"How do you make Pokemon Mega Gigantamax?" John asked directly.
"What? You have a Pokemon that needs to attempt Mega Gigantamax?"
"Currently, the method for Pokemon to achieve Mega Gigantamax relies purely on chance. The Pokemon must have the inherent potential for Mega Gigantamax, and then they can successfully transform on their first attempt. Otherwise, they'll never be able to Mega Gigantamax for their entire lives, they can only perform ordinary Dynamax."
"There are research programs studying Mega Gigantamax in the West, but I've heard they haven't made any progress."
This was Principal Badman's answer to John's inquiry.
John felt somewhat disappointed, but also sensed a potential opportunity.
Since his mentor mentioned there was currently no reliable method to enable Pokemon to Mega Gigantamax, it meant that Max Soup hadn't been discovered yet.
If he could create Max Soup, wouldn't that be another goldmine?
John searched online but found nothing relevant.
Perhaps it wasn't called Max Soup in this world, so he expanded his search to include any methods for helping Pokemon achieve Mega Gigantamax.
This time the results were quite different, and rather discouraging.
News articles flooded his screen: scam groups using "Help Pokemon Mega Gigantamax" schemes to defraud Trainers of their Pokemon and money. Western research groups claiming breakthrough discoveries in Mega Gigantamax projects, only to be exposed as having produced nothing but empty folders.
From this, John could basically confirm that something like Max Soup didn't exist in this world.
Well, Max Soup seemed a bit convoluted anyway.
In the Galar region, few people even used ordinary Dynamax. First, because the Dynamax particle levels in Galar were low, meaning the concentration of Dynamax particles in the air was insufficient. Naturally, Wishing Stars were extremely rare, even rarer than Mega Evolution stones, so Dynamax Bands crafted from Wishing Stars were few and far between.
Second, the benefits provided by low-level Dynamax were far less significant than Mega Evolution and Z-Moves.
Even the stamina boost from low-level Dynamax couldn't offset the disadvantage of the "massive size" that made Pokemon easy targets while eliminating their ability to dodge.
As a result, only Trainers who preferred battling with heavy, defense-specialized Pokemon would make their Pokemon Dynamax.
However, Mega Gigantamax was different.
Mega Gigantamax transformed Pokemon's appearance and granted them exclusive G-Max moves.
Even with the same drawbacks as ordinary Dynamax after Mega Gigantamax transformation, Trainers could still use it as their ultimate trump card, activate Mega Gigantamax, unleash the exclusive G-Max move, then immediately end the transformation.
So, if he could truly bring Max Soup, which allowed Pokemon to achieve 100% Mega Gigantamax, to his world, it would be like striking a gold mine.
For an item that could make one Pokemon Mega Gigantamax, trading it for a Mega Evolution stone or a few Z-Crystals might be reasonable. But what about an item that could make two Pokemon Mega Gigantamax?
Actually, this was just in the relatively low-level region.
If placed in Western countries, Dynamax levels could reach the maximum of 10.
If your ace Pokemon couldn't Mega Gigantamax, it was tantamount to being handicapped from birth.
Whether a Pokemon could perform Mega Gigantamax had completely become the foundation for whether a Trainer could become top-tier.
So, in Western countries, the value of a bowl of Max Soup might exceed that of a Mega Evolution stone.
There was simply no comparison!
"I'll think about this later," John quickly composed himself. What he needed to do now was obtain Max Soup first—otherwise, everything he'd just considered was merely daydreaming.
Since he could no longer rely on reality, he still had to find a solution in the game.
The problem he needed to solve now was obtaining a ticket to the "Isle of Armor." After all, all the materials for making Max Soup were located on the Isle of Armor.
John had tried asking Sonia previously.
But when she wasn't in dungeon or plot modes, her responses were limited to a few repetitive phrases. As for crafting Dynamax Bands, that was probably because she herself was the NPC responsible for making Dynamax Bands.
If John still had Wishing Stars, he could continue asking Sonia to craft more bands.
If there were still Wishing Stars in the Galar region, John wouldn't mind becoming a "Dynamax Band" merchant for a while.
Wait, it seemed like Dynamax Bands might actually be worth more than Max Soup, but Wishing Stars appeared rather difficult to obtain.
"Looks like I'll have to use the direct approach."
John sat on the sofa, turned on his Gameboy, and directed his character toward Galar's gyms.
If he entered battle mode, he'd be able to converse with game characters. Finding Gym Leaders should provide more information.
He'd just visit the nearest gym and see which unlucky soul it was.
John opened the map and found that the nearest gym was quite far from Wedgehurst.
For rail travel, there were three closest gyms, all accessible via the circular railway line.
They were Turffield Stadium (Grass-type), Motostoke Stadium (Fire-type), and Hulbury Stadium (Water-type).
Which gym to challenge made no difference to John.
Gym Leaders' strength was locked at level 70.
However, John remembered that when playing the game, he had encountered Nessa, the Gym Leader of Hulbury Stadium, on the Isle of Armor.
John immediately locked onto his target, then took the train to Hulbury.
He went to the Pokemon Center to register for the Trainer Challenge League.
While there, he swapped out a Pokemon. There was no need to use his first team against an ordinary Gym Leader. Let the Pokemon from his second and third teams have some action.
Afterwards, John arrived at Hulbury Stadium!