It made no sound.
Just stared at him.
Which startled Nathan so much that he nearly jumped.
"Cough, cough. I-I meant that compared to you, I look way too ugly. I didn't expect you to be this beautiful," he said, trying to cover up awkwardly.
In response, Ho-Oh let out something that sounded like a soft snort, before finally shifting its gaze to Volcarona.
Though Volcarona was powerful, it remained obediently still in the face of the Ho-Oh phantom.
Even a mere projection of a legendary Pokémon carried an overwhelming, instinctive pressure.
Ho-Oh seemed somewhat satisfied with Volcarona. It let out a cry, nodded slightly, then transformed into golden flames and rushed into Volcarona's body.
In an instant, the flames formed a golden cocoon of fire that enveloped it completely.
"What's going on?"
Nathan looked confused and couldn't help reaching out to touch the cocoon. Although it burned with fire, it radiated only warmth to his hand.
"A blessing from Ho-Oh? Or something else?" Nathan scratched his head.
So far, there didn't seem to be any negative effects—on the contrary, it felt like a good thing. After all, Ho-Oh was one of the legendary Pokémon known not to harbor ill will toward humans. It hadn't shown any hostility just now either.
"Even if it heard what I was thinking… it wouldn't really get mad, right? It's a legendary Pokémon, after all," Nathan muttered awkwardly, rubbing his nose.
Come to think of it, he really had been startled. Who would've thought a mere phantom could actually hear his thoughts?
Just goes to show—it's a legendary.
Better avoid running into Ho-Oh again in the future.
He was probably the first human to ever call Ho-Oh ugly to its face.
Even if Ho-Oh didn't care, Nathan still felt a little uneasy.
Taking out a Poké Ball, he recalled Volcarona back inside.
A flash of red light, and Volcarona disappeared into the ball.
That made Nathan breathe a sigh of relief.
He'd been worried that Volcarona couldn't be recalled while in that state, and he would've had to just sit and wait with it.
And who knows how long that would've taken.
Now that the system rewards were mostly dealt with, only the Azure Flute remained unused.
But Nathan didn't know how to use that yet—he'd have to learn it later.
It was convenient to carry outdoors and didn't take up much space, so it was definitely worth learning.
Besides that, there was the reward for winning the Trial Tournament.
The Evolution Stone… he had no use for it. He could consider selling it or saving it for later.
A Fire Stone wasn't like a Dusk Stone.
Dusk Stones were used by very few Pokémon, and even for those, evolution wasn't strictly dependent on the stone.
But Pokémon that required a Fire Stone couldn't evolve without it—it was essential.
And since this one was of supreme quality, it could easily fetch over ten million.
Shaking his head, Nathan stashed the Fire Stone away.
Then, he took out the Poké Ball containing the Trapinch and pressed the button. A flash of light revealed a little creature in front of him.
Well, "little" was relative—it was around 70 cm tall, Lily-skinned, with an oversized round head and massive jaws that didn't quite match its body size.
The little guy looked around curiously, then tilted its head and stared at Nathan with wide, blinking eyes.
"Hello, Trapinch. I'm Nathan. From now on, I'll be your Trainer."
Nathan smiled warmly and spoke gently.
Trapinch responded with a chittering noise like an insect.
Nathan didn't use the Viridian Force, so he couldn't understand it.
But from the sparkle in Trapinch's eyes and the way it rubbed against his leg, Nathan could tell it was happy to hear his voice.
As one of the Champion rewards, Trapinch probably knew it would be assigned to a Trainer.
And it clearly liked this one.
"Haha, looks like you like me too. We're going to be partners from now on," Nathan said, rubbing its big round head with a smile.
Trapinch nodded happily.
With a thought, Nathan brought up Trapinch's stat panel.
[Name: Trapinch!]
[Ability: Hyper Cutter (Attack stat cannot be lowered by any means)!]
[Type: Ground!]
[Description: The Ant Pit Pokémon. It digs funnel-shaped nests in deserts. Its powerful jaws can crush hard rocks. The nests it builds resemble mortars—once prey falls in, there's no escape.]
[Level: 4 (1~10: Rookie)]
[Moves: Sand Attack, Scary Face, Hone Claws, Bite.]
"It actually has an Ability," Nathan said in surprise.
Abilities weren't easy to awaken in Pokémon, so he hadn't expected Trapinch to have one.
What a pleasant surprise.
"No wonder it's a Champions reward," he laughed, rubbing its head again.
He was clearly in a good mood.
With proper training, this Trapinch might just become one of his main fighters in the future.
After checking its level, Nathan closed the panel.
Time to feed it.
This Trapinch had clearly passed the newborn stage and could begin training, but it was still quite young.
It needed highly nutritious food.
Nathan bought some suitable items from the system shop and placed them in front of Trapinch.
The little guy must've been starving. As soon as it saw the food, it began munching with joy, a blissful look on its face.
It clearly loved the taste.
"Slow down, it's all yours—no need to rush," Nathan said with a smile.
At the same time, he pulled out his phone. It had been ringing nonstop earlier.
Opening it, he saw a flood of messages.
There was a quote from Teacher William.
Messages from Lily.
Some old acquaintances.
And friends he met during the tournament.
He opened Teacher William's message first.
…
Teacher William: [Holy crap! Well done, Nathan! Thanks to you, the school's reputation is through the roof—the principal can't stop grinning!]
Nathan:[So, what kind of reward is the principal planning to give me?]
Teacher William:[That's exactly why I messaged you! All the resources you asked for—the principal got them for you. They'll be delivered soon. As for those weird stones you wanted, we've got a few, but I'm not sure if they're exactly what you need. Oh, and your cash reward—school decided to give you 3 million.]
Nathan:[Three million?!]
Teacher William: [What, you think it's not enough? The resources we gathered for you are worth more than 10 million altogether.]
Nathan: [Haha, nah, I'm just surprised. Didn't think the school would be that generous.]
Teacher William: [Well, you really brought glory to us. Haha! Even I'm becoming famous now!]
As Nathan's homeroom teacher, Teacher William was getting attention too.
With Nathan winning the championship and even owning a elite tier Pokémon, reporters were flocking to the school—and to Teacher William for interviews.
After chatting with Teacher William, Nathan messaged Lily.
She had guessed he might win the tournament, but seeing it happen still shocked her. Her messages were full of "Oh my god!" over and over.
Then came messages from classmates and other friends.
Nathan replied to each one, one by one.
It took him nearly an hour.
Especially Sam—this guy hadn't messaged Nathan in ages, but now he was completely hyped. Every sentence started with holy crap.
Whew.
Nathan took a deep breath, put down his phone, and sat down in front of the computer.
The Trial Tournament was over.
While college entrance exams were coming up, there was still over a month left—plenty of time.
During the next month or so, Nathan planned to leave Poplar City to challenge Gyms and continue training with his Pokémon.
He needed to plan his route carefully.
The first city would be the Ancient City, then to Glorious City, and finally to Lake City.
With this route, he could challenge Gyms while pursuing his other goals.
Still, this was just a temporary plan.
When the Elite Assessment came, he'd also have to accept exploration missions, so he'd likely have to revise the route again.
Also on the agenda was a training plan for Trapinch.
Right now, there wasn't a specific plan yet.
What Nathan could do for now was focus on helping Trapinch get familiar with its abilities and moves.
After all, the evolution into Vibrava was still a long way off.
A proper training regimen could only be established after that.
Before heading out, though, Nathan wanted to take a couple of days to rest.