"Rollout or Gyro Ball + ability Gluttony + Hidden Power = Berry Blender?"
The more Ethan thought about it, the more convinced he became that the crystals in his hand were truly Pokéblocks, since it matched perfectly with the operating principle of a Berry Blender.
In his opinion, the Berry Blender process had two stages:
1. Spinning to use centrifugal force and separate impurities.
2. Condensing the energy of the Berries to trigger an unknown reaction and solidify it using molds, thus turning it into a Pokéblock.
The first stage was simple; in the real world there were many tools capable of doing that. The difficult part was the second: condensing and transforming the Berry's energy.
He thought for a moment and concluded that the key to Shuckle being able to form those crystals was the move Hidden Power, combined with his particular body structure and perhaps his ability Gluttony.
Shuckle's special body could convert Berries into juice, which already implied a substance capable of condensing the energy of the Berries. And the ability Gluttony would help even more with that condensation.
In fact, Shuckle could already refine his own juice, raising its quality. This was just one more step: refining the juice again until turning it into crystals.
"Well, the theory can be left to the researchers to study. What matters now is that Shuckle can produce Pokéblocks."
After that round of theories that left his head heavy, Ethan sighed and stopped thinking about the details.
Then he looked at the remaining crystals in his hand. From Sandslash's reaction, it was clear that these crystallized juices had a much greater effect than ordinary nutrient juice.
Although, of course, if they really were Pokéblocks, they must be of very low quality—something like defective products.
To maximize effects, all the mixed energy must be compacted into a single, perfect Pokéblock. Moreover, even Pokéblocks had different quality levels.
In the video games, the process was similar: Berries were placed inside the Berry Blender, the central disk started spinning, and when the needle pointed to your button, you had to press it. Hitting it would change the spinning speed; the higher the final speed, the better the quality of the Pokéblock.
If that theory also applied here, increasing the speed should improve the quality.
With that idea in mind, Ethan looked at Shuckle with enthusiasm. If his hypothesis was correct, Shuckle could become the key to the rapid growth of his team.
So he decided to strengthen Shuckle's training plan; his power would directly influence the quality of the Pokéblocks.
...
The next morning, Ethan and the Pokémon woke up.
They were in a dangerous environment, and maintaining their energy was essential. That's why they had rested early the night before and slept until dawn.
"Shellder, thanks for keeping watch last night. Now rest."
Ethan smiled and petted the Shellder on Slowking's head.
The other Pokémon also woke up, and Ethan returned them to their Poké Balls.
After packing everything, Ethan set off with Slowking, Vibrava, and Shuckle toward the exit of the forest.
"Slowking, sense if there's any water source nearby."
They had gone a full day without drinking and were already thirsty.
"Yadon!"
Slowking nodded, his eyes glowing blue, and he began detecting Water-type energy. Wherever there was a water source, there would be a strong concentration of that energy.
Along the way, several wild Pokémon appeared, and Ethan left all battles to Shuckle.
According to his theory, the quality of the Pokéblocks depended greatly on Shuckle's strength, especially the three essential moves to condense them: Rollout, Gyro Ball, and Hidden Power.
Shuckle fought using mainly those three moves, becoming increasingly skilled.
The Secret Kingdom of Ironvale City's Pokémon University was enormous and full of resources. There were fruit-bearing trees everywhere; if one searched carefully, Berries were easy to find.
Shuckle was an expert at finding them. In a short time, Ethan's bag was full, and he even gathered all the ingredients needed to prepare intermediate-level nutrient juice.
Ethan wanted to seriously test making Pokéblocks, so he placed all the ingredients inside Shuckle's shell.
"Shuckle, follow my instructions."
"First, use Gyro Ball to crush the Berries. The centrifugal force will separate the impurities."
"Then, use Hidden Power to condense the nutrient energy. And if you can, try to compress that energy until it forms the shape of a solid Pokéblock."
In a forest clearing, Ethan and Shuckle carried out the experiment. Fortunately, Shuckle had previously seen how a Pokéblock machine worked and had even tasted them, so it wasn't entirely unfamiliar to him.
"Shuck!"
Shuckle nodded firmly.
The steps weren't too different from the process of improving nutrient juice; they only added the spinning part.
Fwooooo—
Shuckle began using Gyro Ball.
With his low base speed, the move generated a surprisingly fast spin. And boosted by the move Helping Hand, the move transformed into a Super Gyro Ball of devastating power.
In seconds, the ground beneath Shuckle formed a crater. The wind pressure toppled the surrounding trees.
While spinning, Ethan could clearly see a faint green glow surrounding Shuckle: he was using Hidden Power.
The move Hidden Power, in addition to letting the Pokémon shoot energy balls of its corresponding type, also granted certain abilities tied to that type.
Just like Psychic-type Hidden Power could strengthen a Pokémon's mind and grant telekinetic control...
Shuckle used Hidden Power to catalyze, extract, and condense the energy contained within the Berries.
(End of chapter)