The sound of rushing water filled the air as Sato observed Carvanha in the clear pool.

  Johto's terrain was ri hills and cliffs, whiaturally formed waterfalls and deep basins—prime locations for wild Pokémon to gather and drink.

  For most trainers, setting up camp near such areas was a reckless decision, as it invited stant wild Pokémon enters.

  However, for Sato, who was looking to intensify his training, this was exactly the kind of enviro he wanted.

  Strong trainers could endure solitude.

  Spending months in the wilderness, away from cities and veniences, was a normal part of growing stronger. pared to the hustle and bustle of urban life, Sato much preferred the quiet yet uable nature of the wild.

  "Carvanha, Aqua Jet!"

  "Sha!"

  As the st Poliwhirl flopped onto the shore, defeated, Carvanha let out a victorious cry.

  With the pool now cleared of challengers, it had temporarily established itself as the dominant predator of this watering hole. The rule of strength was simple—whoever was stro reigned supreme.

  Sato tossed a few high-quality pokeblocks into the water, Carvanha's rea. It ate them methodically, her excited nor displeased.

  "Hmm. What about this?"

  Sato pricked his finger slightly, allowing a single drop of blood to fall onto one of the pokeblocks before tossing it toward Carvanha.

  "Sha!"

  Without hesitation, Carvanha shot out of the water, snapping the blood-tainted cube midair before spshing back down. O resurfaced, its eyes locked onto Sato, clearly demanding more.

  "Too much of it won't help you," Sato smirked. "Train first, and I'll feed you again once you've burhrough enough energy."

  Kneeling by the water's edge, Sato ran a hand over Carvanha's sleek skin, feeling the smooth yet firm texture of its scales.

  A stray thought crossed his mind—grilled Carvanha skin, seasoned with salt and spices...

  He swallowed discreetly, shaking his head. "Alright, let's get started."

  Carvanha's training regimen sisted of several pos: waterfall climbing, leaping drills, uer maneuverability, surfad uer attack execution, and—most importantly—suspension training.

  The first four were fual exercises that built physical endurance, explosive power, coordination, and moves execution.

  As for defe was difficult to train. Carvanha was naturally fragile, known for its high offensive capabilities but low durability. Sato had no iion of f it into a defensive role just yet.

  Instead, its greatest strength y in speed. Its Ability, Speed Boost, was a gift that few Pokémon possessed, and Sato inteo maximize it.

  And finally, the most critical aspect of training—figuring out how Carvanha could fight effectively outside of water.

  "Carvanha, Aqua Jet. Lowest power output."

  "Sha!"

  Having listeo Sato's earlier expnation, Carvanha uood what it was trying to aplish.

  It attempted to activate Aqua Jet with minimal force, but the propulsion was too weak to gee movement.

  "Increase the power slightly."

  "Whoosh!"

  In an instant, Carvanha shot to the other side of the pool, missing the target rairely.

  Sato let out a quiet sigh. "This is going to take some time."

  If Carvanha could master this teique, it would be able to maintain mobility in non-aquativiros, signifitly expanding its bat versatility.

  More than that, the process of fiuning its energy output would also enhas overall trol of Aqua Jet, allowing it to maximize its effi battle.

  Speed Boost owerful Ability, but an untrolled force could just as easily backfire.

  From Sato's perspective, this training would determine just how high Carvanha's potential could reach.

  "Carvanha, watch this," he called, setting down a tablet s in front of it.

  The video dispyed a Qwilfish, perfectly bang itself in the air by adjusting its Aqua Jet propulsion.

  "Aqua Jet works by densing powerful whirlpools and using reverse thrust to propel the user forward. What you o do is trol the reverse thrust in such a way that you achieve a stable hover."

  Carvanha stared at the s, eyes narrowed in tration, before flig its fins and diving bato the water.

  Sato watched in satisfa as it began experimenting with the teique, adjusting the ford angling its body to find the right bance.

  He o himself. Carvanha might be cssified as a savage and aggressive Pokémon, but aside from its initial resista had turned out to be uedly obedient.

  Turning his head, Sato watched as Haueased Spinarak to the point of fury, making it jump around in frustration. He grinned—how could their personalities be so different?

  "Kehehehee~"

  "Zzzz?"

  As a ghost without a physical body, Haunter didn't have hair, yet at that moment, it felt as if every ent strand was standing on end. A creeping sense of unease washed over it.

  "You don't seem like the type to sit still and focus on training," Sato remarked. "That's a real problem. I'll switch things up for you."

  With that, he picked up a stid drew a circle about three meters in diameter on the ground.

  "No phasing through the ground. No flying higher than three meters. Zoroark, Larvitar, Spinarak, step up—you three will take turns attag Haunter from outside the circle. The one who nds the most hits gets ara portion for dionight."

  "Zizi!"

  Spinarak waved its little legs iement, practically cag. Revenge! Let's see if you still dare to bully me now!

  "Of course," Sato added with a smirk, "if the three of you bined don't nd more than ten hits on Haunter, Haunter gets the extra portion, and the rest of you lose half your meal."

  "Lar!"

  inally ued, Larvitar suddenly became alert. A reduced dinner? No way. Not in this lifetime!

  Hmm, a pseudo-legendary couldn't possibly go hungry, right? Larvitar trolled several small floating rocks, poised and ready, just waiting for Sato's signal.

  "Zizizi!"

  Haunter smirked and, in front of Spinarak and Larvitar, brazenly raised… the middle one of its three fingers. Then, Zoroark stepped forward.

  "Kehehehehe!" Haunter immediately shook its head like a rattling drum.

  It had just remembered Zoroark's Night Daze—there was no way to dodge that! Might as well surrender now.

  "Zoroa~"

  Zoroark simply shook its head. Night Daze was definitely out of the question—using it would be unfair.

  "No area-of-effect moves allowed," Sato said with a grin. "Everything else is fair game—Protect, Agility, Hypnosis, use whatever you want."

  Haunter huffed in frustration. Hypnosis out in the open? That would just make dinner e even faster—for its oppos.

  "Alright, time limit: ten minutes. Begin!"

  "Zizi!"

  Spinarak was the first to act. Its most familiar move, Poison Sting, wasn't particurly powerful, but it was reliable.

  Haunter vanished in the blink of an eye, causing the Poison Sting barrage and the ining flying pebbles from Larvitar to miss their mark. As a Ghost-type, its natural ability—Invisibility—was in full effect.

  "Zoro!" "Lar!" "Zizi!"

  Scary Face! Scary Face! Scary Face!

  With the battlefield being so small, three simultaneous Scary Face moves severely hindered even Haunter's agility!

  "Woooom—"

  A shimmering green barrier fred up—Protect! Only then did Haunter's form reappear within the protective shield.

  "Kehehehe!"

  Haunter's eyes gleamed ominously, sending out three beams of red light, each striking Zoroark, Larvitar, and Spinarak. The three blinked in fusion, but they didn't feel anything strange.

  "Smart!"

  Sato couldn't help but praise Haunter. It was incredibly ing—after spending so much time together, all four Pokémon knew each other's tricks inside and out, but Haunter had established an immediate advantage from the start!

  Without Fht to ter invisibility, the best way to force a Ghost-type out of hiding was using moves with a fear-indug effect, such as Leer or Scary Face.

  This was something Sato had drilled into them—and now Haunter had cleverly turhat lesson against them.

  By choosing to vanish immediately, Haunter baited its teammates into using Scary Face. Then, it used Protect to avoid the triple-speed drop. And finally, it unleashed a never-before-seen move—its ied ability: Disable!

  Now, Scary Face was pletely sealed away from all three oppos!