Chapter Sixty-Two: Verification

Iron-armored Rhinoceros Ranch, northern entrance.

After choosing their own Iron-armored Rhinoceros to tame, Amu and Xiaoxia rode straight over to this side.

“Hey? This Iron-armored Rhinoceros… did you capture it from the Grinding Horn Rock area?” The staff member recognized Aduan at a glance while registering them.

Perhaps it was the broken horn that made them guess it had been injured in a fight!

“That’s right… is there any problem?” Amu confirmed.

“There’s no problem according to the rules, but their temper might be a bit…” The staff explained. Upon entering the ranch, the Poké Balls Amu and Xiaoxia carried had been marked, so if they had been used mid-visit, it would be apparent. Therefore, the staff didn’t suspect Amu had captured Aduan in battle.

Still, the staff knew that all the Iron-armored Rhinoceros from Grinding Horn Rock were “problem children.”

“That’s good! Don’t worry, I feel a real connection with it,” Amu replied reassuringly.

“It might just be because it’s injured right now,” the staff member reminded him.

In his view, Aduan was temporarily tame due to the injury to its horn. Still, since any Iron-armored Rhinoceros from that area being chosen was reason enough to be happy, he merely gave a brief warning.

After completing the boarding procedure and confirming that the Poké Ball with the new Iron-armored Rhinoceros would be transferred to the ranch, Amu and Xiaoxia signed up for the riding license test the next day.

They then rested for a day in the room provided by the ranch.

Amu, as always, meticulously drafted Aduan’s training plan, while Xiaoxia crammed all night for the test.

Aduan’s level was already quite high—level 33, slightly above Amen, Asuan, and Nido.

Iron-armored Rhinoceros has a base stat total of only 345, not high since it hasn’t evolved yet. But among its six stats, HP, Attack, and Defense are already at 80, 85, and 95—nearly 80% of its total, making it a Pokémon with highly concentrated stats!

As for its weaker stats, Special Attack is almost meaningless for this species—no one trains it in special moves—and its low speed can be compensated for with Trick Room, making it well-suited for battle.

Once evolved into Iron-armored Tyrannosaurus, also known as Rhyperior, its base stat total jumps to 485, and its ultimate evolution, Hyper-armored Gorerhino, reaches 535. These evolutions are all classic examples of HP, Attack, and Defense dominating the stat spread.

Ignoring Special Attack, and with Trick Room considered, only Special Defense remains low.

Therefore, trainers of Hyper-armored Gorerhino usually tailor a Special Defense Armor for their Pokémon, equivalent to the Assault Vest in the games—external items in this world can merge with a Pokémon’s genes to deliver powerful effects.

Additionally, since Iron-armored Tyrannosaurus isn’t the final form but still has a high stat total of 485, there’s a strategy that involves not evolving it to Hyper-armored Gorerhino but equipping it with an Evolution Stone instead. This results in slightly lower Attack but much higher dual defenses, making its overall stats effectively superior to the final evolution.

Amu hadn’t decided which path Aduan would take, but in the early stages of training, the differences were minor; specialized training could wait until it evolved into Iron-armored Tyrannosaurus.

Iron-armored Rhinoceros evolves late, only at level 42, and for Iron-armored Tyrannosaurus to evolve further, it must fuse with the discarded carapace of a Sand Tyrant as it evolves into Tyranitar—so there was no need to worry about that for now.

If all went well, Amu planned to train all his main Pokémon to level 50, or at least close, before his pharmacist’s exam on July 15th.

Level 50 is a key milestone in Pokémon development. Even at the official stage of Rookie Tournaments, most trainers’ main Pokémon are only at this level.

The next day’s riding license test was no challenge for Amu. He had memorized the written section perfectly. For the practical exam, obtaining an Iron-armored Rhinoceros license required riding one over a 12-kilometer obstacle course within 15 minutes.

Indeed, the practical test for Pokémon riding in this world was quite “daring and reckless.”

Since the main difficulty with riding Iron-armored Rhinoceros lay in their tendency to lose control at high speeds, the test required the rider to maintain both speed and obstacle-avoidance skills.

Naturally, examiners would ride alongside on other Iron-armored Rhinoceros, ready to rescue candidates if needed.

Amu and Xiaoxia’s session involved eight candidates, with two examiners riding along.

Amu could feel that the attention of both examiners was on him from the start.

It couldn’t be helped—Aduan, despite lacking a horn, clearly showed signs of having lost it in battle, and his fierce aura marked him as a combative Iron-armored Rhinoceros.

After the eight candidates mounted up, the other seven steeds visibly avoided Aduan.

“Timing starts… now!”

At the examiner’s command, seven candidates urged their Pokémon to charge forward… while one failed at the start, busy calming their own mount!

Aduan’s start was noticeably faster than the others, and—

Amu noticed that one of the examiners was watching him intently!

This examiner accelerated alongside him, leaving the other seven to the second examiner, clearly worried Amu might be thrown off or that Aduan would lose control.

Aduan charged at remarkable speed, and since Amu wasn’t using any fancy techniques, the examiner was initially quite anxious.

However…

As the test went on, the examiner realized that though this hornless Rhinoceros charged fast, it was very composed. On encountering obstacles, it would slow down in advance. Although it looked reckless, there was no sign of it losing its head.

While the others were focused on controlling their mounts’ speed—fast enough to pass, but not so fast as to lose control—Amu was calming his Pokémon, accelerating without letting it go berserk!

When the examiner noticed Amu’s right hand always resting on Aduan’s head, he basically understood—this was definitely a trainer with special abilities!

The bad news was, perhaps due to Aduan’s ferocity affecting the other Iron-armored Rhinoceros, only three candidates passed; the good news was, Xiaoxia was one of them.

Thus, the two of them, ignoring the resentment of their fellow candidates, swaggered out of the Iron-armored Rhinoceros Ranch.

Now that they could ride, traveling through the wild became much faster.

As long as the route was relatively flat and not far from the main road, the Iron-armored Rhinoceros could gallop freely. Even if the path required climbing mountains, crossing ridges, or rivers—unsuitable for the Pokémon—the trainer could simply recall it into its Poké Ball, making travel extremely convenient!

Since neither Amu nor Xiaoxia planned to capture more Pokémon nearby, they quickly arrived in Pewter City by April 30th.

———

Note 1: Items like the Assault Vest, in this story’s setting, need to be custom-made. Once equipped, they interact with the Pokémon’s gene points, altering gene structure. The principle is that they temporarily widen the “skill bridge” of the first move used, squeezing the others, thus boosting its effect. The “Special Defense Armor” is equivalent to the Assault Vest in the games: special defense is increased, but only one move can be used.

Note 2: The Evolution Stone works as in the games, boosting both defenses by 50%, but only for Pokémon that have not reached their final evolution.