Pokemon: The Gameboy Effect

Due to his research on Greninja's MEGA evolution, John remained in the Dragoncrest for about a month.

Finally, on New Year's Eve at noon, with his thesis officially published, John had to sneak back to Riverstone to celebrate the New Year.

The published paper was titled "Mega Greninja", a comprehensive introduction to Greninja's unique MEGA evolution method, along with detailed analysis of its physical changes, ability modifications, and move usage after MEGA evolution.

Unless someone later evolved their own Mega Greninja for research, this would remain the most detailed, in-depth, and authoritative research report available.

John wasn't afraid of rivals studying his Mega Greninja through the paper. On the contrary, if future opponents limited their understanding of Greninja to just this essay, he could definitely crush them completely!

With continued waveguide power training, Greninja's combat strength had become increasingly terrifying.

Once "Mega Greninja" was released, it immediately ignited excitement during the most festive Spring Festival period.

News about "Mega Greninja" stayed in the top trending searches for a week, only falling out of the top rankings after a full month.

The second through tenth trending topics were all more or less related to this breakthrough, expert analyses of the paper, the international influence of the research, Greninja's rapidly rising status among starter Pokemon, and so on.

John didn't pay much attention to online trends. Apart from congratulatory calls from acquaintances, the duration of trending searches had little impact on him.

But the most tangible effect was Azure calling to complain that Emerald hadn't come home for the New Year, choosing instead to work overtime at the Gym.

The release of "Mega Greninja" had caused John's Breeding Lodge to explode with activity once again.

The reason was simple: currently, only John's Breeding House could confirm that their Froakie possessed "bond evolution" capabilities, essentially selling Froakie with MEGA evolution potential.

Every wealthy trainer who considered themselves qualified to compete for a "MEGA Stone" was asking Emerald when the Froakie auction would begin.

Lin Wei was so swamped with inquiries that she naturally couldn't return home for the New Year.

Even though the auction timing for "Bond Evolution" Froakie had been announced on the Breeding Lodge's official website, people still called to inquire.

"Let's hire more staff after the New Year," John texted Emerald.

Simultaneously with the "Mega Greninja" paper's publication, the Breeders Association awarded John the title of Master Pokemon Breeder.

Combined with this year's accumulated wealth and his recent promotion to Elite Four, everything was perfectly aligned, timing, location, and opportunity!

It was time to expand the breeding operation.

"Junior, put your phone away, it's time for our New Year's Eve dinner!" Senior Sister Ziyi called John to the table.

Everyone had already gathered.

Senior Xu Tangyu, who studied Pokemon mythology, had brought his wife Sister Hong. The two of them had prepared today's New Year's Eve feast.

The renowned "Holy Hand" Senior Ziyi, along with Damian and Harisson, had all come to celebrate the New Year together. The latter two were currently sitting in front of the big screen TV, peeling oranges.

As for Zachary, he was absent this year. John had heard through the Pokemon Investigator network that he'd gone abroad on a mission.

However, if all went well, at midnight he would still video call for the New Year's.

John tossed his phone aside and headed to the dinner table.

Like last year, the dining atmosphere was wonderful.

They shared stories about their experiences in society and at home, completely free from any conflicts of interest. Even though John had become an Elite Four member and was now the hottest top breeder, he remained just an ordinary junior in his seniors' eyes.

The biggest advantage of being the youngest was that after the New Year's Eve dinner, he didn't need to wash dishes, Sister Hong and Senior Violet handled the cleanup.

John and the four other guys accompanied his mentor to watch the Spring Festival on TV.

However, Saul seemed tired today and went to bed early, before 9 o'clock. Without their teacher, the group naturally dispersed soon after, each doing their own thing.

John returned to his villa on Trial Island at Riverstone University to rest.

After settling his Pokemon, John went to his second-floor bedroom.

He turned on the TV, placed a cup of coffee on the table, and leaned back on the sofa, pulling out his Gameboy.

Big plans for tonight!

Entering the game, his character's current location was Hoenn Region, Ever Grande City, Victory Road.

The battle for the Elite Four and Champion title was just one door away.

John was here tonight to challenge all the Elite Four and Champion in Hoenn Region!

For this purpose, he had completed all previous gym challenges.

Not just the gyms in Hoenn Region, he had cleared gyms in all other regions as well.

While waiting for Greninja's inspection, he had cleared all the missing gyms in Kanto, Johto Region, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Galar.

The purpose was to collect these gym badges and gain additional attribute move power increases.

Currently, John possessed fifty-six badges total, corresponding to seven regions with eight gyms each.

With those fifty-six gym badges, John had obtained a 560% move power bonus.

Among them, Rock-type, Fighting-type, and Electric-type were the most numerous, each providing a 50% bonus! For all of John's Pokemon, using these three move types was equivalent to releasing them with corresponding STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus).

For Pokemon with these three attributes, this represented a massive enhancement.

Aggron, Tyranitar, Zeraora, Blaziken... all his main Pokemon benefited!

The distribution of other attributes was relatively even, with 20% and 30% bonuses being most common.

He checked the condition of the Pokemon he'd brought, all had been leveled to their peaks.

John stepped forward to talk to the Hoenn Alliance staff member.

Immediately, a prompt appeared before him:

[Yes/No to enter the special dungeon "Victory Road" (disappears after completion)]

[Dungeon recommended entry level: 90]