"Draconpoison… Husk?"
Sato looked at the so-called "treasure" in his hand with a puzzled expression.
In Sato's mind, a treasure capable of extending a Pokémon's lifespan -if not dazzling or breathtaking- should at least look like a treasure.
But this so-called Draconpoison Husk just looked like an irregular deep purple stone, with a wrinkled, rough surface. Honestly, someone could easily mistake it for dried-up poop.
And this was supposed to be a treasure?
"It really is the Draconpoison Husk, and it counts as a rare item in this world," Gardevoir said softly, subtly reminding Sato not to judge a treasure by its appearance.
Sato fell silent. In his knowledge base, there were only two Dragon/Poison-type Pokémon in the world.
Dragalge, which lives in polluted seas, and the Ultra Beast Naganadel from the Alola Region.
The former resembles a seahorse, but it never looked like the long-lived type… The latter lives in Ultra Space and is rarely seen in normal Pokémon "timelines".
"So… how do I give it to Ariados?" Since he'd already admitted it was valuable, Sato gave in and asked directly.
Of course, this "treasure" was meant for Ariados, whose lifespan was relatively short. Despite its exceptional potential, it still needed time to grow.
"Not sure. These kinds of items are too rare. I only know about it from the Domain inheritance knowledge," Gardevoir shook its head; it wasn't all-knowing after all.
"…Can we still call back Darkrai?"
"It doesn't know either. Actually, it was already quite a coincidence that Darkrai had the Draconpoison Husk."
Gardevoir cut off Sato's last hope directly. And when he thought about it, it made sense, if Darkrai had known more, it wouldn't have just "tossed" the item and rushed off.
Probably felt a little guilty too…
Well, it wasn't like Ariados was about to die anytime soon. Sato had plenty of time to consult someone else.
----
He hadn't slept all night, but Sato didn't feel tired at all. Seeing that it was already morning training time, he picked up his battle belt and headed toward the training grounds.
There were always plenty of hardworking Trainers, especially since this was the Pokémon Center at the Sinnoh League headquarters.
So when Sato walked into the training grounds, nearly half the battlefields had already been taken.
He found a secluded corner and sent out Skorupi and Ariados.
"Dos!"
Ariados, having not seen its otouto in a while, was clearly in a good mood and happily ran over to greet it.
Skorupi curled its tail and instinctively wanted to dodge, but quickly held itself back and stayed still.
"Skor~"
Skorupi let out a soft cry, looking so obedient it was hard to imagine this was the same carefree Pokémon Sato had caught -thanks, Wallace- not long ago.
"Alright, today we're still working on toxin condensation efficiency. Ariados, you're in charge of monitoring and identifying the toxin's potency."
"Dooos!"
Ariados raised its front claw with a look that said: mission accepted!
Skorupi had already gotten used to morning training, but it still got nervous whenever facing Ariados. All it could do was follow along and respond with a soft cry…
'I'll do my best!'
"Whoa! Am I seeing things? That's a Shiny Skorupi! Its red shell looks just like a cooked prawn… slurp~"
Sato twitched his ears and pretended not to hear the crowd's excitement.
But Skorupi instinctively took two steps back. It didn't know why, but people always seemed to have their eyes on its body.
'Hmph, stingy humans! Hope you get poisoned[1]!'
"Dos~Dos!"
Ariados glared viciously at the stranger who had spoken, then turned around and pointed its rear at them, conveniently blocking their view.
But Shiny Pokémon were exceptionally rare, and it wasn't long before someone recognized Sato. The crowd grew larger and noisier by the minute.
Aside from the initial "death glare", Ariados ignored the commotion and continued earnestly coaching Skorupi on how to quickly condense Poison-type energy.
The unique thing about Poison-type energy was that it could generate toxic matter from pure energy, and ultimately turn it into lasting, tangible poison.
Unlike Fire or Psychic-type moves, which couldn't persist after being unleashed and would dissipate shortly.
So figuring out how to make one's poison more potent was a lifelong pursuit for Poison-type Pokémon.
Just like how Ariados's poison could kill a same-level Toxicroak… that's what it all came down to.
Unfortunately, even though Ariados was teaching seriously, Skorupi's performance was only average. It couldn't even focus properly.
"That's the Dark King Sato? His Skorupi looks pretty weak…"
"Maybe he only caught it because it's Shiny?"
"Yeah, it doesn't look too bright either."
"…"
"…Focus on training. If you can't handle a small scene like this, how are you going to defeat opponents in front of tens of thousands of people?" Sato suddenly spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard it clearly.
"WHAT THE HELL, WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?"
"Chill… that's the monster Trainer who beat Flint."
"Even so, this is Sinnoh, not some backwater place like Johto!"
"Exactly…"
The chatter suddenly intensified, and Sato quickly realized that the one who started it all was the same guy from earlier. He began to sense this wasn't just casual heckling.
Skorupi stopped training, looking flustered. Ariados bared its fangs and glared at the crowd, silencing everyone its eyes passed over.
Ariados had a pretty good record. Its breakthrough came from defeating Volkner's -Ace level- Luxray at Elite level, so its intimidation was real.
But Ariados only had two eyes; it couldn't cover every direction. Its aggressive stance actually made things worse, stirring more resistance from the crowd.
"THIS IS A POKÉMON CENTER! IF YOU'VE GOT GUTS, HAVE ARIADOS ATTACK! WHAT'S THE POINT OF BLUFFING PEOPLE?"
It was that guy again!
Sato's gaze instantly locked onto him. The sharp look made the man take two steps back and hide deeper in the crowd, not daring to show his face again.
But the provocation had already done its job!
As the crowd's words grew more reckless, Sato knew if this kept up, something bad would eventually happen, so he decided to end it with force!
"Ariados, Toxic Spikes."
Ariados had been waiting for this. The moment Sato gave the command, it instantly condensed a massive, purple energy orb and softly nudged it into the air.
The Toxic Spikes orb ascended. And the moment it began to fall, it exploded loudly, scattering poison in all directions.
The panicked crowd scattered in chaos, fleeing as fast as they could!
But when the poison had all landed, everyone realized something shocking; despite the irregular pattern, the Toxic Spikes had miraculously avoided hitting a single person!
'Such terrifying control…'
"Oh! Seems like someone's got a problem with me?" Sato said as he took two steps forward. Ariados followed smoothly beside him.
Skorupi paused for two seconds, then quickly ran to Sato's other side. Its proud little head was held so high it was about to snap backwards…
"1v1 or group battle? You choose."
.
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200 PS - Chap
[1] (x ∧ x)!