After exging all his game s, Sato left the Silph Game er and took a taxi straight to the Pokémoer.

  Through the rearview mirror, he noticed a few suspicious individuals tailing him. However, Sato wasn't ied in dealing with them—he had more important things to do.

  Handing over Carvanha's Poké Ball to Nurse Joy, Sato sat in the waiting area, closing his eyes as he reviewed the results of his scouting mission at the game er.

  While there had been a minor hiccup, the haul of TMs he obtained exceeded his expectations.

  Sato had spent aended period in Lingua Town, dedig much of that time to training his Pokémon's moves. Evehey had only reached a basic level of proficy.

  Now, with eaon needing to learn at least three new moves, the training workload was enormous.

  However, with the Goldenrod City I approag, Sato had to put his training schedule on hold and focus entirely on preparation.

  For several days, Sato settled into a strict routine. Every m began with physical training—mostly fuals—followed by 1v1 sparring matches between his Pokémon.

  The newly added Carvanha quickly caught the attention of both Larvitar and Spinarak.

  To aodate its utle needs, Sato sought out a training ground that included both a grassy area and a water pool, ensuring Carvanha could fight at its full potential.

  Sato had already devised a solution for Carvanha's inability to fight effectively on nd—a signifit weakhat could cripple its bat abilities. If not for this, even with its Elite Four potential, Carvanha would be too much of a liability to train.

  Although he didn't have time for dedicated training just yet, this match would be a good test to gauge its current abilities.

  "Zizi!"

  Perched on its webbing, Spinarak waved its front legs at Sato, signaling that it was ready to go. Its eyes burned with determination as it stared at Carvanha.

  "Carvanha, are you ready?"

  "…Sha!"

  Still adjusting to its rainer, Carvanha hesitated slightly at Sato's and. However, after st night, when it ed his blood, it had pletely submitted.

  As a naturally ferocious predator, the Blood Nourishment teique had a far greater impa it than it had on Zoroark.

  "The's begin!"

  "Zizi!"

  Taking the initiative, Spinarak quickly sprayed silk threads across the field, anch them to the grass and surrounding trees, creating an intricate webbed battlefield.

  "Sha!"

  Water surged around Carvanha as it propelled itself forward in a straight-line charge, ung a Water Gun attack!

  Spinarak, however, navigated its oith ease, darting through the silk threads to get behind Carvanha. The sturdy webbing absorbed the impact of Carvanha's attack, f a rebounding arc due to the esticity of the silk.

  With its oppo now within reach, Spinarak's front legs glowed yellow-green, preparing to strike.

  Sato immediately reized the attack—it was a newly learned move from a TM: X-Scissor!

  "Uimating your oppo…"

  Sato shook his head. Spinarak had rarely lost in battle under his and, aing up the web battlefield was a good strategy. However, blindly using a move it hadn't mastered yet to try and win? That was a mistake.

  After all, the oppo in front of it seudo-Elite Four Pokémon!

  "Sha!"

  Carvanha didn't retreat—instead, it charged forward.

  The water around its body intensified, swirling even more violently. Then, its massive jaws snapped open—Bite attack activated!

  Silk might withstand blunt force, but against a razor-sharp bite, it was pletely useless! As soon as Carvanha's fangs touched the webbing, the threads were effortlessly sliced apart!

  And it wasn't over yet—the resistahat had initially slowed Carvanha suddenly disappeared as the webbing snapped.

  The tension in the remaining strands rebounded, ung Spinarak helplessly into the air!

  "Sha!"

  Carvanha pressed the attack, and the way it moved made Sato's eyes light up—it was using Reverse Water Gun Propulsion, utilizing the backward force of its water jet to adjust direidair while maintaining speed!

  "Zizi!"

  Dazed from being unched, Spinarak instinctively grabbed onto a nearby silk thread, preventing itself from falling into the water. It shook itself back to awareness, only to see Carvanha already closing in again!

  "Zizi! Zizi!"

  In its panic, Spinarak resorted to the move it was most familiar with—Poison Sting!

  Unfortunately, Carvanha effortlessly dodged by zigzagging through the air before smming straight into Spinarak's body!

  "This should be enough."

  Sato gestured for Hauo catch Spinarak before it fell into the water, then looked back at Carvanha—his expression a mix of excitement and disbelief.

  "Carvanha, use Water Guedly!"

  "…Sha?"

  The battle was over, and Carvanha was fused by the order. But it obediently returo the water and started firing rapid bursts of Water Gun in succession.

  Sato's eyes narrowed, turning pletely bck as he enhanced his perception with Dark Energy.

  Owo… three… after the fifth secutive Water Gun, the er of his mouth lifted into a grin.

  Signaling Carvanha to stop, Sato stepped forward, pg his hand on its smooth, streamlined scales.

  There was nhness—just pure hydrodynamic efficy.

  No doubt about it.

  Carvanha had the Ability—Speed Boost!

  For the first time in a long while, Sato couldn't hold back his ughter. A Speed Boost Carvanha—what were the odds? One in a thousand?

  Sato didn't care about probabilities—he only cared about results. And right now, the result was an absolute powerhouse in the making.

  With just this Ability alone, Carvanha possessed true cross-tier battle potential!

  Sato examined Carvanha closely. On the surface, it looked no different from any other of its species. However, beh that exterior was a terrifying natural talent and a rare Ability.

  The same applied to Spinarak. Even though its parents weren't particurly exceptional, it had somehow ied the Sniper Ability, setting it apart from others of its kind.

  Perhaps… powerful Abilities naturally provided some degree of talent enha as well.

  Later, Zoroark and Haunter had a sparring match, tinuing their long-standing rivalry.

  As expected, it was a one-sided battle. Haunter could only rely on its ghostly movements to avoid Zoroark's relentless assault.

  This made Sato seriously sider whether it was time for Hauo evolve. After all, its evolution process was entirely within his trol.

  However, evolving would drastically alter its body shape, requiring a period of adaptation. With Goldenrod City's uping chaos, it wasn't the right time yet.

  For nout that decision on hold.

  After two battles along with tactical breakdowns and expnations, the entire m passed.

  The afternoon session focused on correg weaknesses in eaon's bat style.

  pared to battles, afternoon training sessions were much tougher—both for Sato and his Pokémon. However, they were already aced to this regimen.

  The newly added Carvanha had fully accepted Sato, but its aggressive nature was undeniable. Its thirst for battle and strength was evident.

  Sato saw an it at all—it embraced training pletely. And that was exactly what he wanted.

  That night, Sato ged into a different outfit and headed back to Silph Game er for further reaissance.

  However, this time…

  He brought Zoroark along.

  A Zoroark using its Illusion Ability… to disguise itself as a human.