In the books read by Anthony, the main indicator that a sound-based move, in this case, the move Supersonic, is mastered, is the ability of a Pokémon to produce a single ring of sound energy in different volumes with the least amount of deviation from its original potency. Species that are sound-based need just the proper guidance that's optimally aligned to their species and their own aptitude of the Pokemon to master sound-based moves.
Understanding this point, Anthony and Hana smiled. This means that, in just a week, Zubat is already able to control its Supersonic ability!
_So this is what a mere deadline can do..._
Who would have thought that it would give such a huge sense of urgency to Zubat? At most, Anthony thought that Zubat would need a 4-day extension to master the control of the volume, but alas, from this day on, Zubat has now officially moved on from the foundational training of its signature moves. Zubat just needed to be consistent in its practice of the do-re-me song and in battle to be able to truly harness it in its full capacity.
The Supersonic, after all, didn't desipate in the playing field and slightly disoriented Anthony, Hana, and Charizard.
Articulating all of these in such a short time, Anthony's smile was wiped off, and he focused on the battle once more. Upon the Supersonic's blanket effect, Pidgey, the main target of the move, froze in the air for a moment before slumping to the ground, its eyes were trembling as if to resist rolling up in confusion.
"Pii? Pii? Piddddgeeey?"
As if drunk, the wild Pokémon assisting Anthony to train his Pokémon twirled in a confused manner. Seeing this, Zubat, which had also smacked itself to the ground, smirked and made its metaphorical eyes look at Anthony, who immediately commanded the Pokémon.
"Use Bite to its right wing and don't let go!"
Zubat immediately obliged, shaking its slightly groggy head and jumping with the combination of its wing power and its stomach muscles towards Pidgey, the said Pokemon, still confused, obviously wasn't able to articulate the command of the opposition, thus with little to no resistance, Zubat was able to use Bite and cling itself to the right wing of Pidgey.
"PIIIII!"
Pidgey cried out in pain, shock, and fear. For the first time, it was able to feel dread despite being able to see, as its brain felt like it was bouncing all over its skull. Soon, however, when Pidgey's faculty of reason recovered for nothing but a moment, it was able to remember why it had agreed to this arrangement in the first place.
To defeat Fearows.
To become a Pidgeot.
Is Pidgey's opponent a Fearow?
Is Pidgey a Pidgeot yet?
"PIIIIIIIDDDGEGEEEEEEEEAAAAHHH!"
With a loud cry, Pidgey's resolve overcame its confusion. Instead, rage, indignation, and the unwillingness to be defeated in its first battle against a trained Pokémon overtook its mind, without regard to the integrity of its bone structure, Pidgey used all its strength to lift Zubat and use gravity to bash it to the ground.
"ZHGGG!"
Zubat cried out in muffled pain, yet the command of its trainer is etched on its brain; thus, it didn't let up but instead buried its fangs deeper in the feathers and flesh of Pidgey.
_Both of Pidgey's wings are too damaged to fly, Wing Attack won't work for a lightweight Pokemon like Zubat without initial distance... Supersonic as a move only works when the sound can spread out naturally and is not being muffled..._
Hana, getting ready to intervene to stop any crippling injury in such a barbaric battle, wanted to see her son's reaction. In a battle between two physically inclined Pokémon, often than not, it would turn out messy and more primal. One can even argue that even though a fight between a Charizard and a Dragonite is more exciting, physical Pokemons can give audiences and trainers the primal thrill no Hyper Beam can give.
For veteran trainers, this kind of fight is normal, but for a rookie trainer, seeing one's Pokémon being roughed up as such can be stressful. As the battle between Bite's flinch effect and the brute force of Pidgey, both Pokémon were taking continuous damage and on the verge of being unable to battle, Hana glanced at Anthony. As expected, the rather nonchalant face of Anthony is knitted in a frown.
Anthony, of course, knew all that his mother thought, thus he knew that the only solution to this predicament was to make Zubat let go and use Wing Attack to finish off the much more injured Pidgey, who got its wing had been dislocated. He tried to see other things that he might be able to do, but as of now, nothing in the arsenal of Zubat can help it get away with mich more assurance of victory and less harm.
_Zubat needs to learn Absorb already..._
Anthony sighed, finally deciding to let go of Zubat's psychological advantage for a more certain victory.
"Let go, Zubat."
Anthony, a little bit disappointed with letting go of such a golden opportunity commanded, which made Zubat glance at him for a moment before letting go willingly. Now, as expected, because Zubat was being flung in a bid of forceful ejection, the Pokémon was thrown quite far away, stumbling three times before finally stabilizing.
"Zuuu... Zuu... Zuu..."
"Piii... Dgeyyy... Piiii..."
As the bat Pokémon finally let go, Zubat and Pidgey, riddled with injuries all over their body, stared at each other, their lungs heaving as if moments from exploding, yet their wills showed that they would not just give up. However, Anthony knew that Pidgey couldn't fight anymore; after all, attacks that are physical in nature, especially Flying-type attacks such as Wing Attack, Steel Wing, and Peck, needed the drag of flight as a way to strengthen the impact.
And Pidgey can't fly anymore. Seeing this, Anthony let Zubat rest for just a few seconds before issuing another command.
"Zubat, Wing Attack."
Hearing this, the Pidgey panicked and gathered mysterious energy in its beak, trying to use the Peak attack, however, as Hana and Anthony have said, the said attack needed long distances for full damage, in the end, it wasn't able to stop the advance of the Wing Attack, causing Pidgey to be hit by it head on, falling unconscious.
"Pidgey is unable to battle; Zubat is the winner."
Anthony sighed and smiled as his eyes followed Zubat, who tumbled around again as it used Wing Attack dangerously close to the ground, hitting the ground with one of its wings, spraining it. The low altitude maneuver earlier is mostly just for evading, where one just needs to sway to the right or left and go up and down, among other movements that are not flexible. Even with the obstacle course, the natural build of Flying types is wired to be only capable of that much.
"Zuu..,urrghh...!"
Zubat weakly jumped towards Anthony, grunting in a muffled manner as if to hide its pain from its trainer. As Anthony knelt to receive his Pokemon, which is unable to fly, he heard his mother's steps towards Pidgey.
"Catch this, perform first aid, it's just a sprain, so an ice compress and a bandage for the night should do. Unfortunately, the healing compartments in Pokémon Centers are government-issued issued so we can't buy them..."
As Anthony caught the spray bottle, which was a potion, he heard a light snapping sound as well as a muffled cry from Pidgey. Apparently, his mother can fix Pokémon limb dislocation, which made Anthony sigh as he gently lifted Zubat, that's jerking its body continuously because of the pain of the battle.
_It's really just a child..._
Anthony didn't think of anything anymore and focused on spraying the contents of the spray bottle throughout the body of Zubat, and soon, the effects of the potion had taken effect, with only the sprain in the wings being the problem. Anthony and Hana, after tending to the two battlers, walked back home, their arms spread out to make sure that the wings of the two Flying types were lying down comfortably in their palms.
Hana looked at Anthony, who was walking with a furrow in his eyebrows, causing her to smile.
_It seems like I don't need to say anything._
Such were her thoughts, and thus she remained silent and continued walking while making her Charizard guard the front to see if there were Pokemons that were blocking the way. And just as his mother speculated, Anthony is already analyzing the battle's result.
_With how Zubat won, I can assume that it really has good foundational training and natural talent. This is despite the fact that Zubat won by a very thin margin, as this is due to the fact that Pidgey is more experienced and can use direct combat tactics more naturally than Zubat. On the other side, it's also apparent that with Zubat's current strength, it needs to catch its opponent off guard through Supersonic. We need to improve that, though improvement means just continuing the training as it is._
Anthony paused his thoughts, realizing that they were already in front of their house. He then grabbed some ice and a bandage, put them in the wings of Zubat, and while doing so, continued his musings.
_One of the reasons why Zubat wasn't able to avoid further injuries is because it subconsciously looks back at me to wait for my command instead of focusing on just hearing it, this causes a delay in putting my commands into motion, which consequently will cause a delay in Zubat's reaction time..._
Anthony wasn't able to read any kind of knowledge about how someone can make the command chain as fast as possible through training, so he decided to consult his mom when dinner arrived.
_Besides that, Leech Life is basically a useless sustain move, Zubat needs Absorb as fast as possible..._
Zubat already has a grasp on absorbing energy through Leech Life, as evidenced by Pidgey having its energy drained when Zubat used it against Pidgey, plus the fact that it's one of the first moves Zubat knows, making it so that such a move is the very first one to be mastered alongside Supersonic. Anthony sighed at such. Indeed, foundational training can only do so much, and battles can really assess how prepared a Pokémon is. He wished to make the frequency of battles increase, but he also knew that doing so would make Zubat get injured more frequently.
This is not the game where potions don't have adverse effects on Pokemons, in this world, there's a reason why fainted Pokemons needed to be put in the healing machine of the Pokémon Center and not get sprayed by the potion or automatically use revive. Because again, in a real biological world, every medicine has an addictive effect that can lead to dependence and addiction.
After Anthony mused on all such information, Hana, who went to the Pokémon Center for Pidgey and went back with a crestfallen Pokémon, the Pidgey didn't say anything and just looked deeply at Zubat before flying out of the house.
"Well, we can assume that the Supersonic surprise attack will not work... at least not in a way that it worked earlier..."
Anthony nodded at this, and as he did, Hana asked.
"So, what did you learn in the battle?"
Anthony replied.
"That physically oriented Pokemons have a very messy-looking fight... at least in their early stages... Also, I don't know how to decrease the timeframe between my command and Zubat's articulation."
This is an indirect way to ask Anthony's mother if she knew any way to train Zubat in such an aspect; however, as Hana started to walk to the sofa, she shook her head, much to Anthony's dismay.
"No, if you try to simulate the command chain of the trainer and the Pokémon through non-battle conditions, no matter how accurate, it will leave gaps in practice. That's like being an intern and being an employee; no matter how the former uses real field experience as training, it will still feel entirely different. So I suggest just battling every Sunday, anyway, and soon your dad will be here to help you referee."
Anthony was shocked by this revelation.
_So it's like how coach-to-player dynamics are practiced, they need to use a proper match to practice all of the plays, though it's kind of different, as team sports have shadow practices. The fact that such shadow practices lack an opponent will be detrimental if not supplemented._
_In the case of training Pokemons, if I use the simulated command chain training without the aid of a true Pokemon is akin to a basketball team practicing pick and roll in a volleyball halfcourt using shadow training, which will not be practical... not to mention I can't just tire out all Pokemons in the minifarm just for the sake of my Pokemon..._
At this realization, Anthony suddenly frowned.
"How about the future wild Pokemons I will catch? How do I make the chain of command smooth?"
Hana again smiled.
"That's actually easier, after all, it's rare for you to catch young Pokemons once you become a trainer, and, if you received an egg, it will immediately see you as its mother, so from that point on, this matter will not really be a problem."
Anthony nodded at this and sighed in relief.